Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Which Mrs. Lucy Seaver is she?

My dear friend, footnoteMaven, gave me a link to a picture on eBay of Mrs. Lucy Seaver, with her name on the back of it and the date 19 April 1883.



From the picture, my first guess was that she was around age 40 in this picture.  footnoteMaven thought that she was younger. 

I wondered who this Lucy Seaver was, and went investigating a bit in the 1880 U.S. Census on Ancestry.com.  Assuming that she is either a wife or a widow in 1883, and under age 50, that narrowed the search down to these possibilities:

1)  Lucy J. (Abbott) Seaver (1839-1894), who married in 1874 in Boston, Massachusetts to William F. Seaver (1836-????).  In 1880, they resided at 49 Eutaw Street in Boston.  They apparently had no children.

2)  Lucy Conant (Byram) Seaver (1835-1903), who married in 1855 in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts to Samuel Leonard Seaver (1834-1894).  In 1880, they resided in East Bridgewater, Massachusetts. They had four children, but only one was living in 1880.

3)  Lucinda C. (Merriam) Seaver (1832-????), who married in 1851 in Holden, Massachusetts to John W. Seaver (1827-????).  In 1880, they resided in Worcester, Massachusetts.  They had five children, and four were living in 1880.

4)  some other lady named Lucy Seaver for whom I have no record, and was missed in the 1880 U.S. census. 

One more possibility is Lucy J. (Beals) Seaver (1857-????), who married in 1876 in Swanzey, New Hampshire to George A. Seaver (1853-????).  They are in the 1900 census, but not in the 1880 census, although they should be!

Does any reader recognize this picture of Mrs. Lucy Seaver from 1883?

Thank you to footnoteMaven for the find... and the challenge!

4 comments:

footnoteMaven said...

Your are most welcome. You know how I love a mystery. And Seaver is just not one of those names you run across very often.

As soon as I get a moment, after the probate filings, I will do some more research on her clothing.

-fM

Anonymous said...

She could be 40-ish, it's difficult to tell from the photo - look forward to hearing about your or fM'S findings :-)

Unknown said...

could be lucy seaver parker
sept 7 1863-april 30 1932

Randy Seaver said...

Hi William,

The picture apparently says "Mrs. Lucy Seaver." wouldn't Lucy Seaver Parker be known as "Mrs. Lucy Parker?"

That said, I suppose it could be her. We would need another picture of Lucy Seaver Parker to compare it to.

Cheers -- Randy