One of the benefits of finding these documents is the information in them
leads you into reexamining what you already know about a family, and look at
events in a different light.
Back when I was doing my series about my 2x great grandfather Asa Ellingwood's
Civil War pension file, I remember thinking how sad that when his mother died
when Asa was four years old, it was his mother's Barrows relatives that took him
in instead of the Ellingwood side. After looking at his grandfather John Ellingwood
Sr.'s will, I realized that might not have been possible. Daniel Ellingwood was living
in upstate New York on the 1850 Censu and may have already left Maine before 1847.
Jacob Ellingwood had died in 1826 and left a widow and three children. Sarah
Ellingwood and her husband Samuel Libby already had a large family (and their son
Varanes Libby would become a figure in early Mormon history in Massachusetts.)
Ebenezer had barely been married a year, and George had two small children already.
Finally, John Ellingwood Sr was already 67 years old and probably not able to care
for Asa and his five siblings. So Asa ended up with his Barrows relatives instead.
One of the three witnesses, Simeon Twitchell, was one of John Sr.'s brothers-in-law.
He was married to Zerviah Abbott's sister Hannah. Jacob Ellingwood's widow was
Adeline Twitchell, who was either Simeon's younger sister or his niece. There have
been several other marital links between the Twitchelld and Ellingwoods over the
years.
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