Nancy J. Whitney was born in March 1843 in Ohio, the daughter of John P. Whitney and a mother whose identity remains unresolved in the surviving records and has been discussed in earlier research.¹ She spent her early childhood in Clinton Township, Wayne County, Ohio, where she appeared in the 1850 census with her father and her younger sisters Mary Belle and Lucretia.²
By the end of the 1850s the family had moved to Saginaw County, Michigan. Nancy’s mother died about 1859, and the 1860 census captures the family in a changed arrangement. Seventeen-year-old Nancy was living in East Saginaw in the household of Loton Eastman, where she was employed as a servant, while her father and youngest sister were enumerated elsewhere.³
Marriage and the Early Years
On 25 March 1866 Nancy married Martin V. Lacy in Taymouth Township, Saginaw County.⁴ Their first child, Emma, was born later that year, followed by Alice in 1869 at Montrose in neighboring Genesee County.⁵ The 1870 census shows the young family there, part of the movement of Saginaw Valley residents between the river towns and the farming communities that supplied them.⁶
By the mid-1870s they had returned to the Saginaw Valley for good. Their younger children, Mary Belle and William Henry, were born in Michigan, and by 1880 the family was established in Kawkawlin Township, Bay County.⁷
A Long Residence in Kawkawlin
From 1880 through 1900 the censuses place Nancy and Martin in the same township, reflecting decades of continuity in one community.⁸ The 1900 census records Nancy as the mother of five children, three of whom were living, and gives her birth as March 1843 in Ohio.¹
Land and Legal Standing
Bay County land records show Nancy as more than a farmer’s wife in the census columns. A deed transferred property from Martin V. Lacy to Nancy in her own name, and she later appears as the mortgagor on a mortgage of that land. Other mortgages were executed jointly by Martin and Nancy as husband and wife.⁹ These entries place her directly in the legal and financial record of the township and demonstrate her recognized interest in the family’s property.
Losses
In 1897 Nancy’s eldest daughter, Emma, died in Bay County.¹⁰ Seven years later, on 8 August 1904, Martin died in Garfield Township.¹¹ After nearly four decades of marriage, Nancy entered widowhood in the community where she had spent most of her adult life.
Death in Virginia
Nancy died on 27 October 1906 in Charles City, Virginia.¹² The record gives the date and place but does not explain her presence there. Her life had been centered for many years in the Saginaw Valley, where she had worked, married, raised her children, and held property in her own name.
Sources
- 1900 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township, Martin V. Lacy household; Nancy J. Lacy, birth March 1843, Ohio.
- 1850 U.S. census, Wayne County, Ohio, Clinton Township, John P. Whitney household.
- 1860 U.S. census, Saginaw County, Michigan, East Saginaw, Loton Eastman household, Nancy Whitney, servant; John P. Whitney in a separate household with daughter Sabria.
- Saginaw County, Michigan, marriage records, Martin V. Lacy and Nancy J. Whitney, 25 March 1866.
- Michigan birth records, Emma Lacy (1866); Alice Lacy, 1 June 1869, Montrose, Genesee County.
- 1870 U.S. census, Genesee County, Michigan, Montrose, Martin V. Lacy household.
- Michigan birth records, Mary Belle Lacy (1875) and William Henry Lacy (1878); 1880 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township.
- Michigan state census, 1884 and 1894, Bay County, Kawkawlin Township; 1900 U.S. census, Bay County, Michigan, Kawkawlin Township.
- Bay County, Michigan, Register of Deeds, index to deeds (Martin V. Lacy to Nancy J. Lacy) and index to mortgages (Nancy J. Lacy; Martin V. Lacy and wife). mgt Martin to Nancy Nancy lacy mortgage 2 Nancy Lacy Mortgage2 Martin Lacy & wife mortgage Nancy Lacy Mortgager
- Michigan death records, Emma Lacy, 1897, Bay County.
- Michigan death records, Martin V. Lacy, 8 August 1904, Garfield Township, Bay County.
- Virginia death record, Nancy J. Lacy, 27 October 1906, Charles City.