The Slovak Yankee

George Wallis ca. 1619-1685 of Portsmouth, New Hampshire

This is the second family on which I can safely say I am an expert (the others being the Pinkhams and Yeatons).  Before I pulled the plug on this blog five years ago, I had posted the entire genealogy of this family for five or six generations.  I still have that information.  I haven't published it yet, because, no one reads articles anymore.  And it's a ton of work to write a genealogical article for free.

1. George Wallis was born about 1619 and died 14 December 1685 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He married say 1647 Eleanor (---) who died after July 1690.  He is first seen at Rumney Marsh (Chelsea) Massachusetts owning land there in 1656.  He is not the son of Roger Wallis as is seen so often on the Internet.  His origins are unknown.  George had six children: William, Eleanor, George, Margaret, Honor, and Caleb.

2. William Wallis was born about 1648 and died after February 1723 at New Castle, New Hampshire.  He married at Little Harbor, New Hampshire on 15 December 1673 Jane Drake, born about 1653, died before February 1723, daughter of Nathaniel and Jane (---) Drake.  William and Jane had four children: Jane, Samuel, Sarah, and William.

3. William Wallis (Jr.) was born about 1690 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire and died June 1772 at Greenland, New Hampshire.  He married about 1714, Martha (---), born about 1694 and died before 1772.  William and Martha had eight children: Samuel, Jane, Joseph, Nathaniel, Nathaniel, Martha, William, and Abigail.

4. Samuel Wallis, born about 1715 at Greenland, New Hampshire, died before 1 January 1793 at Barrington, New Hampshire.  He married first on 23 June 1737 at Greenland, Phebe Libby, born 15 April 1720 at Portsmouth, New Hampshire and died before 1754 at Barrington, daughter of Abraham and Sabina (Philbrick) Libby.  Samuel married secondly at Durham, New Hampshire on 7 February 1755, Sedeney Tilley, daughter of Samuel and Jane Tilley of Durham.  Samuel and Phebe had five children: Sarah, Joseph, Abraham, Nathaniel, and Martha.

5. Nathaniel Wallis born about 1746 at Greenland, New Hampshire, and died after 1830 at Moultonborough, New Hampshire.  He married about 1771, Deborah (---) born about 1750 at Kittery, Maine and died after 1830.  Nathaniel and Deborah had nine children: Samuel, Elizabeth, Meribah, Nathaniel, Joseph, John, Jacob, Isaac, and Deborah.

6. Joseph Wallace born May 1781 at Epsom, New Hampshire, died 11 June 1861 at Haverhill, Massachusetts.  He married on 4 September 1808 at Moultonborough, New Hampshire, Rebecca York, born April 1785 at New Durham, New Hampshire, and died April 1860 at Haverhill, Massachusetts, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca (Coffin) York.  Joseph and Rebecca had six children: Deborah, Mary Chamberlain, Joseph, Rebecca, Daniel R., and Nathaniel A.

7. Mary Chamberlain Wallace born about 1814 at Moultonborough, New Hampshire, died 22 January 1866 at New Durham, New Hampshire.  She married as his second wife, 27 April 1840 at New Durham, Luther Hale Pinkham, born 16 June 1815 at Alton, New Hampshire, died 27 October 1873 at Milton, New Hampshire, son of Jonathan and Alice (Runnels) Pinkham.  Mary and Luther had seven sons, Charles Luther, George Hale, Edwin Nathaniel, Horace Jonathan, Seth Taylor, unnamed, and Isaac Dearborn.

Sources:

Genealogical Dictionary of ME and NH by Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis (Portland, 1939, reprinted Baltimore, 1988), p. 715-17.

Boston Transcript for June 10, 1907 #992.

Some Early Settlers of Epsom, NH by J.M. Moses.

A Genealogy of Runnels and Reynolds Families in America; with Records and Brief Memorials of the Earliest Ancestors, so far as known by Rev. Moses Thurston Runnels (Boston, 1873).

The Pinkhams of Strafford County, New Hampshire, by Martin E. Hollick, New Hampshire Genealogical Record 23 (2006):27-76.

 

Deborah (---) Wallace Update: Hail Mary #3

The main reason to get the Rochester, N.H. vital records was to find the death record of Deborah's youngest daughter Deborah Wallace who married John Whipple at Moultonborough on 30 April 1815.  She is living with her son John at Rochester in the 1860 census [11 July 1860, Family #544], aged 69, born in New Hampshire.  She is not listed with them in the 1870 census.  Either her death was unrecorded in the Rochester VRs, or she died between 1862 and 1870 when there is a gap.  Her death does not appear in the state wide death records to 1900.  I even double checked the Mass. state deaths and she isn't there either. 

John and Deborah (Wallis) Whipple's 1830 census entry shows a boy under 5, two boys 10-15, and one man between 40 an 50; one girl under 5 and one female aged between 30 and 40.  By the 1850 census the two children at home are John Whipple (Jr.) and Mary B. Whipple.  So there are two sons that are unaccounted for.  John (Sr.) dies between 1850 and 1860.  

John Whipple (Jr.) is in the 1860, 1870, and 1880 censuses at Rochester, N.H. and died there on 8 August 1894, noted as born in Moultonborough, son of John Whipple and Deborah Wallace.  [Rochester VRs, FHL #2367726 Item 4, deaths 1880-1900].  Mary B. Whipple seems to be the same as the woman who married John S. Blaisdell at Rochester on 5 December 1865 [same source, item #3, which only gives groom and bride without parents].  They seem more elusive in the following censuses in 1870 and 1880.  

In any case, this is the last child for Deborah (---) Wallace that I can check.  None of her other children have extant death records or death records that list her maiden name.

Children:

1. Samuel Wallis, died 27 April 1823, Wheelock, VT, death date from a family Bible record.
2. Elizabeth Wallis Drew died 26 June 1870 at Holderness, N.H.
3. Meribah Wallis, died after 1850 (listed in the poor house at Moultonborough, aged 75)
4. Nathaniel Wallis, died after 7 November 1848 when he deeds land, and the 1850 census at Ossipee, N.H.
5. Joseph Wallis, died 11 June 1861 at Haverhill, Mass., lists parents as Nathaniel and Deborah Wallace
6. John Wallis, died Sept. 1845, at Concord, N.H., death date from gravestone.
7. Jacob Wallis, died after 1820 when he abandoned his family.
8. Isaac Wallis, died 8 February 1872, New Durham, N.H. [Record of the Baptisms, Marriages and Funerals from the Note Books of Rev. David Leighton Edgerly 1818-1891 of New Durham, NH copied by Edwin L. Edgerly (typescript at NEHGS)].
9. Deborah Wallis Whipple, died between 1860 and 1870 (more likely between 1862 and 1870), Rochester, N.H.

This doesn't mean the search is completely over.  The next stop must be court records in Rockingham County, N.H. Other possibilities include: poor house records of Moultonborough (if extant) and church records, although burial records seldom list parents.

Wallis Family Cleanup

Just some minor changes.  I thought the blog pages on the right were too cluttered, so I collapsed the Wallis family pages into two larger pages, one for each of Samuel³ and William³.   I also combined the two Dudley pages as well.  All the same information is there.  I've added nothing on either page.  However, if you've hyperlinked to a specific page, you may need to update your link.

Thanks. 

Someday I will add the next Wallis generation.  I have not abandoned that idea at all.  It's just been put off for now.

Deborah (---) Wallace Update: Hail Mary #2

I had such luck with finding Joseph Wallace's death certificate, I thought I would try two more of his siblings, hoping that one such death record would have their mother's maiden name.  I ordered the Ossipee and Holderness Vital Records on microfilm to check the death information on Elizabeth (Wallace) Drew and Nathaniel Wallace.  Strike two.

Nathaniel Wallace, born in 1778 is alive on 7 November 1848 when he deeds land as a resident of Ossipee.  He doesn't appear in the 1850 U.S. census anywhere, nor in the Mass. Death Indexes.  Sadly, the Ossipee Vital Records start in 1851 and are sparse to 1857, then from 1858 they are pretty good.  Nathaniel didn't appear.  He likely died between 1848 and 1850. [I will interject here that I've tried on numerous occasions to use the mortality schedules of the U.S. census 1850-1880 and have never found someone in it.  I know for a fact from a burial record Rebecca (York) Wallace should be in the 1860 one and isn't.]

Elizabeth (Wallace) Drew died at Holderness on 26 June 1870.   That date comes from a town history.  Wouldn't you know that the Holderness Vital Records [which the Mormons falsely advertise as 1855-1915 on their catalog] has a gap between 1868 and 1875?! Genealogy can be frustrating, but does it have to be cruel?  I mean that's just nasty.  And yes, Elizabeth Drew also doesn't appear in the mortality schedule of 1870.  Not that that would have any good information anyway.

Two more chances coming up: Rochester, N.H. Vital Records for the third sibling, Deborah (Wallace) Whipple, and then court records. Isn't the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and hoping for a different outcome?

Monday Madness: (Edwin) Nathaniel (Edwin) Pinkham 1846-1907

In my ongoing efforts in the ancestry of Mary Chamberlain Wallace 1814-1866, wife of Luther Hale Pinhkam, and probable daughter of Joseph and Rebecca (York) Wallace, I stumbled across this posting I made in 2001.  It is like a prototype for Monday Madness but posted long before this type of blogging existed.  First I was struck by the fact that I've been pursuing this for such a long time. I certainly know more than I did then.  However, the mystery of Edwin Nathaniel or Nathaniel Edwin has never been solved.  I'm not sure the initial poster ever contacted me regarding this.  I certainly don't remember any interaction or conversation (and nothing is my files).  There is now one error in the posting.  I wrote that when Charles Luther Pinkham died in 1903, his obituary listed that he was survived by one brother.  I now know he was survived by two, the other being Seth Taylor Pinkham 1852-1919 whose death record I finally found in Tewksbury, Mass. [Massachusetts Death Records for 1919, 101:344].  So, this just adds to the muddle of information and discrepancies. 

Sandwich, N.H. Vital Records

I'm almost always excited when I get a film from the Family History Library.  I was quite disappointed in the Sandwich, New Hampshire Vital Records. Family History Library film #2392524, is births 1774-1900; marriages 1778-1947; and deaths 1845-1914. However, what it really is, is the microfilm copy of unordered pages of certificates. The records are not in alphabetical or chronological order. They are not even in birth/marriage/death order. It looks like someone took a draw; emptied it on a desk and starting filming the contents in whatever order they chose.

Now, one can always wade through the contents of the entire microfilm, but I chose not to.  Not even for the Wallis/Wallace family.  Maybe some other time, when I have an insane amount of time.  P.S. New Hampshire certificates all look like this.  This was what was on the microfilm--hundreds of these certificates.

Tombstone Tuesday: Joseph and Rebecca (York) Wallace

From the Lowell Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts.  Obviously this a modern stone, most likely placed in 1960 for Ethel C. Warren.  There's no way to know if there were gravestones that were original for other family members that no longer exist, or whether there never were.  Joseph Wallace 1781-1861 was married to Rebecca York 1785-1860; their son Daniel R. Wallace 1823-1908 married to Almira Martin 1829-1903; their young son Charles S. Wallace 1855-1857; their daughter Myra J. Wallace 1852-1950 married George J. Warren 1854-1932; their daughter Ethel C. Warren 1881-1960.  There are still three empty lots here and the very nice administrator said, as an heir, I could be buried there.  She even gave me a copy of the deed dated 14 September 1857 to Daniel R. Wallace who obviously purchased it for his young son.  There are four generations buried here.  

Josiah Berry ca. 1712-1791 of Kittery, Maine

Josiah BERRY was born ca. 1712 at Kittery, the son of George and Deliverance (Haley) Berry.  George and Deliverance were supposedly married at Hampton, N.H. on 1 January 1702 [Sanborn &  Sanborn, Vital Records of Hampton, N.H. to the End of the Year 1900, I:57 as "George Berry and Deliverance Healey"].  George and Deliverance owned the covenant and were baptized at the first church of Kittery on 20 June 1719 [Parish Records of the First Church & Society of Kittery, Maine 1714-1791, reprinted at NEHGR 151 (1997), various pages, p. 223]. Their family appears in Stackpole's Old Families of Kittery, Maine.  The births of their children do not appear in either church or town records.  George is apparently alive up to the 1730s in various records, but leaves no probate papers.

Josiah was a caulker by trade. [A caulker literally caulked ships, and Kittery was a ship building town].  He married with intentions given on 20 December 1740 [Vital Records of Kittery, Maine To the Year 1892, ed. Joseph C. Anderson II and Lois Ware Thurston (Camden, Me.: Picton Press, 1991), hereinafter Kittery VRS, p. 103] to Mary HIDDEN, the daughter of John Hidden baptized 22 May 1720 at Kittery [NEHGR 151:224].  Josiah has six children baptized in Kittery between 1741 and 1763.  There are no grantee deeds for Josiah at York County.  He must be living at Kittery in the 1790 census, but his name is mis-indexed as Josiah Brier.  We can establish that by triangulating his neighbors in the census with those in his only deed.  He clearly describes his land as abutting Samuel Smallcorn and then Elihu Weeks.  Those are the two preceding names to Josiah Brier in the census.  The household of Josiah "Brier" consisted of two males over 16 and three females.

On 10 June 1791, Josiah, caulker of Kittery sold to William Berry, mariner of Kittery his land in Kittery for life support.  No wife is mentioned (although she was alive).  His lot in Kittery Point is clearly described and Josiah takes care to give the land to William and his heirs and no other of Josiah heirs. [York County Deeds 54:130--is this just legal boilerplate or proof that Josiah indeed had other heirs?].  This deed is recorded on 7 December 1791.  Josiah died in December 1791 according to his probate papers [York County Probate #1070].  On 21 May 1792, Mary Berry, widow declines administration of the estate due to old age and infirmity.  William Berry, mariner acts as administrator.  The estate is valued at £17-1-7 and costs were evaluated conveniently enough at £17-1-7 including £5-14-10 to the widow on 16 September 1793. [John Eldridge Frost, Maine Probate Abstracts 1775-1800, Volume 2 (Camden, Me.: Picton Press, 1991), pp. 1021, 1054, although only page 1021 is indexed for Josiah. I also found his abstracts for this family poor and don't include the widow's name Mary or Josiah's death date, both of which are given in the original records. You see when a family flies under the radar, they seem to be maligned and done in for all eternity.]

The Berry family of N.H. was thoroughly researched by June Berry of Kearns, Utah in manuscript form available at the Family History Library and NEHGS (among other places).  I already descend from this family and was aware of this work.  She gives nothing more than I do (and quite frankly less--no deeds or probate).  

Children of Josiah and Mary (Hidden) BERRY, all born in Kittery:

i. William, baptized 24 October 1741 as son of John (sic); dies before 1763. [NEHGR 151:359]

ii. Mary, bapt. 18 December 1743 [NEHGR 151:360] No further records unless she is one of the three females living in the household of her father in 1790.

iii. Deborah, bapt. 8 December 1745 [NEHGR 151:363].  The possible wife of Nathaniel Wallis of Greenland, Epsom and Moultonborough, N.H.

iv. John, bapt. 22 June 1755 [NEHGR 151:446].  No further records.

v. Josiah, bapt. 10 October 1756 [NEHGR 151:447].  No further records.

vi. William, bapt. 9 October 1763 [NEHGR 151:448]. Clearly the mariner of Kittery who administered his father's estate and gained his house lot in Kittery [York Deeds cited above].  He is likely the other man over 16 in his father's household in the 1790 census.  He married at Kittery with intentions dated 21 September 1793, Elizabeth FERNALD, daughter of Tobias and Lucy (Lewis) Fernald. [Kittery VRs, p. 251].  William died at sea shortly before 30 May 1795 as the newspaper Oracle of the Day of that date printed the death of  " Mr. William Berry, [mate] of Kittery."  He left no probate papers.  He left no deeds.  It is unknown if he had children.  His widow remarried with intentions dated 2 December 1797 ["Rolof Nelson & Betty Berry] Ralph NELSON. [Kittery VRs, p. 254].  She remarried a third time with intentions dated 24 November 1806 to Edmund S. WEEKS [Kittery VRs, p. 263].  No grantor deeds exist for Elizabeth/Betty/Betsey Berry/Nelson/Weeks at all.  She supposedly outlived her last husband and died on 12 March 1842.  If so, she left no will.

Following the land of Josiah is frustrating.  He gave the land to his son William in 1791.  William died in 1795.  His widow would only be entitled to one-third of the land and only until she remarried which she did in 1797.  Unless she had a child by William, the land would have reverted to the other children of Josiah Berry or their heirs.  However, no land transactions seem to show this.  As few as the records of this family appear to be, there are even fewer and worse records for the family of John Hidden of Kittery, the father of Mary.  

Deborah (---) Wallace Update: Hail Mary #1

I had a very wonderful day today despite the fact that I'm no closer to finding proof of Deborah's identity.  I drove to Haverhill where the town clerk staff were great to me.  I saw the town record for Joseph Wallace, but again it just had his parents as Nathaniel and Deborah:

However, it did have two different pieces of information from the state-level certificate (which by coincidence arrived today from the Mass. State Archives).  It had place of internment: Lowell and informant: Cyrus Towns (son-in-law).  So the information is from him and he lived with Joseph for 11 years at least (they are together in the 1850 census).  

The Lowell information was interesting.  I was then on the phone to the Lowell Cemetery Association which kindly looked up Joseph for me over the phone.  No listing.  But they have all cemeteries but one, a private one: Lowell Cemetery which started in 1841.  A quick call to them and there he was.  The very wonderful woman there said she'd hang out for me and I drove down to Lowell.  She had already made me copies of the burial records and lot plan!  I mean, wow.  And, of course, Rebecca (York) Wallace is buried there. She died April 1860.  Pictures will appear next Tuesday.

Interestingly, I came home and there is no other record of Rebecca's death.  She is not in the mortality schedules of the 1860 U.S. census or in the Mass. VRs from 1841-1910.  Go figure. The above image is the second page of Joseph Wallace's death record and my photography is spot on.  Not so, for the first page below:

 

Was Deborah Berry the Wife of Nathaniel Wallis?

Almost a year ago, I posted a message about, what I considered, my worst brick wall.  It was about the wife of Nathaniel⁵ (Samuel⁴ William^3-2 George¹) Wallis of Greenland, Epsom and Moultonborough, N.H.  Unlike some other stuck places in my ancestry, I had no leads on her whatsoever.  Judging by the time frame and the work I had done to date, I was sure that it was impossible to track her down.

As I've mentioned I discovered the death certificate of one of her children.  Massachusetts death records start ca. 1850 and can give a wealth of information including parents' names and places of birth.  This certificate from Haverhill dated 11 June 1861 [Massachusetts Deaths for 1861, 147:198] shows that Joseph was a widower, farmer, aged 80, born in Epsom, with a father named Nathaniel Wallace born in Greenland, N.H. and a mother named Deborah (---) born in Kittery, Maine.  In a perfect world, her maiden name would have been given, but as I look at all the entries on that page, none of the maiden names of the mothers are given.  The question must have been: Parents names?  Answer: Nathaniel and Deborah.  Done.

However, this was new and important information.  The accuracy of death certificates always have to be questioned since the decedent is not the person filling out the information.  However, the birth place of Joseph as Epsom is correct and the birth place of his father Nathaniel as Greenland is correct.  We have the baptism of Nathaniel in Greenland in 1746 to back this up.  It, therefore, seems quite probable that Deborah's birth place was also correct.  How to find her is now the problem.  The only other piece of information we have on Deborah is her relative age.  In the 1830 census she is given (unnamed of course) as aged 80 to 90.  So is her husband.  If accurate, she was born 1740-1750.  Her children are born from 1772 (eldest) to 1792 (youngest).  The 1772 date of Samuel Wallis is from his Bible record as reprinted at NEHGR 67 (1913):271-2.  The 1792 is based on Deborah (Wallis) Whipple's ages in the 1850 and 1860 censuses.  So, if a very young 16 at marriage in 1771, she was born ca. 1755.  If a very old 50 when she gave birth last in 1792, she was born ca. 1742.  Given all these parameters, you can set her probable birth between 1742 and 1750.

Using my new "imperfect" system of culling available females from Ancestry. com, I looked at all females named Deborah born between 1742 and 1754 in Kittery, Maine.  There is only one that is not given a husband.  She is Deborah Berry, baptized at Kittery on 8 December 1745, the daughter of Josiah⁴ (George³ James² William¹) and Mary (Hidden) Berry.  On the surface, this seemed like a good match.  It would mean that Nathaniel and Deborah were third cousins through the Wallis family [the wife of James² Berry was Eleanor Wallis].  The Berrys had family ties to Greenland as well.  She was the right age and born in the right place.  All in all, she was a worthwhile candidate to explore.

Sadly, I can find no evidence to either prove or disprove this relationship.  Indeed, I have found almost nothing on this family.  Using basic genealogical records, there is nothing: no vital records, church records, land records, probate records, etc. In a separate posting, I will explore what is known of Josiah Berry.  For now, the pros and cons are these:

Pros:

• We know Deborah was born in Kittery sometime between 1742 and 1750.  Deborah Berry was baptized at Kittery on 8 December 1745.  She would be about 25 at marriage; 26 at the birth of her first child and 46 at the birth of her last child.  In the 1830 census she would be 84.
• There is no husband given for Deborah.
• There are no records for the family of Josiah beyond the baptisms of his children.  He was poor and his estate when administered in 1792 was worth only 17 pounds (and change).  Therefore, whatever he would have given a daughter was done so during his lifetime.
• The two families would have known each other.

Cons:

• There is no marriage record for Nathaniel and Deborah.  None in Kittery Vital Records or in the Late Returns for York County, Maine.  None in neighboring Berwick, York, or Wells.  None in Portsmouth, Greenland, or Rye, N.H.  Barrington, N.H. marriages start in 1777 and therefore, are, as always, worse than useless. 
• Nathaniel and Deborah don't name any children Josiah or Mary.  On the other they also don't name a daughter Phebe, Nathaniel's known mother.  They name their daughters Elizabeth, Meribah, and Deborah.
• Neither Nathaniel nor any of his children use familial middle names that might support this conclusion such as Berry, Hidden, Haley or Crockett.
• There are no grantor or grantee deeds for Nathaniel or Deborah Wallis in York County, Maine, quitclaiming land.

On the one hand the lack of evidence makes this identification seem unlikely.  And yet, it is precisely that lack of evidence which has me convinced that the identification is true.  If a marriage record existed, someone long before me would have pieced this together.  In other words, if the "easy" evidence of genealogy were extant, we wouldn't be having this discussion.  If Josiah Berry left a will, even if in York Co., Maine, naming a daughter Deborah Wallis, someone would have written this up long ago.  The fact is the Berry family of Kittery is a poor family that lived well under the radar, leaving very few records at all.  The only reason to make this identification is the tie-in between a baptism in Kittery and a death record 120 years later two states over.  No one has ever put those two records together before.

I have a few research choices left, but they are "hail Mary passes."  

• I can check the death record at Haverhill to see if a maiden name was given that was left off the state record
• I can check the death records of Nathaniel Wallis in Ossipee, N.H. and his sister Elizabeth (Wallis) Drew in Holderness, N.H.  Neither appear in the state level N.H. death records.  Perhaps the records exist on a town level.
• Court records for York County, Maine.  They are online (indexed) only to 1740.  They exist in manuscript form at the NEHGS library from 1729-1792.  From 1792 onwards, I would have to go either the Maine State Archives or the York County Court House.
• Court records from either Rockingham or Strafford, N.H. counties.

Sadly, I know these are the last chances.   I have checked everything else including newspaper records.