In the most recent post in this series, I asked the question: So if Lucinda R. (Pease) Fields is George W. Seaver's "Aunt," is Lauraetta (Pease) (Seaver) Frye the mother of George W. Seaver? If so, who is the father of George W. Seaver?
My hypothesis is that Lauraetta F. Pease is the mother of George W. Seaver by a man with the surname Seaver. More evidence linking the two has come to light recently.
I searched for Lauraetta Pease (not exact) on Ancestry.com and was rewarded with the following record in the Massachusetts Death Records, 1841-1915 collection:
This record is for Anna Senter (maiden name Sargent, wife of George A.), who died 23 February 1892 in Boston, Massachusetts. She was a female, married, age 42, died of pneumonia, resided at 4 Oakville Ave., a housewife, born in Watertown, Wis., parents names Heman (born in Brookline, N.H.) and Lauretta F. Pease (born in Chester, Vt).
So Anna, dead at age 42 in February 1892 (so born probably in 1849) is a daughter of Lauraetta F. Pease, but with a maiden name of Sargent. Huh? How did that happen? The father's name was Heman. Heman what? Sargent? Seaver? Some other name?
Barry Sheldon took the name Heman and searched for Sargent or Seaver in Wisconsin and came up with a land patent index item:
So a Heman Seaver received a land patent in Jefferson county, Wisconsin in July 1848.
Barry then searched the newspapers on Newspapers.com, and found this gem, which he called the "coup-de-grace" on the hypothesis:
The newspaper notice above confirms the hypothesis that Heman Seaver was married to Lauraett F. (Pease) Seaver. This was filed on 10 March 1851 in Watertown, Jefferson County, Wisconsin.
The information I had, from a Seaver family manuscript with information obtained by the author by correspondence, for this Heman Seaver was that he was born in 1814 in Brookline, N.H., the son of Robert Seaver and Hepsibah Gilson. His first marriage was to Elizabeth Boynton (1810-1894) on 20 March 1837 in Brookline, N.H. and they had one daughter, Eliza Jane Seaver (1838-1887). I don't know when or where Heman Seaver died. The book I used indicated that there were three more children, George W. Seaver, Ionnah Seaver and Sarah Seaver, but no birth or other information was given.
I found this article on GenealogyBank from 28 January 1845 in the Bennington (vt.) Banner newspaper:
When did Heman Seaver marry Lauraetta F. Pease? George W. Seaver was born sometime between 1845 (Soldiers Home record) and May 1849 (1900 U.S. census). Anna (Seaver) (Sargent) Senter was born in about 1849. Both were born in Wisconsin, probably in Watertown. My hypothesis is that Heman and Lauraetta married in about 1846, after the divorce from Heman's first wife, but before they went to Wisconsin. Heman went on to marry, third (at least!), Sarah Fletcher (1819-1895) before 1859, when their daughter Sarah Jane Seaver (1859-1941) was born in Pennsylvania.
So now we know who George W. Seaver's mother and father are, to my satisfaction. Are there other records that may answer the questions arising herein - the 1850 U.S. Census, the 1860 U.S. Census, the 1870 U.S. Census, and any other record of interest for George W. Seaver and his parents and sister? Why was Anna Senter's maiden name listed as Sargent? When was George W. Seaver born?
More on that in a later blog post.
Again, Barry Sheldon has played an integral part in this research. He has different methods and access to other record collections than I have. Bouncing ideas and hypotheses and conclusions off each other via email has gotten us this far. Thank you, Barry!
Bibliography:
* Seavers in the News -- George W. Seaver Disappears in 1899 about a man disappearing from his home in Santa Monica, California (posted 1 February 2018)
* The Rest of the George W. Seaver Story - Part I: Newspaper Articles about George's disappearance (posted 5 February 2018)
* The Rest of the George W. Seaver Story - Part II: More Newspaper Articles about George and his wife, Lida J. Crocker (posted 7 February 2018)
* The Rest of the George W. Seaver Story - Part III: Census Entries with census records(posted 8 February 2018)
* Seavers in the News - Vice President George W. Seaver Drives a Horse Car with a story and photo of George in Santa Monica in 1904 (posted 8 February 2018)
* The Rest of the George W. Seaver Story - Part IV: Military Records with military and personal information from Disabled Volunteer Soldiers home records (posted 9 February 2018)
* The Rest of the George W. Seaver Story - Part V: Timeline for his Life provides information about George's life in chronological order (posted 15 February 2018).
* The Rest of the George W. Seaver Story - Part VI: Searching for "Aunt" Lucinda Fields provides information about Lucinda's family and the link to George's mother.
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