Death records for her children Ruth, Phoebe, John F., and Robert all show that her maiden name was Wiswell. The misspelling "Riswell" appears to have come from the anecdotal writings of Silas Turnbo.
Updated December 30, 2017:
The primary source credited with assigning Susan Jane to Noah Wiswall & Harriet W. Scott was Willie Hardin Bivins, in her book, "The Fleenor family, revisited : with brief side trips to Black, Whicker, Tabor, Brashears and Wiswell families" (p. 33ff). In the latest edition of that book (1997), she stated (p. 135), "In the earlier editions of this book, I developed a theory that Susan Jane, the wife of John M. Tabor, was the daughter of Noah Wiswell; in that I was mistaken. Her parents were Noah's brother John Rice Wiswell and his first wife, Caty Meads."
Willie Bivins goes on to credit the new information to the research of professional genealogist Jo Lynne Harline, who is a descendant of John Rice Wiswell and his second wife, Edy Tabor, who was a cousin of John M. Tabor. This revised theory satisfactorily explains how a young girl (Susan Jane) arrived from her birth in Illinois to be married in the heart of the Ozarks.
John Rice Wiswell is thought to have died 1849 - 1850 in Denton county, Texas. Caty (Meads) Wiswell is presumed to have died in Illinois before 1829. Neither burial has been located. The 1870 & 1880 census records indicate that Jane's son Nathan "Bennett" Tabor was born in Texas, which would be consistent with the idea that the new Tabor couple had briefly joined the Wiswells there before returning to the Ozarks.
Jane and John M. Tabor were likely married about 1843 in Carroll county, Arkansas, just across the MO/AR state line from Taney & Ozark counties. John R Wiswell & family are known to have been there at that time. The Carroll county records were lost in courthouse fires in 1869 & 1870, and no record has been found of their marriage.
The 1900 census gives Jane's birth as Jan. 1831, but other censuses would place her birth as early as 1820. Her birth year is limited by the ages of her children -- the oldest (Tabitha) was born about 1844, so Jane probably was born 1830 or before; the youngest (Robert) was born in 1870, so Jane was probably born after about 1825, using the range of childbearing as 14-45.
Updated February, 2024:
A statement has recently come to light to the effect that Jane's father married her stepmother in 1825 in Morgan Co., IL. This would logically move Jane's birth to a date prior to that marriage.
Jane was still living at the time of the 1900 Census, so her death was some time after that.
Updated December 30, 2017:
The primary source credited with assigning Susan Jane to Noah Wiswall & Harriet W. Scott was Willie Hardin Bivins, in her book, "The Fleenor family, revisited : with brief side trips to Black, Whicker, Tabor, Brashears and Wiswell families" (p. 33ff). In the latest edition of that book (1997), she stated (p. 135), "In the earlier editions of this book, I developed a theory that Susan Jane, the wife of John M. Tabor, was the daughter of Noah Wiswell; in that I was mistaken. Her parents were Noah's brother John Rice Wiswell and his first wife, Caty Meads."
Willie Bivins goes on to credit the new information to the research of professional genealogist Jo Lynne Harline, who is a descendant of John Rice Wiswell and his second wife, Edy Tabor, who was a cousin of John M. Tabor. This revised theory satisfactorily explains how a young girl (Susan Jane) arrived from her birth in Illinois to be married in the heart of the Ozarks.
John Rice Wiswell is thought to have died 1849 - 1850 in Denton county, Texas. Caty (Meads) Wiswell is presumed to have died in Illinois before 1829. Neither burial has been located. The 1870 & 1880 census records indicate that Jane's son Nathan "Bennett" Tabor was born in Texas, which would be consistent with the idea that the new Tabor couple had briefly joined the Wiswells there before returning to the Ozarks.
Jane and John M. Tabor were likely married about 1843 in Carroll county, Arkansas, just across the MO/AR state line from Taney & Ozark counties. John R Wiswell & family are known to have been there at that time. The Carroll county records were lost in courthouse fires in 1869 & 1870, and no record has been found of their marriage.
The 1900 census gives Jane's birth as Jan. 1831, but other censuses would place her birth as early as 1820. Her birth year is limited by the ages of her children -- the oldest (Tabitha) was born about 1844, so Jane probably was born 1830 or before; the youngest (Robert) was born in 1870, so Jane was probably born after about 1825, using the range of childbearing as 14-45.
Updated February, 2024:
A statement has recently come to light to the effect that Jane's father married her stepmother in 1825 in Morgan Co., IL. This would logically move Jane's birth to a date prior to that marriage.
Jane was still living at the time of the 1900 Census, so her death was some time after that.
Death records for her children Ruth, Phoebe, John F., and Robert all show that her maiden name was Wiswell. The misspelling "Riswell" appears to have come from the anecdotal writings of Silas Turnbo.
Updated December 30, 2017:
The primary source credited with assigning Susan Jane to Noah Wiswall & Harriet W. Scott was Willie Hardin Bivins, in her book, "The Fleenor family, revisited : with brief side trips to Black, Whicker, Tabor, Brashears and Wiswell families" (p. 33ff). In the latest edition of that book (1997), she stated (p. 135), "In the earlier editions of this book, I developed a theory that Susan Jane, the wife of John M. Tabor, was the daughter of Noah Wiswell; in that I was mistaken. Her parents were Noah's brother John Rice Wiswell and his first wife, Caty Meads."
Willie Bivins goes on to credit the new information to the research of professional genealogist Jo Lynne Harline, who is a descendant of John Rice Wiswell and his second wife, Edy Tabor, who was a cousin of John M. Tabor. This revised theory satisfactorily explains how a young girl (Susan Jane) arrived from her birth in Illinois to be married in the heart of the Ozarks.
John Rice Wiswell is thought to have died 1849 - 1850 in Denton county, Texas. Caty (Meads) Wiswell is presumed to have died in Illinois before 1829. Neither burial has been located. The 1870 & 1880 census records indicate that Jane's son Nathan "Bennett" Tabor was born in Texas, which would be consistent with the idea that the new Tabor couple had briefly joined the Wiswells there before returning to the Ozarks.
Jane and John M. Tabor were likely married about 1843 in Carroll county, Arkansas, just across the MO/AR state line from Taney & Ozark counties. John R Wiswell & family are known to have been there at that time. The Carroll county records were lost in courthouse fires in 1869 & 1870, and no record has been found of their marriage.
The 1900 census gives Jane's birth as Jan. 1831, but other censuses would place her birth as early as 1820. Her birth year is limited by the ages of her children -- the oldest (Tabitha) was born about 1844, so Jane probably was born 1830 or before; the youngest (Robert) was born in 1870, so Jane was probably born after about 1825, using the range of childbearing as 14-45.
Updated February, 2024:
A statement has recently come to light to the effect that Jane's father married her stepmother in 1825 in Morgan Co., IL. This would logically move Jane's birth to a date prior to that marriage.
Jane was still living at the time of the 1900 Census, so her death was some time after that.
Updated December 30, 2017:
The primary source credited with assigning Susan Jane to Noah Wiswall & Harriet W. Scott was Willie Hardin Bivins, in her book, "The Fleenor family, revisited : with brief side trips to Black, Whicker, Tabor, Brashears and Wiswell families" (p. 33ff). In the latest edition of that book (1997), she stated (p. 135), "In the earlier editions of this book, I developed a theory that Susan Jane, the wife of John M. Tabor, was the daughter of Noah Wiswell; in that I was mistaken. Her parents were Noah's brother John Rice Wiswell and his first wife, Caty Meads."
Willie Bivins goes on to credit the new information to the research of professional genealogist Jo Lynne Harline, who is a descendant of John Rice Wiswell and his second wife, Edy Tabor, who was a cousin of John M. Tabor. This revised theory satisfactorily explains how a young girl (Susan Jane) arrived from her birth in Illinois to be married in the heart of the Ozarks.
John Rice Wiswell is thought to have died 1849 - 1850 in Denton county, Texas. Caty (Meads) Wiswell is presumed to have died in Illinois before 1829. Neither burial has been located. The 1870 & 1880 census records indicate that Jane's son Nathan "Bennett" Tabor was born in Texas, which would be consistent with the idea that the new Tabor couple had briefly joined the Wiswells there before returning to the Ozarks.
Jane and John M. Tabor were likely married about 1843 in Carroll county, Arkansas, just across the MO/AR state line from Taney & Ozark counties. John R Wiswell & family are known to have been there at that time. The Carroll county records were lost in courthouse fires in 1869 & 1870, and no record has been found of their marriage.
The 1900 census gives Jane's birth as Jan. 1831, but other censuses would place her birth as early as 1820. Her birth year is limited by the ages of her children -- the oldest (Tabitha) was born about 1844, so Jane probably was born 1830 or before; the youngest (Robert) was born in 1870, so Jane was probably born after about 1825, using the range of childbearing as 14-45.
Updated February, 2024:
A statement has recently come to light to the effect that Jane's father married her stepmother in 1825 in Morgan Co., IL. This would logically move Jane's birth to a date prior to that marriage.
Jane was still living at the time of the 1900 Census, so her death was some time after that.
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