The mystery of LaFayette Lamb's wife

Question

Censuses list her name as Elise, while other sources name her Zilpha/Zelphia(with about a gazillion variant spellings), and sound claim her maiden name was Ellison, others Peterson. Can anyone help sort her and her background out?

Edited: just created a profile for her, though it's still a work in progress

Comments

Hi Kae-Leah!  Is this the right Lafayette Lamb? https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Lamb-9131

I know i'm not answering your question, but it helps to have a profile to see what is already known and as a collection point for what else might come up now that you've asked about him - or more specifically about his wife, who doesn't have a profile yet, if i'm on the right branch of the tree.

Cheers

Shirlea

---

Yes it is. I'm actually the one who created and sourced that profile.

---

That's great!  A very helpful functionality that WikiTree has: linking the question with the pertinent profile.  You can still edit your question to do it.  There is a field down at the bottom of the question form, right near where you 'tagged' your question with the surnames.  If you put a Wiki ID in that field, it makes a two-way connection between the question (and thus all answers) and the profile.

That makes a very good starting point for any of us who would like to help answer your question.  Otherwise, we often spend time re-doing research that has already been done, at the expense of research that could answer the question.

Cheers

Shirlea

Answer 1

Some questionable sources claim this FamilySearch profile is his wife, with Ellison being her first husband. Zylpha Ann Peterson (1835–1909) | Person | Family Tree | FamilySearch

Do you guys think that's true?

Comments

I don't see where the Peterson name comes into it.  I see the young widow with two very young sons marrying older tailor Daniel Wager.  Then later she marries A G Seavey.  It is possible that later she married again to a Peterson, but it seems clear that her maiden name was Ellison.

EDITTED TO ADD: It seems Peterson was a subsequent marriage for Zylphia

---

This Family Search profile says Zylpha A Peterson married an Ellison

---

it is entirely possible that somewhere someone called Zylphia Peterson married a Mr Ellison.  However, the widow of your Lafayette Lamb was originally an Ellison according to her own affadavit.  I uploaded it to Lafayette's profile.  Have you had a change to look at it?

And then, by looking at the census and marriage records, we can see that she married again to Wager and to Seavey.  Do you have an Ancestry subscription?   I will give you links to the source docs if you would find that useful.  If you want to  start a profile for Zylphia Ellison, i could put the links there.

---

No, I don't have an Ancestry subscription. I just looked at the affadavit, thanks for sharing.

---

If you can make the lady a profile, i will do what i can to get non-paywalled links to the documented events in Zylphia's life.

---

Thanks! I do want to create a profile for her indeed, and I'm especially interested in seeing if I trace her line back farther before her, so any info on her parents' names and such is especially appreciated.

Answer 2

An affadavit exists, signed by the widowed Zylphia in April 1862, stating that she was enclosing her cert of marriage with Lafayette Lamb, attesting to the data on it, and stating that her maiden name was Zylphia A Ellison.  Then she signs it herself.  

I will put the pdf up temporarily on Lafayette's profile just so you can see it, but i don't know for sure about the copyright aspects.  

Cheers

Shirlea

Answer 3

I've added a few sources to the profile.  Most interesting are the images of the affidavits.  Descendants might find it worth a Fold.com subscription.  

Glancing through the affidavits, i see that a Mrs J J Overaker (something like that) is said to be the aunt of Zylphia.  Determining just how Mrs JJ is the aunt of Zylphia might be a key to confirming Zylphia's parents.

Answer 4

I found a Job Judson Overacker on FamilySearch with two kids named Zylpha and Lafayette, and his wife Phoebe Abigail Odell was born about 1834 in Lucas, OH. 

Phoebe Abigail Odell (1834–Deceased) | Person | Family Tree | FamilySearch

Answer 5

Hi,

My  2nd great grandfather, Charles J Lamb 1810-1853, was from New York and I am hoping that we can make a connection to your LaFayette Lamb  family.  Charles Lamb in my brick wall and we would LOVE to find a connection.  Here is the story that we has been handed down ....

My grandfather is Arthur T Lamb 1876-1952.  He was born and died in Lafayette, Chambers County, Alabama.  His grandfather (my 2d great grandfather), Charles J Lamb 1810-1853 is where our knowledge of the Lamb family ends.   Charles was born in New York and died in Chambers Co, Alabama.  We know he lived for a while in Newberry, South Carolina where he met his future wife, Elizabeth McKee 1815-1877.  They were married in Chambers Co, Alabama on 11 Oct 1840.  The story that was passed down to us says that Charles Lamb was a young son who tried to avenge his father's murder in New York. His mother sent young Charles south to South Carolina and he was only to send her a handkerchief back to let her know he was safe.  They were afraid the authorities would come after young Charles and wanted to keep his location a secret.  There the story goes COLD and we have never been able to connect to our LAMB family.  We don't know if he was sent to live with relatives in SC or why South Carolina was chosen.

I would love to hear from you to see if we could possibly connect our Lamb families.  Have you had your DNA analyzed?  If so, maybe we can compare DNA.... my DNA was tested through FTDNA and is also listed on GEDMATCH, MyHeritage, and FTDNA.  My e-mail is dx_payne@hotmail.com  I am looking forward to hearing from anyone who might have clues for my LAMB family.  Thank you,

Dianne

Comments

It is usually not a good idea to publicly give out your email address.  Send her a private message on her own profile
and remove it from here.

---

Thanks

Answer 6

Anyone with an ancestry subscription click on Phebe Odell here, and tell what info it says about her, with what sources linked? 

Emery R Overacker 1858-1940 - Ancestry®

Comments

I suggest you start this as a whole new question.  The other is about a different name and seems to have been answered  with eight answers.  A new name and fresh question will get you better coverage.