Margaret M. Wilson

Margaret(1)

found is "Margarate."
To close this footnote, click the number again or click (Close) M. Wilson and her husband were part of the idealistic Transcendental Generation. Her parents were part of the adaptive Compromise Generation. Her eldest two children were part of the nomadic, reactive Gilded Generation. Her two younger children were part of the adaptive Progressive Generation.

When she was 22 years old, Margaret married Artemas Edmands, a year and a half younger than her, also from Saugus. They were actually distant relatives, seventh cousins, although they probably were not aware of that fact. Seven and a half years later, when Margaret was 30, her brother, Harrison G. Wilson, 21, married Artemas's younger sister, Esther Edmands, 16 years old.

At some point Margaret and Artemas acquired the farmstead at Breakheart Hill (on Forest Street in Saugus), which had been owned by Margaret's distant cousin Nathan Hitchings several decades earlier.

[ The house on Breakheart Hill ]
The house on Breakheart Hill
[Click the picture to enlarge it.]

Margaret and Artemas raised their four children there.

According to the census data for 1855, 1860, and 1865, Artemas's unmarried Aunt Sally (18 years his senior) lived with them as a "nurse." In the 1860s, Margaret's parents--and after Margaret's mother died, just her father--were living with them. Margaret's father was recorded as a "shoemaker."

The youngest of the children, (Margaret) Ellen Edmands, was really their niece (who had lost her mother when she was an infant), but they raised her as their own daughter. Margaret and Artemas did this again, too: When they were getting on in years (late fifties and sixties), they raised their grandchild Ellis, whose mother, their daughter-in-law, had died when he was an infant.

Year by year in the life of Margaret M. Wilson

The childhood of Margaret M. Wilson in its historical context
The adolescence and prime adulthood of Margaret M. Wilson Edmands in their historical context
The midlife and early elderhood years of Margaret M. Wilson Edmands in their historical context
The very last years of Margaret M. Wilson Edmands in their historical context

Descent chart

Birth of Margaret M. Wilson
Born: 24 August 1811
Birthplace: Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts(2) According to Patricia Brown Mathews, Margaret was born in Lynn (not in Saugus), Essex County, Massachusetts.
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Parents
Father: Daniel M. Wilson, 1788-1869 (our ancestor), from Lynn, Essex County, Massachusetts
Mother: Nancy Fisk, 1785-1864(3) Patricia Mathews, following (a descendant of Harrison Gray Wilson, through Nellie Wilson and William H. Fairchild), has 1787, not 1785, as Nancy's birthyear, and Kingsley, Rhode Island (not Killingly, William County, Connecticut), as her birthplace. Apparently, Sandy Dulaney was citing a census record for the birthyear and a death record for the birthplace. The 1785-in-Killingly information came from cousin-compilers Nancy B. Edmands Allen and her brother, Theodore Wesley "Ted" Edmands, and it had inspired an interesting and intriguing speculation in me: Nancy's father was Samuel Fisk, who was the son of "Deacon Ephraim Fisk." Samuel married Nancy's mother, young Sabrina Wright, in August 1785. According to the information I had from Nancy Allen and Ted Edmands, their daughter Nancy Fisk was born in 1785--in an unspecified month, but you can do the math. Little Nancy was, according to my compiler cousins Nancy and Ted, born in a town in Killingly, Connecticut, many miles from where her parents were married, in Hardwick, Massachusetts. Nancy was recorded as a Quaker--an interesting fact, considering that her paternal grandfather was a deacon (probably Congregationalist). My imagination produced the following drama: Samuel had made his sweetheart Sabrina pregnant, stern Deacon Ephraim did not approve, Samuel and Sabrina ran far away to distant Hardwick, where their baby daughter was born, and they joined a more accepting group of worshippers: the Society of Friends (Quakers). On the other hand, if we trust the vital statistics supplied by cousins Pat and Sandy, the foregoing soap opera did not happen. (I don't know when the Congregationalist deacon's son and daughter-in-law became Quakers.)
To close this footnote, click the number again or click (Close) (our ancestor), from Killingly, Windham County, Connecticut
Siblings
Brother: Horace Wilson
Born 1817
---- in New York (New York City?)
---- Shoemaker
Married Sarah UNKNOWN
------ b. 1827
    Children:
    Percy Wilson, b. 1850
    ---- m. Hannah UNKNOWN, b. 1850
    ---- resided in Saugus in 1880
    Sarah H. Wilson, b. 1852
    Lilla Wilson, b. 1854
Died 29 August 1871
---- Saugus, Essex Co., MA.
Brother: Harrison Gray Wilson
Born 18 September 1819(4) This birthdate for Harrison (and many other vital statistics about him) came from Patricia Brown Mathews, following Sandy Dulaney. Our other sources had 1820 as a birthyear (no month and day had been provided).
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Married 28 November 1841
------ in Saugus, Essex Co., MA,
------ to his sister-in-law,
------ Esther Edmands, 1825-1894
-------- (daughter of Lott Edmands, 1791-1877
--------- and Esther Burrill Edmands, 1790-1883,
--------- our ancestors)
    Children:
    Jerome Wilson, 1844-1884
    ---- m. <1868 Susan UNKNOWN, 1843-1886
    Rosalinda "Rose" Wilson, 1848-<1880
    ---- m. UNKNOWN Moulton
    ---- daughter: Reliefe Moulton, b. 1868
    Margaret L. Wilson, b. 1854    (5) This birthdate for Margaret came from Patricia Brown Mathews, following Sandy Dulaney. Our other sources had 1857 as her birthyear.
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    Nellie M. Wilson, 1859-1933
    ---- m. 13 November 1885
    ---- to William H. Fairchild
    ------ (b. 4 November 1860 [California]
    ------ d. 1931)
Died between 1900 and 1910.
Brother: Daniel Wilson
Born 1824 or 1825
---- Shoemaker
Married Mary UNKNOWN
------ 1829-1887
    Children:
    Oliver Wilson, b. 1848
    Ella Wilson, b. 1854
    George Wilson, b. 1856
Died 1902.
Spouse and children
Husband: Artemas Edmands, 1813-1896 (our ancestor)
(son of Lott Edmands and Esther Burrill Edmands [our ancestors],
from Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts and Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts.
Married 30 March 1834(6) According to Patricia Mathews, Margaret and Artemas were married 28 September (not 30 March) 1834.
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in Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts(7) According to Patricia Mathews, Margaret and Artemas were married in Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts (not Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts).
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Son: John Lott Edmands
Born 1835
Superintendent of streets, Saugus(8), According to Patricia Mathews, John Lott Edmands worked as highway supervisor in Lynn, rather than Saugus.
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Married Mary M. Hall (1842-1928)(9) According to Nancy B. Edmands Allen, b. 1925, the death date for Mary Hall is 1908, but the tombstone at lot 85 in Riverside Cemtry. , Saugus, MA, has Mary's dates as 1842-1928 (verified in 1990 by Allan Christie Edmands II, b. 1942).
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--- from Vermont
    Daughter:
    Ruth Edmands
    --- (married Eric Wilson)
Window dedicated to him in Congregational Church (Main Street in Saugus)
Died 23 October 1900
--- from typhoid fever
Buried in Riverside Cmtry (with wife), lot 85, Saugus, MA
Son: Artemas Seymour Edmands, 1837-1920 (our ancestor)
Son: Andrew Jackson Edmands
Born 24 February 1845.(10) According to Patricia Mathews, Andrew Jackson Edmands was born on 25 February (not 24 February) 1845.
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Married Maria UNKNOWN
Profession: Butcher
    Daughters:
    Clara L. Edmands, b. 1867    (11) The "Family Search" (of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints), gives 1862, not 1867, as the birthyear for Clara L. Edmands.
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    Addie P. Edmands, b. 1871
    Florence M. Edmands, b. 1878
    Grace Edmands (?)
    --- (married Cooke (?)    (12) According to the 19 March 1965 entry in the diary of Mary Caroline Findley Edmands, "Note from Miss Mason--she's found another Edmands relative, a Grace Cooke--Uncle Andrew's daughter, I believe." Erma F. Mason was the source in the 1960s for numerous descendants of Artemas's grandfather John Edmands, 1757-1846, but a "Grace Cooke" is not listed among the records I possess. Other records list only three children for Andrew and Maria. Is it possible that Grace might be their granddaughter--that is, the daughter of Clara, Addie, or Florence (who presumably married a Cooke)?
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Niece 
(Raised as daughter): 		 Margaret Ellen Edmands(13) The Mormon Family Search lists Margaret Ellen Edmands as "Ellen M. Edmands." Patricia Mathews has "Margaret E." (born 1847) and "Ellen M." (born 1848) as two different people. Apparently Margaret Ellen used one name (Margaret E.) sometimes and the other name (Ellen M.) other times when talking to census takers. Pat has "Ellen" living with freshly widowed Artemas in the 1880 census; she would have been 32 or 33 at the time.
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Born 30 January 1847 Married James W. Thomas
Both of them died 18 December 1913
--- Did they die in an accident?
Both buried in Riverside Cmtry, lot 85, Saugus, MA
Other information
Occupation: Housewife
Religion: No information available
Death of Margaret M. Wilson Edmands
Died: 17 February 1879
(age 67 years 5 months 23 days)
Deathplace: Lynnfield, Essex County, Massachusetts
Burial place: Riverside Cmtry (lot 85), Saugus, Essex County, Massachusetts
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Sources on Margaret M. Wilson Edmands:

  • b. 1951, a cousin of ours (a great-granddaughter of Arthur Seymour Edmands), for considerable information, including (among many other things) many vital statistics on her children. She cites (a descendant of Harrison Gray Wilson, through Nellie Wilson and William H. Fairchild), as a main source. Pat also cites the Saugus town records and the census records of 1850, 1860, and 1880.
  • Nancy B. Edmands Allen, b. 1925.
  • Mary Caroline Findley Edmands, including her diaries (1936-1970), in the possession of Allan Christie Edmands II, b. 1942
  • The "Family Search" (of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-day Saints), which includes 1880 census data, and specifies the profession of Andrew Jackson Edmands as butcher.
  • Theodore Wesley "Ted" Edmands, 1928-1999, citing the census data (compiled by Ann S. Larnhart, PO Box 1487, Boston, MA 02117) for 1855 and 1865, demonstrating that the birthyear for Esther Edmands Wilson was 1825, not 1820.

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