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Alpheus Rackleff aka Rafael Alfrido
(Rackliff, Rackliffe, Racliffe, Ratcliff, Racliff, Raclif)
Text version of this page: Rafael Alfrido - Alpheus Rackleff
Below I've outlined some details of recent additions to our information database ... these details represent a major breakthrough on our elusive Rafael Alfrido.
The copy of the marriage record for Rafael's parents was an especially wonderful find! Thanks to Janie Baeza for sending it! It, and other source images, are online at: http://www.tarver-genealogy.net/lineages/cirilo/images/.
Rafael Alfrido married Maria Trinidad Trevino on June 20, 1836 at Iglesia Nuestra Senora del Refugio, in Guerrero, Tamaulipas, Mexico - which is just south of the Rio Grande River at Laredo, Texas. They had eleven children, all baptized at the church in Guerrero with the surname Alfrido. This was the second marriage for Rafael. Rafael's first wife, Encarnacion Benavides, whom he had married on November 08, 1832 in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, had died leaving him a young widow with no children. These details are documented on this Web site.
It appears that Rafael Alfrido was born ALPHEUS RACKLEFF on February 12, 1810 in Woolwich, Sagadahoc Co., Maine to Benjamin Rackleff Jr. and Mary Hibbart.
On his marriage record to his first wife, Rafael named his parents as Benjamin Rafael and Maria Hubert. On subsequent census records, and on land records, he is recorded as Alpheus Rackleff. His year of birth is calculated at 1810 (from age on marriage records and on census records).
Rafael/Alpheus's father, Benjamin, is buried at Eastern Cem., Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine (March 11, 1784 - July 25, 1851). His mother, Mary Hibbart (July 13, 1789 - September 02, 1843) is buried at Maple Grove Cem, Bath, Lincoln Co., Maine. They were married on March 27, 1808 in Edgecomb, Lincoln Co., Maine. Edgecomb was Mary's home town.
It appears that Rafael's father was a widow when he married Rafael's mother. Benjamin Rackleff Jr. was first married to Mary Swett, who died February 19, 1807 in Portland, Cumberland Co., Maine. "Vital Records from ME Newspapers, 1785-1820" p. 491, by David C. Young & Elizabeth Keene Young (Eastern Argus newspaper of Portland, ME) says she was age 22 when she died, and wife of Benjamin.
Benjamin Rackleff then married Mary Hibbart (also spelled Hibbard), per the marriage record mentioned above and online on this Web site. He lastly married a woman named Philmena - per the 1850 census.
From the information to date, it appears that Benjamin's parents were MARY DODGE and BENJAMIN RACKLIFF (or Rackleff - it is at this generation that both spellings are used, a change from Rackliffe to Rackleff and Rackliff). Benjamin Rackleff and Mary Dodge were married on May 14, 1776 in Boothbay, Lincoln Co., Maine.
There was large shipping industry and ship building business in this area and one of Benjamin's brothers (Rafael's uncle) by the name of William was a shipbuilder and shipmaster. In December 1849, Capt. William J. Rackleff sailed by schooner with some members of his family from Maine around the Horn of South America first taking port in San Francisco and then on to Oregon. Young Wm. Rackleff, Jr. kept a diary of the journey, and their first days in Oregon, till he married. The diary was published in a genealogical booklet in Oregon - a copy of this would be wonderful!
I began corresponding with a descendant of this line (William's) sometime last year in hopes of finding a connection between her family and ours but was reluctant to claim a connection without proof of birth for Rafael in that area. All we had to go on was Rafael's mention of his parent's names in his marriage record to Encarnacion, his place of birth recorded on census records, his name as recorded on the census and land records in south Texas, and his age.
These indicators, along with naming patterns, pointed to a potential connection with the Benjamin Rackleff and Mary Hibbart family of Edgecomb, Lincoln Co., Maine, but any proof proved elusive for some months. Locating the vital records for Woolwich, Sagadahoc Co., Maine was the breakthrough!
[See: Town and Vital Records, Woolwich, Sagadahoc, Maine, 1752-1891, (International Genealogical Index / North America, batch no. C522492, FHC film no. 0012315).]
Four or five generations of Rackleff/Rackliffs were in Maine prior to Rafael/Alpheus's birth. The name may originally have been Rackley or Rackliffe - and the ancestral home was most likely England.
Family tradition (from several descendant lines) is that this line is German ... The question remains: Where is the German ancestry introduced if it is not through the Rackleff line?
Mary Hibbart's parents appear to have been Rev. DANIEL HIBBART (or Hibbard) and SARAH WALDEN of Jeremysquam Island, Cumberland Co., Maine. They were married around 1772 probably in Haverhill, Essex Co., Massachusetts where they had a large family. Daniel Hibbart's dates (need confirmation): b. November 18, 1752 Haverhill, Essex Co., Massachusetts, d. June 27, 1823 Edgecomb, Lincoln Co., Maine.
Janie Baeza forwarded a copy of two pages from the Civil Register
of Woolwich, Maine naming the children of Benjamin Rackleff and Mary
Hibbart. The register includes all dates of birth and a date of death for
Alexander.
The records states:
Mr. Benjamin Rackleff of Woolwich was born in Edgecomb March 11,
1784. Mary, his wife whose family name is Hibbart was born in
Edgecomb July 13, 1789.
It then names the children with their dates, as outlined below.
- Alexander Rackliff b. May 17, 1808, d. February 24, 1809
- Alpheus Rackliff b. February 12, 1810
- Nancy Rackliff b. March 15, 1812
- Chandler Rackliff b. September 19, 1814
- Alexander Rackliff b. December 13, 1816
- Mary Rackliff b. December 27, 1818
- Benjamin Rackliff b. October 04, 1820
- Sarah Rackliff b. October 10, 1822
- Antoinette Jane Rackliff b. February 22, 1825
- Harriet Rackliff b. July 21, 1827
- Ellen Rackleff b. March 24, 1828
- Anabella Rackleff b. September 25, 1831
A copy of the register is online at:
http://www.tarver-genealogy.net/lineages/cirilo/images/
Locate the two documents called:
b_rackleff_civilregister01.jpg and
b_rackleff_civilregister02.jpg.
They may load slowly as they are scanned image files of the register.
Source: Town and vital records, Woolwich, Sagadahoc, Maine, 1752-1891.
p. 89 and continued on p. 105.; FHL film no. 0012315.
Any help anyone can give in locating source records is helpful and appreciated. Some places to begin documenting the data are noted below. Our connection with the William Rackliff line (Donna Chernick) has been very generous is sharing her research but she cautions there ARE ERRORS in this early work of hers and we should be especially careful to confirm details before relying on their accuracy.
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Try to locate:
Hibbard, Augustine, Genealogy of the Hibbard Family, (Hartford, CT., Case, Lockwood and Brainard, 1901).
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Confirm/document the following sources & notes from Donna Chernick:
Bath, Georgetown and Woolrich, ME Vital Records. Bath Marriages Vol. i, 1811-48
RE Rafael's father:
Benjamin Jr. was a Private in Capt. John Erskine's Company of Foot, 1 Regiment, called into service to rendezvous at Nobleborough, Sept. 6, 1814, and discharged at Wiscasset, Sept. 28, 1 814, War of 1812. He resided in Edgecomb, Wiscasset, Woolwich, Bath and Portland. By profession, he was a joiner (carpenter/cabinetmaker).
According to Eastern Argus Newspaper, Portland (this was the section formerly called Falmouth), ME, he married Mary Swett, 13 Sep. 1805. Also in this paper: Mary's death notice, 19 Feb. 1807, Portland, ME. ("Vital Records from ME Newspapers 1785-1820" by David C. Young and Elizabeth Keene Young, p. 491.)
p. 232, Vol. I, "Maine Families in 1790" by ME Gen. Soc., Spec. Pub. #2, pub. by Picton Press, Camden, ME, 1988
p. 135-6, Vol. II, (Ibid.)
1850 Fed. Cens., First Ward, City of Portland, Cumberland Co., ME
(film No. 0009722); Dwelling 285, family 386.
Benjamin Rackleff, age 68, carpenter, val. prop. $500, b. ME
Philena Rackleff, age 59, b. ME
Ellen Rackleff, age 19, b. ME
Isabella Rackleff, age 16, b. ME
p. 232, Vol. 1, "Maine Families in 1790" by the ME Gen. Soc.,
Spec. Pub. #2, pub. by Picto n Press, Camden, ME in 1988.
(data submitted by Cynthia Cook Winterhalter,
46 Fountain St., Ashland, MA 01721)
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SOURCES
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See notes in text above. Additional documentation provided on this Web site.
Uploaded January 23, 2003.
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