Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Did Any Of Your Ancestors Suffer the Loss of a Parent At a Young Age?

 Calling all Genea-Musings Fans: 

 It's Saturday Night again - 

Time for some more Genealogy Fun!!

Come on, everybody, join in and accept the mission and execute it with precision. 

1)  Do you have ancestors who suffered the loss of one or both parents early in their life?  Did the surviving parent remarry soon after one parent died?  Was a guardian appointed for your ancestor to protect their physical or legal interests?    

2)  Tell us about one or two of your "orphaned" ancestors and how this affected their life.

3)   Share a link to your blog post, or your Facebook Status post, on this post.

Here's mine:

The ancestor that immediately came to mind for me is my 2nd great-grandfather, Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) of Westminster, Massachusetts.  His father, Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825) died at age 34, leaving his wife, Abigail (Gates) Seaver (1797-1867), with four small chldren, ages 0 to 8.  The probate papers for the estate of Benjamin Seaver are in his genealogical sketch (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 25: #32, Benjamin Seaver (1791-1825)).   The petition of the widow and ensuing estate transactions are described in Amanuensis Monday - Petition of Abigail Seaver.  Abigail was appointed guardian of the children, the widow's thirds were set apart, the estate was declared insolvent, land was sold, and the final account provided the widow with $29.13 "to the Widow of said deceased to enable her to uphold life" in 1827.  The four children received a small portion of land and a house worth $30.  In 1832, Abigail (Gates) Seaver married Benjamin's brother, Isaac Seaver (1802-1870) and raised her children, and had two children with Isaac Seaver.  Isaac Seaver (1823-1901) took a guardian in 1838 at the age of 14, choosing his uncle Jeremiah Knowlton Gates, a brother of his mother.  

I don't know how Abigail kept the family together;  she probably received support from the close Seaver and Gates aunts and uncles of young Isaac Seaver, and perhaps the children did farm work or household work for neighbors and friends to support the family.  

I'm sure Isaac felt the loss of his father deeply when it occurred at age 2.  He likely became very self sufficient in his youth and learned the blacksmith trade.  

Wouldn't we all love to have a time machine and ask these special peopple in our lives how tey survived events like this that disrupted the family.

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