Wealthy Dowd, Madison CT. 1831

Researching family history is rewarding in many ways. The foremost is that discovery of a sense of where you come from which is a plus in understanding who you are. I just had a new grandson. He represents the 13th generation of Griffins in America. The story of those thirteen generations is fascinating to me. I have an appreciation of who those people were and how what they did makes my life what it is today. Through those good people I have a connection to the Plymouth Colony, the Flushing Remonstrance, and the Constitutional Convention. I have an attachment to the French and Indian War, the War for Independence, the Battle of Saratoga, the War of 1812 the Civil War and much more.-------------- I have discovered a religious people, people who where part of and dedicated to the idea of family. About every 2-3 generations they were involved with life on the very frontier in the move west in America. All in all let it be said that researching family history is a very rewarding endeavor. The Bible notes in Malachi that it is a blessing from the heavens that the hearts of the fathers will be turned to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers.--------------- There are little things that pop up now and then that offer fun little moments of satisfaction. Posted below is a picture of a headstone. That headstone represents probably the only surviving record of a little girl named Wealthy Dowd.----------- The Dowd family is part of the Mayflower Society. As such it has been widely researched and widely published. Pres. Eisenhower’s wife is one to these Dowds. The Dowd family spread out across America. The extended Griffin family married into the Dowd family on as least two occasions.----------------- And so I came as a surprise to discover a child lost in the Dowd family histories. The family of George Dowd was widely published. Listed among his children was a Wealthy L Dowd who died in Madison, CT. April 13, 1852 at the age of 16. On looking for cemetery records for the family it came as a total surprise to find in the family plot an additional headstone for a second daughter with the name of Wealthy. The headstone reads “Wealthy L, daughter of George and Louisa Dowd, Died, 11 Dec 1831, AE 7 months.’------------- What you are seeing is a common occurrence in early America. A child is born and given a name. The child then died at an early age. It was common practice to then give the name to a second child. I have often pondered as to the why of this practice. Was it a way to honor the first child? To keep alive a memory?------------ The practice is also the cause of much confusion in family research. A second child with a name more often than not hid the existence of the other child. The multiple dates associated with a common name added uncertainty to a family record. For me I find it a true moment of pleasure to introduce to the extended family a new lost and long forgotten cousin. Wealthy’s grandmother was Fanny Griffin.