A One-Name Study for the BARNUM/BARNHAM Surname
Daniel Stevens & wife Sarah Barnum are often shown with a daughter Sarah. The only source for this is the probate papers of Abel Barnum, Sarah Barnum’s father. Abel died 1799, intestate, and his property was divided among his heirs. The probate papers are cited as leaving two real estate parcels to: “Granddaughter Sarah, daughter of the deceased wife of Daniel Stevens”.
This quotation appears in C. P. Stevens, “The Stevens Family of Fairfield, Connecticut,” 1921, where it was copied from “Genealogy of the Stevens Family” by Frederick S. Stevens, 1891. However, this is not an accurate quotation.
There are two copies of the probate papers. One, accessible through Ancestry.com, Connecticut, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 Is the papers deposited in the Connecticut State Library. Abel’s estate is listed as p. 741-794, but is actually only 741-758, the remainder being the unrelated estate of a different Abel Barnum, who died 1851. The distribution of real estate is on pages 755-757. The other copy is in the Danbury (CT) Probate Records, Vol. 7, distribution on p. 433-435.
The two copies are almost identical. The first, in the State Library, is rough, with some cross-outs, and is probably the original, and the second, in Danbury, appears to be a handwritten copy of the first. In the first, we find: “Distributed to Sarah daughter of the Dec’d wife to Daniel Stevens about 30 acres of land…”. The term “granddaughter” does not appear anywhere.
The Danbury copy reads: “Distributed to Sarah, daughter of the deceased, wife of Daniel Stevens, about thirty acres of land….”. The Danbury copy has two commas added, which makes all the difference in how this is interpreted. Here, as elsewhere in the document, “the deceased” means Abel. And the property is being left to his daughter Sarah, who is married to Daniel Stevens.
So, granddaughter Sarah is a myth. She is actually Sarah Barnum, wife of Daniel Stevens.
Source: Research by Ronald Smith, rsfarm@zoominternet.net, February 2023.
A Research Guide to the Genealogy of the Barnum/Barnam/Barnham Family Worldwide
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