Obediah Ralph

[BenRalph]

I have a relative, born 29 September 1841 in Suffolk who sailed to New York from London on the ship named Christiana and arrived there on 7th September, aged 14. He travelled with Charles & Sarah Chase who were his mothers family, Charles & Sharah were his Aunt & Uncle. I can find him on the US 1870 census in Mitchigan but after that nothing.

 My great uncle thinks maybe he went to Canada but we can find no more records. Is anyone able to find anything please?

Thank you.

[oldohiohome]

Do you have him in Canada in 1861?

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/census/1861/Pages/item.aspx?itemid=1202196

I can't read the township, maybe Cramosa or Chemosa. Google suggested Eramosa Twp, so maybe that is it.

He is single, age 20, a laborer, and not apparently with anyone named Chase or Ralph.

[BenRalph]

No I didn't have that. I don't have access to worldwide records. Thank you for that.

He's on the 1870 US census in Michigan.

[oldohiohome]

I didn't find him in Ontario or west of Ontario in 1881. That site is free. Library and Archives of Canada.

[BenRalph]

I didn't find him in Ontario or west of Ontario in 1881. That site is free. Library and Archives of Canada.

So he went to Canada shortly after arriving in America, then went to Canada before 1861 but returned back to America for 1870 and maybe stayed there and married/didn't marry and died there after that. If he's not in Canada in 1881 then maybe this is the likeliest scenario.

[jorose]

So the latest sighting of him is the 1870 census:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MHCZ-N93

He a farm labourer in Novi, Oakland Country. He is living with John Kilworth, a farmer originally from England, and his wife Fannie - they are both in their 60s so it appears Obediah is working on their farm, they also have a Sarah D Kinnis, 18, as housekeeper.

John and Fann(ie/y) are still in Oakland County in 1880, but no longer with any help:
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MW3Q-HJL


https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:FHNC-HPX
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3QSQ-G9V4-Z4N2?i=678
 - age and birthplace is off, also accidentally dittoed down as "female", but a Obediah Ralph death is recorded in 1900 in Oakland (unfortunately just before census).

I think the informant possibly didn't know much about him - he was single, his age is given as a round number, and his parents are listed as unknown.

https://digmichnews.cmich.edu/?a=d&d=OaklandMT19000217-01.1.1&srpos=1&e=-------en-10--1-byDA-txt-txIN-%22Obediah+Ralph%22---------
 - in the newspaper he is "Oby", and he died at the home of James Gilchrist in Walled Lake. This has him as 45 years old.

Still can't see him in 1880 US or 1881 Canada - could he have been travelling about looking for farm work?

[BenRalph]

That is amazing! Thank you both of you for finding all this info. It's all new to me. So he never married and died relatively young. All that's left is to find a census of him between 1870 and 1900 but that'll just be filling in a few gaps. It's such a contrast from him brother who had about 13 children and lived in Germany for most of his life.

Once again  thank you so much.

[Lisa in California]

Perhaps this is a different man, but found on one of the pay sites is:

"Primary Immigrant": Obadiah Ralph
Arrived Michigan, 1887
"Household members": Obadiah Ralph
Source: Naturalization records for Oakland County, Michigan

(Apologies if this was already mentioned; I didn't open the suggested links)

Added:  There is also a record for the above man for 1868; same details as above.

[BenRalph]

No, that hasn't been posted and is new to me. Could you post the 1868 or is everything exactly the same other than the years differ?

Thank you for this info.