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Last week I talked about a "New Toler" line be discovered, and the Last person in the line that we could trace was Russell Toler.  This discovery was a little bit of a surprise for me, and a few of the other Toler / Towler researchers that I know.  Part of the reason for the surprise is that they are come from Virginia, and moved into Indiana, like my ancestors, but these are all names that I have not run across before.  The other "twist" to the surprise is that they end up in Kansas, and we had a ancestor, Caleb Anthony that was in Kansas (albeit not the same town).  Well I have done a little more digging, but have not been able to find all that much.  The only real solid clue that we have so far is from the 1870 US Census record.

 The first that that the 1870 US Census record tells us is that Russell Toler is living in Green Township, Hancock County, Indiana, as you can see in the image below:

Hancock County shares a border with Madison, Henry, Rush, Shelby and Marion counties.  None of which I had ancestors in at that time. 

Looking at the 1870 US Census we find Russell Toler and his family at the bottom of the page (in fact, the rest of the household carries over to the next page).  Looking at his entry we see that he is a farmer, states that he was born in Virginia.  His wife is listed as Cynthia (or it could be Cydnia).  His wife was born in Ohio, and their oldest son is listed on the page as well, Perry.  Take a look at the image below:

So far this is the best and really only clue that we have about Mr. Russell Toler.  I cannot find mention of him in Juby Toler's Fruit of the Garden book, and I cannot find him in Ray Toler's recent book either.  We know that the son, Perry, is actually Oliver Perry Toler.  I have found a few records for him, including a census record that shows his wife Clarissa. 

Oliver and Clarissa had a son named Carl Eugene Toler, and that is the Grandfather for the person that took the DNA test.  So in review, the line looks like this:

• Carl Eugene Toler (married Melissa Alice Farr) b. 1878, KS
• Oliver P Toler (married Clarissa) B. 1851 in IN
• Russell Toler (married to a Cynthia) B in 1817 in Virginia......found in Hancock County, IN in 1870 Census.

So far I have been unable to find Russell in the 1860 Census or the 1880 Census.  I have looked in both Indiana, and Virginia, but have yet to find him.  I am starting to wonder if Russell is a middle name, or if at some other point in time he was known by a different name. 

I am still looking for more information on Russell Toler so if you find any please feel free to use the contact form to let me know if you find any.  In particular I am looking to determine who his father was.