| Notes |
- Her obituary in the Suffolk County News says her maiden name is "Arthur", but death certificate shows father as 'William Sweezey', and mother as 'Mary Arthur'?? All dates except marriage info comes from Death Certificate and Obit in Suffolk County News. Marriage date is approximate. 1900 census says she had 5 children and 3 still living. I am assuming that John S. Arthur is her brother because I know her last name is Arthur, John is living with Anna in the 1870 census. I do not see Anna living with any Arthur family in the 1850 census for Suffolk or Queens County. She would have been 10 years old at the time. Also, the index that I used to search for her in 1850 should have listed her if she was living with another family. I do not know why I do not see her in 1850, according to her obit, she was a native of St. James (Smithtown).
I reviewed Anna's obituary and death certificate: Her obituary says her maiden name was Arthur, and that she came from St. James (which I believe was part of Smithtown when she was born). Her death certificate says her mother's name was "Mary Arthur", born in NY, and her father's name was "William Sweezy", born in NY. Maybe this was a mistake, and her father's name was William Arthur. I will look for a William Arthur from Smithtown in the 1840, and 1850 census. I just found a William Arthur living in Smithtown in the 1830 census, next door to John S. Arthur. This would make more sense, and then John S. Arthur Jr. would be her cousin, assuming John Sr. and William were brothers. I do not see William in the 1850 census for Smithtown, but I see an "Amri B. Arthur" in Smithtown. I wonder if this could be "Anna Marie". Amri sounds like "Anne Marie" if you say it fast. I will have to check the actual microfilm to see what I can discover. I just checked the census, Amri B. Arthur turned out to be a 23 year old male. I really can't find an "Arthur" in the 1850 census that is definitely Anna. Maybe she was 'farmed out' as a domestic in 1850 and that is why I cannot find her. The index I was using only showed the Head of Household, and I would then use the page number to look up the rest of the people living with the HH. But if Anna was living with a different family, I would not see her in the index. Plus, even if I find her living with another family by searching the actual microfilm, it probably would not give me any information as to her parents. And 1850 is the only census that she would show up in with her family. She is living with her husband in the 1860 census, and if she was indeed born in November of 1840, she might not be in the 1840 census either.
Since I cannot find Anna Marie living with any Arthur family in the 1850 census, I am going to assume that she was living with another family that was not an 'Arthur'. Using this logic, the most likely 'fit' would be John Smith Arthur. The 1850 census shows that John's wife's name is Mary, and John S. Jr. is living with them and is assumed he is their son. Also, since I know that Anna's death certificate is incorrect concerning her father (he could not be William Sweezey), this takes me full circle and I am going to again show John Smith Arthur as Anna's father. I could still be wrong, but I do not think so. Her obit says Anna came from St. James, NY, which means she was most likely born in Smithtown, and must be a daughter of one of the 9 families of Arthur's living in Suffolk Co., that could possibly have a 10 year old daughter in 1850. Of these 9, I can almost immediately eliminate 6 of them for other reasons, and of the last 3, only John Smith Arthur has a wife named Mary and the only one of the 3 living in Smithtown. I will keep looking for confirmation, but I believe I am correct.
I have just reversed myself again. I am not going to show John Smith Arthur as Anna Maria's father. This is based upon the information from the Woodhull genealogy that states John Smith Arthur and Mary Woodhull did not have any children. It was a good theory accept for this fact, if it is true. There is still a possibility that the statement is incorrect, and then Anna could be the daughter of John and Mary. I will keep looking.
I bought a copy of "The Family of Richard Smith of Smithtown, Long Island, Ten Generations". It refers to the same John Smith Arthur, and mentions that a John Smith Arthur, Jr. was living with them in 1850, and suggests he is an adopted son. This could be interesting - maybe they also adopted Anna Maria Arthur, and that is why I am not able to find her parents. But I would still expect to see her in the 1850 census with John and Mary Arthur, unless she was adopted after the age of 10???? This could explain why on Anna Maria's death certificate, it lists her father as "William Sweezy".
My problem with the death certificate that claims Anna's father was "William Sweezy", is that I could find no William Sweezy from Long Island that could be her father. All the William Sweezeys from Long Island are accounted for, and none of them would fit for having a daughter named Anna born in 1840.
After reviewing the 1840 census for the 50th time, I see a Jonas Arthur living in Smithtown. He is a 40-50 year old. The oldest female in the house is between 20 and 30 years old. This could mean that Jonas remarried a much younger woman, or maybe the 20 to 30 year old male living with Jonas is his son, who is married to the 20-30 year old female living with them. What is interesting, is that there is a 0-5 year old female living with them, which could be this Anna Maria Arthur. I have no information on the parents of Jonas Arthur. I am only sure of one of his sons, Ephraim, who shows up in the 1850 census. Ephraim is not the oldest son living with Jonas in the 1840 census. Now, also living a couple houses down from Jonas is a John Arthur, aged 20-30, living with a number of adult females. These two families look like a good possibility for the parents of Anna Maria. If the youngest female living in the Jonas household is Anna Maria, she could be the daughter of either Jonas, or the oldest son living with Jonas. I will try to find as much information on Jonas as I can find.
I just found somthing in the 26 Sept 1891 edition of the Suffolk County News. here is the article:
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Mr. Scudder L'Hommedieu, step-father of Mrs. Platt Sweezy, who has been very ill for the past year, died on Friday evening last, at the age of 71 years. The funeral was held from the church on Monday afternoon, the Rev. Alexander Graham officiating. Internment in Union Cemetery.
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I need to review the census. I should at least be able to discover her mother's name.
I just found a genealogy chart at Ancestry.com for Scudder L'Hommedieu and his ancestors. It lists his wife as "Mary Elizabeth Woodhull", no other information about her other than her name. It does list his parents, and his mother's parents. I should be able to tie them in with my database. The owner of the genealogy chart is a Lorraine Carter. I will see if I can contact her and get further information. There is a very good chance that Anna's mother's name is "Mary Elizabeth Woodhull", born 1814.
I cannot find Scudder or Mary in the 1850 or 1860 census for Suffolk County. This probably makes sense, since Anna was probably living with them at the time, and most likely was listed as "Anna Arthur". Since I could not find Anna anywhere in the 1850 census, it would explain why I could not find her step-father. For some reason, they did not get listed in the 1850 census. Not sure why Scudder is not listed in 1860. His name is unusual enough that I should be able to find him.
I just found them!!!! The index had Scudder listed as "Seudder L Hommedien", which is why I had so much trouble locating him. Here is the information:
1850 Census - Living in Brookhaven, Suffolk Co., NY (29) with wife Mary (38) and children: Ann (11), Amelia F. (3) and George S. (1). Living next door is brother Charles.
1860 Census - I cannot find any of these people in this census.
1870 Census - Living in Sayville, Suffolk Co., NY, next door to Nelson and Anna. Scudder L'Hommedieu (45) with wife Mary (50) and children: George (20) and Charles (17). All born in NY.
1880 Census - Living in Sayville, right next door to Anna and Nelson. Scudder is 50 (I believe this should be 60), and wife Mary is 66, with children: George (29), Charles (27) and his wife Viola (20) and their children: Flora (2) and Edward (3/12). Everyone born in NY, except Viola's parents (England).
I just found another article, dated November 1894, which mentions a John Arthur, formerly of Sayville, attending the funeral of his half-brother George L'Hommedieu. This confirms my theory that John is Anna's brother. Nice to finally have confirmation, as well as confirming her maiden name is "Arthur".
I may have found another sibling for Anna and John. I found something in the 1870 census:
In the 1870 census, I have a listing for an Augustus Arthur, born 1835, living in Smithtown. Augustus appears to have a 24 year old wife named Charlotte, with a son named Scudder (2). Plus there is a 5 year old named Edward Ketchum, who might be a son of Charlotte from a previous marriage to a Ketchum.
I could not find Augustus in the 1850 and 1860 census. My feeling is that he could be living with his mother Mary and his step-father Scudder L'Hommedieu. Since I could not locate Scudder and his family in 1850 and 1860, it is conceivable that it is for the same reason that I could not find Augustus Arthur in these two census.
I was able to find Augustus' wife Charlotte in the 1860 census, but something is strange. Charlotte is 14 and living with a Nancy Ketcham (58), and, she is listed as "Charlotte Nichols"!!! Nobody else in the household.
I discovered who Charity Nichols is - the 1880 census has Edward Ketcham (born 1865) living with Nancy Ketcham, and he is listed as 'nephew'.
I just found a death listing for Augustus in The Long Island Traveler (Southold). It says he died 30 July (1874) in Sayville at age 43. I believe this is the right person (I could find no other references to another Augustus Arthur living in Suffolk County around this time period), even though his age is off by a few years from the 1870 census. If Augustus is a brother to Anna and John, and he died in Sayville, there is a good chance he is buried in Union Cemetery with other members of this extended family. I will have to search the cemetery the next time I am in NY. Augustus' death is also listed in the Republican Watchman. Exact same information as the Long Island Traveller.
I also found this in the Republican Watchman:
Feb 26, 1873 Patchogue Mrs. Aug. Arthur 28
This appears to be Augustus' wife Charlotte, whose age matches perfectly with the 1860 and 1870 census for Charlotte Nichols. It would also explain why I do not see this family in 1880. I am not sure what happened to son Scudder in 1880.
Well, I found Scudder and his family in the 1850 census, but unfortunately, there is no Augustus Arthur living with them. There is still a chance that Augustus is part of this family, he may have been living with another family in 1850, but, I was not able to find anyone named Augustus in the 1850 census for Suffolk County that could be this person. He might have been listed under a different name in 1850, or was just missed altogether.
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