Mightier Acorns

Step 3 on our climb to Providence

Last week, we examined the evidence supporting rung #2 in our ladder to Providence: Florence Mabel (Hart) Tuttle. This week, we take another step up

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Harriet Isette “Hattie” Wells was born on 12 Jan 1854 in Reading, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, to Harlow C Wells (1827-c.1880) and Sarah Ann Fletcher (1835-1920). She grew up in Reading and Harvard, Worcester County, except for a brief period around 1870, when her father moved the family to Fort Atkinson, Jefferson County, Wisconsin. Harlow disappears from the record after that, so he may have died sometime in that decade, prompting the widowed Sarah to return to Massachusetts.

There is strong documentary evidence for Hattie’s connection to her parents. Massachusetts Birth Records and the Massachusetts State Census for 1855 and 1865 show her living with her parents and give us a precise date of birth.

The 1870 Federal Census was unusual in that the family was in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin. Her father worked as a cabinet maker there. It is the last record I have found that shows her father at all, and it is the only record that indicates that Hattie had a younger brother, Osborne Wells.

Hattie’s mother, Sarah, was back in Massachusetts by 1880, listed as “widowed” – and living with Hattie’s two younger sisters. Hattie married Seymour C Hart (1851–1934) on 25 Jul 1874 in Clinton, Worcester County, Massachusetts. Florence was their only child, born on 2 Nov 1874. She was five years old when Hattie died on 28 Sep 1879 in Clinton, Worcester, Massachusetts, after suffering from “Ulceration of uterus” – most likely a form of cervical cancer.

We have Hattie’s death record, and as we mentioned last week, Florence went to live with Hattie’s mother. Sarah Ann (Fletcher) Wells has a well-documented life, as well. She married again after Florence was grown, and was known as Sarah McGown in her later years. She died in New Hampshire, where she lived with her daughter, Emma Leizer.

There are still some mysteries to solve – I haven’t been able to trace the children of Hattie’s two sisters, both of whom married men named Leizer and moved to New Hampshire. And I’ve yet to prove whether her brother Osborne or her father survived Fort Atkinson. If you happen to be descended from any of these folks, I’d be thrilled to hear from you.

Next week, we ascend one more rung and look at what we know about Hattie’s father, Harlow Wells. Subscribe to get updates as soon as they are published!