Dates of birth and death are from his gravestone.

Dates of birth and death are from her gravestone.

1850 census of Fleming Co., Ky, division 2, enumerated 17 Aug, records on p. 18 as family #117:
Joel Markwell, 32, farmer; Ester, 32; Thomas O., 10; Rebecca, 8; Aaron R., 7; Nancy E., 5; Eliza Ann, 3; Wallace J., 1; Ester Hiatt, 63, b. South Carolina; Polly Lee, 23. All except Ester Hiatt born in Kentucky.

1860 census of Rowan Co., Ky, Morehead precinct, enumerated 14 Aug, lists on p. 43 as family #337:
Joel Markwell, 42, farmer; Hester, 42; Aaron, 18; Wallace J., 12; Mary H., 9; Sarah A., 5; Emmy A., 8/12. All born in Kentucky.

The next household is headed by their son Thomas, recorded as T. A. Markwell.

1870 census of Rowan Co., Ky, Morehead precinct, enumerated 7 July, lists on p. 17 as family #112:
Markwell, Joel, 52, farmer; Esther, 57; Wallace, 21; Mary, 17; Sarah, 15; Emma, 11; McClurg, Marion, 14; John, 12. All born in Kentucky.

Marion and John are step-grandchildren, sons of Aaron’s wife Susannah Jackson and her first husband Isaac N. McClurg, who died in the Civil War when the boys were very young.

1880 census of Rowan Co., Ky, Morehead precinct, enumerated 1 June, lists on p. 13 as family #102/104:
Markwell, Joel, 63, farmer; Easter, 63, wife; Ema A., 20, dau; Flora S., 10, granddau; McKinzie, Davis, 77, boarder, pauper, married; Dewit, Lindy (f), 65, boarder, divorced, pauper; Royse, Wm T. 53, married, boarder, pauper; Crump, Martha, 43, single, boarder; Amada, 4, boarder; McKenzie, Joe, 24, single, boarder, pauper. All born Ky Ky Ky.

Judging by the number of pauper borders, they were probably doing poor care. (That’s how most “welfare” used to be organized, by the state or county government paying private citizens to board the indigent, similar to how we do child foster care these days.)