52 Ancestors #19 - William J. Barefield: Unsolved Puzzles

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks: Amy Crow has posted a challenge on her blog "No Story Too Small".

I was unable to post last week so next week I will be posting two ancestors.

William J. Barefield is my maternal 2nd great grandfather.

William J. Barefield has been one my unsolved puzzles. There are only two records that I have been able to obtain for him - the 1840 and 1850 census. 

The 1840 census shows him living in Claiborne Parish, Louisiana with his first wife and son. He is listed as age 20-30. His wife is in the same age group and his son is under 5. The head of the household listed below him is J. H. Barefield. I have found no information or connections to this J. H. Barefield.

Source Citation: Year: 1840; Census Place:  , Claiborne, Louisiana; Roll: 127; Page: 97; Image: 201; Family History Library Film: 0009689.

His wife and son disappear sometime around 1842 and by 1843 he is married to my 2nd great grandmother Elizabeth Caroline Cargill. She used her middle name on records. William and Elizabeth had three known children: Hester, James, and Louisa (she is my ancestor). They are listed together on the 1850 census living in Western District, Bienville, Lousiana. The Leatherman children listed with them are Elizabeth's children by her first marriage. There are also two men living with them and a girl age fourteen (George Pierce (?), Vinson Gillet, and Hester A. Sanfrancisco (spelled as shown on the record).

Source Citation: Year: 1850; Census Place: Western District, Bienville, Louisiana; Roll: M432_230; Page: 278B; Image: 73.

This census shows his age as 30 but we know from the first census that he was 30 or older ten years earlier. The later census shows him to be eleven years older than his wife. I have estimated his birth as 1816 which would correspond with his first marriage and child.

William was a gunsmith. The value of his real estate property is listed as $1,000. It is the lowest valued property on the page. It shows that he was born in Arkansas.

Elizabeth, his second wife, is listed without William on the 1860 census in Milam County, Texas. The non-population schedule shows her farm valued at $500.

That's it folks! Those are the only records I have concerning William J. Barefield.

Did William die in Arkansas or Texas...or did they divorce?
Is the girl named Hester A. Sanfrancisco related? (William and Elizabeth named their first child Hester A.)
Who were his parents and siblings?
What happened to his first wife and son?

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