In an effort to find out if Joshua Burrill was the father of my 4th great-grandmother, Sophronia Burrill, I took some time to make a timeline for a better angle. Since Joshua's will names his three oldest daughters, his son, and his youngest daughter, I wanted to find out when and where Sophronia came into the picture and if there was any evidence of her being with the family. Take a look at what I discovered!
1781 - Joshua Burrill was born in 1781 in Thompson, Windham, Connecticut.
1809 - He married Caroline Fitts in Oxford, Massachusetts, on March 9, 1809. (Oxford is abt. 10 miles north of Thompson). The marriage intention was filed January 21, 1809, at Oxford.
1810 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Martha "Patty" Burrill was born Jan. 29, 1810 in Connecticut.
1812 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Brooksey was born Nov. 14, 1812. Her obituary states she was born in Middlebury, Massachusetts but no such place exists in Massachusetts. There is a Middlebury in New Haven County, Connecticut, abt. 84 miles southwest of Thompson, where Joshua was born. Another possibility is that she was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts.
1813 - Joshua & Caroline's son, Arba F. Burrill was born in Connecticut.
1814 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Achsah was born in Massachusetts.
1815 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Sophronia was born in Massachusetts (UNCONFIRMED BUT LIKELY)
1820 - Census of Auburn, Worcester, Mass. (One male under age 10 (Arba), one male 26-44 (Joshua), three females under age 10 (Brooksey, Achsah, Sophronia?), one female age 10-15 (Martha), one female age 26-44 (Caroline).
1825 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Mahaleth was born in Massachusetts.
1825 - Joshua appears on tax list in Camillus, Onondaga County, New York.
1827 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Martha "Patty" Burrill marries David Redman.
1830 - Census of Elbridge, Onondaga, New York (One male age 5-9 (???), one male age 15-19 (Arba), one male age 40-49 (Joshua), one female age 10-14 (? Mahaleth was abt. 5), one female age 15-19 (Brooksey?), and one female 40-49 (Caroline).
1830 - Joshua & Caroline's daughter Brooksey Burrill marries John King, October 1830.
1840 - Census of Pembroke, Genesee, New York (one male age 20-29 (Arba), one male age 50-59 (Joshua), one female age 20-29 (?), and one female age 50-59 (Caroline)
1848 - Caroline died in 1848 and Joshua remarried to a woman by the name of Merinda.
1864 - Joshua's will was written on April 23, 1864.
1865 - Joshua died on April 15, 1865. It was the very same day of Abraham Lincoln's assassination.
Joshua's will was probated on May 22, 1865, in Genesee County, New York, and names all his children except for Sophronia. Why? We don't know, but the omission of her name has led many to believe Sophronia wasn't his daughter. Arba had a daughter he named Sophronia and there was a tradition in the family to name children after siblings. In fact, Arba, was named after his mother's brother, Arba Fitts. Also, my DNA matches several of Joshua's other children's descendants, so it's nearly proven that Sophronia was related, but no documentation can be found. Hopefully this census sheds some light on the family during the time when Sophronia would have been about 5-9 years old.
Note also, the spelling of the family name on this census, "Burrell".
If you have any information or insight to offer about Sophronia's relationship to this family, please let me know!
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