Stephen Batchelder and Hannah Morrill
Stephen Batchelder
- Born
- 20 MAY 1785[1] at Deerfield, N.H.
- Died
- 15 JUN 1856[3] at Rockford, Ill.
- Buried
- [5] at Cedar Bluff Cemetery, Rockford, Ill.
- Married
- 01 MAR 1821[6] at N.H.
- Also m.
- (2) Betsey Cram
The marker entry at Cedar Bluff Cemetery, Rockford, reads Stephen Batchelder, Jr., with his birth on 20 May 1785, the date given in the tree, and his death on 15 June 1856, which fills in the day of the death recorded in the tree as June 1856.[7]
Pierce’s genealogy of the Batchelder family, printed in 1898, gives Stephen Batchelder’s birth on 20 May 1785 and his marriages on 8 December 1808 to Betsey Cram and to Hannah Morrill, and says that he moved to Ohio in 1830 and died there in June 1856. The tree places his death on 15 June 1856 at Rockford, Illinois, where the Find a Grave Index records his burial at Cedar Bluff Cemetery, Rockford, under the name Stephen Batchelder, Jr. The month and year of the death agree; the place does not. The tree keeps Rockford. The 1850 census lists Stephen, aged 65, with Hannah and sons born in New Hampshire, in Guilford Township, Winnebago County, Illinois; the death record of his son Hiram F. Batchelder in 1905 gives Hiram’s birth on 12 July 1831 in New Hampshire, which does not fit a move to Ohio in 1830; and the burial is at Rockford. Pierce compiled the entry forty-two years after the death, names no informant and no children of this marriage, and his Ohio may be a slip for Illinois or an earlier residence. Needs independent verification: a record that fixes where he lived between 1830 and 1850, such as a land or probate record.[8]
Hannah Morrill
- Born
- 05 NOV 1798[9] at Warner, N.H.
- Died
- 25 JUL 1866[10]
- Buried
- [11] at Cedar Bluff Cemetery, Rockford, Ill.
- Father
- Enoch Morrill
- Mother
- Eunice Pearson
Hannah Morrill’s death is dated 25 July 1866 in the Bible Record for the Morrill and Batchelder Families, which is the citation on her death here, and 24 July 1866 in the cemetery index entry for her marker at Cedar Bluff Cemetery, Rockford, Illinois, which also gives her birth as 5 November 1798 in agreement with the Bible record. The two dates differ by one day, which points to a reading or transcription difference rather than two events. A family Bible entry may be close in time with a family informant, so the earlier date is retained, and both values are kept pending a named record. Needs independent verification: the date on the marker itself (the cemetery index entry records that a photograph exists) or a Winnebago County, Illinois, death or probate record for Hannah Batchelder, 1866; her death place is not stated by either source.[12]
Children
Enoch Morril Batchelder was named for his mother’s father, Enoch Morrill. The death date of 6 July 1825 first appeared as an annotation on his birth entry in the Warner, New Hampshire, births index. A Warner town death register gives the same date, naming his parents as Stephen Batcheldor and Hannah and his age as 3 years 6 days, which agrees exactly with a birth on 30 June 1822; the New Hampshire deaths and burials compilation repeats the entry and may draw on the same register. Needs independent verification: the death date and place rest on indexes of the Warner register, the register image has not been viewed, and the compilation is not shown to be independent of it.[17]
The Seward County sketch of J. W. Batchelder says he married Louisa Whitwood, a native of New York and a resident of Rockford, Illinois, on 18 February 1852, and names five children: William H., Whitwood J., Frank C., Edward G., and Flora, who had died by 1895. Needs independent verification: a probate or death record for John W. Batchelder, or an estate record for Stephen Batchelder, naming him as a son. Both the sketch and the family list place his birth at Alexandria, New Hampshire, so that birthplace also needs independent verification.[34]