Person:Louisa Puddy (1)

LOUISA PUDDY NEWTON (abt 1813 – abt 1892)

Louisa Puddy was probably the daughter of another long time Mansfield resident, James Puddy, a resident of the Town of Mansfield, Cattaraugus County, New York. In 1832 he owned 110 acres of land in the area. He was also attended the first town meeting, held at Reuben Newton’s home, where he was elected “Overseers of Highways”. Reuben Newton’s son, Jesse, was to become Louisa’s husband.

There is some confusion about her age. The Newton Genealogy­ documents her being born in England on December 23, 1815. The birth country has been confirmed by analyzing census information of her children. The 1850 census, taken in the summer of that year, records her age as 36 and reckoning backwards would provide a birth year of 1813. Also, the Newton Genealogy­ lists her last name as “Purdy”, but this surely is in error. The Newton bible and her grave marker correctly state her name “Puddy”. Unfortunately her headstone is broken and her date of birth in illegible, but her age at death is inscribed as “78 years, 5 months and 21 days”. If the December 23, 1813 and not 1815 is used as a date of birth is used, then date of death would be June 13, 1892. One researcher, in a recently discovered undocumented source, listed her date of birth as December 28, 1813 and her date of death as July 2, 1894.

The exact date of her marriage is not known, but it was probably around 1833 since her first child was born in 1834. One confusing fact, though, is that she is not enumerated with her family in the 1830 census. Nor is she listed with the Reuben Newton family, as Jesse was. The same researcher that was noted earlier as providing birth and death dates recorded her marriage as being in 1831.

The last census record found, so far, on her is from 1850. This was also the year of Jesse’s death. Where she lived for the next 40-plus years is unknown.

Myron L. Newton, Jr December 2003