Thanks to whatever organization has been scanning City Directories, some new facts have helped to trace Paul during that 20-year span between censuses (well, between censuses which didn’t get burned).
On ancestry.com now, a simple search for “Paul Pierce DeVeny” reveals the following:
* A scan of The Herald’s Directory to Mansfield and Richland County, Ohio, 1884-5 shows listings for
>>> Deveny, Paul blacksmith S Parker h. Shiloh and
>>> Parker & Deveny (Samuel Parker, Paul Deveny) mfrs shifting rails cor Plymouth and High.
Both items above are within the “Plymouth Directory” section. In the first listing, I’m not sure about “h. Shiloh.” Other nearby listings make me think it’s Shiloh Street, but no such street seems to exist today. Possibly he lives in the village of Shiloh SE of Plymouth. In Plymouth, there actually IS a Plymouth St. and it still intersects High St. not far from the center of town. Obviously they are trying to put their patent to good use.
* A scan of The Mews Printing Company’s Mansfield and Richland County Directory 1891 shows
>>> Deveny, Paul blacksmith Platt Carriage Co. bds Keller House, and
>>> The Platt Carriage Company cor Surry and Newman
These are in Mansfield city proper. Surry and Newman almost intersect nowadays… but not quite. A stream or river keeps them apart. Why Paul is boarding at the Keller House is unknown to me. His family has a number of kids at this point. One guess is that the family is up in Plymouth or Shiloh and he spends the work-week in Mansfield. By Grama Hazel’s birthdate of 25 May 1892, the family has relocated to Bellefonte, Ohio, so Paul’s time in Mansfield and Richland County is almost over in 1891.
