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Note: <CENTER><B>Dorcas Akerley, Wife of James Barton: Date and Place of Birth</B></CENTER>
<P>Dorcas Akerley is the wife of James5 Barton (Joseph4, Roger3, Joseph2, Roger1). She was born Tabitha Akerley on April 4, 1794, as recorded in the Smith Akerley family Bible. Her place of birth was probably the Town of Coeymans, Albany County, New York. An article titled "Roger Barton of Westchester County, N.Y., and Some of His Earlier Descendants," by George E. McCracken was published in The New England Historical and Genealogical Register (NEHGR) in serial form in 1952-1953. The October, 1953, issue, page 303, stated that Dorcas Akerly, wife of James Barton, was born in Montgomery County, New York, on April 14,1793, and died in Durand, Wisconsin, on September 2, 1867.<FONT FACE="Courier New">
<P>Bible: Tabitha Akerley, b. April 4, 1794, Albany Co., NY
NEHGR: Dorcas Akerly, b. April 14, 1793, Montgomery Co., NY</FONT>
<P>AKERLEY VS. AKERLY - The name is spelled both ways in the Smith Akerley family Bible. The first 25 entries are spelled Akerley. The next two are spelled Akerly, and the last is spelled Ackerly.
<P>APRIL 4 VS. APRIL 14 - Dorcas Akerley was born on April 4, not April 14 as stated in McCracken's article. The gravestone of Dorcas (Akerley) Barton in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Durand, Wisconsin, shows her birth date as April 4, 1793. The gravestone was the source of the incorrectly transcribed April 14 date. In short, the incorrect date of April 14 was a typographical error, not a date from some other authoritative source.
<P>1794 VS.1793 - Dorcas Akerley was born in 1794, not 1793 as stated on her gravestone and in McCracken's article (based on her gravestone). Dorcas' husband, James Barton, died before Dorcas, therefore he was not alive to attest to Dorcas' year of birth. The date of birth probably was provided by her son, Joseph Barton of Durand, Wisconsin, with whom she was visiting when she died. It is not unusual for a child not to know a parent's exact age or birth year. Birth month and day of the month, yes. They are celebrated every year. But not necessarily the year and age. Dorcas (Akerley) Barton appears by name and age in only two censuses. The 1850 census of South Valley, Cattaraugus Co., NY, shows her as 56 years old. Her birth date is in April, before the June 1 census, therefore she was born in 1794. The 1860 census of Farmington, Waupaca Co., WI, shows her as 66 years old. Again, because her birth date was before the census date, she was born in 1794. Thus the only two censuses in which Dorcas (Akerley) Barton appeared by name and age show that she was born in 1794. Therefore, we tentatively conclude that Dorcas was born April 4, 1794.
<P>TABITHA AND DORCAS - The Akerley family Bible recorded the births of the Akerley children, but not the birth of Dorcas. Instead, the Bible recorded the birth of Tabitha, born April 4, 1794. The Akerley family Bible recorded deaths, but not the death of Tabitha. The New King James version of the Bible, Acts 9:36, reads as follows: "At Joppa there was a certain disciple named Tabitha, which is translated Dorcas." The Akerley family was a religious family: Dorcas' brother Samuel became a Baptist minister. Certainly they knew the connection between the names Tabitha and Dorcas.
<P>Considering all the evidence, there can be no doubt that Dorcas Akerly of McCracken's NEHGR article and Tabitha Akerley of the Smith Akerley family Bible are the same person, born April 4, 1794.
<P>ALBANY CO. VS. MONTGOMERY CO. - McCracken's article stated that Dorcas Akerly was born in Montgomery Co., NY. That was an assumption based on the fact that her younger sister, Sally (Akerley) Barton, wife of Joseph Barton, was born in Montgomery Co., NY, as shown in the 1855 census of South Valley, Cattaraugus Co., NY. There is no primary source that shows where Dorcas Akerly was born. By the 1855 census, Dorcas had moved to Farmington, Waupaca Co., WI. The Wisconsin census did not show place of birth. The 1865 census of Napoli, Cattaraugus Co., NY , shows Samuel Akerley, age 66, Baptist clergyman, born in Albany Co., NY. Samuel Akerley, brother of Dorcas Akerley, was a Baptist clergyman. He was born in July, 1798, after the June 1 census date, and therefore, he was age 66 in the 1865 census. Therefore the Samuel Akerley of the 1865 census of Napoli is Samuel Akerley, brother of Dorcas Akerley. Therefore:
<P>1794- Tabitha (AKA Dorcas) Akerley was born.
1798 - Samuel Akerley was born in Albany Co., NY.
1800 Census - Smith Ackley (sic) family was in Coeymans, Albany Co., NY.
1803 - Sally Akerley was born in Montgomery Co., NY.
<P>Therefore, Dorcas Akerley probably was born in Coeymans, Albany Co., NY. The distribution of males and females and their ages in the family of Smith "Ackley" in the Town of Coeymans, Albany Co., NY, in the 1800 census matches the family of Smith Akerley as shown in the Smith Akerley family bible.<BR>
1 male under age 10 = son Samuel Akerley, born July 6, 1798
1 male age 26 through 44 = father Smith Akerley, born August 23, 1770
2 females under age 10 = daughters Tabitha (Dorcas) Akerley, born April 4, 1794, and Deborah Akerley, born May 16, 1796
1 female age 26 through 44 = wife Rachel Akerley, born June 29, 1774
<P>Thus correcting Doras Akerley's birth date and birth place leads to proving that the Smith "Ackley" family of the 1800 census of Albany Co., NY, was the family we call the Smith Akerley (or Akerly) family.
<P>The original family history pages of the Smith Akerley family Bible are in the possession of Tod Ackerly of Washington, DC. Photocopies are in my possession. Tod noticed that Tabitha's birth was recorded in the Smith Akerley family Bible, but she was the only child for whom there was no further record. Quite a bit was known about Dorcas, but her birth was not recorded in the family bible. Tod raised the question that launched this study: could Dorcas and Tabitha be the same person? The answer was yes.
<P>� by J.C. Barton in the year of our Lord 2007.
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