The family of Electa Griffin Wolcott in Nebraska

Electa Griffin was born Oct 21, 1820 in Essex, Vermont to Samuel Griffin and Sylvia Bradley. Electa married Chauncy Wolcott. They raised their 3 children, Sarah Maria, Sidney and Julietta in nearby Colchester. After living much of the their lives in Colchester, Vermont in the spring of 1884/85 Electa and Chauncy Wolcott made the decision to follow their children Sidney and Sarah to Nebraska. Their daughter Julietta and her husband, Harmon Parsons, lived in Battle Creek, Michigan. After making the move to Nebraska they settled in Cowles, Nebraska. Sarah and her husband Milan Wilson lived in Pleasant Hill. They last appeared in the census records in 1885. Sidney lived in Inavale. Each of these communities, now located in Webster County, were near enough to each other for an easy visit. The county seat for Webster County is Red Cloud. Red Cloud was home to a regional newspaper the Red Cloud Chief. The Chief was published every Friday. Each edition was 6 to 10 page. The Cloud covered local, regional and national news. It was large enough to also have a traditional society section.---------- The Wolcott family appears frequently in the Cloud. The family of S. E. Wolcott is found frequently in the society notices. The articles mention Sunday visits, club meeting and dinner invitations. We also find the wedding of Arthur Wolcott, Sidney’s son, and Cora Olmstead.---------- Electa appears only twice in the newspaper always referred to as “Mrs Wolcott”. The first reference is a line that noted that she had returned to the green hills of Vermont for a visit. The second article published in the Feb. 13, 1891 edition notes that Mrs. Wolcott had received a photograph of a pillow of flowers, which had been placed on the coffin of her sister, Sylvia Griffin Fuller who had died in December 1890.---------- In addition to the society pages the Cloud published obituaries for Chauncy H Wolcott, Sidney E Wolcott and Julia A Wolcott, Sidney’s wife. The obituary for Chauncy is particularly valuable. It confirms the commonly held date of death, July 30, 1885. It may be the only source for his date of birth March 2, 1811. It also provides a time line for the move to Nebraska. The obituary notes that Chauncy was buried in the Cowles Cemetery. The Find A Grave Index for the Cowles Cemetery notes that it covers only 97% of the burials. Missing is Chauncy Wolcott and I suspect Electa Griffin Wolcott. ----------- The obituaries for Sidney and Julia Wolcott offer the closest thing to a biography that exists for either of the two. The description of Sidney’s Civil War service provided enough clues to allow us to piece together his wartime exploits. Julia’s obituary solves a family riddle. For a long time historians had only listed one child in the family. The 1900 census indicates that she had given birth to two children. Her obituary identifies the second child as a little girl who did not survive very long. The Wolcotts are buried in the Pleasant Prairie Cemetery in Inavale.---------- Unfortunately the Cloud is silent in reporting the marriage of Electa to the man she referred to in family letters as Mr. Conant. It is also silent on her death. The reason may be due to the fact that Electa had moved from Cowles to Mt Clare in Nuckolls County. Although only 14 miles away apparently it was outside of the area covered by the Red Cloud Chief. ---------- Electa / Samuel / Samuel / Samuel Griffin of Killingworth