Am seeking more info on John and Susan (Stamm)Dickerson. I know Susan was b. 1803 in PA, but do not know parents'name. She married John Dickerson in IL and they had four children, I think. Some born in IL some b. in WI; Platteville, I believe. I went to Boscobel a few years ago and saw Susan's grave and James', but they (John and Susan) had a fourth (I think) child: Frances J. Dickerson, b. Platteville, I think, or Boscobel. James married a Charlotte (I think...I don't have my papers in front of me) Messersmith, and THEY had several children. James was appointed Postmaster by Pres. A. Lincoln (a distant relative of mine) in 1861. I believe he and Charlotte had a kind of General Store that they ran together (I think the original building is still there, but had been changed into a creamery, and now it's a bookstore). People would come to the store and that's where the local P.O. was. James ran it for several years until he died and then his wife Charlotte took over as PostMistress for a few years. She later moved away to live with one of her daughters. She and James had about 7 children or so, but in the cemetery are stones for 5 others, none of them even reaching age 2 or 3, so that was kind of sad to see. I am related to James AND his sister, Frances J. If ANYONE can please tell me anything about Frances, please do. Am searching for her date of death. She was my father's grandmother, and had first married a man named Solomon Levi, but that marriage lasted only about 5 months and he left her...pregnant, of course! She went to live with her brother, James, and his family, and she was a milliner (made ladies' hats), so I think she probably worked at his store. She had her baby, Florence, and Florence was my dad's grandmother. Frances would be my dad's g-grandmother. Well, after a few years she divorced Solomon Levi and then married a John Hamilton. I think they may have lived in Platteville or just over the border into IL or MO, maybe. Frances' daughter, Florence, was 9 when her mother remarried. THE PROBLEM IS, is that NO ONE KNOWS where, when or how Frances and John Hamilton died and are buried!! My dad's oldest sister, who knew her grandma Florence (or FloBelle), said that one day Florence remarked to her that "after mother died from "quick consumption", I was sent to my Dickerson relatives to live." (In Boscobel). Now, Florence and John also had two children of their own, and they were also "farmed out" to some people in Boscobel to raise.

My theory is that both Florence and John BOTH died of TB rather quickly, so the kids were given to relatives.

HOWEVER, I have NO IDEA WHEN OR WHERE Frances J and John Hamilton died and were buried.

I contacted the medical facilities at the U. in Platteville, WI, and asked if it was possible for people to be put into a TB institution and then died and were buried there, no records, etc. But the reply I got was that there were no institutions for TB in WI until the 1920s or'30, which would be too late for Frances and John.

Does anyone have any more info about this, or any ideas about where to search for the missing Hamiltons?

I ALSO am curious to know where the Messersmiths in Boscobel or Grant Co. came from...because they married twice into my family: Charlotte married James, and a sister of James married a brother of Charlotte's! But I would really like to know where that Messersmith family came from...and had they perhaps known the Dickerson or the Stamm families in PA???? I'm anxious to know where Susan Stamm came from...all I know is that she was b. 1803 in PA. I don't even know where John came from, so I'm searching for him, too. I DO have a copy of their marriage license...about 1821, I think...the oldest document I have.

Am also wondering if the Stamm family knew the Lincoln family...they were both from Berks Co. PA,and my grandmother had always said we were related to Lincoln's MOTHER, Nancy Hanks, through Susan Dickerson...so am wondering if there's a little "cousin stuff" going on there!

Sorry this is so long, but I just wanted to throw some details out there and see if anything clicks with anyone else! Good luck and thanks for reading this!