Zilpah Wadsworth was born in 1778, the second child and first daughter of Peleg and Elizabeth Wadsworth. She grew up in the house on Congress St., surrounded by her nine brothers and sisters. Zilpah was especially close to her sister Eliza, who was just one year younger. Zilpah found pleasure and relaxation in writing, and her letters and journals provide a charming glimpse of her girlhood. She and Eliza were "sweet girls" with "an unaffected softness of manners" and enjoyed a busy social life. Zilpah was "tall, attractive, with dark hair, lively blue eyes" and a "blooming" complexion. The prevailing interest of Portland's young women was Portland's young men, who were "as plenty as apples in autumn." None of them aroused Zilpah and Eliza Wadsworth's interest, however, until the 1799 arrival of tall, attractive, twenty-three-year-old Stephen Longfellow IV, a Harvard graduate seeking a career in law.
Indeed, within a year the early happiness of the young couple was marred by another family tragedy: the death of Zilpah's brother Henry, who was nicknamed Harry. Harry had set out to prove himself in the new United States Navy. He joined the squadron in the Mediterranean Sea to subdue the Barbary pirates, who had been preying on American shipping. It was one of the earliest demonstrations of American might on the international stage, and the battle of Tripoli became famous. Harry was second in command of a vessel loaded with explosives whose mission was to sneak into the harbor and destroy the enemy's gunboats. His ship, however, exploded prematurely. Harry's death affected the entire family deeply, and Zilpah would soon memorialize him in the naming of her second son Henry Wadsworth.
Publication: Online publication - Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.Original data - Willis, William,. A history of the law, the courts, and the lawyers of Maine : from its first colonization to the early part of the present century. Portland Me.: Bailey &
Note: Newspaper clipping mounted on p. facing t.p.|||Includes index.
APID: 21741::0
While processing relationships in the gedcom some additional information was found which may be relevant.
@F122@ FAM
Husband: @P725457805@
Wife: @P725457030@
Child: @P725457806@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457807@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457808@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457809@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457811@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457813@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457815@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457818@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457820@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457822@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457824@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Child: @P725457826@
Relationship to Father: Natural
Relationship to Mother: Natural
Marriage:
Date: 18 Jun 1772
Place: Plymouth, Plymouth, Massachusetts, United States
Text: Birth date: 6 May 1748Birth place: Duxbury, Plymouth, MADeath date: 12 November 1829Death place: Wadsworth Hall, Hiram, MEMarriage date: 18 June 1772Marriage place: Plymouth, Plymouth, MA
APID: 4725::2667110
Acknowledgements
This person was created through the import of Howland Mayflower-dude.ged on 12 September 2010. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.
Thank you to Maude Gunn for creating Wadsworth on 19 Nov 13. Click the Changes tab for the details on contributions by Maude and others.
DNA Connections
It may be possible to confirm family relationships with Zilpah by comparing test results with other carriers of her mitochondrial DNA.
However, there are no known mtDNA test-takers in her direct maternal line.
It is likely that these autosomal DNA test-takers will share some percentage of DNA with Zilpah:
I found the wedding date for Zilpah and Stephen. But I don't have editing abilities. Here's the link: https://www.hwlongfellow.org/family_stephen.shtml Here's the statement: " On the evening of January 1, 1804, Stephen and Zilpah were married in the parlor where Eliza had died." That was Portland ME.