Celia (Webster) Page was born in New Hampshire, emigrated to Illinois with her pioneer parents, and died very young — probably associated somehow with the birth of her first child. I first “met” Celia while adding the tiny Page Family Cemetery in Carroll County, Illinois, to FindAGrave.com in May 2020 during the coronavirus lockdown. Now, after much focused research, I have finally been able to piece together much of her story.
◘ ◘ ◘
Celia was born in about 1845, probably in eastern New Hampshire in the town of Sandwich, Carroll County. She was the firstborn child of Lyman Watson Webster (1819–1899) and Eliza Jane Smith (1823–1900) who had been married February 4, 1844 in Sandwich.
Celia’s brother, Edwin, was born in New Hampshire in 1851. She evidently had no other siblings.
Celia’s hometown was chartered in 1763 by the colonial governor, and named in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The earliest European settlers arrived in 1767, and by 1830 Sandwich had grown to a population of about 2,700 — roughly double the 2010 population. Sandwich was a regional center of commerce including stores, mills, churches, and schools. Trades represented included carpentry and cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, milling, and wagonmaking. Many, like Celia’s father, farmed land near town. Sandwich was also home to three young shoemakers who lived in the Webster family home in 1850.
By the 1830s, Sandwich residents started moving away, many of them seeking cheaper, more arable land in the West (which in those days meant Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other places we now consider the Midwest).
The Websters joined that westward movement sometime after August 1850, when they were last found on Sandwich census rolls. Not only did they leave behind a place rich with friends and family — in 1850 the young family lived right next door to Celia’s maternal grandparents — but they left behind Lyman’s extensive knowledge of how to farm in New England. In Illinois, Lyman would have to learn a whole new bag of farming tricks.
In Illinois, the Websters acquired and settled on land near the tiny village of Milledgeville — population ~250 in 1860 — in Wysox Township, Carroll County, Illinois.
Was it just coincidence that the Websters made their new home in a county bearing the same name and namesake as their New Hampshire home — the counties were named in 1839 and 1840 respectively for Marylander Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence — or a conscious choice? We will probably never know.
What we do know, however, is that living next door to the Websters in Wysox Township were the extended family of George Henry Page, also of Sandwich, New Hampshire. And this probably was no coincidence at all; the two families may well have emigrated to Illinois together, and they probably sought out adjoining farms in this neighborhood along two stems of Otter Creek where there were more German and English immigrants, than there were New England Yankees.
One member of the Page family was Henry George Page, son of George and Betsey (Etheridge) Page. Henry was born on March 9, 1832 in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and he evidently took a shine to young Celia. So while the 15-year-old Celia was still literally a schoolgirl in 1860, she was married off by her parents to 28-year-old Henry on August 25th of that year.
The Pages already had a full household in 1860, including Henry’s widowed father, widowed grandmother, older sister, brother-in-law, and an infant niece. But it appears Celia moved the half-mile or so east from her parents’ home to the Pages’ log-sided farmhouse. That seems so because, when Celia died in the last half of the year 1863, she was buried near Henry’s mother in the Page family cemetery, and not on the Websters’ farm.
EPILOGUE
The cause of Celia’s death was probably associated with pregnancy or childbirth. We base that hypothesis on the fact that Celia left behind no living child.
It seems that soon after Celia’s passing, Henry's sister, Louisa, named her second daughter Celia in January 1864. This suggests that young Celia (Webster) Page was beloved and greatly missed. Tragically, however, Louisa died the same month her baby was born, probably also because of complications of childbirth.
Henry was remarried in Illinois in about 1864 to another very young woman, this one named Alice, and who may have been the daughter of Horace Humphrey and Joanna Benjamin Stiles of New York state. (A Humphrey family had indeed settled in nearby Milledgeville village by 1860, and they had a daughter named Alice who was born in New York in about 1847.) Henry and Alice raised Louisa’s daughter, Celia, in Minnesota, then had a son of their own there in 1878.
We close this chapter by observing that Celia’s little brother, Edwin Webster, named his own firstborn child Celia in 1877. However, since this Celia never married, nor even left home, she seems to be the end of this line name-wise.
◘ ◘ ◘
Researched and written by P. A. White, JD
2020 for @NewWorldAncestry at Shorewood, Wisconsin – All Rights Reserved
Subject’s relation to author: Wife of 11th cousin once removed
Sources: http://genealogytrails.com/ill/carroll/cem_freefamily.html; FamilySearch.org
◘ ◘ ◘
Celia was born in about 1845, probably in eastern New Hampshire in the town of Sandwich, Carroll County. She was the firstborn child of Lyman Watson Webster (1819–1899) and Eliza Jane Smith (1823–1900) who had been married February 4, 1844 in Sandwich.
Celia’s brother, Edwin, was born in New Hampshire in 1851. She evidently had no other siblings.
Celia’s hometown was chartered in 1763 by the colonial governor, and named in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The earliest European settlers arrived in 1767, and by 1830 Sandwich had grown to a population of about 2,700 — roughly double the 2010 population. Sandwich was a regional center of commerce including stores, mills, churches, and schools. Trades represented included carpentry and cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, milling, and wagonmaking. Many, like Celia’s father, farmed land near town. Sandwich was also home to three young shoemakers who lived in the Webster family home in 1850.
By the 1830s, Sandwich residents started moving away, many of them seeking cheaper, more arable land in the West (which in those days meant Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other places we now consider the Midwest).
The Websters joined that westward movement sometime after August 1850, when they were last found on Sandwich census rolls. Not only did they leave behind a place rich with friends and family — in 1850 the young family lived right next door to Celia’s maternal grandparents — but they left behind Lyman’s extensive knowledge of how to farm in New England. In Illinois, Lyman would have to learn a whole new bag of farming tricks.
In Illinois, the Websters acquired and settled on land near the tiny village of Milledgeville — population ~250 in 1860 — in Wysox Township, Carroll County, Illinois.
Was it just coincidence that the Websters made their new home in a county bearing the same name and namesake as their New Hampshire home — the counties were named in 1839 and 1840 respectively for Marylander Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence — or a conscious choice? We will probably never know.
What we do know, however, is that living next door to the Websters in Wysox Township were the extended family of George Henry Page, also of Sandwich, New Hampshire. And this probably was no coincidence at all; the two families may well have emigrated to Illinois together, and they probably sought out adjoining farms in this neighborhood along two stems of Otter Creek where there were more German and English immigrants, than there were New England Yankees.
One member of the Page family was Henry George Page, son of George and Betsey (Etheridge) Page. Henry was born on March 9, 1832 in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and he evidently took a shine to young Celia. So while the 15-year-old Celia was still literally a schoolgirl in 1860, she was married off by her parents to 28-year-old Henry on August 25th of that year.
The Pages already had a full household in 1860, including Henry’s widowed father, widowed grandmother, older sister, brother-in-law, and an infant niece. But it appears Celia moved the half-mile or so east from her parents’ home to the Pages’ log-sided farmhouse. That seems so because, when Celia died in the last half of the year 1863, she was buried near Henry’s mother in the Page family cemetery, and not on the Websters’ farm.
EPILOGUE
The cause of Celia’s death was probably associated with pregnancy or childbirth. We base that hypothesis on the fact that Celia left behind no living child.
It seems that soon after Celia’s passing, Henry's sister, Louisa, named her second daughter Celia in January 1864. This suggests that young Celia (Webster) Page was beloved and greatly missed. Tragically, however, Louisa died the same month her baby was born, probably also because of complications of childbirth.
Henry was remarried in Illinois in about 1864 to another very young woman, this one named Alice, and who may have been the daughter of Horace Humphrey and Joanna Benjamin Stiles of New York state. (A Humphrey family had indeed settled in nearby Milledgeville village by 1860, and they had a daughter named Alice who was born in New York in about 1847.) Henry and Alice raised Louisa’s daughter, Celia, in Minnesota, then had a son of their own there in 1878.
We close this chapter by observing that Celia’s little brother, Edwin Webster, named his own firstborn child Celia in 1877. However, since this Celia never married, nor even left home, she seems to be the end of this line name-wise.
◘ ◘ ◘
Researched and written by P. A. White, JD
2020 for @NewWorldAncestry at Shorewood, Wisconsin – All Rights Reserved
Subject’s relation to author: Wife of 11th cousin once removed
Sources: http://genealogytrails.com/ill/carroll/cem_freefamily.html; FamilySearch.org
Celia (Webster) Page was born in New Hampshire, emigrated to Illinois with her pioneer parents, and died very young — probably associated somehow with the birth of her first child. I first “met” Celia while adding the tiny Page Family Cemetery in Carroll County, Illinois, to FindAGrave.com in May 2020 during the coronavirus lockdown. Now, after much focused research, I have finally been able to piece together much of her story.
◘ ◘ ◘
Celia was born in about 1845, probably in eastern New Hampshire in the town of Sandwich, Carroll County. She was the firstborn child of Lyman Watson Webster (1819–1899) and Eliza Jane Smith (1823–1900) who had been married February 4, 1844 in Sandwich.
Celia’s brother, Edwin, was born in New Hampshire in 1851. She evidently had no other siblings.
Celia’s hometown was chartered in 1763 by the colonial governor, and named in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The earliest European settlers arrived in 1767, and by 1830 Sandwich had grown to a population of about 2,700 — roughly double the 2010 population. Sandwich was a regional center of commerce including stores, mills, churches, and schools. Trades represented included carpentry and cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, milling, and wagonmaking. Many, like Celia’s father, farmed land near town. Sandwich was also home to three young shoemakers who lived in the Webster family home in 1850.
By the 1830s, Sandwich residents started moving away, many of them seeking cheaper, more arable land in the West (which in those days meant Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other places we now consider the Midwest).
The Websters joined that westward movement sometime after August 1850, when they were last found on Sandwich census rolls. Not only did they leave behind a place rich with friends and family — in 1850 the young family lived right next door to Celia’s maternal grandparents — but they left behind Lyman’s extensive knowledge of how to farm in New England. In Illinois, Lyman would have to learn a whole new bag of farming tricks.
In Illinois, the Websters acquired and settled on land near the tiny village of Milledgeville — population ~250 in 1860 — in Wysox Township, Carroll County, Illinois.
Was it just coincidence that the Websters made their new home in a county bearing the same name and namesake as their New Hampshire home — the counties were named in 1839 and 1840 respectively for Marylander Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence — or a conscious choice? We will probably never know.
What we do know, however, is that living next door to the Websters in Wysox Township were the extended family of George Henry Page, also of Sandwich, New Hampshire. And this probably was no coincidence at all; the two families may well have emigrated to Illinois together, and they probably sought out adjoining farms in this neighborhood along two stems of Otter Creek where there were more German and English immigrants, than there were New England Yankees.
One member of the Page family was Henry George Page, son of George and Betsey (Etheridge) Page. Henry was born on March 9, 1832 in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and he evidently took a shine to young Celia. So while the 15-year-old Celia was still literally a schoolgirl in 1860, she was married off by her parents to 28-year-old Henry on August 25th of that year.
The Pages already had a full household in 1860, including Henry’s widowed father, widowed grandmother, older sister, brother-in-law, and an infant niece. But it appears Celia moved the half-mile or so east from her parents’ home to the Pages’ log-sided farmhouse. That seems so because, when Celia died in the last half of the year 1863, she was buried near Henry’s mother in the Page family cemetery, and not on the Websters’ farm.
EPILOGUE
The cause of Celia’s death was probably associated with pregnancy or childbirth. We base that hypothesis on the fact that Celia left behind no living child.
It seems that soon after Celia’s passing, Henry's sister, Louisa, named her second daughter Celia in January 1864. This suggests that young Celia (Webster) Page was beloved and greatly missed. Tragically, however, Louisa died the same month her baby was born, probably also because of complications of childbirth.
Henry was remarried in Illinois in about 1864 to another very young woman, this one named Alice, and who may have been the daughter of Horace Humphrey and Joanna Benjamin Stiles of New York state. (A Humphrey family had indeed settled in nearby Milledgeville village by 1860, and they had a daughter named Alice who was born in New York in about 1847.) Henry and Alice raised Louisa’s daughter, Celia, in Minnesota, then had a son of their own there in 1878.
We close this chapter by observing that Celia’s little brother, Edwin Webster, named his own firstborn child Celia in 1877. However, since this Celia never married, nor even left home, she seems to be the end of this line name-wise.
◘ ◘ ◘
Researched and written by P. A. White, JD
2020 for @NewWorldAncestry at Shorewood, Wisconsin – All Rights Reserved
Subject’s relation to author: Wife of 11th cousin once removed
Sources: http://genealogytrails.com/ill/carroll/cem_freefamily.html; FamilySearch.org
◘ ◘ ◘
Celia was born in about 1845, probably in eastern New Hampshire in the town of Sandwich, Carroll County. She was the firstborn child of Lyman Watson Webster (1819–1899) and Eliza Jane Smith (1823–1900) who had been married February 4, 1844 in Sandwich.
Celia’s brother, Edwin, was born in New Hampshire in 1851. She evidently had no other siblings.
Celia’s hometown was chartered in 1763 by the colonial governor, and named in honor of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. The earliest European settlers arrived in 1767, and by 1830 Sandwich had grown to a population of about 2,700 — roughly double the 2010 population. Sandwich was a regional center of commerce including stores, mills, churches, and schools. Trades represented included carpentry and cabinetmaking, blacksmithing, milling, and wagonmaking. Many, like Celia’s father, farmed land near town. Sandwich was also home to three young shoemakers who lived in the Webster family home in 1850.
By the 1830s, Sandwich residents started moving away, many of them seeking cheaper, more arable land in the West (which in those days meant Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Wisconsin, and other places we now consider the Midwest).
The Websters joined that westward movement sometime after August 1850, when they were last found on Sandwich census rolls. Not only did they leave behind a place rich with friends and family — in 1850 the young family lived right next door to Celia’s maternal grandparents — but they left behind Lyman’s extensive knowledge of how to farm in New England. In Illinois, Lyman would have to learn a whole new bag of farming tricks.
In Illinois, the Websters acquired and settled on land near the tiny village of Milledgeville — population ~250 in 1860 — in Wysox Township, Carroll County, Illinois.
Was it just coincidence that the Websters made their new home in a county bearing the same name and namesake as their New Hampshire home — the counties were named in 1839 and 1840 respectively for Marylander Charles Carroll, the last living signer of the Declaration of Independence — or a conscious choice? We will probably never know.
What we do know, however, is that living next door to the Websters in Wysox Township were the extended family of George Henry Page, also of Sandwich, New Hampshire. And this probably was no coincidence at all; the two families may well have emigrated to Illinois together, and they probably sought out adjoining farms in this neighborhood along two stems of Otter Creek where there were more German and English immigrants, than there were New England Yankees.
One member of the Page family was Henry George Page, son of George and Betsey (Etheridge) Page. Henry was born on March 9, 1832 in Sandwich, New Hampshire, and he evidently took a shine to young Celia. So while the 15-year-old Celia was still literally a schoolgirl in 1860, she was married off by her parents to 28-year-old Henry on August 25th of that year.
The Pages already had a full household in 1860, including Henry’s widowed father, widowed grandmother, older sister, brother-in-law, and an infant niece. But it appears Celia moved the half-mile or so east from her parents’ home to the Pages’ log-sided farmhouse. That seems so because, when Celia died in the last half of the year 1863, she was buried near Henry’s mother in the Page family cemetery, and not on the Websters’ farm.
EPILOGUE
The cause of Celia’s death was probably associated with pregnancy or childbirth. We base that hypothesis on the fact that Celia left behind no living child.
It seems that soon after Celia’s passing, Henry's sister, Louisa, named her second daughter Celia in January 1864. This suggests that young Celia (Webster) Page was beloved and greatly missed. Tragically, however, Louisa died the same month her baby was born, probably also because of complications of childbirth.
Henry was remarried in Illinois in about 1864 to another very young woman, this one named Alice, and who may have been the daughter of Horace Humphrey and Joanna Benjamin Stiles of New York state. (A Humphrey family had indeed settled in nearby Milledgeville village by 1860, and they had a daughter named Alice who was born in New York in about 1847.) Henry and Alice raised Louisa’s daughter, Celia, in Minnesota, then had a son of their own there in 1878.
We close this chapter by observing that Celia’s little brother, Edwin Webster, named his own firstborn child Celia in 1877. However, since this Celia never married, nor even left home, she seems to be the end of this line name-wise.
◘ ◘ ◘
Researched and written by P. A. White, JD
2020 for @NewWorldAncestry at Shorewood, Wisconsin – All Rights Reserved
Subject’s relation to author: Wife of 11th cousin once removed
Sources: http://genealogytrails.com/ill/carroll/cem_freefamily.html; FamilySearch.org
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