Playing Hunches

 

Having a subscription to ancestry.com is a wonderful thing.  I was looking for Artemas Lowell in the 1850 Federal Census in Marlow, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, but I didn't find him.  He married Ellen Knapp, sister of Orlando James Knapp, Knapper's 2nd great-grandfather.  Ellen Knapp is not to be confused with Charlotte Ellen Knapp, another of O.J.'s sisters.  The hard copy genealogy I have states that Ellen married Aretmas Lowell on the 6th of March, 1851.  I believe she met him in New Hampshire because she can be found in Stoddard, New Hampshire in the 1850 Census staying with a couple with the last name of Phelps, which I believe were cousins of her mother, Margaret Chase Knapp, who was born in Stoddard.  There is some type of family connection there because Margaret and Isaac Palmer (Knapper's 3rd great-grandfather) named one of their sons Edward Phelps Knapp. 

The genealogy also says that Ellen had two sons: Olcott Willis Lowell (who it says is from her first marriage), and George Lowell.  Since I have found Ellen's birth year to be 1827 (from her memorial on Find-A-Grave and the 1850 census), and Olcott's birth year was 1851, I tend to disbelieve that Ellen was married before she married Artemas Lowell.  The 1850 Census doesn't show her anywhere except with a couple named Edward and Eunice Phelps in Stoddard. 

Ellen died in 1854, a year after delivering her son, George Lowell.  She's buried in Joslin Cemetery in Stoddard.  While looking for Artemas in 1850 in Marlow, I stumbled upon a Nathaniel and Lucy A Adams.  This was intriguing because in the 1860 Census Artemas is shown married to a Lucy A Lowell, with children Frank and Lyman Lowell.  Frank is 8 and Lyman is 7.  I later found a Lyman Adams with the family in a later census.  So when I saw Lucy A and Nathaniel Adams in Marlow, New Hampshire in 1850, my spidey-senses started tingling. 

I plugged Lucy in as the 2nd wife of Artemas Lowell and found confirmation that she died as Lucy A Lowell in Marlow, New Hampshire in 1895.  Is it proof positive that Lucy Ann Harrington Adams Lowell was Artemas' 2nd wife?  No.  But it's a strong circumstantial connection, and I believe it's correct.  Artemas himself is shown to have died in 1898.