Isaac Wall.... My 'Brick Wall'

I loathe the term 'Brick Wall' for one reason... When searching for the Wall surname, one ends up reading about everyone's 'Brick Wall'.

My 3G-Grandfather, Isaac Wall, was born about 1821 in New York or Pennsylvania,₁ and died 21 October 1869 in Eaton County, Michigan.₂

About 1841 he married Adah Mead, probably in Bradford County, Pennsylvania. By all accounts Isaac's second son, my 2G-Grandfather, Erastus Jeremiah, was born in Bradford County, PA about 1843₃ and Adah's father, Caleb Mead was living in Bradford County, PA in the 1840 census.₄ Recently I found the obituary of Isaac's oldest son, Israel Wall born about 1841, which states that he was born in Pittsburgh, PA!

I have never found any evidence that this family lived anywhere near Pittsburgh. Isaac and Adah first appear as a family living in Lucas County, Ohio in the 1850 Federal Census.₁ By 1860 they are in Eaton County, Michigan.₁

My only clues about the identity of Isaac's parents are on two separate death records. On the 1870 Federal Census Mortality Schedule there is a box checked that indicates Isaac's father was foreign born.

On the Michigan death record it appears to say 'Hall' written as Isaac's father, residing in Pennsylvania. Is it possible that Isaac changed his last name from Hall to Wall?

It appears that Isaac and Adah migrated along with Adah's family. The Meads moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio and then  Michigan, with some of them, including Adah's brother Harvey Mead, making a brief stop in DeKalb County, Illinois.₅ I have not found any evidence that any other Walls moved with the Meads, nor that Isaac Wall has any connection to the other Wall family in Eaton County, whom are known to be founders of the "Wall's Settlement".

Isaac is buried in section A-3 of Meadowbrook Cemetery in Mulliken, Michigan. Adah's death record states that she is also buried in Mulliken, Michigan, but I have not found a marker for her.


SOURCES

1. "United States Census, 1850," index and images, FamilySearch   (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MXQL-D48 : accessed 29 Apr 2013), Isaac Wall, 1850.
"United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MWD5-RP3 : accessed 29 Apr 2013), Isaac Wall, 1860.

2. GENDIS

3. Seeking Michigan - Erastus J. Wall death record

4. 1840 United States Federal Census - Caleb Mead in Burlington, Bradford, PA

5. "United States Census, 1860," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/MX41-94Y : accessed 29 Apr 2013), Hovey Mead, 1860.