Birthday changing for an ancestress

Lucy Ellen Granger  Wakelee 1839 (or probably 1837)

Born in Newburyport, MA

I usually don't have great great aunts included in my genealogical discussions.  But Aunt Lucy Ellen Granger Wakelee was one of the surviving sisters of my ancestress Mary Hull Granger Phillips, a great great grandmom who died just as the Civil War was starting.  And she was one of the family members who raised orphaned Ada and Zulieka Phillips...one of whom became my great grandmother.

 

Here's the page of transcribed information on Newburyport Births for the Grangers. (Whether spelled Grainger or Granger, the mothers in question are the confusing factor.

We can tell George Tyler Granger had children with his wife named Lucy.  I know (from many other resources) that her name was Lucy Elizabeth Parsons Pulsifer Granger.

 

 

In the mid page you will see Granger in bold face.  Scan to the next line, and there's Elizabeth Pulsifer, d. George T. and Lucy Ann, Mar 27, 1833

Then comes Farnham Tyler, s. George T. and Lucy E. Apr 16, 1839

So already there are 2 possible mothers, Lucy Ann and Lucy E, but both married to a George T. Granger, (and it's not impossible there were 2 of them, but lots of records speak of George Tyler Granger).

Then comes George, s. George F (corrected to George T.) and Lucy Elizabeth, May 15, 1830

Joseph, s. George T and Lucy E(lizabeth, corrected), May 3, 1835

Lucy Ellen, d. George T. and Lucy Ann bp. July 28m 1839 (I take bp to mean born probably)

Lucy Varnum, d. George T. and Elizabeth, Feb 2 1837

Mary Hull, d. George T. and Lucy Elizabeth, May 6, 1829.

I'm going to shift the list so the children of

Lucy Ann are chronological and the Lucy E children are too.

1833 Elizabeth Pulsifer, d. George T. and Lucy Ann, Mar 27, 1833

1839 Lucy Ellen, d. George T. and Lucy Ann bp. July 28m 1839

1829  Mary Hull, d. George T. and Lucy Elizabeth, May 6, 1829.

1830 George, s. George F (corrected to George T.) and Lucy Elizabeth, May 15

1835 Joseph, s. George T and Lucy E(lizabeth, corrected), May 3, 1835

1837 Lucy Varnum, d. George T. and Elizabeth, Feb 2 1837 (mother might be possibly Lucy Elizabeth)

1839 Farnham Tyler, s. George T. and Lucy E. Apr 16, 1839

 

OK, besides the impossibility that the same mom gave birth in 1839 to

Lucy Ellen as well as Farnham Tyler, it's noted easily that Farnham is a family name.  So the 1837 Lucy Varnum was just a mispelling of Farnham in my reckoning.

 

I do know that my great great grandmom, Mary Granger had a sister Elizabeth and another one Lucy.  I own copies of letters which they wrote to each other and their parents.

I probably cannot correct this listing, which is obviously a source for many other genealogists.  But remember that bp. which I assumed was born probably?  It actually is referring to one of the conflicting 1839 births.  However, one being in July and one in April is confusing definitely, not to mention one is female and one male.

Is it possible that Lucy Ellen and Lucy Farnham are the same person?  I don't know. How many people would name two daughters the same name within 2 years? But we do have more confirmation from census reports. 

In the 1850 Census she was 13, living in Newburyport, MA.  That meant she would have been born in 1836-7.  She could not have been born in 1839 according to this record.  Her older sister Elizabeth is listed as 17, meaning born in 1833 or 4.  Mary (21) and George's (20) birthdates also are correctly linked to the Granger Newburyport births.

There are missing sons, Joseph and Farnham, who might have died.

1850 Census, Newburyport, MA

So though I'm celebrating Aunt Lucy's birthday this year on July 28, I'm shifting my data to support her birth in 1837, and thus the date would be Feb. 2.  I wonder if someone made a conscious decision to change to celebrating her birth in July rather than February!  Oh no, people don't do that!

More census dates to play with...1860. Now the family is living in Galveston, TX.  I'll skip all the other relatives, and just look at Lucy.  She's listed as 24 years old.  (Born in 1836 or 37.)

Below is the 1870 census...which includes how people were jammed in together following the war.  Galveston was a boom town again.  There are some errors (perhaps given on purpose by my relations who might have been a bit mistrustful of the "US Government" at that point.)  

George T. had been 45 on the census in 1850.  He can't be 45 again in 1870!  The next person listed is his son George, age 49.  It is definite that George T. would have been 65.  (On the last prior census of 1860 he shows as 54.)

Next on the list is M.L.E. Granger, age 50.   That means Lucy Elizabeth Pulsifer Granger is not identifying herself as the matriarch of the family, though she didn't die until 1876. Next listing is E.P. at 35. (Elizabeth Pulsifer had been married back in 1949 to Sidney Sweet, but was widowed by this time.)

The Wakelee's are next, with Augustus at 35 a store clerk, and his wife, Elizabeth at 34 (or 30 as it's transcribed, which I believe is incorrect, as it looks like 34 to me.) Is Lucy going under her sister's name?  Anything is possible. (He did remarry apparently after Lucy died, a date that again is questionable.)

Then the orphaned girls, Lulie (11) and Ada (9) are listed as Sweet children (which is mis-transcribed as Swat) with Minnie (14).  And Zulie probably was going by Lulie. 

There are family connections to the Sweets.  As just mentioned Elizabeth P. Granger married Sidney Sweet in 1849.  But the Sweets seemed to live in other households, and vise versa.  There were 4 Sweet children, of whom I know about 2 for sure.    I don't know yet who Minnie Sweet was, though there was a Mary (who would have been the right age, and died in 1886, and a Fannie Sweet.  Uncle Chauncey Sweet and Lucy Sweet Chamberlain are well known in the family and would have been five and two years old in an 1870 census, but aren't even listed in the household.

1870 Census, Galveston, Texas

Also sadly enough, Lucy Granger Wakelee did have 2 children, Frank V. who was born and died in 1869, and Lizzie H, born in 1871 and died just after her first birthday. I believe I found their names and dates at Texas Find A Grave, but haven't been able to locate the information today.

And speaking of deaths and graves... my original documentation says Lucy Granger Wakelee died May 23, 1876.  But the grave and headstone state she died March 28, 1888.  I've changed my ancestry listing to that date.  I wonder where the other information came from...

Her widowed husband remarried a woman named Jennie Connor (birth date unknown), who died in 1908 at age 59 according to her gravestone, which also states she was wife of A. Wakelee. 

Old Galveston Cemetery