William Lennox is currently a "family brickwall," in that I have been unable to identify his parents and have not seen any traces of his siblings or any other relatives.
William was apparently born in the United States (possibly either in Virginia or Pennsylvania) around 1848. He married Mary Ellen O'Toole in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at St. Paul's Cathedral on September 29, 1869, and they had four children who lived til adulthood. He worked as a brakeman on the Pennsylvania and Lake Erie Railroad and died in a tragic railroad accident on August 18, 1882. I have extensive information on William's death, including several newspaper articles.
I have only been able to find him in two Census records:
1. In the 1880 Census, he is living with his wife and 4 children in Pittsburgh's Hill District, which was then a predominantly Irish neighborhood. He is listed as having been born in Pennsylvania in 1855 (which is hard to accept, as he married in 1869).
2. In the 1870 Census, he is living with his wife in Warren, Trumbull, Ohio. They were living next door to his wife's grandfather (John O'Toole) and the family of his sister-in-law, James and Sarah (O'Toole) Brickley. Curiously, he is listed as having been born in Virginia in 1848. 1848 seems like a much more plausible birth date, since he married in 1869. But - there are no plausible candidates for him in Virginia in either the 1860 census or the 1850 census.
There is no indication in either census record that William owned property. I have looked for him extensively in the grantee and grantor deeds in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, but have not found him. He died intestate and there is no probate record for him on file in Allegheny County. I have also searched for Orphan's Court records in Allegheny County on his four chldren, but have never found any guardianship records (which makes sense since he did not leave an estate).
William died in 1882 and his wife remarried in 1883. Curiously, three of his children (including his then 16 year old daughter, Agnes) married within three months of one another in the Fall of 1892.
| Additional Information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1st Jan 1848 (circa) | VIEW SOURCE |
| Date of Death | 1st Aug 1882 | VIEW SOURCE |
| Spouse (First Name/s and Maiden/Surname) | Mary Ellen O'Toole | |
| Place & Date of Marriage | in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at St. Paul's Cathedral on September 29, 1869 | |
| Number of Children | they had four children | |