The family of Nahum Holbrook 1781-1844

 Researching Nahum Holbrook's family has been a challenge.  I found no readily available list of his children with documentation, and only a couple of trees that listed his children without documentation.  I've also found some of his information mixed up with at least one other Nahum Holbrook.  So it's been fun, but this post is also not in as much depth as I would like.  It's just a start, for family members who would like to use this as a bare outline.  

Nahum was the son of Amariah and Molly Wright Holbrook and was born April 2, 1781 in Bellingham, Massachusetts, like all of his siblings and most of his many cousins.  He married Susannah Rockwood, daughter of Levi and Deborah Lazell Rockwood, in Bellingham on February 3, 1802.  Sometime between his marriage and 1810 he, like several of his siblings (Amariah, for one, and Susannah's father Levi Rockwood) had moved on to Hartford, Washington County, New York. Nahum was a lieutenant in the War of 1812 and was at the Battle of Plattsburg, defending our country against the British invaders.  This would have left Susannah at home with several small children.

Nahum and Susannah had at least 7 children, and tracing them has been interesting, to say the least.  

Amariah Wright Holbrook was born in 1804, supposedly in Bellingham but his name is not on their vital records, so I'm wondering if he was actually born in New York, or perhaps while his parents were en route there.  He married Polly Dixon, who may or may not have been the daughter of John Dixon of Hartford, NY (he is the only Dixon in 1820 in Hartford, but much more research would have to be done to confirm this potential relationship).  Their known children were Oscar, Orville, Martha, Polly, Amariah, John D, Joseph R, Dallas, and Deborah.  Amariah and Polly moved to Kosciusko County, Indiana and died there.  

Their first daughter, Lucinda (or Lucina), was born in 1803 and married Mason Slade, the son of Obediah and Sarah Lee Slade.  They had at least three children: William, Susan and Mason.  They stayed in Hartford, NY.  

Deborah was the next child, born in 1806.  I am not sure that she ever married.  She died in 1875, and her name is on a gravestone in Stephenson County, Illinois, along with her sister Mary, with "Holley" on the base of the stone.  Mary's story will come later in this post.  

Nahum, the second son, was born in 1809 but lived for just three years, dying in 1812.  We don't know the cause of death, but if it was a communicable disease the family was fortunate to lose just one of the children.

Susan was born in 1812, and she married her cousin, Levi Rockwood Jr, son of Levi and Deborah Lazell Rockwood.  Close relatives frequently married in those days, and there were not a lot of options in a town the size of Hartford (about 2200 in 1820).  They had a large family: Emeline, Martin, Nathan, Joseph, Cynthia, John, George, Mildred, and Byron.  After Levi died Susan married John Rice, but there were no children from this marriage.  

Their last son, Joseph Rockwood, was born January 4, 1814.  He married Mary Elizabeth Whittemore, daughter of Josiah and Betsy Foster Whittemore, and we will follow that family in a future post.  They were a pioneer family of Homewood, Cook County, Illinois, and they had seven children.

Finally, the last daughter, Mary, was born in 1818.  She married Benjamin J. Holley and they went to Stephenson County, Illinois.  They seem to have had just two children, Alice and George.  I haven't had any success in identifying Benjamin further, although the tombstone says that they-meaning Mary and Deborah Holbrook as well as, presumably, Benjamin- all came from "Old Adamsville", a hamlet on the edge of Hartford.  

The mystery this presents is all on the tombstone.  Why was Deborah also included on this stone?  She died about 22 years before Mary.  Was she a first wife of Benjamin, or was she perhaps a spinster who lived with her youngest sister after the death of their parents?  Did she have a physical or mental challenge that meant she needed help?  If I live long enough after writing these sketches about the families of our ancestors, that is something I would like to research.  

One thing that I've noticed about this family is that just as several of Nahum's siblings moved to New York, several of his children moved substantially further west.  With Mary and Deborah in Stephenson County, Joseph in Cook County, and Amariah in Kosciusko County, Indiana, were they ever able to gather for a family reunion of sorts, perhaps at Joseph's home, which was midway between the other two locations?  It would be nice to think that happened.