Tags
Albion ME, Bry, Douglas, Douglass, Elliott, Penobscot Co ME, Stewart, Topsham ME, York ME
On this date in 1776 in Albion, Maine, two of my distant ancestors reportedly tied the knot. In commemoration of this presumably monumental event, I present the following genealogical lament:
The groom, William Douglas(s) by name, isn’t the problem – all available evidence indicates that he was the son of James and Margaret (Elliott) Douglass who were married in York, Maine in 1731 and later resided in Topsham, Maine. William is believed to have been born in the latter location around 1750.
The bride was the lovely (well, one hopes) and mysterious Eunice Bry. Or maybe Eunice Stewart. The intention says one thing, the marriage record another. Her given name was Eunice, at any rate. Her maiden name could have been Bry, deBry, Bray, Stewart, Stuart, Steward or heaven only knows what other variant.
It seems to me that there are two possible explanations for the two surnames. Eunice could have been a widow, one entry being under her maiden name and the other her married name. Or she could have been the daughter of a woman who’d been married more than once, with one entry made with her original birth name and the other with her stepfather’s surname. As far as I know, there isn’t a shred of evidence either way.
There is, however, a possible clue. The Douglas(s) family recycled names to a ridiculous degree. Children were named for their parents, their grandparents, their aunts, their uncles and, if that supply should be exhausted or unappealing for some reason, they started naming the kids after cousins. This wasn’t a family inclined to originality. A never-before-seen given name popping up in the family could well be significant and that is exactly what happened.
The given name Jeremiah appears to have been introduced into the line with the naming of Eunice’s third son. Her first son was named for his paternal grandfather, the second for his father, and in view of the naming traditions of the period, it would not be unreasonable to suppose that the third son could be named for his maternal grandfather or, given Douglas(s) naming habits, some other male in his mother’s family.
There was a Jeremiah Stewart in York, Maine during this period, of whom I have been able to learn little. It’s tempting to think there could be some connection. Father, brother, cousin, total stranger? Who knows? Some people say that pre-1900 New York state is the black hole of genealogy. Personally, I think early Maine is in the running for the title and the Douglas(s) clan is a good part of the reason why.