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Benjamin Wilcox Tanner and Polly Pettingal

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Benjamin Wilcox Tanner and Polly Pettingal

Posted: 16 Jul 2015 12:37PM GMT
Classification: Query
Surnames: Tanner, Pettingal, Keech, Welch, Sherman, Tuttle, Caulkins, Agar, Dimmick, Darbey or Derby
July 15-2015:

Have just stumbled on a legal notice which appeared in an old newspaper, very long, about property settlement that Harriet was involved in, mentions her deceased husband Amos Tanner, her children John Tanner, Lorinda Tanner and Melvin Tanner, mentions her now living husband Charles Welch....I wonder if Cynthia Tanner's middle name was Lorinda, because she was most clearly Cynthia L. on my other records for her?

Taken from the Albany New York ARGUS which was published at Albany, NYS between 1828 and 1856.

The date of this notice was 10th day of April 1846.

To the Judges of the Court of Common Pleas in and for the County of Jefferson:

The petition of Olney Sherman, for himself and in behalf of Polly Sherman his wife, both of the town of Orleans, County of Jefferson, sheweth that the said Olney Sherman petitioner and his wife, together with Ashley Tanner, Benjamin Tanner, Minerva Tuttle and Jeremiah Tuttle her husband, Sally Caulkins and Silas Caulkins her husband, Rachel Agar and Jesse Agar her husband; Dolly Dimmick and John Dimmick her husband; Harriet Welch and Charles Welch her husband, the said Harriet being formerly the wife of Amos Tanner, deceased; Hannah Darbey and Rue Darbey her husband (Note from Nora: apparently his first given name was Rice not Rue); Polly Tanner widow of Benjamin Tanner, deceased.

Also Lorinda Tanner, John Tanner and Melvin Tanner, minor children of Amos Tanner, deceased, hold and are possessed as tenants in common of certain lands and tenements in the town of Alexandria of about 75 acres or less.....(more info in this notice, all to do with the land description and how it is to be divided but I did not copy it here)...

the recipients being: (my notations here in brackets as to who each person was):

Olney Sherman (married to Polly Tanner daughter of Benjamin and Polly Tanner)
Ashley Tanner (son of Benjamin Tanner and Polly P.)
Benjamin Tanner (ditto)
Minerva Tuttle (daughter of Benj. and Polly, married to Jeremiah Tuttle)
Sally Caulkins (daughter of Benj. and Polly, married to Silas Caulkins)
Rachel Agar (daughter of Benj. and Polly, married to Jesse Agar)
Dolly Dimmick (daughter of Benj. and Polly, married to John Dimmick)
Hannah Darbey (daughter of Benj. and Polly, married to Rice William Darbey or Derby)

and one ninth part to 3 minor children John, Lorinda and Melvin Tanner as dower right of their mother Harriet's inheritance, (she being the widow of the deceased Amos Tanner, he the son of Benjamon and Polly).
************************************

In regards to Harriet, I have never been able to find out her maiden name. She was most likely from Jefferson County or Otsego County, where the Tanner family lived prior to their marriage. After Amos died in 1840, Harriet re-married to Charles Welch of Jefferson County, NYS, (prior to this document April 1846) and had five more children.

I see Harriet and Amos' son John Tanner on the 1850 census in Alexandria, Jefferson County, New York living with a Stratton family. What happened to him after that?

I cannot find Melvin Tanner on the 1850 census anywhere- what happened to him after 1846?
Until I found this document, I had no idea he existed, always knew there was a John Tanner and a daughter, but did not know about Melvin.

The daughter who was named as Lorinda Tanner in this document was Cynthia Lorinda Tanner born about 1835; she married James Harvey Keech on March 10 1854. He had been born in Oneida County and had moved to Lennox and Addington County, Ontario, Canada with his parents Albert Keech and Nancy Ann Haynes as a child. In the year 1850 he was working as a lumberman in Alexandria, Jefferson County, New York and that is no doubt where he met Cynthia. In the year 1850 Cynthia is 17 years old, single and living with her re-married mother Harriet, her step father Charles Welch, and several siblings also at Alexandria. James Harvey Keech and Cynthia moved back to Ontario. Cynthia died in 1880 and is buried in Lennox and Addington County, Ontario. Her husband lived until 1916 and did re-marry. I am not sure if James H. and Cynthia had children- there is a young girl named Alice Keech who appears with them on the 1871 census, age 5 years; but I have never been able to find her after that to confirm names of her parents.

If you have additional info, or questions, please post here.

Thx from NORA





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