Mary Humphries Hewitt
So, you're here because you read about George Hewitt, right?
And you just love when we find family albums?
Well, we do too, so today on the blog, we meet Mary Humphries Hewitt, mother of George Hewitt.
Let's start with what we know on this one, because Mary threw us for a loop. We know that Mary married a guy named Smith Hewitt (thanks to the photo labeler who had attention to detail and also informed us that the photographer's first initial actually stood for Emily!) So, the first record we find is their marriage certificate: Mary Humphries marries Smith Hewitt on 14 January 1847 in Salem, New Jersey. Names and dates? Match. Location? Match.
We find Smith and Mary in the 1860 and 1870 Federal Censuses in Upper Penns Neck, NJ, and this just seems to solidify the theory that they are, indeed, George's parents. After all, on George's marriage certificate to Maria Clark, his parents are listed as "Smith and Mary".
But then...why isn't George listed in these censuses? He didn't marry Maria until 1868, so he should, theoretically, be in the 1860 census, living with his parents: particularly because he would only have been 14. But he isn't. The other thing that doesn't match up are Smith and Mary's birth dates. The 1860 census shows them born in 1831 and 1834 respectively, but George was born in 1846, meaning Mary would have been 12. Scientifically possible, but not likely.
So what is a genealogist to do when faced with such a conundrum? Well, I narrowed my search parameters on FamilySearch to search for Smith, with a spouse named Mary, living with someone named George. Luckily for me, a promising result came up, which showed a 34 year old man named George W living with Smith (aged 59) and Mary (aged 60) in the 1880 federal census in Brownstown, Delaware. This would mean that George W was born in 1846, Smith in 1821, and Mary in 1820. First of all, this George's birth date matches our George, and the middle initial of 'W' matches what is labeled on his photo. Also, the birth dates of Smith and Mary mean they would be old enough to be George's parents.
But then we find another problem.
This was the 1880 Federal Census. As in, the census where, in the last post on George, we discovered that George was living with his wife Maria and their two daughters. So how could he be in two places at once?! Again, it's possible: some people, when asked about children by the census taker, gave the names of all their children rather than just the ones living with them in the household. It seems more possible than usual in this census, actually, because all the sons are listed as 'married', but no wives are in the household. This seems to indicate that Smith or Mary just listed off their children with no mind payed to the fact that they didn't live in the house.
But wait, there's more!
This 1880 census tells us that Smith, Mary, and George were all born in the Channel Islands!
While this could be true, our George, in our last post, never reported the Channel Islands as his birth place. It was always New Jersey.
Well folks, don't worry. This is just a case of incorrect transcription on behalf of some ill-informed but well intentioned indexer. The family all reported their birthplaces as 'Jersey' and whoever transcribed the record for FamilySearch took this to mean the Channel Islands. It was, in fact, New Jersey.
So, maybe this is our George, despite all the little oddities.
Then I see this:
So, indeed, there were two Smith Hewitt's, both married to women named Mary. What is really confusing is the fact that, while George and the rest of our subjects that we've featured in this saga thus far have lived in Upper Penns Neck, the Smith and Mary Hewitt living in this same township are not George's parents. Finally, I had clear indication that there were two families - I wasn't going crazy! - so I began searching for our Smith and Mary. Lo and behold, I found them in Delaware.
Our Smith Hewitt and Mary Humphries (i.e., George's parents) were living in the Brandywine, Delaware in the 1870 census, with the following children:
Hannah, born 1851
Charles W., born 1853
Samuel J., born 1857
Margaret, born 1859
Smith H., born 1861 (known as Hickman in the 1880 Federal Census
Interestingly, I also found a 1938 death certificate for a woman named Josephine, who lists Smith and Mary as her parents. In 1870, the family did indeed have a young girl named Josephine living with them: the daughter of their domestic servant, Elizabeth Hoffman. This brings up all sorts of questions: did Smith and Mary legally adopt Josephine after something happened to Elizabeth, and that's why they're listed on her death certificate? Did Josephine ever actually know that her real mother was Elizabeth? It also brings up the more dubious question of who her father was...could it have been Smith? Upon Elizabeth's likely death, did he admit his infidelity to Mary and the couple took Josephine as their own? Well, I'm just speculating. But anything is possible in genealogy.
Who else did I find in the 1870 census? None other than George Hewitt and his wife Maria, living right next door to Smith and Mary.
Love when that happens.
Ten years earlier, in 1860, the family was actually in New Jersey - Woolwich Township in Gloucester Co., to be exact. And finally, we find young George living with his parents. Success! We also see that George was the oldest son, followed by a brother Joseph born in 1850 (then followed by all the children listed in the 1870 census).
Smith and Mary Hewitt (and George Hewitt!) in the 1860 Census
So, that's that.
Smith and Mary are buried in Newark Union Cemetery in Wilmington, Delaware.