I feel kind of bad delurking with a request, but I'm hoping it'll be an *easy* request, at least... I've got this dead end, a woman described (in Jameson, _Cogswells in America_) as "Mrs. Lucy Ryder, nee Seaver, of Holden"; that description is as of 1820, when she married a Stephen Cogswell in Rutland. Circumstantial evidence gives me the idea that she might have been widowed in 1819 or early 1820. I presume "of Holden" means that she lived there while married to Mr. Ryder, whoever he was---she appears to have been in Rutland by August 1820, as she had a daughter Eliza b. 12 Aug 1820 in Rutland---Jameson shows Eliza's father being Stephen Cogswell, but he doesn't say how he knows, and to me it seems possible that Eliza was actually a daughter of the mysterious Mr. Ryder. The 1800 census, insofar as I can read the handwriting, shows no Ryders (nor Seavers, nor any variant spelling I could think of) in Holden. I'm trying, essentially, to collect enough pieces to have *something* more than a name and marriage date for this woman. If someone can, for instance, produce her first marriage for me, that would be someplace to start...but anything at all would be much appreciated. Thanks NT

Nathan, I have a fairly large SEAVER database, but I did not see a Lucy Seaver that fit your description in my database. So i searched the usual sites to try to mine some data. I did see an Ed Tenny submission to the LDS Pedigree Resource File for Lucy (b 13 May 1794), d 1884 Peterboro NH), who married Stephen Cogswell in 1821 (?) in Rutland. I also found info on Rootsweb WorldConnect - descendants of Stephen and Lucy. Some of the listings on the LDS FamilySearch site list Lucy as Rider, some as Seaver. It looks like most or not all of this data is patron submissions - which makes them suspect in my view. In the 1800 to 1820 time period, census and vital records indicate that the family of Nathan and Persis (Smith) Seaver resided in Holden MA. There are partial vital records for BMD of their children Alexander H., Moses N. and Nathan F. Seaver. Nathan's parents were Moses and Lucy (Carril) Seaver. I then checked the Worcester County probate records, which I had abstracted for all Seavers in the county, at least up to 1881. BINGO. Nathan F. Seaver wrote a will on 19 Feb 1865, probated on 1 Sep 1874. In the letters testamentary he named his brother Moses N. Seaver of Holden, his sister Susan Black of Worcester, and his sister Lucy Coggswell of West Peterborough NH. The papers are in Probate Packet 52913A at Worcester Court House. A transcript of the records are in Worcester County Probate Records 390:186, dated 8 Sep 1874. I'm not sure if this is the will only, or the letters also. The will (which I transcribed, they wouldn't make copies) does not mention any siblings, so I assume that the letters do. I looked at the probate packet at the court house back in 1994. To me, this is primary evidence that Lucy Coggswell and Susan Black are sisters of Nathan F. Seaver, and daughters of Nathan and Persis (Smith) Seaver of Holden. I have no data on Mr. Ryder or any children from that possible marriage. Lucy was awfully young to be a widow. I did not have either of them in my database, which points out another shortcoming in my work - I haven't entered all of the probate data! I have quite a good line from Nathan Seaver back to the immigrant Robert Seaver (Roxbury, 1634). Please email me at rjseaver@cox.net and I will make a genealogy report for you on the Seaver line, and some of the collateral lines (I descend from Moses Seaver's brother, Norman). I would appreciate details on the children of Stephen and Lucy (Seaver) Coggswell, if you don't mind - they were not on the WorldConnect list, although I did find some on the FamilySearch.org site. Regards -- Randy in San Diego ----- Original Message ----- From: "Nathan Tenny" <ntenny@qualcomm.com> To: <MAWORCES-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: 20 September, 2002 2:05 PM Subject: [MAWORCES] RYDER/SEAVER, Holden, ca. 1800-1820 > I feel kind of bad delurking with a request, but I'm hoping it'll be an > *easy* request, at least... > > I've got this dead end, a woman described (in Jameson, _Cogswells in > America_) as "Mrs. Lucy Ryder, nee Seaver, of Holden"; that description is > as of 1820, when she married a Stephen Cogswell in Rutland. > > Circumstantial evidence gives me the idea that she might have been widowed > in 1819 or early 1820. I presume "of Holden" means that she lived there > while married to Mr. Ryder, whoever he was---she appears to have been in > Rutland by August 1820, as she had a daughter Eliza b. 12 Aug 1820 in > Rutland---Jameson shows Eliza's father being Stephen Cogswell, but he > doesn't say how he knows, and to me it seems possible that Eliza was > actually a daughter of the mysterious Mr. Ryder. > > The 1800 census, insofar as I can read the handwriting, shows no Ryders > (nor Seavers, nor any variant spelling I could think of) in Holden. > > I'm trying, essentially, to collect enough pieces to have *something* more > than a name and marriage date for this woman. If someone can, for > instance, produce her first marriage for me, that would be someplace to > start...but anything at all would be much appreciated. > > Thanks > > NT > > > ==== MAWORCES Mailing List ==== > ####--- Need to UNsub for vacation or summer?? ---###### > Forget How to UN sub??? > http://lists.rootsweb.com/index/usa/MA/worcester.html >