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, marriages and deaths, siblings records, etc.  An 1850 Federal Census Record at Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, identified John Poland, a farmer, and his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth's age in this record is 32, an obvious error given her son's age of 20.  No prior marriages had been found for John Poland. Their children in that census were identified as Hezekiah, Aurelia, Martha B., Rosalie E., Ann M. (aged 8), Amanda T.  (aged 6), William (age 4), Alice (age 2), and unnamed infant aged 3 months.  

In 1860, John Poland, farmer, is again enumerated at Rumford, Oxford County, Maine with children: Hezekiah age 30, Aurelia age 21, Ann age 19, Amanda age 17, William 14, (Alice) Jane 12, and two additional children, Olive and Fanny Smith ages 9 and 7.  John Poland's wife's name here is Mary.  According to Maine Marriage Records, John Poland and Mary Smith, both of Rumford, Maine, married 25 August 1859 (intentions 19 August 1859). Mary Ann Piper, possibly from Massachusetts, was first married to Africa Smith of Maine; Africa Smith, a blacksmith, died in 1856.  This would imply that Betsey (Thomas) Poland died sometime between the taking of the 1850 census and the date of John Poland's second marriage in August of 1859.

In 1870 and on, John Poland, farmer, and his wife Mary Poland are enumerated at Polk County, Wisconsin, along with his sons Hezekiah, William, and John who are all identified as farm laborers.  His daughters all of marrying age at this time, were more than likely married and had remained in Maine or thereabouts. 

According to the History of Rumford, Maine Charles W. Nelson of Barnstable, Massachusetts married Ann M. Poland on June 2, 1862. He married second, Amanda T. Poland on August 31 1866; she was the sister of his first wife Ann. [History of Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, from its first settlement in 1779, to the present time, archive.org p.273.]. I previously posted information on Amanda and Charles here.

A trip to the New England Historic and Genealogical Society in Boston found the Poland Family Genealogy on its shelves.  In it, one finds that John Fritz Poland, son of John and Fear Poland married  (1) Elizabeth (Betsey) Thomas of Peru Maine on 13 May 1829.  Betsey was born 1806/7 and died at age 52 on 16 May 1859 which was one month after the birth of her son John Fairfield Poland on 16 April 1859. She is interred at the Rumford Point Cemetery.  The Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Records, which is a transcript of headstones from various Maine cemeteries from 1780 through 1980, identifies a grave record for Betsey Poland, wife of John Poland, died 16 May 1859.  My brother visited the gravesite and took a photo of this grave at Rumford Point Cemetery in Maine.  John married second, Mrs. Mary Smith, the widow of Africa Smith also of Rumford.  John Fritz Poland was the son of John and Fear (Brown) Poland born 5 May 1803.

 

The marriage information for John Poland and Betsey Thomas is mirrored in digitized (but unindexed at the time) records for Maine. Intentions of their marriage were filed 24 August 1829, both of Peru, Maine; Marriage dated 13 May 1829. Note in the second image for the marriage, that the first name for Mr. Poland is cut off and showing only the first letters "Jo." I believe this accounts for the error in naming Betsey's husband "Job" Poland in the Thomas Family of Middleborough, MA Genealogy also found on the shelves of the NEHGS Library. (The Thomas Genealogy also shows marriage as 13 March 1829 which I believe is a transcription error.) I originally ignored this volume as I was looking at Maine information only and had not contemplated that the family had origins elsewhere.  This information lead me down a clear path of vital records ultimately filling in this blank branch of my family tree.

 

Betsey's father Elisha Thomas hailed from Middleborough, Massachusetts and was the son of Elisha and Rachel (Weston) Thomas. Her mother Betsy Washburn, also from Middleborough, Massachusetts, was the daughter of Ebenezer and Lucy (Chase) Washburn. These two individuals can be traced to multiple Mayflower passengers including Standish, Alden, and George Soule.  In his Will dated 23 December 1837, Ebenezer Washburn of Oxford County, Maine, leaves property to several of his children, mentioning among them his daughter Betsey Thomas. Note that Ebenezer had married second Mary Barrow.  In a Codicil to this Will dated 19 April ł84[4], Ebenezer specifies that as his daughter Betsy Thomas has since deceased, he divides up her third of the household goods between two other sisters - Lucy Tilson and Sally Sparrow. The record immediately below represents the birth of Elisha and Betsy Thomas' first three children, they had several more children.

Elisha Thomas (Sr.) and Ebenezer Washburn both served in the Revolutionary War from Massachusetts (Kingston and Plympton areas) and removed to Maine after service, possibly receiving land grants as a result of their service. Ebenezer Washburn was a Pensioner of said service.  In fact, both sides of Amanda Poland's family tree contain Revolutionary War Patriots.  Her father John Poland's ancestry can be traced to Essex County, Massachusetts and contains several instances of Patriots as well.

Records from the Maine, U.S., Nathan Hale Cemetery Records for

 Betsey (Thomas) Poland and her brother Isaiah Thomas:

Betsey (Thomas) Poland did not live a long life, but she left many children.  She descended from a long list of Patriots and an interesting genealogy that leads to the earliest settlers of New England.

I searched online records for years to find my great great grandmother Betsy Poland, mother of Amanda (Poland) Nelson of Cummaquid, MA, and wife of John Poland of Rumford, Maine.  Finally a trip to a library, and newly digitized records, helped solve the mystery.  Never give up, don't take public trees at face value, and if something doesn't seem right trust your instincts.

Sources:

Gravestone of Betsey Poland, Rumford Center Cemetery, Rumford, Oxford County, Maine, Michael Bear photographer.

Maine, Vital and Census Records, Ancestry.com and Familysearch.org.

Maine, Nathan Hale Cemetery Records, Ancestry.com.

Poland Family Genealogy, volume held at NEHGS Library, Boston, MA.

Thomas Family of Middleborough, MA, volume held at NEHGS Library, Boston, MA.

History of Rumford, archive.org.

fold3.com.