David Hoyt, on the Middlesex Co list, who thinks like alot of people that I've not been pounded into submission yet, sent me a town and county map of Massachusetts, which was actually a very great favor. Map raises more questions than it answers (LOL) Family genealogy says that Winchendon and Ashby are adjacent. From my notes: --------------------------- Some years after his marriage he moved to Westminster and spent much of his life there. Owned successivley Jonathan Sawyer and Smyrna Whitney farms in north part of town and afterward the Abraham Wood house and lot on the common. After his first wife died, he m 2 Widow Hannah A (How) Peabody and resided in te former Dr. White House (History of Westminster, MA, 840-2.) NEHGS Massachusetts bmd database to 1910 shows the record of the marriage. Asa Raymond, age 72, farmer, of Westminster, b Ashby, son of Daniel and Polly (Kinsly). Married Hannah A (Howe) Peabody, age 49, born Westminster, to Reuben K and Hannah (Minot). It says it was his second marriage. They were married in Westminster by Mo A Stevens, clergyman, of Ashburnham. Death record says he died in Westminster at age 92 of old age, having been born in Ashby. Place of birth, which is also said to be Westminster, is confirmed from Ashby Town Records to 1850. Westminster is right next to Ashby. ------------------------ Map show Ashburnham squat between them. Was Ashburnham a recent development or something? Next question; the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census show Asa's and his son Eli W's farms growing even longer legs than they already appear to have had. This farm had such long legs, it jumped clear over adjacent towns in the process of moving back and forth between Winchendon and Shutesbury. Are Gardner adn Westminster recent developments, or is it that Ashburnham is a recent development and it was part of Winchendon? And if Asa lived most of his life in Westminster, why does the census show his humungous farm variously in Fitchburg and Winchendon? No, it wasn't so big it spanned several towns. I was hoping that someone here would just know how the descriptions of where Asa's farm was and the census make sense. Of course I know tehre is such a thing as a historical society. If I need to call one, which one would be most likely to have the answer? There are probably 50 of them, especially since the towns in question span two counties. Thanks! Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX tiggernut24@yahoo.com

I , am David Hoyt..I sent you the map in response to your quote as follows:  "I know that Fitchburg is on a county line.  I cannot extract from Google which county it's in.    The only thing I've learned so far is that most legislators represent both counties, and Worcester was made partly from Middlesex County." My response contained an accurate County Map from the last few years....Please be advised that County and State lines changed drastically from year to year. Also be advised that some people, including census takers and government officials, .. simply did not know where they lived, believe it or not.  One more note is that some towns were not "Incorporated" at the time your ancestor may have lived there, and though at the time, they said they lived in XYZ, but XYZ was only a neighborhood within the major city . In other words, if you live in a town called "Springfield" in the neighborhood of "Lake Park" in 1850, in 1860, the neighborhood grows and wants to become its own city of Lake Park, they petition the stae to let them secede and create thier own government. This happened ALOT. AND, going back to the original statement, some people just plain didn't know what town they lived in. AND when it came to Census takers, they got paid , in some cases, per Name they logged, so if You were not home, they would ask the neighbors "Who lives in the house next door?...the neighbors would tell them what they remember, and if they couldnt remember your Uncle John and his wife Mary, they might say "Uncle James and his wife Polly" and guess that he was 38 years old and she was 37, when he really was 45 years old, and she was 41. My ancestor had 5 children, and all were born in a different town by todays standards, but in the 1830's, they were all born in the same town. And he and his wife died in different towns, but lived in the same town. The best bet is to reasearch the history of when a town or county was Incorporated, and add a "Fudge Factor" of a few years on either side of that date for people who just didnt get it, like the Farmer who never went into town, only to find years later, that he lived in a town by a new name. ________________________________ From: Dora Smith <tiggernut24@yahoo.com> To: mamiddle@rootsweb.com; maworces@rootsweb.com Sent: Sun, January 24, 2010 11:43:34 AM Subject: [MAMiddle] Now I'm really wondering where Asa lived David Hoyt, on the Middlesex Co list, who thinks like alot of people that I've not been pounded into submission yet, sent me a town and county map of Massachusetts, which was actually a very great favor.  Map raises more questions than it answers (LOL) Family genealogy says that Winchendon and Ashby are adjacent. From my notes: --------------------------- Some years after his marriage he moved to Westminster and spent much of his life there. Owned successivley Jonathan Sawyer and Smyrna Whitney farms in north part of town and afterward the Abraham Wood house and lot on the common. After his first wife died, he m 2 Widow Hannah A (How) Peabody and resided in te former Dr. White House (History of Westminster, MA, 840-2.) NEHGS Massachusetts bmd database to 1910 shows the record of the marriage. Asa Raymond, age 72, farmer, of Westminster, b Ashby, son of Daniel and Polly (Kinsly). Married Hannah A (Howe) Peabody, age 49, born Westminster, to Reuben K and Hannah (Minot). It says it was his second marriage. They were married in Westminster by Mo A Stevens, clergyman, of Ashburnham. Death record says he died in Westminster at age 92 of old age, having been born in Ashby. Place of birth, which is also said to be Westminster, is confirmed from Ashby Town Records to 1850. Westminster is right next to Ashby. ------------------------ Map show Ashburnham squat between them.  Was Ashburnham a recent development or something? Next question; the 1850, 1860 and 1870 census show Asa's and his son Eli W's farms growing even longer legs than they already appear to have had.  This farm had such long legs, it jumped clear over adjacent towns in the process of moving back and forth between Winchendon and Shutesbury.  Are Gardner adn Westminster recent developments, or is it that Ashburnham is a recent development and it was part of Winchendon? And if Asa lived most of his life in Westminster, why does the census show his humungous farm variously in Fitchburg and Winchendon?  No, it wasn't so big it spanned several towns.  I was hoping that someone here would just know how the descriptions of where Asa's farm was and the census make sense.  Of course I know tehre is such a thing as a historical society.  If I need to call one, which one would be most likely to have the answer?  There are probably 50 of them, especially since the towns in question span two counties.  Thanks! Yours, Dora Smith Austin, TX tiggernut24@yahoo.com To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MAMIDDLE-request@rootsweb.com with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject and the body of the email with no additional text. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to MAMIDDLE-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message