Chasing Daniel Murphy, Part 3: Back to the Island

So far, in Part 1 and Part 2 of this series, we've found a Daniel Murphy in Newburyport, Mass., born in Prince Edward Island ostensibly around 1843 to Michael Murphy and Martha Morrison, marrying Anastasia Welch (his second marriage). He may or may not be the same Daniel Murphy supposedly born about 1851, brother to Elizabeth (Murphy) Mason of Newburyport and likely father to Pius Peter Murphy of Newburyport and Annie (Murphy) Shennett of Amesbury. Pius's purported mother Johanna Collins is the most specific lead we have. (He and Annie also reported mother's name as Mary and Margaret, but without a maiden name.) Since both were born in P.E.I., that seemed like the next destination to tackle.

Although the records are incomplete, especially in the first half of the 19th century, the baptismal index on the P.E.I. Archives website lets you search by child's name and/or both parents. Images of the index cards are available on FamilySearch. (They're indexed there now, too, but they used to be browse-only, and in some ways the P.E.I. website search is superior, e.g., allowing a wildcard with only a single letter.) So this seemed to be a good place to start.

To begin with, I found no baptisms recorded in the right time frame (in the ballpark of late 1860s/early 1870s) for children born to a Daniel Murphy and either a Mary or a Margaret.¹ This in itself isn't definitive, but, crucially, I did find the 1865 baptism in Charlottetown of Pius Murphy, son of Daniel Murphy and Johanna Collins² – the exact names reported by Pius at his second marriage. The year is quite a bit off from the 1869-70 derived from that marriage record and the 1910 census – though certainly no more of a discrepancy than I've found for my Murphys in general – but is a good match for the 1864 implied in his first marriage record. Given that Johanna isn't nearly as common a name as Mary or Margaret (or Collins as compared to, say, Murphy), it seems extremely likely that this the right Daniel, Johanna, and Pius. (For that matter, out of seven Pius Murphys, only one had a father named Daniel.)

Baptism of Pius Murphy, 1865, St. Dunstan's Basilica, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island

Looking for other Murphy children under possible combinations and variants of Daniel Murphy and Johanna Collins led to the following results:³

Child	Born	Father	Mother
James D	1863	Daniel Murphy	Judith Collins
Pius	1865	Daniel Murphy	Johanna Collins
Ann	1867	Daniel Murphy	Johanna Connors [sic]
John	1869	Daniel Murphy	Judy Collins
Margaret Helen	1871	Donald Murphy	Joanna Collings [sic]

Given the clockwork two-year spacing of the births, the fact that all but one of the baptisms took place at St. Dunstan's in Charlottetown, and, again, the relative uncommonality of Johanna or Judith, I was pretty certain these were all the same couple, even the one for Donald Murphy. Note that this accounts for not only Pius, but also "Annie" Shennett, who must be Ann, born in 1867. (Annie/Margaret Shennett was, according to the 1910-1920 censuses, born in 1872 or 73, but remember what I said in Part 1 about taking Murphy ages with a barrel of salt.)

Marriage registrations in P.E.I. seem to be even sketchier than baptisms, but I nevertheless tried that next. I couldn't find anything for Daniel Murphy and Johanna (or Judith) Collins, but, interestingly, I did turn one up for a Daniel Murphy and Johanna Malone.⁴

Marriage of Daniel Murphy and Johanna Malone, 1862

Now, although Johanna is listed here as a "Spinster", the baptismal records of Daniel and Johanna's children indisputably point to a maiden name of Collins, and there are no children in the baptismal index for a Johanna (or Judith) Malone with a Daniel (or Donald) Murphy. This marriage in 1862 also fits very well with the birth of the first child in 1863.

Add in the name of one of the witnesses to Daniel and Johanna's marriage – Martin Collins – and it seems likely that Johanna/Judith was originally a Collins, and previously married to a Malone. And, in fact, another search in the marriage registers turned up an 1854 marriage between a Michael Malone and a Judith Collins;⁵ baptismal records for their three children (the last born in 1859) give her name as Julia Collins, Judith Collins, and Judith Collings.⁶ So it seems almost certain that the "spinster" Johanna Malone who married Daniel was actually the widow of Michael Malone.

Unfortunately there are no extant 1871 census records for P.E.I., so the first time I could possibly pick them up was the 1881 census – assuming they hadn't left the Island by then. I was in luck: I found Daniel in Lot 30... without Johanna (he's marked as a widower in the column to the right of his occupation), but clearly identifiable as the right Daniel by the first four children: James, Pius, Ann, and John, at just the expected ages.⁷ It would appear that Margaret Helen, who should be 10, must have died young. In addition, there are two more children for whom I can find no baptismal records, a 6-year-old boy with a very odd name that appears to be "Melahannon,"⁸ and 3-year-old Peter Leo.

1881 Canada census, Prince Edward Island, Queens County, Lot 30, dwelling 204, family 204, Daniel Murphy household

Evidently, Johanna died sometime between 1878 and 1881, perhaps at Peter Leo's birth. Death records can be even harder to find on P.E.I. than the other "vitals," so I haven't yet tried very hard to look for one for her.

So, we still have the question of whether this Daniel Murphy, birth reported in later years as 1844 or 1851, is the same one who was supposedly born in 1843, married Anastasia Welch in 1885, and gave his parents as Michael Murphy and Martha Morrison. There are no earlier fully nominal censuses, so there's nothing to be found there, but I believe there is a clue in this 1881 census: Daniel gives his age as 45, indicating that he was born in 1835-36, not 1843-44. How does this help?

Well, there are only three baptimal records in the index for children of Michael Murphy and Magdelen/Matilda Morison, all baptised at St. George's Parish, St. George's: James, born 1842; Patrick, born 1838; and Donald, born 1836.⁹

Baptism of Donald Murphy, 1836, St. George's Parish, Prince Edward Island

I don't think the name presents too much of a discrepancy; Donald or Donal isn't far from Daniel, and the McDonald/McDonnell surname has been known to morph into McDaniel. And the fact that the father of Margaret Helen is given as Donald (while her siblngs' records all say Daniel) lends credence to the hypothesis.

The rest of the timeline fits, too; a widower in 1881, he could have migrated with at least Pius and Ann by 1885, when he married again. (James is tentatively traced to Nova Scotia; John may be one of the multitude of John Murphys found in Newburyport/Amesbury at that time; and as for "Melahannon" and Peter Leo, I haven't a clue. They may have been left with James or another relative. A "Leo Peter" Murphy in Newburyport is not this Peter Leo.) Pius married for the first time in 1887, Ann in 1890.

The bottom line is that I no longer believe Daniel is a younger child whose baptism is not recorded; I believe he is actually the known Donald Murphy, born to Michael Murphy and Magdelen/Matilda/Martha Morison in 1836, about who no further information has been found under that name. This would make him my second great-granduncle.

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SOURCES

1. "PARO Collections," database, Public Archives and Records Office of Prince Edward Island (http://www.gov.pe.ca/archives/parosearch/ : accessed 25 Oct 2015), searches for baptisms, father Daniel Murphy and mother Mary, and father Daniel Murphy and mother Margaret.
2. "Prince Edward Island Baptism Card Index, 1721-1885," database and digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 25 Apr 2014); Murphy-McDonald > image 200 of 5450, baptism of Pius Murphy, 23 Mar 1865; citing record book no. 3, p. 144, St. Dunstan's Basilica, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.
3. "PARO Collections," database (accessed 22 Sep 2016), searches for baptisms, father Daniel Murphy, no mother's name; mother J* Coll*, no father's name; and both father's and mother's names.
4. "Prince Edward Island Marriage Registers, 1832-1888," database and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 25 Oct 2015); Marriages 1861-1863 > image 18 of 83, marriage of Daniel Murphy and Johanna Malone, 1862.
5. Ibid. (accessed 30 Apr 2014); Marriages 1852-1857 > image 223 of 346, p. 430, marriage of Michael Malone and Judith Collins, 1854,
6. "PARO Collections," database (accessed 23 Sep 2016), searches for baptisms, father Michael Malone, mother J* Coll*.
7. 1881 census of Canada, Prince Edward Island, district 2, sub-district H, Queens County, Township 30, p. 51, dwelling 204 (202 crossed out), family 204 (203 crossed out), Daniel Murphy household; RG 31; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 24 Apr 2014).  I excised from the image a long section of columns that just declared they were all born on P.E.I., Catholic, and of Irish extraction.
8. I'm almost certain that "Melahannon" must be a census enumerator-garbled rendering of something else entirely. If this child were a little older, I'd almost think the enumerator somehow conjured it from "Margaret Helen" and assumed it was a boy. But the other ages are so close I find it hard to believe Daniel could have been so far off on this child's age. 
9. "Prince Edward Island Baptism Card Index, 1721-1885," database and digital images (accessed 29 Feb 2012); Maby-Murphy > image 5096 of 5454, baptism of Donald Murphy, 30 Apr 1836; citing record book no. 1, p. 4, St. Georges Parish, St. Geo[unreadable], Prince Edward Island.

Chasing Daniel Murphy, Part 2: Peter and Pius and Annie

In Part 1, we got as far as linking a Daniel Murphy in Newburyport to his sister, Elizabeth Mason, and Elizabeth's daughter, Mary Jane, to a cousin, Peter Murphy. The logical next step was to find out more about Peter.

Fortunately, Newburyport, Mass., has a complete series of city directories available on Ancestry.com, which are crucial to filling in that frustrating 20-year gap between the 1880 and 1900 censuses which is precisely where my Murphys were most active in Newburyport. I've gone so far as to extract all entries over nearly a century for Murphys, and any known allied lines, into a spreadsheet, where sorting variously by name or by address can reveal previously-unrecognized connections.

There seemed to be only two entries for Peter Murphy: in 1902, a painter living at 1 Centre Street, and in 1910, a Peter P Murphy, "countercutter", at 27 Oakland Street – exactly where Mary Jane Mason was residing with Peter and Celia Murphy in the 1910 census. Things got even more interesting when I sorted by address. First, I discovered that the 1910 directory also listed at 27 Oakland a Pius P Murphy, also a countercutter. Furthermore, Pius P was also at 27 Oakland in 1908 (as a carriage painter) and 1912 (countercutter) – and so was Daniel Murphy (no occupation given).¹ Listings for a Pius Murphy (no middle initial) also appeared 1889 and 1891 (painter, 151 Merrimac St.) and 1904 and 1906 (shoemaker, 32 Ocean St.).² Was there just one man, Pius Peter Murphy, who used his first and middle names interchangeably? Further investigation of Pius/Peter was in order.

It didn't take much digging to find a 1902 marriage in Newburyport between "Pyus" Murphy, 33, painter, and Celia McKinnon, 35, both born P.E. Island.³ His implied birth year of 1869 matches up with "Peter" Murphy's 1870 in the 1910 census (hers is off by a few years) and the census marriage data (his 2nd, her 1st, married 7 years) also matches, making it virtually certain that Pius = Peter.

Marriage of "Pyus" Murphy and Celia McKinnon, 1902, Newburyport, Mass.

Even more important, Pius's parents are given as Daniel Murphy and Johanna Collins. (With the caveat here that at his first marriage, to Mary Ann Hughes, he gave his mother's name as Mary, with no maiden name.⁴)

At this point I need to backtrack just a bit. In addition to the record of Daniel's marriage to Anastasia, the 1900 census record, and a couple of identifiable city directory entries, I had found one other Daniel Murphy record in the Newburyport area – a death record in Amesbury⁵ – but whether it was for "my" Daniel seemed questionable.

Death certificate for Daniel Murphy, 1915, Amesbury, Mass.

To begin with, I hadn't found anything else connecting Daniel to Amesbury. Next, the birth year of 1844 correlates with his age at marriage to Anastasia, but not to his given birth year on the 1900 census (though it should be noted we haved yet actually proved those two Daniels are the same); but in any case the date of birth is highly suspect, as it appears he expired on his birthday, conveniently requiring no intricate date calculations to produce an age of exactly 71 years, 0 months, and 0 days. Not impossible, of course, but I'll take this one with a long ton of salt. Third, it says he was born in Ireland and his father was also named Daniel (mother unknown). And yet...

Look at that informant. Pius Murphy. And the only Pius Murphy in the whole Newburyport area was, as far as I could tell, the one who bids fair to be "my" Daniel's son.

Granted, you would think he would have known more about his father's age, birthplace, and parents, but we already know the Murphys play fast and loose with birth dates, and Pius wouldn't be the first informant, upon being asked for "name of father," to give his own father's name instead of his father's father's name. In fact, it's entirely possible he never knew his grandparents – they may have died before Pius was born, or shortly after. As for the birth in "Ireland," a statement that "he came from the Island" (a common way for P.E. Islanders to refer to their home) could easily have been misinterpeted as Ireland.

Assuming that the other discrepancies can be plausibly explained, there's still the question of what the heck he was doing in Amesbury. While Pius apparently had lived in Amesbury for a while before 1900 (he married and had several children there with his first wife), he appeared to be solidly located in Newburyport after the turn of the century up to 1912, and a Haverhill directory entry gives me reason to believe he was living there by 1915. So just who was living at 105 Congress Street in Amesbury? Was Daniel just a boarder there, or was there a closer relationship?

This is an easy task if a city's directories have a "reverse lookup" section (listing occupants by street address). The Newburyport-Amesbury directories, alas, do not, but you can find a surprising amount of information using a keyword search in Ancestry's city directories database. Leaving the names blank, I entered Lived In = Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, Any Event Date = 1915 +/– 5 years, and Keyword = "105 Congress" (with the quotation marks). At the top of the results were entries for Henry J Shennett for 1912, 1914, and 1916, and a little further down for 1910 and 1919.⁶ (The results are nominally for Newburyport, but they prove to be in the Amesbury section of the joint directory.) This was a name I had not encountered previously. 

Next I looked for census records for Henry Shennett, finding him at 105 Congress in both 1910⁷ and 1920⁸, with a wife named Annie M in 1910 and Margaret N in 1920. But the real find was an 1890 marriage record for Henry Shennett and Annie Murphy.⁹ Annie was born in Prince Edward Island, and her father's name was Daniel. So I don't think it's a coincidence that Daniel Murphy was living with Henry and Annie when he died, and this strongly implies that she was Pius's sister. She gave her mother's name as Margaret (no surname), not Johanna Collins, but remember even Pius said his mother was Mary (no surname) at his first marriage. This could be a another case of someone using both a first and middle name interchangeably. (The M in Annie M could be for Margaret, accounting for Henry's wife's name in 1920. Or it could be for Murphy.) But each gave Daniel Murphy as their father's name, and a brother-sister relationship would certainly explain why Pius was the informant for Daniel's death at this particular Amesbury address, when Pius was probably living in Haverhill.

Marriage of Henry Shennett and Annie Murphy, 1890, Portsmouth, N.H.

At this point, it seems time for a (virtual) trip to P.E.I. Stay tuned.

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SOURCES

1. The Newburyport and Amesbury Directory [varying subtitles], for 1910, p. 178, entries for Peter P and Pius P Murphy; 1908, p. 164, 1912, pp. 170-171, entries for Pius P and Daniel Murphy; also similar entries for Peter and Pius Murphy in 1889, 1891, 1902, 1904, and 1906; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Feb 2014). The only Daniel listed in Newburyport in 1910 is a Daniel J Murphy, who also appears for a number of years before and after that, and is definitely not "my" Daniel.
2. It may be only a coincidence that Mrs. Anastasia Murphy boarded at 32 Ocean St. in 1912.Then again, it may not.
3. New England Historic Genealogical Society, "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," database and digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 25 Oct 2015); Newburyport, vol. 524, p. 551, marriage of "Pyus" Murphy and Celia McKinnon, 1902. 
4. Ibid., Amesbury, vol. 379, p. 210, marriage of Pius Murphy and Mary Ann Hughes, 1887.
5. New England Historic Genealogical Society, "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915," database and digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 11 Sep 2016); Amesbury, vol. 1915/2 Death, p. 16, death of Daniel Murphy, 1915. To the best of my knowledge, the "Daniel D. Murphy, M.D." who signed the death certificate is no relation to my Murphy clan. He was a physician in Amesbury for a good many years.
6. The Newburyport and Amesbury Directory [varying subtitles], for 1914, p. 373, 1916, p. 392, entries for Henry J Shennett, 105 Congress, Amesbury; and similar entries in 1910, 1912, and 1919; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 23 Sep 2016).
7. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule, Massachusetts, Essex County, Amesbury, enumeration district (ED) 260, sheet 17-B, p. 2235 (penned), dwelling 184, family 213, Henry J. "Schenett" household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Sep 2016).
8. 1920 U.S. census, population schedule, Massachusetts, Essex County, Amesbury, enumeration district (ED) 4, sheet 9-B, dwelling 199, family 235, Henry J. Shennett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Sep 2016).
9. "New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Sep 2016); marriage of Henry Shennett and Annie Murphy, 1890, Portsmouth, N.H.

Chasing Daniel Murphy, Part 1

A couple of years ago, for the 52 Ancestors challenge, I wrote about my third-great-grandpa Michael Murphy of Prince Edward Island, and noted the existence of four tentative offspring – three women and one man, natives of Prince Edward Island, who dwelled in Newburyport, Massachusetts, in the late 1800s and early 1900s, and who seemed to be connected to each other and to Michael and Magdelen (Morison) Murphy. I later posted the three-part tale (starting here) of one of them, the thrice-married "Mysterious Mary" who was either my third great aunt ... or a total stranger.

Lately I've been looking at the other three "possibles" in an attempt to firm up the connections among them, in particular, Daniel Murphy. I figured at least with him, I didn't have to worry about his surname changing if he married! But his records are so spotty – and there are so many other Daniel Murphys in Newburyport – that it's hard to track him.

So, why did I think this particular Daniel Murphy in Newburyport might be one of "my" Murphys in the first place? It began with a marriage registration. In 1885, Daniel Murphy, 42, married Anastasia Welch, 40; his second marriage, her first. Both were born in Prince Edward Island, and Daniel said his parents were Michael Murphy and "Martha" Morrison.¹ (As I explained in part 3 of "Mysterious Mary," the Murphy children variously name their mother as Magdelen, Martha, Matilda, or Margaret, but the last name is always Morrison.) The given age of 42 would mean he was born in 1843, which is plausible for a child of Michael and Magdelen (the youngest known child was born in 1842), though there's no telling how reliable this is.²

Marriage of Daniel Murphy and Anastasia Welch, 1885, Newburyport, Mass.

The catch here is that there seem to be no further records of this couple, as a couple. Given Anastasia's age, it's not surprising that there are no children found in the Newburyport birth registers, and of course it would be 15 years before there was a chance of finding them in the census... but they weren't in the 1900 census, either. At least, I can't find any sign of Anastasia; however, I did find this census record for a Daniel Murphy, in the household of his sister, Elizabeth Mason, at 6 Elbow Lane.³

1900 U.S. census, Essex County, Mass., Newburyport, Elizabeth Mason household

Now there are some possible problems with this being the same Daniel who married Anastasia Welch. First, his birth date is given as Aug 1851, a full eight years later than implied in the marriage record. (However, see footnote 2.) Second, he's purportedly a widower. But... while Anastasia can't be found in either this census or in 1910, a "Mrs. Anastasia Murphy" is listed in every Newburyport city directory from 1904 to 1914, no occupation but also not listed as a widow.⁴ Furthermore, a 1915 death certificate for Anastasia (Welch) Murphy seems to match up pretty nicely with the Anastasia who married Daniel – born in P.E.I., birth year off by only three years (in Murphy terms, that's virtually identical), residence Newburyport, married.^{5, 6}

Death certificate, Anastasia (Welch) Murphy, 1915, Danvers, Mass.

So it appears that Daniel and Anastasia may have been separated, but not divorced. Of course, Daniel did say it was his second marriage, which presumably meant his first wife had died (these folks were all Roman Catholics and unlikely to be divorced), so technically he was a widower, albeit a remarried one.

If Mary was "mysterious," Daniel might best be described as "elusive." I couldn't find any candidate for "my" Daniel in the 1910 census. Elizabeth Mason died in 1906, so clearly he wasn't with her; so I tried checking her daughter Mary Jane (seen as "Jane" in 1900) and her son John T., who was already married with his own household by 1900. No Daniel with either one – but Mary Jane Mason did provide another potential lead: in 1910, she was living at 27 Oakland Street in the household of Peter Murphy, listed as his cousin.⁷ And Peter, like Mary Jane, was born in English Canada, which includes Prince Edward Island. If Peter Murphy was her cousin, there's a good chance his father was her mother's brother – and thus either Daniel's brother, or Daniel himself.

1910 U.S. census, Essex County, Mass., Newburyport, Peter Murphy householdSo

So next time, it's onward to check out this Peter Murphy.

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SOURCES

1. New England Historic Genealogical Society, "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1841-1910," database and digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 25 Oct 2015); Newburyport, vol. 361, p. 323, marriage of Daniel Murphy and Anastasia Welch, 1885.
2. You have to take any stated ages/birthdates for this entire family – beyond their actual birth or baptismal records – with a whole barrel of salt. I'm convinced that the Newburyport Murphys either didn't know, or didn't care, just when they were born, and when asked for an age for an official document just pulled any semi-plausible number out of their hat. Accepting this cavalier approach to ages is key to sorting out the Murphys: you just have to rely on other bits of evidence to identify them.
3. 1900 U.S. census, population schedule, Massachusetts, Essex County, Newburyport, enumeration district (ED) 419, sheet 2-A, p. 87 [stamped], dwelling 16, family 21, Elizabeth Mason household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Feb 2014); citing National Archives and Records Administration microfilm T623.
4. The Newburyport and Amesbury Directory [varying subtitles], for 1904-05, p. 155, 1906-07, p. 163, 1908-09, p. 163, 1910-11, p. 177, 1912-13, p. 170, 1914-15, p. 167, entries for Mrs. Anastasia Murphy; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 22 Feb 2014). 
5. New England Historic Genealogical Society, "Massachusetts Vital Records, 1911-1915," database and digital images, American Ancestors (http://www.americanancestors.org : accessed 21 Sep 2016); Danvers, vol. 1915/17 Death, p. 226, death of Anastasia (Welch) Murphy, 1915.
6. True, the parents' names listed are completely different from those in her marriage record, but I haven't found either set of parents in P.E.I. records, so I suspect they were both pulled out of the same hat where the Murphys got their ages.
7. 1910 U.S. census, population schedule, Massachusetts, Essex County, Newburyport, enumeration district (ED) 438, sheet 3-A, p. 2145 (penned), dwelling 47, family 52, Peter Murphy household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 11 Sep 2016).
   
   

From Down East Maine to Panama: Capt. Gardner Emerton Sukeforth

SS Ancon in the Culebra Cut

Today's Genealogy Blogging Beat post, noting the anniversary of the official opening of the Panama Canal on August 15, 1914, inspired me to write this profile of a relative who played an important – though largely unheralded – role in that opening: as captain of the SS Ancon, the steamer that made that historic passage.

Gardner Emerton Sukeforth was born 22 July 1849 in Washington, Waldo County (now Washington, Knox County), Maine, the seventh and last child of William Sukeforth and Ruth Emerton. Before his seventh birthday, his father had died and his mother had remarried, to Isaiah Pert, a sailor some 17 years her junior, and in 1860 Gardiner and three of his brothers were living with the Perts and their two-year-old half-brother in Sedgwick, Hancock County, Maine.

Gardner is nowhere to be found in the 1870 census, but according to a 2013 article¹ in Discover Maine magazine by Charles Francis, he

... left home while still a teenager² to live in the Penobscot Bay town of South Penobscot. His early years were spent working on a variety of ... fishing vessels and coastal schooners....

About 1872, Gardner and his older brother George were both living in Portland, Maine (though not at the same address), and working as coopers, a trade George no doubt learned from their father and passed along to his brother. George remained in Portland and married in 1874, while Gardner is found briefly coopering in Cambridge, Mass., then disappears until about 1880, when he was enumerated in Liberty, Maine, with his now-widowed mother, brother John, and half-brother Melvin.

He also shows up in the 1881 Portland directory at his brother's address, and may have used that as a home base for his sailing voyages, as he listed Portland as his residence when, on 7 February 1884, he married Clara L. Sargent in Lynn, Massachusetts. Although Clara and her parents, Thomas C. and Louise (Tribou) Sargent, had been residents of Lynn since about 1863, Clara had been born in Surry, Hancock County, Maine (not too far from Sedgwick or Penobscot), and the Sargents had lived there until at least 1860. Perhaps Gardner met the Sargent family before they removed to Lynn (though Clara would have been only a child), or later when they possibly returned to visit relatives.

The couple moved in with Clara's parents³ and remained in Lynn through about 1890, presumably sailing – then steaming – out of Boston-area ports. During this time they had two daughters, Annie in 1887 and Marion in 1889.

Then, in 1891, the Lynn directory says Thomas Sargent has "removed to New York city," and there is no listing for Gardner, but neither appears in New York – or anywhere else that I could find – until they both turn up at the same address in Brooklyn in 1894. I believe the explanation for that roughly four-year disappearance may be found in Francis's Discover Maine article:⁴

With the decline of the golden age of sail, Sukeforth switched to steamships.... [His] apprenticeship with steam came with the Red D Line.... For some five years beginning in 1886 [he] served on Red D ships operating between New York and South America. Then he moved to the West Coast, working the San Francisco to Japan Red D run. In 1896 he went to work for the Panama Railroad Steamship Company.

Though some of the details seem a little off – would he have been working a New York to South America run while living in Lynn? – this account has him moving to the west coast around 1891, exactly when he disappeared from Lynn. The fact that there are no San Francisco city directories on Ancestry between the 1891 and 1896 editions might explain my failure to find him there. (His appearance in Brooklyn in 1894 may mean that was when he worked the New York-South America run.)

His new employer, the Panama Railroad Steamship Company, was in effect owned by the U.S. government, which bought up most of the company's stock in 1897. The company's flagship, the SS Ancon, was in fact owned by the United States War Department and only leased to the company. And of course, the U.S. government was in charge of the construction and operation of the Panama Canal, along with everything else in the Canal Zone.

Capt. Gardner E. Sukeforth

By the time the Canal was finally ready to open in 1914, Gardner Sukeforth was the most senior captain in the company, and was selected to command the Ancon for its historic passage. As the largest vessel to pass through the canal until then,⁵ the Ancon would be tricky to navigate through the lakes along the canal, and there were no pilots specifically trained for the task. Although pilot John Constantine was technically in charge of the Ancon for the trip, the successful passage, in a record time of 9 hours and 27 minutes (they were planning for an 11-hour passage), was made under Capt. Sukeforth's direct supervision and command, using the canal blueprints and charts of the lakes as a guide – he himself had not previously made the passage. For a man who grew up sailing schooners along the rocky Maine coasts, it was probably a walk in the park.

Gardner Sukeforth continued to captain various ships for the Panama Railroad Steamship Company until his death from Bright's disease on 19 May 1920 in Dayton, Ohio, where the Sukeforths had lived since about 1917. He is buried in Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.

Gardner Sukeforth is my first cousin three times removed; our common ancestor is Robert Sukeforth.

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SOURCES

1. Charles Francis, "Gardner Sukeforth Opens The Panama Canal," Discover Maine, 2013, vol. 10, issue 5, pp. 81-83; digital images, Issu.com (http://issue.com : accessed 6 Dec 2014).
2. His leaving home may have had more to do with family turmoil than anything else; it appears that after a stint in the U.S. Navy during the Civil War, Isaiah must have divorced Ruth, as he married again in 1868 and in 1870 was living with his new wife in Sedgwick, next door to Ruth's son Andrew. Ruth, meanwhile, had moved to Liberty, where she was enumerated under the name Ruth Sukeforth, along with her sons John (Sukeforth) and Clarence Melvin (Pert), and next door to her oldest daughter Martha and her family.
3. Gardner and Clara continued to live with her parents throughout their lives. No doubt his career as a steamship pilot and captain took him away from home enough to make it more practical for Clara and their children to live with her parents instead of keeping a separate household. 
4. Francis, "Gardner Sukeforth Opens The Panama Canal."
5. The Ancon's sister ship, the SS Cristobal, made the first unofficial passage on August 3rd.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Male Ancestors' Age at Death

Once again I'm accepting Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun mission, this time "Male Ancestors Age at Death", as follows:

1. Review your Pedigree Chart (either on paper or in your genealogy management software program) and determine the age at death of your Male ancestors back at least five generations (and more if you want to).
2. Tell us the lifespan years for each of these ancestors.  Which of your male ancestors in this group lived the longest?  Which lived the shortest? 

Like Randy, I used Ahnentafel numbers to identify my male ancestors:

Father:
2. Roger Marchant Kirk (1919-1979) – 60 years

Grandfathers:
4. Chester Frank Kirk (1857-1939) – 81 years
6. William George Murphy (1886-1946) – 60 years

Great-Grandfathers:
8. Silas Kirk (1827-1909) – 82 years (exactly – he died on his birthday)
10. Silas Marchant Hillman Hodsdon (1847-1911) – 64 years
12. Dominic Murphy (1854-1914) – 59 years
14. Peter Louis Rabideau (1870-1946) – 76 years

2nd Great-Grandfathers:
16. Jabez Bradbury Kirkpatrick (1800-1884) – 83 years
18. Simon Sukeforth (ca 1813-1874) – abt 61 years
20. Isaac Hodsdon (1812-1890) – 77 years
22. Nahum Alonzo Rand (1813-1884) – 70 years
24. William Murphy (1830-1909) – 78 years
26. Neil McIntyre (1814-bet 1881 and 1891) – >67 years
28. Louis Rabideau (1850-aft 1913) – >63 years
30. Uriah Sawyer Woodward (1847-1881) – 33 years

3rd Great-Grandfathers:
32. John Kirkpatrick 2d (1773-1825) – 52 years
34. Edward Faulkner – unknown
36. Robert Sukeforth (ca 1780-88 - bet 1860 and 1870) – >72 years
38. William Miller (est 1794-aft 1837) – >43 years
40. Jacob Hodsdon (1787-1879) – 91 years
42. Guy Green (1778-1850) – 72 years
44. Joshua Rand (1779-1852) – 73 years
46. Enoch Brister (ca 1770-1853) – abt 83 years
48. Michael Murphy (ca 1800-bet 1861-81) – >61 years
50. William McDonald – unknown
52. Angus McIntyre (est 1785-bet 1840 and 1851) – >55 years
54. Alexander McLellan (ca 1786-1867) – abt 81 years
56. Louis Robidas (ca 1832-1921) – abt 89 years
58. Unknown
60. Royal Woodward (ca 1802-08 - 1879) – >71 years
62. Samuel Orcutt Washburn (1798-1850) – 51 years

My third great-grandfathers list is a little more complete than the one for their wives: there's only one I don't have a name for, and two more for whom I have a name but no dates.

For those I have at least reasonably good dates for, the longest-lived appears to be 3rd great-grandfather Jacob Hodsdon, at 91 years. The shortest-lived was 2nd great-grandfather Uriah Sawyer Woodward, who died at 33, leaving his wife, Mary (Washburn) (Yates) Woodward, a widow for the second time.

The average age at death for the 28 male ancestors for whom I have data is about 68, with a range of 33-91. Leaving out Uriah Woodward's atypical early death brings the average for the remaining 27 men to over 69; also leaving out William Miller's possible death by 43 raises the average to over 70. Averages and ranges by generation:

1. Father: 60 years.
2. Grandfathers: average 70.5 years (60-81).
3. Great-grandfathers: average about 70 years (59-82).
4. Second great-grandfathers: average 66.5 years (33-83). Omitting Uriah, the average for the other seven is about 71 years.
5. Third great-grandfathers (13 out of 16): average about 69 years (43-91). Again, omitting William Miller, the average for the remaining 12 is nearly 71.

Clearly my female ancestors were a much more robust bunch than their mates, with every generation of women averaging 3-6 years more than the men!

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Female Ancestors' Age at Death

I'm accepting Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun mission, "Female Ancestors Age at Death", as follows:

1. Review your Pedigree Chart (either on paper or in your genealogy management software program) and determine the age at death of your female ancestors back at least five generations (and more if you want to).
2. Tell us the lifespan years for each of these ancestors.  Which of your female ancestors in this group lived the longest?  Which lived the shortest?   

Like Randy, I used Ahnentafel numbers to identify my female ancestors:

Mother:
3. Kathleen Marie (Murphy) Kirk (1921-1993) – 71 years

Grandmothers:
5. Mary Milliken (Hodsdon) Kirk (1882-1965) – 83 years
7. Glenna Marie (Rabideau) Murphy (1899- 1968) – 68 years

Great-Grandmothers:
9. Sarah C. (Sukeforth) Kirk (1838-1905) – 67 years
11. Kate Maria (Rand) Hodsdon (1855-1940) – 85 years
13. Rose Ann (McIntyre) Murphy (1862-1937) – 74 years
15. Eva May (Woodward) Rabdieau (1871-1953) – 82 years

2nd Great-Grandmothers:
17. Abigail (Faulkner) Kirkpatrick (1808-1891) – 82 years
19. Jane (Miller) Sukeforth (1810-1879) – 68 years
21. Abigail (Greene) Hodsdon (1814-1878) – 64 years
23. Dolly C. (Brister) Rand (1818-1904) – 86 years
25. Flora Ann (McDonald) Murphy (1832-1911) – 78 years
27. Mary Ann (McLellan) McIntyre (1817-1896) – 78 years
29. Marie Celina (Cloutier) Rabideau (ca 1849-1881) – abt 32 years
31. Mary A. (Washburn) Woodward (1831-1917) – 86 years

3rd Great-Grandmothers:
33. Nancy (Starrett) Kirkpatrick (1777-1834) – 57 years
35. Margaret (Morrison) Faulkner – unknown
37. Polly (Miller) Sukeforth (1775-bet 1850-60) – >75 years
39. Unknown
41. Sally (Huston) Hodsdon (1785-bet 1860-70) – >75 years
43. Hannah R. (Gould) Green (ca 1787-aft 1879) – >92 years
45. Elizabeth (Rand) Rand (1773-1857) – 84 years
47. Sarah (Chamberlain) Brister (ca 1790 - 1881) – abt 91 years
49. Magdelen (Morison) Murphy (ca 1800-bet 1861-81) – >61 years
51. Flora (Wilson) McDonald – unknown
53. Ann (Gillis) McIntyre (est 1789-aft 1851) – >62 years
55. Sally (McCormick) McLellan (est 1785-????) – unknown
57. Marie (Deshaies-St. Cyr) Robidas (1829-1895) – 65 years
59. Unknown
61. Mary Hawley (Sawyer) Woodward (1816-1880) – 64 years
63. Mary (Palmateer) Washburn (1812-1879) – 67 years

Unfortunately, my third great-grandmothers list is incomplete; for two I don't even have names, and for three more the name is about all I do have. So I didn't bother to go back another generation, because I'd have had too many "unknowns."

For those I have at least reasonably good dates for, the longest-lived is probably 3rd great-grandmother Hannah (Gould) Green, at least 92, though her contemporary Sarah (Chamberlain) Brister is a close contender at about 91. Since I don't have an exact birth year for either of them, I'd consider them effectively tied. The youngest was 2nd great-grandmother Marie Celina (Cloutier) Rabideau, who was at most only 32 when she died. (She may have been as young as 29.)

The average age at death for the 26 female ancestors for whom I have data is about 73, with a range of 32-92. Leaving out Celina (Cloutier) Rabideau, whose early death is obviously atypical, the average for the remaining 25 women is almost 75. Averages and ranges by generation:

1. Mother: 71 years.
2. Grandmothers: average 75.5 years (68-83).
3. Great-grandmothers: average 77 years (67-85).
4. Second great-grandmothers: average about 72 years (32-86). Again, leaving out Celina, the average for the other seven is 77 years.
5. Third great-grandmothers (11 out of 16): average about 72 years (57-92); Given that in several cases the actual year of death is known only to within a range of 10 or 20 years (died between censuses), the actual average may well be as high as 75 or 76.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun – Where Were Your Ancestors 150 Years Ago?

I'm accepting Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun mission, "Where Were Your Ancestors 150 Years Ago?", as follows:

1. Determine where your ancestral families were on 25 June 1866 - 150 years ago.
   
2. List your ancestors, their family members, their birth and death years, and their residence location (as close as possible).  Do you have a photograph of their residence from about that time, and does the residence still exist?

My direct ancestors who were living in 1866 stretch from a single 4th great-grandmother (in my mother's line) all the way down to my paternal grandfather, including all 16 great-great-grandparents.

For the most part, I've based the residence locations on the 1860 and 1870 censuses (or 1861 and 1871 in Quebec), occasionally tempered with knowledge of birthplaces of children around 1866. I don't have photos of any of the houses, and don't know if any of them still exist.

1. Silas Kirk (1827-1909) and Sarah Sukeforth (1838-1905), my great-grandparents, were probably residing in Auburn, Androscoggin County, Maine, by 1866, with their first two children Chester F. Kirk (1857-1939, my grandfather) and Abbie (who died in Auburn the following January). I'm not sure exactly where they were living, because Silas didn't buy his land in Auburn until 1868.
2. Jabez Bradbury Kirk(patrick) (1800-1884) and Abigail Faulkner (1808-1891), my great-great-grandparents, were living in Warren, Knox County, Maine, probably with their adopted daughter Georgianna Oliver, who would have been 16. 
3. Simon Sukeforth (1813-1874) and Jane Miller (1810-1879), my great-great-grandparents, were living in Washington, Knox County, Maine, probably with their four youngest children Addie, William, Frank, and Lawrenton.
4. Isaac Hodsdon (1812-1890) and Abigail Greene (1814-1878), my great-great-grandparents, were living in Byron, Oxford County, Maine, probably with younger children Silas Marchant Hillman Hodsdon (1847-1911, my great-grandfather), Isaac Winfield, Francis Ireland, Matilda Ann, and Charles.
5. Nahum Alonzo Rand Sr. (1813-1884) and Dolly Brister (1818-1904), my great-great-grandparents, were living in Andover, Oxford County, Maine, probably with children Kate Maria Rand (1855-1940, my great-grandmother), Nahum Alonzo Jr., Ezra Davis, Asenath Matilda, Samuel P., and Annie Grace.
6. William Murphy (1830-1909) and Flora McDonald (1832-1911), my great-great-grandparents, resided in Prince Edward Island; judging from baptismal records, in 1866 they were probably in or near Vernon River. At the time they had seven children: Dominic Murphy (1854-1914, my great-grandfather), Lot, Flora Ann, Mary, James, Martha, and Daniel.
7. Neil McIntyre (1814-aft 1881) and Mary Ann McLellan (1817-1896), my great-great-grandparents, also resided in Prince Edward Island, probably in Indian River, though they may have moved to Lot 8 by 1866. All ten of their children would have still been living with them: Hannah, Angus, Alexander, Leo, Sarah Ann, Kate, Mary, Mary Ann, John Alfred, and Rose Ann McIntyre (1862-1937, my great-grandmother).
8. Celina Cloutier (ca 1850-1881), my great-great-grandmother, who would marry Louis Rabideau in 1869, almost certainly was living in Quebec in 1866. I have not yet discovered her parents or birthplace, so I have no idea where in Quebec.
9. Mary (Washburn) Yates (1831-1917), my great-great-grandmother, who would marry Uriah Woodward in 1867, was widowed in 1864 and was almost certainly living in Holland, Orleans County, Vermont, with her nine children from her marriage to Stephen Yates.
10. Jacob Hodsdon (1787-1879), my 3rd great-grandfather, was living in Byron, Oxford County, Maine, either with his wife Sally Huston (my 3rd great-grandmother, who died between 1860 and 1870), or, if Sally had died by 1866, probably with his son John and family.
11. Sarah (Chamberlain) Brister (ca 1790-1881), my 3rd great-grandmother and widow of my 3rd great-grandfather Enoch Brister, was living in Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, with her daughter and son-in-law, Obed and Jerusha (Brister) Taylor.
12. Alexander McLellan (ca 1786-1867), my 3rd great-grandfather, was living in Prince Edward Island, probably Indian River.
13. Louis Robidas (ca 1832-1921) and Marie Deshaies-St. Cyr (1829-1895), my 3rd great-grandparents, were living in Quebec, probably either in Saint-Paul-de-Chester or Sherbrooke, with their children Louis Robidas/Rabideau (1850-aft 1913, my great-great-grandfather), Alfred, Louise, Marcelin Sinaie "Samuel", and James.
14. Royal Woodward (ca 1803 to 1879) and Mary Hawley Sawyer (1815-1880), my 3rd great-grandparents, were living in Walden, Caledonia County, Vermont, with their youngest children Frank P., Uriah Sawyer Woodward (1847-1881, my great-great-grandfather), and Mary A.
15. Mary (Palmatier) Washburn (1812-1879), my 3rd great-grandmother and widow of my 3rd great-grandfather Samuel Orcutt Washburn, was probably living either in Holland, Orleans County, Vermont, or in Dummer, Coos County, New Hampshire, most likely with one of her children and their family.
16. Divine Louise Girardeau (1790-ca 1875), my 4th great-grandmother and widow of my 4th great-grandfather Jean-Baptiste Robidas, was living in Quebec, possibly in Stoke, Richmond County, where she resided with her son Damase "Thomas" Robidas in 1871.

So I had 32 direct ancestors definitely living 150 years ago:

• 1 grandparent
• 6 great-grandparents
• 16 great-great-grandparents
• 8 great-great-great-grandparents
• 1 great-great-great-great-grandparent

Additionally, I had 4 great-great-great-grandparents who were possibly alive at that time, i.e., they were living in 1860 or 1861 but I have no record of them after that. They are Robert Sukeforth, Sally (Huston) Hodsdon, Michael Murphy, and Magdelen (Morison) Murphy.

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun Addendum - Ancestral Death Place Chart

Following up on Randy's suggestion to create a death place chart to match the birthplace chart yielded this:

The Down East Genealogist's Six-Generation Ancestral Death Place Chart

As expected, the geographical diversity has dropped compared to the birthplaces. My father's line is now overwhelmingly rooted in Maine; the atypical Pennsylvania death place was due to my gg-grandfather dying while visiting a son who had relocated to Philadelphia, and while he apparently was buried there, he has a cenotaph in Andover, Maine.

On my mother's side, Ireland and Scotland (and the one unknown, who was probably born in Scotland or possibly P.E.I.) have disappeared as all are known to have died in P.E.I. Several Quebec-born 2x greats migrated to New Hampshire, while several New Hampshire-, Vermont-, and P.E.I.-born ancestors died in Maine or Massachusetts. The real anomaly is the 3x greats, born in Vermont, who ended up in Kansas (at least, he did – not so sure about her; she may have died in Vermont before he moved west).

Saturday Night Genealogy Fun - Ancestral Birthplace Chart

Randy Seaver's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun challenge this week is "to create a five or six generation ancestor chart that shows your ancestor's birthplaces." Having seen a number of these charts posted by various geneabloggers over the past couple of days, I had already prepared one earlier today – so I have a ready response to his challenge (click on the image for a full-size view):

The Down East Genealogist's Six-Generation Ancestral Birthplace Chart

Although I have several blanks, and a number of "tentative" birthplaces, in the sixth generation, I included it anyway because of its added diversity – my father's stolidly Maine line is, after all, pretty boring in terms of birthplace diversity right through my great great grandparents, and even my mother's line only gets across the pond with the 3x greats. The birthplaces with a ? appended are almost certainly correct, though I don't have any documentation yet, and the unknown birthplaces of four 3x great-grandmothers are very likely the same as that of their respective spouses.

A fun exercise indeed!

When did Samuel Orcutt Washburn die?

When I profiled my third great-grandfather, Samuel Orcutt Washburn, as #38 of my 52 Ancestors posts, I noted that while his gravestone pretty clearly says he died on 22 Jan 1850,¹ this doesn't jibe with his appearance on the 1850 census in September,² or with the two youngest children in his widow's household in 1860.³ (The 10-year-old could be his child, born after his death, but the four-year-old? That's a stretch.) I hypothesized that his gravestone might have been erected long after his death, by someone who misremembered when he had died, and that his actual death was sometime between 1855 (a year that appears in many online family trees, although unsourced) and 1859.

Samuel O. Washburn gravestone, Mead Hill Cemetery, Holland, Vermont

That's where I left it... until I found this newspaper article the other day after subscribing to GenealogyBank.⁴

"Found Dead," The Caledonian (St. Johnsbury, Vermont), 16 Feb 1850, p. 2, col. 4

Well, so much for my "miscarved gravestone" theory. This article appeared in mid-February 1850, stating that Samuel Washburn was found dead in Holland on the morning of January 24. While this implies he died on 23 January (not 22), it's likely the newspaper got the date wrong by a day (the item was published about three weeks after the fact, and who knows who the informant was).

It seems pretty obvious that the man described here is the same one who's buried in Mead Hill Cemetery in Holland, under a stone with a 22 Jan 1850 death date. And since that stone is for Samuel O. Washburn, born 5 May 1799, it's equally clear that this is Samuel Orcutt Washburn, born 5 May 1798 to Jeremiah Washburn in Sutton. (In this respect – the birth date – the stone is incorrect by a year, but the 5 May matches, and the birth date on a gravestone is a lot more likely to be suspect than the death date.)

So now I'm left with two mysteries.

First, why on Earth is this man listed in the census as living, a good eight months after he died from exposure and was buried? The only explanation I can think of is a possible misunderstanding about the mortality schedule, which was new in 1850 (as was the whole idea of naming every individual instead of simply noting numbers). Could the enumerator have asked for something like "the names of everyone in the household, as well as anyone who died in the preceding 12 months," and have misunderstood the current status of the 52-year-old Samuel Washburn named? (For that matter, if the 10-year-old Harmon listed in 1860 was, in fact, a posthumous child, then Mary Washburn would have been so visibly pregnant in September 1850 that it might not even have occurred to the enumerator that her husband was deceased.)

The second is, whose child is the four-year-old Norman listed on the 1860 census? He appears in 1880 listed as a brother-in-law in the household of Charles Griffin (husband of Charlotte Washburn). But if Samuel died in 1850, Norman can't be Charlotte's brother. (Mary Palmateer Washburn did remarry, but not until 1872.) The most logical possibility seems to be that he was actually the child of one of Samuel's older children. Unfortunately, it appears he never married, and I haven't found a death record for him, so as yet I don't have anything that might reveal his parents.

If anyone has any information that might shed some light on either of these mysteries, please contact me. You can leave a comment on this post, or use the email link on my profile page.

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SOURCES

1. Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 21 Sep 2014), database and digital images, memorial # 22761238 for Samuel Orcutt Washburn (1799-1850), created by "Lar" (8 Nov 2007), with photographs by "Thomas"; citing Mead Hill Cemetery (Holland, Orleans County, Vermont).  
2. 1850 U.S. Census, Orleans County, Vermont, Holland, page number illegible, dwelling 62, family 62, Saml Washburn household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Apr 2014). 
3. 1860 U.S. Census, Orleans County, Vermont, Holland, p. 71, dwelling 547, family 552, "Widow Saml Washburn" household; digital images, Ancestry.com (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 15 Apr 2014).  
4. "Found Dead," The Caledonian (St. Johnsbury, Vermont), 16 Feb 1850, p. 2, col. 4.

Who Was the Father of David Sukeforth's Wife Abigail? Part 2

Continued from Who Was the Father of David Sukeforth's Wife Abigail? Part 1

After discovering the Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection record (below) claiming that David Sukeforth's wife Abby J. was the daughter of Daniel B. Grinnell,¹ the first thing I did was check the Hale Collection cards for David and Daniel to see if they were likewise cross-referenced. Well, David's card listed "Abby J. wife" as expected, but Daniel B. Grinnell's card lists only "Sarah, wife" and "Elijah, son" – no mention of a daughter Abby buried nearby.²

Abby J. Sukeforth card, Miller Cemetery, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection

Going back to Abby's card, I noted that above the table of names are the headings "The following names also appear on stone, monument or in cemetery" and "These names are the following relationship to the above". Also, the instructions at the top of the card are to "note relationship only when on the stones" (emphasis added). (Oddly, neither of the boxes are checked to indicate that the listed names – David G Sukeforth and Daniel B Grinnell – have their own card.) Were the stated relationships actually on the stones? I went looking for the memorials on Find A Grave. (I already had my own photos of the Sukeforth gravestones, taken on a 2013 trip to Maine.)

Abby J. Suckforth gravestone

In short, Abby's gravestone reads "wife of David G. Suckforth", with no mention of any relationship to Daniel B. Grinnell.³ None of the three Find A Grave memorials^{4, 5} gives any indication that Abby might be a Grinnell. Furthermore, according to Miller's Appleton Register of Deaths, Daniel Briggs Grinnell, besides the son noted on the Hale Collection card and his Find A Grave memorial, had four daughters, none named Abigail and none married to a Sukeforth or a Fossett.⁶ Nor could I find any other record of an Abigail Grinnell. This seemed to be a dead end.

I decided to further investigate the two Thomas/Abigail Fossett couples in the 1850 census. I was still bothered by the fact that there was no sign of either couple in subsequent censuses; I couldn't even find Ellen Fossett from the Union census record. (By the way, I have yet to find any record of Thomas Fossett's death.) Then I was struck by Lydia E. Fossett's middle initial – could Lydia E. be Lydia Ellen?

Lydia was no longer with her mother and stepfather in 1870, so I assumed she probably had married. Yes – on 11 Mar 1868, Lydia E. Fossett married George L. Robbins, both of Appleton.⁷ Unfortunately, recording of parents' names had not yet begun (would have been nice to find Abigail's maiden name!), and her middle name is not given, but maybe if I followed Lydia and George I'd find some clue.

George L. Robbins-Lydia E. Fossett marriage, 11 Mar 1868, Appleton, Maine

Sure enough, in the 1870 census, right next door to David and Abigail, there was George R. [sic] Robbins and Ellen, 22, with a 5-month-old son Alton!⁸ Just to make sure I had the right George Robbins (his middle initial is wrong), I then checked 1880: eight households away from the now-widowed David (but still on the same page) is George L. Robbins, with wife Lydia, 32, son Alton C, 10, and daughter Allice, 6.⁹ Clearly, Lydia and Ellen are one and the same. From 1900 on, she is Lydia E.; after George's death in 1905,¹⁰ she is living wih her married daughter Alice in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Not until her death in 1933 do we find her name completely spelled out, as Lydia Ellen (Faucett [sic]) Robbins.¹¹

1870 U.S. census, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, David Suckforth and George R Robbins households

Having established that Lydia sometimes went by her middle name, Ellen, even as an adult, I finally concluded that the two Thomas Fossett households in 1850 were very likely a double-enumeration of the same family, nearly two months apart: Henry Fossett's household in Union was enumerated on 29 July,¹² while the Thomas Fossett household in Liberty wasn't counted until 17 September.¹³ Henry's wife had died the previous December, so it's plausible that his son and family were staying with him for a time before returning to their own home in Liberty. The discrepancies in Abigail's and Lydia/Ellen's ages can probably be explained by Henry being the informant for his own household. Most likely Abby was calling her daughter Ellen at the time (and Henry reported her as such), but gave the girl's formal name as Lydia E. when they were later enumerated in Liberty.

Thus it appears that David Sukeforth's wife really was the former Abigail Jane Sukeforth who married Thomas C. Fossett. A closer look at the 1850 Liberty census reveals that Michael and Sophronia (Bagley) Overlock were enumerated only three households before Thomas Fossett (I missed this initially because the Overlocks were on the previous page).¹⁴ So Abigail remained close to home after marrying Thomas.

The only remaining question is how on Earth the MOCA compilations got Abigail Overlock confused with the Grinnells. Only when I reviewed all the photos I took in Miller Cemetery did I come up with a possible explanation. In addition to individual closeups of David and Abby Sukeforth's and Michael and Sophronia Overlock's markers, I also took this wide shot of the Overlock markers with the Sukeforth markers visible behind them.¹⁵ Their proximity, and the identical style of the markers, further links the two families. It's also worth noting that Michael Overlock lived his whole life in Liberty, and there are no other Overlocks in Miller Cemetery except for two of Michael's sons, so their only apparent connection is through their daughter's marriage to David.

Michael and Sophronia Overlock gravestones with David and Abby Sukeforth stones behind,
Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Maine

What does all this have to do with the Grinnells? Well, take a closer look at the row of stones that includes the Sukeforths. At full enlargement, Abby's marker is clearly recognizable, with David's to the left, partially obscured by Michael Overlock's. And just to the left of that, the next stone reads "ELIJAH/SON OF/Daniel B. & Sarah Grinnell." Apparently, the Grinnell lot is directly adjacent to the Overlock/Sukeforth lot.

Detail of Michael Overlock gravestone showing markers for Elijah Grinnell, David Sukeforth, and Abby Sukeforth behind
(click on the image to enlarge)

While there is no overall shot of the Grinnell lot on Find A Grave, comparison of the backgrounds of individual photos of Daniel's, his wife's, and Elijah's markers¹⁶ with the overall shot of the Overlock lot indicates that the row of markers from left to right is probably Daniel Grinnell, Sarah Grinnell, Elijah Grinnell, David Sukeforth, and Abby Sukeforth. The MOCA volunteer reading the gravestones, not realizing that the Sukeforths actually belonged with the Overlocks in front of them (and apparently missing the clues in the gravestone styles – the Grinnell markers look nothing like the Overlock/Sukeforth markers), must have made an unwarranted assumption about Abby's parentage based on this sequence, and ignored the instructions to record only what was on the stones.

Lesson learned: you can't trust that people filling out forms and creating transcriptions always followed the instructions. It's so tempting to add something that you just "know" must be true ... except it isn't.

David G. Sukeforth is my first cousin four times removed, with Andreas Suchfort (aka Andrew Suckforth) as our common ancestor:

Relationship chart for David Grafton Sukeforth and The Down East Genealogist

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SOURCES

1. "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 24 January 2016), card for Abby J Grinnell Sukeforth, 1877; citing Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox, Maine.
2. "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," cards for David G. Sukeforth and Daniel B. Grinnell; citing Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox, Maine.
3. Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, Abby J. Suckforth gravestone, read and photographed by the author, 8 Oct 2013. 
4. Find A Grave (http://www.findagrave.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016), database and digital images, memorials # 86049433 and # 86049470 for David G Sukeforth and Abby J Suckforth, created by "Stone Finders" (1 Mar 2012), photos by "Dale & Patti" and "MJD"; citing Miller Cemetery (Burkettville, Knox County, Maine). Note that Burkettville is actually a part of the town of Appleton.
5. Find A Grave, memorial # 86016001 for Daniel Briggs Grinnell, created by "Stone Finders" (29 Feb 2012), photos by "Dale & Patti" and "MJD"; citing Miller Cemetery (Burkettville, Knox County, Maine). 
6. Royce Miller, ed., Register of Deaths From the Beginning Until 1950, Appleton, Maine, updated 6th ed. (Gloucester, Mass.: Appleton Historical Society, 1999-2001), p. 55, entry for Daniel Briggs Grinnell; daughters Nancy (m. Bailey Grinnell), Eunice (m. William Leighr), Sarah (m. Joseph Light), Levina (m. Charles House). 
7. Original Records of Maine Towns and Cities: Town of Appleton, 1729-1892, digital images (PDF), CD-ROM (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2005), pdf p. 312, George L. Robbins-Lydia E. Fossett marriage, 11 Mar 1868. 
8. 1870 U.S. Census, Knox County, Maine, Appleton, p. 29 (penned), p. 15 (stamped), dwellings 234-235, families 245-246, David Suckforth and George R Robbins households; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016).
9. 1880 U.S. Census, Knox County, Maine, Appleton, E.D. 100, p. 127-C, dwelling 67, family 71, George L Robbins households; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 8 Jun 2012).
10. "Maine, Death Records, 1705-1922,” database and digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016), George L. Robbins (mis-indexed as George B.), 1905.
11. "Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980," database and images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016), Lydia Ellen (Faucett) Robbins, 1933, Quincy.
12. 1850 U.S. Census, Lincoln County, Maine, Union, p. 40/528, dwelling 286, family 296, Henry Fossett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Jan 2016); enumerated 29 Jul 1850.
13. 1850 U.S. Census, Waldo County, Maine, Liberty, p. 48 (stamped), dwelling 635, family 682, Thomas Fossett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Jun 2012); enumerated 17 Sep 1850.
14. 1850 U.S. Census, Waldo County, Maine, Liberty, p. 94(?) (penned), dwelling 632, family 680, Michael Overlock household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 30 Jan 2016).
15. Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, overview of Michael Overlock cemetery plot, photographed by the author, 8 Oct 2013. 
16. Find A Grave, memorials # 86016036 and # 86016077 for Sarah "Sally" Esancy Grinnell and Elijah Grinnell, created by "Stone Finders" (29 Feb 2012), photos by "Dale & Patti" and "MJD"; citing Miller Cemetery (Burkettville, Knox County, Maine).

Who Was the Father of David Sukeforth's Wife Abigail? Part 1

Tracing a woman's maiden name in mid-19th century Maine can be tricky, especially when the woman married more than once. Marriage records rarely include parents' names, and death records (if they exist at all) only occasionally do so. And whatever records you do find can be misleading and contradictory.

When I first started piecing together the Sukeforth clan several years ago, a good deal of my initial material (births, deaths, spouses, children) came from the Maine Old Cemetery Association (MOCA) compilation of gravestone inscriptions. One such listing was for David G. Sukeforth (my first cousin 4x removed) and his wife Abby J., whose inscription was followed by the parenthetical and cryptic comment "See Daniel R. GRINNELL Lot".¹ Such notations in the MOCA compilations usually just mean the graves are located within the referenced lot, and might indicate anything from close relatives to distant relations or longtime friends. At the time I didn't find any obvious connection between the Grinnells and either David or Abby, so I disregarded the note.

So who was Abby? The first step was finding a marriage record. According to the town records, David married "Abagail J. Fossett" on 27 Dec 1855. Their marriage intentions were a bit more specific, however, naming the prospective bride as Mrs. Abagail Fossett, presumably a widow.² And indeed, the Grafton Suckforth household in 1860 included not only Abagail Suckforth, 36, but also one Lydia E. Fossett, age 12, obviously Abagail's daughter from her previous marriage.³ I would need to hunt further for Abby's maiden name.

Marriage intentions, Mr. David G. Suckforth and Mrs. Abagail Fossett, 27 Dec 1855, Appleton, Maine

David G. Suckforth-Abagail J. Fossett marriage, 27 Dec 1855, Appleton, Maine

1860 U.S. census, Appleton, Knox County, Maine, Grafton Suckforth household

The obvious route was by way of her first marriage; searching for a Fossett marrying an Abigail, I soon located the 1845 marriage (intentions) between Thomas C. Fossett of Union and Miss Abigail Overlock of Liberty.⁴ I also located an entry on Ancestry's One World Tree for an Abigail Jane Overlock (b. 11 Jan 1824, South Liberty, daughter of Michael and Sophronia (Bagley) Overlock) with two husbands, Thomas C. Fossett and David Suckforth,⁵ but I am cautious about online trees, especially considering both men were supposedly born in Liberty (definitely not true for David Sukeforth, and questionable for Thomas Fossett who was "of Union" in 1845).

If they married in 1845, they should be in the 1850 census, where I found a Thomas Fossett household in Liberty, with Thomas, 38, Abigail, 28, and Lydia E., 2.⁶ Although Abby's age is off by two years, and Thomas has no middle initial given, this seems almost certainly the same Abigail and Lydia E. found in David's 1860 household.

1850 U.S. census, Liberty, Waldo County, Maine, Thomas Fossett household

I also found two other 38-year-old Thomas Fossetts in the general area. The one in Bristol, with wife Mary, 23, and children Mary E (4), and Thomas N (2), seemed too far off the mark to worry about, but the other one was a different story: this Thomas is listed with middle initial C, lives in Union, and with him is a probable wife named Abigail.⁷

1850 U.S. census, Union, Lincoln County, Maine, Henry Fossett household

However, Abigail is listed as 33, which is quite a bit off, and the child listed with them is named Ellen, age 1, so I had to assume the Abigail Fossett in Liberty was the one who married David Sukeforth. Still... perhaps the one in Union was Abigail Overlock, and David married a different Abigail altogether. Also troubling was the fact that both of the Thomas-Abigail couples disappeared from the census after 1850; the only Thomas Fossett born about 1812 found in subsequent censuses in the area is the one in Bristol.

More recently, I discovered Royce Miller's Appleton Register of Deaths, which states that Abigail Jane Sukeforth, wife of David Grafton Sukeforth, "was dau. of Michael Overlock". By then I had found that the Overlocks are buried near the Sukeforths in Miller Cemetery, so that relation certainly seemed plausible. However, Miller goes on to say that her first husband was "Thomas C. Fossett, son of Henry."⁸ That set me back a bit: the Thomas C. Fossett in Union in 1850 is in the household of Henry Fossett, age 67, most likely Thomas's father. What were the chances that two Thomas Fossetts the same age, both sons of Henry, would both marry an Abigail? Yet the daughter of Thomas in Union was Ellen, not Lydia, and Abigail's age is wrong. I finally put this mystery aside and moved on to research other relatives.

Then, just the other day, while hunting Sukeforths in FamilySearch's Maine Cemetery Collections, I ran across an entry in the relatively recent Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection for "Abby J Grinnell Sukeforth." This struck me as odd, since I didn't recall any Abby Grinnell marrying a Sukeforth in the 1800s. Pulling up the card image, I found it was for the "wife of David G Sukeforth" and "dau of Daniel B Grinnell" (emphasis added).⁹

Abby J. Sukeforth card, Miller Cemetery, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection

Was that the reason for the MOCA reference to the "Daniel R. GRINNELL Lot"? (It turns out that the cards in the Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection index were actually compiled by MOCA, so the two references are almost certainly from the same source.) Were Miller's Register of Deaths and the OneWorldTree entry wrong about Abby being an Overlock?

This demanded further investigation.

To be continued...

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SOURCES

1. Maine Old Cemetery Association, comp., Maine Cemetery Inscriptions: Knox County, MOCA Special Pub. No. 16, Edition No. 1: Series 1, 2 and 3, digital images (pdf), CD-ROM (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2006), p. 43, David G. Sukeforth lot, Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Maine.
2. Original Records of Maine Towns and Cities: Town of Appleton, 1729-1892, digital images (pdf), CD-ROM (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2005), pdf p. 93, marriage intentions between Mr. David G. Suckforth and Mrs. Abagail Fossett, 27 Dec 1855, and pdf p. 126, David G. Suckforth-Abagail J. Fossett marriage, same date.
3. 1860 U.S. Census, Knox County, Maine, Appleton, p. 38-8 (?), dwelling 258/58, family 270/61, Grafton Suckforth household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Jun 2012).
4. Original Records of Maine Towns and Cities: Town of Union, 1774-1899, digital images (pdf), CD-ROM (Rockport, Maine: Picton Press, 2005), pdf p. 337, marriage intentions between Mr Thomas C. Fossett and Miss Abigail Overlock, 12 Jun 1845.
5. “OneWorldTree,” database, Ancestry (http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=44847420 : accessed 16 Jun 2012), entry for Abigail Jane Overlock.
6. 1850 U.S. Census, Waldo County, Maine, Liberty, p. 48 (stamped), dwelling 635, family 682, Thomas Fossett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 12 Jun 2012).
7. 1850 U.S. Census, Lincoln County, Maine, Union, p. 40/528, dwelling 286, family 296, Henry Fossett household; digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 29 Jan 2016).
8. Royce Miller, ed., Register of Deaths From the Beginning Until 1950, Appleton, Maine, updated 6th ed. (Gloucester, Mass.: Appleton Historical Society, 1999-2001), p. 183, entry for Abigail Jane (Overlock) Sukeforth, d. Jan. 30, 1877; compiled from town records and histories, gravestone inscriptions, obituaries, Bible records, and many other sources. I don't give any credence to Miller's added comment that "we now believe there were two Abigails: one, the sister of David Grafton Sukeforth, who married Thomas Fossett, and one, his wife, formerly Abigail Overlock", because I have seen no evidence at all of an Abigail Sukeforth in the entire generation of which David is a part, let alone in his immediate family.
9. "Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Collection, ca. 1780-1980," database and images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 24 January 2016), card for Abby J Grinnell Sukeforth, 1877; citing Miller Cemetery, Appleton, Knox, Maine.