Elizabeth / Betsey Hull - 52 Ancestors: #8

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "Good Deeds" which can be interpreted in a couple of ways. I thought about an ancestor for whom land records / deeds were important, and then moved down a generation.

Several of my paternal ancestors were Loyalists during the American Revolution and fled to Nova Scotia after the war. Several were granted land via different land grants, and Moses Hull, my 4th great grandfather, was granted land as part of the Hallowell Grant in Guysborough County.

I shared the little bit I know about Moses Hull at Surname Saturday~Hull. He and his wife, Mary Ives, had nine children with the youngest being Elizabeth Hull (also known as Betsey), my third great grandmother. I can find a few records for her, but nothing that tells me about her as a person. I can only infer that she led a challenging early life, with her earliest memories not of Connecticut, where she was born, but of Guysborough County, Nova Scotia, where her Loyalist family had fled after the American Revolution.

Julia Elvira (Townsend) Copeland of Maine - 52 Ancestors: #7

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "Love," which can be interpreted in a variety of ways. I am going with the "who do I love to research" angle:

What ancestor do I love to research? When I am working on breaking down a brick wall, it is the ancestors and family in that line whom I love to research.

Last week, I wrote about my 4th great grandfather, Doctor Amos Townsend. I don't yet have enough information on his Townsend line to write about his ancestors, so I thought I'd share more about his daughter, Julia Elvira Townsend, my 3rd great grandmother.

Julia Elvira Townsend was born on November 1, 1808, in Norridgewock, Somerset County, Maine, the second of eight children of Amos Townsend and his wife, Tryphena Ellis. [Source: Norridgewock, Maine, "Town and vital records, 1774-1891," index at FamilySearch.org.]

Doctor Amos Townsend - 52 Ancestors: #6

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "So Far Away." I decided to use this theme to share what I have been learning about a 4th great-grandfather, previously a brick wall ancestor, but one whose family ended up pretty far away from each other (in early 19th century United States).

Amos Townsend was born in October 1779, to Isaac Townsend and Rachel Crosby and baptized in New Salem, Franklin County, Massachusetts. I have found seven siblings born in New Salem, but other, secondary sources indicate that there were likely more.

According to Henrietta Danforth Wood's book Early Days of Norridgewock (Freeport, Maine: The Freeport Press, 1933), Amos Townsend moved with his father, Isaac Townsend, to Oneida County, New York, when he was about 20 years old (so about 1800). It was in Oneida County that Amos studied medicine and became a doctor. I have not been able to find the family in the 1800 U.S. Census.

Most of this Townsend family moved farther west in upstate New York, (Genesee County, later Wyoming County) and at least one brother to Michigan.

Created using Google Earth, showing locations where Townsend family members lived 1779-1850's.

Amos, however, moved from Oneida County, New York, to Maine, where he married Tryphena Ellis on June 23, 1805, in Winslow, Kennebec County.

Winslow, Kennebec, Maine, "Town and vital records, 1771-1892"

By the Rev'd Joshua Cusman~
Doctor Amos Townsend of Fairfield and Miss
Tryphena Ellis of Waterville June 23, 1805~

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Noah Davenport, Veteran

Photo courtesy FindAGrave volunteer, Denise Haviland

Noah

Davenport

Died

Aug. 13, 1840

AE 82 Yrs.

Noah Davenport is buried in Stamford Cemetery, Stamford, Delaware County, New York.

More about Noah Davenport can be found here and his FindAGrave memorial can be found here.

Revolutionary War Veteran Noah Davenport - 52 Ancestors: #5

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, the theme is "Plowing Through." I decided to use this theme to look for an ancestor who lived through snowy winters in a northern state. I realized that I have never fully explored the life of my 4th great grandfather, Noah Davenport, who lived most of his adult life in upstate New York.

Noah Davenport was born in Little Compton, Rhode Island, on August 17, 1758, to Oliver and Mary (____) Davenport.

He served in the Revolutionary War and there is a wealth of information provided in his Revolutionary War Pension application, which I found at Ancestry.com. He enlisted in May 1778 when he was living in Lebanon, Connecticut. He served as a private in several different enlistments between 1778 and 1780. He applied for his pension from Harpersfield, Delaware County, New York in 1832.

Noah Davenport married Lydia Metcalf in Bozrah-Norwich, New London County, Connecticut, on September 23, 1784.

Noah and Lydia moved to Columbia County, New York soon after their marriage, as their first child was born there in April 1785. They had eight children: Frances (Fanny), William, Lydia, Erastus, Ira, (Henriette) Marie, Charles, and Lucy.

The decennial U.S. Census from 1790 until 1840 only displayed the head of household and I find Noah Davenport in 1790, 1800, 1810, in Hillsdale, Columbia County, N.Y. By 1820, he was in Harpersfield, Delaware County, N.Y. and in 1830, he is in nearby Stamford, Delaware County. In the 1840 census, Noah Davenport is listed as Revolutionary War veteran in the household of son-in-law, Nicholas N. Champlin, in Stamford.

Pensioners for Revolutionary or Military Services, Included in the Foregoing
Noah Davenport [age] 82

Noah Davenport died later that summer, on August 13, 1840.

I did some searching at the wonderful Fulton History website, hoping to find an obituary, and instead, I found a legal notice (luckily two copies since they're both hard to read) that lists all of the children, which requests that they appear for the reading of the will on November 5, 1840. This legal notice, in the Albany Evening Journal for both October 2 and October 8 is transcribed as follows: