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THE FAY FAMILY PAGE GENEALOGIES |
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| Susanna Fay And her Family |
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| MT. VIEW CEMETERY CAMDEN, MAINE A DISCUSSION OF THE HEADSTONE DATES |
| What are the dates of birth and of death for Silas Fay and Anna Gleason Fay? |
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Silas was born November 14, 1747 and died March 4, 1838. Anna was born October 25, 1752 and died December 19, 1832. |
| What is the evidence for these dates? |
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Silas: Birth: Orlin; Vital Records of Lincoln. Death: Headstone. Anna: Birth: Gleason Genealogy; Vital Records of Framingham. Death: Headstone; Vital Records of Princeton; census.
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| Orlin gives the date of birth for Silas, and the date of marriage for Silas and Anna. He says that Silas was born in Westboro and Anna in Princeton (see below). Orlin also reports that Silas and Anna died in Maine, but does not give their dates of death. |
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| Genealogy of the des. Of Thom. Gleason of Watertown, a Ms. by Lill. May Wilson, 1909, lists Anna on page 98. |
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| Three significant items. (1) Anna was born October 25, 1752, not in Princeton but in Framingham. (2) Anna and Silas ("They", italics mine) moved to Camden in 1803 or 1804. (3) Anna died in Princeton on June 5, 1796. |
| BIRTHS |
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| The Vital Records of Massachusetts provide confirmation of the dates of birth of Silas and Anna. Silas was actually born in Lincoln, Anna was actually born in Framingham. [Orlin's confusion about Silas' place of birth actually starts earlier with Silas' father.] |
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| DEATHS |
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| Silas and Anna are both buried in the Mt. View Cemetery in Camden, Maine. Stephanie Smith Stein took photographs of their headstones. |
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| This is the only source we have for the date of Silas' death. There is a death date of 1828 given on LDS without source or reference; I suspect that was a simple misreading of this gravestone or the cemetery records. The "88th year" inscribed on the stone may be due to rounding his birth date to 1750. If this is merely a rounding, and if the date of 1747 is to be believed, then the rounding started earlier. The pension rolls indicate that Silas was 84 in August of 1833, which would make him 88 in March 1838, agreeing with the stone and giving the birthdate of 1750. If the inscription is read "in the 88th year [of his age]," then it does agree with the pension roll. The final evidence to eliminate the "1828" date is found in the census for 1830, which shows Silas alive and head of house in Camden. |
| That same census, the census of 1830, lists a male 80-90 (Silas) and a woman 70-80. This can only be Anna; she did NOT die in Princeton in 1796, she died in Maine as Orlin reports. She is said then by Gleason to have moved to Camden 1803-1804. However, the census shows a different picture. In the census of 1810, Silas and Anna are still in Princeton; they are listed next to "Silas Jun." (listings in 1810 are alphabetical). By 1820, Silas and Anna have moved to Camden and appear on the census there. Silas is indexed as "Jilas" but is clearly Silas on the original image. Silas and Anna are both listed as "45+". The conclusion is that they moved between 1810 and 1820; perhaps 1813-1814? that would be a relatively easy mistake for Gleason to have made. |
| If Anna did NOT die in Princeton in 1796, how does it happen that Gleason made this mistake even though he SAYS that THEY (i.e. both Silas and Anna) moved to Camden 1803-1804. The explanation lies in the early Vital Records of Princeton, deaths, p. 162. |
| The first entry is Silas Jr., born September 1777, died January 26, 1847. All of the exact dates given on LDS are merely calculations from the 69.7.26. |
| Then comes "Mr. Fay's mother." Gleason, and others, have assumed that the Mr. Fay whose mother died was the Mr. Fay immediately preceeding the mother's notice, that is, Mr. Silas Fay, Jr. In view of what was said above, that cannot be the case, for Anna Gleason, the mother of Mr. Silas Fay Jr., did not die in Princeton. The only Fay head of household in both 1790 and 1800 in Princeton is Silas. So who is Mr. Fay's mother if NOT Anna? I don't know. One thing should be noted: the record itself came from a "P.R." or private record. Could it simply have been a mistake from beginning to end? |