Person talk:Hattie Wheeler (2)

Not their child??? [18 August 2014]

After considerable searching, I believe this page is incorrect, misinterpreting some census results.

In 1870 Hattie A Wheeler is living in the household of Winslow and Sarah Wheeler of Holyoke, Mass, age 8 (so born 1862). But in 1865 (family 840) she is not. Therefore I believe she is not their child. The most likely explanation is that she is a niece. Especially as she would have had to have been their only child, born when her parents were about 40, after 14 years of otherwise childless marriage, an unlikely event.

In 1876, Hattie A. Wheeler, b. 1862, died in Holyoke, Mass. Her parents are listed as Marshall A. and Alice J. However, this is suspected to be an error, as this appears to be Hattie A. Potter [1]. Winslow's brother Marshall L. Wheeler appears never to have married. However, there is always the possibility that Winslow and Sarah adopted an orphan who then took their surname.

The 1880 census cited on this page is for a Hattie Wheeler b. 1862 boarding in a household in Newton, Mass., and there is no reason except for coincidence of name and age, to think it is this Hattie Wheeler, above. If it is, more evidence is needed to show that it is so, but there are a couple of Hattie Wheelers in Middlesex County of about this age, so it seems doubtful.

More evidence is needed to figure what is going on here. --Jrich 22:26, 18 August 2014 (UTC)