Part of the intrique of geneaology, at least for me, is borne from the never-ending series of questions that open up as a result of even the most cursory research. Seemingly every answer uncovered yields another question, and often several.
Among the questions and subsequent answers that have been eluding me is determining who William Hallett (b.1795) and his wife, Wilhelmina Sophia Fredericks (b.1794) were, where and how they lived, and what caused each of them to die so young?
To set the stage, this particular William Hallett b.1795 was the 6th born of Samuel Hallett (b.1761) and Phebe Hallett (b.1763). Samuel and Phebe were 5th generation descendants of William (b.1616) and Elizabeth Fones-Winthrop-Feake-Hallett (b.1610), Phebe from the line of William, Jr. (b.1648) and Samuel from the line of Samuel, Sr. (b.1650).
Looking the other direction and working backwards from me, William (b.1795) and Wilhelmina were the grandparents of my great grandfather, Charles Wesley Hallett, Jr. (b. 1858). Logically, Charles Jr.'s father was of course the son of William and Wilhelmina, Charles Wesley Hallett, Sr. (b. 1831), pictured below.
Seems like I have this pretty well nailed down, so you may be asking, why the intrique? From historical accounts, all I have been able to determine is that William, the father of the above captioned Charles Sr., died in April of 1833, a little more than 3 months prior to the second birthday of this, his youngest son. As if a loss of his father was not difficult enough, Wilhlemina, Charles' mother, had actually passed away some 8 months prior, when Charles had turned all of one!
While Charles did have 5 older siblings, he was, by published accounts, apparently well cared for by his grandparents from his mother's side. It is known that only his oldest sister Maria and brother Samuel survived to what would have been Charles's adulthood. Yet with all the information that is known, I have been unable to locate any records of the life and death of this remarkable child's parents.
As a child, I recall hearing stories of a Hallett ancestor who had met his German wife on a ferry that ran from Hallett's Point to Manhattan. Could this be William and Wilhelmina? Any Hallett historians with insight into the lives of these late 18th and early19th century Halletts, please let me (and all of us) know! Email me: [email protected]
