Ancestor Unbirthday - abt 1785 - Seth Hayes

Seth Hayes was my 3rd gt-grandfather. I am uncertain about his date of birth, but when he filed for his Oregon donation land claim, he used 1785 and on the 1850 census for Locust Grove Township in Jefferson County Iowa his age was listed as 64 which would be an about 1785 birthdate. The 1830 census in Burton, Geauga County, Ohio showed Seth as between 40 and 50 so this fits a 1785 birthdate.

Where was Seth born? In his Oregon donation land claim papers Seth listed New York. On the 1850 census it showed his birthplace as New Hampshire. This was the same place that his wife was born, so maybe this caused an incorrect entry. A Hayes family history manuscript listed his birthplace as New York State, probably Stephantown, Albany County.

The same family history stated that his parents were Pliny and Priscilla (Whipple) Hayes. A county history for Geauga County Ohio said that Seth moved there in 1800 with his uncle, also named Seth Hayes, and his sister Hannah. Then Seth and his brother Ebenezer went back east in 1810 and brought their mother to Geauga County. The county history gives this notation about his father: "1st elopement in the Hayes family was her husband, Plynn Hayes, who prior to 1800, run off with a woman into the wilds of Pennsylvania."

While Seth was living in Geauga County, he enlisted in Captain Parkers Company of the Ohio Militia and served in the War of 1812. About 40 years later he received 40 acres of bounty land in Iowa.

He married Lydia Jewett, the daughter of Joseph and Huldah (Fenton) Jewett, 17 Dec 1818 in Geauga County. They lived in Burton township where 7 children were born: Huldah (died at age 3) Hannah, Lydia Louisa, Seth Whipple, Huldah (2nd child named Huldah and my 2nd gt-grandmother) Ebenezer and Sybil Ann. Before 1837 the family moved to Indiana where their youngest child, Priscilla, was born. The family moved to Jefferson County Iowa by 1840 and in 1853 the family left Iowa and traveled over the Oregon Trail to settle in Linn County Oregon in the area that later became the city of Halsey.

The 1860 US Census mortality schedule showed that Seth died in April of 1860 in Linn County Oregon. It listed his birthplace as Massachusetts (which was the probable birthplace of his father) and his age as 74, which again is a birthdate of about 1785.

One of the problems in researching Seth is that his gt-granddaughter. Ruby (Hayes) Standish, gave a WPA interview in 1940 and she gave incorrect information about the wives names, assigning Seth's mother as his wife and assigning Seth's wife to his son. Since these interviews have been published online it can be confusing to researchers. So we always need to verify information given in an oral history.

Ancestor Birthday - March 24th - Joseph Jewett 1765 - c1837

This is the day, March 24th, to celebrate the birthday of my 4th great-grandfather, Joseph Jewett. This Joseph Jewett had a 2nd great-grandfather also named Joseph Jewett, who was my 8th great-grandfather. Today's Joseph was born in 1765 in Hopkinton, New Hampshire to John and Hannah Jewett. When he was about 20, the family moved about 95 miles north to Lisbon.

A 1914 family history notes that Joseph was mentioned in the town records of Lisbon. Among these were that in 1785 his sheep mark was registered: "Hole in the left ear," and then in 1795 he was the chairman of a town meeting.

It was 10 Aug 1789 when he married Huldah Fenton from Landaff the next town to the south. They may have lived close to the line since he was recorded as of Landaff when he signed a petition for road in 1798. There are at least five children recorded at Lisbon from 1791 to 1802.

The family history lists a sixth child in Lisbon then goes on to say that the family moved to New York about 1805 and two more children were born there. Then it was about 1818 when Joseph moved to Mentor in Geauga (now Lake) County, Ohio, where he probably died around 1837.

I have some questions about the names of Joseph's children, so plan to write about that next week.

Consider the Names of Lydia and Seth's Children

Naming Baby

Since Seth and Lydia (Jewett) Hayes had their first child almost 200 years ago (1820) we can't know why they gave their children the names they did. However, we can look at their family trees and make some educated guesses as to who they honored when they named their children.

1. Huldah -- Lydia's mother was Huldah (Fenton) Jewett. Since they reused this name with child No. 5, it seems it was an important name to her.

2. Hannah -- Lydia's grandmother was Hannah (unknown) Jewett. Lydia also had a sister named Hannah and Seth also had a sister named Hannah.

3. Lydia Louisa -- Of course the Lydia is for Lydia herself and Louisa was her sister.

4. Seth Whipple -- Seth would be for Seth and Whipple is the surname of Seth's mother.

5. Huldah -- See No. 1.

6. Ebenezer -- Seth had a brother Ebenezer Hayes. He also had an uncle Ebenezer Whipple.

7. Sybil Ann -- Seth had a sister Sybil Hayes and his grandmother was Ann (Hough) Whipple.

8. Priscilla -- Seth's mother was Priscilla (Whipple) Hayes.

So it appears that Lydia named No 1, 2, 3 and 5 and Seth named 4, 6, 7 and 8. I enjoy finding a family where most of the names come from family connections. However it does make it more difficult sometimes to be sure you have identified the correct individual.

Ancestor Birthday - February 21st - Lydia Jewett 1793-1864

I find it interesting that my 3rd great-grandmother, Lydia (Jewett) Hayes lived nearly at the same time as my 4th great-grandmother, Nancy (Patton) Milligan who I wrote about a few days ago. This means we can't always predict how many generations will be within a certain number of years.

Lydia has also been very interesting to me because of where she lived. She was born in New Hampshire to Joseph and Huldah (Fenton) Jewett, married Seth Hayes in Ohio, moved to Indiana, then Iowa, and crossed the plains to Oregon where she died. Within her 71 years she traveled from coast to coast without the benefit of airplanes, trains or automobiles.

In 2015 I used an airplane to get to the East Coast and then traveled by motorcoach for a tour of New England. The tour materials told me that we would visit New Hampshire, but they didn't let me know that we would drive through the "town" of Lisbon. I was really excited to see the type of geography where my ancestor had been born. I wrote in my trip journal, "in a valley, harvested fields, ponds and marshy areas."

posted 21 Feb 2017