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According to Orlin, William was born October 6, 1810. In 1845 [5/25/1845] he married Mrs. Harriet N. (Williams) Brigham, who was born in 1817 and died May 29, 1851. In 1854, William married Julia Isabella Crosby as his second wife. He was a farmer, resided in Portland, Maine.
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Orlin goes on to list three children:
Flora Bell, born May 9, 1846 [actually March 9; birth registered May 31]
Edwin Augustus, born May 23, 1851
George C, born July 21, 1856.
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Most of what Orlin provides can be confirmed by the vital records of Massachusetts for this period. Thus Southborough provides us with records for Harriet Newell Williams and her first and second marriages, as well as the birth and marriage records for Julia Crosby and Flora Bell, and the birth records for George C. In all of these records, I can find no confirmation for the birth of Edwin Augustus. I think it is quite likely, though. Orlin says that he was born May 23, 1851. On May 29, 1851, his mother died. I suspect that the baby died at birth and therefore was not registered, and that Harriet died as a result of birth complications. The cause of death for her is given as "mortification," which would fit.
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Harriet Newell Williams was born February 22, 1817. She was the daughter of Cotting and Patty Williams. On May 1, 1836, she married Lowell Brigham. She bore him two daughters before his death on April 24, 1840. Five years later, May 25, 1845, Harriet married William Augustus.
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The census records of 1850 list William, Harriet, their daughter Flora, and Harriet's two daughters by her first marriage, Harriet and Martha Brigham.
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In 1851 came the birth and death of the baby, and Harriet's death.
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| On April 6, 1854, three years after Harriet's death, William married Julia Isabella Crosby in Grafton. Julia was the daughter of Lorenzo P. and Julia Crosby. She was born in Abbottsford L.P. (I think this is Quebec), with her birth recorded in Grafton. According to the records of Grafton, she was born August 19, 1829; but on her marriage certificate in 1854, her age was recorded as 23, thus putting her birth in 1831. She seems to get younger every time she is asked for her age. Since the Crosby family lived in Canada and then in Vermont before moving to Grafton, and apparently registered the births much later, it is very possible that there are errors in the Grafton list.
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| The first child of William Augustus and Julia was born on July 21, 1856, and was named George C. Within a short time, the family moved to Maine, where Frederick W. was born on 5/10/1859.
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The census of 1860 shows the family in Maine.
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When the family moved to Maine, Harriet and Martha Brigham remained in Southborough. There, Harriet Brigham was married to Watson W. Bridge on January 1, 1861. She died September 23, 1874; he later remarried.
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Martha E. Brigham was married to John Avery on October 12, 1862. They had a daughter Harriet in 1864; I have not followed them further.
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I have not been able to find the family in 1870. According to the obituary (see below), William and Julia went to Kansas when Fred was about 11. That could mean that they were travelling at the time of the census, and were missed in the enumeration. It is clear, though, that Flora did not reach Kansas with them. In 1872, she was living in Massachusetts, in Newton, where she married Isaac Clark Hall, Jr. from Prince Edward Island. Did William make a short trip to Canada around 1870, where Flora met Isaac? Or did they drop off Flora on the way out west? I don't know. In any case, Flora married Isaac on June 27 (or 22), 1872; she died soon after her marriage (one source says November 23, 1875), for by 1880, Isaac is back with his parents and "single;� he remarried in 1890, and died in 1907.
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| It has not been possible to learn anything more about George C. Fay than his date and place of birth, and the fact that he was with his parents in 1860. |
| By 1880, William and Julia, together with Fred, have reached Dexter, Cowley County, Kansas, where William farmed. An interesting sidelight comes from the Winfield Courier, ed. D.A.Millington, July 31, 1884: "Splendid representations of the prolificness of the Grouse Valley were brought to us by Fred W. Fay, of Dexter Township, in a stalk of corn twelve feet, ten inches high, and a bunch of millet over six feet high." By 1884, Fred had married. |
| With Fred's marriage begins our more complete knowledge of this line. The primary source for this is the work of Judy Damewood, who includes the following obituary: |
"Fred W. Fay passed away at the home of his son Tuesday night at the age of 89 following a lingering illness.
He was born at Portland, Maine, May 10, 1859, and moved with his parents to Dexter, Kansas, at the age of 10. He was married Nov. 18, 1883 to Emma B. Elliott of Dexter.
He was successful in the homestead run in Oklahoma in 1893. He then moved to Graham, Texas, where he took up a plantation where he raised cotton and corn.
He came to Pocatello, Idaho in 1913 and moved to Emmett in 1932 where he has since resided. He joined the Masonic lodge at the age of 21 and was a charter member of the Dexter, Kansas, lodge. He was also a member of the Presbyterian church.
He is survived by three sons, Ted W. Fay, J.G. Fay and Albert O. Fay, all of Emmett; two daughters, Mrs. Georgia McConnell of LaMont, Okla.; and Mrs. Alice Welker of Emmett; five grandchildren and four great grandchildren.
Services will be conducted Friday at 2:30 p.m. at the Flahiff chapel. Rev. John Daly of the Baptist church will officiate. Interment will be at Riverside beside his wife who preceded him in death in 1939." --Emmett, Idaho Messenger-Index, dated September 30, 1948.
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| There is only one further note, and that concerns the name of Fred's first son. In the obituary, he is called "Ted" and he is listed on the line that Judy gives as "Theodore (Ted)". She cites only the obituary and the census of 1920 for this son. Her conclusion however, is not correct. He may have been called "Ted" in the family, to distinguish him from his father, but his name was Fred(e)rick William Fay, Jr. The census of 1920 is an exception; in all of the other documents where I have found him he is called "Fred" or "Fredrick." My own suspicion is that even the 1920 is "Fred" and the writer was just careless: the "T" does not look like the other T's written by the index taker, but far more like "F". |
| 1900 Lamont, Grant, Oklahoma |
1930 New Plymouth, Payette, ID |
1920 Mackay, Custer, Idaho |
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Social Security
Fred W. Fay
[born] 10 Nov 1884
[died] 15 Oct 1966
Emmett, Gem, Idaho |
WWI Draft Registration
Fred William Fay Jr.
[born] 10 Nov 1884
White
Not Stated, Bingham, ID |
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