Moses Fleming (c.1797 – 1870s) and Irena Crossman (1799 – after 1885) were my 4th-great-grandparents, being the parents of Elijah Fleming. Moses was born in Essex County, New York and Irena in Vermont, and they lived in both New York and Vermont for a time. They eventually settled in Iowa by 1870.

Moses was probably the son of Benoni Fleming and Louisa Squires. Irena was the daughter of Elijah Crossman by his 3rd wife Elizabeth Hewett.^{⟮1⟯See the Daughters of the American Revolution entries for Elijah and a descendant.}

Identification

For a while, I struggled for proof of the widespread claim that Irena’s maiden name was Crossman. In 2017 I got the death record of their daughter Alzina West from the records office in Salem, Oregon, which furnished the needed confirmation, and is posted online, shadow and all.^⟮2⟯

Since then, other records with the surname have turned up, such as Harriet’s marriage^⟮3⟯ and their son Frank’s death (below).

For some children, however, proof of membership in the family is less than I would like. In the case of Elijah, he is listed with them in the 1850 census and looks like a son. The continuity of his movements with the rest of the family, and the consistency in the listed children in censuses going back to 1830 (when he would be a toddler), is, taken together, fairly convincing. There is also DNA support; see below.

Census records

There are no birth records found for any members of this family, so I rely heavily on census returns. First, the earlier Federal ones, where only counts by age range and sex are provided:

Here are both federal and New York state censuses, which can be used to get reported ages and estimate birth years of Moses and Irena, and try to correctly assign their children:

The absence of Irena from 1860 and 1865, when Moses was living with his son, is puzzling (if indeed it’s the same Moses; see below). She may have been living wither her son Frank Arthur as she was in later years (sometimes going by Frank, sometimes by Arthur), and his family was not caught by the census.

In 1885, Irena seems to be living with family members of her daughter Alzina Relief (see below), although a 48-year-old woman named Rebecka West is hard to place.

Their ages vary a bit, but Moses seems to have been born around 1797, and Irena in perhaps 1799.

The correspondence in the lists of children is remarkably good going back to 1830. The couple appear to have had nine children in all, perhaps more if some died young.

The other Moses

There is another Moses living with Moses and Irena in the 1850 census. Instead of an age, there is only a ditto mark, which may mean the same age as Irena (51). However, if this were all, it would seem more likely the age was omitted by mistake and he is a son, corresponding to one of the older sons shown in the earlier censuses.

However, in the 1855 state census^⟮13⟯, there is another Moses living with Harriet (Moses and Irena’s daughter) and her husband Benjamin Washburn as a boarder, aged 60, unemployed, unmarried, born in Oneida County. Unless this age too is wildly off, he could not be a son. Nor could I see how he could be the the Moses husband of Irena, who is shown in the same census living with his family, born in Essex County, aged 58, married, occupation laborer.

Also, in the other Moses’s house is a Relief Fleming aged 15 as a servant. The daughter Relief is shown living with Moses and Irena, aged 14. However, it’s more plausible that this is the same person and she was inadvertently claim by both houses, with small age variation.

So, despite the differing ages, this other Moses seems to be the same as the 1850 Moses, and is clearly connected to this family. My best supposition is that he is a cousin of our Moses. It remains barely possible though that the 1850 Moses is a son.

This creates potential for confusion, since the two Moseses are not easily distinguished.

Family

Moses and Irena may be inferred to have married around 1822, and had these children:

Alzina Relief West in 1929

• Eliakim (c.1823 – 1905-03-12)^⟮14⟯, married 1st Mary Boutwell, 2nd Julia A. (Dorman?). The evidence he is of this family is circumstantial but convincing; for example, his family is living with that of Moses in the 1855 state census. His reported ages vary; in 1900 he says he was born December 1820, but other censuses have later dates.
• (?) Moses or another boy, inferred from census count; see other Moses above.
• Elijah Fleming (c.1827 – 1875-12-13), my great-great-great-grandfather.
• Harriet C. (1830-01 – after 1910)^{⟮15⟯ ⟮16⟯}, married 1st Benjamin Franklin Washburn^⟮17⟯, 2nd — Wright, 3rd Reuben Haines.
• Ashbell (c.1832 – after 1895), married Eliza West.
• David R. (1834 – 1907-09-15), married Sarah Levanway.
• Frank Arthur (1838-12-25 – 1919-08-25)^⟮18⟯, married Miranda Judith May.
• Alzina Relief (1841-06-23 – 1936-01-26), married Parker Leroy West, died in Eugene, Oregon.
• William Fuller (1843-03-17 – 1917-01-17)^{⟮19⟯Find a Grave memorial for William}, listed as single on his Iowa death record.^{⟮20⟯FamilySearch}

There are claims they had two other children died young, but I have not found a record of such.

DNA

I have a handful of DNA matches confirming my descent at least from Irena. Two are through descendants of children Ashbell and Frank, and I have another descendant from one of Irena’s half-siblings.

Ancestry

… of Moses

… of Irena

See Irena’s mother for a likely continuation of her ancestry.

Footnotes

1. ↑ See the Daughters of the American Revolution entries for Elijah and a descendant.
2. ↑ https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/49963793
3. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QG11-1HTW
4. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHPV-Q1L
5. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XHY4-R5N
6. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MCY8-3JM
7. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6QD-DQM
8. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MFDM-C8X
9. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVNJ-JHS7
10. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDJG-C4H
11. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MDKY-2ZR
12. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:939Z-YGS9-V2
13. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K6Q6-37K
14. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGRS-HD67
15. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MSMC-NY5
16. ↑ https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:MLPL-9D5
17. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QKN1-27GC
18. ↑ https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGP6-ZN31
19. ↑ Find a Grave memorial for William
20. ↑ FamilySearch