A Sister for Zeruah

AND TALES OF THE LEECH KEEPER

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

                                                                *******

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 by 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 Chronicles, Cortland New York Historical Society, 1957

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- that is other than a wee-bit-o'light being shed on his new and great though likely temporary occupation. 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 out" much about Stillman's identity with much more clarity 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

No, sadly, this post isn't about Stillman at all- though the dear young strapping newly wedded husband Stillman will most assuredly enter into this latest family history tale with his lovely and and vampiric wards of sort.

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 it 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 of any news on our Great Keeper of Leeches, that well, 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 not much more than a torn road map of Vermont - and that, when it comes to my great-great-great grandmother Zeruah, that I needed to prove it. (I would just have to leave her husband Stillman on the back burner and 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 at Sarpy County, Nebraska. She married our hero Stillman Burr, December 25, 1817, at Woodstock, Vermont. That much is known, and well, 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, again, not even this much was known and very much not 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 and let's just see where the story of the lovely Zeruah takes us.                    

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 indeed said marriage record has been a pivotal place to start. Equally as 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 in arguing a proof analysis  linking her to her parents "Alex and Ruthie."

Now, putting Zeruah aside just for 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 Kenyon's 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 those things in mind. We will need each and all of them "considered together" to make a reasonable "proof argument" to claim Alexander Kenyon and Ruth Babcock are the mom and dad for our dearly departed 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 and "gratitude" at being awarded a Revolutionary War pension. And while it might seem like an odd place to start, Alexander (and later in his lovely wife Ruth Babcock Kenyon) did us a huge favor. You see, in his declarations contained in his Revolutionary War papers, 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: (abbreviated) Revolutionary War Pension and Bounty Land Warrant Land 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 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  gives us a great travel log 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 final end of days 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.

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 by 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" there at Scott Township, Cortland County, New York, in the 1830 census - Alexander "Kinyon," that is.

Again though, So what? 

    

So what if Zeruah and Stillman just happened to get married in Woodstock, VT and just happen to migrate from Woodstock to Scott, Cortland County at near or 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) for all intents and genealogical proof argument purposes:

Winner, winner, leeches for dinner?

"A sister for Zeruah."

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

      

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.

      

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, and the Revolutionary War pension file, their "travel log" and the marriages 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.

Ah! But I digress....

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

   

Interestingly enough, two of Ruth's brothers did. Ruth's brothers Ezra Babcock and Sabera "Stillman" Babcock his wife, and her brother Luke Babcock who had traveled with them (Alex and Ruth) all the way from Rhode Island, and all living (or recently deceased) in Scott, Cortland County New York. 

   

Above: The mis-printed Babcock Genealogy that lists Ruth (Babcock) Kenyon's siblings (and sister-in-law) who attested and swore on Ruth's behalf in her pension application based on Alexander's RW service record. (Ruth did not marry "James Kenyon" as proven by the RW files)

Okay, again, so what?

It might have ended with that, except for a couple of deeds and land transaction 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 men handling Stillman Burr's paperwork. Raymond Babcock sold Stillman the land. 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 has yet to be determined.)

   

Above: 1835 Cortland County Deed signed by Stillman and Zeruah Burr and witnessed by Silas Babcock.

 

Above: Stillman Burr buys land in Cortland County, New York, and Zeruah's cousin Raymond Babcock handles some of the administration of the deal - 1826

And even Ezra's wife- "Saberah (Stillman) Babcock" attested to her sister-in-law's character in the pension file. This Stillman girl swore under oath she'd known Alex and Ruthie for more than fifty years.  A Stillman lady? You have to wonder- could our leech keeper dude turn out to be his own wife's cousin?

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.

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