Saturday, September 2, 2017

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Research Grief

Hey genea-folks, 
it's Saturday Night again, 


 time for more Genealogy Fun!


Your mission this week, should you decide to accept it, is to:

1)  The Family History Hound listed 20 Questions about your Ancestor, and I'm going to use some of them in the next few months.  

2)  Please answer the question - "
Which ancestor gives you the most researching grief?"

3)  Write your own blog post, make a comment on this post, or post  your answer on Facebook or Google+.  Please leave a link to your answer in comments on this post.

My response:


It has to be my 3rd great-grandfather, Thomas J. Newton (ca 1795 - ca 1840).  He may have been born in Maine, according to the marriage and death records of his children.  The date and location of his death are unknown.

He is listed as the father of my 2nd great-grandmother Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (1835-1923) and her brother Thomas J. Newton (1835-1915).  His wife was my 3rd great-grandmother, Sophia (Buck) (Brigham) (Newton) Stone (1797-1882).  They may have married after Sophia (Buck) Brigham's first husband, Lambert Brigham (by whom she had two sons), died in May 1834 in Westborough, Mass.  The birthplaces of the two children are listed in marriage and death records as Cambridge, Vermont or Springfield, Vermont.  

I have found exactly ONE record that I am confident applies to this Thomas J. Newton.  It is a Westborough town list of "Account of Town Orders from Select Men of Westboro drawn for the support of Town Paupers for whom Cash was drawn from Town Treasury by Caleb W. Forbush Town Treasurer"  included Thomas J. Newton, who drew $32.59 on 3 December 1832."

So I'm looking for records in Maine, Massachusetts and Vermont.  

There is a Thomas J. Newton (1808-1852), son of Caleb and Fanny (Park) Newton, born in Oxford, Maine, who married Eliza Coffin in 1843 in Dedham, Mass.,, and had a son Thomas J. Newton (1848-1849) and a daughter Cardelia Newton (1844-1845).  His death record in Reading, Mass. identifies his parents names.  Would a man name two sons Thomas J. Newton?  Maybe.  Would a man born in 1808 marry a woman born in 1797 with two children in 1834 (his age 26, her age 37)?  Maybe.

I have researched the Newton families of Windsor and Lamoille Counties of Vermont, and there are some candidate parents and siblings for a Newton born around 1800.  But there are no smoking guns in the records.  There are no known birth records for my Sophia Newton or her brother Thomas J. Newton in Vermont.  

The bigger issue may be "Was Sophia (Newton) Hildreth (1834-1923) really the daughter of Thomas J. Newton?"  Sophia (Buck) Brigham's husband died in May 1834, and Sophia (Newton) Hildreth was born in September 1834.  Did Thomas J. Newton sweep the grieving and pregnant widow Sophia (Buck) Brigham off her feet, marry her, and take her to Cambridge, Vermont to have her baby?  

The last time I wrote about this research problem was in Who Really Was the Father of Sophia Newton (183?-1923)? (posted 12 May 2014).

'Tis a mystery worthy of a research trip.  Or a genealogy novel where I can solve the problem in print without really solving the problem.


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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver


Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.


Surname Saturday - LNU, married to Proper (Germany to colonial New York)

It's Surname Saturday, and I'm "counting down" my Ancestral Name List each week.  

I am in the 8th great-grandmothers and I'm  up to Ancestor #1943, who is Anna Elisabetha LNU (about 1680-1724) 
[Note: the earlier great-grandmothers and 8th great-grandfathers have been covered in earlier posts].

My ancestral line back through one generation of this LNU family line is:


1. Randall J. Seaver (1943-????)

2. Frederick Walton Seaver (1911-1983)
3. Betty Virginia Carringer (1919-2002)


6.  Lyle Lawrence Carringer (1891-1976)
7.  Emily Kemp Auble (1899-1977)

14.  Charles Auble (1849-1916)
15.  Georgianna Kemp (1862-1952)

30.  James Abraham Kemp (1831-1902)
31.  Mary Jane Sovereen (1840-1874)

60.  Abraham Kemp (1795-1881)
61.  Sarah Fletcher (1802-1861)

120.  John Kemp (1768-1861)
121.  Mary Dafoe (1776-1832)

242.  Abraham Dafoe (1755-1815)
243.  Katreen --?-- (1755-1792)

484.  Johann Ernst Dafoe (1726-1784)
485.  Maritjen Keller (1729-1789)

970. Conrad Keller (1695-1742)
971.  Maria Barbara Proper (1700-1742)

1942.  Johann Jost Proper, born about 1679 in Niederhorbach, Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany; died about 1726 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States.  He married about1699 in Bayern, Germany.

1943.  Anna Elisabetha LNU, born about 1680 in Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany; died 1724 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States.

Children of Johann Proper and Anna are:

i. Maria Barbara Proper, born about 1700 in Germany; died 10 August 1742 in Livingston, Columbia, New York, United States; married Conrad Keller about 1720 in Livingston, Columbia, New York, United States.
ii. Johann Friedriech Proper, born 1702 in Germany; died 1750 in Dutchess, New York, United States; married Susanna Margaretha Forster before 1723 in Livingston Manor, Columbia, New York, United States; born 06 October 1700 in Germany.

iii. Johann Pieter Proper, born about 1705 in Germany; married Rachel Houghteeling about 1727 in Livingston, Columbia, New York, United States; born before 07 May 1710 in Kingston, Ulster, New York, United States.

Information about this Proper family was obtained from:

*  Lewis G. Proper and Phyllis Ann Clem Hackleman, Proper family history including Prooper, Propert, Propfer, Propper and Proppert (Rochester, N.Y. : L.G. Proper, 1996); digital version accessed on FamilySearch Books (https://books.familysearch.org/).


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Copyright (c) 2017, Randall J. Seaver


Please comment on this post on the website by clicking the URL above and then the "Comments" link at the bottom of each post.  Share it on Twitter, Facebook, Google+ or Pinterest using the icons below.  Or contact me by email at randy.seaver@gmail.com.