Thursday, December 19, 2019

Seavers in the News - Ellen Seaver Dies in Massachusetts in 1916

It's time for another edition of "Seavers in the News" - a weekly feature from the historical newspapers about persons with the surname Seaver that are interesting, useful, mysterious, fun, macabre, or add information to my family tree database.

This week's entry is from the Vermont Phoenix [Brattleboro, Vermont] newspaper dated 5 January 1917:

The transcription of the article is:

"Mrs. Ellen (Howard) Seaver

"The body of Mrs. Ellen Maria (Howard) Seaver, 70, of Orange, Mass., formerly a resident of this town about 30 years, was brought her for burial in Pine Grove cemetery last Monday.

"Mrs. Seaver as seriously ill only a few hours, death being due to pneumonia and occurring Saturday an hour before the funeral of her husband, who died Thursday.

"She was born in this town and was well and favorably known among the older residents through her many kind deeds.

"She joined the local Congregational church and was an earnest worker in the church affairs during her life here.

"She leaves one daughter, Mrs. Roy Willard, and six grandchildren, to whom she was greatly devoted."

The source citation is:

"Mrs. Ellen (Howard) Seaver,Vermont Phoenix [Brattleboro, Vt.] newspaper, obituary, Thursday, 5 January 1917, page 4, column 6, Ellen (Howard) Seaver obituaryNewspapers.com   (https://www.newspapers.com : accessed 19 December 2019).

Since this obituary included only one survivor, her daughter, I thought this might be a research challenge.  Fortunately, it did contain a maiden name, and I easily for Ellen Maria Howard in my RootsMagic family tree.  She was born in March 1847 in Cheshire, New Hampshire, the daughter of Cyrus and Louisa (Phinney) Howard.  She died 28 December 1916 in Orange, Massachusetts.  Ellen married in about 1872 to Francis Seaver (1839-1916), who died on 24 December 1916 in Orange.  They had one child:

*  Theresa Maria Seaver (1880-1957), who married 3 May 1899 to Leroy Martin Willard (1878-1956), and they had seven children, six of whom were living in 1917.

I am a 5th cousin 3 times removed to Theresa Maria (Seaver) Willard, and a 6th cousin 2 times removed to her children.

There are over 8,000 Seaver "stories" in my family tree - this was one of them.   Life happens, accidentally and intentionally, and sometimes the life of a person is full and well-lived.  I am glad I can honor Ellen Maria (Howard) Seaver today.

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Disclosure:  I have a paid subscription to Newspapers.com and have used it extensively to find articles about my ancestral and one-name families.



Copyright (c) 2019, Randall J. Seaver

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