Reconstructing Hugh Humphrey

The following article uses brackets to delineate similarly named persons. Sr. and Jr. are used when referring to fathers and sons having the same given name, and Roman numerals are used to further indicate persons with the same given name based on their ages, but not necessarily of the same family line.

Hugh Humphrey [II]

Hugh Humphrey [II] was the son of Levi Humphrey [I] and Nancy Fargo. Although we have no direct record of this relationship, we can be certain this is true for several reasons.

According to the Revolutionary War pension application for Levi Humphrey [I]'s father, Hugh Humphrey [Sr.], Hugh Humphrey [Sr.] was born in New York in 1749 and moved to Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts when he was 21 years old, about 1770. He then served in the Revolution between 1777 and 1778 and returned to Great Barrington afterward. In the "Gazetteer of Berkshire County, Mass., 1725-1885", 1885, by Hamilton Child, on page 155 it states that he came to Great Barrington with his father David Humphrey [Sr.]. On the Revolutionary War memorial tombstone erected in Water Street Cemetery, Great Barrington, Massachusetts, for Hugh Humphrey [Sr.], he is listed along with his two brothers, Robert Humphrey (1747-1840) and David Humphrey [Jr.] (1753-1856). Neither, David Humphrey, Sr., Robert Humphrey or David Humphrey, Jr. are found in the census records for Great Barrington so they presumably did not remain or return there after the war. All the Humphrey men found in Great Barrington between the years 1790 and 1830 are therefore more than likely the sons of Hugh Humphrey [Sr.]. In Hugh Humphrey [II]'s obituary, it states that he was born in Great Barrington, Berkshire County, Massachusetts in 1819 and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio when he was 21 years old, in 1840. His birth date is supported by all of his census records so is very probably accurate. We can be sure then that Hugh Humphrey [II] was the grandson of Hugh Humphrey [Sr.].

The "Gazetteer" also states that Hugh Humphrey [Sr.]'s son, David Humphrey [III], inherited his father's homestead, and that in 1885, David Humphrey [III]'s son, Mark Humphrey [I], was still in possession of the farm. In "The Humphreys Families in America", 1886, on page 908, under the article, "The Dorchester and Weymouth Families of Humphrey" edited by Gilbert Nash, Esq. it provides the children of both Hugh Humphrey [Sr.] (Mary, Levi [I], James, Isaac [I], David [III], Mercy, Electa and John), David Humphrey [III] (Mark [I], Margaret, Mary, Isaac [II], Electa, Hannah, David [IV] and Frances) and Mark Humphrey [I]. The article states that the information came from a letter written by Mark Humphrey [I]. In Hugh Humphrey [Sr.]'s Revolutionary War pension application he stated in 1833 that he had a bible showing his birth date. After Hugh Humphry [Sr.]'s wife died in 1820, he moved into the household of his son David Humphrey [III], as did David Humphrey [III]'s brother, John. Hugh Humphrey [Sr.] is counted in the census records of David Humphrey [III] for 1820 and 1830, and is named in his census record for 1840. We can therefore conclude that Mark Humphrey [I] had access to this bible and used it as a source of some of the information he provided in the letter making his account reliable and suitable as evidence. In addition, every primary record that I have found concerning these individuals, including census records, church records, and civil records, supports the claims made by Mark Humphrey [I] in 1885, so there is no reason to doubt their validity.

Since Hugh Humphrey [II] was born in Great Barrington in 1819, his father must be one of the sons of Hugh Humphrey [Sr.], i.e. Levi [I], James, Isaac [I], David [III] or John. The only one of these that cannot be eliminated as a possible father is Levi Humphrey [I] and according to the 1850 census, Hugh Humphrey named his first son Levi Humphrey [II] so he is the most likely candidate anyway. We also know that Hugh Humphrey [II] gave his second son the family name, David Humphrey [V].

James Humphrey

According to Mark Humphrey [I], James Humphrey was born on February 1, 1782. We find him counted in the 1790 and 1800 censuses for his father in Great Barrington. According to the "Connecticut, Church Record Abstracts, 1630-1920" found on Ancestery.com, James Humphrey married Betsy Jacobs on January 21, 1810, in North Haven, Connecticut. In the 1810 census for Great Barrington, they were both between 26 and 44 years of age, and without children. James Humphrey is not found in the 1820 or 1830 censuses, however, he is found in Brighton, Lorain County, Ohio in 1840 and 1850. He must have died prior to 1860, because in that year, his wife is found living with their son Mark Humphrey [II], who was born in Connecticut in 1813. The 1870 census also indicates that Mark Humphrey [II] was born in Connecticut. Additionally (though I have not found a source for this), James Humphrey's eldest son, Luzern, was born in Great Barrington in 1811 and his daughter, Electa, was born in New York in 1818/20. It seems clear that James Humphrey had moved to Connecticut prior to 1813 and to New York prior to 1820, so he was not living in Great Barrington in 1819, so cannot be the father of Hugh Humphrey [II].

David Humphrey [III]

According to Mark Humphrey [I], David Humphrey [III] was born May 23, 1786, and had 3 sons, Mark [I] (himself), Isaac [II] and David [IV]. He did not have a son named Hugh, so also cannot be the father of Hugh Humphrey [II]. We also know from all of the census records for Mark Humphrey [I] that he was born about 1818. David Humphrey [III] is also counted in the 1790, 1800, and 1810 censuses for his father in Great Barrington. According to Mark Humphrey [I] and the "Vital Records of Great Barrington, Massachusetts to the Year 1850", 1904, page 74, Hugh Humphrey [Sr.]'s wife died on August 20, 1820. In the 1820 census for Great Barrington, Hugh Humphrey [Sr.] was living in the household of David Humphrey [III]. Also in 1820, David Humphrey [III] has only 1 son listed under the age of 10, so this must have been his son Mark Humphrey [I]. This further eliminates the possibility that Hugh Humphrey was of his household. The 1820 census includes several other people, including a male between 16 and 25 years of age, who is undoubtedly David Humphrey [III]'s brother, John Humphrey as John Humphrey is not found elsewhere in 1820 and was still living in Great Barrington in 1830. The 1820 census also includes a female between 16 and 25 years of age and a male between 10 and 15 years of age. David Humphrey [III]'s other brother, Isaac Humphrey died in 1818, so these are probably Isaac's widow and son. If true, Isaac's son was on or born before 1810, so, unless the age has been marked incorrectly, could not be Hugh Humphrey [II]. Since Hugh Humphrey [II] was only 1 year old, and Mark Humphrey [I] was only 2 years old, it seems very unlikely that one or these other of these could have been marked incorrectly as being over 10 years old, and if both were living in the household, the census taker would have been writing the number '2' in which box he thought was appropriate, not writing the number '1' in two separate boxes which is what we see.

Isaac Humphrey [I]

According to Mark Humphrey [I], Isaac Humphrey was born on November 11, 1783, and married Harriet Barr. According to the "Vital Records of Great Barrington, Massachusetts to the Year 1850", 1904, page 74, Isaac Humphrey died on August 24, 1818, a year or so before Hugh Humphrey was born. As we saw above, his widow was probably living with David Humphrey [III] in 1820 and his only son was too old to be Hugh Humphrey [II]. In 1830, his widow is not found and his son appears to be still living with David Humphrey [III]. In the "Manual of the First Congregational Church in Great Barrington, Mass", 1873, on page 49, it shows members who joined the First Congregational Church, the year they were admitted, and if known, the year they died. Under the year for 1818, it shows Harriet Humphrey who also died in the year 1818. Under the year for 1819, it shows Isaac Humphrey (no date of death listed). This is confusing since we know that Isaac died in 1818 and it seems likely that his wife was living in the household of David Humphrey [III] in 1820. I assume that the unnamed editors of the "Manual" transposed their names, but cannot be sure.

John Humphrey

According to Mark Humphrey [I], John Humphrey was born on July 21, 1793. We find him counted in the 1790, 1800 and 1810 censuses for his father in Great Barrington and in the 1820 census for his brother, David Humphrey [III], also in Great Barrington. We do not have a marriage date for John Humphrey, however, according to later census records, we know that his wife was born about 1805, and we find them together for the first time in Great Barrington in the 1830 census with 2 children under the age of 5, so were likely married about 1825. The unnamed woman and child found in the 1820 census of David Humphrey [III], therefore, could not be his. In 1820 he must have been unmarried and had no children so also cannot be the father of Hugh Humphrey [II].

Levi Humphrey [I]

According to Mark Humphrey [I], Levi Humphrey [I] was born April 7, 1780, and married Nancy Fargo. He is also counted in the 1790 and 1800 censuses for his father in Great Barrington. According to the "Great Barrington, Massachusetts, St. James Episcopal Church Records" he married Nancy Fargo on March 17, 1808. In the 1810 census for Great Barrington, we find them living near his father and brother James. They had one son under the age of 10. We know that this was Stanton Humphrey. Levi Humphrey [I] died probably just prior to 1840, and in that year his wife is found living with Stanton Humphrey in Poland, Trumbull County, Ohio. In 1860 and 1870, she was living with their daughter Polly, the wife of John Hawk in Palmyra, Portage County, Ohio. In 1820, Levi Humphrey [I] had three sons under the age of 10. One of these was Stanton Humphrey, another must have been Hugh Humphrey [II], and the other may have died or married young because he is not found thereafter. In 1820, Levi Humphrey [I] also had two daughters under 10 years of age. We know from the census records of Polly Hawk that she was born about 1815 and is therefore one of the daughters listed. The name of the other daughter is not known. In 1830, three daughters were listed. One of these was Polly. The names of the other two are still not known. Shortly before 1840, Levi Humphrey must have died, and the family dispersed. Stanton Humphrey was living in Poland, Ohio; Polly had married John Hawk and was living with her mother in Palmyra, Ohio; Hugh Humphrey [II] was living Cincinnati, Ohio. Included in his household were two women between 20 and 29 years of age, and a girl under the age of 5. We know from the "Restored Hamilton County, Ohio, Marriages, 1808-1849", Jeffrey G. Herbert, 1998, page 139, that Hugh Humphrey [II] married Elizabeth Lovell on May 30, 1843. The women found living with him in the 1840 census were therefore his two unnamed sisters, one of which undoubtedly had a son, so was likely a widow. That he is living with the two unnamed daughters of Levi Humphrey [I] in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1840, further supports the likelihood that he was his son.

There is some confusion with the ages we find in some of these census records. For instance, in the 1830 census, Hugh Humphrey is shown as under 5 years of age, but was 11 years old at the time. Mismarking census records is a very common and inherent problem when dealing with censuses. Stanton Humphrey is shown as under 10 years of age in 1820, but was 11 years old; John Humphrey is shown under 25 years of age in 1820, but was 27 years old; Levi Humphrey [I]'s wife is shown over 59 years of age in 1840, but was only 55; Hugh Humphrey [Sr.]'s wife is shown as under 45 years of age in 1800, but was 48 years old; and Hugh Humphrey [II]'s unnamed sisters are both shown over 19 years of age in 1840, but were probably not older than 18 and 19 years old. In general, even when specific ages are shown in census records (starting in 1850), it is not unusual to find ages for individuals differing from their actual ages by as much as 10 years, with errors in the range of of 1 to 5 years being common. We cannot therefore place too much faith on the census record ages we find unless they are corroborated by other records, census or otherwise.

Conclusion

Census age errors aside, we can conclude that Hugh Humphrey [II] is the son of Levi Humphrey [I] because none of the other sons of Hugh Humphrey [Sr.] are candidates for his father, no other family lived in Great Barrington at the time of his birth, Levi Humphrey had two unnamed sons Hugh Humphrey [II]'s age, Hugh Humphrey [II] appears to be living with two of Levi Humphrey's unnamed daughters in 1840, and finally, he named his first son Levi Humphrey [II].

It should be also noted here that I have recently found a single autosomal #DNA connection to a decendant of Stanton Fargo and Fanny Comstock, who were the parents of Nancy Fargo, who was in turn the wife of Levi Humphrey. Additionally, I have located another single autosomal DNA connection to a decendant of Joseph Pixley and Abigail Clark, who were the grandparents of Desire Pixley, who was in turn the wife of Hugh Humphrey Sr. and mother of Levi Humphrey. Together these connections provide additional evidence that the arguments put forth in the article are indeed accurate.