Today I will provide my first general review of the data collected for Dr. Isaac J. Kanistanaux who I believe is the same man as Isaac J. Kindness. I need to assess what is known and what is missing for this family member. This will assist me in planning my next phase of research.
This guy is almost as much of a mystery as the two Dr. Lee-o-netto ladies. I believe he is Laton’s brother, Isaac J. Kindness of the Brothertown Nation. This is based solely on given name & middle initial, age, birth location, and use of the Kanistanaux name in the late 1800s. I have been unable to confirm a connection between the two, so I could be totally wrong.
Caroline Andler (my Brothertown connection) shows no documentation for Isaac J. Kindness after the 1850 Census where he is found as a child with his family. There is a mention of him enlisting during the Civil War in her book, but I was unable to locate anything to confirm it. I will be checking with her to see if this is an error.
The 190[1?] letter we have from the doctor does help to solidify the likely hood he is Isaac Kindness. He states in the letter he has changed his name to Kanistanaux. Unfortunately he does not give a clue as to what it was before. The letter is address to a woman named Hazard in Rhode Island. Caroline Andler says Brothertown does have connections to Hazard families in Rhode Island. The years 1861 to 1865 are mentioned, proving the person was old enough to remember this time in his life and establishing a birth year no later than 1856 or so and potentially much earlier. The letter strengthens my theory but falls short of confirming anything.
The man who used the name Dr. Isaac Kanistanaux is found only in the 1880 U.S. Census. He is in Steuben Co., NY which is just to the west of Cattarugus Co. where the younger Dr. Lee-o-netto was and 2 counties west of Chautauqua Co., NY where most of the Kanistanaux family is found.
He is very likely the same Dr. I. J. Kanistanaux found from 1889 to 1901 in various news items with a residence around East Chatham in Tioga Co., PA, just to the south of Cattarugus and Steuben Counties in New York. This man was also practicing medicine in Lindley, Steuben Co., NY. The south border of Lindley is the border between Steuben Co., NY and Tioga, Co., PA.
My assumption is based on the occupation of doctor, the surname, and proximity of the two counties to each other, so once again, this is not confirmed and I could be wrong.
In 1901 he was reported receiving Tioga County aid for medical bills (his own, not those due him from others). It is possible he died here about this time. He may also have returned to family in Wisconsin or elsewhere. If local family members learned he was sick they may have taken him in and cared for him. This is especially true since the family has a history of doctoring. I may find he died in the household of another Kanistanaux.
Since I have only found him in the 1880 Census, I don’t know if he ever married or had children. As you can see from the above chart it is somewhat possible he is the father of all the above children. It all depends on when the older Dr. Lee was born. I have a date range of 1846 to 1853 for her. Isaac was 8 in 1837 but 16 in 1853, so he was old enough in 1853 but not in 1846. He is clearly of a proper age to be the father of all the others.
Before writing this post I took one more stab at trying to locate more about him. He really should be in East Chatham, PA in the 1900 census because I can put him there in 1899 and in 1901. I did a page by page search of the immediate neighboring towns and Chatham with no luck. I tried Kindness and Kanistanaux with spelling variations and using wild cards. I searched at FamilySearch and Ancestry.com. I narrowed my searches down to just specific databases and searched on just Isaac with no surname, just I. J. with no surname etc.. I used key words Dr., Doctor, and Physician with a 10 year birth date spread and little else except the states of NY and PA. This guy just does not want to be found.
Places I looked and did not find him – but should have!
- Civil War records including drafts – all states
- 1860 Census – all states
- 1870 Census – all states
- 1892 NY State Census
- 1900 Census – all states and intensive search in Tioga Co., PA
- Court of Claims Applications for NY Indians – index provided by Caroline Andler
I offer a challenge to my readers – help me find the good doctor.
Without more information to work with, I have very limited options for locating anything more. I doubt he would have received County aid if he owned property, so checking land records doesn’t seem to be a good use of research time or money. If he did not own property, it is unlikely there would be a probate record. My best option is checking for a death and/or burial record in Tioga Co., PA. If that fails, I will look in the towns where other of this family are living in case one of them took him in. I will also continue to watch for new online newspapers and historical books for the region.
At this time, I will wait to see what I turn up for vital records on the children. If I locate a solid identity for their father(s) and it is not Isaac, I may not need to learn any more about this man, except to satisfy my own curiosity.
Top Priority To-Do List
East Chatham, Tioga Co., PA
- Death record for I. J. Kindness or Kanistanaux after December of 1900
Future To-Do List
Other Known Kanistanaux Family Locations
- Death record for I. J. Kindness or Kanistanaux after December of 1900
Steuben Co., NY
- Search for new Historical newspapers, history books, directories, etc.
Tioga Co., PA
- Search for new Historical newspapers, history books, directories, etc.
See the Kanistanaux Home Page for more.
Do you have any information to add or questions?
Please leave a comment.
The Ne-Do-Ba Research Journal 