The Fay Family: Ruth Fay (1807 - 1832)
   
THE FAY FAMILY HOMEPAGE

GENEALOGIES
   
   
Ruth Fay (1807 - 1832) of Bennington, Vermont
And her Descendants
   
Contributed by Jonas Hart
with additions from research
   
   
Bennington and Vermont Directory
lines, lists and links
   
   
John Fay

John (OPF #2) (11/30/1669 - 1/5/1747) son of John and Mary Brigham

Stephen (OPF #35) (5/5/1715? - 5/17/1781) son of John and Elizabeth Wellington

Elijah (OPF #123) (3/5/1748 - 7/4/1835) son of Stephen and Ruth Child

Elijah (OPF #751) (2/23/1774 - 2/13/1849) son of Elijah and Deborah Lawrence

Ruth (OPF p. 66) (8/8/1807 - 3/14/1832) daughter of Elijah and Lydia Lawrence
   
   
   
Ruth Fay, daughter of Elijah and Lydia, was born August 8, 1807. She married John Godfrey, and died March 14, 1832 (this is all Orlin knows). She is buried in the cemetery at Bennington:
   
RUTH GODFREYF1808c14 MAR 183224 yrs.
W/O JOHN S. GODFREY; D/O ELIJAH & LYDIA FAY
   
The entry there confirms the name of her husband and adds a middle initial for him. LDS gives his middle name as Starkweather, and says that he was the son of Samuel L. Godfrey and Sally Stiles.
   
The birth records of Bennington as collected by LDS list the birth of a daughter, Julia Alma Godfrey, to Ruth and John S. Godfrey. Julia was born October 2, 1831. Thus she was only 5 months old at the time of Ruth's death.
   
It seems as if John waited six months and then remarried. The usual convention required a year of mourning, but with Julia so young, the time was shortened. LDS records a marriage between John S. Godfrey and Henrietta Haynes on September 9, 1832, in Bennington.
   
Henrietta died August 18, 1841 at the age of 38; she is buried at Bennington.
   
John S. Godfrey's third marriage was to Ruth Brown. LDS suggests that they were married in 1841, but I doubt that it was so early; my own guess would be 1842. In the census of 1850, John and Ruth Brown are still in Bennington, and they have four children, William 7, George 6, Samuel 4, Alonzo 1. John is a teamster. The family does not stay in Bennington, but moves to New York. They are found in Fort Edward, Washington County, in 1860, and remain there at least until 1880. This move to New York explains something that puzzled me for a long time: Ruth Fay Godfrey is buried in the cemetery at Bennington, as are John's father, Samuel L., and his mother, Sally. His second wife Henrietta is also there. John himself, however, was not buried at Bennington.
   
Julia moved to her grandmother Lydia's, where she is found living in 1850. It must have been very soon after that that she married Joseph Hufnagel, for their first child, Ella, was born on August 5, 1852. He was already living in Bennington in 1850. He was born in Germany about 1830. It is not known when he came to America.
   
1850
   
   
Julia and Joseph are seen in the census of 1860 with three of their children, Ella, Ada and Harriet (Hattie Jane). This census record illustrates the creativity of both census taker and indexer in listing the name of the family. The most common form is Hufnagel, but also seen are Hefnagel, Horpunte, Huffeard, and Hufnagle.
   
1860
   
Two more children were born after that. A son born in 1862 died in infancy. A daughter, Hattie Jane, was born in August of 1860. It must have been in 1862 or late in 1861 that Joseph enlisted to serve in the Civil War. He died in 1864 during the early days of the war, and is buried at Alexandria National Cemetery in Virginia. Julia was left with four young children, Ella, Ada, Albert and Hattie, and applied for the widow's pension.
   
Within a very short time, Julia remarried. She and her husband, Henry Hodge, are shown in the census of 1870, along with Julia's daughter Hattie (Harriet). Ada is doing domestic service in the same town, and Albert is working in a machine shop and living there. Ella has not been found; she probably married before 1870, since she would have turned 17 in 1869.
   
1870
   
   
   
7  Julia Alma Godfrey  b: 10/2/1831  d: 4/13/1906
.. +Joseph Hufnagle  b: 1830  d: 6/8/1864  m: between 1850 & 1852 (1st)
......8  Ella Josephine Hufnagle  b: 8/6/1852
......8  Ada Morse Hufnagle  b: 11/25/1854
......8  Albert Hufnagle  b: 1/2/1856  d: between 1910 & 1920
........ +Adelaide Silver  b: 3/1858  d: 4/6/1922
............9  Mabel E. Hufnagle  b: 9/1880
.............. +Ezra Tiffany  b: 3/6/1876  d: 12/25/1945  m: 1903
..................10  Mabel Elizabeth Tiffany b: 3/15/1915 d:12/25/1978
..................... +Winston Hart
.........................11  Winston Hart  b: 9/29/1943
................................12  Jonas Hart  b: 2/12/1976
............9  Fan Hufnagle  b: 6/1883
............9  Ina Hufnagle  b: 4/1886
............9  Joseph Silver Hufnagle  b: 7/15/1888
.............. +Beatrice  b: 1903  m: 1924
............9  Harry Earl Hufnagle  b: 6/11/1891
.............. +Mary Gallagher  b: 1889
..................10  Janet Hufnagle  b: 1918
..................10  Mary J. Hufnagle  b: 1926
............9  Hazel M. Hufnagle  b: 2/1895
......8  son Hufnagle  b: 11/13/1858
......8  Hattie Jane Hufnagle  b: 8/6/1860
......8  son Hufnagle  b: 5/31/1862
.. +Henry Hodge  b: 1830  d: 2/1/1890  m: between 1865 & 1870 (2nd)