Captain Archelaus TREFETHEN, Jr. or Captain George E. Bruce TREFETHEN1502
(1812 or 1813 - 1854)
Married (1) Louisa ROBINSON & (2) Sarah H. BRUCE
PARENTS: Henry TREFETHEN1014
(around 1788 - after 1849) and Jane YEATON
Biography:
Filed intent to wed Louisa on 21 January 1832 and married her on 12 February 1832 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was from Kittery and she from Portsmouth [Source 133].
Wife Louisa was admitted to the United Methodist Church on 03 October 1830. She died on 31 December 1845.
Married Sarah (born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire) 19 December 1848, Portsmouth. She (10 June 1821 - 07 November 1893), daughter of Lewis & Mary. Massachusetts marriage records shows her marrying Daniel F. Oliver on 05 January 1860. She resided in Boston, aged 36, born in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Daniel was 42, a caulker, born in Boston, son of William & Mary. Both 2nd marriages.
Resided in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
A Sea Captain [1850 Census]
Archelaus legally changed his name to George Bruce TREFETHEN on 10 July 1850 [Source 36] making this a very tough puzzle to piece together
ADDITIONS & REFINEMENTS FROM Glenn BAILEY [Source 129] (Old Portsmouth Newspaper Research) July 1998, via the TREFETHEN RoundTable:
Death of Archelaus F. / George E.B. TREFETHEN. Previous evidence suggested that this event would be found between 1852 and 1856. Now, we can see why he is not buried in Portsmouth with his parents and his two wives:
Died In Savannah, of yellow fever, Captain George B. TREFETHEN of Portsmouth, master of Brig Matanzas (ENL, 18 September 1854). There were 67 deaths in Savannah, Georgia, last week, and of this number, 24 were by yellow fever (PJ, 2 September 1854)
Died. In Savannah, of yellow fever, Captain George B. TREFETHEN, of this city, aged 41, master of brig Matanzas. - (His age has been incorrectly reported.) (PJ, 16 September 1854)
THE YELLOW FEVER IN SAVANNAH.
A letter written Wednesday the 13th, by a resident of Savannah to a friend in New York, presents a most gloomy picture of the ravages of the fever in that unhappy city.
"Houses closed, streets deserted, shops shut and labelled 'all sick here,' only here and there a face you know."
Silence and desolation reign throughout; on Sunday the 3d inst. not a bell rung in the city, and mournful, solemn quiet was touching indeed.
Sunday, the 10th, was, perhaps, the gloomiest Sunday that most people in our community have ever spent. The churches were opened, but their congregations were exceedingly thin and an aspect of anxiety and dejection was visible on every face. The exercises were brief, but solemn and impressive.
The Truth was made apparent, if any evidence of it was needed, that the clergy of our city have been worn down and wearied by the faithful and unceasing discharge of pious offices to the sick and dying, as well as by the funeral rites they are daily, or rather hourly, called upon to perform over the dead.
In one of the churches, (the Catholic) which has a congregation in times of health and prosperity, varying from 1200 to 1600 souls, there was an attendance yesterday at the morning service of not more than 150 to 200 persons, as we are informed; while at another, where the worshippers usually number from 600 to 700, were present only about 30 persons in all (PJ, 23 September 1854).
So, ... Archelaus F. ["George E. Bruce"] TREFETHEN (Henry6, John5, Henry4-3, Foster2, Henry1) was born in Kittery, c1812. He died in Savannah, Georgia, of Yellow Fever, in September 1854 (RM, 18 September 1854)
He married (1st) in Portsmouth, 12 February 1832, Louisa Robinson, he of Kittery and she of Portsmouth. She died in Portsmouth 31 December 1845 (NHG, 6 January 1846)
He married (2nd) in Portsmouth, 19 December 1848, Sarah H. Bruce, both of Portsmouth. The ceremony was performed by Rev. Mr. Fletcher (PJ, 30 December 1848). She was born in Portsmouth, circa 1833 - 1834, the daughter of Lewis A. and Mary ([--------]) Bruce. Bruce was a painter, resident in Portsmouth and, later, Boston.
Archelaus F. TREFETHEN was taxed for property on Partridge Street in Portsmouth in 1838. Henry TREFETHEN and the widow Abigail TREFETHEN were both resident on Partridge Street in 1834.
A.F. TREFETHEN, of Water Street in Portsmouth, was both captain and a one-quarter owner of the 86-ton schooner Jew, between February 1838 and March 1840. He was both captain and a one-quarter owner of the schooner Mary, between May 1840 and March 1848. Charles Robinson, who may have been an in-law, would appear to have been involved in the management of the schooner Mary. He was captain and a one-quarter owner of the schooner Eurotas, between December 1848 and December 1852. Finally, he was captain of the brig Matanzas, between May 1853 and the time of his death.
Archelaus F. TREFETHEN was a packet-master, resident on Water Street, in 1839, but he was G. TREFETHEN, master of the schooner Eurotas, by October 1850, and George E. TREFETHEN, master mariner, resident on Water Street, in 1851.
Sarah H.(Bruce)
Sarah H.(Bruce) TREFETHEN married (2nd) in Boston, 5 January 1860, Daniel F. Oliver, both of Boston(Massachusetts Vital Records). She would appear to have divorced him fairly quickly, probably within a year, as she was back in Portsmouth again by 1864. Oliver continued to live, in Boston, as late as 1880.
Sarah H. (Bruce) TREFETHEN married (3rd) in Portsmouth, 23 March 1879, William A. Meloon Jr. She, as Sarah H. Meloon of Portsmouth, ultimately left a will, which devised $1 to her son, Lewis TREFETHEN, "... whom I have neither seen or heard from for many years," and his heirs, and rest, remainder and residue to her daughter, Lizzie Fuller Oliver "TREFETHEN," and her heirs.
TREFETHEN’s first wife, Louisa (Robinson) TREFETHEN, his second wife, Sarah ((Bruce) TREFETHEN) Meloon, and the daughter of her second marriage, Lizzie Fuller Oliver "TREFETHEN"0987, and [his father] Henry TREFETHEN1014 were all buried in the same graveyard plot in the Proprietor’s Cemetery in Portsmouth.
58. STERLING, John- Correspondence, 10 Signal Ridge Way; E. Greenwich, Rhode Island 02818
62. New Hampshire Vital Records Office, Concord, New Hampshire
64. TREFETHEN, Joanne E.0334 - Correspondence, Stockton Springs, Maine. Deceased 26 July 2004
108. Greenland, New Hampshire Cemeteries, Paul C. Hughes; Burtonsville, MD; 1900 (loose leaf at New Hampshire Historical Society)
133. Vital Records of Kittery, Maine to the year 1892; Maine Historical Society, Picton Press 1991.
Massachusetts marriage records
1850 Census
PJ, 2 September 1854
PJ, 16 September 1854
PJ, 23 September 1854
RM, 18 September 1854
NHG, 6 January 1846
PJ, 30 December 1848
Massachusetts Vital Records
Parentage discovered by Glenn Bailey
Portsmouth New Hampshire 1850 Census
Bride’s Index
Children:
William G. TREFETHEN1029 (1833 - after 1849) Born in New Hampshire [Portsmouth New Hampshire 1850 Census]
Philenia G. TREFETHEN0800 (1833 - 21 April 1864) Born in New Hampshire; married William H. Leach. She’s buried in Greenland, New Hampshire. [Portsmouth New Hampshire 1850 Census & Glenn Bailey & s108]
John W. TREFETHEN1033 (1836 -?) Born in New Hampshire [Portsmouth New Hampshire 1850 Census]
Anna L. TREFETHEN1031 (1841 - after 1860) Born in New Hampshire [Portsmouth New Hampshire 1850 Census] Married Rufus L. ADAMS on 18 August 1861 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire [Source 36: Bride’s Index].
As mentioned above, Sarah named these kids "TREFETHEN" when they were actually Olivers
Lizzie Fuller OLIVER987 (06 October 1861-27 July 1895) When she died her parents were listed as 'Oliver TREFETHEN & Sarah Bruce'. Sarah married (in 1860 Boston) one Daniel F. Oliver. Sarah and her kids were living with her father (Lewis, aged 80) in Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1870. [Source 36]
Amy Gertrude Oliver1296 (19 February 1869 - unknown) Born in Chelsea, Massachusetts[Source 36: Massachusetts Births, Salt Lake City & Chelsea B. Records].Massachusetts Births shows her as daughter of Oliver & Sarah P., resided in Chelsea. Father was a mason, born in Rye, New Hampshire; Mother was born in Hampton, New Hampshire. It’s believed she’s actually the daughter of a Mr. Oliver who married Archelaus Trefethen’s widowed wife. She probably died before November 1893, as her mother (Sarah) did not mention her in her will written then.