William Frederick Losey 1843-1885, his early life with his parents Decay Losey 1814-c1890 and Amanda Malvina Lockwood 1818-1898
Research With a lot of help from ancestry.com William Losey’s early life and family can be traced through the 1850 and 1860 US census and Civil War records. There are undated graves associated with William’s grave that are explained by his mother Malvina’s will which is also very helpful as the beneficiaries include her granddaughter Maude who married Oscar Oram. Malvina’s father was Levi Lockwood and his will gives us more insights into the family.
Decay Losey and Malvina Lockwood were married in Cuyahoga Co. OH on 21 April 1842.
1850 and 1860 census During the 1850 and 1860 censuses the family lived Brooklyn, Cuyahoga Co. OH. Parents Decay (or Decoy) b1814 and Malvina (or Melvina) b1818 both born in NY State. Their offspring, all born in Ohio were William b1843, Helen (or Hellen) b.1845 and a child born 1847 called Lamison in 1850 then Townsend in 1860. In 1850 Decay was a farmer, then in 1860 a labourer and is included in the available 1819-1869 taxpayers lists for Brooklyn from 1849. In 1870 Decay, Melvina and Helen were still living together in Brooklyn, while William who by then was married to Kate was living elsewhere in Brooklyn.
Townsend No further records have been found for Townsend. For a yet unknown reason the findagrave website gives his father’s Decay’s grave as belonging to Townsend D Losey with no reference to the D being for Decay. So this is suspect.
Lamison was probably Tamison who, like her brother William married a member of the Calyer family. There is a question about Tamison and Townsend in the 1850 and 1860 censuses. Were they twins? Why was a 3 year old missed from the 1850 census? Where was Tamison in the 1860 census? Was there a mistake made by the official when completing the census forms and in fact there was just Tamison? Did Townsend b.1847 exist but was killed in the Civil War?
Helen married Amos Hodgman.
See Amanda Malvina’s will page for more on the family and their graves.