The 1797 New Hampshire vital record death entry for Hannah Preston of Rumney, Grafton County, New Hampshire, was included in a well documented, modern-day genealogy, Scott A. Bartley, Vermont Families in 1791 (Genealogical Society of Vermont, 1992), 2: 159-167. The death was associated with Hannah Preston born Chester, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, 25 March 1756, [citing VR] daughter William Preston and Hannah Healey. [Remarks about births, "Recorded as children of William Presson and Hannah Healay."]
I suspected identities of the Hannahs might be confused as Maj. William Preston and his second wife, Mary Herbert, named a daughter Hannah Herbert Preston (b. 1811). Attempts to located traces of Hannah Preston b. 1796, who was a twin of Joseph, turned up only records of Hannah Preston married 13 Sept 1774, Asahel Brainerd (bef 1754-1813) of Rumney. [The genealogy of the Brainerd-Brainard family in America : 1654-1908 (1908), vol. 1-part 3, pp. 52-3.]
Today the 1797 New Hampshire death record was located at FamilySearch Labs, in the collection, "New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947." The record clearly reports the Hannah deceased 1797 as daughter of William Preston and Elizabeth.
Locating this 1797 death record helps with separate on-going research about my direct ancestor, believed Maj. William's eldest child, otherwise Sheriff William Preston of Defiance and Williams counties, Ohio. Among the many documents contributing to that father-son proof is snippet from 1807 obituary of Elizabeth (?Clark) Preston saying she left "eleven children to morn." [The Sun, Dover (New Hampshire) Gazette, and County Advertiser, Saturday, June 27, 1807, pg. 3, col. 1.] The births of twelve children to Elizabeth are recorded in Rumney vital records, so it's nice to have a document identifying the name of one child known to have pre-deceased the mother.
Yes! --GJ
Another fine example of how FamilySearch has aided in finding evidence of an ancestor Thanks for taking the time to distinguish between the two possible Hannah Preston candidates.
ReplyDeleteGood work. Thanks for sharing, as well. ;-)
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