Can anyone help with my Stafford brick wall?

Question

One of my most persistent brick walls has been my 4x great grandmother Sebrina (Stafford) Hastings, b. abt. 1800, d. 1880 in Sutton, Vermont, USA.  I have been unable to find any information on her life prior to her 1820 marriage to Ambrose Hastings.

I would love to be able to find her parents, or any other information about her family.  Can anybody help?

Comments

On Ancestry.com there are two men named Stafford with children born in the 1800s in Vermont. There is a John Stafford married to a Ruth Stafford and there is a Stukeley Stafford also married to a Ruth. Wait there's also a Thomas Stafford having kids around that time.

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Thanks Betty.  I have seen these families and started adding them to WikiTree as well, but I haven't found anything connecting Sebrina to any one of these families yet.  However, I do know that at least Stukely seems to have had more children than appear in the birth records I can locate.

Answer 1

I think I am finally on to something:

The Thomas Stafford who lived in Springfield, Vermont had two known children, Clarissa and Stephen. These births were recorded in 1795, leaving the potential for later children.  In fact, the 1800 census shows a household of 1 male < 10 years old , 1 male 16-26, 1 male 45+ , 3 females < 10, 1 female 10-16, and 1 female 26-45.

Clarissa married one Lawson Bruce and lived in neighboring Chester, Vermont.  In 1870, there was a 77 year old Ambrose (no surname shown, presumed Bruce by the transcriber) living in the same household as Clarissa.  I cannot find another record for a matching Ambrose Bruce. Sebrina's 77 year old husband Ambrose Hastings was missing from the 1870 census.  This seems like too much of a coincidence for them not to be the same person.

Taking a step further, were Clarissa and Sebrina sisters, making Thomas Sebrina's father?