My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : William Prior and Elizabeth Ellis

My fourth great grandfather, William Prior, was born in Enfield, Connecticut, on September 24, 1761. His father, Ebenezer, first married Hannah Simons in 1737, and had 10 children with her. Hannah likely died after their last child was born in 1754 (perhaps in childbirth), and five years later he married Catherine Simons, possibly a sister of his first wife. William was the second child of Ebenezer and Catherine, and their oldest son.

Until May 1749, the town of Enfield was part of Hampshire County, Massachusetts.

At the age of 16, William enlisted on November 8, 1777 in the Revolutionary War. A private, he served in Capt. Joseph Walker's Company, Col. Samuel B. Webb's Regiment of the 9th Connecticut Line. At the time of his enlistment, Colonel Webb was a prisoner of war, and the regiment was commanded by a Major Hunter. William affirmed in his affidavit dated April 30, 1818 that he was in the battle at Rhode Island.

Following his discharge on November 8, 1780, he married Elizabeth "Betsey" Ellis, the daughter of Samuel Ellis and Zilpah Hammond. They were married in Chester, in Hampden County, Massachusetts on December 7, 1782. Betsey was born around 1757 in Becket, Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

By the 1790 U.S. Census, the Priors were living in Cambridge, Vermont, in present-day Lamoille County. Except for a brief period around the time of the 1810 U.S. Census, when they lived in Franklin, Vermont, they lived in Cambridge.

They had six children:

Daniel, b. 1785 in Chester, Mass.

Zilpah, b. 1787 in Chester, Mass.

Catey/Catherine, b. 1789 in Cambridge, Vt.

William, Jr., b. 1792 probably in Cambridge, Vt.

Alvah, b. 1797, probably in Cambridge, Vt.

and

Amanda, b. 1805 in Cambridge, Vt.^*

* Amanda Prior would marry Robert Griswold in 1822, the son of another 4th great grandfather of mine, Benjamin Griswold.

His "Certification of Pensioner's Estate and Income" in 1820, lists the following personal property:

1 potash kettle $10.00

1 5-pail kettle damaged 1.00

1 pail-full pot 2.00

1 dish kettle 1.25

1 spider 1.25

1 tea kettle 1.00

1 fire shovel 1.00

1 fire tongs 1.50

1 earthen platter .70

10 earthen plates .50

3 earthen bowls .25

as well as "a lease of forty-five acres of land with a log house"

He further stated that "I am by occupation a farmer but am some what[sic] infirm in consequence of a tumor on my thigh, that my wife Elizabeth is aged sixty years but almost a cripple."

Elizabeth Prior's Widow's Pension application states that William died on January 4, 1837, while staying with their son, in Westport, Essex County, New York. They had apparently moved to Westport about two years prior to William's death. Affidavits in the pension file from sons Daniel and Alvah, and his brother Heman, state that Elizabeth was "removed" to Vermont following his death, but there is no mention of where William was buried.

The only evidence of his body being returned to Vermont for burial is an article in the St. Albans (Vt.) Daily Messenger, entitled "Revolutionary Soldiers: A list of the names of the men who fought for independence and who are buried in Vermont," dated August 19, 1905. In the paragraph for Franklin County, his name does appear.

Elizabeth lived another 11 years, but her final resting place is also unknown.

P.S. I have not been able to find him in the DAR database of Patriots (even using alternative spellings of Pryor, Prier, and Pryer) so if I manage to submit him as one of my supplementals, I would be the only Daughter.

Sources:

1790 US Census; Census Place: Cambridge, Chittenden, Vermont; Series: M637; Roll: 12; Page: 150; Image: 129; Family History Library Film: 0568152.

1800 US Census; Census Place: Cambridge, Franklin, Vermont; Series: M32; Roll: 51; Page: 420; Image: 237; Family History Library Film: 218688.

1810 US Census; Census Place: Fairfield, Franklin, Vermont; Roll: 64; Page: 648; Image: 00577; Family History Library Film: 0218668.

1820 US Census; Census Place: Cambridge, Franklin, Vermont; Page: 29; NARA Roll: M33_127; Image: 183.

1830 US Census; Census Place: Cambridge, Franklin, Vermont; Series: M19; Roll: 183; Page: 58; Family History Library Film: 0027449.

1840 U.S. Census; Census Place: Cambridge, Lamoille, Vermont; Roll: 543; Page: 32; Image: 73; Family History Library Film: 0027440.

Allen, Francis Olcutt, History of Enfield, Connecticut, 2 vols. (Lancaster, Pa.: Wickersham Printing Co., 1900).

Ancestry.com. Revolutionary War Pensioner Census, 1841 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.

Ancestry.com. U.S. Pensioners, 1818-1872 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007.

Ancestry.com. U.S., Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application Files, 1800-1900 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Ancestry.com. Vermont, Compiled Census and Census Substitutes Index, 1790-1860 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1999.

Ancestry.com. Vermont Pensioners, 1835 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 1998.

Dodd, Jordan, Liahona Research, comp. Massachusetts, Marriages, 1633-1850 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.

Elizabeth Prior, widow’s pension application no. W18783, for service of William Prior (Pvt., Capt. Joseph Walker's Company, Col. Samuel B. Webb's Regiment of the 9th Connecticut Line, 1777-1780), Record Group 15, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010).

“Revolutionary War Service Records,” database and images, Fold3 (www.fold3.com/image/16834359/ : accessed 13 April 2016); service of William Prior (Capt. Joseph Walker’s Co., in the 9th Connecticut Regiment commanded by Col. Samuel B. Webb, Revolutionary War); citing Compiled Service Records of Soldiers Who Served in the American Army During the Revolutionary War, compiled 1894 - ca. 1912, documenting the period 1775 – 1784, Record Group 93, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

St. Albans Daily Messenger.  Vermont, St. Albans.  online images.  www.genealogybank.com.

Western Massachusetts Families in 1790. (Original Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012. (From various authors, Helen S. Ullmann, FASG, ed.).

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Simon Packard and Nancy Jordan

My fourth great grandfather, Simon Packard, was born around 1803, in Minot, Maine. He is likely the son of Nehemiah Packard and Betsy Bennett Bray. Nehemiah enlisted as a 14 year old drummer boy in the Revolutionary War, and served along with his father Reuben and his brother Ichabod. The family had migrated from Bridgewater, Massachusetts, to Minot, Maine, perhaps as a result of being granted Bounty land as veterans.

Minot, Maine, and neighboring towns

Nancy Jordan, my 4th great grandmother, was born in Durham, Maine, sometime around 1806, the daughter of Jedediah Jordan and Rachel Turner. She was the 3d great granddaughter of Rev. Robert Jordan and Sarah Winter, who settled on Richmond Island, off present-day Cape Elizabeth, Maine, in the mid-1600's.

Simon and Nancy were married in Minot on January 2, 1831, as the third hand-written record of "Marriages Returned by James Goff, Esq." shows.

Simon and Nancy had eight children, all born in Kingfield, in Franklin County, Maine:

Cyrus, b. 1834

Harriet, b. 1836

Hannah, b. 1837

William, b. 1839

Matilda, b. 1844^*

James, b. 1847

Olive, b. 1849

and

Joseph, b. 1851

*My 3rd great grandmother

Their oldest son, William, my 3rd great grand uncle, enlisted in the Massachusetts Infantry, and fought at Gettysburg.

William H. Packard,  1840-1897

During the next 50 years, Simon and Nancy lived in small towns in Franklin County, Kingfield (1840), Freeman (1850 and 1860), Salem (1870), and back in Freeman (1880), where Simon was a farmer.

By 1880, both of them were considered elderly, and financially destitute. In column 16 of the regular 1880 Census for Freeman, Nancy is noted as being blind. They both appear in the 1880 Supplemental Census for the "Defective, Dependent and Delinquent Classes," in this case, for the "Pauper and Indigent." They were supported at the expense of the Town.

Following this enumeration, the whereabouts of Simon and Nancy Packard is unknown. There are no records of their death or burial, and their graves have not been found.

Two of their children, Hannah and Joseph, were living in neighboring Kingfield during this time, died in Kingfield, and are buried there. Perhaps their parents were buried ignominiously there. Oftentimes in Maine during the 1800's, the poor suffered all kinds of shame.

"To be poor in 19th century Maine could mean suffering all kinds of indignities, but the final degradation often came at death.

With no family to assume responsibility, and towns ready to finally cash in on the liability they had assumed, paupers' cadavers were crated and sold to the medical school at Brunswick's Bowdoin College"
-- "19th century poverty full of indigities," by Sandy Gregor, staff writer, Lewiston Sun-Journal, June 14, 1997

Sadly, their ultimate resting place may never be known.

Sources:

1840 US Census; Census Place: Kingfield, Franklin, Maine; Roll: 140; Page: 69; Image: 143; Family History Library Film: 0009703.

1850 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M432_253; Page: 225B; Image: 436.

1860 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M653_435; Page: 838; Image: 253; Family History Library Film: 803435.

1870 US Census; Census Place: Salem, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M593_543; Page: 186A; Image: 192251; Family History Library Film: 552042

1880 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: 479; Family History Film: 1254479; Page: 440C; Enumeration District: 072; Image: 0637.

"Norlands Seminar: 19th century poverty full of indignities," by Sandy Gregor. Lewiston (Me.) Sun-Journal, June 14, 1997; accessed 4 May 2016 (http://www.poorhousestory.com/MAINE_PovertyArticle_page1.htm)

Ancestry.com. U.S. Federal Census - 1880 Schedules of Defective, Dependent, and Delinquent Classes [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Borders of Auburn, Androscoggin, Maine, USA, on a map of Androscoggin County. Familysearch Research Wiki, based on original in Michael J. Leclerc, Genealogist's Handbook for New England Research, 5th ed. (Boston, Mass.: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012), 90. (https://familysearch.org/wiki/en/File:ME_Androscoggin_Co_Auburn_map.png#filelinks)

Early Vital Records of Minot, Maine, pp. 58, 98, emailed to me from Lucille Hodsdon, 8 Oct 2012.

Jordan, Tristram Frost, comp. The Jordan Memorial: Family Records of the Rev. Robert Jordan, and His Descendants in America. Boston: Press of David Clapp & Son, 1882, pp.363-364.

Maine, Marriages, 1771-1907," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/F4FV-N8Z : accessed 4 June 2012), Simon Packard and Nancy Jordan, 1831.

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : William Brackley and Anna Clayton

William Brackley, my 4th great grandfather, was probably born January 7, 1788, probably in Dedham, Massachusetts, since his parents, William Brackley and Sarah Everett, were married there six months later. His father had been born in England and allegedly had fought with Burgoyne in the Revolutionary War.

"Surrender of General Burgoyne" painted by John Trumbull

In April of 1809, William married Anna Clayton in Farmington, Maine. She was the daughter of John Clayton, a British-born former soldier in the 20th Regiment of Foot and 17th Light Dragoons, who became a prison of war following Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga.

There is evidence that William may have fought in the War of 1812, although no information outside this index card is available.

William and Anna lived all their married life in Freeman, in Franklin County, Maine, where they raised six children:

Abel Everett, b. 1811

Betsey, b. 1813

John Clayton, b. 1817

Elias and Eli, twins b. 1822

and

Howard Winslow, b. 1829^*

^*My 3rd great grandfather

When the U.S. Census Mortality Schedule was published for Freeman, Maine, for the year ending June 1, 1870, both William and Anna were listed with their respective "Profession, Occupation, or Trade" as "Gentleman" and "Lady."

William and Anna are buried side by side in North Freeman Cemetery.

William and Anna Brackley Graves, North Freeman Cemetery

Footstones at the Graves of William and Anna Brackley, North Freeman Cemetery

Sources:

1850 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M432_253; Page: 229A; Image: 443

1860 US Census; Census Place: Freeman, Franklin, Maine; Roll: M653_435; Page: 852; Image: 267; Family History Library Film: 803435.

Ancestry.com. U.S. Federal Census Mortality Schedules, 1850-1885 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2016).

Thompson, George A. and F. Janet Thompson. A Genealogical history of Freeman, Maine, 1796-1938, in three volumes. 3 vols. (Bowie, Maryland: Heritage Books, 1996).

Vital Records of Farmington, Maine, 1784-1890 (Online database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2016).

“War of 1812 Service Record Index,” database and images, Fold3 (www.fold3.com/image157/307523257 : accessed 24 April 2016); service of William Brackley, Jr. (3rd Regiment (Fairbanks’) Massachusetts Militia, War of 1812); citing Index to Compiled Service Records of Volunteer Soldiers Who Served During the War of 1812, Record Group 94, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

My 64 ~ Researching My 4th Great Grandparents : Enoch Morse and Eunice Russell

My 4th great grandfather, Enoch Morse, was born on July 3, 1772, in Gray, Maine. He was the second son born to John Morse and Sarah Sanders. John is the DAR Patriot from whom I descend; I became a Daughter on March 5th this year.

In 1794, Enoch married Eunice Russell, with whom he had 10 children. Not much is known about Eunice Russell, and that made my DAR application quite challenging. Most researchers of the Russell Family assume that she is the daughter of James Russell and Lydia Mitchell. Most convincing for me was the marriage between Enoch's sister Sarah and James' son Nathaniel.


For all of their married life, Enoch and Eunice lived in New Gloucester, Maine, where Enoch was a farmer and blacksmith, and where all their children were born.

Mark, b. 1795

Enoch, Jr., b. 1799

Stephen, b. 1803

Susan F., b. 1804

Mary, b. 1806

Happia, b. 1808

Benjamin, b. 1809

Cynthia, b. 1811^*

Hannah, b. 1815

and 

Margaret, b. 1820

*My 3rd great grandmother

It was daughter Hannah's death record which gave me Eunice's maiden name:

Eunice died in New Gloucester on December 24, 1825, according to this death record, but I have not yet found her grave.

Following her death, Enoch married Eleanor Bradbury, of Minot, Maine, the daughter of Benjamin Bradbury and Eleanor Fellowes, on May 27, 1826. With Eleanor, Enoch had three children:

Russell B., b. 1827

Alfred J., b. 1828

Apphia Jane, b. 1829

At the age of 80, Enoch Morse passed away on August 16, 1852, in New Gloucester. He is buried in Webber Cemetery there.

Sources:

Ancestry.com, 1810 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, Year: 1810; Census Place: New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 11; Page: 272; Image: 00274; Family History Library Film: 0218682.

Ancestry.com, 1820 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, 1820 U S Census; Census Place: New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine; Page: 283; NARA Roll: M33_33; Image: 155.

Ancestry.com, 1830 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, 1830; Census Place: New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine; Series: M19; Roll: 46; Page: 149; Family History Library Film: 0009700.

Ancestry.com, 1840 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, Year: 1840; Census Place: New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: 138; Page: 313; Image: 556; Family History Library Film: 0009702.

Ancestry.com, 1850 United States Federal Census (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009), Ancestry.com, Year: 1850; Census Place: New Gloucester, Cumberland, Maine; Roll: M432_250; Page: 79A; Image: 350.

Ancestry.com, Maine, Death Records, 1617-1922 (Provo, UT, USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010), Ancestry.com, Maine State Archives; Cultural Building, 84 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333-0084; Pre 1892 Delayed Returns; Roll #: 78.

Ancestry.com. Maine, Marriage Records, 1713-1937 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

Ancestry.com, Web: Maine, Find A Grave Index, 1700-2012 (Provo, UT. USA, Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012), Ancestry.com.

Gray, Ruth, editor. Maine families in 1790 (Camden, Maine, Picton Press, 1990), p.202.

"Maine Deaths and Burials, 1841-1910," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:F4ZV-XMJ : accessed 6 October 2015), Eunice Morse, 24 Dec 1825; citing reference yr 1745-1858 p 477; FHL microfilm 11,587.

Morse, J. Howard and Emily W. Leavitt, Morse genealogy, comprising the descendants of Samuel, Anthony, William, and Joseph Morse and John Moss, being a revision of the Memorial of the Morses, published by Rev. Abner Morse in 1850 (New York, New York, The Morse Society, 1903.