Committing Genealogy Fun - Helping A Correspondent

After writing my first blog post this morning, I noticed that I had four unread messages on my Ancestry.com dashboard.  Three of them were from one person, who wanted to know if I had Lola Seaver in my genealogy database.  The correspondent knew that Lola was born in 1859 in New Hampshire, had married Roscoe Kilham, and had a daughter Elsie Florence born in 1892.

Not much to go on, but I went looking for more clues.  I thought it might be useful to my readers to see my research process using online genealogy resources:

1)  In the 1900 U.S. census, the Roscoe Kilham family (Lola and Elsie) resided in Boston 10th Ward, Suffolk County, Massachusetts (1900 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Boston Ward 10: ED 1304, Page 11A, Dwelling #114, Family #305, Roscoe Kilham household; online image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll 680.)  Elsie was age 8, Lola was age 40, born in NH.

The next family down, in the same dwelling, was William H. Seaver (age 24, born in Massachusetts) with wife Marie (age 22, born Massachusetts) (1900 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Suffolk County, Massachusetts, Boston Ward 10: ED 1304, Page 11A, Dwelling #114, Family #306, William H. Seaver household; online image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T623, Roll 680.)

I wondered if this William H. Seaver was related to Lola Seaver.

2)  A birth record for Elsie Florence Kilham on 11 January 1892, with parents Roscoe G. and Lola M. Kilham, was in Boston records ("Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," online database, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), citing original data at Massachusetts State Archives, Births, Volume 413, Page 198, Boston: Elsie Florence Kilham entry.)

3)  I searched for a marriage record for Lola Seaver and Roscoe Kilham in Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine records on Ancestry.com.  I found a marriage of Roscoe Kilham and Iola E. Seaver on 28 December 1892 in South Berwick, York, Maine ("Maine Marriage Records, 1705-1922," indexed database, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com) : citing "Maine Marriage Records, 1705-1922," Maine State Archives, Augusta, Maine), Roscoe Kilham and Iola Seaver entry.)

Is it Iola or Lola Seaver?  I think it's Lola because my correspondent has more information than this one record.  It's an understandable error in a record transcription.

No parents names were listed.

4)  I searched for the marriage record of William H. Seaver in Massavchusetts, and found that he was married to Marie E. Carlton on 10 February 1896 in Lynn, Essex, Massachusetts.  His birth place was given as Haverhill, and his  parents names as George F. Seaver and Hannah R. Ham ("Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," online database, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), citing original data at Massachusetts State Archives, Marriages, Volume 460, Page 430, Lynn: William H. Seaver and Marie Carlton entry.)

5)  The birth record for William H. Seaver was also found in the Massachusetts Vital Records - he was born  8 February 1873 in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts to George F. Seaver and Hannah Ham ("Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," online database, New England Historic Genealogical Society, American Ancestors (http://www.AmericanAncestors.org), citing original data at Massachusetts State Archives, Births, Volume 250, Page 216, William H. Seaver entry.)

6)  The 1880 U.S. Census found Lola Seaver (age 20, born New Hampshire)  in the George F. (age 46, born New Hampshire) and Hannah Seaver (age 46, born New Hampshire) family in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire, with siblings Ada, George, John B. and William H. Seaver (age 6, born Massachusetts) (1880 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Strafford County, New Hampshire, Dover: Page 36C, Dwelling #381, Family #382, George F. Seaver household; online image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication T9, Roll 769.)

7)  The 1870 U.S. Census found Lola Seaver (age 10, born New Hampshire) in the George F. (age 34, born New Hampshire)) and Hannah Seaver (age 36, born Maine) family in Haverhill, Essex, Massachusetts with siblings Ada, George F., and John (1870 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Essex County, Massachusetts , Haverhill: Page 781A, Dwelling #376, Family #573, Geo F. Seaver household; online image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M593, Roll 608).

8)  The 1860 U.S. Census found Luala Seaver (age 9/12, born New Hampshire) in the Geo. F. (age 24, born Maine) and Hannah R. (age 26, born Maine) Seaver family in Somersworth, Strafford, New Hampshire, with siblings Ada and George (1860 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Strafford County, New Hampshire, Somersworth: Page 334, Dwelling #671, Family #765, George F. Seaver (indexed as Seavey) household; online image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M653, Roll 680).

8)  Having found that William's parents were George F. Seaver and Hannah R. Ham, and that Lola was listed as a daughter of George and Hannah in the 1880 U.S. census, I think that George F. and Hannah R. (Ham) Seaver are Lola's parents.

9)  I checked the New Hampshire Marriages on FamilySearch and did not find George Seaver.  I checked Hannah R. Ham and found a marriage on 17 June 1855 in Rochester, Strafford, New Hampshire on 17 June 1855.  No ages or birth places or parents names were listed (“New Hampshire Marriage Records, 1637 to 1947,” online database, FamilySearch International (http://www.FamilySearch.org), 2009; citing “Marriage Records.” New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord. FHL microfilm, Hannah R. Ham and George F. Seaver entry.)

So, is it George F. Seaver or Seavey?  So far, I have the marriage entry and one census record as Seavey.  It's clearly the same family.

10) I checked the New Hampshire Deaths on FamilySearch and found George F. Seaver listed (born 15 February 1835 in Lebanon, Maine; died 9 January 1902 in Dover, Strafford, New Hampshire.  His parents were listed as John D. Seaver and Sarah Maddox ("New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947," online database, FamilySearch International (http://FamilySearch.org), 2010. citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics. “Death certificates, 1901-1937," "New Hampshire Statewide Death Records, 1938-1947," "New Hampshire Statewide Death Records Early to 1900." Bureau of Vital Records, Concord. FHL microfilm. Family History Library, Salt Lake City, Utah., George F. Seaver entry.)

Looks like the name was George Seaver based on all of the evidence gathered so far.

The next task is to identify George's father, John D. Seaver and see if I can connect him into my Seaver database.

Stay tuned.  Oh, my correspondent has a significant research task to find Hannah Ham's parents and I'll leave Sarah Maddox also for my correspondent.

This took about three hours to do the research (and another hour to write this post), and I'll do a bit more to find George's father, but I wanted to write it up, along with my sources.  Hopefully, some of my readers might be helped by the process and the online resources I listed.

I added all of these people to my genealogy database, along with the source citations and some notes about the records.

I should note that FamilySearch also has the Massachusetts Vital Records for 1841-1910, but I prefer the AmericanAncestors search now.  Ancestry.com also has the New Hampshire birth, marriage and death records.

I guess I've had my dose of Genealogy Fun today, haven't I?  I love the challenge of the genealogy hunt, and am becoming more disciplined in writing up the notes and sources.

The URL for this post is:  http://www.geneamusings.com/2012/05/committing-genealogy-fun-helping.html

Copyright (c) 2012, Randall J. Seaver