Heavens Who's Betsy? Who is Betsy Poland, Mother to Amanda (Poland) Nelson, of Rumford, Oxford County, Maine?
For years I searched online records for Elizabeth (Betsey) Poland my great great grandmother. Determining through records that Amanda Poland's mother was Betsey Thomas born in Maine possibly to an Elisha and Betsey W. Thomas, I believed I had found her in a record for an Elizabeth Thomas, daughter of Elias and Elizabeth W . Thomas, born in 1809 at Portland, Maine. That was the only record which seemed to come close. I noticed many other researchers on genealogy websites were coming up with the same individual and those researchers, including myself, discovered that this Elias Thomas married Elizabeth Widgery (thus the "W") at Portland, Maine. Sounds right? However when I delved into the records for that Elizabeth (Widgery) Thomas of Portland, the information just did not make sense for my family tree. Research included extensive study of all available online records and information for John Poland and his wife Betsey, i.e., census records, children's birth