Today’s post is an update on my quest to join the General Society of Mayflower Descendants (or “Mayflower Society).
I mailed off my application, fees, and dues to the Society of Mayflower Descendants in the Sate of California on May 1, and hope to hear back from them with a worksheet in the coming week.
I finally received the two Washington birth certificates I wrote away for (for my father and paternal grandmother), and I’ve got to say I’m a bit disappointed in the results. Whereas previously I’ve gotten a certified photocopy of the actual record, this time I was only given incomplete transcripts of the originals. I suppose they’re trying to prevent undue wear and tear on the originals, but it’s still disappointing.
I also heard back from Larimer County, Colorado about my great-grandmother Lucinda Tracy Bailey’s birth certificate. More disappointment there:
The note at the bottom reads:
Unable to locate record. Prior to 1930 birth + death records were not required to be registered. I believe this record does not exist. I have enclosed an application to the State Vital Records office in Denver. The state charges $17.75 for a search. If the record exists they will send it to you, but if the record does not exist, you will not get your fees returned to you.
Oddly, the application to the Colorado State Vital Records office was not included, but it can be found online here.
I think I have enough to establish that Lucinda Tracy Bailey is the daughter of William Noble Bailey and Ellen Caroline Severson, despite not having a birth certificate. I have a certified copy of her marriage record from 1912 that lists her parents and I have the 1900 and 1910 censuses that both show her living at home with her parents. Unfortunately, she was born in 1887, so too late for the 1885 Colorado state census (the last for Colorado), and the 1890 U.S. census was notoriously almost completely destroyed, partly by accident (fire), and partially willfully (the federal archivist’s decision to toss the rest). Washington state took their last census in 1898, but Lucinda’s youngest sibling Dorothy Mary Bailey was born in Henrietta, Texas, on October 7, 1897, so her family may not have moved to Washington in time for the 1898 state census. In any case, I found no record of her or her family on that census.
I found a certified copy of William Noble Bailey’s death certificate, which corroborates the nameless birth certificate I received. His parents’ names (William Alonzo Bailey and Catherine Noble) are listed, as is his birthdate (June 22, 1860). His death certificate also corroborates his marriage to Ellen Caroline Bailey, although her name is spelled “Carolina Bailey.”
I found a certified copy of Ellen Caroline (Severson) Bailey’s death certificate, which lists her father’s surname, but not his first name nor the name of her mother. It does, however, corroborate her marriage to William Noble Bailey, as well as presenting her birthdate and birth place.
I also found a record of the marriage of Alonzo B. Bailey and Catherine Nobel. It is not a legal certificate, but rather a record found in the Index, Willington First Congregational Church, 1759–1911, compiled by the Connecticut State Library in 1943. The original records that this volume indexes were donated to the Connecticut State Library in 1938.
Records marked “NER” (such as Alonzo and Catherine’s, above) indicate that the records had previously been extracted by Mary K. Talcott and published in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. In this case, the record of their marriage was published on page 220 of volume 67 of the New England Historical and Genealogical Register. I believe that journal is considered an accepted authority for purposes of Mayflower Society pedigrees.
Corroborating the above record is the following extract from The Hartford Times (Connecticut), recording that notice of their marriage on January 15, 1857, was published in The Hartford Times on January 31, 1857:
This record was published in an 11-volume set entitled Connecticut newspaper notices of marriages and deaths. Charles R. Hales’s collection “The Hartford Times.” January 1, 1817–December 29, 1866 … A complete list of marriages and deaths covering fifty years based upon information obtained from issues on file at the Hartford Time, the Connecticut State Library, the Connecticut Historical Society of Hartford, Connecticut; the Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut; and the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester, Massachusetts. Compiled under the direction of Charles R. Hale, and the supervision of Miss Mary H. Babin. Hartford, Connecticut, January 21, 1937.
Finally, while I doubt that this will be considered sufficient to prove the facts that are stated therein, I found that Catherine Noble and her parents Solomon Noble and Dorcas Vinton are listed on page 440 of Lucius M. Boltwood’s 1878 volume, History and Genealogy of the Family of Thomas Noble, of Westfied, Massachusetts: With Genealogical Notes of Other Families by the Name of Noble.
If this source were accepted at face value, then this would tie Dorcas Vinton to her father in my pedigree. Would that it were that easy.
Well, that’s it for today. Here’s my updated progress chart (dark blue means proven, light blue means possibly proven, and brown means not yet proven):