Thomas Helton (1808-1896)/Margaret Dobson (1814-1879) MO
Does anyone know if there is a connction between the son of Peter Helton III, Arthur Helton (b.1794 TN and d.1879 KY, m. 1822 KY to Margaret Muncy, 1802,VA-1892,KY), and my great-great grandfather, Thomas Helton (b. 2 Jul 1808 TN, d. 2 Sep 1896 in MO, m. 24 Oct 1836 in Brownston, IN, to Margaret Dobson, b. 4 Apr 1814, d. 28 Dec 1879 in MO)?
Thomas/Margaret (Dobson) Helton and descendants were buried in the Freedom Cemetery, Mercer County, MO, with records now on the internet. The state of Indiana has a record of their marriage on October 24, 1836, in Brownstown, IN. They later moved to Missouri. Several generations of very large families yielded hundreds of direct descendants. Yet, there is very reliable information on their descendants because so many remained in/near northeastern Missouri until recent times. Notwithstanding this clear pedigree to Thomas/Margaret Helton, no one seems to know who his parents were (though Margaret's parents were John Dobson and Priscilla Arthur, b. 1796 VA).
This baffling, missing connection--the identity of Thomas Helton's parents--ostensibly is the link needed that would tie all of this line to earlier Helton trees and this enigma ocassioned my response. I am not a genealogical researcher, not even a serious amateur. Nevertheless, I keep getting e-mail queries and see countless postings from other direct descendants of Thomas Helton/Margaret Helton asking if anyone has any clue whatsoever about the identity of Thomas Helton's parents. Some of these people seem to have been doing a lot of study on this, but still are hitting a brick wall at this point.
I appreciate the meticulous work that many of you are doing in researching the aforesaid Peter Helton III roots and realize that the ocassional heated arguments only reflect your sincere desire to be accurate in interpreting often-confusing primary source data from previous centuries. Thus, I solicit help from you experienced researchers on anything that might link our Thomas Helton/Margaret Dobson ancestor to the Peter Helton III (or other early Heltons). Does anyone even have a suggestion of who Thomas Helton's parents might be?
Again, might there be a linkage between our aforesaid Thomas Helton and Peter III's son Arthur Helton (1794-1879, husband of Margaret "Peggy" Muncy (1802-1892), who also moved to Indiana during the same time period? What I find curious (in addition to only living a couple of counties away from each other, in Indiana) is the duplication of names between the children of Arthur Helton/Margaret Muncy and those of Thomas Helton/Margaret Dobson. Arthur/Margaret had children they named Alexander Helton (b. 1823), John Riley Helton (b. 1826), and Martin Van Buren Helton (b. MARCH 1841, and "our" Thomas/Margaret had children named William Alexander Helton (1839-1927), John Riley Helton (1837-1916), and Martin Van Buren Helton ( b. AUGUST 1841 - d. 1911). Since Martin Van Buren was still president of the USA in 1841, both of these Martins might have been named independently of the influence of one set of parents upon the other. Might the duplication of names for three sons (along with their close geographical proximity, at the time), however, not suggest a family tie?
There is an incomplete tree on the internet with a Peter Helton marrying, between 1802 and 1804, a Nancy A. Elmore (b. 12 Feb 1784, e. 11 Apr 1848, NC), with a child named Thomas Helton, among 9 other children (some with birthdates from 1807 through 1823). Though the geography and time period are close, I do not know this necessarily would be our Thomas Helton (b. in 1808)?
Also, I wonder whether there is a close connection between our Thomas Helton and Arnold Helton( 1768-1830)/Sarah Johnson (parents Abraham Helton/Charity) Helton? They also were from Tennessee and likewise moved to Indiana to take land grants. Their son Adam C. Helton (b. 1789) laid out the town of Heltonsville, IN, which is just a stone's throw from Houston, IN, the birthplace of Thomas.