My Family Tree

According to information in a letter written by George Brace to his son Richard, William Mann's wife was Sarah Efford, the daughter of Mary Hillier of Newfoundland There does not seem to be any support for Sarah's family name to be Knight, as stated in From the Top of this Hill. Her maiden name was not on her gravestone, and she was identified as Sarah Mann in both death notices in Charlottetown newspapers. However, the authors of the local history could have had access to other sources, like a family bible. Most of the information in George Brace's letter was verified in other sources.

In transcribed marriage records from Newfoundland churches, Will (or Wills) Terry Efford married Mary Hillier (Hellier) on December 21 1790. Both were from Petty Harbour, Newfoundland. Mary Hillier was the daughter of Hannah Brace and Richard Hillier, and Richard Brace was a witness at the wedding, which took place in the Cathedral of St John the Baptist in St. John's.

An article on the Efforts of Petty Harbour speculates that Will Terry could have been the son of George Efford and Ann Gempton of Petty Harbour, Newfoundland, born in 1735. This William Efford had a twin sister, Ann.

Hannah Brace (senior)'s sister Sarah married a Michael Knight, so her married name would have been Sarah Knight. The names given to William and Sarah Mann's daughters (Elizabeth Hutchings and Hannah Braidwood), and the name of one grand-daughter (Hannah Brace), suggest it was common in this family when naming a child after a married woman to use her full married name. Sarah's full name, therefore, could have been Sarah Knight Efford. Another theory is that with her mother's many re-marriages, Sarah was raised in the family of one of her Knight connections and used their last name.

Will Terry Effort and Mary Hillier had two other children, a son William and a daughter Elizabeth. Their father died when they were young (if he was indeed the William Effort named above he would have been 67) and their mother re-married when Sarah was 11.

Sarah Efford married a William Munn in October 1815 in the Congregational Church of St. John's. Since her parents were married in the Church of England, this could have been because William was a Presbyterian. Witnesses were John Hutchings, who married Sarah's sister Elizabeth, and a name that could be George Brace (from a record transcription). According to George Brace's letter, Sarah and her sister Elizabeth were upset when their mother Mary married for a third time, not long after Sarah's own marriage. Records show Mary's marriage to Samuel Wilson in December 1815, which supports my guess that William Munn was William Mann. Sarah and Elizabeth may have objected to their mother marrying a much younger man, just five years older than Sarah herself.

Hannah Mann married George Brace, from Newfoundland. On census and other forms, Hannah gave her place of birth as Newfoundland. Sarah and William's daughter Mary also indicated on one census form that their mother had been born in Newfoundland. The other Mann children gave various responses to the birthplace of their mother, England or PEI, but never Scotland. On another record, Hannah's full name was given as Hannah Braidwood (or Breadwood, an accepted alternate spelling) Mann, a definite tie to William and Sarah Mann.

In 1866, her husband signed an agreement with his son John to provide him with room and board, in exchange for transferring his property - but William didn't mention Sarah. I wonder if Sarah, and her daughter Sarah, were living with their son William, after the death of his wife at a young age.

According to her tombstone, Sarah died in Prince Edward Island at the age of 76, in 1869. A transcription of Summerside Progress, on the website Island Register, gives the date as 1868: FEB. 08, 1869, DIED ON THE 31ST. OF DECEMBER, THURSDAY AT IRISHTOWN, SARAH, WIFE OF WILLIAM MANN, SENIOR, AGED 76 YEARS ( from http://www.islandregister.com/summersideprogress.htm). The Islander of February 5 1869 pg. 3 and the Summerside Journal also reported that Sarah Mann died in Irishtown on Thursday 31 December, and that Sarah, the wife of William Mann was in her 76th year. This would make her year of birth 1792.

What about the name Evangeline? Hannah Mann had a daughter Sarah Evangeline, and Matilda had Hannah Evangeline. Just a popular name? Or did it have a family connection?

Some sources:
Family names of the Island of Newfoundland by E.R. Seary etal transcribes her father's name in the Newfoundland register of Vital Statistics vol 26D as Wills Terry Elford, Petty Harbour.
Will of John Hutchings gives his wife's name as Elizabeth - http://ngb.chebucto.org/Wills/hutchings-john-3-29.shtml
from Newfoundland will books volume 3 pages 29-30 probate year 1867 for John Hutchings
From the Top of the Hill
Al Beagan's genealogy website, which had the transcription of the letter from George Brace to his son, provided by a descendant of George's.