Finding Pounder, Bounder, Tounter: Eliza, Mary, Margaret and more

These days we care a lot about people getting our names right and have multiple records, from birth certificates, drivers licenses, passports, and social security cards that all have to match up perfectly. Just ask any woman who marries and takes the surname of her spouse how much effort it can be to make sure every record is the same. Not so true in the past. 

My Pounder ancestors were initially known through the 1881 History of Washtenaw County. Two Mulholland brothers married two sisters, Eliza Pounder and Mary Pounder. The only initial clue to the sisters' family roots were death certificates noting their parents were William Pounder and Margaret Burns Pounder. Eliza's certificate had William and Margaret Tounter while Mary's had Wm. and Margaret Pounder. From there it was a long genealogical journey through many misspellings of their name to find more about this family, including a marriage record for the parents, William Pounder and Margarett Byrne in 1821 Ireland.

Eliza Pounder Mulholland

My great-great grandfather Samuel Mulholland jr. married the 16-year-old Eliza Pounder on 31 Dec 1840 in Superior Township, Michigan. Her marriage record listed her name as Eliza Tounder.

From passenger records, we know that she was newly arrived from Ireland, having immigrated with her mother and siblings in July 1840 on the ship Liddons from Liverpool to New York, where she was identified as Elizabeth Pounder, occupation dress maker. Sam was 28 when they married, but perhaps had not found a suitable wife in his vicinity or perhaps he had an unrecorded earlier marriage.

Samuel and Eliza
Mulholland tombstone
in Dixboro Cemetery

Sam jr and Eliza had ten children, one who died as an infant. The children's stories as well as Sam jr's are elsewhere on this blog. They accumulated land over the years with their large Irish family to help extend the farm. Like many women of the time, we don't know much more about Eliza's life and there is little documentation to hint at what it was like. Her days would have been spent raising her large family, keeping house, and helping with farm chores, all very intensive physical labor in a time before steam and electrical machines.

Like many Irish immigrants of the time, it is probable that Eliza had little if any education, although Sam and Eliza made sure all their children attended school at least through elementary and learned to read and write. Illiteracy is one reason so many of the early records get names wrong, and she herself may have been unsure of the spelling. Pounder is the version that appears most often and was carried down to future generations by other members of the family so is assumed to be the best choice.

Eliza died of consumption relatively young at the age of 45 in 1869 when her youngest daughter was only six. On her death certificate, her parents are listed as William and Margaret Bownder. She is buried next to Sam in the Dixboro Cemetery, where her age at death date on her tombstone doesn't match the death register for the county. Somehow dates and surname spelling just weren't as important back then!

Mary Pounder Mulholland

Mary Pounder Mulholland

Like her sister Eliza, Mary arrived in the U.S. in July 1840 and settled in Superior Township where she lived her entire life. Based on her age in her Michigan death record, she would have been born in 1821 but this one turns out to be wrong. The mortality schedule for the 1880 census lists her age as 53, and she was listed as 13 on the 1840 passenger list, making the actual date more like 1827. The later date makes more sense as she was Eliza's younger sister.

Mary Pounder married Sam's younger brother, William Mulholland in 1845 when she was 18. Witnesses to the marriage were Margaret and Joseph Pounder, likely her sister and brother (see below). They had a big family of ten children, and spent their lives on the large farm William owned in Superior Township not far from where Sam jr. lived. In the 1881 History of Washtenaw County, she is noted as "a faithful and consistent member of the Episcopal Church." The Dixboro Methodist Episcopal Church was built in 1858, and would have been a central part of social life of the time.

Mary (listed as May on the mortality schedule) died in 1880 of typhoid fever, and is buried in the Dixboro Cemetery next to William who died six years later. Mary lived long enough for photography to have become more common and a picture of her as an elderly woman remains in the possession of William's descendants.

Finding Mrs. Margaret Pounder in Superior Township

With both Eliza and Mary living in Superior Township at the time they married into the Mulholland family, it seems highly probable that they may have had relatives nearby. Finding the two of them was easy given the 1881 county history and biographies of their husbands. Identifying others was a bit more challenging but what has been found does hold together as a good basis for the family tree.

Mrs. Margaret Pounder (45y) arrived on the ship Liddons in New York from Liverpool on 23 July 1840. Listed as traveling with her were her four children, Joseph (18y), Elizabeth (16y), Mary (13y), and Margaret (11y). They are shown as originating in Ireland.

Margaret's husband, William Pounder, was not on this ship, and no evidence of his presence in the U.S. has been found. He may have died before they left Ireland, or if he did come to the U.S. before the rest of his family, left no known record. Margarett Byrne/Burns married William in 1821 in the Ossory Diocese of Ireland.

Margaret is shown as a midwife under occupation on the 1840 passenger list, an interesting note as most female passengers lacked any evidence of having an occupation, even keeping house as found in many census records. Being a midwife would have been a way for her to make a living in her new home if she lacked a husband to help set up a farm.

How do we know this is the right Pounder family? In fact, there was a Pounder family that arrived earlier who have incorrectly been identified as the family of Eliza and Mary and that record does seem at least partly right. Given the commonality of Irish names, matching families can be problematic. But the 1840 arrival is a perfect fit. First, we know the names and ages from the 1840 ship manifest match exactly the members found in Superior Township including for both Mary and Eliza. Joseph appeared as a witness for Mary's marriage, and the younger Margaret is also there. In deed records, Joseph's estate is shared among his mother and sisters, suggesting he died about about 1848 without marrying.

Margaret Pounder is living with the youngest daughter, Margaret (Mary) Ann Pounder Collier (22y) in 1850 and her husband, Francis Collier. Although listed as Mary in the 1850 census, perhaps to differentiate her from her mother, the younger Margaret is listed as Margaret in all other records. In the 1900 census, Margaret Collier gave an immigration date of about 1839, supporting an 1840 arrival.

The Colliers and Pounders must have had a long friendship, as Francis is listed on the same ship manifest just below the Pounder family, traveling with his parents Robert Collier and Mary (Price) Collier and their other six children. The older Colliers were married in the Ossory diocese in 1822, so likely they all originated in the same part of Ireland. The junior Margaret and Francis were a bit young to be married when they arrived from Ireland, but they did join in marriage about 1847. It may be Margaret sr. decided to make the voyage with the Colliers after her husband died and followed them to Superior Township.

Mrs. Margaret Pounder's death date is unknown, but she does not appear in the 1860 census so likely died before this time (and before Michigan regularly collected death records). She may have died about 1853, when deed records show a quit-claim deed for 30 acres in Superior Township from Mary and Eliza to their sister Margaret and husband Francis, probably inherited from their mother's estate.

How many more ways can you spell Pounder?

Death records are helpful because they are sometimes the one good link between parents and child. But the person who provides the information after a person dies may have little idea who the parents were, particularly if no one is left from the family who knows because a person lives to very old age.

The problems with the Pounder names become more obvious in looking at death records. The younger Margaret was said to be the child of Sam Pounder and Mrs. Burns (Mrs. Margaret Pounder's maiden name was Byrne) in her death record, perhaps because her father was unknown to her surviving family. Her daughter Charlotte gave her mother's maiden name as Margaret Pound.

Eliza's children listed Eliza Tounter (Sarah B. Mulholland) and Margaret Pounder (Eliza Mulholland Parker). Mary's children included Jane Mulholland Cadwell with Mary Pownder or Mary Mulholland Cadwell with May Mulholland. It was correct on less than half of the records, with some actually showing the deceased's mother as unknown or just listing the mother's married name. No wonder it can be difficult to trace families over time!

updated 10 Jun 2020