It is common for women named Sarah to be called Sally as reflected in this gravestone. Sally CLARKE was the widow of a man named STETSON before she married John A. CHAMPLIN as his second wife of 24 Feb 1848. John has several young children to raise when his first wife died.
Sally was the daughter of James CLARKE of Westerly and was born in 1817 and died 30 March 1871 at age 54. A fellow researcher tells me she died of TB.
Sally is the wife who is listed in the 1850 census with husband John and some of his children. In the 1860 census, it indicates that Sally was born in New York. Many New England families moved to NY for several years and moved back to the New England state the family was living in previously.
In 1870, John and his wife are living alone. He is 75 and indicates that he is a mill worker and his wife Sally is now 52.
A fellow researcher says that John died in 1879 of a gangrenous foot at a home which is located on Ocean Ave. in New London, CT. This may have been the home of one of his children.
1 comment:
Both of their death causes are a pretty good reminder of the changes that antibiotics have made in our lives!
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