Surname Saturday - Tosh

I am related to the Tosh line through my mother's grandfather. This is one of my more difficult lines to trace as my relationship is through a female. This is also one of my lines that I am focusing on for 2012. I have found a lot of information online that "could" be linked to my Tosh line, but nothing concrete. Here is what I currently have:

Hugh Cleveland White, my 2nd Great Grandfather, died in 1948. His death certificate lists his parents as Marcellus White and Mary J. Tosh, both of Virginia. Mary J. Tosh married Marcellus White some time just prior to 1860.

Hugh C. White's parents as listed on his death certificate from July 25, 1948.

I also have a copy of Mary J. (Tosh) White's death certificate. Mary's birthplace is listed as Virginia and her parents as Thomas Tosh of Virginia and "don't know."

Mary J. (Tosh) White's death certificate from February 26, 1915.

So I've got a connection to a Thomas Tosh in Virginia. Mary J. (Tosh) White and her husband Marcellus lived in Ray County, Missouri from at least 1870 until their deaths. I was curious if any of the Tosh family members followed them and I found an image from the 1870 census listing a Thomas Tosh (of the appropriate age to be Mary's father) and some children: Cora, William, Ella, Henry and Norma. Both Mary and this Tosh family lived in Richmond Township, Ray County, Missouri.

1870 census

When I trace this Tosh "perhaps" ancestor back another ten years I find them in 1860 living in Roanoke County, Virginia. Thomas lives with his wife, Lucy, and the same children. This time Mary, age 25, is listed: Mary, Cora, William, Ella and Henry. There is also a mystery "Pennie."

1860 census

In a search on Mary J. Tosh on Ancestry I came across an 1850 census that lists Mary J. Tosh living in District 57, Roanoke, Virginia, with her father Thomas Tosh. Her future husband, Marcellus White, lives nearby in the same district.

1850 census

I am willing to wager that this is indeed "my" Mary. With that assumption in hand the trail runs cold. If I have the correct Thomas Tosh and he lived in 1870 in Ray County, Missouri, that is the last record of him. I can find no burial records and no further census records. When I conduct a search for Thomas Tosh in Roanoke County there is quite a bit of information. Apparently, Thomas Tosh was one of the first settlers of Roanoke. Unfortunately, he is not the correct generation to be the same person. I have found information stating that Thomas Tosh's son was Jonathan and that he is possibly the father of my Thomas Tosh, but to date there is no documentary proof of that relationship.

Tosh To-Do list:

1. Look for land records in Missouri for Thomas Tosh.

2. Review Ray County, Missouri newspapers for Thomas Tosh obituary.

3. Locate probate record for Jonathan Tosh and determine if it links him to Thomas Tosh.

4. Research Roanoke County, Virginia land records for Thomas Tosh.

Who is "my" Marcellus?

My search for the White family of Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia has come to a grinding halt. This is a family line where I have found next to nothing in print regarding anyone in the family. I have only several censuses to guide me in my search. And I am not even sure that some of those are for the right "Whites." It is just one of those common surnames.

There is a line of Whites that are well known in Roanoke County and the patriarch was Samuel White. He either built, or owned, a mansion and several houses called Fort Lewis. He was clearly a very wealthy man. In his will he gave the mansion house to his youngest son, Alexander. His second son, Edmund Penn White, was named executor and was given a tract of land known as the "Ned Taylor Tract" in Bedford County, Virginia, just north of New London.

Edmund P. White married Sarah (Sallie) McClanahan October 14, 1820 in Botetourt County, Virginia. They are listed on the 1850 census in Roanoke County with five children: Gay, Marcellus, Ann, Lee and Mary.

Page 2 of the 1850 Census listing for Edmund P. White, showing his son, Marcellus.

Fast forward to Ray County, Missouri. I have traced my White line from my grandmother to Hugh C. White, born March 16, 1876. According to his death certificate his parents were Marcellus F. White and Mary J. (Tosh) White, both born in Virginia. I am able to trace Marcellus and Mary back to 1870 in Ray County, Missouri. Other than his headstone and several censuses, I do not have many conclusive sources for Marcellus. A biography in a Ray County, Missouri history states that he fought for the Confederacy during the Civil War. There is only one Marcellus F. White that fought for the confederates in Virginia. He was a Quartermaster sergeant and was captured by the Union army following Gettysburg and spent time in the Union prison at Fort Delaware. He enlisted in 1861 at Salem, Roanoke County, Virginia.

I have found several trees that link the Marcellus I know in Missouri to Edmund Penn White. The 1850 census I mention above does list a Marcellus, age 18, which would be the appropriate age for "my" Marcellus...as I have come to call him. But I have no conclusive link between the two. There is no death record on file for Marcellus. I cannot find an obituary for him in any of the Ray County, Missouri newspapers. There are also no probate records for him. I also have no information about Edmund Penn White's death. Roanoke County, Virginia has no record of any probate documents for him. I do know that Mary J. Tosh, "my" Marcellus' wife, was born in Roanoke County, Virginia through various documents. But I was unable to locate a marriage for Marcellus and Mary in Roanoke County. Their first child, Thomas, was born in Virginia in 1860, but there is no marriage record for his parents around that time.

I have contacted so many sources in Virginia I could not even begin to list them here. I even had a chance to visit the great Virginia Room at the Roanoke City Library, but I came up with very little. Now I must wait for all of my emails to bear fruit. Oh, where can "my" Marcellus be?