She can't be 106 years old? could she?
She can't be 106 years old? could she? Caroline Matilda Waters Female 9 December 1831 – 21 February 1941 • LHKR-MMN I'm thinking she died in Missouri after her last child was born about 1861 in Hickory County Missouri. The husband with back to Rhode Island and Massachusetts. The 1860 census gives Caroline had a 1 year old, 4 month old, and another born in 1861. I think she died in childbirth. Can anyone help me? There are no records for Hickory County, Missouri for 1860's, and they also lived in Ralls County, Missouri
Answers
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I looked around in every place I could think of and was not able to find any birth records for Mrs. Waters (Borden). There are a lot of image showing she really appears to be 106 at her death. Amazing considering she was having children starting just after the American Civil War.
Birth certificates from Middlesex County, Massachusetts in 1831 may be available at the Massachusetts Archives or in the city or town where the birth occurred. Massachusetts Archives
- Located at 220 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston, MA 02125
- Phone: (617) 727-2816
- Email: archives@sec.state.ma.us
- Offers certified copies of vital records from 1841–1930
- Orders can be placed in person, by mail, or by email
- The cost is $3 per certificate
There is also a FamilySearch Wikipage for Middlesex Mass. that provides a lot of detail on where to look.
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Hello @Ilene Hawkins. It looks like the death information is identical to her daughter's, Annie M Borden. There is a note under Caroline's collaborate tab also discussing the dubiousness of the death date.
I'd contact the cemetery since they may have the burial records (their number is on the cemetery page). Messaging the Find a Grave memorial manager about where their data came from may also be a good idea.
If that doesn't get any answers, you could request a photo for the memorial, as the headstone should have the birth date, but the request may take a long time to fulfill.
As Cyrus had remarried by 1865, it's very likely that she died before that time.
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I couldn't find a death certificate for Caroline. You're right that the records of Hickory County, Missouri are sparse. According to the FamilySearch Wiki page, there were two fires at the courthouse that destroyed a lot of records. The first was in 1852 and the second in 1881. Here's that link: https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Hickory_County,_Missouri_Genealogy
It looks like the only record that is showing that death date of 1941 is Find A Grave. These are not sourced, and could be wrong or could be right. Without a source it is difficult to know. It seems unlikely, but it is possible she lived that long.
However, Caroline's husband, Cyrus, showed up in the 1865 Massachusetts state census married to a woman named Helen. I'm pretty sure this is Caroline's husband because most of her children are listed with him. Louella, Alfred, Charles and Annie. The family is missing the older Anna, and Cyrus (the 5 year old son) is listed on the page before living with Cyrus's (the husband) parents and brother. Here's the link to that census: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HY-68V6-56
Ancestry has a marriage record for Cyrus H Borden and Helen Howland that took place in Rhode Island in 1864. Here's that link: https://www.ancestry.com/search/collections/62800/records/90018602
Based on that, either Caroline and Cyrus divorced and custody of the children went to Cyrus, or Caroline died before that 1864 marriage. To continue your search, you might want to look at newspapers in Hickory County. It's possible a death notice was put in the papers for Caroline. Since Cyrus was in Rhode Island in 1864, you might want to check for records in that state as well. Another possibility is finding obituaries for Caroline's children. They might show whether Caroline was deceased or alive at their death.
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