A Sister for Zeruah

AND TALES OF THE LEECH KEEPER

(Author's note: A tale that just had to be told.)

L. Boilly, 1827 — a leech being applied, for purely decorative and thematic purposes. No known relation to Stillman Burr, but the timing is awfully apt.

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THERE WAS NO WAY in Hell I was ever doing "this" again. I mean, who really cares about any of this crap anyway? But the garrulous squirrels of my mind have never allowed me to be silenced when it comes to such things; they convince and conspire to advise me once again that "letting all of it go" would be antithetical to my nature, if not to the greater good of the genealogical cause. It would certainly return to the muck from which it sprang, and the not-telling of it would be as great a sin as boring or offending anyone in the telling. Whatever anecdotes and obscurities come of it, the benefits of the telling surely outweigh whatever safety net the not-telling might have offered.

Did you get all that word salad?

Madness.

Of course, then too, there "it" was—"that very well-defined obscurity"—staring me in the face. What could I do but laugh? It all seemed too serendipitous, if not somehow too clever, not to share with the clan.

Above: Cortland County Historical Society, 1957 — the actual ledger excerpt. Note it sits sandwiched between the 1827 and 1828 potash-price entries, which is the closest thing to a date this entry has ever had.

You see, there Old Stillman Burr was, cleaning his leeches—or getting paid to keep them in proper order.

Say what? Well, a boy's gotta pay the rent, right?

Yes, I've looked for him before. I've even written about him before—my great-great-great grandfather Stillman Burr (b. ca. 1797, d. aft. 1880)—but always without much success in gleaning his parentage or his origins. And indeed, with regard to dear Grandpa Burr, not much has changed—other than a wee bit o' light being shed on his new and great occupation of bloodletting and cleaning leeches. How cool is that? It's so medicinal and practical. How could I not be impressed by it all?

In truth, though, what follows here isn't really a story about Stillman Burr at all, or a missive on some lost tome called The Care and Purging of Medicinal Leeches, by S. Burr, Esq. And as I mentioned, despite my best efforts, I still can't leech much more out about Stillman's identity than I could a couple of years back. Was he a Burr? Was he a Stillman?

https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2017/09/who-was-stillman-burr

But no, sadly, this post isn't about Stillman at all—though the dear, young, strapping, newly wedded husband will most assuredly enter into this latest family history tale with his lovely leeches. Rather, it's about his wife, the lovely and talented Zeruah.

You see, up until now I only thought I had her identified—Zeruah, that is, wife of Stillman Burr. I only thought I had it all figured out. Then, in light of my recent activity cavorting in early nineteenth-century New York, and in clarifying the identity of Ruth (Fuller) Francisco of Whitehall, I thought that, absent any news of our Great Keeper of Leeches, I might just take a second look at the lovely Zeruah. And while I thought I knew about "all things Zeruah"—really, all I've had is a leech-filled road map—it dawned on me that when it comes to my great-great-great grandmother Zeruah, I needed to prove it. (I would just have to leave her leech-cleaning husband Stillman on the back burner and in the murky family tree marshes for another day.)

Zeruah (Kenyon) Burr was my maternal grandmother's great-grandmother. Zeruah was born ca. 1793 in New Hampshire and died April 2, 1867, in Sarpy County, Nebraska. She married our hero Stillman Burr on December 25, 1817, at Woodstock, Vermont. That much is known and, in a word, proven. We know this because "Zeruah Burr" is buried with her daughters Mary Ann (Burr) Sage and Ruth (Burr) Wilson at the rural Wilson Family Cemetery on private property in Sarpy County, NE. Up until about a decade ago, not even this much was known or proven. So while it may not seem like much, we really have been able to push the lines back and "prove Zeruah" up to a point. It is from here, though, that things get a little sucky. So settle in, grab one of Grandpa Burr's famous leeches, and let's see where the story of the lovely Zeruah takes us.

Above: the headstone of Mary A. (Burr) Sage, wife of Selah Sage, d. Apr. 12, 1872, aged 50 yrs., 7 mos., 23 ds. — Zeruah's daughter, and one of the two daughters buried beside her. (Worth a small honest flag: the stone's own age-at-death calculation puts her birth around 20 Aug 1821, a few weeks off from the "10 Sep 1821" some databases list — the usual small discrepancy this family seems allergic to avoiding.)

Above: Zeruah Burr's own headstone, Wilson Family Cemetery, Sarpy County, NE — "Died April 2, 1867, Age 74 yrs." (1867 minus 74 lands right on that ca. 1793 birth year, for what it's worth.)

Conventional family trees have always cited, without proof, that Zeruah's parents are Alexander Kenyon and his wife, Ruth Babcock. However, there is no New Hampshire birth record for Zeruah. There is no 1793 record (thus far) naming her parents, and indeed the only record we have that Zeruah's maiden name was even "Kenyon" comes from a transcribed copy of her marriage license to the Great Leech Master himself, Stillman Burr. Still, it's better than nothing, and that marriage record has been a pivotal place to start. Equally important, Zeruah and Stillman's marriage record also states where their marriage took place—Woodstock, Vermont—a place that will be key to Zeruah's story and to the proof argument linking her to her parents, Alex and Ruthie.

Above: the marriage record itself — Zeruah Kenyon to Stillman Burr, Woodstock, Dec. 25, 1817, Joseph Baker officiating. Note the blank Father's Name and Mother's Name fields — the whole reason any of this needed proving in the first place.

Now, putting Zeruah aside for just a moment, we need to take a particular look at her father, Alexander Kenyon. Alexander's wife (and Zeruah's presumed mother) was Ruth Babcock, and while the Kenyons are "decently documented," the Babcock clan is VERY well documented, at least in terms of having a better-than-average number of vital records and published secondary sources. If all of that seems like too much falderal to keep track of, well, it is. However, if you can, keep all of these things in mind—we will need each and all of them, considered together, to make a reasonable "proof argument" that Alexander Kenyon and Ruth Babcock are the mom and dad of our dear Zeruah.

To get there, we've had to start with the Grateful Dead. (No, not those dead... duh.)

Nope, we're gonna start with Alexander Kenyon and his application for—and "gratitude" at being awarded—a Revolutionary War pension. And while it might seem like an odd place to start, Alexander (and later his lovely wife, Ruth Babcock Kenyon) did us a huge favor. You see, in his Revolutionary War pension declarations, our boy Alexander told us "where he was and where he went."

And one of those places Alexander Kenyon (and his well-storied wife, Ruth Babcock) went to was, well, you guessed it: "Woodstock, Vermont."

Above: (abbreviate

d) Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty-Land Warrant Application File W21507 (declarations) of Alexander "Kinyon" of Rhode Island

Now, Alexander was no rocket scientist—I think he and Ruth were good folks, but they weren't smart enough to state the names of their children in the pension application file, only to have it stated within that file, by others, that they did have children, "some over the age of sixty years," in 1844. However, be that as it may, Alexander's Revolutionary War–era pension gives us a great travel log that takes us from his and Ruthie's Seventh Day Baptist roots in Rhode Island, to Plainfield, in what is now Sullivan County, New Hampshire, to Woodstock, VT, and finally to Scott, Cortland County, New York, where, sadly, these two heroes of our story meet their end against an 1840s skyline.

Oddly, there's something else going on when they arrive.

Look who else is living in the town of Scott, Cortland County, New York, when they get there.

A certain leech cleaner by the name of Stillman Burr... oh, and his wife, Zeruah.

Above: Stillman Burr's own household, 1830 census, Scott, Cortland County, NY — two boys, two girls, and Stillman himself, aged 30–40.

A Zeruah Burr, whose maiden name just happens to be listed as "Kenyon" on her marriage record to Stillman "leech cleaner" Burr—and who also happened to get married in the blustery year of 1817 in, wait for it, "Woodstock, Vermont."

Now, in and of itself, none of these particulars mean absolutely anything.

Tying "the Burrs to the Kenyons to the Stillmans and the Babcocks" just because they were "in the same place at the same time" is, well, genealogical theater at best. And Lord knows, there were a couple of other, incredibly obscure, leech-cleaning Burr family members in Cortland County, New York, in 1830.

But there was only one "Kenyon head of household" in Scott Township, Cortland County, New York, in the 1830 census—Alexander "Kinyon," that is.

Above: the proof of it — "Alexander Kinyon," highlighted, the only Kenyon-surnamed household on the entire Scott, Cortland County page.

Again, though: So what?

So what if Zeruah and Stillman just happened to get married in Woodstock, VT, and just happened to migrate from Woodstock to Scott, Cortland County, at near the same time as Alexander and Ruth? Remember, there are no vital records connecting them. Heck, there are no vital records connecting Alexander Kenyon and Ruth Babcock Kenyon to the names of any of their children. No names—only a geographic migration pattern spelled out in a Revolutionary War pension application, that being: "Rhode Island to New Hampshire to Vermont to New York."

At least, there wasn't—until I saw this. Indeed, it was (or is) exactly that, for genealogical proof-argument purposes:

Winner, winner, leeches for dinner?

"A sister for Zeruah."

You see, among the Vermont Death Records database was a death record for Mary (Kenyon) Udall. Mary's death record names her parents as "Alexander Kenyon and Ruth Babcock." Mary "Kinyon" Udall was married at Pomfret, Windsor County, Vermont, on 17 Feb 1820.

Above: the actual record. "Udall, Mary Kenyon." Father's Name: Alexander Kenyon. Mother's Maiden Name: Ruth (Babcock). Died 28 June 1886, Pomfret — heart disease, age 87y 1m 20d. Birthplace given as Plainfield, N.H., which happens to be the exact town Alexander's own pension declaration names. This is the document the whole post is named after.

Now I know what you're thinking: Who's Mary? Pomfret what? But check it out: Woodstock and Pomfret are adjacent towns that share a common border. In 1820, they're essentially the same place.

Above: Windsor County, VT — Woodstock and Pomfret, side by side, sharing a border. See? Told you.

But you don't have to believe me. Again, so what? Couldn't they be some other Alexander, Ruth, and/or Mary Kenyon? And the answer is: yes, they most certainly could be. But returning to Alexander and Ruth, the Revolutionary War pension file, their "travel log," and the marriage records for Zeruah and this strange new girl, Mary Kenyon Udall (does this Mary chick even know how to clean leeches?), consider something else...

Mary, it turns out, was the sister who never left.

While Zeruah and her Great Leech Keeper were packing off for New York—and unbelievably, Nebraska—Mary Kenyon married her Mr. Udall, raised her kids in Pomfret, and was still there when she died an old woman in the 1880s. Same parents. Wildly different lives.

Above: Mary (Kenyon) Udall's actual death notice — "In Pomfret, June 28, Mrs. Mary Udall, aged 87 years, 1 month, and 22 days." Still in Pomfret at the very end.

Ah, but I digress...

Just who were the folks who attested to Alexander's and Ruth's statements in the RW pension files?

Interestingly enough, two of Ruth's brothers did: Ezra Babcock and Luke Babcock, both of whom had traveled with Alex and Ruth all the way from Rhode Island, and both living (or recently deceased) in Scott, Cortland County, New York.

Above: Luke Babcock's own deposition, Scott, Cortland County, 17 Apr 1844 — aged 71, swearing he is "a Brother of Ruth Kenyon" and that he was present at her marriage to Alexander in Hopkinton, Rhode Island.

Above: The mis-printed Babcock Genealogy, which lists Ruth (Babcock) Kenyon's siblings (and sister-in-law), who attested to and swore on Ruth's behalf in her pension application based on Alexander's RW service record. (Ruth did not marry "James Kenyon," as this pension file proves.)

Okay, again: So what?

It might have ended there, except for a couple of deeds and land transactions entered into by the Great Leech Keeper himself, Stillman Burr, and his lovely wife, our Granny Zeruah. Two deeds, witnessed by, or entered into with, one Silas Babcock and one Raymond Babcock. Now, the curious thing about these two manly Babcock boys is that they are the sons of—wait for it—Paul and Luke Babcock, the brothers of Ruth Babcock Kenyon. Ruth's nephews weren't just neighbors; they were Zeruah's cousins, and they were the men handling Stillman Burr's paperwork. Raymond Babcock handled the estate sale that put the land in Stillman's hands. Silas Babcock witnessed him signing for it. Ruth and Zeruah's own blood was standing right there at the closing table. (Though it must be said that Ruth Kenyon had two nephews named Silas Babcock, and as to which one signed, that has yet to be determined.)

Above: the deed itself, 24 May 1835, Cortland County — signed "Stillman Burr" and "Zeruah Burr," both plain and legible, witnessed "In the presence of Silas Babcock." Whatever the OCR mangled her name into elsewhere, here it is in her own hand: Zeruah.

Above: the 1826 indenture itself — Henry Black and Raymond Babcock, administrators of the estate of Allen Gaylord, deceased, conveying land to Stillman Burr, Cortland County, at a Surrogate's Court held in Preble.

And even Ezra's wife, Saberah (Stillman) Babcock, attested to the marriage itself in the pension file—swearing under oath that she'd known Alex and Ruthie as husband and wife for more than fifty years. And Ezra wasn't the only one who married a Stillman, either—Ruth's sister Deborah did too, to a Nathaniel Stillman. Two Babcock siblings, two Stillman spouses, and then, a generation later, along comes a son-in-law whose own given name is—of all things—Stillman. Coincidence, almost certainly. But you have to wonder: could our Leech Keeper dude turn out to be kin on that side too?

So, in keeping with all of this—despite the fact that we have no "verified birth certificate" (or any other identifying document) that states, "Zeruah, daughter of Alexander and Ruth Kenyon"—we have something else: a convergence of different pieces of evidence to support the claim.

We have Zeruah's kinfolk.

And, maybe, a leech keeper's too?

That, dear reader, is a mystery for another day.

Above: the line itself — Zeruah Kenyon down to Maryann Burr, down to Samuel Selah Sage, down to Alta Violet Sage... and on down, eventually, to me.

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