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MOSES FAY: his story in documents |
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The census has shown us how Moses and Eunice, born in Canada, married in Vermont (see marriage document), lived the first part of their married life in Canada, and then traveled about 1854 through Wisconsin on the way to Minnesota, where they arrived about 1859. The 1860 census places them in Vivian, Waseca County, MN. |
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Vivian is also their home in 1870. Children were born in 1862, 1863, 1865 and 1869. In 1864, Moses enlisted in the army, mustering out in 1865. |
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Enlisted as a Private on 14 November 1864 at the age of 30
Enlisted in Company D, 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment Minnesota on 14 November 1864.
Mustered out Company D, 1st Heavy Artillery Regiment Minnesota on 27 September 1865
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In 1879, Donna Madora Fay Taylor and her family moved to Nebraska. In the 1880 census, Moses is staying with them, leaving the rest of his family back in Minnesota. Between then and 1900, the whole family group moves to Spencer, Boyd County, Nebraska. |
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In 1900, Moses becomes a citizen of the United States by naturalization. This is especially interesting in view of the fact that he fought in the Civil War without being a citizen. |
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At this point, the trail of Nebraska land documents begins. The following records were obtained from the Butte court house, county seat of Boyd county, NE, by Lynn Waterman, who has tracked this family. The "I" and "we" of the descriptive material refer to Lynn.
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This is the first land record we ran across for Moses. It is dated February 1902. Moses wife, whom we have always seen as Eunice, is listed as Emili. This document apparently had her signature. After this date, her name appears as "Eunice" and there is no signature, only "her mark".
Considering that when Charles was married in 1899, she was listed as Eunice there, we
speculate that her name may have been Eunice Amelia or some such, and that she
went by Emili to the family, but was legally Eunice. This has led to a lot of confusion.
We have been told by other researchers on the West line, that her middle initial was A.
Therefore it is not unreasonable to make that assumption.
Carrying speculation a bit further, it is not unreasonable to assume that Eunice may
have suffered a stroke, illness or an injury that caused her to be unable to sign papers
after 1902. The fact that she no longer appears as the wife of Moses in 1906, creating a strong implication that she has died by then, strengthens the assumption of illness after 1902.
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This is the same land described above. But this one, dated January 1903, bears the "her mark" notation and the date of Jan 1903. Was Eunice now unable to sign the papers? |
Moses is now listed as unmarried (March 5, 1906). He sold the land except for a couple of items, two of which don't play a part in this, but the third: "a deed to the Catholic Cemetary", is provocative. Eunice did NOT sign this paper of sale. What has happened to Eunice?
It is easy to speculate that Eunice died between 1903 and 1906, and that the deed to the Catholic Cemetery was connected to her death. |
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