APHGA Blog Post for November 5, 2010

The Great A. A. Pomeroy Book Update Project

Lots of interesting Pomeroy mysteries these past two weeks: I’ve been reviewing unmatched Federal Census records for Connecticut and Massachusetts and posted three mysteries in the last post. This week I’ll describe a few of the dangling Pomeroys found in Massachusetts who are not connecting to the Eltweed line.

I found a Clarissa Pomeroy living in the Benjamin F. Lyman household in Westfield, MA from 1850 and 1860, then in the Frank Lyman household in Westfield in 1870 and a Louise Pomery in the Herbert Lyman household in Westfield in 1880. Louise was identified as the mother of Herbert who was 33, Louise was 88. Herbert was living in the Benjamin Lyman household in the 1850 and 1860 census and I guessed that he was the son of Benjamin and Mary L. Lyman, which made me wonder whether Mary was a Pomeroy. I found a marriage announcement in the Springfield Republican paper dated 9 Jan 1845: "At Westfield, on the 7th, by the Rev. E. Davis, Mr. Benj. F. Lyman and Miss Mary L. Pomeroy."
Mary was born abt 1819, Benjamin Frank Lyman (identified as Frank in 1870 Census) was born about 1819, Clarissa born about 1791, all in MA.

According to Mary L. Lyman's death certificate transcription on FamilySearch.org, Mary's parents were Horace and Clarissa Pomeroy. She was born about 1818 in Southwick, MA and died 6 Nov 1872 in Westfield. There was a Horace Pomeroy family living in Westfield according to the 1820 US Federal Census. The family consisted of 2 free white males under 10, 1 free white male of 26 and under 45, 1 free white female under 10, 1 free white female of 26 and under 45 and one free black male under 14.

A notice was placed in the Hampden Federalist Newspaper on Dec 26, 1820, identifying Clarissa Pomeroy as the lawful administrator of the estate of Horace Pomeroy, late of Westfield, and in December of 1821 his property in Westfield was sold by Clarissa.

I found Clarissa living in the Daniel Hough household in Westfield according to the 1855 Massachusetts State Census. Also in the household is a Lucy Pomeroy, 19, b. MA. I also found a transcription of a death certificate for a Clarissa Hayes Pomeroy, born 1792 in Southwick (note that Mary L. Pomeroy was also born in Southwick), who died 27 Oct 1882 in Westfield, MA. Her marital status was widowed. I believe she was the mother of Mary L. Pomeroy. Her father's name was identified as Moses.

In researching the Daniel Hough household I found (on FamilySearch.org) a transcription of a marriage record for Daniel Hough and Catherine Hayes on 30 Mar 1843 in Westfield, MA. I also found a transcription of a death record for Catherine Hayes Hough, born 1814 in Southwick, MA, who died 23 Oct 1882 in Westfield, MA. I believe that Catherine was a sister (or daughter?) of Clarissa, which would explain why Clarissa was living in the Daniel Hough household in 1855. Isn’t it odd that Clarissa and Catherine died within four days of each other?

Who is Horace Pomeroy? I have only been able to find him listed in the 1820 US Federal Census. He is not found in the A.A. Pomeroy book, but it seems possible, based on his location, that he is descended from Eltweed. Is anyone researching this family?

I also come across a Henry F. Pomeroy, born about 1807, identified in a newspaper article as "of Savoy" Berkshire Co., MA. He married Mary Ann Pratt and the couple also lived in Windsor, Berkshire Co., MA (enumerated next to Mary Ann's father Josiah in the 1840 US Federal Census), then in Chicopee, Hampden Co., MA and Agawam, Hampden Co. MA. The couple had at least one child, Benjamin F. Pomeroy, b. abt 1829 in Windsor, MA who married Philinda H. Lernard in Chicopee in 1851. Based on where Henry is living, I think he is likely a son of Aaron Pomeroy Jr., (Aaron, Samuel French, Samuel, Caleb, Eltweed) but I haven't been able to prove this yet. Is anyone else researching this family?

Mary Ann is doing research in Boise, ID, at their state historical society. If you need help with Idaho Pomeroys, contact me or leave a message on the APHGA MyFamily.com site so that Mary Ann can respond.


The Pomeroy Collection

Tammy continues her work inventorying, digitizing and applying metadata to the digitized images of the collection. She is currently working on several boxes of memorabilia related to Bill’s mother’s side of the family.

We received an e-mail from a scholar who had written an article about Seth Pomeroy that will be published in the journal Early American Review in December. He will be mentioning the APHGA and the Pomeroy Anvil Trail in the article. We are thrilled! He also asked if we have an image of Seth Pomeroy. We have in the collection an interesting commemorative coin or medal with an image of Seth, Joseph Hawley and Caleb Strong. The coin commemorates the American Revolution Bicentennial in Northampton, MA. We have no idea where the image for Seth came from, but would love to find out. Seth has a wide face, a square jaw line and long, straight hair. I’ll post an image of the coin on the APHGA MyFamily.com site. If you’re a Pomeroy researcher and aren’t a member of the APHGA, please e-mail me at roots@cxtec.com for an invitation to the site.

The Pomeroy Anvil Trail

I’ve started to add images of the Pomeroy Anvil Trail Monuments to my Facebook page – if you are a member of the APHGA and have a Facebook account, send me a request to be friends! It’s time to start looking at new sites for monuments, if anyone has any ideas, please let me know!

The Mary Ann Coe Project

Pat’s been busy entering information on early Pompey residents into our Early Pompey database. We’re looking to see which residents of the Pompey area also moved to Huron County, Ohio as Mary Ann did. We’ve already found several and it’s making a very interesting study of migration patterns.

The Mary Ann Coe song is percolating in my brain, perhaps it will brew into something this weekend. The image of Mary Ann with silk parasol and fan running barefoot away from Pompey keeps going through my mind. But what rhymes with Junkins?

We’ve added 1276 people, 488 sources and 7132 citations to our genealogy databases since I last posted our figures!