Maranda Silvernail from Wisconsin?
This might be the original name of my wife's great-grandmother, who was born on May 10, 1854 in Monroe, Wisconsin, daughter of Benjamin Miller and Alvira [Howard?].
The 1880 U.S. Federal Census in Wilson County, Kansas lists an Emery Silvernail as a stepson living with Benjamin and Alvira. It further gives his age as 23 and birthplace as Wisconsin. That means he would have been born in 1857. We're thinking that Maranda and Emery were children of Alvira and [unknown] Silvernail, who split up in the late 1850's. Alvira then married Benjamin Miller, Maranda adopting his surname and Emery keeping Silvernail. Alvira and Benjamin then had three more daughters, the earliest being born in 1862(in Wisconsin).
Maranda married Myron Shafe in 1870 in Kansas. By 1880 they had three children, including a son. He was named Emery -- my wife's grandfather.
Do any of you good people reading this have any input on this scenario? Thanks very much.