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- From Susan Johnston:
Little may be known of Samuel Case's first wife, but the information found in the Case manuscript on his second wife, is filled with conflicts. Resolving these conflicts may help develop the picture of the second Mrs. Case. Contemporary evidence yields this information. The 1820 U.S. census enumeration of Samuel Case's household lists the oldest female as age 26-45, born between 1775 and 1794.5 In 1830, the oldest female's age is given as 50-60, born between 1770 and 1780.6 Hannah appears as head of household in the 1840 U.S. census enumeration, age 60-70, born between 1770 and 1780.28 Her son John lists his mother's birthplace as Connecticut.7 Assuming all are correct, Hannah would have been born between 1775 and 1780 in Connecticut.
Hannah Case first appears under this name as a member in attendance at the 30 August 1823 meeting of the Troy Baptist Church and continues in regular attendance. These records should be reexamined to search for earlier mentions of Hannah under a different name. She appears on the 1 January 1846 member list of the church. Although an X appears in the "deceased" column by her name, no date of death is entered.9 She does not appear on the 1850 U.S. census of Bradford Co. making it likely that she died between 1 January 1846 and 1850. Her burial place has not been found.
Each of the four informants on the Samuel Case family group sheet gives a different picture of her life. Hester (Case) Watkins calls her the "widow Murray" and states that she had six children before she married Samuel, bearing three more children to him: John, Benjamin, and Cynthia. Thomas Dunbar, Hannah's grandson, calls her Hannah Wiltzey who married first Gilbert Murray and second Samuel Case. She had two children, Ambrose and Alexander by her first husband; then Cynthia and John with Samuel. The informant for the third variation is not specified. In this version, she is called Hannah Dewey, who married first, William Wiltzey. This couple had three children: Henry, Ambrose, and Phebe. She then married Thomas Porter. She was married third to Samuel Case. It is this version that Dr. Case seems to prefer as he entered Hannah's maiden name as "Dewey" on the family group sheet by hand1
There are pros and cons to each of these scenarios. First, Hannah did not marry Thomas Porter. The wife of Thomas Porter was named Hannah, but this couple had a child in 1815 and Thomas Porter died in 1824, by which time Hannah Case had appeared in the records of the area. There is a Henry Willsey who appears in a 12 March 1822 deed in the area,27 but no Ambrose Willsey has been found to date. A William Willsey, born between 1800 and 1810, was found on the 1830 U.S. census enumeration of Canton. There are two brothers, Alexander and Ambrose Murray, born circa 1805 and 1811 in New York, who appear by 1832 in the records of Bradford County. Both married and raised families in Troy and both are buried in Glenwood Cemetery. It is possible that Hannah was their mother, but if so, these two boys do not seem to be in the Samuel Case household in 1820. There is a Dewey family in Sullivan Township, Tioga Co., Pennsylvania. The earliest generation of this family is contemporary with Hannah and they did come from Connecticut. They also resided near, and are buried with, Hannah's stepdaughter Lydia (Case) Palmer. No other connection has been found to date. The origin of Hannah, second wife of Samuel Case, cannot be determined from the records found to date. No detailed study of the Willsey, Murray, and Dewey families has been undertaken.
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