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Query Number: 1502-2 February 2015

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Requested Information:

Suzanne’s ancestor, Maria French, married Edwin Collier/Colyer in 1842 in Wallingford, CT. They lived in Woodbridge and New Haven, CT. The first mention Suzanne has ever found of Maria was in the Catalogue of Members of the Congregational Church, North Haven, CT (1718 to 1871), which Maria joined in 1840, prior to her marriage. Older than her husband, she was b. 1808-1817 (her age differs by document). Suzanne found out information about Maria French, SGS# 1168, daughter of Charity/Charra Seeley, SGS# 380d, who was a daughter of Michael and Sarah Denton Seeley of Stratford, CT. Our information simply states that Maria married a Mr. Collier. Suzanne also found information on Julia Ann French (b. 1808-1810), who married William E. Waterbury in New Haven in 1833. This seems to correspond to Maria’s sister, SGS# 1169. The Waterburys lived in New Haven, CT, and NYC. Mr. Waterbury died in NY, and his wife and son (George S.J. Waterbury) had returned to live in New Haven by 1853. Because Julia disappeared from city directories in the late 1870s, after living in New Haven for a couple of decades with her son, Suzanne assumes she probably died about that time, but she has not found any obituary or death record. Given the time period, it is unlikely that her parents’ names would have been recorded on a death record. One of Maria French Collier’s children was named George WATERBURY Collier, perhaps after her brother-in-law? She also named her first-born child Julia and another child Joseph, perhaps after her sister and brother?

While Suzanne has found some references to other children of Michael Seeley, she has not been able to locate information on Charity nor her husband Joseph B. French. She asked about our sources, hoping for a lead.

Requester: Suzanne Garbarini

Initial Response Information:

I have not been able to verify any of our information, using the sources listed in the SGS volumes that I can access. There is no exact birth or baptism date recorded for Charity nor exact marriage date nor birthdates for any of her children. Suzanne is going to try to find the St John’s Church records mentioned as a resource. Please get in touch with me if you have any other information about these Seeley descendants.

Suzanne also wonders whether there are any Seeley descendants who have done an autosomal DNA test. She has been gathering results of tests on her family members and would like to compare them to see whether there are some matches that would help narrow the search field.

Responder: SGS Query Editor

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