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).