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.