Nahum Alonzo Rand Sr.: 52 Ancestors #73

Nahum Alonzo Rand, my great-great-grandfather and #22 on my Ahnentafel, was born 29 Nov 1813 in Rye, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. He was the second of three children of Joshua and Elizabeth (Rand) Rand.¹ (Joshua and Elizabeth were first cousins, giving Nahum only six great-grandparents instead of the usual eight, as illustrated in My Collapsing Pedigree.)

Unlike his father and younger brother (the elder brother died young), Nahum didn't stay in Rye. I don't know just when he moved to Roxbury, Massachusetts – he's not a head of household either in Rye or Roxbury in 1840 – but that was his residence on 16 January 1842, when marriage intentions were published between "Mr. Nahum Rand and Miss Dolly Bristor both of Roxbury." They were married on 11 February 1842 at the Free Will Baptist Church of Christ.²

Marriage intentions (top) and marriage record for Nahum Rand and Dolly Bristor, 1842, Roxbury, Mass.

The Rands lived in Roxbury, where their first four children were born, until about 1849, when they moved to Andover, Oxford County, Maine. This was a homecoming for Dolly, who was born in nearby Byron, and whose parents and married sister Jerusha now lived in Rumford. In Andover they had four more children.

Children of Dolly Brister and Nahum Rand:

1. Nahum Alonzo Rand Jr. (1842-1920), married Lois Minerva Cutting
2. Sarah Elizabeth Rand (1845-aft 1908), married Edward Rhodes
3. Ezra D. Rand (1846-1847)
4. Ezra Davis Rand (1848-1922), married (1) Mary A. Crutchley Homan, (2) Augusta A. (Pulsifer) Buker, (3) Margaret Amber
5. Asenath Matilda Rand (1851-1871), unmarried
6. Kate Maria Rand (1855-1940), married Silas Marchant Hillman Hodsdon (my great-grandparents)
7. Samuel P. Rand (1857-1940), unmarried
8. Annie Grace Rand (1860-1925), married Frank Roberts

Nahum Rand death certificate, 1884, Philadelphia, Pa.

Nahum Rand died of "cardiac dropsy" on 4 Jan 1884 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It appears that he must have been visiting his eldest son, Nahum Jr., at the time; the residence of the deceased is given as "No. 56 Wister St" – probably a slight error on the part of the undertaker as the Philadelphia city directory in 1882 and 1884 gives Nahum Rand's address as 58 Wister.³ Two oddities in the undertaker's certificate are the occupation ("Gentleman") and place of birth ("England") of the deceased. Nahum Rand Sr. was listed as a farmer in the 1850 and 1860 censuses, and as a stone mason in 1870 and 1880.⁴ Perhaps "gentleman" was meant to convey that he was retired? As for his birthplace, I can conjecture that the Philadelphia undertaker misunderstood a statement that the man had been born in "New England."






Nahum was buried in the Northwood Cemetery in Philadelphia,⁵ probably in a family lot – his son is also buried there.⁶ I don't know if he has a marker there (there isn't one on Find A Grave), but he does have a cenotaph in the Rand lot in Woodlawn Cemetery in Andover, Maine, on a stone shared with his son Samuel. Below the years of his birth and death is the inscription "Buried in Philadelphia."⁷

Nahum A. Rand cenotaph/Samuel P. Rand gravestone, Woodlawn Cemetery, Andover, Maine

My descent from Nahum Alonzo Rand:

• Nahum Alonzo Rand and Dolly Brister
• Silas Marchant Hillman Hodsdon and Kate Maria Rand
• Chester F. Kirk and Mary Milliken Hodsdon
• Roger Kirk + Kathleen Marie Murphy (my parents)

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SOURCES

1. Langdon Brown Parsons, History of the town of Rye, New Hampshire: from its discovery and settlement to December 31, 1903 (Concord, N.H.: Rumford Printing Company, 1905), p. 504.
2. "Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988," database and digital images, Ancestry (http://www.ancestry.com : accessed 6 Jul 2016) > Roxbury > Roxbury Marriages Publishments, 1785-1864 > images 231-232 of 277; marriage intentions (image 231) and marriage (image 232) for Nahum Rand and Dolly Bristor, 1842.
3. "Pennsylvania, Philadelphia City Death Certificates, 1803-1915," database and digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 23 Mar 2014) > 004010284 > image 700 of 1324; Nahum Rand death certificate, 4 Jan 1884. 
4. 1850 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, Andover, p. 397 (penned), p. 199 (stamped), dwelling 94, family 101, Nahum Rand household; digital images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org : accessed 12 Mar 2012). Also 1860 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, Andover, p. 67, dwelling 492, family 491, “Naam” Rand household. Also, 1870 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, Andover, p. 11, dwelling 66, family 69, Naham Rand household. Also, 1880 U.S. Census, Oxford County, Maine, Andover, ED 116, p. 4D, dwelling 36, family 40, Naham Rand household. 1860-1880 censuses, digital images, ProQuest, HeritageQuest Online (access through participating libraries : accessed 12 Mar 2012).
5. Nahum Rand death certificate (note 3).
6. Find A Grave, database (https://www.findagrave.com  : accessed 23 Feb 2014), memorial 116452444 for Corp Nahum Rand (1842-1920), by "Eugene Glenn Stackhouse" (2 Sep 2013); citing Northwood Cemetery, Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. 
7. Woodlawn Cemetery (Andover, Oxford County, Maine), Nahum A. Rand cenotaph, read and photographed by the author, 15 Aug 2012.