Isaac De Graffs - five or six of them.....

I know from William Henry De Graff's (1820-1910) obituary that he was the oldest son of Isaac De Graff.  I have spent some time on "who is Isaac" and I detail my research and reasoning here

The 1850 United States Census lists 5 Isaac De Graff households. As these list names of household members  - it is clear which household had 30 year old William residing within - the first one - with Isaac birth year of about 1796.  This entry lists Isaac with his wife Esther (49)  sons William (30) and John (14) and daughters Louisa (23) and Anjenet (19).  These names match with other records and William's obituary.

The 1840 Census 
The 1840 Census lists 3 Isaac De Graffs  in the Florida/ Amsterdam region of New York.  These census entries do not list names of household members - they merely list gender and age range (ie: male between 14-19.)

William's obituary mentions the family moving between Amsterdam and Florida during William's early years - as Isaac owned various mills, so it is worthwhile to review each of these households.

One household - in Florida, listed next door to various Staley (remember that William's son (Garrett) middle name is Statley) households (as William is in later years) has the following family members:

• one boy under 5 (John b: 1835)
• one boy between 15-19 (William b: 1820)
• one male between 40-49 (Isaac b: 1795)
• one girl between 5-9: Anjenet (b: 1831)
• one girl between 10-14: Louisa (b: 1827)
• two girls between 15-19: Harriet (b: 1823) and Ann (b: 1822) 
• one woman between 40-49: Esther (b: 1799)

The second Isaac household in Florida is about 5 farms down from the first; it lists no sons so I have rejected this as William's fathers home (as John would certainly still be at home in 1840 and with William being at home in 1850 (and unmarried ) I am deducing he was also living at home in 1840.  The household is near the Sweet and Van Wormer farms - families I find another Isaac De Groff household married into in earlier years - so I have linked this Isaac household to the following Isaac De Groff family :

• one male between 70-79: Isaac 
• one girl between 15-19 Mary (m. *** Patterson)
• one girl between 20-29: Lavinia
• one woman between 50-50: Amy 

* one hypothesis I have is that this Isaac is William's grandfather and Isaac De Graff's father .

The Isaac DeGroff family in Amsterdam has the following household members in 1840:

• one boy between 15-19
• one boy between 20-29
• one man between 30-39
• one male between 50-59
• two girls between 20-29
• one female between 60-69

I've rejected this household as William's childhood home because there is no boy matching John's age range (under 5) and further research on other Isaac wills suggest this family is a different DeGraff household .

I did similar calculations with US Census returns from 1810-1830; Darren ended up helping me because I had notecards with each household and a "master" notecard with the family proper (with birth dates noted) - we matched them all up and color coded them.

Analysis of Isaac De Graff wills:

I turned to  Montgomery County wills - because I was hoping to see mention of family member names.
I found several wills for Isaac De Groff / De Graff and reviewed them all.  My findings are in this shared spreadsheet

Finally, I  turned to the Non population census for 1850-1880 for some further clues about these families and their homes and businesses.  In these entries I found details from 1850 and 1870 - on the farms and the two Isaac DeGroff mills (grist and saw)

I am sharing all the background because I would love a second pair of eyes (esp to check my math - I am amazed at how bad I am at subtracting!)

The Five Isaacs: 

Isaac De Graff Sr. b: 1763-d: 20 Dec 1850, Florida

• married someone 
• father of Jane (b: 1792) Isaac Jr. (b: 1795)
• married Amy
• father of Eliza (b: 1815); Lavinai (1817) Rebecca (b: 1817- married John Fuller - mother of Garrett Staley's first wife, Mary Fuller) ; Mary (b: 1821)

Isaac De Graff Jr. b: 1795-d: 10 Sep 1877, Florida

• son of Isaac DeGraff sr. (1767-1851)
• married Esther (1799-1872)
• father of William Henry (b: 1820), Ann (b: 1822), Harriet (b: 1823); Louisa (b: 1827); Henrietta (b: 1929); Antannetta (b: 51829); John Harland (b: 1835)

Isaac J. De Graff Sr. b: 1770-before 1860, Amsterdam

• son of Jeremiah De Graff d: 1809 of Schenectady
• married Mariah
• father of Nicholas (b:1811), Isaac (b: 1818), Daniel (1819), Magdalain (1820), Jeremiah (1824)

Isaac J. De Graff b: 1818-1891, Florida

• son of Isaac DeGraff Sr. of Amsterdam
• married Catherine Lingenfelter
• father of William (b:1846); Emma (b: 1846); Sarah (b: 1852) Arey (b:1854); Elizabeth (****): Isaac James (b: 1858)

Isaac De Graff b: 1810-d: 1854, Amsterdam

• son of Isaac De Graff of Schenectady d: 1851 and his wife Sarah Toll, of Schenectady.
• married Cornelia
• Ann (b: 1939) Eliza (b: 1843) Isaac Harmon (b:***)