No record has been found of the birth of Isaac Harrington, and his ancestry is unknown. The 1928 history of Livermore says that he was born in 1802,[1] which agrees with the 1850 census, which says that he was 48 years old and was born in Maine.[2]
Marriage
Isaac Harrington married Emeline Merrill. Their first child was born in 1843.[1] On 12 Oct 1840, the marriage of Isaac Harrington of Turner, Maine, and Emeline Merrill of Livermore, Maine, was recorded at Livermore.[3]
Children
'See the Research Note below for discussion of the children of Isaac and Emeline (Merrill) Harrington.
Death
Isaac Harrington died on 24 Aug 1860, and he is buried at the Hillman Ferry Cemetery in Livermore, Maine, where his gravestone shows his age at his death as 58.[4]
Research Note
The 1860 Census lists the following children in the householf of Isaac and Emeline Harrington:[5]
In a pre-1880 U. S. census record, the presence of people with the same last name in the household of the head of a family of the appropriate ages usually, but not always, shows parent-child relationships. In the case of the children listed in the "Children" section above, there are several questions.
Lorenzo B. Harrington, age 19, is certainly the Lorenzo Benson Harrington whose birth was recorded in the vital records of Livermore on 18 May 1841.[6] He is also shown in the 1850 Census at the age of 7.[2]
Charles H. Harrington is shown as age 17, and he is shown in the 1850 census as age 6.[2] The birth of a son to Isaac and Emeline Harrington was recorded at Livermore on 23 Aug 1843,[6] but the name of that son was William H. Harrison Harrington. There are several possible explanations:
The name was entered incorrectly by the town clerk. The record shows that the name was recorded in January 1844, just five months after the birth, and it is unlikely that "Charles" was substituted for "William."
There were twins born on that date. William and Charles; no twin is recorded, and it is highly unlikely that a twin's birth would not have been recorded.
William's name was changed to Charles, some time between the recording of the births in 1844 and the 1850 Census.
The Harrington family was enumerated for the 1850 Census on 6 Sep 1850. If Charles' age of 6 is accurate he could have been born as late as 7 September 1844, a little more than a year after William's birth. Births this close together were unusual, but not unheard of, especially if the older sibling died soon after birth. Ages in a census are notoriously unreliable, the 1860 Census (enumerated on 22 Jun 1860) shows Charles' age as 7,[5] and his gravestone says he was 21 when he died on 21 jul 1864.[4]
Taking all the evidence together, it appears that he most likely explanation is that Charles H. Harrington was born William H. Harrison Harrington, and his parents later reconsidered and changed his name. He was clearly originally named after the Whig President William Henry Harrison, and it is possible that his parents' politics changed and they then rethought their son's name.
Thomas J. Harrington's ages in the census records are consistent, 3 in 1850,[2] 14 in 1860, [5] and 23 in 1870,,[7] yielding a birth date of about 1846.
Sarah Harrington is not named in the 1850 Census, when she would have been two years old if her age of 2 in the 1860 Census was accurate. But in 1870, when she was living in the household of the widow Emeline Harrington, she is shown as 19 years old,[7] which implies that the age in the 1860 Census is incorrect. Her likely birth date is thus about 1851.
Sources
↑ 1.01.1 Ira Thompson Monroe, History of the Town of Livermore, Androscoggin County Maine; From Its Inception in 1735 and Its Grant of Land in 1772 to Its Organization in 1795 Up to the Present Time 1928 (Lewiston, Me., 1928), page 169
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