I am a descendant of David and Mary Tom. There are at least two or three David and Mary Toms, however, I know that my Mary is Mary Bartholomew. I know this because of a family record that has been in my family for years that shows their family: David and Mary (and her maiden name), their birth dates, their marriage date, and the names and birth dates of each of their children.
However, I can't find any information in family trees, birth records, or census data that pre-dates 1950, with the one exception that I found their marriage record in 1948.
From census data, I am able to determine that they lived in Bethlehem, Ohio, through 1960, and then moved to Van Buren, Indiana. It appears that David passed away between 1880 and 1900.
I also have some civil war pension records that shows that Mary received a widow's pension for David in what looks like 1891 (it's hard to read). I can't find civil war records except one that shows a David A. Tom that served under the name John Thomas. David A. Tom is shown as an alias name, which I know is typical for slaves, but David was white and doesn't appear to have been a slave. And, he uses the name David A. Tom in census records that pre-date the civil war. I can't be sure this is his record, but the timing of the death would fit, and the regiment he served in was from the same county he lived in, so that also fits.
It's also possible that he had a brother, or some other relative, named Samuel. I noticed in the census records, that a Saml Tom lived next door to the Bartholomew family in 1950 in the same town that David and Mary live in (Bethlehem). This same man also moved to Van Buren, Indiana, in the same time frame that David and Mary did.
If anyone has any information about any of these people and would be willing to start a dialog and share information about what we each know, I would be very grateful.