30-year quest for mysterious mom of twins

In the world of genealogy, mothers can be very mysterious.

In the July issue of The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, the quarterly of the New England Historic Genealogical Society, Sidney Alayne Howk Price goes “In Search of the Mother of Wheelock Bingham: The Children of Hannah (Davis) Dingley of Lebanon and Windham, Connecticut.”

It was a search, she said, which took 30 years.

Lots of evidence pointed to a mother named Betsy Huntington, but it was erroneous. Beulah Loomis also proved to be the wrong woman, though both were wives of Augustus Wheelock Bingham.

Rather, twins Augustus and Wheelock Bingham were born in 1783 to Hannah Davis and Augustus Wheelock Bingham, though they never married.

It was not a will, exactly, but a deed of distribution that included Augustus and Wheelock among the recipients.

Sidney Price has been a volunteer in the Public Affairs Unit of the Family History Library at Salt Lake City, and she obviously knows her research techniques.

Also in this issue of The Register are:

. “From One Boston to Another: Notes on the Ancestry of Mary (Jackson) Woodward,” by John Anderson Brayton. This piece references The Maine Genealogist’s 1998 article by Doris J. Woodward and Patricia Law Hatcher, “The English Origins of Nathaniel Woodward, Early Settler of Boston, Massachusetts, and Ancestor of Beamsley Woodward of Maine.” Brayton called the 1998 article “a masterpiece of research.”

. “Mary Richardson, Wife of Abraham Cummings of Woburn and Attleborough, Massachusetts,” by Sherry A. Milham.

. “Zaccheus Tobey (1757-1839) of Dartmouth and Conway, Massachusetts, and Otsego County, New York,” by Sarah Hildreth Ball.

. “John Mighill of Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Connecticut,” by Gale Ion Harris.

. “Burial Records from the Account Book of Thomas Clap of Dorchester, Massachusetts, 1762-1797,” by David Allen Lambert.

. “New England Articles in Genealogical Journals in 2002,” by Henry B. Hoff.

The minutes of the New Brunswick Genealogical Society, Charlotte Branch, contain information of upcoming interesting events:

. Saint John Genealogical Fair, Sept. 18, 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Millidgeville North High School cafeteria. E-mail Joan Pearce, pearcer@nbnet.nb.ca, or call (506) 652-1551.

. NBGS, Charlotte Branch, Sept. 11, 11:30 a.m.-2 p.m. potluck meeting at Bill Garcelon’s, 3690 Bayside, No. 127. Bring something to share. For information, contact Garcelon, branch president, at (506) 529-4860.

. NBGS, Charlotte Branch, Oct. 2, noon, St. Croix Public Library, 11 King St., St. Stephen, New Brunswick. Jessie MacLeod will present a program on scrapbooking, with ways to improve photographic and scrapbook material.

For information on the Charlotte Branch, just over the border from Maine, you also may e-mail Cal and Barb Craig at craigcb1104@hotmail.com.

Next week we’ll issue a reminder of the Sept. 11 conference of the Maine Genealogical Society, to be held at Hermon High School.

The 109th Wing Family Reunion will begin at 10 a.m. Sunday, Sept. 5, at the Wing Pavilion in Philips. A meeting will be held at 10 a.m., followed by a luncheon, auction, entertainment and games. Attendees are asked to bring a dish for the luncheon and an item for the auction. For information, call 249-5137.

The Wassebec Genealogical Society will meet at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 9, in the conference room at Mayo Regional Hospital on Main Street in Dover-Foxcroft.

Ron Fortier of Ellsworth will speak on his extensive Piscataquis County genealogical data collection, including the records of the late Charlotte Nicely of Atkinson. For directions or further information, contact Nancy Battick at 564-3576 or e-mail wassebec@yahoo.com.

3287. BABCOCK-HOWARD-PEASLEY. Seeking parents, ancestry for Harriett Babcock, b. 1865 in West Gardiner, married before 1892-1893 to Angelo Howard, b. 1848, Washington, son of Micah Howard and Mary Ann (Peasley) and grandson of Micah Howard and Betsey (Young) and of Alexander Peasley and Harriet (Bookins). Danny W. Howard, DECF 64 Base Road, Machiasport 04655.

3288. KENNEDY-FOLSOME. Seeking parents, ancestry for Samuel Kennedy Jr., b. April 6, 1814; d. July 26, 1887, town of Jefferson. He married Sarah Folsome, b. 1816, d. April 19, 1868, Jefferson. Marriage intentions filed in Lincolnville. Records state “They were both of this town.” Danny W. Howard, DECF 64 Base Road, Machiasport 04655.

Send genealogy queries to Family Ties, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; or send e-mail to familyti@bangordailynews.net.