My Sabean Ancestors In Nova Scotia, Part II: Finding Roots In Massachusetts

I have been trying to uncover information about my 4^th 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 9^th 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 4^th 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 Scotia
A Genealogy and History of the Hute (Chute) Family in America
Soldiers In King Philip’s War
Wikipedia.org