Sarah Currey, wife of William Fellows Senior.

Question

I got some help over at geni in finding the family of Elizabeth Fellows. However, I just ran into another roadblock and I'm hoping someone here can help me out. See, I am trying to find the date of birth and death for Sarah Currey.

Sarah is Elizabeth's grandmother. Oh and it turned out Liz was once Deborah and she changed her name when she was twelve. Deborah's her middle name. Kids, man....

Anyway, I am getting off topic. All I have for Sarah is on her profile. I have her marriage and where she was married. The file on Familysearch doesn't have census data. I want to pore through that. I just dunno where to start. Would the 1820 census be a good place to start? She also went by the last name Curry, too.  I'm gonna search through the censuses on FamilySearch. Can someone out there help me out?

Answer 1

It appears that Currey was her married name, not her LNAB.

She is listed as Mrs. Sarah Currey in Vital Records of Salem, MA, Vol. III,  pg. 351.

Comments

Hmm.  Is there a way we can find out her maiden name? I might have to do a backwards search in the records for a Mr. Currey and Sarah. Will do that in a bit.

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Someone linked me this on geni. It doesn't say who Sarah is.

https://archive.org/stream/candlewoodancien00wate#page/82/mode/2up/search/%22180+william%22

It doesn't say who Sarah is. And nothing on FamilySearch gives me any idea what her maiden name was before 1815. So far.

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I believe that "Mrs." was an abbreviation for "Mistress" and could be applied to a never-married woman who had independent status or substance, especially if her father had died, or who had high status (from her family) in the community. I believe this was still true as late as 1818.  It was, of course, used also for married women and widows.  So, I'm afraid "Currey" could be either a LNAB or a married name.

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So basically Sarah could have been an independent woman living in the 1810s using the name Currey and the title Mistress? Makes sense as I can't find anything to connect her with any  Currey family in the area. Strange. She's not in any census under this name.

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She appears as Sarah Fellows in the 1860 US Census (p. 16, l. 24), age (est) 58, in North Andover:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBS3-D2G?i=15&cc=1473181

William was a shoe maker (cordwainer) and it appears at least one son (James C.) followed him in the trade and was still living in his household.

So, Sarah was born in Massachusetts (per the census) and probably ca. 1802.

William was a widower in the 1865 Massachusetts census (p. 28, l. 20) and was living with his daughter, Sarah C. Kimball, and her husband, James L. Kimball, in North Andover:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-69Y7-2Y3?i=27&cc=1410399

So, Sarah died between 1860 and June of 1865.

Added:  The 1855 Massachusetts census indicates that William was born in England and Sarah was born in Massachusetts:

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-6797-WJ9?i=2&cc=1459985

Perhaps the census taker mixed up his notes when he filled out the ledger?? Could Sarah have been born in England?  That would explain why you don't find early records of her in Massachusetts.

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That is possible. I've been checking this out for hints:
https://archive.org/stream/candlewoodancien00wate#page/78/mode/2up/search/%22180+william%22

It's been helpful as far as other people in the Fellows family goes. Think there might be something in there?

William was clearly born in Mass according to the book. No mention of Sarah, yet. Gonna dig some more.

Familysearch is telling me Isaac Fellows here was a minuteman. I'd have to look. Here's his profile:
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Fellows-533

I just adopted it and have spent the better part of the day trying to clean it up. Not an easy task when one source says Mary Merrill was his wife and another says Mary Roberts. The book says Roberts. So.....there ya go. Thanks for your help!

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Isaac Fellows of Ipswich, private in Capt. Thomas Burnham's company, marched to the Alarm of 19 Apr 1775; credited with 3 days of service:

Secretary of the Commonwealth, ‘’Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War. A Compilation from the Archives’’, Boston, MA: Wright & Potter Printing Co., State Printers, 1899, [https://archive.org/stream/massachusettssol05mass#page/594/mode/2up v. 5, p. 595.]

Isaac Fellows m. Mary Roberts 4 Sep 1764, Ipswich (intent also recorded):

Massachusetts Vital Records Project, Ipswich - Marriages, [http://ma-vitalrecords.org/MA/Essex/Ipswich/Images/Ipswich_M160.shtml p. 160] (accessed 17 Aug 2017)

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Thanks! =D  I think I cleaned up this profile okay. I just need to figure out his parents. This book helps:
https://archive.org/stream/massachusettssol05mass#page/594/mode/2up

Just trying to make sense of it. May need flowcharts.

Answer 2

According to information published by the Ipswich Historical Society: (Genealogies of William Fellows etc in: Publications of the Ipswich Historical Society, Issues 16-20, 1909, Salem, MA)

Williams Fellows son of Isaac and Joanna, is the William Fellows who married Sally P. Haskell of Gloucester. in 1823, she died in 1837.

Vital Records of Ipswich Massachusetts to the End of the Year 1849, The Essex Institute, Salem, Massachusetts, 1910

Marriage: Fellows, William, and Sally P. Haskell of Gloucester, Nov. 13, 1823. (p. 162)  Deaths:  Fellows, Sally P., w. William, June 30, 1837. [a. 45 y. PR3] (p. 533)

Their children listed in the Ipswich VR are baptisms, not births are:  Isaac, James Haskell, David Brainerd, and Winthrop

I don't know if he had a prior wife and/or if he remarried after Sally Haskell died, but his probate record indicates more children than those baptized at Ipswich..

Comments

That leads to a whole new set of problems with these profiles. It would mean that the William Fellows who married Sarah Currey in 1818, married Sally (Sarah?) P. Haskell in 1823, and another Sarah after the death of Sally in 1837. Unless we are looking at two different Williams.

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Well, here's his profile on FamilySearch with everything I could find on the guy:
https://familysearch.org/tree/person/L23R-R38/details?spouse=MNCG-X7G

There's no indication that he had another wife. At least as far as I can see. Unless someone didn't add that in. The tend to forget stuff or go overboard over there. There's like no moderation of profiles. It's kinda scary.

Someone did put in two Isaac Fellows who married either Nancy Roberts or Mary Merrill. Both have the same date of death. It's really frustrating. Had to do surgery to separate the sources as there were sources for both ladies in the same profile. Merrill must have married another Isaac because they married in NH and the book says Isaac married Roberts in Mass.

People gotta clean up profiles over there. I'm telling ya.

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I suspect they are different Williams. William and Sarah have a son, James, living with them but his middle initial is consistently C. not H. for Haskell.

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Fellows must be a really common last name. James doesn't seem to have a date of birth on his profile.

Answer 3

The estate of Williams Fellows, of Andover settled in 1867, leaving no widow, heirs as follows:

Barnard T Fellows, son, administrator of the estate, of Malden
William Fellows Jr. son,  of Haverhill,
Mary A Whidden,  daughter of South Danvers, daughter
Isaac E Fellows, son of ?Medway I think (or Newbury)  (can't make it out)
Sarah ?S. Kimball, daughter, of  North Andover
Susan R. Mears, daughter, of Reading
(illegible)  Fellows, daughter of ?? (Ben illegible) Fellows, deceased
? Laurance and Martha Shattuck, daughter of Martha Shattuck

Providing bond: Barnard T of Malden, Isaac E of Medway, George A Kimball of S. Danvers

Requires subscription: https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/essex-county-ma-probate-file-papers-1638-1881/image/?pageName=38870:10&volumeId=14208&rId=37619446

Essex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1638-1881 Case 38870, p. 10

 

Comments

From the names/baptisms in the Ipswich VR- children of William Fellows and Sally P(otter) Haskell   -  Isaac, James Haskell, David Brainerd, and Winthrop, and the names of the children listed in his probate records - it would seem, these are not the same William.