FATHER

Joseph Safford

MOTHER

Mary Chase

WIFE

1st. Rebecca Winslow

2nd. Lydia Warner

CHILDREN with Rebecca Winslow

1. Elizabeth Abigail Safford
    b. 07 Dec 1755
    m. 21 Jul 1774 Benjamin Patterson
    d. 10 Jul 1828

2. Anna Safford
    b. 27 Aug 1757
    d. 7 Apr 1759

CHILDREN with Lydia Warner

1. Anna Safford
    b. 22 Feb 1761

2. Jonas Safford
    b. 23 Jul 1763
    d. 27 Sep 1834

3. Jonathan Safford
    b. 27 Feb 1766
    m. 14 Jan 1790 Delia Blackman
    d. 25 Sep 1821

4. Robert Safford
    b. 07 Jul 1768
    m. 16 Jul 1801 Catherine Cameron
    d. 26 Jul 1863

5. Challis Safford
    b. 15 Apr 1771
    m. 1 Nov 1796 Betsey Doty
    d. 23 Aug 1841

Challis Safford
by Susan Brooke
Jun 2023

Challis Safford was baptized 9 Sep 1783 in Ipswich, Essex, MA. (1) He lived in Rutland, Worcester, MA and married Rebecca Winslow there on 28 Jun 1755. (2) He was 21 and his wife was 18.  They had two daughters and then his wife, Rebecca and daughter, Anna, both died. (3) His daughter Anna died on 7 Apr 1759 and he remarried to Lydia Warner on 8 Feb 1760. (4) Challis was a "skilful physician." (5) He and he and Lydia had another 5 children and then he died.  The administrator's bond was issued 17 June 1771 and the inventory on his estate was taken on 21 Jun 1771. (6) (7) He was 38 years old.     His widow, Lydia, was left to raise his daughter from his first marriage, Elizabeth, who was was then only15 years old and four or five of her own small children, the youngest was just two months old.  She remarried to Jonas Fay on 20 Nov 1777 and had an additional four children. She died in 1828 at the age of 87. (7)

Sources

(1) Baptismal Record
"Chalice Son of Joseph & Mary Safford bapt Sept 9th 1733 

(2) Marriage Record to Rebecca Winslow
Challis Safford of Rutland entered his intention to marriage to Rebecca Winslow of Hardwick
28 Jun 1755, Rutland, Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony

(3) Anna Safford death
Anna Safford
born: 27 Aug 1757 Hardwick, Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony
died: 7 Apr 1759 Hardwick, Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony
Parents: Challis and Rebeka Safford

Challis Safford remarried on 8 Feb 1760. It is therefore assumed his wife, Rebecca, had died before that date.

(4) Marriage Record to Lydia Warner
Chellis Safford to Lydia Worner
8 Feb 1760 Hardwick, Worcester, Massachusetts Bay Colony

(5) History of Hardwick Massachusetts  by Lucius R. Paige 1883
pg 240 "Challis Safford was here in 1755. He died in 1755, aged 38, and left the reputation of a skilful physician."

_______

The first wife of Challis Safford died between 1757 and 1760 and their infant daughter, Anna, died April 7, 1859 leaving Challis a widower with a young daughter, Elizabeth aged 4, to raise.  He married Lydia Warner in 1760 and together they had 5 more children.  Then in 1771, Challis died, at the age of 38 and his widow, Lydia Warner Safford was left with several young children to raise.  Elizabeth, Challis Safford's eldest daughter, would have been about 15. 

(6)  Find A Grave

Birth: Sep 1733
Death 21 Jun 1771

Born to Joseph Safford and Mary Challis. He was a surgeon in the French/Indian War under Capt. Samuel Robinson. His useful life had an early close; but the inventory of his estate was rendered 21 June 1771. His wife Lydia married Dr. Jonas Fay of Bennington, the famous Vermont patriot and politician, on 20 Nov. 1777.

(7) Estate of Challis Safford
Case 51751

FHL film 101180252 image 436

Administrator's bond 17 Jun 1771 image 455

Inventory found at image 458
total value £421.14.0 included £12 worth of "Medicine Books of Physick and Surgery"

(8) The Ohio Valley Saffords, 1932, by Reginald Heber Smith

page 73 "And now a few words about that sterling pioneer woman, Lydia Warner Safford Fay, who left a widow at the age of thirty-one with one infant, possibly a posthumous child, and four other children of her own, ranging from three years to ten years and one child of fifteen by the former marriage of Challis Safford, made shift to care for these dependents until, in 1777, Jonas Fay shared her burden.

But, while her cares as a widow ceased by this marriage to her former husband's long time friend, yet her responsibilities as a mother were greatly increased; for, in the family of Jonas Fay were five children by his first wife, none over sixteen years of age; thus making eleven little ones for this wife, then thirty-seven years of age, to care for; and to this already large family, she soon added four more including one pair of twins.

So, she accepted and fulfilled the duty of raising a family of fifteen; and this couple saw them all grow to maturity, marry and many of them pass on.

When Jonas Fay died in 1818, his widow was then seventy-eight years of age, yet, with indomitable courage, she mounted horse and rode, escorted by her son, Robert, to his home in Ohio, at Gallipolis, where he had resided for many years; for ten years longer she lived with him until she passed on, aged over eighty-eight years.  --  She died in Gallipolis, Ohio, in 1828, and is buried in the old French Cemetery."