Daughter Kate was mentioned in the 1890 obituary of Thomas Melvin. Eliza appears on the 1891 and 1901 Canadian censuses in the Burns household. Likely Eliza is on the 1911 Canadian census but that is yet to be found.

The following Riggs families are in the 1840 census for Boone county Missouri: 
- Silas - males: 1 under age 5, 1 age 5-9, 1 age 10-14, 3 age 15-19, 1 age 30-39 females: 1 under age 5, 2 age 5-9, 2 age 10-14, 1 age 40-49 
- James - males: 1 age 20-29 females: 1 age 15-19 
- Samuel - males: 1 age 20-29 females: 1 under age 5, 1 age 15-19 
- Samuel - males: 2 under age 5, 1 age 5-9, 2 age 10-14, 1 age 50-59 females: 1 age 5-9, 2 age 10-14, 1 age 30-39 
- Zodac - 1 male and 1 female both ages 80-89 (probably deceased in 1850) 
- Zodac - males: 1 age 10-14, 1 age 40-49 females: 1 age 10-14, 1 age 15-19 (not on 1850 census for Boone county MO) 
NOTE: The following Riggs for the above first names also appear in the 1850 census for Boone county Missouri: 
- James age 28 (only age 18 on 1840 census for Boone county MO and probably not a head of household then) 
- James age 50 (possibly new to Boone county MO thus not on 1840 census for Boone county MO) 
- Samuel age 11 (Eliza's brother) 
- Samuel age 13 (only age 3 on 1840 census for Boone county MO) 
- Samuel age 38 (probably the Samuel age 20-29 on 1840 census for Boone county MO) 
- Silas age 4 (too young to appear count on 1840 census for Boone county MO) 
- Silas age 12 (only age 2 on 1840 census for Boone county MO) 
- Zadoc age 59 (or 39) (probably the Zodac age 40-49 on 1840 census for Boone county MO) 
Based on comparing the above 1840 and 1850 Riggs in Boone county, the Silas listed for 1840 is most likely the one who could be the "missing father" on the 1850 census of Sarah and her eight children including ancestor Elizabeth.

TO FIND: Birth Place, and, Death Place and Burial Place (probably Ontario) 

Timeline for Elizabeth: 
- about 1825 born somewhere in Missouri, possibly Lincoln county, to General Jonathan Riggs and Jane Shaw 
- 1847 - marries Robert Mitchell in Lincoln county Missouri (per marriage record) 
- 1849 - Robert Mitchell dies, probably in either Lincoln county or adjacent (to the north) Pike county) 
- 1848 - birth of daughter Sarah Jane 'Jennie' Mitchell in Lincoln county Missouri (per 1850 census, she appears on the 1860 and 1870 census with mother Eliza and step-father Thomas Melvin and she is also mentioned as the deceased step-daughter in his obituary and she had been married to A.S. Frazer). 
- 1850 - living as a widow in the household of her sister Julia and her husband (Eliza's brother-in-law) David Draper Jr. along with her widowed mother Jane Riggs (age 65) and also with her daughter Jennie Mitchell (age 1) (per 1850 census) 
- 1853 - marries Thomas Melvin in Pike county Missouri, unknown when/where the two met between 1850 and 1853 when they married then and moved to Cedarville, Greene county, Ohio by August 1855 where they first child together was born in August 1855. 
- 1855 - birth of daughter Alice Kate born in Greene county Ohio (per Canadian census of 1901 and U.S. censuses of 1860, 1870 and 1880) 
- 1860 - living in Cedarville, Greene county, Ohio with her husband Thomas Melvin and her daughter Jennie and their daughter Alice (per census) 
- 1862 - birth of daughter Ida in Cedarville, Greene county, Ohio (per her death certificate and from censuses 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, 1920) 
- 1870 - living in Attica, Fountain county, Indiana with her husband Thomas and all three of her daughters (per 1870 census), at some point in the 1870's she and Thomas moved a bit south to Terre Haute (see below) 
- 1880 - living in Terre Haute, Vigo county, Indiana with her husband Thomas and their two daughters. The census says both her parents were born in Kentucky. (per 1880 census) 
- 1884 - living in Terre Haute, Vigo county, Indiana with her husband Thomas, her daughter Ida comes to town to be married to Robert Wilson in the home of Thomas and Elizabeth (per newspaper article). At some point in the next few years she and Thomas move to Xenia back in Greene county, Ohio 
- 1890 - in February, living in Xenia, Greene county, Ohio when Thomas dies in February and is buried in Woodland Cemetery. Ida and two of her children had come to town in January and stayed until May when they returned home to Kansas City. The obituary of Thomas mentions his having a deceased step-daughter, a Mrs. A.S. Frazer. The obituary also mentions his daughters Kate and Ida. 
- 1890-1891 - Elizabeth moves in with the family of her daughter Alice Kate (Melvin) Burns in Brantford, Ontario, Canada (per 1891 Canadian census) 
- 1891 - on Brantford, Ontario, Canada census living with the family of her daughter Alice (per 1891 Canadian census) 
- 1901 - on Brantford, Ontario, Canada census living with the family of her daughter Alice (per 1901 Canadian census) 
- 1911 - not on the 1911 census for Brantford, Ontario, Canada census living with the family of her daughter Alice but she was in her mid 80's so maybe in nearby assisted living 
- 1915-ish - Elizabeth dies, likely in Brantford, Ontario, Canada but unable to find where she is buried since the Greenwood Cemetery does not list her as buried there 

The parents of ancestor Elizabeth (Riggs) Melvin, is the 'victim' of much confused information because there were several contemporary women named Elizabeth Riggs in the eastern half of the U.S. See image W__0593 for a chart that lists the numerouscontemporay Eliza Riggs. 


It appears that the parents of the Eliza Riggs of Lincoln and Pike counties and married Thomas Melvin in Missouri are General Jonathan Riggs and Jane Shaw. 
FYI - Campbell county Kentucky is the easternmost of the three northernmost counties in Kentucky. It was formed in 1794 from Scott, Harrison and Mason counties. 
FYI - Kenton county split off from Campbell county in 1840, the Riggs and Shaws lived in the Kenton county portion (i.e. western portion) of Campbell county prior to 1840.

Historical
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1825: United States - Erie Canal opened connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean
1826-1828: Russia, Iran - After the final Russo-Persian War, the Persian Empire took back territory lost to Russia from the previous war
1827: England - Death of William Blake, an English poet, painter, and printmaker who Influenced literature
1828-1829: Russia, Turkey - Russo-Turkish War (ninth of ten), Russian victory
1830: Belgium, Netherlands - The Belgian Revolution in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands led to the creation of Belgium
1830: Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador - Greater Colombia dissolved and the nations of Colombia (including modern-day Panama), Ecuador, and Venezuela took Its place
1830: France - July Revolution in France
1830: Poland, Russia - November Uprising in Poland against Russia
1830: United States - The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is established on April 6, 1830
1831-33: Egypt - Egyptian-Ottoman War
1831: France, Algeria - France Invades and occupies Algeria
1833-1876: Spain - Carlist Wars in Spain
1833: England - Slavery Abolition Act bans slavery throughout the British Empire
1834-1859: Russia - Rebellion led by Imam Shamil in Russian-occupied Caucasus
1834: Germany - The German Customs Union is formed
1834: Spain - Spanish Inquisition officially ends
1835-1836: United States, Mexico - The Texas Revolution in Mexico resulted in the short-lived Republic of Texas
1836: United States, Mexico - The Battle of the Alamo
1837-1838: Canada - Rebellions of 1837 in Canada
1837-1901: England - Reign of Queen Victoria is considered the apex of the British Empire and is referred to as the Victorian era
1838-1840: Central America - Civil war in the Federal Republic of Central America led to the foundings of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica
1839-1851: Uruguay - Uruguayan Civil War
1839-1860: France, England, United States, Russia, China - After two Opium Wars, France, the United Kingdom, the United States and Russia gained many concessions from China resulting in the decline of the Qing Dynasty
1840: New Zealand, England - New Zealand is founded, as the Treaty of Waitangi is signed by the Ma-ori and British
1844: Haiti - Dominican War of Independence from Haiti
1844: Iran - Persian Prophet the Bab announces his revelation on May 23, founding Babism, he announced to the world of the coming of "He whom God shall make manifest", he is considered the forerunner of Baha u llah, the founder of the Baha I Faith
1844: United States - First publicly funded telegraph line in the world, It is between Baltimore and Washington and sends demonstration message on May 24, ushering in the age of the telegraph, this message read "What hath God wrought?" (Bible, Numbers 23:23)
1844: United States - Millerite (followers of the teachings of William Miller) movement awaits the Second Advent of Jesus Christ on October 22, the non-appearance of Christ becomes known as the Great Disappointment
1845-1846: Pakistan - First Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab (Pakistan) between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company
1845-1849: Ireland - The Irish Potato Famine led to the Irish diaspora
1845-1872: New Zealand - The New Zealand Land Wars
1845: Tonga - Unification of the Kingdom of Tonga under Ta-ufa?a-hau (King George Tupou I)
1846-1847: United States - Mormon migration to Utah
1846-1848: United States, Mexico - The Mexican-American War leads to cession by Mexico of much of the modern-day Southwestern United States
1847-1901: Mexico - The Caste War of Yucatan
1848-1849: Pakistan - Second Anglo-Sikh War in Punjab (Pakistan) between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company, this war basically ends the Sikh Empire
1848-1858: United States - California Gold Rush
1848: Europe - Revolutions of 1848 in Europe as some type of revolution occurred in most all European countries (except England and the Netherlands), the revolutions were quickly put down as they were mostly unorganized peasants
1848: Russia - The Communist Manifesto published
1848: United States - Seneca Falls Convention is the first rights for women convention in the United States and leads to the battle for suffrage and legal rights for women
1850: Europe - The Little Ice Age ends around this time
1851-1852: South America - The Platine War (also known as the War against Oribe and Rosas) fought between the Argentine Confederation and an alliance consisting of the Empire of Brazil, Uruguay and the Argentine provinces of Entre Rios and Corrientes, the war was part of a long-running contest between Argentina and Brazil for Influence over Uruguay and Paraguay, and hegemony over the regions bordering the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), the conflict took place in Uruguay, on the Rio de la Plata and in the northeast of Argen
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1851-60s: Australia - Victorian gold rush in Australia
1851: England - The Great Exhibition in London was the first International Expo or Worlds Fair
1853-1856: Ukraine, France, England, Turkey, Russia - Crimean War between France, the United Kingdom, the Ottoman Empire and Russia
1854: Japan - The Convention of Kanagawa formally ends policy of Isolation by Japan
1855: England - Henry Bessemer Invents a process that enables steel to be mass produced from molten pig Iron
1856: Romania - First oil refinery in Romania
1857-1858: India - Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also known as First War of Independence for India, the Great Rebellion, the Indian Mutiny, the Revolt of 1857, the Uprising of 1857, the Sepoy Rebellion and the Sepoy Mutiny), It began as a mutiny of native soldiers (sepoys) employed by the British East India Company's army
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1861-1865: United States - American Civil War between the Union and seceding Confederacy
1861-1867: France, Mexico - French Intervention in Mexico and the creation of the Second Mexican Empire, ruled by Maximilian I of Mexico and his consort Carlota of Mexico
1861: Russia - Russia abolishes serfdom
1862-1877: China - Muslim Rebellion in northwest China
1863-1865: Poland, Russia - Polish uprising against the Russian Empire
1863: Iraq - Baha u llah declares His station as "He whom God shall make manifest", this date is celebrated in the Baha I Faith as The Festival of Ridvan
1863: Switzerland - Formation of the International Red Cross is followed by the adoption of the First Geneva Convention in 1864
1864-1866: Peru, Chile, Spain - The Chincha Islands War was an attempt by Spain to regain Its South American colonies in Peru and Cile
1864-1870: Paraguay - The War of the Triple Alliance ends Paraguayan ambitions for expansion and destroys much of the Paraguayan population
1865-1877: United States - Reconstruction in the United States, slavery is banned in the United States by the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution
1865: United States - April 14, 1865, United States President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated while attending a performance at Fords Theater, Washington, D.C., he dies approximately nine hours after being shot on April 15, 1865
1865: United States - April 9, 1865 Robert E. Lee surrenders the Army of Northern Virginia (26,765 troops) to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War
1866-1868: Finland - Famine in Finland
1866-1869: Japan - After the Meiji Restoration, Japan embarks on a program of rapid modernization
1866: England, United States - Successful transatlantic telegraph cable follows an earlier attempt in 1858 by Cyrus West Field, the first cable used for telegraph communications laid across the floor of the Atlantic Ocean crosees from the Telegraph Field, Foilhommerum Bay, Valentia Island, in western Ireland to Hearts Content in eastern Newfoundland, messages that took at least ten days to deliver by ship now took only minutes
1866: Germany, Austria - Austro-Prussian War results in the dissolution of the German Confederation and the creation of the North German Confederation and the Austrian-Hungarian Dual Monarchy
1867: Canada - Canadian Confederation formed
1867: Serbia, Turkey - The Principality of Serbia passes a Constitution which defines Its Independence from the Ottoman Empire, International recognition followed in 1878
1867: United States, Russia - The United States purchased Alaska from Russia
1868: United States - The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was approved
1868: United States - The Expatriation Act is approved by Congress, guaranteeing U.S. citizens the right to expatriate, coupled with the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution approved only one day later, the Expatriation Act allows U.S. citizens to renounce federal citizenship in order to regain Constitutional rights ceded by U.S. citizens as defined by the 14th Amendment
1869: Egypt - The Suez Canal opens linking the Mediterranean to the Red Sea
1869: United States - First Transcontinental Railroad completed in United States on May 10
1870-1871: France, Germany, Italy - The Franco-Prussian War results in the unifications of Germany and Italy, the collapse of the Second French Empire, the breakdown of Pax Britannica, and the emergence of a New Imperialism
1870s-1890s: Europe, United States - Long Depression in Western Europe and North America
1871-1872: Iran - Famine in Persia is believed to have caused the death of two million
1871-1914: Europe, United States - Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, a phase of the larger Industrial Revolution in the period from the last half of the 19th century until about the time of World War I
1872: United States - Yellowstone National Park is created
1873: England - James Clerk Maxwell publishes "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism", a set of four partial differential equations describing how the electric and magnetic fields relate to their sources, charge density and current density, and how they develop with time
1874-1875: Spain - First Republic in Spain
1874: France - The Societe Anonyme Cooperative des Artistes Peintres, Sculpteurs, and Graveurs, better known today as the Impressionists organize and present their first public group exhibition at the Paris studio of the photographer Nadar
1874: India, England - The British East India Company is dissolved
1875-1900: India - 26 million in India perish due to famine
1876-1879: China - 13 million die of famine in northern China
1876-1914: United States - The massive expansion in population, territory, Industry and wealth in the United States is referred to as the Gilded Age
1876: Bulgaria - The Bulgarian revolt against Ottoman rule
1877-1878: Europe - Following the tenth Russo-Turkish War, the Treaty of Berlin recognizes formal Independence of the Principality of Serbia, Montenegro and Romania, Bulgaria becomes autonomous
1877: United States - Great Railroad Strike in the United States may have been the first nationwide labor strike
1878: United States - First commercial telephone exchange in New Haven, Connecticut
1879-1883: Chile, Peru, Bolivia - Chile battles with Peru and Bolivia over Andean territory in the War of the Pacific
1879: South Africa - Anglo-Zulu War in South Africa
1880-1881: England, South Africa - the First Boer War between England and the Dutch-speaking Inhabitants of South Africa
1881-1899: Sudan - The Mahdist War in Sudan
1881: England - First electrical power plant and grid in Godalming, Britain
1882: England, Egypt - The British Invasion and the subsequent occupation of Egypt
1883: Indonesia - Krakatau (often mispelled Krakatoa) volcano explosion in Indonesia (Java and Sumatra)
1884-1885: Africa - The Berlin Conference signals the start of the European "scramble for Africa", attending nations also agree to ban trade in slaves
1884-1885: Japan, Korea - The Sino-French War led to the formation of French Indochina
1885: United States - Singer begins production of the "Vibrating Shuttle" which would become the Model T of sewing machines
1886: Russia - Russian-Circassian War ended with the defeat and the exile of many Circassians, Imam Shamil defeated
1888: Brazil - Slavery banned in Brazil
1888: England - Jack the Ripper is believed to have begun murdering in August and murdered his last victim in November
1889: Brazil - End of the Brazilian Empire and the beginning of the Brazilian Republic
1889: France - Eiffel tower was Inaugurated in Paris
1889: India - Mirza Ghulam Ahmad establishes the Ahmadi Muslim Community
1890: United States - The Wounded Knee Massacre was the last battle in the American Indian Wars, this event represents the end of the American Old West
1891: United States - James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts, Invents basketball
1894-1895: Japan, Korea - After the First Sino-Japanese War, China cedes Taiwan to Japan and grants Japan a free hand in Korea
1895-1896: Ethiopia, Italy - Ethiopia defeats Italy in the First Italo-Ethiopian War
1896: Canada - Klondike Gold Rush in Canada
1896: Greece - Olympic Games revived in Athens
1896: Philippines, Spain - Philippine Revolution ends declaring Philippines free from Spanish rule
1897: Korea - Gojong, or Emperor Gwangmu, proclaims the short-lived Korean Empire lasts until 1910
1898-1900: China - The Boxer Rebellion in China is suppressed by an Eight-Nation Alliance
1898-1902: Colombia - The One Thousand Days war in Colombia breaks out between the "Liberales" and "Conservadores", culminating with the loss of Panama in 1903
1898: United States, Cuba, Philippines - The United States gains control of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines after the Spanish-American War
1899: England, South Africa - Second Boer War begins, lasting until 1902