I complained recently about not being able to locate a marriage record for Samuel Wallis indexed in Canney's Marriages of Strafford County. Well, I found it today. It's in Stackpole and Thompson's History of Durham, N.H., Vol. 1, p. 380. Curiously, the unpublished marriages, births, and deaths for Durham are in this appendix to volume 1 rather in volume 2 where all the family genealogies are located. The record is here:
There can be no doubt that this is a record for Samuel4 (William3-2) Wallis since it says the bride and groom are both of Barrington. This means that Samuel's first wife, Phebe Libby, died prior to that date. The question becomes who was Sedeny Tilley?
One can see how Canney morphed the name into Sidney. A friend of mine disagrees with me and says that it could be an 18th century name. If so, it's the first and only time I have seen it used prior to the year 1800 [for a girl]. Unfortunately, I only have this reading to go by. There is no original document to consult. Capital "S" can be misread for Capital "L." I've tried a zillion variations including writing it out long hand several times, but can't come up with anything definitive. Maybe Sabena/Sabeny? If you have any guesses or help, pleases let me know.
The next problem is the family. There are no grantee deeds for Tilley/Tille/Tilly in New Hampshire Provincial Deeds/Rockingham County Deeds 1638-1814. There is but one grantor deed 1638-1814. It is for a Samuel Tilley of Durham, collier, dated 7 June 1738 where he sells his proprietors share of Canterbury to a Prendergast of Portsmouth. His wife Jane releases dower on the deed. [NHPD 24:526]. In the 40 volumes of the New Hampshire State Papers the only two times Tilley occur is in 24:526 (Samuel Tilley as an original grantee of Canterbury) and in the will of the Prendergast who gives said land to his daughter. That's it. Nothing in the History of Durham, the Gen. Dict. of Me. and N.H., or any other source. Solely based on relative age, place, and name, one would think that Samuel and Jane are the parents of Sedeny. Talk about living under the radar. No other records whatsoever can be attributed to this couple or indeed under the name of Tille, Tilley, Tilly.
I did consider that this was a misreading of Wille/Willey because there is huge family in Durham of that name. However, how could the person read the W in Wallace correctly, but misread the W in Willey? Doesn't make sense. Is this Fille, Filly, Filley? Hard to tell. Any help with this mystery will be greatly appreciated.
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