Archive:Rebecca Whitney of Lisbon, Maine, A Conjecture
Rebecca Whitney of Lisbon, Maine
A Conjecture
The Lisbon, Maine Vital Records contain the record of the birth of daughter Rebecca to Isaac and Sarah (Trufant) Whitney on 10 February 1785. No further information about her has been previously elucidated.
The Maine Death Records, 1761 to 1922 are available on Ancestry.com. They contain the death record of Noah Blay West, who died 31 October 1893 in Lisbon Falls, Maine, the son of Samuel West and Rebecca Whitney. A record of the marriage of Samuel and Rebecca has not been found. Rebecca, daughter of Isaac and Sarah Whitney is the best likely candidate to be Rebecca (Whitney) West, and her identity is, therefore, a matter of conjecture.
Samuel West appears to be the son of William Blay and Patience (Hammond) West of Lisbon, Maine. William was born in Newbury, Massachusetts, and was baptized there on 25 January 1746/47, the son of Noah and Abigail (Blay) West. William died in Lisbon, Maine on 24 May 1813.
The following is taken from the Lisbon, Maine Vital Records:
Children of Samuel West and Rebecah His Wife:
Cynthia West born in the Town of Lisbon July 30, 1804
Polly Whitney West born in the Plantation of Little River April 21, 1806
Sally West born in the plantation of Little River November 22, 1807
Noah Blay West born in the Town of Litchfield July 11, 1809
Shepard Hill West born in the Town of Gardiner May 29, 1811
Anmyra West born in the Town of Lisbon May 20, 1813
William Blay West born in the Town of Lisbon May 27, 1815
Frances Purington West born in the Town of Lisbon August 5, 1818
Levi Harrimon [sic] West born in the Town of Lisbon July 22, 1820
Samuel West must have died before the 1850 Census, for he is not mentioned in it. Rebecca West is found in 1850 in a boarding house in Winthrop, Maine. She is not found in the 1860 Census, but in the 1865 Massachusetts State Census, and in the 1870 Federal Census, she is found in the home of her son Levi H. West in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The identity of Samuel West is a matter of conjecture based on an onomastic evaluation of the names of his children. He has two sons whose names are of interest. Noah Blay West would have been named after his proposed grandparents: Noah West and Abigail Blay. William Blay West would have been named after his proposed grandfather, William Blay West, and the name Blay is carried on from his great grandmother Abigail Blay.
Rebecca Whitney had an older sister Sarah (Sally) and a younger sister Mary. She may have named her daughters Sally and Polly (Mary) after them.
It is therefore proposed that Rebecca Whitney married Samuel West, both of Lisbon, Maine.
