This is the continuing exploration of the Yeager family of Barbour County, West Virginia, beginning with William Yeager Sr. In the last article, we established his approximate birth year as 1786 in Virginia, and discovered he married Elizabeth Thorn in Randolph County, Virginia in 1809.
The WikiTree entry which started me down this rabbit hole contained the following statement: “They were the parents of at least 12 sons and 5 daughters.” And, sure enough, there were a great many children attached to William Yeager. Some were quickly debunked. Purline was born in Georgia. Abner, Thomas, James Elisha, Nancy, and Wilson were all born in South Carolina. They are likely the product of a different William and Elizabeth Yeager who were living in South Carolina. And Jane’s birth year was 1786 – the same as her father and a whole four years before her mother was born!
Why can I outright dismiss all of these as not his children? Well, first off, I don’t. I did remove the links to them in the “children” section, but I kept all their names in the “Research Notes” section. But U.S. Census records for William Yeager show he spent his entire lifetime in the same small part of the country, in Randolph and Barbour Counties, in what is now West Virginia (Barbour County was formed with parts of Randolph County in 1843).
So, what children could we confirm? At first, there were only four. Unfortunately for genealogists, the U.S. Census doesn’t list family members by name until 1850. Prior to that, additional members of the household were simply added by hashmarks. Those can give us some clues, which we’ll get back to later.
The 1850 U.S. Census1 lists four children by name in the household of William Yeager:
- Andrew, age 25
- Isom, age 22
- Jacob, age 19
- William, age 16
By 1850, William and Elizabeth have been married more than 40 years, and the oldest child here is 25. There were almost certainly more – possibly a lot more – children produced in the first two decades of their marriage. But how do we find them?
First, let’s go back to the census records.
In the 1820 U.S. Census of Randolph, Virginia2, the household of William and Elizabeth appears to contain 4 boys and one girl, although ages are impossible to discern.
In the 1830 U.S. Census of Randolph, Virginia3, William is head of household and between 40 and 50 years of age. Besides what is presumably his wife, there are the following children enumerated in the household:
- 1 male child under 5 (born 1825-1830)
- 1 male child age 5-10 (born 1820-1825)
- 1 female child age 5-10 (born 1820-1825)
- 1 male child age 10-15 (born 1815-1820)
- 1 female child age 10-15 (born 1815-1820)
- 1 male child age 15-20 (born 1810-1815)
- 1 female child age 15-20 (born 1810-1815)
The 1820 census only listed 1 female child, yet a decade later there are two over 10 years of age. It is possible one could have been born in 1820
In the 1840 U.S. Census of Randolph, Virginia4, the family is enumerated as follows:
- 1 male, age 50-60 (William Sr. would have been about 53).
- 1 female, age 50-60 (his wife Elizabeth Thorn)
- 1 male child, age 5-10 (born 1830-1835)
- 1 male child, age 5-10 (born 1830-1835)
- 1 male child, age 10-15 (born 1825-1830)
- 1 male child, age 15-20 (born 1820-1825)
- 1 female child, age 15-20 (born 1820-1825)
- 1 female child, age 15-20 (born 1820-1825)
- 1 female child, age 20-30 (born 1810-1820)
By 1840, William and Elizabeth had been married about 21 years. By this account, their oldest child is 20, and likely their first born.
Now, let’s try to combine the lists from 1830 and 1840.
- female, born 1810-1815
- male, born 1810-1815
- female, born 1815-1820
- male, born 1815-1820
- female, born 1820-1825
- female, born 1820-1825
- male, born 1820-1825
- male, born 1825-1830
- male, born 1830-1835
- male, born 1830-1835
That’s ten children we can count from census records. It doesn’t mean those are all the children they had. Some children, at least one or two, probably were born and died young in between federal census reports. But, for now, it’s the most complete list we can make. Now, we go about putting names to as many as we can.
Remember, the 1850 census gives us the names and ages of the 4 youngest males. Let’s plug their names into the list.
- female, born 1810-1815
- male, born 1810-1815
- female, born 1815-1820
- male, born 1815-1820
- female, born 1820-1825
- female, born 1820-1825
- male, born 1820-1825: Andrew, born abt. 1825
- male, born 1825-1830: Isom, born abt. 1828
- male, born 1830-1835: Jacob, born abt. 1831
- male, born 1830-1835: William, born abt. 1834
A marriage record search by the last name “Yeager” on West Virginia Culture Center revealed the following: Rebecca Yeager married James Teter in Barbour, (West) Virginia on 08 Nov 18485. While her parents are not identified on the marriage records, the 1870 U.S. Census of Barbour6 enumerates the elderly widower William Sr., now 85, residing in the home of James and Rebecca Teter, ages 46 and 47 respectively. This is reasonable evidence that Rebecca is his daughter, sheltering and caring for him in his old age. If she were 47 in 1870, that gives her a birth year of about 1823, matching one of the missing female children above. Let’s plug her into that spot.
- female, born 1810-1815
- male, born 1810-1815
- female, born 1815-1820
- male, born 1815-1820
- female, born 1820-1825
- female, born 1820-1825: Rebecca, born abt. 1823
- male, born 1820-1825: Andrew, born abt. 1825
- male, born 1825-1830: Isom, born abt. 1828
- male, born 1830-1835: Jacob, born abt. 1831
- male, born 1830-1835: William, born abt. 1834
I next found a death record for a man named Abraham Yeager7, who died in Barbour County, West Virginia on 13 May 1865 at the age of 54. The death record indicates his parents were William and Elizabeth Yeager. His birth year would have been about 1811. Let’s add him to our list.
- female, born 1810-1815
- male, born 1810-1815: Abraham, born abt. 1811
- female, born 1815-1820
- male, born 1815-1820
- female, born 1820-1825
- female, born 1820-1825: Rebecca, born abt. 1823
- male, born 1820-1825: Andrew, born abt. 1825
- male, born 1825-1830: Isom, born abt. 1828
- male, born 1830-1835: Jacob, born abt. 1831
- male, born 1830-1835: William, born abt. 1834
Four to go!
- “United States, Census, 1850”, Accessed 03 Jan 2026 via FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M88G-594), Entry for William Yeager and Elizabeth Yeager, 1850. ↩︎
- “United States, Census, 1820”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHLC-6X2 : Tue Jan 21 11:47:11 UTC 2025), Entry for William Yeager, 1820. ↩︎
- “United States, Census, 1830”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XH5N-L75 : Mon Mar 11 01:51:59 UTC 2024), Entry for William Yeager, 1830. ↩︎
- “United States, Census, 1840”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHT2-T6H : Sun Mar 10 02:17:49 UTC 2024), Entry for William Yeager, 1840. ↩︎
- Marriage Records, Barbour County, West Virginia. Accessed 04 Jan 2026 via https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=580544&frame=00028 ↩︎
- “United States, Census, 1870”, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MZHS-1CY : Tue Jan 21 01:38:40 UTC 2025), Entry for James Teter and Rebecca Teter, 1870. ↩︎
- Records of Deaths in 1865. West Virginia Culture Center, database. Accessed 06 Jan 2025 via https://dach-image-proxy.digital-relativity.workers.dev/?film=808378&frame=00276. Death record for Abraham Yeager. ↩︎