james torrey (1613-1665)

I have spent some time trying to figure out where and how my immigrant ancestor, James Torrey of Combe St. Nicholas, Somerset, England, settled in Scituate, MA.  The first place I go to look for information for an ancestor from this time period (1600's) is the Great Migration Series from NEGHS; unfortunately he is not included in this series.  However; there are many local history books which include James Torrey, some with conflicting or unsourced information.  My goal is to try to sort out the information I found in these sources with primary documentation of land deeds and probate records.

birth
We know the approximate year of birth from the will of his brother in law William Hatch Jr. found in the Plymouth County Probate Records of Massachusetts (Vol 2 p 44).  In this document, James testifies that he is 44 years old in 1657; which would make his birth year around 1613.  There are also many written histories which include the Torrey family's lineage to England.  A transcription of the wills for the parents of James Torrey are included the ancestry database, North America, Family Histories, 1500-2000, (originally from the book, Captain John Grout of Watertown and Sudbury...p 97).  This source states that James and his siblings William, Phillip, Joseph, Anne, Mary and Sarah are from Combe St. Nicholas, England.  Their father is Phillip Torrey and mother is Alice Richards.

immigration
In the Plymouth Colony Records (New Plymouth 111), James Torrey gives testimony that he was on the same ship as John Ames.  After doing a quick google search for John Ames genealogy, some histories have John Ames (of Duxbury and Bridgewater) arriving on the ship Hercules in 1634/1635.  However; he is not listed on the Hercules passenger list.  I have not found any documentation as to when John Ames arrived in New England.  In the book, The Seventeenth-Century town records of Scituate, Massachusetts, Volume 1, (Scit R) the author (Jeremy Bangs) lists 171 people living in the town of Scituate (names that were in town records and Lothrop's church records) between 1633-1639, and James Torrey is not listed (p 24).  Looking through the Plymouth Colony records, I find that James Torrey starts showing up in the Scituate records in 1643. 

land
Whenever I research a New England ancestor, I am always most interested to see where their homestead was; perhaps because I am local to the area.  Looking through the records of Plymouth Colony and The Seventeenth-Century town records of Scituate, Massachusetts (Scit R), there are land transactions involving James Torrey that give some identifying information which may be helpful locating his homestead on a map. 

hobart's landing:
The first record of James Torrey owning land in Scituate comes from a deed dated 1643 listed in the book, The Seventeenth-Century town records of Scituate, Massachusetts where James purchases 8 acres of upland from John Stockbridge.  This land is bounded by a "swamp to the north; Thomas Robinson's land to the south; the highway between it and James Torrey's land to the east; Thomas Chambers' land to the west."  (Scit R p.209) This is not enough information for me to place the land on a map.  Looking further through the records in this book; however, I came across another transaction which involves James' sister in law, Abigail Hatch (his wife Anne's brother's wife).  Abigail sells 13 acres in 1657, that is bounded by the highway and Thomas Robinson's land on the west, James Torrey on the north, William Witherell on the east, and the North River on the South. (Scit R p.155)   Although the North River is large, we now have a general area of Scituate to place James.  We get another clue though from another transaction when Thomas Robinson sells some of his land to John Otis in 1660.  The record states this land is near the North River and Stony Brook, and bounds Thomas Chambers to the west, to the east and north to James Torrey's land.  (Scit R p.158).  So James Torrey's land is north of the North River and near Stony Brook.  Then in 1664, the town grants to James Torrey, all the common land on the southerly side of his field in front of his house, which is between the field and the land James Torrey bought from Walter Hatch to the north and south, Rotten Marsh Swamp to the east and the way to the west.  (Scit R p. 253-254)  According to The History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts... on ancestry.com, Rotten Marsh Swamp is between Stockbridge's Mill and Little's Bridge (p438).

This location coincides with the description given in the North America, Family Histories database on ancestry, which states his house "stood 10 rods south of the gate that leads to Hobart's Landing".  Below is a map of Hobart's Landing from the book, History of Shipbuilding on North River....,  which includes the North River, Little's Bridge, and Stony Brook.

Looking through the later deeds in Plymouth County, it seems James' son James was eventually in possession of this land, which was then handed down to his children (immigrant James' grandchildren). (see note 1).  James' other sons were granted land elsewhere from the town of Scituate.  (see note 2)

two mile grant:
There is another area of land in Scituate that James Torrey owned.  There are two land transactions recorded for James that do not seem to be from the Hobart's Landing area described above.  One is in 1654, when James Torrey sells 40 acres of upland and meadowland to his brother-in-law, Walter Hatch.  (Scit R p.151).  This land is described as bounded to the west, south and north to Walter Hatch's land and to the east to common land.  This transaction also mentions land near Richard Curtis and Thomas Byrd and a little creek.  Another transaction between Walter Hatch and James Torrey occurred in the same year, this time with James Torrey purchasing 1.5 acres from Walter.  This land is described as bounded to the south to Walter Hatch's meadow, the north to marsh of James Torrey, east to Walter Hatch and west to the North River.  (Scit R p.289) With the North River to the west of this land, it seems it is not in the same location as James' homestead.

At this time in Scituate, there is an area which has the North River to the west.  In 1640, the Plymouth Court granted to the people of Scituate more land to the east of the North River because there were general complaints about the quality of the current land in Scituate. This was known as the Two-Mile Grant. (Scit R 31).  According to the book, The Red House, Walter Hatch did build a house in this area.  This book also discusses the land that Walter Hatch bought from James Torrey as being in the area of the Two-Mile Grant.  (Another book also discussed this area, The North River: Scenic Waterway of the South Shore).  The map below is from the book The Seventeenth Century Town Records of Scituate..., and delineates the Two-Mile Grant, which now lies in Marshfield, as number 61.  The area is now a Reservation that is accessible to the public known as the Two Mile Farm.

As with the Hobart's Landing area, this land also seems to have been handed down to James' son, James; who then handed it down to his children through deeds before his death.  (see note 3)

The Google Map below shows where I have marked both areas of James Torrey's land.  The smaller northern area is the Hobart's Landing area where I believe James resided.  The larger shaded area is an estimation of the entire Two-Mile Grant where James owned and sold land.







Notes:

1. Some of James' 2nd children (James, Joseph, William and Eunice) received the land in Hobart's Landing area in the early 1700's.  (Plymouth County Deeds 14,271; 14,240). James 2nd also sold some of this land to Joseph Neal (Plymouth County Deeds 14,159) and gave some to his wife Eunice and his daughter Eunice (Plymouth County Deed 9,415).  It seems likely to me that this is where my immigrant ancestor, James Torrey, resided. 
2. The immigrant James Torrey had 5 sons, James, William, Joseph, Jonathan and Josiah.  Looking at the deeds, his eldest son James seems to have received most of his land; which was then handed down to most of his children - see note above.  Immigrant James died unexpectedly in an explosion accident, and left no will. After James' death, in 1665, the town granted to James' four youngest sons 200 acres lying above Weymouth.  (Historical Sketch of Abington p 16).  One of those sons, Jonathan, is my direct ancestor who removed to Weymouth. Two of these sons also granted or bought land in Scituate.  Josiah resided near Dead Swamp; which is Torrey Pond now, north of the Two Mile Grant.  Joseph resided near Hooppole Hill, which is to the west of his brother Josiah's residence in Dead Swamp.  There is currently a Hoop Pole Lane in this area of Scituate.  At Joseph's death, he gives his brother Josiah his house and 2 acres in Scituate.  There is not much information on the other son, William.  He is not mentioned in his brother Joseph's will, when all the other siblings are mentioned; so he may be deceased by then, 1714. 
3. James Torrey 2nd, also handed down the land in the Two - Mile Grant area to his sons.  James Torrey 3rd had land to the east of the North River (Plymouth County Deed 8,183).  Nathaniel Torrey may have had two areas of land, one probably to the east of the North River, near his brother Joseph Torrey (Plymouth County Deed 11,257), which Nathaniel sold to Isreal Hatch (14,205).  Nathaniel also received land west of the North River and west of James Torrey 3rd land (Plymouth County Deed 12,22), which he sold to Ebenezer Pinance in 1715 (16,8). There was a creek above the first area of Nathaniel Torrey's land (maybe hatch mill creek) and then above the creek was land that Joseph Torrey received (Plymouth County Deed 11,257).  Joseph also sold his land to Isreal Hatch in 1716 (14,205).  To the south of Joseph and Nathaniel Torrey's land was the meadowland of Walter Hatch; which is probably the general area where Walter built his historical house in 1647, the Red House at 385 Union St., now part of Marshfield.  

denicola update again

Since my last post, where I updated my DeNicola to-do list, I discovered that the antenati.san.beniculturali.it website added church records for Rome, which is where the DeNicola's were from.  Looking through these records, I found some interesting information.

I had been having trouble finding Adolfo Denicola's (my 2nd great grandfather) death record in Rome.  I had assumed he died somewhere around 1880 as my 2nd great grandmother had another child with another man in 1882. (actually found out this child was born in 1886, not 1882)  As it turns out, I made a couple of incorrect assumptions with my great grandfather, Arnaldo DeNicola, and his parents, Adolfo DeNicola and Eugenia Farnetti.

1. I assumed Adolfo DeNicola and Eugenia Farnetti were married; however, I was not able to find a marriage record in Rome for Adolfo and Eugenia.  I assumed they were married as they are the parents listed on my great grandfather's (Arnaldo) death record in Quincy, MA.  As I mentioned in my last post, I did find Arnaldo's birth recording in Rome, from the FamilySearch microfilm.  His father Adolfo DeNicola is listed, but where his mother's name should be, something else is written (in Italian) that I am unable to translate.  I do not see Eugenia's name on the record.

Birth Record of Arnaldo DeNicola, Rome, 1879

2.  I had also assumed Adolfo DeNicola was deceased by the time Eugenia married Luigi Faiella (around 1885), who I thought was her second husband.  Turns out Luigi was probably her first husband, although I was not able to find this marriage record either.  However, on the marriage record of her supposed son, Arnaldo, to Louisa Terragnoli, Eugenia's name is again no-where to be found.  This record also states that Arnaldo's father, Adolfo DeNicola, is still living in 1904!  Adolfo is residing in Genova, Italy, profession is a painter.  Arnaldo's mother is listed as unknown.  Usually in records that I have seen, if a parent is listed as unknown, it is almost always the father.  How can they not know who the mother is, as she gave birth to him!  I find this very interesting.

Marriage Record of Arnaldo DeNicola and Louisa Terragnoli, Rome (took place in Prezza) 1904

Since Adolfo DeNicola is still alive in 1904, and Eugenia is not listed on her son's birth record or marriage record, it seems highly unlikely that Eugenia and Adolfo were ever married.  It is still very possible that Eugenia is Arnaldo's mother, as she is listed on his death record as such.  Also, Eugenia had many grandchildren from her marriage to Luigi Faiella -  and Arnaldo's children (possible grandchildren of Eugenia's) are included in pictures with these other grandchildren.  There is definitely some connection between the families.  Another possibility is that Eugenia sort of "adopted" Arnaldo and his family without a familial connection.  In Eugenia's obituary, it states she only had a certain number of children which was one less than she should have had if Arnaldo was her son; but, Arnaldo was deceased before Eugenia so he may not have been counted.

There is evidence that the later generations of the DeNicolas and the Farnetti/Faiellas were close, but what about Arnaldo and his possible mother Eugenia when Arnaldo was a child?  It looks like Eugenia was in Rome when her first daughter was born in 1886, then by 1888, when her second daughter was born, she was in Prezza, Italy.  By 1903, her family was in Chicago; then eventually by 1910 they were in Quincy.  So where did Arnaldo grow up?  Did he spend his childhood with his father Adolfo?  I do not have any records for Arnaldo between 1879 and 1901, so I am not sure where he spent the first 22 years of his life.  Arnaldo was born in Rome in 1879, so Eugenia was probably in Rome at the time of his birth.  In 1902 he traveled to Boston and states his last residence was Prezza.  (He may not have actually traveled to Boston as his name is crossed off on the passenger list.)  If he did travel, he was back in Prezza by 1904 where he married his wife Louisa .  So 1902 is the first evidence of Arnaldo in Prezza, where his possible mother had been living (at this time Eugenia may have actually been in Chicago).  By 1906 he was back in the Boston / Quincy area.  Interesting that they are in a lot of the same places, just at different times.  By 1910, both Eugenia and Arnaldo are in Quincy, MA.

I have had my DNA tested, but have not been able to make any connections yet to possible cousins descended from Eugenia Farneti.  This is not unusual though as many of my matches do not have family trees online, so it is difficult to assess at this time.

Update on Denicola To Do List

I wrote a "to do post" on this blog almost a year ago for my DeNicola lineage from Rome, Itlay.  The first step was to order microfilm from the Family History Library.  I finally ordered and reviewed the microfilm, but did not find as much information as I had hoped.

This is what I had hoped to accomplish for Adolph DeNicola, my second great grandfather, first husband to Eugenia Farneti:

• death record - Adolph DeNicola, probably occurred in Rome between 1879 when his son Arnaldo was born and 1882 when his wife had another child by her second husband.  Need to order death index for Rome from familysearch for these years.  UPDATE:  I ordered microfilm 2280749 (death index rome 1871-1881) and 2280754 (death index rome 1882-1891).  Neither of these indices had an Adolph DeNicola or DiNicola.  Not sure where to go from here.  Two possible scenerios are 1. Adolph did not die in Rome, 2. Adolph did not die between these years.  Is it possible that Adolph and Eugenia were never married; therefore Adolph may not have been deceased at time of Eugenia's marriage to Luigi Faiella. 
• marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to Adolph DeNicola. This probably occurred in Rome, Italy as their son Arnaldo was born in 1879 in Rome, according to all of his US records.  I have ordered the index to marriage records for 1871-1879 for Rome.  Once I find out the year, I can order the microfilm which contains the records.  UPDATE: I ordered microfilm 2280663 (marriage index rome 1871-1879 and publication index 1875-1882.)   I browsed through this index and found no entries for this couple for the years 1872, 1875, 1876, 1877, and 1878.  I did not see an index for 1879 or beyond on this microfilm.  It is possible that Adolph and Eugenia were married in 1879 or 1880, but there does not seem to be a microfilm for these years, the microfilm jumps from 1878 to 1882.  LEFT TO DO : (allegati for arnaldo's birth might be helpful, could be in either of these?: Allegati [nati] 1879 (ser. A, n. 1-192; ser. B, n. 51, 1954, 52-57, 48, 186, 646-43) microfilm 2335194 Item 4; Allegati [nati] 1879 (ser. B, n. 42-34, [numeri vari]), microfilm 2335195 Item 1)
• marriage record - of Adolph's son Arnaldo DeNicola to Luisa Terragnoli.  This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born. This may also give Eugenia's age and place of birth.  I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain this record, as there does not seem to be microfilm available for these years. UPDATE:  There is a notation in Arnaldo's birth record below that he married Luisa on Nov. 21 190?.  I cannot make out the last number for the year.  It also does not say if the marriage took place in Rome or Prezza.  LEFT TO DO : (index for rome marriages from 1898-1911 on microfilm 2280664; Prezza microfilm only go up to 1865)
• marriage record - of Eugenia Farneti to her second husband Luigi Faiella.  This probably occurred in Rome also, as their first child was born there in 1882.  If I find the marriage record, the allegati would possibly have Eugenia's first husband, Adolph's, death record.  UPDATE: I ordered and reviewed microfilm 2280742 (rome marriage index 1882-1891) There was no Luigi Faiella or Eugenia Farneti listed in this index.  I had also looked in the year 1879 when I was looking for Eugenia's first marriage, but she was not listed here either.  As I wrote above, the index skips from 1879 to 1882.  It could be that both of her marriages took place in 1880 and 1881 where there does not seem to be an index for Rome, or perhaps she did not marry in Rome. 
• birth record - of Adolph's son Arnaldo DeNicola.  He was born in Rome in 1879 according to his naturalization papers.   UPDATE: I ordered microfilm 2280908 (birth index rome 1878-1880).  This index did contain a birth of Arnaldo DeNicola, son of Adolfo item number 1356C.  In order to see the actual birth record, I ordered microfilm 2140328.  The writing on the microfilm was very dark and very small, and the only way I could get a copy of it was to take a picture.  Needless to say, it did not come out very well.  The record is below...

Microfilm 2140328 Rome Births

The only useful pieces of information I was able to read from this document are 1.) his birthdate of September 20th, 1879, which agrees with his WWI record and naturalization papers, and 2.) Arnaldo's father's name is indeed Adolfo, which I had first obtained from Arnaldo's death record in Quincy, MA.  Unfortunately, I am unable to read the section which would state his mother's name, which I think is the middle of 9th to 11th row.  Lastly, in the margins of Arnaldo's birth record is a notation of marriage to Louisa Terragnoli, with a date which looks like November 21.  I am not sure of the year, maybe 1904 or 1906?  

• birth record - Eugenia Farneti around 1863 probably in Rome, Birth records not available this early in Rome 

to do

I just finished creating a family history book through ancestry.com on my grandfather, Amedio Pompeo's, line.  I was able to go back to my 5th great grandfather in the 1700s, Severino Pompeo, in Torre de Passeri, using the Italian records online through familysearch.org and the Italian State Archives. 

Now that I have so many names on my paternal Italian side, my maternal Italian side looks sparse in comparison.  This maternal line, the DeNicola's and Terragnoli's, are also mostly from the Abruzzo region, but from the province of L'Aquila in the commune of Prezza.  These records only go up to 1865 online, which means I was unable to make that connection back in the records since I am starting with my great grandparents, who were born in the 1870's.  It also seems that the DeNicola's may have been from Rome.     

Pedigree chart for Remo DeNicola

I do have the names of my 2nd great grandparents from the records in the US, but I was unable to find most of these names in the Prezza records.  As the chart above shows, there is one line I was able to trace back a bit further, that of my 2nd great grandmother, Francesca Lucente. Since she died in the United States, I was able to obtain her death record which included her parent's names.  She was born in 1846, which allowed me to find her birth record in Prezza online.  This leaves me with three lines to spend some time researching.   

to do: (bold items I have started the process)

1. Guiseppe Terragnoli, my second great granfather, probably died in Italy before his wife Francesca came to the United States.  (Francesca married secondly Luigi Pettinelli in Prezza).  These are the records that I would like to find for Guiseppe Terragnoli; I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain any of these records, as I have written to Prezza town offices a couple of times with no response.
• death record - I was not able to find Guiseppe Terragnoli's death record, which probably occurred after 1865, maybe in Prezza. 
• birth record - I am not sure if Guiseppe was born in Prezza, as I was also unable to locate his birth record after browsing through the Prezza records that are available before 1865.  He would have been born before this date, so I am not sure why I cannot find him, unless he was born in a different commune. 
• marriage record - of Guiseppe Terragnoli and Francesca Lucente, probably in Prezza, as their first child was born there in 1877.  The marriage record will give the age of Guiseppe, his place of birth, and his parents' names.
• marriage record - of their daughter Luisa Terragnoli to Arnaldo DeNicola.  This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born.  This may also give Guiseppe's age and place of birth.
• marriage allegati - for Francesca Lucente's second marriage, which may include Guiseppe's death record.  Allegati contain documents which were necessary to marry.  I have this marriage date of 1894 which was annotated in Francesca's birth record.
2. Eugenia Farneti, my second great grandmother, died in Quincy, MA in 1937. 
• death certificate - this will be easy to obtain by ordering through mass document retrieval.  This will contain Eugenia's parent's names and date of birth.  (UPDATE: I ordered her death certificate and it states her parents' names are Peter Farnetti and Anunziata Gismondi, and birth year would be abt 1870 - see this post about analysis of Eugenia's birth year)
• birth record - her son's birth record, Gaetano Faiella, states Eugenia was born in Rome.  There is microfilm from familysearch that I can order once I have a birth date - which is probably around 1864 according to some other US records.   May have to order Rome birth index to find date. 
• marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to Adolph DeNicola.  This probably occurred in Rome, Italy as their son Arnaldo was born in 1879 in Rome.  I have ordered the index to marriage records for 1871-1879 for Rome from familysearch.  Once I find out the year, I can order the microfilm which contains the records.
• marriage record - of her son Arnaldo DeNicola to Luisa Terragnoli.  (same as above under Guiseppe) This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born. This may also give Eugenia's age and place of birth.  I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain this record. 
• marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to her second husband Luigi Faiella.  This probably occurred in Rome also, as their first child was born there in 1882.  I will have to check if the marriage allegati records are available at familysearch for this year in Rome.  The allegati would have Eugenia's age, place of birth, and possibly her first husband, Adolph's, death record.
• birth record - her son Arnaldo DeNicola.  He was born in Rome in 1879 according to his naturalization papers.  I have ordered the 1878-1879 index and records for Rome from familysearch.  This may obtain Eugenia's age and place of birth. 
3. Adolph DeNicola, my second great grandfather, first husband to Eugenia Farneti
• death record - Adolph DeNicola, probably occurred in Rome between 1879 when his son Arnaldo was born and 1882 when his wife had another child by her second husband.  Need to order death index for Rome from familysearch for these years.
• marriage record - Eugenia Farneti to Adolph DeNicola.  (same as above under Eugenia) This probably occurred in Rome, Italy as their son Arnaldo was born in 1879 in Rome.  I have ordered the index to marriage records for 1871-1879 for Rome.  Once I find out the year, I can order the microfilm which contains the records.
• marriage record - of her son Arnaldo DeNicola to Luisa Terragnoli.  (same as above under Guiseppe and Eugenia) This probably happened around 1905 in Prezza, as this is when and where their first child was born. This may also give Eugenia's age and place of birth.  I will probably have to hire a professional to obtain this record. 
• marriage record - of Eugenia Farneti to her second husband Luigi Faiella.  (same as above under Eugenia) This probably occurred in Rome also, as their first child was born there in 1882.  I will have to check if the marriage allegati records are available at familysearch for this year in Rome.  The allegati would have possibly her first husband, Adolph's, death record.
• birth record - her son Arnaldo DeNicola.  (same as above under Eugenia) He was born in Rome in 1879 according to his naturalization papers.  I have ordered the 1878-1879 index and records for Rome from familysearch.  This may obtain Adolph's age and place of birth. 

I definitely have some ways to expand my Italian line on my maternal side.  Guiseppe Terragnoli will probably be the most difficult to obtain as I have to go through a professional, but I can get a start on the other two lines.  It looks like I have some records to order. 

the mob connection

I recently read an article from Genea-Musings' blog about finding hints for ancestors from a specific database on ancestry.com.  I had no idea this was possible, so I thought I would play around with it a bit.  I started by looking for people in my tree that had hints in the Social Security Death Index database.  I do not think anyone on my direct line came up, but I was still able to fill in some death dates for others in my tree.

While I was browsing through these hints, I noticed a link on the left side of the page that would allow me to narrow down the ancestry hints by photos.  I have always wanted to find just photo hints for the people in my tree, and was happy to see there were over 300 possible photos for my ancestors.  After clicking on the link, I found most of them were of gravestones that I myself had taken and posted on findagrave.com already.  However; I did find some pictures I did not have, and also found an interesting connection of my family to the Chicago mob, "the outfit" - once run by Al Capone.

The Mob Connection:

The picture that brought me to this connection was under Louis T. Fratto.  I attached the picture to my tree, and noticed that the picture looked like it came from a newspaper, and the caption for the photo was "Louis 'cockeyed louie' Fratto".

Louis "Cockeyed Louie" Fratto (originally from ancestry.com user lmuchisky family tree)

The nickname peaked my interest, so I did a quick google search and found the following wikipedia entry on Louis.  I also found that his brother, Frank "one ear" Fratto, worked alongside Louis.  A blog post from Breakshot Blog details this family a bit more.  Apparently, Louis became the mob boss of the Iowa Family in Des Moines, replacing Charles "Cherry nose" Gioe (Gioe was appointed by Capone). Louis may also have been involved in Gioe's death.  They did not have enough evidence to convict Louis, so he was released.  Another interesting tidbit about this family: Louis' son, Frankie Fratto Farrel, died in the plane crash with boxer Rocky Marciano in 1969.

Frank "One Ear" Fratto (brother of Louis Fratto) (originally from ancestry.com user lmuchisky family tree)

So how is Louis and Frank Fratto connected to my family?  Louis and Frank Fratto are my 1/2 first cousins, 2x removed; the children of my half-great grand aunt, Bianca Faiella.  I understand the connection better this way...My second great grandmother, Eugenia Farnetti, remarried after her first husband, Adolph DeNicola, died.  Adolph is my second great grandfather; and their only son, Arnaldo, is my great grandfather.  Eugenia's second husband was Luigi Faiella.  Eugenia and Luigi had 10 children, Arnaldo's half siblings.  They lived in Chicago for a time, but Eugenia, Luigi, and most of their children moved to Quincy, MA.  One of these half siblings, Bianca Faiella married Thomas Fratto and remained in Chicago.  So my second great grandmother, Eugenia Farneti, is the grandmother of Louis and Frank Fratto, who were involved with the Chicago Mob and later the Iowa Mob.

eugenia farneti denicola faiella (part 3 of 3)

I put together all the information I have found from various sources on Eugenia Farneti Faiella to see if I could narrow down her birth date.

Birth Date

The sources I have for Eugenia's birth are:

• August 31, 1903 passenger record she is 42 years old : born between Aug 1861-Aug 1862
• May 1906 passenger record she is 44 years old : born between May 1862-May 1863
• May 1906 border crossing she is 44 years old : born between May 1862-May 1863
• 1920 census she is 56 years old (suppose to be status as of jan 1) : born  between Jan 1864- Jan 1865
• 1930 census she is 68 years old (suppose to be status as of apr 1) : born between Apr 1862 - Apr 1863
• May 1937 death obituary she is 67 years old : born between May 1870 - May 1871

Eugenia's age at death in 1937 of 67 seems unlikely, as the 1930 census states that she is 68 years old.  The ages in the other sources seem to correspond more closely to the 1930 census.  I would think the earliest record I have of Eugenia, her passenger records, might be more accurate.  So I am guessing her date of birth to be between the years of 1861-1864.  If we also take into account that she was 16 years old when she first married, according to the 1930 census, it seems likely she could have married Adolph before Luigi at a young age.  The first child I have a record of for Eugenia and Luigi is their daughter Elvira who was born around 1885.  The only child of Eugenia and Adolph that I have a record for is Arnaldo, who was born in September of 1879.  That is a large gap, although it is possible Eugenia and Luigi left children in Italy when they emigrated.  Arnaldo's year of birth is significant though; if Eugenia was born between 1862-1864, she would have been around 16 or 17 years old when she had him.  Again, this corresponds with the date of her first marriage at the age of 16.  

When I am able to search for Eugenia's birth records, I will focus on these years.  Also, according to one of Eugenia and Luigi Faiella's children's birth record, (Guy born in Chicago, IL); Eugenia was born in Rome.  Another clue for finding her birth record.  I also have sources which state my great grandfather, Arnaldo DeNicola, was born in Rome; which makes the connection even closer between them.   To sum up their connections:

1. I have a picture of Arnaldo's children with Eugenia's other grandchildren through her marriage to Luigi Faiella : and distant cousins stating that Eugenia was married to a DeNicola before she married Faiella
2. both Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola were born in Rome, Italy
3. both Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola eventually lived in Prezza, Italy before they immigrated to the United States.
4. both Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola eventually settled in Quincy, MA
5. birth year of Arnaldo DeNicola in 1879 would be close to when Eugenia Farneti Faiella's first marriage occurred, when she was 16 years old.    

If Arnaldo is the son of Eugenia Farneti Faiella, then according to Michael LoDico's website and Facebook page, this is my 2nd great grandmother, Eugenia...

Eugenia Farneti Faiella picture courtesy of Michael LoDico

eugenia farneti denicola faiella (part 2 of 3)

Marriage Record

I searched for the marriage of Eugenia Farneti and Luigi Faiella in the Massachusetts, Marriages, 1841-1915 on familysearch.org without success.  I would assume that Eugenia and Luigi Faiella were married before 1915, as I know they had many children together and by 1915 Eugenia would be around 53 years old; too late to have children.  Since they are not in this database, it is likely that they were married in Italy before the immigrated to the United States.  It is posted on Michael LoDico's Facebook page that Eugenia Farneti and Luigi Faiella were married in Prezza on June 15, 1884. Prezza records will be a great place to look for this record; unfortunately they are only available up until 1865 online.

Passenger Record

It was easy to locate Eugenia and Luigi Faiella's passenger records from Italy with a simple search for Luigi Faiella on ancestry.com's Boston, Passenger and Crew Lists, 1820-1954.  This record provides a great amount of new information.  Eugenia's maiden name is listed, Farneti, as well as many of their children that traveled with them; including Elvira age 18, Bianca age 17, Emma age 15, Nunzio age 13, Giselda age 10, Rodolfo age 8, Americo age 6, Giovannini age 4, Aristide age 1.  Luigi is 50 and Eugenia is 42 years old.  They left Naples, Italy on August 31, 1903 on the ship S.S. Cambroman.  I am unable to read Luigi's profession, it looks like "possessor" but it is crossed out?  The record states their last place of residence is Prezza, Italy; which corresponds with information I have on Eugenia's son Arnaldo DeNicola and his wife Louisa Terragnoli.  A surprising bit of information on this record is that Eugenia and Luigi are heading to Chicago, IL and not remaining in Boston, MA.  There is also another man listed above them, Amadeo Ghetti, from Prezza heading to Chicago, IL.  They list they are going to join their friends, David and Sabatino Falone; and that they have never been in the US before.  They are not joining Eugenia's possible son Arnaldo.  This is not that surprising as Arnaldo does not seem to be settled in Massachusetts yet, even though he had traveled there in 1902.  Arnaldo went back and forth a couple of times before settling in 1906.

1903 passenger record from Naples, Italy to Boston Massachusetts; Luigi and Eugenia Faiella

At some point, the Faiella family returned to Italy; as they are found on another passenger record in the Canadian Passenger Lists, 1865-1935 database in May of 1906.  This time the family left Antwerp, Belgium and were heading to Montreal, Canada on the ship Mount Temple.  Eugenia is now 44 years old and traveling with her husband Luigi and children Nunzio, Giselda, Rodolfo, Americo, Giovannini, Aristide, and a new son Gaetano.  The border crossing record from ancestry's database Border Crossings : From Canada to US, 1895-1956 shows their last residence was again Prezza, Italy and they again are heading to Chicago, IL.  It looks like they were joining Luigi and Eugenia's son-in-law Ant. Febbo at 317 Taylor Street in West Chicago.  I am not sure which daughter married a Febbo, but their daughter Bianca does marry a Thomas Fratto, who remain in Chicago, IL throughout their lives.  Perhaps this is who they were visiting and the border record was not exact in their recording the correct surname?

1906 passenger record from Belguim, Germany to Montreal, Canada; Luigi and Eugenia Faiella

1906 Canada Border Crossing; Luigi and Eugenia Faiella

I am not sure if the family stayed in the United States or returned again to Italy, but I did not find any other passenger records for them.  The census records below do show that they eventually moved from Chicago to Massachusetts.  So out of these passenger records, the only connection I have found for Eugenia Farneti Faiella and Arnaldo DeNicola is that they both immigrated to the US from Prezza, Italy.

Census Records

The first census record I have been able to find Eugenia Faiella in is the 1920 US Federal Census, living in Quincy, MA.  Eugenia is listed as Virginia Faiella.  I cannot tell if this is a transcription error of if the enumerator actually wrote Virginia and misheard her name.  Her husband is listed as Louis Faiella, when he should be Luigi.  Two sons are living with them, Eddie and Guy; probably Aristide and Gaetano according to their birth dates.  Gaetano's birth place states Illinois, which may mean the family was still living in Chicago in 1904, and probably traveled home to Italy for just a visit before returning to Chicago in 1906.  (From the Facebook pictures, it also states that the Faiella family lived in Missouri and that one of their son's, Americo, was born in Brazil around 1896 - so it seems they did a lot of traveling).  In 1920, they are living at 59 Main Street in Quincy.  By 1926, Edward, Guy and Eugenia are all living at 8 Silver Street; Eugenia's husband Luigi died in Sept of 1925 according to the Quincy City Directory on ancestry.com.

1920 Census Quincy, MA; Eugenia Faiella

Eugenia is also listed in the 1930 Census, still living with her son Eddie and his family; this time at 40 Baxter Street in Quincy, MA.  Her other son Guy is also still living with them.  They seem to be living with another family, or at least in a two family home.  The other family's head of household is Sam and Emma Pasquale; Emma is Eugenia's daughter.  The 1930 census also lists their immigration status; Eugenia is still an alien, while her son Edward was naturalized.

1930 Census Quincy, MA; Eugenia Faiella

Another interesting bit of information on the 1930 census is Eugenia's age at first marriage.  This will be helpful when trying to locate the marriage record for Eugenia and her possible first husband Adolph DeNicola.  If this is the correct Eugenia, she was 16 years old when she married Adolph DeNicola, according to this census.  This bit of information does not provide any direct evidence that Eugenia Faiella and Adolph were once married.  The only connection these census records do make is that Eugenia Faiella and her possible son from her first marriage, Arnaldo DeNicola, are both living in Quincy in 1920 and 1930.

Death

It took a little bit to track down any death information on Eugenia.  I finally found her in the Massachusetts, Death Index, 1901-1980 on ancestry.com.  She was indexed under the surname Fai Ella.  This database on ancestry is not indexed very well for searching; so whenever I find an entry, I look at the actual scanned index page.  For instance, Eugenia's death is indexed on this ancestry database as 1940 in Boston; but after looking at the actual page, I see she died in 1937 in Quincy.  Now that I have at least the year of her death, I contacted the Quincy Public Library for a possible obituary in the Patriot Ledger, the local newspaper for Quincy.  I was so excited when the librarian emailed the obituary to me.  The obituary states Eugenia died on May 3, 1937 and is buried at Mt. Wollaston Cemetery, the same cemetery my grandfather and great grandparents are buried.  I will have to make another visit to the cemetery to find her gravestone.  It also states her age at death is 67 years old, which I am not sure is that accurate.

Patriot Ledger 5/5/1937; obituary Eugenia Faiella

In my next post, I will look at all the sources of information I have on Eugenia's age and come up with a date range for her birth.  This date range will help me eventually narrow down her birth in the Italian records and to see if the age for a first marriage to Adolph DeNicola makes sense with this Eugenia Farneti that married Luigi Faiella.

eugenia farneti denicola faiella (part 1 of 3)

My last post was about my Italian immigrant ancestor, one of my second great grandmothers, Francesca Lucente.  Another second great grandmother of mine was also from Italy, Eugenia Farneti.  Eugenia's first husband was Adolph DeNicola, my second great-grandfather.  I believe Adolph died in Italy, and Eugenia married a second time to Luigi Faiella.  Again, I have not had much success finding information on this family in Italian records.  The only information I have on Adolph is his name.  However; unlike my last post with Francesca Lucente, I was able to find what I think is Eugenia's passenger record.  If I have the correct Eugenia, she actually traveled back and forth between Italy and and various other countries with her second husband and their children.

I know Adolph DeNicola and Eugenia Farneti are my second great grandparents from the death certificate of my great grandfather, Arnaldo DeNicola, translated from Mass Document Retrieval.  I do have some evidence from Arnaldo's naturalization papers and his passenger records that Arnaldo was born in Rome, Italy.  This would make Rome a place to look for more information on his parents, Adolph and Eugenia.  I have not looked yet to see if there are records for Rome online, as I do not know which church or area of Rome Arnaldo was from.

The only information I have that links Arnaldo's mother Eugenia Farneti to a second husband is from Facebook.  A distant cousin's Facebook page, Michael LoDico, includes pictures of my grandfather, Remo DeNicola, as a young child.  The discussion under this photo mentions that Remo's grandfather, Adolph DeNicola, died and his wife, Eugenia, later married Luigi Faiella.  The picture with my grandfather, Remo DeNicola, also includes some of his siblings along with some Faiella children that were grandchildren of Eugenia Farneti Faiella.  Remo is the son of Arnaldo, and therefore the grandson of Eugenia Farneti.  This does show that there is some sort of a connection with the DeNicola's and the Faiella's.  I think that it is very likely Arnaldo's mother, Eugenia Farneti, is the same Eugenia Farneti that marries Luigi Faiella; which is what all the cousins on Facebook have posted.  Remo is the first boy on the left, middle row, with bowl-cut next to boy in hat.

Rudolfo and Jenny LoDico Faiella with Faiella and DeNicola children picture courtesy of Michael LoDico

Now that I have some evidence that Eugenia Farneti DeNicola and Eugenia Farneti Faiella are the same person, I looked into finding more information on Eugenia Farneti Faiella in Massachusetts; hoping to find documentation that Eugenia Faiella was once married to Adolph DeNicola.

In my next post I will focus on finding the following in United States records:

• marriage record to Luigi Faiella
• passenger record
• census records
• death record
• burial record

francesca lucente terragnoli pettinelli

I have been focusing on my fourth great grandparents in my last few posts; but I know that I have another side of my family where I have very little information that I need to focus on.  The reason that I have little information is that there is a gap in records available online for the area this family is from, Prezza, L'Aquila, Italy in the Abruzzo region.  I would love to obtain records from Italy, but I know the only way this is going to happen is if I hire someone to do the research or if I visit Italy myself.  I have tried unsuccessfully to write to the civil registration office for Prezza and I have contacted a couple of researchers, but all have been too expensive.  Instead, I thought I would see if I could find some more clues in the records I do have and see if there are any more records that may be in the United States, starting with one of my second great grandmothers, Francesca Lucente.

Francesca has been tricky to find in the United States, but she definitely came here at some point because I came upon her gravestone in Quincy, MA on findagrave while I was searching for someone else.  I wrote a little about this in another post.  With the information from her stone, I also obtained a transcription of her death record from Massachusetts Document Retrieval service; which answered some questions, and left many to be answered.

From previous research I have done on Francesca, I have come to the conclusion that Francesca Lucente first married Guiseppe Terragnoli, my second great grandfather, in Italy.  They had at least three children, Luisa, Damiano, and Cosnio (spelling is a guess from records). All of these children came to the United States at some point - the following is the information I have on these children:

• Cosnio or Cosmo Terragnoli : passenger record from Italy to Boston - he came over with his brother-in-law, Arnaldo DeNicola - his sister Luisa's husband, in 1906 and he lives in Boston in 1907.  He may have gone back to Italy as I cannot find him in the United States after these dates. 
• Damiano Terragnoli : have not found his passenger record; but the 1920 census states he came to US in 1898, 1930 census states he came to US in 1907.  He marries Giselda Faiella in 1910 in Boston, MA.  At some point he changes his name to Damiano Pettinelli, all of his children have the Pettinelli surname.  (Terragnoli is surname on Damiano's marriage record in 1910, but census for 1920 and 1930 he is going by Pettinelli)
• Louisa Terragnoli : married Arnaldo DeNicola, probably in Italy around 1905.  She came to US in 1907 with her husband and first daughter.  The rest of their children were born in MA.  Arnaldo came back and forth from Italy a few times before they settled here in 1907.  They came from Prezza, Italy. 

These are the only children I know of that Francesca had.  There may have been more in Italy that did not come over.  Francesca's' husband, Guiseppe Terragnoli, must have died in Italy as Francesca's death certificate and her gravestone has the last name of Pettinelli.  Her death record states she is widowed from Luigi Pettinelli. (This is where her son Damiano got his new last name from - although I do find it strange that he did not keep his Terragnoli surname).  I have not been able to find a marriage record of Luigi and Francesca, so I am guessing they were married in Italy.  I do not even know if Luigi Pettinelli came to the United States, as I have not been able to find any records in the US for Luigi.  I also do not know when Francesca came to the US, as I cannot find her passenger record.  

Her death record does state she had been in the "community" for 18 years.  She died in 1925, so she probably came to the US around 1907.  This is around the same date her children came to the US also.  I have searched the passenger records using both the ancestry.com search form and the Stephen Morse search interface on http://stevemorse.org/ for a Francesca Terragnoli, Francesca Pettinelli and even her maiden name of Francesca Lucente; and still cannot find her.  I did not even restrict the search to a timeframe, and still found no good matches.

If Francesca had been living in the United States since 1907, she should be in the 1910 and the 1920 census. I cannot find her in either.  As I mentioned above, her death record shows that she was residing at 54 Winter street in Quincy, at the time of her death in 1925.  The 1924 Quincy directory has Arnaldo DeNicola and Francesca's daughter Louisa living at this residence in 1924.  So clearly, Francesca is living with her daughter when she dies.  I searched the 1920 census for her daughter and husband Arnaldo DeNicola, and I also cannot find them.  I am frustrated I cannot find them as they are living in Quincy, MA according to the Quincy directory; on Washington Street in 1920.  If Francesca was living with them, it would provide me with another date of birth and a possible immigration date to compare with her death record.  

The death record of Francesca Pettinelli also provided a possible birth date of 1839, as the informant, Luigi Pettinelli, states Francesca Pettinelli was 86 years old at the time of her death in 1925.  We also have her parent's names from this record.  Her father is listed as Nichelle Lucente and her mother Dominca DiRanico. Since some records for Prezza, Italy are online at the Archives of Italy, I browsed through the dates of 1838-1850, and the only birth for a Francesca Lucente was in 1846 to Nichelle Lucente and Dominca Gentile.  The maiden name of her mother is different;  but this is still a very close match.  So that brings the question as to who is the informant of Francesca's death?  The name of the informant is given as Luigi Pettinelli, who is residing at 54 Winter street; the same place of residence as Francesca, according to the death record.  

I only found two Luigi Pettinellis in the 1920 census.  One is living in Lawrence, MA, and looking at other records for this Luigi show that he is the son of Andria Pettinelli.  I have not made any connections with this Luigi to my family, and as they seem to be living in Lawrence, it seems unlikely this Luigi would be residing with Francesca at the time of her death in 1925, as the death record states.  The other Luigi Pettinelli is Francesca's grandson, the son of Damiano Pettinelli.  This Luigi was born in 1913.  If he was the informant, he would only have been 12 years old . That does seem a bit young.  The relationship on the death record of the informant Luigi Pettinelli is listed as NR, not recorded. If this Luigi Pettinelli is the informant of Francesca's death, he probably would have not known the correct age of his grandmother, or the name of his great grandmother.  (Does DiRanico sound similar to DeNicola, Francesca's daughter's married name - maybe this was the error?) 

If I could just find Francesca in the 1910 or 1920 census, I would have more information as to her correct birth date and therefore possible parents.  Another document that would be very helpful would be her two marriage records, first to Guiseppe Terragnoli and secondly to Luigi Pettinelli.  These documents would most likely have her parents' names.  The documents for Prezza that are online though the state archives only go up to 1865.  I think both marriages took place after 1865, as Francesca's daughter Louisa was born in 1877.  The Family History Centers do not have records past 1865 either.  After writing to the civil registration office for Prezza a couple of times already, and not getting a response, it seems I will have to hire a researcher who can obtain these marriage records for me.  So far I have not had much luck finding a researcher that will only look for one record for me.  

margaret blackington harding

I wrote about Maria (Harding) Stoddard's father, Otis Harding, in my last post. This post I will focus on Maria's mother, Margaret (Blackington) Harding, one of my fourth great grandmothers.

I know Margaret was born in Thomaston, Maine from two of her daughter's death records (see previous post). I have not been able to find many records from Thomaston, Maine; so I have not found her actual birth date.  Searching through the censuses may help me find a birth year for Margaret and help narrow down her death date.  Hopefully, Margaret's parents will be listed on her death record.

1840 census

The last census I found Margaret Harding in was the 1830 census in Thomaston, ME, with her husband and their four daughters.  I concluded from my last post that Margaret's husband, Otis, died before 1840. I searched for Margaret Harding in the 1840 census; but was unable to find her. I browsed through the entire town of Thomaston, ME, and she is definitely not enumerated in that town as a head of household. Since the 1840 census only lists names of heads of household, it is possible Magaret could be living with someone else and therefore not enumerated.  Out of her four daughters, three of them are married by 1840, so she would probably only have her youngest, Maria, living with her in 1840. (see note 1) Margaret and her daughter Maria have many options of people they may be living with, including family members in two different states.  I am looking for a household that would contain Margaret who is about 43, and her youngest daughter Maria, who is 14.  I have listed the possibilities below, but have found that none of the families match up to include Margaret and Maria.

• oldest daughter Eleanor Harding Colley - Thomaston Maine - Males 20-29:1 (ebenezer); Females 20-29:1(eleanor)
• daughter Harriet Harding Thomas - Weymouth, MA - Males 20-29:1 (alfred) - census looks like there is a zero in the female 20-29 column, maybe it is a mark for Harriet?
• daughter Matilda - marries in April 1840 to Isaac Prouty in Hanover, MA - cannot find them in the census.  Matilda and Isaac are also not living with Isaac Prouty's father William Prouty in Scituate, MA. (see note 2)
• Since Margaret does not seem to be living with any of her daughters, it is possible she could have some siblings living in Thomaston she may be living with. (see note 3)  So I checked the 1840 census for any Blackington's residing in Thomaston, and still did not find a possible match for her and Maria. The only Blackington (variations included) that had a female between the ages of 40-49 in it, was a Betsey Blackington; but that most likely is Betsey herself (whoever she is).  The other Blackington's in the 1840 census do not have any females aged 40-49; these households are headed by the following people (names as indexed on ancestry.com); John Blackington, Briant Blackington, Edward Blackington, James Blackington, William Blackenton, Alden Blackenton, Hannah Blackinton, Rufus Blickinton, James Blarkinton, William Blickinton, and Benjamin Blackinton. (see note 4)

Second Marriage 1851

Another reason I may not be able to find Margaret in the 1840 census is that maybe she remarried after her husband Otis died.  I have not been having much luck finding records in Maine, so it seemed slim that I was going to find a marriage record for Margaret if she did remarry. I figured at this point it would be helpful to see if the History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine... had more information on Margaret Blackington. I found the following paragraph which included Margaret, under John Blackington, her father.  It looks like she did remarry as shown in the excerpt below.

Margaret's second husband is Joseph Dyer of Weymouth, MA. It seems she also moves back to Massachusetts, just like her daughters. With this information, I checked the ancestry database of Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, to see if her second marriage took place in Weymouth since this is were her new husband is from; which it did.
The marriage record gives us a bit more information on Margaret, including her parents' name and her age at the time of marriage in 1851.


Margaret was 54 years old in December of 1851 when she married Joseph Dyer; so she would have been born in the year 1797. The marriage record also states she was born in Thomaston, ME; which is the same town listed on her daughter's death record and the town Margaret resided in the 1820 and 1830 census with her husband Otis. This marriage record also states that her parents are John and Ellen Blackington, no maiden name for her mother. (The History of Thomaston books does state her mother's name is Eleanor Spear). The birth date and parents' names support the information from the History of Thomaston book.

This marriage record gives me some more information to help me find Margaret in the 1860 census; but does not help me track her down in the 1840-1850 censuses.  I am trying to come to terms with the fact I may never know where she is in these years right after her first husband dies.

1860 census

Now that I have a new last name to use after 1851; her married name of Dyer, I went back and searched the 1860 census; and found Margaret and her husband Joseph Dyer living in Weymouth. They also have a 7 year old living with them, Ida Prouty. I am not sure who this is. One of Margaret's daughters, Matilda, does have a daughter Ida Prouty born in 1851, but that Ida is living with her parents, Matilda and her husband Isaac, in Scituate in 1860. It is possible Ida was enumerated twice, but why would she be living with her grandmother?  Also, the Ida in Margaret Dyer's household would have been born around 1853; not 1851 as Ida is listed in Matilda's household. This date is close, but at that age, the dates are usually more accurate. Wouldn't her grandmother know if she was 9, rather than 7? There was another Ida Prouty born in 1855 to a John Prouty and a Mary Young in Weymouth. I actually cannot find this family in the 1860 census, but I do not know how they would be connected to Margaret and Joseph Dyer.  Also, this Ida still has the birthdate a couple of years off; she was born in 1855 rather than 1853 as the Ida in Margaret's household is. I did find the John and Mary Prouty family in the 1870 census living in Quincy, with their daughter Ida. Also in 1840 this Prouty family is living in Weymouth, enumerated a page before Joseph Dyer and his first wife Betsey. Again, I am not sure of the connection to this family, if any.  It is just not clear which Ida Prouty this could be. (UPDATE: Maragaret does leave money to Ida Wood in her will, which is the daughter of Matilda; so seems like she had a close relationship to her, probably is her in the 1860 census)

1870 census

In 1870, Margaret Dyer is still living in Weymouth.  Her household has changed a bit, as her husband Joseph died in 1861.  Margaret is now a widower, residing with her grandson Amasa Stoddard, Maria Harding's son. Also in her household is Lucy Reed and Lucy's son William Reed. Lucy is also a widower; perhaps she and Margaret were friends and found it convenient to live together. Only six years later, Margaret's grandson, Amasa, will marry Lucy's grand niece, Charlotte Vining. (see note 5)

1880 census

In 1880 not much has changed, except Lucy Reed is not listed in Margaret's household.  She is still living in the same house as her grandson Amasa, but Amasa is now married and has a child.  Also listed in Amasa's household is a thirteen year old servant, Mary Madden.

These censuses show us that Margaret is living in Weymouth, but it does not provide a street name. I searched the Weymouth directories available on ancestry.com to see if Margaret is listed. She is found in the directory residing on Pleasant Street, near Main Street in Weymouth, from at least 1873 and until at least 1880. I then searched the Norfolk County deed index on familysearch to see if their was a description of her land and where she obtained it from. The only deed I have found for Margaret Dyer is when she sells her land to Joseph Dyer, her stepson, in 1862. The deed mentions many lots of land, including one lot bordering Pleasant street and bordering her housemate in the 1870 census, Lucy Reed. This deed also states this lot was the homestead of Joseph Dyer, her late husband.

Since the directories show that Margraret is living on Pleasant Street after she sold her land in 1862, either she had more land or she remains in her late husband's house even though she sold it to her stepson Joseph. After looking at the historical land ownership map of Weymouth for 1876, there are a couple of reasons I think Margaret is living in her stepson, Joseph Dyer's, house.

• First, the 1876 Weymouth map has two entries for J Dyer; one on Pleasant Street, one on Main Street, fairly close to each other. There is no listing on the 1876 Weymouth map for Margaret dyer even though the directory has her residing on Pleasant Street. If she had land of her own, I would think she would be on this map. 
• Also, one of the J Dyer lots from the Weymouth map borders the land of Mrs. Lucy Reed and Pleasant Street. The deed that Margaret sells to Joseph states one of the lots borders Lucy Reed's land. This lot on the map must be the land that Jospeh bought from Margaret.  Since the directories show Joseph is living on Main Street, not Pleasant - someone else must be living in this house. Since Margaret is living on Pleasant Street and she is not listed on the map, I think it is likely she is the one living on this J Dyer lot.
• Margaret's grandson Amasa Stoddard, who is living with her in the 1870 census, is also listed in the Weymouth directories at this time on Pleasant street, as a boarder to Mrs. Joseph Dyer's.  Again, I would think if there was additional land that Margaret owned on Pleasant Street it would be on the Weymouth map.  I do not find Amasa in the Norfolk Deeds until 1889 when he purchases land in Weymouth from Charles Clapp.  (Amasa's occupation in the directory is store clerk at Joseph Dyer's.  On the Weymouth map, you can see Joseph Dyer's store across the street from J Dyer's lot on Pleasant Street.)
• I have highlighted the map below showing the two J Dyer residences, one on Pleasant Street, one on Main Street; and his store at the corner of Main and Pleasant Street.  Zoom in for more detail. (Map has been removed - need to relocate)

Probate

Margaret's probate would probably have more information, showing us if she did have more land than what she sold to Joseph in 1862.  According to the History of Weymouth book (vol 3, p 218), she does leave a will, mentioning many of her family.  (Norfolk Probate 22379)  Norfolk Probate are not available online at this time. (UPDATE: Familysearch now has norfolk probate online.  Margaret's will is here - interestingly her first statement is that she intentionally will leave nothing to her daughter item Eleanor Johnson, wife of Samuel E Johnson of Quincy nothing,  For the rest of will see note 6.)

Margaret (Blackington) Dyer's death is recorded in Weymouth on April 3, 1881 from "senile bronchitis", at the age of 84 (Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915 on ancestry.com).  Her death record states she was born in Thomaston, ME and her parents were John Blackington from Attleboro, MA and Ellinor Paine from Thomaston, ME.  The maiden name of her mother differs from the History of Thomaston book, which states her mothers name is Elleanor Spear.

From blog post margaret blackington harding

Finding a marriage record for Margaret's parents in Maine, John and Elleanor, would be helpful in clearing this discrepancy up.  I am not sure who was the informant for Margaret's death record, but they very well could have made a mistake with her mother's maiden name as they most likely did not know Margaret's mother, since she was living in Maine and had died many years before.  Again, I am not sure where the Thomaston book obtained their information, but I will have to find some vital records from Maine to find an accurate last name of Margaret's mother.

At the time of Margaret's death in 1881, all of her daughter's were still living.  One daughter, Harriet, was living in the same town as Margaret, in Weymouth.  Two of her daughter's were living fairly close in Scituate, and another in Quincy.  As I mentioned earlier in the post, Margaret was living with her grandson, Amasa, for many years, with Amasa working in Margaret's step-son's store as a clerk.  Margaret's will does mention more grandchildren, including some in Maine according to the History of Weymouth book.  I will have to trace these grandchildren once I see her will for more precise information.

The History of Weymouth book also states that Margaret is buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in South Weymouth.  This will have to be my next cemetery visit.

notes:

1. Margaret's daughters all married at young ages.  Maybe Margaret as a widow did not have a place to go and her daughters were pushed to marry young.  The oldest daughter, Eleanor married at 21 years old, not as young as the rest of her sisters.  Harriet married at the age of 17, Matilda at 16, and Maria at the age of 15, if their birth records are correct.  Harriet, Matilda and Maria all married in Massachusetts.  Eleanor stayed in Maine until at least 1850.  
2. Matilda Harding's husband, Isaac Prouty, is the brother of Elizabeth Prouty.  Elizabeth Prouty is the mother of David Stoddard - the soon to be husband of Matilda's youngest sister, Maria.  So Maria marries the nephew of her sister's husband.  So if Maria marries a into the same family as her sister, Matilda, maybe Margaret and Maria are living close by to Matilda or with another Prouty family, or with Maria's future husband David Stoddard?  Other than Isaac, the only Prouty sibling I cannot find is Lincoln Prouty in 1840 (even though he is living next to his brother William Prouty in both 1830 and 1850 in South Scituate).  Most of the Prouty's are in Scituate in 1840, including Isaac's father William, and his siblings William and Elijah; but Margaret and Maria do not fit in these households.  The other members of Isaac's family seem to be in Sandwich, MA.  Isaac Prouty's sister Elizabeth (Maria's future mother-in-law) is in Sandwich, MA in 1840 with new husband - but her son David T Stoddard is not with them- he was 20 in 1840. Unfortunately, I also cannot find David Stoddard in the 1840 census.  Another Prouty sibling also goes to Sandwich - Hannah Prouty marries Micah Tinkham - but she dies in 1840.  Micah is still living in Sandwich with a very large household of 21 people!  So I am missing Lincoln Prouty and family, Isaac and Matilda Prouty, Margaret and Maria Harding, and David T Stoddard - Maria's future husband, in the 1840 census.  Where is everyone in 1840?  Could they all be living with Micah, their brother-in-law.  
3. The only sibling of her late husband Otis that came to Maine was his sister, Polly, but both she and her husband died before 1830.  Polly and her husband Luther Hearsey had many children, some of them too young to be on their own by the time their parent's died.  Most of them eventually made their way to Quincy, MA - but I have not been able to find out what happened to them in 1830 or 1840, where they went to live as children.  Maybe Margaret is with them?  Margaret's eldest daughter, after she eventually left Maine by 1860, also settled in Quincy.  Margaret's other daughter's settled in either Weymouth or Scituate, MA.  
4. I also checked siblings of her late husband Otis Harding that were living in MA, and Margaret does not fit into any of these households either.
5. Charlotte Vining is the daughter of Solon Vining and granddaughter of Jared Vining.  Jared Vining is Lucy Vining's brother.
6. Margaret Dyer's WILL : item 1. I intentionally give to my daughter eleanor johnson wife of samuel e johnson of quincy nothing,  Item 2. To my niece Helen Palmer wife of george palmer of thomaston me ((This is her brother Edward Blackington's daughter)), and to my granddaughter ida wood wife of charles wood of rockland ((this is the daughter of Margaret's daughter Matilda, Ida Prouty Wood)), ten dollars each.  item 3, to my grandson a otis thomas and oliver b prouty of south scituate irving stoddard of weymouth fifty dollars each  item 4. to my daughters harriet thomas wife of alfred thomas of weymouth, matilda prouty, wife of isaa prouty and maria stoddard wife of david t stoddard of s scituate the rest and residue of my estate together with all i may acquire after the date of this will in equal shares and to their heirs and assigns forever.  item 4.  I appoint joseph dyer of weymouth executor of this will

otis harden/harding

Since I just wrote about one set of my fourth great-grandparents, I thought I would look at another couple of that generation. In the last post I focused on my third great grandfather, David Turner Stoddard's, parents. Now I will focus on David's wife, Maria Harding's, parents - Otis Harding and Margaret Blackington.


Just as with David's parents, I also know Maria's parents' names from her death record in 1908 in Norwell, MA. This record includes her mother's maiden name of Blackington, and includes her parent's place of birth. Maria's father, Otis Harding, was born in Abington, MA; and her mother, Margaret Blackington, was born in Maine, with no town listed. Maria was also born in Maine, again no town listed.

So from this record, it seems that Otis was born in Abington, MA and at some point he moved to Maine and met Margaret Blackington and started a family. I am guessing they were married in Maine, as their daughter Maria was born in Maine. I did look for a marriage record in both Massachusetts and Maine, but was unable to find it in either state. Eventually, I know his daughter Maria made her way back to Massachusetts, as she married and lived most of her live with David Stoddard in Scituate, MA. I am not sure at this point if her parents, Otis and Margaret, stayed in Maine or also came back to Massachusetts.

Since I am more familiar with Massachusetts records, and Otis was born in Abington, MA; I figured I would start looking into Otis Harding's family first. I thought the first step would be to narrow down his birth date by finding him in the censuses. Maria was born in Dec of 1826 according to the 1900 census; which complies with her death record stating she was 81 years old at the time of her death in 1908. So, Otis and Margaret should be in the Federal Census for 1820 or 1830 in Maine.

I found Otis Harding in Thomaston, Maine in the 1830 census - and with a little more work, also found him in the 1820 census in Thomaston, Maine (ancestry has him indexed as ceks harding). Since I have not found any other Otis Harding in the census for Maine, I am going to assume this is our Otis. I will have to find more evidence later that supports Otis and Margaret were living in Thomaston. For now, I am going to use these dates to narrow down Otis' birth date to help locate his parents. (These were the only two censuses I was able to find Otis in, in either MA or NH)

In the 1820 census, I am not sure which age range Otis would be in. I would guess he would be the younger of the two categories since his wife is; and it seems they are just starting a family with only one daughter. If Otis is between the ages of 16-25, he would have been born between 1795-1804; if he was between the ages of 26-44, he would have been born between 1776-1794. (children's names from History of Thomaston book)

Males 16-25:1(?) Males 26-44:1(?) Females Under 10:1(eleanor) Females 16-25:1(margaret)

 Let's look at his household in the 1830 census.

Males 30-39:1(otis) Females Under 5:1(maria) Females 5-9:2(matilda) Females 10-14:1(harriet) Females 30-39:1(margaret)

Since there is only one male in this household, we know Otis is between the ages of 30-39, which makes him born between 1791-1800. With this date range, I went to the Abington Vital Records book to see if an Otis was born between these dates. There was no Otis Harding, but under Harden, I did find...


It looks like my Otis could be the son of Jacob and Mehitable Harden, born November 11, 1789.  This date does not fall within the 1791-1800 range; but, if he was born on this date, it would make Otis 40 years old on the enumeration date of June 1, 1830. (see note 1)  Also, the age category according to the ancestry.com 1830 census information page is actually 30-40 years old (not 30-39), which would make this Otis born in Abington in 1789 fit into the Thomaston, Maine 1830 household. (see note 2)

I wanted to find more of a connection for Otis Harding to Jacob and Mehitable Harden; so I checked to see if his possible father, Jacob Harden, had a probate record.  I did find a Jacob Harden that has an 1805 probate, from Abington, MA. (Plymouth Probate 9138)  In these probate files for Jacob, his wife Mehitable is mentioned, along with the administrator, Jacob Harden; a possible son.  There is no mention at all of any children though, probably because Jacob's estate was insolvent, owing more in debts than he had in assets.  Unfortunately this did not provide me with the connection I was looking for.

I also searched through the Plymouth County Deeds for Jacob and Otis Hardens/Harding in the Abington area.  There are no deeds for Otis; which supports the fact that Otis, the son of Jacob, removes from the area.  Also, the deeds for Otis' father Jacob, do not mention Otis.  This is not surprising as Jacob dies in 1804, when Otis would only be 15 years old; too young to be given or buying land from his father.  Although this lack of information makes sense, it still does not show a connection to my Otis in Thomaston, ME.

I next turned my attention to finding Otis Harding in some Maine genealogy history books.  He is mentioned in the following book, available on google books, History of Thomaston, Rockland, and South Thomaston, Maine...


This book gives a death date for Otis of August 23, 1834.  This date does make sense, since the last census I was able to locate Otis was the 1830 census.  I am not sure where this date from this book was obtained, maybe the town clerk has records.  There is another book published in 2002, Vital Records of Thomaston, Maine, that is not online.  Maybe when I finally review this book, it may show a source for Otis' death date.

The History of Thomaston book above does provide more information on Otis' family that I can research further.  It contains the names of Otis' daughters, and mentions they remove to Massachusetts.  This supports the information I have on his daughter, Maria Harding, my third great-grandmother, who marries and has a family in Scituate, MA.  Now that I have more children's names, I searched through the Massachusetts Town Records on ancestry and found a bit more evidence to connect Otis Harding to the town of Thomaston in Maine.  Two of the daughter's death records, Eleanor and Harriet, state their mother, Margaret Blackington, was born in Thomaston, Maine, and their father Otis was born in Abington, MA.

I also found another connection of this Harden family in Abington to Thomaston, ME.  After researching the other children of Jacob and Mehitable Harden, I found that another child of theirs also went to Thomaston, Maine.  This would be Otis' sister, Polly, who marries Luther Hearsey in Abington in 1797.  Polly and Luther are still living in Abington in 1800, but by the 1810 census, they are in Thomaston, ME.  So, Otis' sister was the first to leave Abington and head to Maine. (see note 3)  Otis would leave Abington soon after, residing in Thomaston by 1819 when his first daughter was born there.  

The last piece of information I searched for was a death record for Otis Harding.  As mentioned above, The History of Thomaston book has his death date of 1834.  I am not sure if Otis moved back to Massachusetts before his death, so I tried both states when searching for his death.  I checked the following databases:

• index for Maine, Deaths and Burials, 1841-1910 on familysearch - nothing
• Maine, State Archive Collection, 1718-1957 on familysearch, but for Thomaston, ME, they only have World War I records, which is much too late for Otis.  
• Maine, Vital Records, 1670-1907, on familysearch.  This database is not fully indexed yet, so I browsed through both Harding and Harden as surname - nothing
• Since I know that his daughter Maria eventually made it back to MA, I also checked for Otis' death in MA using the Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 on ancestry.com and again found nothing.
• Massachusetts, Plymouth County, Probate Records 1633-1967, familysearch - if he returned to Abington area - nothing
• Maine, County Probate Records, 1760-1979, familysearch - looked in Lincoln county  for years surrounding 1834-1840 - found nothing
• Maine, Knox County Cemetery Records, familysearch - looked in Thomaston Village Cemetery index - found nothing

Unfortunately; none of these databases had any information on Otis Harding's death.  I also emailed the town clerk of Thomaston, ME, to see if they had records that far back.  I am still waiting to hear from them.

I am fairly confident that I have found the correct family for Otis, with his parents as Jacob and Mehitable Harden in Abington, MA.  Now I have more people to research to hopefully take the family back another generation.  First; though, I will look into Otis' wife, Margaret Blackington's, family for my next post.

notes:

1. According to the information about the 1830 census from ancestry.com, "The official enumeration day of the 1830 census was 1 June 1830. All questions asked were supposed to refer to that date." On June 1 1830, Otis Harden, born in Abington would have been 40 years old. 
2. Also from the ancestry.com information, "Enumerators of the 1830 census were asked to include the following categories in the census: name of head of household; number of free white males and females in age categories: 0 to 5, 5 to 10, 10 to 15, 15 to 20, 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50, 50 to 60, 60 to 70, 70 to 80, 80 to 90, 90 to 100, over 100". So Otis would have fallen into the 30-40 category, even though ancestry has that category indexed as 30-39.
3. The History of Thomaston books states that Polly and her husband both die before 1830, Polly in 1825, Luther in 1828 - they are not in the 1830 census.  The 1820 census indicates they left behind many children.  So far among the children I have found, their oldest was 31 and their youngest either 11 years old, or maybe even as young as 9 years old when their father died in 1828.  I will have to try to track them in the 1830 census - maybe they are living with their older siblings.  Thomaston VR book will be of great help to figure this family out.