Friday, February 6, 2015

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 58: #65, Martha (Whitney) Seaver (1764-1832)

Amy Johnson Crow suggested a weekly blog theme of "52 Ancestors" in her blog post Challenge:  52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks on the No Story Too Small blog.  I am extending this theme in 2015 to 104 Ancestors in 104 Weeks. Here is my ancestor biography for week #58:



Martha (Whitney) Seaver (1764-1832)  is #65 on my Ahnentafel list, my 4th great-grandmother. She married in 1783  to #64 Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816) .



I am descended through:

*  their son, #32 Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825), 
who married  #33 Abigail Gates (1797-1867) in 1817.
*  their son, #16 Isaac Seaver (1823-1901), who married #17 Lucretia Townsend Smith (1828-1884) in 1852.
*  their son, #8 Frank Walton Seaver (1852-1922), who married #9 Hattie Louise Hildreth (1847-1920) in 1874. 
*  their son, #4 Frederick Walton Seaver (1876-1942), who married Alma Bessie Richmond (1882-1962) in 1900.
* their son, #2 Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983), who married #3 Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002) in 1942.
*  their son, #1 Randall J. Seaver (1943-....)

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1)  PERSON (with source citations as indicated in brackets):


*  Name:                           Martha Whitney[1–4]
*  Alternate Name:           Martha Seaver[6–7,9–10]       
*  Sex:                              Female   

*  Father:                          Samuel Whitney (1719-1782)   
*  Mother:                         Abigail Fletcher (1720-1783)   
  
2)  LIFE EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Birth:                           18 September 1764, Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[1–2]
*  Census:                       1 June 1820 (age 55), Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[6]    
*  Death:                         2 September 1832 (age 67), Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[7]   
*  Burial:                        after 2 September 1832 (age 67), Woodside Cemetery, Westminster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[8–9]   
*  Probate:                     7 September 1832 (age 67), will proved; Worcester, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[10]
  
3)  SHARED EVENTS (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
*  Spouse 1:                  Benjamin Seaver (1757-1816)   
*  Marriage 1:               19 August 1783 (age 18), Leominster, Worcester, Massachusetts, United States[3–4,11]

*  Child 1:                    Achsah Whitney Seaver (1784-1865)   
*  Child 2:                    Abigail Seaver (1786-1817)   
*  Child 3:                    Job Whitney Seaver (1789-1868)   
*  Child 4:                    Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)   
*  Child 5:                    Susannah Whitney Seaver (1794-1879)   
*  Child 6:                    Martha Seaver (1797-1837)   
*  Child 7:                    Silas Whitney Seaver (1799-    )   
*  Child 8:                    Isaac Seaver (1802-1870)   
*  Child 9:                    Rozilla Seaver (1806-1825)   
*  Child 10:                  Mary Jane Seaver (1812-1892)   
  
4)  NOTES (with source citations as indicated in brackets):
  
 The Westminster, Massachusetts town record listing the children of Samuel and Abigail (Fletcher) Whitney includes[1]:

September 18 1764   Martha Whitney Borne

The marriage record in the Westminster town records says[3]:

August 19              This day Benjamin Sever                  both of
1783                       and Martha Whitney                      Westminster

The children of Benjamin and Martha (Whitney) Seaver born in Westminster were listed in the Westminster town records[5]:

Benjamin Seaver and Marthy his Wife Family Records
December 30th 1784          Achsa Whitney Seaver Born
December 2d 1786             Abigail Seaver Born
May 1^t 1789                     Job Seaver Born
November 15th 1791         Benjamin Seaver Born
July 27th 1794                   Susanna ^Whitney Seaver Born
Febr^y ye 10th 1797          Martha Seaver Born
Nov^r 24^th 1799              Silas Whitney Seaver Born
Dec^r 20^th 1802               Isaac Seaver Born
March 16^th 1806              Rozilla Seaver Born & Died Sept 18 1825
April 14^th 1812                Mary Jane Seaver Born

In the 1820 United States Census, Martha Seaver was a head of household in Westminster town, Worcester County, Massachusetts[6].  The household included:

*   one male aged 10 to 16, 
*  one male aged 16 to 18, 
*  one male aged 26 to 45, 
*  one female under age 10, 
*  one female aged 10 to 16, 
*  one female aged 16 to 26
*  one female over age 45

The death record for Martha W. Seaver in the Westminster Vital Records book says[7]:

SEAVER, Martha W., w. Benjamin, Sept. 2, 1832, a. 68. G.S.I.

The gravestone for Benjamin, Martha and Rozilla Seaver is in Woodside Cemetery in Westminster, Massachusetts[8-9].  The inscription is:


BENJAMIN SEAVER
Died
June 20, 1816
AE. 59
------
MARTHA W.
his wife
Sept 2, 1832
AE. 68
------

Martha Seaver died testate, and her probate papers are in Worcester County Probate Records, Probate Packet 52,908[10].  The will of Martha Sever was filed 7 September 1832 and proved 16 October 1832. It reads:

"Be it remembered that I Martha Sever of Westminster in the County of Worcester & Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Widow, do on this twenty first day of July in the year of our Lord, One thousand eight hundred and thirty two, make and publish this my last Will and Testament, in manner and form following, viz:

"In the first place, I give to my Daughter Achsah Mosman, One Dollar.

"2ndly.  I give to the Children of my Daughter Abigail Fairbank, deceased, One Dollar to be equally divided between them.

"3rdly.  I give to the Children of my Son Benjamin Sever deceased the sum of One Dollar to be equally divided between them.

"4thly.  I give to my Daughter Martha Leland One Dollar.

"5thly.  I give to my Son Silas Sever One Dollar.

"6thly.  I give to my son Isaac Sever One Dollar.

"The aforesaid legacies to be paid by my Executor within one year after my decease.

"7thly.  I give to my Daughters Susannah & Mary J. Sever the use of the Westerly room in my House with the chamber over the same with a privilege to pass through the entry, also a privilege in the cellar, also to each of them one third of the Household Furniture that I may die seized and possessed of for their own use so long as they shall remain single, but they shall have no right to sale or let their right in the House to any other person, and if they shall out live my son Job Sever, then they shall have the whole of the Household Furniture, but if my son Job Sever shall out live them, or either of them, then he shall have their shares.

"8thly, I give to my son Job Sever all the rest, residue and remainder of all my estate both Real, Personal or seized.

"9thly, I do hereby appoint Edward Kendall Esqr of Westminster my sole Executor of this my Last Will and Testament.

"In Testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal, the day and year above written.

"Signed, sealed and published by the said Marthy Sever, declaring this to be her last Will and Testament, in presence of us, who at her request were called as Witnesses to the same, and in her presence did hereto subscribe our names."

"Merari Spaulding                                 her
Sewall Barnes                          Martha  x  Sever     S.S.
Nathan Howard                                  mark"

The Widow's dower, which she had received at the death of Benjamin Seaver, was divided among the children.  The real estate was appraised at $1,154.  It was set off to:

*  Asah Mosman (who was to pay Isaac Seaver $5.11); 
*  Mary Jane Seaver (who was to pay Isaac Seaver $3.34); 
*  Susannah W. Seaver (who was to pay Isaac Seaver $3.34);  
*  Job W. Seaver (who was to pay Martha Leland $124.88 and the heirs of Jabez Fairbank $124.88); 
*  Isaac Seaver (who was to pay the Heirs of Benjamin Seaver $124.88) 

The inventory of her estate was taken by Merari Spaulding, Simeon Sanderson and Asa Bigelow on 18 September 1832.  The inventory showed Real estate appraised at $750 (the homestead containing 12 and one half acres with the buildings), and Personal estate appraised at $743.24. 

The court order was approved on 4 January 1833.  All payments were accepted by those noted.

The administrator's account, dated 15 October 1833, and accepted the same day, shows that the legacies were paid to the children, the debts were paid, and Job Sever received the balance of the estate.  Job Sever deposed that he was satisfied with the account.  

5)  SOURCES:
 
1. Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com), "Westminster Births, marriages and deaths," page 91 (penned), image 142 of 1195, Family of Samuel and Abigail Whitney.
2. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849 (Worcester, Mass.: F.P. Rice, 1908), Births, page 99: Martha Whitney entry.
3. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com, "Westminster Births, marriages and deaths," page 3 (penned), image 490, Marriage of Benjamin Sever and Marthy Whitney, 19 Aug 1783.
4. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Marriages, page 186: Benjamin Sever and Martha Whiting entry (in Leominster).
5. Massachusetts, Town Records, 1620-1988, digital images, Ancestry.com, (accessed 26 February 2012), "Westminster Births, Marriages and Deaths,"  page 38 (penned, image 116 of 1195), Family of Benjamin and Marthy Seaver, list of children of Benjamin and Martha Seaver.
6. 1820 United States Federal Census, Population Schedule, Worcester County, Massachusetts, Westminster town; Page 108, Martha Seaver household; indexed database and digital image, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com); citing National Archives Microfilm Publication M33, Roll 54.
7. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Westminster, Massachusetts, to the End of the Year 1849, Deaths, page 247: Martha W. Seaver entry.
8. Woodside Cemetery (Westminster, Massachusetts), Grave Markers, Benjamin Seaver monument.
9. Jim Tipton, indexed database, Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com), Woodside Cemetery (Westminster, Mass.), Martha Whitney Seaver memorial #88187318.
10. "Worcester County, Massachusetts Probate Court Records" (Worcester County Probate Courthouse, Worcester, Mass.), Probate Packet 52,908, Martha Sever (1832) estate (also in Worcester County Probate Records, Volume 72, page 468, accessed on Microfilm 0,856,339).

11. Systematic History Fund, Vital Records of Leominster, Massachusetts to the year 1849 (Worcester, Mass. : Franklin P. Rice, 1911), Marriages, page 255: Benjamin Sever and Martha Whitney entry.


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Copyright (c) 2015, Randall J. Seaver


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