The parents of Joseph Felker 1760-1853

Question

Today I added the parents of Elias Felker and they were Joseph Felker and Sarah Spurlin. No sooner did I add those people in as parents did I get hints on Ancestry. Ancestry said that the supposed parents for Joseph were Michael Mica Felker and Abigail Swain.

I think those are the right parents. I was wondering what sources there were so that I can confirm them and possibly Joseph's wife Sarah's father. His name was Joseph Spurlin according to Ancestry.com.

I don't want to list Ancestry trees as sources for those three. Can someone help me find good legit sources with info about the people? They are on FS, but, those are legacy sources. Whatever those are. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks!

Here are the basics I found:

Michael Mica Felker: 1720 Germany- 1814 Barrington, NH

Nothing for Abigail Swain.

Just looking for sources. I think I might have found something: http://www.nh-roots.org/index.php/counties/strafford-county/39-vital-records-strafford-nh

Answer 1

http://www.nh.searchroots.com/documents/Straff_Barrington.pdf  Both Swain and Felker are on this list so it at least shows families of that name are living in the area.  

http://www.dover.nh.gov/government/city-operations/library/history/Heritage-Walking-Tours/1990-heritage-walking-tour-.html  this shows a joint real estate issue between Felker and Swain families  http://www.dover.nh.gov/government/city-operations/library/history/Heritage-Walking-Tours/1990-heritage-walking-tour-.html

http://www.nhssar.org/PdfFiles/NH_Revolutionary_War_Burials.pdf  this shows Felker Farm has graves with ties to Swain  

1850 Census for Hermon, Penobscot, Maine, USA  Abigail age 35, Josiah 7, Frederick 2, Sarah E. under 1

Barrington, Strafford, New Hampshire, USA Agibail age 12 head of house Charles Felker 56 wife Polly age 60, Hiram age 29, Sarah A age 11, Betsy age 57 Ruhamah under 1

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/144750537/abigail-felker

Comments

Nice. The find a grave grave has her buried in PA. Huh...okay. Thanks, Laura!

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Abigail is not that uncommon of a name so it is possible it is a different one.  Nothing put Abigail and Michael together conclusively.  But sometimes if you follow the little clues it leads you to bigger things.  I think if you can find folks in Maine or NH in the areas you know your family lived in who could check out some local sources you might get a better answer.

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Right. I think I'll add Michael and Abigail tomorrow. Other trees say he was born in Germany. Am unsure if I should follow suit. Probably not?

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I would list what you DO know as confirmed and then list what is Speculated and the sources for the various speculation.  

I think records from that time frame are sparse to begin with but women's records are even worse than men's as they just were not even mentioned on birth records a lot of the time.  

Do have any idea where in Germany they think she came from?  I have access to some German records that I could take a look in but you have to know more than Germany because it did not exist yet until 1871 as a nation as we think of it today.

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I will do just that. And yeah. I am aware that women's records in general were hard to come by. Unless daddy was someone important. Even then...

It seems to be better in Mass colonies for some reason.

The trees don't say anything about where in Germany. Just Germany for Michael. Nothing else. It is on FS. I thought listing Germany was weird to begin with. It was called something else in the 1700s. I forget what. It wasn't the Holy Roman Empire. I think someone guessed. No dob for Abigail on the tree. It says Michael and Micha too. And that he was from Germany. Nothing else.

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I know this is a year old -- but I just wanted to comment. I live in the Charles/Hiram Felker house in Barrington NH --- and have a historic photo of this (my) . I would absolutely love to learn more about this family and see if there are additional photos out there. We are esp. interested in the couple in the wedding (?) traditional costume in front.

Charles / Hiram Felker Homestead- Barrington, Strafford County NH

https://pasteboard.co/HYs9EvL.jpg

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Very cool photo! How did you get it?

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Hi Chris.

We live at this house now. Someone back in 2014 purchased a Frame at a local thrift shop and noticed the photo inside. They brought the photo to the Barrington Historical Society thinking it might be of interest locally. The Historical society connected with our elderly neighbor (surname, Berry - intermarried with Felkers in years past) and brought it over to us. Our home, in some part, was built it 1838 by Charles Felker. We're interested in learning more.  

There is also a house down the road built by Charles's brother John, married to Mehebtal just down the street, also in a similar design. They raised 10 children in this house .

http://tinypic.com/r/aag97a/9

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Very cool. I wonder if they are related to me. By 1838 Jeremiah Felker was born and his family lived in Haverhill, Mass. Jeremiah was born out of wedlock to Elias Felker and Patty Smart. This Charles might be a brother or cousin to Elias.

Checking what I have for Elias's siblings. So far I don't see him. Hmmm. Interesting.

Cool story,  though. I'll have to look up this Charles Felker. =D