Exploring census records has provided me with a couple answers and a lot more questions. I have not had a lot of luck verifying the data from the published genealogies with these census records, so now I will investigate other types of records to see what I can turn up for the two men.
Exploring FamilySearch Record Search for the name Edward Mardin between 1750 and 1880 turned up nothing of value. Well, that’s not completely correct. I did find vital records for a grandchild which I will put aside for later. I also learned enough about the other Edwards found in the census to rule them out. I am now confident I have the correct census records for the family I am exploring.
I struck out completely at NEHGS. Very disappointing.
Heritage Quest Online pointed me to a published genealogy for the Edson family. This is confusing information but perhaps sheds a little light on Edward Jr’s last wife, Lydia. On page 146-147 of “Edson Family History and Genealogy: Descendants of Samuel Edson of Salem and Bridgewater, Mass, by Carroll Andrew Edson, 1969” it says
Abiram Edson (also called Byrine and Abram), … born Dec. 24, 1782, Westmoreland, N.H., married there, Sept. 27, 1803, Lydia Johnson, probably the daughter of Isaac Johnson and Mary Messer, born June 29, 1783, Walpole, N.H. He was in Lunenburgh, VT. in 1810 and 1820, and was in Massachusetts in the early 1820’s, and returned to Vermont. He was in Coventy, Orleans Co., VT. in 1830. He moved to Clintonville, Oneida Co., N.Y., Jan. 16, 1835. He later moved to Pike, Fulton, Ohio. She [Lydia] died, probably Mar. 8, 1866, Lowell, VT. He married, 2nd, Lucy ___, born in New York, about 1795. He was probably the Abiram Edson who died Apr. 24, 1859. Lydia probably married, 2nd, Edward Mardin, Apr. 24, 1851, Craftsbury, VT.
Did you get as lost as I did? Lydia was his 1st wife and she died in 1866 and she married 2nd in 1851. Mr. Edson died in 1859 and he had a 2nd wife. Ah, the math just doesn’t add up here. I guess they were divorced, but it would be nice for the author to say so. Maybe she got tired of moving around or he was a bigamist or the information is a pile of horse buns! Perhaps I’ll never know, but it does give me some clues to investigate.
Ancestry.com turns up a few good items of interest for Edward Sr., but nothing for Edward Jr. Military Records for Edward Sr. are plentiful. I found a pension card with his pension number which will be helpful when I go to Footnote.com. I’ll go over his pension file in a separate post, but here are some of the other details I found.
I found “Mardin Edward” listed on page 98 of “Indexes and Registers To Revolutionary War Military Bounty Land Warrants, 1788-1848”. His warrant Number was 3321 for 100 acres of land in the public domain. There is no date or other identifying information. The land was located in Ohio. A soldier had to move to Ohio or sell his land on the open market (to land speculators in many cases) in order to obtain any financial benefit.
Page 254 of the same index mentioned above gives us more detail about his Bounty Land Warrant. Warrant number 3321 was issued to Edward Mardin, corp, on the 13-Feb-1790 for 100 acres. Unfortunately, it doesn’t give me a state, town, regiment, age, or other identifying information, so I can’t be certain it is for Edward Sr. However, the fact I did not find any other Edward Mardins in the 1790 census increases the possibility of having the right person.
“U.S. Pensioners, 1818-1872” for New Hampshire has “Edward Mardin, private” collecting a pension of $8 per month recorded for March and September of 1833 and 1834 and March of 1835 from the Portsmouth Pension Office. There is a note that is unreadable, but perhaps says something about March 1835 (which is when Edward Sr. died).
Google Books took me to some nice resources for Edward Sr. most of which I will cover in my next post.
One that I will mention here relates to the original proprietors of the town of Whitefield, NH and is found on page 630-631 in “State of New Hampshire. Town Charters Granted Within the Present Limits of New Hampshire …, Volume XXV, compiled by Albert Stillman Batchellor, 1895”. The town’s Charter is dated July-1774 (before the war). The name “Edward Marden” appears as an original grantee. Page 458 of the “History of Coos County” has a record of lot assignments in Whitefiled dated 23-May-1776 which shows Edward Marden drew lot 31. This history also tells me no settlement was made in the town until 1802. On page 456 I learned a number of lots were resold for unpaid taxes. Original proprietors meetings were held in Dunstable, MA. Later they were held in Atkinson, NH. Yet another list of original Grantees shows “Edward Marden” holding lots 8 & 18 in range 23.
I need to look into this a bit more at a future date to see if this could be our Edward and if so, are there are clues to where he was living at the time of the charter. My gut says this is a man established in life enough to buy into the charter and probably not Edward Sr. who was only 19 or 20 at this time.
I looked into the History of Maidstone, VT mentioned by Getchell to see if there were any more clues. The source is “The Vermont Historical Gazetteer: A Magazine, Embracing a History of Each Town …, by Abby M. Hemenway, 1868.” Essentially it says a few men were settled at Maidstone between 1772 and 1774. These men were granted 100 acres each if they staid another 5 years. She lists the names of 12 men. One name stands out, that of Benjamin Whitcomb, the Major who recruited Edward Mardin at Northumberland in Dec-1776. The author then says
There were others, of a still earlier date, of whose names we have no record. One, Mr. Mardeen, lived near the small brook still bearing his name, which runs across the highway between Mr. Beattie’s and Dr. Dewey’s, probably as early as 1770. He might have been the first mechanic in town, as he was basket maker. A son of his, born about 1770, weighting two and a half pounds at birth, attained at full maturity to the very respectable weight of two hundred and some odd pounds – perhaps was the first child born in town.
This is very interesting and perhaps this is Edward Sr.. I see Maj. Whitcomb was there. When establishing his Ranger Company in late 1776, Whitcomb very likely recruited men he already knew and trusted. However, the author uses words such as “probably”, “perhaps”, and “might have” in this short paragraph and never gives us a first name or a name for the son. This work was published in 1868, likely the result of years if not decades of research. There may have been people alive that related this information to the author from first hand knowledge, but they would be elders with fading memories or folks repeating the stories of prior generations. In fact, Edward Jr. was still alive at this time, but it does not appear the author spoke to him. In any event, the author’s choice of words suggests she was not working with first hand information or questioned the reliability of her source.
She does say “Mr. Mardeen” was a basket maker and I know Edward Jr. and at least one of his sons was a basket makers. This book is published in 1868, long before the [Annis Genealogy], so the author can not be speculating based on something read in that publication. But the author may have spoken with someone that knew Edward Jr. was a basket maker and confused him with his father.
The date of birth for a son does not fit with our Edward at all. She tells us the son grew to be an adult, so it seems whatever family she is referring to was still known in the region after the war (when the son would be an adult). I have to wonder if she has not mixed up some oral traditions from two different families? Perhaps “Mr. Mardeen” was there as early as 1770 but it was another early settler that had the tiny son.
Well, I really bombed out investigating Edward Jr. However, I do have some nice stuff to show my readers as I begin exploring Edward Sr. in Revolutionary War period records.
There are 2 resources mentioned by [Getchell in the Marden Genealogy] that I would like to get copies of. They are located only at the New Hampshire Historical Society as far as I can tell.
- Family History of Lyman, NH by Eugene Dow [NHHS # 929.1778b L986d Box]
- Lisbon, NH families, compiled by Guy Scoby Rix [NHHS # 929.1778b L769]
My disabilities don’t allow me to get out much and Ne-Do-Ba exists on a shoestring budget. I am not too proud to ask for assistance!
Are any of my readers able to acquire relevant pages from these items for me?
The Ne-Do-Ba Research Journal 