Reconstructing a Nineteenth-Century Network: The Jones-Bronson-Fuller-Bassett Family and the Special Censuses
Family history research (especially in the United States) often relies heavily on standard federal population census schedules for placing an ancestor within a locality to find additional records. That limits us, in most cases, to a ten-year window. However, there are special census schedules, some of which show that nineteenth-century families were not as static or geographically isolated as they might seem. By analyzing the 1880 Supplemental Schedule of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes (DDD) alongside the U.S. Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives (1888–1895), a vivid picture emerges of the lives of three daughters of Thomas Jones and Rebecca Hitchcock. Born in Middle Tennessee, these siblings navigated a complex, interconnected world of specialized education, long-distance migration, and marriages that bridged distant states.
The Jones Family of White County, Tennessee
Such is the case with the family of Thomas Jones and his wife, Rebecca Hitchcock, who raised their large family in District 6 of White County, Tennessee, near the community of Peeled Chestnut. Rebecca Hitchcock was a daughter of George Hitchcock and Milly Riddle whose families have lived in the upper Cumberland area since the early 1800s. .Notably, the special census records explicitly state that Thomas and Rebecca were first cousins prior to marriage—a crucial detail for resolving early Hitchcock and Jones brick walls. George Hitchcock was the brother of Rebecca Hitchcock Jones, Thomas’ mother, though the schedule does not explicitly say that.
Among their twelve children (three of whom were deaf, nine who could hear, and one who died under the age of two), the three deaf daughters became the focal points of this article: Catherine, Omelia (frequently recorded as Amelia), and Almedia.
Catherine Jones Bronson: Institutional Connections and Shared Paths
Catherine Jones was the first of the sisters to marry and leave Tennessee. Identified as a pupil at the Tennessee School for the Deaf in Knoxville as early as 1851, her institutional enrollment likely provided the direct social network that led to her marriage.
In 1856, Catherine married Charles Bronson, an Ohio native who was also deaf. This union raises an immediate geographical question: How did a young woman from rural White County, Tennessee, meet a man from Ohio in the 1850s?
Solving the Connection
While initial hypotheses might suggest Charles traveled south independently, an analysis of local records and institutional staff lists provides the answer:
George E. Bronson, an older brother of Charles, was employed as an instructor at the Tennessee School for the Deaf from 1849 to 1853.
The 1850 Federal Census reveals that the broader Bronson family which was headed by Connecticut natives Elijah and Fannie Bronson had already relocated to White County, Tennessee, by 1850, living in close proximity to the Hitchcock and Jones families.
By 1860, Charles and Catherine Bronson were living in White County, near her parents. They later migrated northward, appearing on the 1870 federal census in Franklin, Johnson County, Indiana, with their hearing children. Catherine passed away around 1874 or 1875. The depth of her family’s record footprint is clear in the 1888–1895 Special Census, where Charles’ file spans twelve pages across multiple record numbers (including entries for his second marriage to Sarah Willhartz), preserving Catherine’s vital details posthumously.
Omelia Jones Fuller: From the Upper Cumberland to the Coast of Maine
Omelia Jones followed a remarkably similar institutional and migratory trajectory to her older sister. Born in White County, she attended the Tennessee School for the Deaf during the 1855–1856 term, and returned for further instruction following the Civil War in 1866.
In October 1875, Omelia married Octavus W. Fuller in Peeled Chestnut, Tennessee (though special census returns mistakenly note the year as 1874). Octavus, deaf from birth, was a native of Maine. In 1870, he was working as a shoemaker in San Francisco, California, while Omelia was living in Indiana with her sister Catherine.
By 1880, Octavus and Omelia had relocated to his childhood home in Paris, Oxford County, Maine. Here, they were enumerated on the 1880 Supplemental Schedule of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes, which documented their status alongside the notation that they were raising two sons, both of whom could hear.
Following Octavus’s death from liver cancer in 1911, Omelia moved to Chicago to be near her younger sister, Almedia. She remarried to Richard Tracy in 1915 and resided in Illinois until her death on December 24, 1924.
Almedia Jones Bassett: Continental Mobility
Almedia Jones, born September 25, 1847 (or 1851, per conflicting notes on the form), lost her hearing at age eight due to a severe childhood illness or medication reaction (noted alternately as a “poisonous cold remedy” or eating “poisoned gr_____”). Like her sisters, she entered the Tennessee School for the Deaf from Sparta, Tennessee, in 1855, receiving four years of instruction.
By 1870, Almedia and two siblings Hugh Gracy Jones & Omelia had been living with their older sister Catherine & family in Indiana, Following Catherine’s death, Almedia married James A. Bassett in September of 1874 in Franklin, Johnson County, Indiana. James, a carpenter born in Pennsylvania, had lost his hearing at age five due to scarlet fever and had attended schools for the deaf in both Wisconsin (Platteville) and California (Santa Rosa).
An Impressive Geographic Trail
Almedia and James demonstrated an extraordinary degree of mobility for a late-nineteenth-century family:
1874(Sept): Married in Indiana.
1876–1880: Relocated to California; enumerated in Sonoma County for the 1880 census with their eldest child.
1880s: Returned briefly to Tennessee, where another child was born, before returning to Indiana.
1889: Settled in the Chicago, Illinois area, where their records were captured by enumerator J.C. Balis for the Special Census.
The special census notes that the couple had eight children, all of whom could hear and remarks that they were “bright, vigorous children,” though the family was “not very well off.” James’s sister, Jane Bassett Atkinson, was also deaf and traveled in tandem with or near the family, creating a dense, supportive kinship network spanning from the Midwest to the Pacific coast.
Conclusion and Methodological Insights
For researchers focused on the Upper South and “burned counties” of Middle Tennessee, specialized federal schedules offer an invaluable substitute for missing local records. The data preserved by these special schedules does more than just fill in blank spaces on a family group sheet; it clarifies migration patterns that otherwise seem inexplicable.
The Jones sisters did not move randomly across the American landscape. Their migrations were dictated by institutional access, kinship networks established at schools for the deaf, and economic opportunities shared with extended in-laws. By combining these separate data points, we discover not just a list of names, but a much clearer map of their lived experiences.
The two special census schedules mentioned in this article are available at Ancestry with a subscription or thru your local library if it carries the Ancestry Library subscription for its patrons.
Links to the Ancestry Databases mentioned in the article
U.S., 1880 Federal Census Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes
U.S., Special Census on Deaf Family Marriages and Hearing Relatives, 1888-1895
Links to my blog posts from 2017
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/09/us-special-census-find.html
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/09/us-special-census-find-part-2.html
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/catherine-jones-bronson-us-special.html
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/making-connections-how-charles-met.html
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/omelia-jones-fuller-us-special-census.html
https://mariegen.blogspot.com/2017/10/almedia-jones-bassett-us-special-census.html
Disclaimer: This article is based on a series of blog posts I made about my research on this family in 2017 and has been combined with the additional information that I’ve found since that time. While Gemini was utilized to help organize and format the underlying research data, the final text, logic, and conclusions are entirely my own.