Ron wrote: > Looking for information on the Blanchard ancestry of Thomas Blanchard > inventor born in Sutton, Ma. June 24, 1788 died Boston, Ma. April 16, 1864. > From History of Sutton, Sutton Vital Records, and Tenney Family Genealogy There is another source that claims to settle this question, namely, the family chart made by Margaret Blanchard which Sherry found. However, there are some weak links here. > F: SAMUEL BLANCHARD (ancestry unknown) b. Apr. 1,1749 d. Jul. 21, > 1825 MB says Samuel was son of Joseph and Abigail (Brewer) Blanchard, who were married in Boston on 1742/3 Jan 13. (The marriage is on record in Boston as being in "1742", and I'm forced to make an assumption about the year because some helpful clerk alphabetized the records for each year and threw away the originals.) MB says Samuel was born in Littleton, but there is no record of the birth there, nor in Sutton, where the second son Joseph was born for sure. I have not yet seen any indication of when Joseph Sr died, but there may be some probate records. Sutton shows the death of an unnamed "wife of Joseph" in 1780 at age about 60 -- this is probably Abigail, but I have no proof. > M: Susanna Tenney b. d. Apr. 19, 1826 MB says Susanna was born 1751 Dec 15, but not where. That date of death is found in the vital records of Millbury, and I think that is where both she and Samuel died, though they were buried in Sutton. > Stephen b. Oct. 26, 1775 m. Cyna Marble Nov. > 26, 1803/4 What does this "double date" notation mean in this context? > Nancy b. Sept. 27, 1777 d. Sept. 17, 1778 The (unnamed) child who died in '78 was recorded as being 9 months old. I have trouble figuring how they could be that far off. > Samuel b. June 25, 1784 d. Dec. 27, 1823 Any clue to where this death occurred? I haven't found it in any of the published vital records. > THOMAS b. June 24, 1788 MB agrees with this birth date, but it's not in the published Sutton vitals. > Abiathar b. Mar. 21, 1793 Interesting. MB makes no mention of this Abiathar, and he doesn't appear in the vitals. There is, however, an Abiathar who died in Palmer in 1848 aged 53 who was born in Oxford, *and* it just so happens that the Oxford vitals show a Susanna Blanchard born in 1799 to Samuel and Susanna. That is really pushing the limits of childbearing age, so maybe there were another Sam'n'Sue? On the other hand, the 1800 census shows Samuel in Oxford with a household including one boy and one girl under 10... > THOMAS BLANCHARD b. June 24, 1788 d. Apr. 16, 1864 If he really died in Boston, there should be a record of it in the state archives, possibly filling in the details missing from the Sutton vitals. > m. Sarah Segar d. Her name was entered as Segress in the the marriage record at Leicester (1815 Jan 1). John Index: Thomas 1788 b Sutton, MA 1997 11 24