This coming June will find me on the Massachusetts Island of Nantucket, which my research on Martha's Vineyard two summers ago indictes may be the place my 5th great-grandfather Thomas Garner was born. I'd love to confirm that hypothosis, so I have the entire winter to pore over my Garner notes and make a research plan for the Nantucket library. I want it ready to go since my library time will be limited, (there is a beach after all). I've already started digging in by constructing a timeline.
Thomas' son, Thomas Jr., my 4th g.g., was born at Tisbury on Martha's Vineyard in 1773. Thomas Jr.'s daughter Clarissa was born at Hartland, Vermont in 1795, indicating the family left Tisbury at some point. Probably around the time of Thomas Sr.'s death in the Revolutionary War in 1777. By the early 1820's Clarissa and her parents were living in New York, in the Town of Locke, the eastern part of which, (the Garner's part), became the Town of Summerhill in April of 1831.
Looking through the trees on Ancestry was perplexing. They all have Clarissa married to Samuel Lamphier and maintain she gave birth to Spaulding Lamphier in 1802. Only that's not possible. Aside from the fact she was only seven or eight years of age in 1802, she was with her parents until at least 1820. It's in the census! I'm confounded how anyone can think an eight year old having a baby makes sense, never mind that Ancestry flashes a red warning if you attempt to type something that ludicrous into your tree. Clarissa did marry Samuel Lamphere, that much is correct, but not until about 1823, she could not have been his first wife nor Spaulding's mother.
Another odd one was the death date of her stepson Spaulding and the circumstances surrounding it. Every Ancestry tree had clearly copied the other one, for none of them had real sources and they all claimed he died in 1859. "Believed by the family to have been taken by 'Indians' while on his way to vist a neighbor." His corpse was never found. In the year 1859! I am quite certain there were no native uprisings taking place in New York State in 1859. To be fair there was a reservation for the Cayuga Tribe about thirteen miles from Locke although they were pacified by then and caused no trouble; it's also true Spaulding appears to vanish about that time, three years after his wife Prudence Marble's death, which left him with seven children ranging in age from twenty to seven. It appears Spaulding did not handle her death well, which eerily mirrors his half-brother Samuel Jr.'s, (who was Clarissa's son), decline after his wife's death. Within three years Samuel was in the county poor house whose blunt description of him was, "this old man has lost his mind".
See, this is how I get sidetracked. I'm not even related to Spaulding since I do not credit the assertion that Clarissa Garner was his mother, but now I was curious what the deal was with him. He wasn't in the 1860, 1865, or 1870 censuses and his children were scattered about the neighborhood. He was gone alright, but I still wasn't buying the captured by Indians theory. It seemed to me there was good reason no body surfaced, though that didn't stop someone from putting him on the Find A Grave site with a death year of 1859.
As I continued examining Spaulding, I came to the 1875 New York State census and who should I see there... a resurrected Spaulding Lamphier! Living in Locke with his widowed daughter Emily Whipple and her children. So how does the story of his abduction and murder still live on? Granted it's a good tale, it made me take notice, but it's clearly untrue. I posted a copy of the census to the Find A Grave page for Spaulding and the owner did change his death date so that's progress I guess.
The question remains, where was Spaulding all those years? Gone west perhaps? It was after all, the era of the Pike's Peak Goldrush. The territories may have looked like the perfect opportunity to shed his responsibilites and make his fortune. The fact Spaulding can't be located in three censuses makes it seem he may not have wanted to be found. In the end, he returned to Locke where his daughter Emily found a place for him in her home. I don't know if the other children were as welcoming when their father reappeared, in fact one or two had died during his absence, though I can't locate any obituaries that may have shed some light on these questions. But now I need to get back to someone I really am related to-- like Thomas Garner Sr., possible birthplace Nantucket.
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