I’m having trouble tracing the ancestry of a few individuals in my family tree, most of whom are women. One such person is Lois Ely, born in New Hampshire between 1762 and 1765. Despite gathering a significant amount of data on her spouse, Stephen Chase, and their offspring, I’ve hit a roadblock when it comes to discovering her lineage. It’s pretty discouraging.
The only thing I have is this, her marriage record, but, as you can see, not all the fields were filled out. (Click on each photo for a larger view.)
A lot, and I mean A LOT, of people have her parents as Josiah Griswold Ely and Phebe Denison. Although that would make sense age-wise and the fact that the Ely, Chase, and Griswold families inter-married quite a lot, there is absolutely no proof that these are her parents. In fact, there are many Ely genealogy books out there, and none have Lois as one of Phebe and Josiah’s children. These books were written well after some of their children were married, and not one has a Lois Ely married to Stephen Chase in them.
I have come across several books on Chase genealogy that reference Lois Ely; however, none of them provide any information about her parents or ancestry. In my search, I found variations of her name, such as Lois, Louys, and Louisa. I also stumbled upon a female named Louis Ealey, who was born to Rebeckah Atkinson in the same county and around the same birth year. Unfortunately, there is no mention of her father.
I’ll head to another branch for now and let this one simmer. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share them with me.
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