elizabeth (prouty) stoddard drake

In my last post, I left off with Mrs. Elizabeth Stoddard, whom I believe to be Elizabeth Prouty, marrying Perez Drake in Hanover on October 15, 1837.  After searching through records and looking closely at the marriage intention, her new husband's name is actually Bezar, not Perez.  I believe the Hanover book transcribed it incorrectly.

Now that I know Elizabeth is probably still living, I jumped forward a little bit to the 1850 census since this is the first census where every member of the household is named.  I was able to find an Elizabeth Drake (at bottom of image below) in South Scituate, with two children, Harriet and Bezar Drake.  Her husband is not in the household, he must have died not long after they were married; just like her first husband David Stoddard.  I have also highlighted other families that have the Prouty surname; showing evidence that Elizabeth's maiden name is probably Prouty, as I thought in my last post.

From blog post elizabeth prouty stoddard drake

Elizabeth is also listed in Scituate in the 1860 census; this time living alone, working as a seamstress.  Again, I also highlighted the Proutys living near her, which seem to include many siblings and nieces and nephews of Elizabeth Prouty.

From blog post elizabeth prouty stoddard drake

Since now I have more children of Elizabeth, I can search for their birth records to see if they list their mother's maiden name.  I did not have luck finding Harriet's birth, but I was able to find Bezar.  Bezar was born in Scituate in November 3, 1844 to Beza and Elizabeth Drake, no maiden name listed for Elizabeth.  I was also able to find Harriet's death record, which states she was born in Sandwich, MA and died in Scituate in 1865.  Harriet's death record also does not have her mother's maiden name, just her parents as Beza and Elizabeth Drake.

From these records, the only new piece of information I obtained is that Elizabeth and Bezar's daughter Harriet was born in Sandwich, MA.  I searched for Harriet Drake's birth, now knowing this new information, and found she was born in September of 1840 in Sandwich; but again no maiden name for Elizabeth.

So Bezar and Elizabeth must have been living in Sandwich at some point before they moved back to Scituate.  (see note 1)  With this new information I searched for them in the 1840 census in Sandwich.  Here is the household I found for them.

From blog post elizabeth prouty stoddard drake

Males Under 5:1(charles); Males 20-29:1(bezar); Females 10-14:1(hannah lapham stoddard); Females 15-19:1(elizabeth jane stoddard); Females 30-39:1(elizabeth)      

After doing some more research, I found that the child under 5 is Charles Drake, from Bezar's first marriage. The other children are from Elizabeth's first marriage with David Stoddard; the only one missing is their son David who would be about 20 years old.  He may still be living in Scituate.  I am confident that this is the correct census entry for Bezar and Elizabeth Drake.

So I now have found Elizabeth in the 1810, 1820, and 1840-1860 censuses.  I was unable to find her in the 1870 census, so I am assuming she died between 1860-1870.  Guessing she probably died between these years,  I searched for Elizabeth Drake's death in Scituate since that is where she was living in 1860.  I could not find her death recorded in the ancestry databases, so I searched the familysearch database, Massachusetts Deaths 1841-1915, and found her!  Elizabeth Drake died March 9, 1865 in South Scituate.

So does this elusive death record reveal Elizabeth's parents names, giving further evidence that it is the same Elizabeth Prouty that first marries David Stoddard.  It does list her parents names, but just as William and Hannah.

From blog post elizabeth prouty stoddard drake

I am happy with this information, as when I narrowed down her parents in my last post I believed she was the daughter of William and Hannah Prouty.  Even though the record does not give her parent's last name, I believe this is enough information, in addition to everything else, to show this is Elizabeth Prouty.

I did not stop with her death record though.  Plymouth Probate records are online at familysearch, so I browsed the index and fortunately Elizabeth Drake has a probate file!  Plymouth Probate 6654, does definitively tie Elizabeth with both David Stoddard and Bezar Drake as it lists all the heirs to her estate.  The heirs include both children from her first marriage to David Stoddard and her second marriage to Bezar Drake.  Those listed are David T Stoddard (my 3rd great grandfather), Elizabeth Jane Taylor, Hannal L Stoddard, and Harriet Damon, recently deceased.  Within the probate files, her other son Bezar Drake is also listed as she receives his bounty money from the government; I am assuming Bezar had passed also.

This probate gave me a bit more information that I had not known.  Interestingly, Elizabeth Drake's property is described a bit, stating she lives in a house on the land of William Prouty; which I believe is her brother. Also, I thought that perhaps Elizabeth and David Stoddard's daughter Elizabeth had died as I could not find her in the records.  Now that I know she is still living in 1865 and married, I was able to find her death record in 1890 in New Bedford, MA.  I also found out that their other daughter Hannah was also living in New Bedford at this time.

At this point I have no doubt that Elizabeth was born in 1800 to William and Hannah Prouty, then married David Stoddard and eventually Bezar Drake.  She was unfortunate to have both husbands live not too long with her; but seems to have eventually made her way to the town she was born in, living near her siblings and other family.

notes:

1. The only other connection I have found so far with Elizabeth to Sandwich is that her sister Hannah marries in Sandwich in 1831.