I have been trying
to uncover information about my 4th great grandfather’s parents to
no avail. I am still stuck with the only record being his death registration,
listing his parents as Jeremiah and Sarah Sabean. The other information, which
is from family trees on ancestry.ca has his parents listed as Jeremiah Sabean
and Margaret Lewis.
The
informant on the death registration for Davis Sabean is Jacob Sabean, and on
the same page in the book of recorded deaths, Jacob Sabean is also the name of
the informant for Davis’ wife, Catherine, as well as an Eleanor Sabean (35yrs),
Martha M Sabean (23yrs) and (blank) Sabean, a female infant. At first, I thought
Jacob was the son of Davis and Catherine, but as I continued searching for more
information on him it led me in a different direction. I found a marriage
registration for a Jacob Sabean and Martha Maria Condon, and on the death
registration for the infant Sabean, her parents are listed as Jacob and Martha
Sabean. This seems to line up with the informant being this Jacob Sabean, their
husband and father. However, according to Jacob and Martha’s marriage
registration and their son, Elmer’s birth registration, Jacob is a
Mariner/Fisherman, whereas on the infant girl’s death registration, her
father’s occupation is listed as Farmer. Even so, the other information seems too
strong to ignore, and I have found other ancestors who were both fishermen and
farmers, so this is not out of the realm of possibility. Jacob and Martha were
married Dec 7, 1867 in Parker’s Cove, Annapolis, Nova Scotia; their son, Elmer
was born abt 1869 in Port Lorne, Annapolis, NS; their daughter was born and
died on June 16, 1873 in Port Williams, Annapolis, NS; and Martha died June 24,
1873 in Port Williams, Annapolis, NS. According to Jacob and Martha’s marriage
registration Jacob is 23 years old (therefore born about 1844), that he was
born in Port Williams, Annapolis, NS, and his parents are David and Susanna. It
seems likely that although this Jacob is not the son of Davis and Catherine, he
and the deceased that he was the informant for are related. I hoped to link
Davis and David in the hopes of confirming who Davis’ parents are through a
possible sibling or a misspelling of his name, but was unable to find further
information on David and Susannah.
Although I
cannot confirm with records at this time who Davis’ parents are, there is one
thing I am certain of through historical documentation, and that is that the
Sabean line in Nova Scotia traces back to William Sabin of Rehoboth,
Massachusetts. If the line is correct, William is my 9th great grandfather.
In learning about William I came across some shocking information. William
Sabin was the foreman of the jury that convicted three Native Americans for
killing John Sassomon in 1675. The men were hanged, which triggered the start
of King Philip’s War. William’s mill was burned to the ground and his son,
Nehemiah, was killed. Approximately 3,000 Native Americans and 1,000 Colonists
died in the war.
William’s
son, Benjamin, had a son, Jeremiah (I), who had a son Jeremiah (II), who was
the Sabean ancestor that first settled in Nova Scotia.
Jeremiah
Sabean Junior was born February 17, 1717 in Pomfret (formerly Woodstock),
Windham County, Connecticut. He married Susanna La Vallee of Quebec, and
emigrated to Argyle, Queen’s county (now Yarmouth), Nova Scotia in 1762. He was
a fisherman, and in 1765 he made his way west along the Atlantic coast with
Jonathan Strickland, Moses Morrell, Borden Thurber, Christopher Strickland and
Robert Morrell, and they decided to stop at the mouth of the Sissiboo River.
They built a log building on the west bank of the river, on the southeast side
of St. Mary’s Bay. In 1766, Jeremiah crossed the Sissiboo River and settled on
Lot 17, division letter R. He is also described as helping to clear Lot 18 with
a mention of it being “much improved”. Along with the above information, the
book A Geography and History of the County of Digby, Nova Scotia, also lists
Jeremiah and Susanna’s children, who they married, and some information on
their children’s children. It is here I found Jeremiah and Susanna’s son, also
named Jeremiah (III) who married Margaret Lewis. So, although I haven’t found
direct information linking my 4th great grandfather, Davis, to
Jeremiah III and Margaret, I now know this couple is documented in historical
literature, making it more plausible that this is my ancestral line, and that
Jeremiah also had a wife, Sarah, that we just can’t find further documentation
for, or possibly that the informant wrote down an incorrect name for Davis’
mother on his death registration.
I am still
not satisfied with the information I have found and will continue to look for
more substantial documentation. However, I am very happy to have found books
and records that confirm my Sabean line connects to William Sabin in
Massachusetts. This is the connection leading back to England, which I look
forward to following up on in the future.
Until next
time, happy hunting my fellow gene geeks!
Sources:
A Geography and History of the County
of Digby, Nova ScotiaA Genealogy and History of the Hute (Chute) Family in America
Soldiers In King Philip’s War
Wikipedia.org
