After 45 years years of research I still don’t know the parents of my great great grandmother, Lovina (Travis) Morgan; 1825 – 1898. Her name is often written in documents as Lavina or Lavinia but it really is spelled Lovina. Theat is her signature after her husband, John Morgan, died in 1882. She was the executor of his estate. They are both buried in the Heritage Hill Cemetery in Arkport (Town of Hornellsville), New York.

John and Lovina were already married in the 1850 census. All I had for many years was early census records of various Travis families around the area.

In 2019 I noticed on Ancestry that someone had that Lovina was married again in 1886. Her new husband was Asa Razey of Fremont (the Town to the east of Hornellsville). So she was Mrs. Razey when she died. I contacted the Fremont Town Clerk and she searched (for free) her death records. All that record has as her father was “Travis” and a blank space for her mother’s name.

In 2022 I found Lovina mentioned in newspaper article that was about the estate of a Sylvenus Travis that died in 1863 in Catharine, Schuyler Co., NY. I went there and looked at the estate papers. It listed 45 heirs but didn’t state how they were related to Sylvenus. I was able to connect most of the people except Lovina, Hannah Webb and John B. Travis, all of Steuben County. I think Hannah and John are Lovina’s siblings.

By doing a lot of research on the Travis family, I think that the best possibility of Lovina’s parent were Ira and Mary Travis that are buried in the Harding Hill Cemetery, Town of Fremont. One website has Ira dying in 1836 and Mary dying in 1812. I thought for sure that the year was wrong for Mary as she shows up in the 1840 census.

I went to the Harding Hill Cemetery last fall but the weeds were too tall to see anything. I went there again last month on a nice warm day. I found Mary’s tombstone mostly buried,  laying face down, and in two parts. Glad I took a shovel to dig and flip it. It says “Mary, wife of Ira Travis died Sept. 15, 1842 aged 67 years.”

Meanwhile… back in February it dawned on me that maybe Lovina’s marriage certificate to Asa Razey might show her parents’ names. The New York State Health Department is taking over 3 years to sending out genealogical requests for vital records. The marriage index on Ancestry shows that Asa and Lovina were married in Hornellsville. So I wrote to the Hornellsville Town Clerk for a transcription of their marriage record.

I waited 2 months but hadn’t gotten a reply from the Hornellsville Clerk. I gave her a call last week. She said her assistant had been on vacation. She also asked if I was sure that they married in Hornellsville and I said that the marriage showed in the index as occurring in her Town. She replied that those online indexes were often wrong but it is the official NY State index. I told her that NY State was now taking over 3 years to reply. Then she said that New York was having VitalChek fulfill the genealogical requests. I know, for sure, that is NOT true.  So I was left hanging…

I know New York State is probably going to raise the rates later this year for vital records. I figured I should request the marriage certificate for Lovina and Asa Razey from them before the rates go up. So I quickly sent my check last week. Probably won’t see the marriage certificate from them until 2028 unless a miracle happens.

Yesterday I received a transcript of the marriage of Asa and Lovina from the Hornellsville Clerk. It has the parents’ name for Asa but not for Lovina. I doubt that the original marriage certificate from New York Sate will give her parents.