Friday, January 8, 2016

The Strange Case of Davis P.

In an earlier post, I wrote about my great-grandmother, Helena Snow, the possible misspelling on her birth record, and the confusion about her mother’s name.  Her husband’s line turns out to be just as puzzling.

As I searched the US census, I easily found a family that matched everything I knew about Jesse E. Dudley.  I knew that at one point he was raised by his grandmother, Sophia Day.  So when I found him in the 1870 household of James B. and Hannah Dudley, it made sense.  Hannah’s maiden name was Day.  The date for this record is July 28th.


Her parents, Israel and Sophia, were in the same census.  Note the sister, Elizabeth.  This was recorded on August 17th.


Then, in 1880, Jessie is found again in the household of Sophia Day, his grandmother.


The ages match, the names match…everything fits.  So what exactly is the problem?  The problem is another record, also found in Boston, from June 18th, 1870.


Davis P. Dudley is married to Hannah S. Dudley and has a son named Jesse E…and a sister-in-law named Lizzie M. Day? The ages are the same.  (Fours look like sixes on the James B. record, but reviewing the whole page confirms that they are fours.) 

This completely threw me.  Davis P.’s record actually showed the link to the Days, which was something not shown in the James B. record.

I was all ready to accept that I have been researching the wrong person when it suddenly hit me; Jesse’s marriage certificate lists the parents!  


Sure enough, Jesse’s father was listed as James B.  So, unless by some strange coincidence the other Jesse was also from Waterboro, Maine, and married Helena M. Snow who was from Nova Scotia and had a father named Alexander (and by this point nothing would surprise me), my ancestor was named James B. Dudley.

The question remains; who is Davis P.?  I can accept that he married Hannah S. and had a son named Jesse E., but what about the Day who was also living in their household and happened to have the same name and be the same age as Hannah’s sister?  Both were also in Boston.

Did they do the survey on June 18th, move, and then do the survey again on July 28th?  If so, why Davis P.?  I have seen some funny misspellings of names on censuses before, but that one is pretty off.  I considered that maybe it is part of his full name, but cannot find any other any other record with it.  Maybe they just wrote Davis P. on the wrong line?  Davis P. does not appear in the 1880 census. 

What about Lizzie? Perhaps 18-year-old Lizzie was not getting along with her parents at the time of the first survey, but later reunited with them?

I may never know for sure.  For now, I am just grateful to have found Jesse’s marriage record.

What are your thoughts?  Do you think they could be the same family?

~Kathy

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