| According to Orlin, David was born February 3, 1762 at Southborough, MA. However, he was actually born in Connecticut. See Edward Revisited for discussion and information about David's siblings. Below is a summary of some of the findings:
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Edward was born May 16, 1717, and the birth is reported in the Vital Records of Marlborough. He married Sarah Joslin on February 26, 1739[-40]; the marriage is reported in the Vital Records of Southborough.
Edward and Sarah lived at Southborough for several years, until about 1748; their first five children were born in Southborough, although only three births are reported: Hephsibath, Oct 4, 1740; Israel, Feb 25, 1744-45; and Edward, June 1, 1747.
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Children, born in Southborough:
Hephsibath (Hepzibah), b. 4 October 1740
Sarah, b. about 1743 [see below]
Israel, b. 24 February 1744/45
Elijah (Abijah), b. 31 May 1746 [see below]
Edward, b. 1 June 1747
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The birth of Sarah is deduced from tombstone information and may not be correct.
Note that there is no "Luther"--the time between the birth of Israel and Elijah is only 15 months, not enough for TWO pregnancies; there is no evidence outside of Orlin for Luther, and it seems very unlikely that he existed.
It is possible that Elijah and Abijah were two separate children, but the evidence seems to point to one.
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Some time between the birth of Edward and Joanna, the family moved to Stafford in Tolland County, Connecticut.
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Seven children were born in Stafford:
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Joanna, b. 20 July 1749
Eunice, b. 17 September 1751
Martha, b. 27 November 1753
Parker, b. 10 December 1755
Nathan, b. about 1757
David, b. 3 February 1762
Solomon, b. 11 June 1764
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According to Orlin, Sarah, Edward's wife, died December 23, 1755. This is wrong. It is based on a death record listed at Southborough:
FAY, Sarah, widow, Dec. 23, 1755
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Orlin takes this reference, makes Edward marry "wid. Sarah" and then fits it to her death. However, we know from the marriage records at Southborough that Edward married Sarah Joslin; and she would not in any case have been a widow in 1755, since Edward obviously lived long beyond that. In addition, the birth of the children in Stafford includes Edward and Sarah. There is clear evidence that Sarah, Edward's wife, died July 20, 1782, in Stafford.
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David, born in Stafford, CT, February 3, 1762, married Mercy Perrin in Stafford on December 6, 1781. David and Mercy spent the first years of their marriage there. The first four of their children were born there.
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Benjamin, b. October 8, 1782
Polly, b. July 23, 1784
Hannah, b. April 12, 1787
Solomon (Salmon), b. October 25, 1789.
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It should be noted that Benjamin's date of birth is ten years later than Orlin suggests.
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Orlin says that David went to Cazenovia, NY, in 1805. By then, most of his other children, if not all, were born. But where? The one clue is to be found under the section on Alvan on page 255. There it says that Alvan was born in Holland, MA.
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An attempt was made to find the vital records of Holland, but they have not been published in the same series as other MA vital records. With the aid of a research service, it was determined first, that there was no Fay birth recorded in the early records of Holland (which is not surprising, but was disappointing); and second, that there is a book which provided exactly the information that was needed. This book was also later found on the web. From Martin Lovering's History of the Town of Holland, Massachusetts comes the following:
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Luseba, Mar. 9, 1792
Perrin, Feb. 2, 1795
Alvan, Sept. 19, 1797
Dosha, June 13, 1800
David, July 1, 1803
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| It would seem that the last child, Celinda, was born in Cazenovia.
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Putting it together with other information gleaned in the search, we have:
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Benjamin, b. October 8, 1782 [line continued in Orlin]
Polly, b. July 23, 1784
Hannah, b. April 12, 1787
Solomon (Salmon), b. October 25, 1789
Euzebia (Luseba), Mar. 9, 1792
Perrin, Feb. 2, 1795 [see Perrin's page]
Alvan, Sept. 19, 1797 [see Alvan's page]
Eudocia (Dosha), June 13, 1800
David, July 1, 1803
Celinda, about 1805
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Having established David's date and place of birth, the next thing was to find out the name of his wife. We had seen her in the census as Lucretia. Was it possible to find out more? If so, that would indeed confirm that we were dealing with the correct David Fay. In looking at the other marriages in this family, it was noticed that Solomon married Polly Farr, and Perrin married Sally Farr. A search for these two names pulled up a tree at ancestry.com posted by Donald E. Farr. It turns out that there was a third sister, Lucretia Farr, who married the third brother David. Three sisters marrying three brothers, making a whole series of double cousins! These marriages were in Madison County, New York.
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In days to come, more pages will be posted for the other children of David and Mercy; quite a bit more information is available.
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Now the line has been firmly established: John, David, Edward, David, David, Benjamin, Homer David.
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In the census of 1860, David is in Centre, LaFayette Co, Wisconsin. He is 56, born in Massachusetts; married to Lucretia, who was born in New York and is 45. The other members of the household are: Alvin, 10, born Illinois; Franklin, 2, born Wisconsin; and Marcus Budlong, 15, born New York, "idiotic."
This cannot be the same Lucretia as in the census of 1850; this one is ten years younger. AND she has brought her son Marcus along. We know from other records that Lucretia Farr Fay died in Wisconsin. Apparently, David married again, a widow, one of whose names was the same as his first wife. This Lucretia bore him one more child, Benjamin Franklin, born in 1858, and called "Franklin" in the census of 1860. She survives David, and she and her older son Marcus live with Benjamin in 1880. After David's death, she marries a third time, and is a widow again in 1880. In 1880, her name is given as "Cynthia."
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| In 1880, Marcus Budlong, age 33, born New York, is found with Cynthia Stilwill and Benjamin F. Fay; he is the half brother of Benjamin Fay, and Cynthia is Benjamin's mother.
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| Continuing with the 1880 summaries, Alfred is in California, with his nephew William, Alvernon's son. Alvernon's wife Barbara, and two of his daughters, are also in California. There is no sign of Alvernon himself, but Barbara is registered as "married" and not as "widowed." Alvin is also in California, with wife and four children. David is in Kansas, with wife and four children.
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1900
