Person:Anna Hyde (7)

[Note: some sources, updates and corrections to this article are posted on the Talk page. It appears its conclusion may be correct regarding this Anna, but the conclusion for the other two may not.]

                                   A Tale of Three Annas

My research has revealed that there were three women named Anna Hyde born in Newton, Middlesex, Massachusetts, between 1763 and 1774. All three were descendants of Jonathan Hyde (1626-1711), and were therefor cousins. One was also a descendant of Samuel Hyde (1610-1689). This essay attempts to differentiate between the three.

The Anna Hyde who married Joseph Laidain in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, appears to be the same one who was born in Newton in about 1765 to Elisha Hyde and Mary Knapp. Anna Hyde married Joseph Laidain in Boston on 26 November 1796 at the Church of the Holy Cross (1)(2)(3). They had a daughter named Mary Anna Laidain (5). Mary Anna (Laidain) Hunt died in Quincy, Norfolk, Massachusetts on 25 February 1877 (4)(5). Her death records indicate that her mother, "Annie", was born in Newton, Massachusetts (4)(5). Death records for Anna (Hyde) Laidain indicate that she was 73 years old when she died on 12 August 1838 (5). This means that Anna Hyde would have been born in Newton, Massachusetts in about 1765.

The best match for this Anna Hyde is the one born in Newton to parents Elisha Hyde and Mary Knapp (6). Probate records for Elisha Hyde indicate that he had a daughter named Anna (12). There is an Anna Hyde born in Newton on 31 May 1774 to parents William Hyde and Lydia Bruce. This Anna Hyde married Nathan Craft on 2 April 1793, later moving to Jay, Franklin, Maine (5). She and her family are well documented in the records, so she cannot be the Anna Hyde who married Joseph Laidain.

A marriage intention was recorded for Anna Hyde and Edward Hill in Newton on 18 July 1795 (9). Family Search indicates that they married on 8 August 1795 (8). These records cannot be for the Anna Hyde born in 1774, since she was already married to Nathan Craft. The 1763 Anna Hyde, born to Nathan Hyde and Bethia Dyke(7), is the best match for the one who married Edward Hill. They, and their two daughters, can be found living in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts, which is Edward's home town, in the 1800 U.S. Federal Census (10). No record of this Anna Hyde can be found after 1800, so the fate of her and her family is unknown.

I believe that the Anna Hyde born in about 1765 did not have her birth recorded in the town records, since no record could be found. Her birth, and marriage information, are included in Jackson's "History of the Early Settlement of Newton" (6).

I believe that she moved to Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts, later meeting and marrying Joseph Laidain there. Jackson's book lists the husband of the Anna Hyde, born to Elisha Hyde and Mary Knapp, as Joseph Leighton (6). I believe that "Leighton" is an anglicization of the French name "Laidain". If one accepts this, then Jackson's book tells us that the 1765 Anna Hyde was the one who married Joseph Laidain.

So, why did she move to Boston? Anna did have a sister, Lydia (Hyde) Etheridge who lived in Boston, so she may have been staying with her. Death records indicate that Lydia Etheridge died in Boston (5). So, Anna may have met Joseph Laidain while staying in Boston with her sister's family.

Interestingly, the church marriage records indicate that the husband of Lydia Hyde, Samuel Etheridge (6)(11), was one of the witnesses at Anna's wedding(3).

Citations

(1) Marriage record of Anna Hyde and Joseph Laidain, Registry Division, City of Boston, Book 1646, Number 385, 26 Nov 1796.

(2) Ancestry.com.Boston, Massachusetts, Marriages, 1700-1809[database on-line].Provo, UT, USA:Ancestry.com. Original data: Boston, Massachusetts Registry Department. Boston Marriages from 1752-1809. Volume 2.Boston, MA, USA:MunicipalPrint, 1903

(3) Marriage record of Anna Hyde and Joseph Laidain, Archdiocese of Boston Archives, from the Records of the Church of the Holy Cross.

(4) "Massachusetts Deaths 1841-1915", index and images, FamilySearch, volume 293, page 272, film number 960213, digital folder number 4221428, image number 267.

(5) Ancestry.com.Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988[database on-line], Provo, UT, USA:Ancestry.com. Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute.

(6) Jackson, Francis. History of the Early Settlement at Newton, County of Middlesex, Massaachusetts, from 1689-1800.Boston:Stacey and Richardson, 1854. 324. Print.

(7) Stowell, William."Four Generations of Descendants of Jonathan Hyde of Newton, Mass." New England Historical and Genealogical Register.71.(1917):346.Print

(8) "Massachusetts, Marriages, 1695-1910", index, Family Search, Edward Hill and Anna Hyde, 06 Aug 1795, citing reference p218, FHL microfilm 893860.

(9) Ancestry.com.Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988[database on-line], Provo, UT, USA:Ancestry.com Original data: Town and City Clerks of Massachusetts, Massachusetts Vital and Town Records, Provo, UT: Holbrook Research Institute. From Newton Publishments 1770-1855, Book 2.

(10) Year:1800;Census Place:Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts:Roll:17;Page:847;Image:243;Family History Library Film 205615. Ancestry.com 1800 U.S.Federal Census[database on-line]Provo, UT,USA:Ancestry.com. Original data: Second Census of the United States, 1800(NARA microfilm publishment M32, 52 Rolls)Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record group 29, National Archives, Washington, D.C.

(11) Doggett, Samuel Bradlee.History of the Bradlee Family. Boston. Press of Rockwell and Churchill, 1878. 17. Print.

(12) Elisha Hide [Elisha Hyde]; Probate Packet, number 11231 (1782). Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Probate Records, First Series, 1648-1924, Probate Papers #11231-11245. Available on microfilm from the New England Historical and Genealogical Society, Boston. Page 19.

Essay written by Richard Kozeny, 18 February 2013.