Notes on Aaron/Amos Spencer CENSUS 1840, VT, Washington, Roxbury, Pg 287 Amos Spencer 1830, VT, Orleans, Roxbury, Pg 287 Aaron Spencer, 2 males under 5 (? Nathan and brother?), 1 male age 5-9 (?brother?), 1 male age 30-39 (?Aaron Spencer), 1 female age 30-39 (?Betsey Spencer?) Amos Spencer, 1 male age 60-69 (Amos Spencer), 1 female age 50-59 (wife of Amos?), 1 female age 15-19 (??) Guy Spencer, Roxbury, 281 1820, VT, Orange, Roxbury, Pg 221 Aaron Spencer, One Free White Male age 16-25, One Free White Female, age 26-44 Amos Spencer, One Free White Male, age 10-15, One Free White Male, age 26-44, One Free White Male, age 45+, One Free White Female, age under 10, One Free White Female, age 45+, Unknown entry: 9, Unknown entry: 3 (possibly number of slaves), Unknown entry: 7 1820, VT, Windsor, Springfield, Pg 199 Aaron Spencer 1810, VT, Windham, Springfield, Pg 435 Aaron Spencer 1810, VT, Windsor, Hartland, Pg 608 Amos Spencer 1800, VT, Rutland, Clarendon Simeon Spencer, 30010-1001000 1790, VT, Windsor, Springfield, Pg 292 Nehemiah Spencer, 1 white male over 16, 1 white female Simeon Spencer, 4 white males over 16, 2 white males less than 16, 2 white females 1771 Simeon Spencer, Springfield, source: Brattleboro Semi-Weekly Eagle 850:204 FAMILY TREES Amos Spencer b. abt 1772, Springfield, Rutland, VT Father: Timothy SPENCER b: ABT 1736 in Haddam, Middlesex Co., CT Mother: Lois HILL b: 11 FEB 1736 in Killingworth, Middlesex Co., CT Marriage 1 Asenath BURRELL, 24 JUL 1792 in Springfield, Windsor Co., VT Amos SPENCER Birth: ABT 1786 Father: Henry SPENCER b: 1 MAY 1764 in Haddam, Middlesex Co., CT Mother: Eunice ALLING b: 19 DEC 1765 in Wallingford, CT FROM CONNIE: Betsey GOULD. Born in Jan 1791 in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, or Vermont. Betsey died in Sebewa, Ionia County, Michigan on 16 Jun 1868; she was 77. Betsey married (1) Aaron Spencer Betsey married (2)Levi WHITNEY. Hartland Town & Vital Records, Vol. 3, 1810-1833. FHL Film 28345. p. 164 Ratable Polls in the Seventh School Dist July 10, 1817 . William Spencer, Amos Spencer Page 358 Town meeting Sept. 6, 1825 For representative: Wm. Spencer, 1 vote. Town Meeting, Sept. 7, 1826 For Councilors: William Spencer, 73 votes HARTLAND MILITARY returns suggest that Aaron Spencer may have had a brother, William Spencer. Perhaps the William Spencer who did damage to property and went to Louisville, Kentucky. Page 263-264 A return of the names of those persons, that were equipped, in the 7th Company, 1st Regt, 1st Brigade and 4th Division of the Vermont Militia, June 4th, 1816 - viz: . . . . Aaron Spencer Page 267-268 A return of those persons who are equipped according to law in the 2nd company in the first Regiment first Brigade & fourth Division of the Vermont Militia, June 3rd 1817 . . . . William Spencer p. 294 An annual Return of the men equipped in the first Artillery Company in the first Brigade and fourth division of Militia in this State viz; . . .. . . Aaron Spencer. . . . Hartland, June 28, 1818 Wells Hadley, Capt. Hartland, VT Deeds, Vol. 12, p. 36-7. FHL #28352. Anna Goold to Aaron Spencer, lease This indenture, made the first day of April 1833, by and between Anna Gould of Hartland in the County of Windsor and State of Vermont of the one part and Aaron Spencer of said Hartland of the other part witnesseth that the said Anna Gould for the consideration hereinafter mentioned hath devised granted and so far, let unto the said Spencer his heirs executors administrators and assigns all that tract or parcel of land being in said Hartland and described as follows viz: Bounded east on the turnpike road leading from Windsor to Woodstock north on land of Wells Hadley west on land of Oren Liscomb, South on land now occupied by Ahira Flowers containing eighteen acres being the same more or less with all the privileges and appurtenance thereto belonging: To have and to hold said described premises unto the said Spencer his heirs executors and administrators and assigns for and during the term of four years from the date of these presents fully to be complete and ended: And the said Spencer for himself his heirs executors administrators and assigns doth covenant and agree to pay and deliver to the Said Anna Gould one third of each and every kind of produce which shall be raised on said premises during said time and he further agrees that he and his heirs executors administrators and assigns shall use and improve said premises in a husbandlike manner and that he the said Spencer will pay all taxes upon said premises during said term. In witness whereof we have hereunto set our hands and seal the day and year above written. Recorded 31 August 1833, by John S. Marcy, Town Clerk Signed Anna Goold Aaron Spencer In presence of John Barrel Hartland, VT Deeds, [need book and page number] Another deed, dated [ ] September 1833, turns this lease over to Zerah Lull.. My notes are not clear. Aaron Spencer to Zerah Lull, assignment Aaron Spencer of Hartland Consideration of [?], paid by Zerah Lull of Woodstock, Vermont All the right title interest and estate which I have in and to the within leased indenture. Assigned the lease for the rest of the term. Witness: J. Cushman, Edwin Hutchinson. Recorded Sep 1833. All of Betsy (Gould) Spencer Whitney's siblings received two acres, two roods, and 28 rods of Ebenezer Gould's property as their share of his estate. It was Betsey's two acres that led me to Aaron Spencer as her first husband and Levi Whitney as her second husband. Two Spencers , Amos Spencer of Roxbury, and Timothy Spencer of Hartland, purchased property from Betsy's sisters. Hartland Deeds, Vol. 13, page 162. FHL #28352 Amos Spencer of Roxbury, Washington County to Franklin Hatch of Roxbury, Washington County Date of Deed: 3 July 1840 Recorded: 12 February 1841 Amount of acreage: 2 acres, 2 roods, 28 rods Consideration: $10 Description: Anna Hatch's share of her father, Ebenezer Gould's estate in Hartland. Witnesses: Darius Hatch, Laura Young Recorded by E. M Stock, Town Clerk. Hartland Deeds, Book 9, page 254. FHL #28350 Darius Hatch and Anna Hatch of Roxbury, Orange County to Timothy Spencer of Hartland. Date of Deed: 18 December 1819 Recorded 7 February 1820 Amount of acreage: 2 acres 2 roods, 28 rods, part of the estate division of Anna Hatch, heir of Ebenezer Gould Consideration; $14 Witness: William Ruggles Recorded by D. Ashley, Town Clerk NOTE: Darius Hatch may be a clue. In the 1820 Orange County, VT census, Darius Hatch is living next to Amos Spencer and Aaron Spencer. 1820 US Census, population schedule, Orange County, Vermont, Town of Roxbury, Monday, August [..] 1820, page 221. FHL #281248. Darius Hatch Males: 2 under 10; 1 10-16; 1 26-45 Females: 1 under 10; 1 26-45 Amos Spencer Males: 1 10-16; 1 26-45; 1 45+ Females: 1 under 10; 1 26-45; 1 45+ Aaron Spencer Males: 1 16-26 Females: 1 26-45 [Note: I think this is "our" couple. Betsy was born 1791/1792. She would fit in the 26-45 category. Aaron could be a couple of years younger than her. Ionia County, Michigan Record of deaths, Vol. A, p. 16 June 16 1868 Betsey Whitney Widow 77 years 6 months Born Massachusetts There is another Aaron Spencer listed in the Springfield census, but there are just too many people in the family to be a young married couple. OTHER SPENCER deeds in Hartland show a William Spencer who apparently left town [maybe in a hurry] after causing damage to property. Hartland Deeds, Book 8, page 127. FHL #28350 Date of deed: 15 July 1816 Recorded: 19 July 1816 Amos Spencer of Hartland to William Spencer of Hartland Acreage: 14 acres, beginning on south side of lot #4 in the fourth range of three hundred acre lots on the south line of land that Aaron Rice bought of William Cotton on the n.e. side of the Turnpike, then n 33 degrees, east about sixty rods to a stake & stones thence s 98 degrees, e 6 rods to a stake & stones thence s 12 degrees, east 62 rods to a stake & stones thence s 38 degrees, east 12 rods to a small maple tree thence 13 degrees w to the Turnpike thence to the e side of said turnpike to the place of beginning Signed Amos Spencer Witnesses: Amelia G. Spooner & C. Spooner Hartland Deeds, Book 9, page 347. FHL #28350 Date of deed: 20 March 1820. Stephen Paine of Hartland received judgment against William Spencer, late of Hartland, now of Louisville, Kentucky. Land seized. Hartland Deeds, Book 9, page 348. FHL #28350 Type of indenture: Warrant for Arrest, Execution, Mtg. Ephraim Bryant of Hartland for Aaron Willard, Esq. vs. William Spencer, late of Hartland, Windsor County, now of Louisville, Kentucky Acreage: 3 acres, 37 rods Consideration: $20 and damages of 290 Northerly part of lot of land owned by Willard, east side of Turnpike Rd from Windsor to Woodstock. Neighbor Moses G. Swan. The name of Amos Spencer was mentioned, but I didn't record the sentence. A Spencer Genealogy the Descent from Gerard of Haddam, Conn. Compiled by Harold L. Spencer, Jr. 1977. [Don't have the publication information. This was sent by a correspondent.] Page 144-145 165. Timothy Spencer (Timothy, Timothy, Gerard) Born at Haddam, Conn. On 11 March 1704/5, died perhaps in Vermont, but no records have been found; married to ------ Children, only known sons: i. Timothy, born -------; fought in the Revolution and died in service in 1776 or 1777. He and Taylor were two of the seven inhabitants of Springfield, Vt who signed the first call for a town meeting in march 1764. He married Lois (possibly Hill). She married the second time, at the First church, Rockingham, VT on 18 October 1779, as Widow Lois Spencer of Springfield, to Mr. McKenzie. Most of the children eventually moved to Canada, but the widowed daughters Olive and Lois lived on for many years in Springfield. -NOTE, a Lois Spencer married at Springfield on 11 September 1788, to Joseph Wright, but it is not known who she was.] Children of Timothy: 1. Rachel, married at Springfield on 24 November 1776 to Anthony Sheldon. 2. Daniel, married on 28 October 1784, to his cousin, Maria Spencer (No. iii, 1, below). 3. Olive, married at Springfield on 27 January 1785 to Silas Bemis. 4. Lois, married at Springfield on 23 July 1794, to Reuben Bemis 5. Amos, married at Springfield on 27 April 1792, to Asenath Burrell or Barrell. 6. Leah 7. A daughter, married a ----- Barrett. 8. A daughter, married a ------ Burnell 9. A daughter Note: of the above, Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were married by Simon Stevens, nos. 4 and 5 by Jotham White. On the Grand List of estates of Springfield for 1782 appears the name of Daniel Hill Spencer, 12 pounds; presumably no. 2. above. Alden M. Rollins, CGRS, Vermont Warnings Out Vol. 2: Southern Vermont Windsor County - Baltimore, 27 Dec 1808, Spencer, Amos and family Windsor county - Hartland, 27 May 1802, Spencer, Amos, wife, and family. Windsor County - Springfield, 25 Oct 1817, Spencer, Miriam and family; warrant given to "Mrs. Spencer wife of Aaron Spencer" with whom Miriam seems to have lived. Windsor County - Weathersfield, 21 July 1808, Spencer, Amos, Asenah, Lois, Timothy, Aaron and Daniel Another Aaron Spencer in Woodstock. A Woodstock, VT deed gave property to Thomas McLoughlin in return for McLoughlin taking care of Aaron Spencer and his wife. I can't find the deed right now, so I'm operating from memory. From: Wm. Henry Spencer, Spencer Family Record of the Springfield, Vermont and Evansville, Wisconsin Spencers, Descendants of Garrard Spencer of Haddam, Conn. Emigrant of 1630. [Don't have the publication information; pages were sent by a correspondent.] Page 30-31 99. Aaron Spencer (son of Simeon, 32), twin of Moses (98), m. Patty Glazier. "He is remembered as a man of ability who held important offices of trust in town affairs." Children: 123 Guy, b. 1797, m. ---- Warner. Their son or grandson was a broker in Boston, in the celebrated firm of "Spencer Vila & co.." 124 Lydia, b. 1800; m. Thomas McLaughlin; lived in Woodstock, Vt. 125 Simeon Reed, b. 1807; moved to Michigan. Mrs. Tomas McLaughlin adopted Martha and Belle, daughters respectively of Guy and Simeon Reed Spencer. Misc. Notes 1860 US Census, pop. sch., Ionia County, Michigan, Sebawa, Twp, page 84, dwelling 291, family 268 Spencer, Betsey, 68, Vt Proving a Maternal Line: The Case of Frances B. Whitney By Connie Lenzen, C.G.R.S. Originally published in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 82, Number 1, March 1994, pp. 17-31. Article revised for the Internet on 4 February 2002. THE MICHIGAN PHASE Step One: Research Church Records Charlotte's Seventh-Day Adventist Church granted a request to make a personal search of its records.[14] Its rolls reveal that Frances was one of the congregation's charter members. Her death date is recorded, but no family data is included. No other Whitneys appear in the early records. A compiled history of the local church includes another tidbit:[15] an obituary for Frances appears in the denomination newspaper published at Battle Creek, Michigan, copies of which are preserved at the Adventist Heritage Center at Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan. When examined, that religious obituary proved to be far more informative, but equally enigmatic:[16] Miller - Died Jan. 5, 1891, at the home of her son, John L. Miller, in Charlotte, Mich., Frances B. Miller, in the fifty-firth year of her age. The deceased was born in Bridgewater, Vt., in the year 1836. In 1850, she, with her mother, sister, and two brothers, moved to Michigan, settling in Roxand Township, Eaton County. In 1860 she moved to Charlotte, same county, where she has since resided. She, with a brother and sister-in-law, embraced the faith of the Seventh-day Adventists as early as 1852. It was by her earnest call that a tent-meeting was held in Charlotte, by Elders J. N. Loughborough and Moses Hull, in the summer of 1862, which resulted in the establishing of a small church, which has maintained its existence to the present time. She was ever faithful to attend all the meetings as long as she was able to walk to the place of worship. Her testimony was always cheerful and encouraging. She died a peaceful death, with a bright hope of immortality and eternal life in the soon-coming kingdom. A husband, son, and daughter are left to mourn the loss of a true wife and an affectionate mother. Funeral sermon by the writer. Text, Rev. 14:13. [Submitted by] I. D. Van Horn. The referenced mother, sister, and brothers obviously did not bear the surname Whitney, as no other Whitneys appear on the rolls of the Charlotte Church. Regrettably, the obituary gave no clue to their identities. Although the cited birthplace (Bridgewater, Vermont) is different than that recorded by Frances (Woodstock), the detail is still compatible, as Bridgewater is the township to the west of Woodstock. While the obituary dates the family move in 1850, the family's nonappearance on that year's census of Eaton could be due to timing - they may have been in transit during the enumeration period. Yet that does not explain their seeming omission from the state census of Michigan taken in 1854.[17] Step Two: Locate Schools and Officials Frances signed her first teaching contract with a school representative named Ambrose Preston. A search of Eaton County deeds revealed Preston to be a land owner in Section 31 of Roxand Township,[18] and a current "official road map" of Eaton County places the site of Kelley School in that same section. (See Figure 2.) Local census records cite Preston and wife as New York natives, with no family members born in Vermont[19] - suggesting no obvious connection to Frances, other that their brief professional relationship. Frances executed her second teaching contract with Adam Boyer, who was specifically identified in that document as "Director of Fractional School District #1, Roxand and #4 in Chester."[20] Auxiliary research on Boyer placed his farm in section 34 of Roxand Township - two miles or so east of the Kelley School.[21] (See figure 2.) As with Ambrose Preston, Boyer and wife were born in New York, and their children were born in Michigan.[22] Again, there did not seem to be any connection other than professional. Annual reports for Roxand Township's early schools still exist at the Michigan State Archives. A search revealed that during 1860 two unnamed female teachers were hired by District Ten, under Preston, for total wages of $30.27. Twenty of the twenty-six school-aged children in the district attended during the five-month school year; and the school district's library contained twenty-seven volumes.[23] The details are interesting, but of little use in tracking family origins and parentage. Step Three: Research Whitneys of Eaton Just a cursory examination of personal records executed by the school officials who employed Frances had placed the schools - and Frances, as well - in southern Roxand Township - nearly twenty miles from Calhoun County where she married. While the 1860 federal census includes no Whitney families in Roxand or Chester townships, two Whitneys do appear in Roxand's earlier records: Henry Whitney, who was said to be from Monroe County, New York, on 22 April 1837, when he claimed land in sections 11 and 12 of Roxand Township - four to eight miles north of the sites where Frances has been placed.[24] No man of his name appears on the 1850, 1854, or 1860 enumerations of Eaton, however. The only Henry Whitney indexed for Michigan in 1850 was a thirty-two-year-old man in Hanover Township, Jackson County[25] - a county that bordered both Eaton and Calhoun. (See figure 1.) Lebbeus Whitney, who was said to be of Jackson County also when he patented forty acres in section 14 of Roxand Township in 1843.[26] He was still in Roxand on the enumeration of 1850 - at which time both he and his wife were cited as natives of New York. They had no children. In 1860, the census taker found them back in Jackson County, Rives Township.[27] (See figure 1.) Extending the search beyond Roxand Township into Eaton County at large revealed several Whitney families enumerated in 1860. None lived near Frances or near the two schools at which she taught. Nor did any of them have a Vermont birthplace. Those who appeared on Eaton's death indexes from 1867 to 1913[28] and those referenced in the published abstracts of Charlotte's newspapers[29] also could be eliminated. Either they were not of the correct age to have Frances as a daughter or their family histories, their places of birth, or lack of proximity suggested incompatibility as potential parents. The deed and newspaper search yielded an interesting sidelight and a geographical connection by which Frances might have met her husband. On 4 April 1860, some six months before the wedding, Matthew Miller appeared in Roxand Township, where he purchased family land in section 35 from his brother-in-law, James H. Davis. The site was only a mile or so from the school at which Frances taught between April and September 1860. [30] (See figure 2.) Two days after this sale, Davis was tried for the alleged theft of a watch and money from an aged lady who boarded with him, Margaret Myatt. Matthew also was arrested in connection with the case, was tried, and was acquitted. [31] Davis was convicted and sentenced to three years and two months in the Western Michigan State Prison. [32] Thereafter, Davis's wife, Margaret, and children moved in with her brother Matthew - where they (as well as Mary Miller, mother of Matthew and Margaret) were enumerated in Matthew's home at Charlotte on the 1860 census. [33] Step Four: Research Wedding Witnesses Nathan Spencer and John Stringham witnessed the October 1860 marriage of Frances to Matthew in Calhoun County. Not surprisingly, the deed records show these men to be close neighbors to each other. Both their landholdings lay in southeast Bedford Township near Battle Creek - John being in section 33, Nathan in adjacent section 34.[34] Both appear with their families on the 1860 census of Calhoun County, at which time the two families shared a dwelling.[35] Stringham, a forty-five-year-old farmer in 1860, was born in Dutchess County, New York, and was the son of Jacob and Sarah Stringham, according to his death certificate.[36] Neither his place of origin nor the names within his family unit offered an obvious connection to Frances. Spencer, a thirty-year-old farmer in 1860, was born in Vermont. After his death from consumption on 19 April 1877 in Battle Creek, Michigan, a death certificate was filed; it cites his full name as Nathan Gould Spencer and his parents as Aaron and Betsey Spencer.[37] Like Frances Whitney and Matthew Miller, Nathan appears in both Eaton and Calhoun counties. On 16 April 1853, he married Elizabeth A. Butler, at which time he was said to be "of Roxand." Witnesses were W. A. Spencer and Frances B. Whitney.[38] This connection between Frances and Nathan Spencer - both born in Vermont, both witnessing the marriage of the other, and both of close age - was repeated as research continued on the Spencers. Nathan and William are first cited in Eaton's 1851 tax list. Both were in section 36 of southern Roxand,[39] fewer than two miles from the school at which Frances taught for five months in 1860. On 4 September 1854, Nathan and his new wife Elizabeth purchased forty acres in the same section - from James H. and Margaret Davis, the future in-laws of Frances. Two years later, 13 February 1856, Nathan and Elizabeth sold part of this land to William A. Spencer[40] then removed to the Battle Creek area of Bedford Township, where there was a strong Seventh-day Adventist movement. Census and church records yielded information on Nathan that paralleled data for Frances. The state census of Roxand that was taken in 1854, a year after Nathan's marriage, enumerated a household that tempts one to speculate.[41] Householder Census Data Known Identification Possibly N. G. Spencer, a married farmer 1 male; 21-45 Nathan Gould 1 female; 40-47 Mother? 2 females; 18-40 Sister? Frances? 1 female 0-4 Adaline, born 1854 Nathan's obituary, published 1877 in the Adventist newspaper, is also suggestive. It states that he came to Michigan in 1848 and that he was born on 8 January 1830 in Hartland, Vermont - a village in the same county from which Frances hailed.[42] Step Five: Research Whitneys in Calhoun Research within the county in which Frances married began with the community pinpointed for her witnesses then broadened to include the entire county - again with disappointing results. The 1860 federal census offers six Whitney entries in Calhoun County. none were in Bedford Township, where Frances married; and none were from Vermont, where Frances was born. Post-1860 death records of Calhoun offered one Whitney family with Vermont origins, in Bedford Township: one N. S. Whitney, son of a Cyrus Whitney, had been born 1810 in Vermont; he migrated to Michigan in 1854, spent eight years in Kalamazoo, then moved to Bedford in 1862.[43] Thus, the maiden Frances would not have been living with him at the time she married in Bedford Township in 1860. EVALUATION OF RESULTS The five-step plan for Michigan research exhausted all known records, with mixed results. Viewed positively, it offered an alternate birthplace for Frances in Vermont - another community whose records could be searched. It revealed that she came to Eaton County, Michigan in 1850 with her mother, sister, and two brothers. Viewed negatively, it failed to yield the names of those relatives, and it turned up no other Whitneys in her neighborhoods to whom she might be connected. Two reasonable conclusions can be drawn. First, the surname by which her relatives were known in Michigan was obviously something other than Whitney. Second, the Nathan Spencer who came from the same county in Vermont, the Nathan Spencer who witnessed her wedding and invited her to witness his own, the Nathan Spencer whose 1854 household included "extra" family members of age-sex distribution appropriate to be Frances and her mother and sister, and the Nathan Spencer whose male marriage witness was another Spencer of age to be one of Frances's unknown brothers - this Nathan Spencer was surely a relative and probably a brother. Thus, the evidence warrants a shift in focus. The search should now move to Vermont, and the surname Spencer should be of prime consideration. THE VERMONT PHASE West Woodstock, where Frances said she was born, is a village about one mile southwest of Woodstock, the county seat of Windsor County. As late as 1884, a county gazetteer attributed to West Woodstock just one store, a sawmill, a schoolhouse, and twenty dwellings.[44] To its east stood Hartland, the village in which Nathan Gould Spencer was said to have been born. To the west of West Woodstock lay Bridgewater, the point of origins cited for Frances by the pastor who buried her in 1891. Here, in southern Vermont, local records jelled with the accretion of Michigan evidence to provide proof of parentage and identity. Step One: Research Vital Records Vermont was a state in which the collecting of early vital records was left to the discretion of individual families and town clerks.[45] Thus, the registrations for West Woodstock are incomplete; and those that do exist are actually recorded in nearby Woodstock. A page-by-page, line-by-line search of the latter town's records revealed few early birth registrations and none for a Frances B. Whitney or for a Nathan Gould Spencer or a William Spencer born in the appropriate years. The neighboring town of Bridgewater had been cited as the birthplace of Frances in the obituary penned by her Michigan pastor. When the vital records search was extended to Bridgewater, neither Frances B Whitney nor the appropriate Spencers appeared. nor were they found in extant vital records of Hartland, the town of Nathan's birth. Step Two: Research Census Records Two Frances Whitneys were tallied in Windsor County in the crucial year 1850; both lived in Hartland Township and both were aged twelve. In that year, Frances B. (Whitney) Miller would have been thirteen. Given the frequency with which census ages err, the twelve-year-olds cannot be eliminated on the basis of age. However, household data echo none of the details known about the Frances who associated with the Spencers. The first Frances Whitney of 1850 Hartland appears in the Wilson Britton family - individuals of no known association with the Michigan settlers. The second Frances of Hartland, only a page away from the first, was the child of one Alfred Whitney and wife Eveline, whose other children - Hellen, Elisabeth, Adelaide, and Hiram - were five to ten years old.[46] No Spencer appear in conjunction with either family. The Woodstock census of 1850 actually couples the surnames Whitney and Spencer in one household. Instead of providing a clear solution, however, the details are at once deficient and contradictory, yet supportive. In brief, the four individuals enumerated together on 23 August 1850 are identified as:[47] Whitney, Betsey, aged 58, born new Hampshire Spencer, William, aged 26, born Vermont Harriet E., aged 18, born Vermont Frances, aged 13, born Vermont Several considerations can be drawn from an analysis of this household: The age of Frances is compatible with that of Frances Whitney who gave her birth date as 26 October 1836. On the official census date in 1850 (1 June) she would have been thirteen years old. The 1880 census entry for Frances Whitney in Michigan states that her mother was born in Massachusetts, not New Hampshire. However, one does not know whether Frances gave that information herself or whether it was supplied by her husband or another individual who may have had no knowledge of her mother's birth data. Nathan Gould Spencer, who witnessed Frances B's marriage in Michigan and invited her to witness his own, is not part of the above household. However, his obituary states that he was in Michigan before 1850; and he appears on the 1850 Eaton County census with the Peter Blasier family of Oneida.[48] Nathan's death registration identified his parents as Aaron and Betsey Spencer. The remainder of the above household is compatible with Michigan records, which not only couple Frances and one William Spencer but also state that she came to Michigan with her mother, a sister, and two brothers - hypothetically William and Nathan G. A final clue appears on the mortality schedule of the 1850 Woodstock census. Among the inhabitants said to have died within the twelve months preceding 1 June was one Levi Whitney, aged sixty-five years, a New Hampshire native who died there in Woodstock in December 1849. [49] No relations were named. However, Frances gave the name John Levi to her one son. Step Three: Research Court Records Windsor County's probate records, Hartford District, include an estate file for Levi Whitney. Its records confirm that, at his death on 20 December 1849, he left a widow Betsey Whitney and a minor daughter Frances, who was still under the age of fourteen years. A provision was made for a tombstone to be placed upon the grave of his first wife - indicating that Betsey was his second spouse. William Spencer was a creditor of his estate. The full list of his heirs cited them in the following sequence: Hepsibah Whitney of Hartland; Pluma Curtis, wife of Joel Curtis of Woodstock; Amos Whitney of Woodstock; Mary Caswell, wife of Ralph Caswell, of Springfield, Massachusetts; Edwin Whitney and Frances Whitney, both of Woodstock; and Adelaide Whitney of Bridgewater (daughter of his deceased son, Nathan Whitney).[50] Pluma and Joel Curtis, incidentally, appear on the 1850 census as the next-door neighbors of Betsey Whitney, William Spencer, and Frances E. "Spencer." Clearly, a case can be made: Betsey [ -- ? -- ] first wed before 1824 to Aaron Spencer, by whom she had three children: William (born about 1824); Nathan Gould (born 8 January 1830); and Harriet E. (born about 1832). She then took, as her second husband, an older man named Levi Whitney, by whom she bore Frances B/E Whitney on 26 October 1836. Vital records of the various towns that comprise Windsor County do not yield a registration of either marriage; nor does an Aaron Spencer appear on the 1820 or 1830 censuses of the county. Hartland's town minutes do confirm the existence there of an Aaron Spencer, militiaman, on the rolls of 4 June 1816 and 28 June 1818 but not thereafter.[51] Step Four: Identify Betsey's Birth Family The middle name that Betsey gave to her second son, Gould, was a clue adequate to proving her maiden identity. A search of Windsor County records under the surnames Gould and Spencer yielded the following: 19 June 1816. Hartland. Division of estate left by the late Ebenezer Gould. Named heirs included Betsey Gould, whose share was described as "beginning at the SW corner of John Gould's share, South 86 degrees East 80 rods to a stake and stones[,[ thence North 32 1/2 degrees East 8 rods to stake and stones[,] thence North 88 degrees west to said road [Turnpike Road], thence on said road to place of beginning. Two acres 2 roods, 28 rods".[52] 11 February 1819. Aaron and Betsey Spencer of Hartland sell to Rodalphus Whitney of Woodstock "a piece of land in Hartland . . . being part of the farm [of] Ebenezer Gould late of said Hartland. . . Beginning at a stake and stones standing on the East side of the Windsor to Woodstock Turnpike Road which is the northwest corner of John Goulds share[,] thence south 86 degrees East on said Johns share 80 rods to Joseph Bryants land[,] thence North 32 1/2 degrees East on said Bryants land 8 rods to the SE corner of Lydia Goulds share[,] thence Westerly on said Lydias share."[53] After this sale, Aaron and Betsey Spencer left Windsor County. The 1820 federal census of Vermont includes two Aaron Spencers - the first in Springfield, Windsor county, whose data is incompatible; and the second in Roxbury, Orange County. Enumerated adjacent to the Roxbury Spencers is Darius Hatch, who married Betsey Spencer's sister, according to Ebenezer Gould's estate file. Aaron of Roxbury appears to be a newlywed - no children yet born. His age is tallied in the 18-26 bracket; the female in his household is cited as 26-45 (born 1779-94),[54] entirely compatible with that of Betsey Whitney of Woodstock, for whom the 1850 census implied the birth year 1792. Aaron and Betsey remained in Roxbury for more than another decade - even though no birth registrations appear there for their children.[55] Data recorded for them on the 1830 U.S. census attribute the expected two male children to their household - one born 1820-1825 [assuredly William], the other born 1825-30 [likewise, Nathan]. [56] The land, which Aaron bought at Roxbury on 25 July 1819, was sold by him on 2 June 1830 and 17 March 1834.[57] The last Roxbury sale was prompted by the family's return to Hartland, apparently to be closer to Betsey's aging mother. On 1 April 1833, Aaron executed, with Anna Gould, a lease for her eighteen-acre farm lot, lying in South Hartland on the turnpike road leading from Windsor to Woodstock. By the terms of the lease, Aaron was to provide Anna with "one-third of every kind of produce which shall be raised on said premises."[58] In two curious documents executed that fall - perhaps debt related - Aaron (on 2 September) assigned the lease to Zerah Lull of Woodstock for $5.00, then (on 14 November) he reclaimed it for double that sum.[59] The final Roxbury deed of March 1834 marks the last known existence of Aaron Spencer. Within two years, his widow - left with three children to support, but no landholdings - would take a second husband who was considerably older but, apparently, of more substantial means. Betsey Whitney appears four times more in Windsor County records, all of which support the identity that has been pieced together for her. On 24 December 1839, Anna Gould applied for a Revolutionary War widow's pension, naming Betsey Whitney among her offspring.[60] Again, after Anna's death on 20 July 1844, the division of her widow's dower cited Betsey Whitney as an heir.[61] On 12 March 1849, Levi and Betsey Whitney deeded to one Lorenzo Wood a small parcel of land, said to have been "set off to Betsey Whitney as heir of Ebenezer Gould's Estate, late of Hartland, decd."[62] Finally, on 25 September 1850, Betsey Whitney sold to Nathan Lamb, administrator of Levi's estate, her dower right to the seventy-acre farm that she occupied with Levi in the southwest corner of Woodstock.[63] POSTSCRIPT Betsey Whitney removed to Michigan with her two sons and two daughters, as the obituary of Frances related. She and her daughter Herrit (Harriet) appear on the 1860 federal census of Ionia County, Michigan - in the township of Sebewa, contiguous to Eaton County's Roxand Township on the northwest. (See figure 1.) Both females were residents of the household of Betsey's oldest son William. Frances was not included.[64] Betsey died in Ionia on 16 June 1868, aged seventy-seven years and six months, and lies buried in the east section of Sebewa Cemetery.[65] Harriet Spencer's fate is unknown. An unclaimed letter awaited her in the Charlotte, Michigan, post office on 27 December 1865.[66] She is not enumerated with any sibling in 1870, and a death listing has not been found for her in Ionia, Eaton, or Calhoun counties.