- 20251201GHLn-
Hannah Polly Mumford
Female
21 July 1807 – 31 January 1892
• L848-8J6
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I think this Hannah Polly is the same person as Hannah Polley Cole KCD9-YNL. They were born on the same day and died almost the same day in the same town. There is no source stating this Hannah is a Mumford or who her parents are. The other Hannah has a source for listed parents. Cannot find a reference to Hannah and her current listed siblings. What do you think?
Last Changed: February 19, 2024
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nataliestewart2
In the 1870 Census, Hannah, age 62 and a widow, is living in Rushville, Yates County, NY, at the home of Curtis Mumford, age 53, and a widower, and his daughter, Ella, age 17. Curtis is a brickmaker worth $3,000. Hannah has a personal worth of $700.
Last Changed: August 26, 2013
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william cole
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Could the Hannah who married Samuel be the child of Samuel and Hannah Cole, born 25 July 1809 in Win
August 9, 2025
On Ancestry, multiple family trees cite the marriage of Hannah and Abram Cole (but no proofs), and several use the Mumford name, but none explains where the Mumford name came from, and they seem to be borrowing from each other without new research.
An intriguing record on Ancestry and Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org/en/tree/person/details/MFDF-1MT), which does not seem to have later counterparts, is the birth record for a Hannah Lorry Cole on 25 July 1809 in Windsor, Massachusetts, to Samuel and Hannah Cole (Massachusetts, U.S., Compiled Birth, Marriage, and Death Records, 1700-1850, and Massachusetts, U.S., Town Records, 1620-1850, Vital Records of Windsor). The 1865 census that shows Hannah as a widow lists her middle initial as L. Unfortunately there is no image to examine, just the synopsis. That same couple is identified in Family Search as being the parents of Spedey F. Cole, b. 1811 in Windsor, MA, but no proofs are attached. (The same Windsor town records on Ancestry do list a Spedey Cole born 21 Dec 1811 to Samuel and Hannah Cole in Windsor. There are multiple records for a John S. Cole with the same birthdate, but he seems to have different parents.) A Hannah R. Cole appears in the 1880 census of Orleans, MA, as widowed and born in MA in 1809. (R and L are frequently mis-read in transcripts of handwriting.) But the record is attached to a Hannah Rogers Ward married an Ephraim Cole Jr., who died young and is not the apparent sibling of either Hannah under discussion, so these might not be the same person.
There may have been two Hannah Coles born in Windsor after all, 2 years apart and to different parents, one of whom remained unmarried while the other had 8 children with Abram Cole. If so, their sources have become intermingled, with birth and death sources belonging to the 1807 Hannah and marriage/children records belonging to the 1809 Hannah. But try persuading all the owners of family trees on Ancestry...
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LindaHawley2
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1870 census
August 9, 2025
Curtis would be the husband of Hannah's sister Amanda. 1870 census is not in Sources.
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LindaHawley2
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I am increasingly convinced that Hannah Polly was not the child of Charles Mumford
August 9, 2025
There are no records to link Hannah Polly to this family. All of the many children were born in Schuyler, Herkimer, New York, over a period of several years. Some of the family ended up in Rushville and were buried in the Rushville village cemetery, as was Hannah Polley Cole, but they did not start out in Massachusetts. One of Charles' sons was Curtis Mumford, married to Hannah Polley Cole's sister Amanda. Charles' son Stephen was born in 1807, the year of Hannah's birth, with Elijah in 1809, Curtis in 1811, and Ansel in 1813 - all in Schuyler. (Two children in 1807 is unlikely but possible, as we do not know the specific date for Stephen.) The overlapping locations and marriages between the families provide fertile ground for confusion.
My current hypothesis is that the two Hannah's are the same person, born to the Coles not the Mumfords, and that she did indeed marry Abram Cole (making her twice a Cole) and have 8 children. The conflicting 1865 census records are problematic but not impossible: the Ontario entry for Hannah Cole (single) shows her living/staying with her niece, daughter of Hannah Polley Cole's sister Esther. Details are few - no birthplace, just "single" which perhaps suggests that someone else provided the information and didn't know or think it worth mentioning that she was widowed. No questions were answered about children or number of times married. This enumeration was taken on 16 June 1865.
The other entry for Hannah L. Cole (enough common family names that it belongs with earlier attached census entries for Hannah Mumford), was taken in Middlesex on 28 June 1865 and has comprehensive information. Hannah could have been visiting the niece's Green family on 16 June and been back home 2 weeks later for the second census. Enumeration counted everyone on the particular date, whether or not visiting or already counted, and I have found several relatives who were counted twice or were counted in a temporary location, not their actual residence.
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LindaHawley2
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Birth and death records may be wrong, with possibly bad linkages in Find a Grave
August 9, 2025
The 1807 birth date is for a Hannah Polley Cole (KCD9-YNL), born in Windsor, Berkshire, Massachusetts, to Willard Cole and Hannah Chapman. All other birth-related records for Hannah Polley Mumford indicate 1810, with some stating Massachusetts and some New York. (Such year discrepancies are not uncommon.) Other researchers have commented on this discrepancy and the likelihood that the 1807 birth information is wrong. Both birth and death dates for Hannah P. Cole appear on the headstone photo, with a "Cole" marker shared by widowed sister Esther Avery Cole Wightman. Notably, the shared headstone for Esther Cole states that she was the wife of James Wightman; there is no spousal notation for Hannah P. Cole.
The other Hannah Polley Cole (KCD9-YNL) does not seem to have married. She appears in the 1865 New York census as a single aunt in the household of Nathaniel Green in Gorham, Ontario, NY (birth location not given). That census had a category for widowhood as well as single, and only "single" was selected.
Hannah Mumford has a linked 1865 census entry (Hannah L. Cole) that lists her as a widow, parent of 8 children, born in Yates, NY. However, some other linked NY censuses from Yates County for the same Hannah (husband Abram) list her birthplace variously as NY or MA. Find a Grave links her to Abraham Cole, who is buried in a different cemetery in a different New York town - with a communal "Cole" marker, one might expect the Cole husband to be buried with his wife, but that doesn't always happen, so not conclusive proof. The possibly unmarried Hannah Polley is buried in the same Rushville cemetery as her parents, her sister Esther, and two of brother George's children. (Brother George and his two wives are buried in a different Rushville Cemetery, as is Esther's husband, who died much earlier.) Two death records for Hannah Cole place her death in Rushville, matching the cemetery/headstone; the question is, are they attached to the right woman? (No spouse or family members are identified in those records.)
Parents have been added in Family Search for Hannah Polley Mumford since some of the initial observations by researchers, and they are different from the ones documented in the birth record for Hannah Polly Cole, as are siblings. As noted by others, there is nothing in Hannah Polly Mumford's sources to indicate a connection to the Mumford name. (Interestingly, the other Hannah's sister Amanda married a Mumford, but with a different given name - don't know if that contributed to the idea of Hannah's surname.)
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LindaHawley2
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