Third Great Grandmother Elizabeth Sewall Willis of Boston - 52 Ancestors #33

I have been keeping up with the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, and often using her optional themes. I liked last week's theme ("32" third great-grandparents) so much that I will continue to write about a third great-grandparent if the optional theme doesn't work for me.

Third great-grandmother, Elizabeth Sewall Willis, was born in Portland, Maine, on September 12, 1820, to Benjamin Willis and Elizabeth Sewall May. She was their second child; her older brother was Hamilton Willis. Sadly, her mother died when she was two years old, supposedly after the birth of a third child, who did not survive. It doesn't appear that her father remarried.

Her grandfather was Joseph May and her first cousin was Louisa May Alcott. Her daughter, Eliza May Wells, married Elizabeth's first cousin (Eliza's first cousin once removed), Samuel Sewall Greeley.

On November 6, 1838, in Newburyport, Massachusetts, she married Thomas Goodwin Wells as his second wife. (I wrote about discovering his first wife here.)

They had five children, three of whom survived her:
Eliza May Wells (1839-1880)
Henry Willis Wells (1841-1864)
Louisa Wells (1846-1927)
Benjamin Willis Wells (1856-1923)
Ruth Lyman Wells (1862-1943)

As I have noted before, this family gets confusing because there are so many in different generations and different branches with the same names: Eliza/Elizabeth, Louisa, Ruth, Benjamin, Thomas.

An 1882 passport application (from Ancestry.com's U.S. Passport Applications, 1795-1925) confirms her birth date and birth place (as she reported it), as well as provides me with a physical description and her signature.

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Willis, Wells and Wendte

A couple of years ago, before I was a Find A Grave volunteer, we visited Forest Hills Cemetery in Jamaica Plain (a neighborhood of Boston), Massachusetts and took some pictures of gravestones of ancestors of mine. Now that I've been a Find A Grave volunteer for over a year, I thought it might be time to set up memorials and share the photographs we took. Following are four sides of the same stone.

My fourth great grandparents

Benjamin Willis

Born Nov. 16, 1791

Died July 28, 1870

His Wife

Elizabeth Sewall

Born Dec 6, 1798

Died Mar 5, 1822

My third great grandparents, and one of their daughters

Thomas G. Wells
Died Aug. 26, 1873
Aged 68 Yrs.

Elizabeth Sewall
Wife of
Thomas G. Wells
Died Aug. 8, 1900
Aged 79 Yrs. 11 Mos.

Ruth L. Wells
Died Oct. 7, 1943
Aged 81 Yrs. 3 Mos.

Second great grand uncle, his wife; second great grand aunt, her husband

Benjamin Willis Wells
1856-1923

Lena Lyman
Wife of
Benjamin Willis Wells
1858-1930

William C. Wendte
1846-1898

His Wife
Louisa Wells
1846-1927

Second great grand uncle and a first cousin 3x removed

Henry Willis Wells, U.S.N.
Born July 4, 1841
In command of the
U.S. Schooner Annie
He was lost with all on board
off Cape Romaine Florida
Dec. 31, 1864.

William Wendte
1877-1904
Killed by hostile natives in
British East Africa

~~~~~~~~~

A family tree to show how I descend from this family:

                                              Benjamin Willis and Elizabeth Sewall May

                                           (1791-1870)                 (1798-1822)
                                        |

 Thomas G. Wells and Elizabeth Sewall Willis

(1804-1873)                      (1820-1900)
|

Eliza May Wells (eldest of five siblings, four of whom buried here)

(1839-1880)

|

Ethel May Greeley

(1875-1931)

|

Lowell Townsend Copeland

(1900-1974)

|

My mother

|

Me

Of the five known children of Thomas G. Wells and Elizabeth Sewall Willis, my second great grandmother, Eliza May (Wells) Greeley is not buried here. She died in London, England, and is buried there.