My Sabean Ancestors in Nova Scotia

Well, it’s official. I made huge, time-consuming genealogical researching goofs (yes, more than one) while trying to put my blog post together for June. My purpose in writing a genealogy blog is to have a place where I can organize my findings in a concise, easy to read format, and my goal is to do one post per month. I started compiling my research for June’s post, which inevitably led to further research in an effort to tie up some loose ends. This turned into two weeks of reading a 700+ page history book online and carefully documenting every mention of my known ancestors. I was so happy when I completed the book. A stack of notes in hand, I was ready to write my post. One small problem: I couldn’t connect this line to my Vidito ancestors. I researched the wrong branch of my family tree! You see, I am trying to be very methodical about what I post, so I’ve decided to focus on my great grandmother, Leafy May Vidito’s line and its’ various offshoots. However, the line I ended up researching for two weeks turned out to be an offshoot of my great grandfather, George Angus Grant’s line. After much thought, in keeping with my methodical approach, I decided to shelf that information, and continue with another offshoot of the Vidito line: The Sabeans.

Well, that opened up a whole other can of worms. This line is one of the very first ones I discovered when I started doing genealogy research. At the time, I was ecstatic to have such remarkable results so early on in my research that I was careless… So, I humbly admit to two more errors that I now had to rectify: I didn’t document some of my sources AND I saved information from ancestry.ca users’ family trees on to my family tree that did not have documentation to back up their findings. Not only were these costly mistakes, but ones that I PRIDE myself on ardently avoiding. I don’t know which was worse, the fact that I knew I had a lot of work ahead of me, or the extra large slice of humble pie I was now eating. After a small pity party, realizing I wasn’t going to make the deadline for my June post, I picked myself up, dusted myself off and forged ahead. I had to meticulously go through all the information for each person, researching them AGAIN to make sure I could back up the information with hard, cold documentation, ensuring I made detailed notes as to where I found the information, and where possible, attaching the record to the appropriate person.  Much of the information could not be verified so I had to remove it. This was painful. Please learn from my mistakes. Impatience and eagerness can be your undoing. Go slow, be meticulous, WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN!

Now back to this month’s topic, the Sabeans. We connect to this line through Leafy’s father, Elias Vidito (my 2^nd great grandfather). Elias married Mary Jane Sabean on June 11, 1888 in Wilmot, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. They had the following children:

Herman (1888-1965)

Maggie (1889-)

William Wilbert (1891-1966)

Ernest Willard (1892-1963)

Percy (1893-)

Milford (1894-)

Ada (1896-)

Aubrey (1897-1918)

Bessie (1899-)

Leafy May (1901-)

Eva May (1903-)

Clarence Walter (1904-)

Victoria (1909-)

Helen Mae (1911-1984)

There are two other children listed in family trees on ancestry.ca, however, I haven’t found records for them, so I did not include them above. They are Laura and Chester.

 

My 2^nd great grandmother, Mary Jane is the daughter of Ambrose Sabean and Joanna Taylor. They had the following children (including Mary Jane):

 

John (abt. 1854-)

George (abt. 1856-)

Robert C. (1858-1935)

Alexander (abt. 1858-)

Margaret Ann (1860-1940)

Matilda (abt. 1863-)

Joseph (1866-1956)

Mary Jane (1868-1947)

Idella (1868-1951)

Ambrose Jr (1872-1937)

 

Mary Jane’s father, Ambrose Sabean was born about 1836 in Clarence, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia. He was a fisherman and is listed as serving as a volunteer in the 69^th Regiment of the Militia in 1868 and 1871. He married Mary Jane’s mother on March 2, 1854 in Bridgetown, Annapolis, Nova Scotia. The 1871 census shows Elias was living in Clarence, Annapolis County, Nova Scotia with Joanna, and their children. Ten years later the 1881 census shows their situation had drastically changed. In fact, I couldn’t find the family at all. After some searching I realized the family was no longer together. I found an Ambrose Sabine, 44, living in Digby, Nova Scotia with a Susan H Sabine, 28.  They are both listed as married. Also living with them is a James E Sabine, 22.

I found Joanna Sabine, 45, on the census, listed as single and living in Bridgetown with a John Blanchard, 56, widower. Also living at this residence is a younger John Blanchard, 23, and a Jane Blanchard, 20. According to the 1891 census Joanna is still living with John Blanchard, 65, widower. On this census there is a column for relationship to head of house, and she is listed as “cousin”. Others listed at this residence are: James Blanchard, 54, brother; George Rhinard, 30, cousin; Idella Rhinard, 23, wife; Joseph Rhinard, 4, son; Harry Rhinard, 4, son; Eliza Rhinard, 1, daughter; and John Blanchard, 10, son.

 

So far I have found two clear connections to the Blanchard family: Ambrose and Joanna’s daughter, Margaret, married James Blanchard, son of Nicholas and Mary Blanchard, in 1877; and their son, Joseph, married Jane Blanchard, daughter of John and Harriet Blanchard in 1886.

 

The Idella Rhinard on this record is Joanna’s daughter, twin sister of my 2^nd great grandmother Mary Jane. Her first husband was Parker Sabean (1883), and her second husband was George Rhinard (1889). On the second marriage registration she is listed as Mrs. Parker Sabens, 21 years of age and a widow. Interestingly, only her father is listed as her parent. I’m curious as to why her mother’s name is absent, especially since they are living in the same household two years later. I can only speculate what family drama may have taken place after Ambrose and Joanna’s marriage dissolved, but in any case, all these pieces come together to support the fact that it is the correct Joanna “Sabine” living with John Blanchard on the 1881 and 1891 census records. I searched through the entire 1881 census for Annapolis and couldn’t find the underage children from Ambrose and Joanna’s marriage, or for Robert, who would have been 23 at the time. Hopefully with more research I will be able to locate the children.

 

Without further documentation I am unable to say for certain when Ambrose and Joanna separated, but I did find a document that may give us insight in to why their marriage ended. When I found the birth registration for Ambrose’s next child, David, he is listed as “illegitimate” and the son of Ambrose Sabean and Sarah Jane Wilkins, “not married”. David was born November 20, 1875.

 

I haven’t found a marriage registration for Ambrose and Susan, which I was really hoping to find in order to clarify if Susan H and Sarah Jane Wilkins are the same person.  If Ambrose had an affair, which led to an illegitimate child and the end of his marriage, and then married another woman shortly after, that would take my ancestors straight into soap opera territory. Which begs the question: just how naughty have you been, Grandpa Ambrose? In searching for records for Susan H and Sarah Jane Wilkins, I came up empty, but in searching the 1871 census, there was a family just four dwellings away from Ambrose and Joanna, who had a daughter named Susie J Wilkins, age 14. There is some conflicting information on Susan’s name:

1871: Susie J Wilkins, 14 yrs (prior to marriage if this is the correct person)

1881: Susan H, 28 yrs

1891: Susan, 31 yrs

1901: J. Susie, b. Oct 15, 1857, 43 yrs

1911: Susan, b. Mar 1856, 54 yrs

I looked through the children’s birth, marriage and death records that I found on novascotiagenealogy.com,  and there is one with her middle name on it: Jane. The H as her middle initial on the 1881 census seems to be an error.

 

Ambrose and Susan’s children are:

David (1875-1950)

Linda (abt 1876-)

Solomon (1879-)

Amy (1880-)

William (1883-)

Susie (abt 1885-)

Eliza Jane (1886-)

Odessa (1889-1974)

Randolph (1891-1972)

Edith May (1893-)

Rosa (1894-1968)

Theodore (1895-1979)

Thomas (1900-)

 

According to family trees on ancestry.ca there is also an Amos (1881-), however I haven’t found any records for this person.

 

I haven’t found information confirming that David is Susan’s biological son, however, she is listed as his mother on future documents. Whether she is his biological mother or step-mother, I am unsure. I have found no records confirming that Sarah Jane Wilkins and Susan Jane Wilkins are the same person, though I suspect this is the case.

My 3^rd great grandfather, Ambrose Sabean’s parents are Davis Sabean and Catherine Risteen. Their children are:

 

Ambrose (abt 1836-)

Jacob (1839)

James  Manning (abt 1841-)

Joshua M (-1899)

Family trees on ancestry.ca have other children listed, but I have not found evidence for them. They are Mary Jane, Joseph, Matilda, Charles and John.

 

My 4^th great grandfather, Davis Sabean, was born about 1801 in Wilmot, Nova Scotia. He died April 27, 1873, age 72, in Annapolis, Nova Scotia. His parents are Jeremiah Sabean and Sarah (maiden name unknown). I have found lots of information about the Sabean family that have him listed as being born in 1798, with his parents listed as Jeremiah Sabean and Margaret Lewis. I have not been able to find any records to confirm this information, and unfortunately, the authors of the information I’ve found online haven’t given sources. So for now, I can only go with the Death Registration I’ve found, which has his parents listed as Jeremiah and Sarah Sabean. It is possible the informant gave the wrong name for the mother, but without any records to confirm or deny, I’ll have to leave it at that for now.

 

As you can see there is still a fair amount of missing, incomplete and conflicting information in this family, however, after an exhaustive search with no results, I’ll have to be content with what I have found for the time being. Hopefully I’ll have more to post on this family in the future. Until then, happy hunting fellow gene geeks!

Sources:

Birth Registrations (novascotiagenealogy.com)
Application for Registration of Birth (novascotiagenealogy.com)
Marriage Registrations (novascotiagenealogy.com)
Death Registrations (novascotiagenealogy.com)
1871, 1881, 1891, 1901, 1911, 1921 Census of Canada (ancestry.ca)
Canada, Nominal Rolls and Paylists for the Volunteer Militia, 1857-1922 (ancestry.ca)
findagrave.com