Brick Walls and Wrong Leads

Brick Walls and Wrong Leads

Sylvester Evans 

It's been a long time since I gained any new information about my Evans family that lived in Berkshire County, Massachusetts. At first, all I had to go on was the Chesebrough genealogy and the user submitted information from Family Search. This past week my new cousin who lives in that area went to the registry of deeds in Cheshire and found the deed for John Evans, the father of Sylvester. It is a lot to transcribe but I have gained more names to research.

Sylvester Evans was the first husband of Ada Ann Aylsworth and their son Charles Turner Evans (1835-1891) was my only strong lead. Even he proved hard to trace but it is coming along now. This family moved from Rhode Island to join the Quaker meeting in Adams, MA.

This is what the Family Search told me about Sylvester Evans. At least I can now work on it with some assurance that it is correct.. This means that my great grandfather did not know his wife's ancestry for sure and left me with a newspaper article that led nowhere.

"Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/MW3C-Y6J : accessed 2014-04-10), entry for Sylvester EVANS. (Ancestral File Number: 1CCW-V3Q)

The IGI lists him also which is probably from the same user submitted source.

"International Genealogical Index (IGI)," database, FamilySearch (http://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.2.1/MQX6-H62 : accessed 2014-04-10), entry for Sylvester Evans. 

Hulda tells me that the vital records are lost except for a few marriages. (The vital records for the period of 1750-1865 were destroyed by fire. Marriage intention records were at the home of the Town Clerk. [ref: Dawn Newton Quinn]

It is going to be a lot of work even with this information, but stay tuned!