Eliza Hutchinson

Lifespan: 1830 – 1884

FamilySearch ID: K814-2YL

Summary

Born 1830 in England. Don’s 4x great-grandmother. Married Henry Martin (b. 1831, Ireland). Mother of Eliphlet “Life” Martin (1869–1956). Died 1884 — Eliphlet was about 15 when he lost his mother.

Relationships

• Father: Thomas Hutcheson (1808–?, FamilySearch ID: L8RF-177) — born in England (confirmed by Eliza’s own report in 1880 census). Note surname spelling: Hutcheson on FamilySearch, Hutchinson on Eliza’s record.
• Mother: Sophia Miller (1805–?, FamilySearch ID: MCXT-PV1) — born in Canada (confirmed by Eliza’s 1880 census report). Daughter of William Miller (1786) and Margaret Laing (1783, Scotland).
• Maternal grandparents: William Miller (1786–?, LZF4-CX5) and Margaret Laing (1783–?, KH36-ZYD). Laing is a Scottish surname.
• Husband: Henry Martin (1831–1896, b. Ireland) — FamilySearch ID: LYS2-3P2
• Son: Eliphlet “Life” Martin (1869–1956) — direct line. FamilySearch ID: G9VT-JCS.

Sources

• FamilySearch Family Tree — Eliza Hutchinson, K814-2YL. Parents: Thomas Hutcheson (L8RF-177) and Sophia Miller (MCXT-PV1).
• 1880 US Census, Door County, Wisconsin — Eliza (51), wife of Henry Martin. Father born England, mother born Canada. Confirms Thomas Hutcheson was English and Sophia Miller was Canadian-born.
• 1920 US Census (indirect) — Eliphlet’s record lists mother’s birthplace as England — he was reporting his grandfather Thomas Hutcheson’s birthplace, not Eliza’s actual Canadian birth.

Research Notes

English origin

• Born 1830 in England. County and parish unknown.
• Surname: Hutchinson (on her own record) vs. Hutcheson (on her father’s record). These are variants of the same name — both mean “son of Hutchin” (a diminutive of Hugh). Hutchinson is more common in northern England; Hutcheson is more common in Scotland.

Parents

• Thomas Hutcheson (1808–?) — likely English or Scottish (Hutcheson is the Scottish spelling).
• Sophia Miller (1805–?) — daughter of William Miller (1786–?) and Margaret Laing (1783–?). Laing is a distinctly Scottish surname, suggesting Scottish ancestry on this side.

European roots through this line

• England — Eliza Hutchinson, the Miller family
• Scotland — Margaret Laing, possibly Thomas Hutcheson

Marriages — she was a widow Peters; first husband IDENTIFIED [REVISED 2026-07-15, twice]

• Henry Martin’s 1896 Advocate obituary (found 2026-07-15): “On November 12, 1862 Mr. Martin was united in marriage to Mrs. Eliza Peters” — so Eliza had a first husband named PETERS, and Hutchinson is her maiden name. The ceremony: Judge M. E. Lyman, at Joseph Lavassor’s home, village of Sturgeon Bay.
• First husband found the same day, IMAGE-VERIFIED — 1860 US Census, Nasewaupee, Door Co, WI, p. 34, dwelling 290/family 291, enumerated July 11–12, 1860: MARTIN PETERS, 39, farmer, b. IRELAND, $700 real estate / $175 personal; Eliza Peters, 31, b. England (!); Elias Peters, 7, b. New York; Mary J Peters, 6, b. New York — previously unknown stepdaughter, prime candidate for “Mrs. Chas. Walker” or “Mrs. Thos. Melville” of Henry’s 1896 Card of Thanks; Charles Peters, 4, b. Wisconsin. So her first husband was alive in July 1860 — he died (or vanished) between July 1860 and Nov 1862. Name inversion across her marriages: Martin Peters → Henry Martin.
• CONFIRMED from zoomed image [2026-07-15]: the “Married within the year” ticks (column 11) are on Martin and Eliza; Elias and Mary J’s ticks are column 12 (attended school). So Eliza married Martin Peters only in 1859–60 — she was a very recent bride at the 1860 census, then widowed by Nov 1862. Implications:
  • Elias, Mary J, and Charles are most plausibly Martin Peters’ children by an EARLIER wife (their NY 1853/54 → WI 1856 births trace his migration), making them Eliza’s stepchildren — and after 1862, Henry Martin’s step-stepchildren. They may have no blood tie to Eliza at all. (Direct line unaffected: Eliphlet is Henry × Eliza’s biological son.)
  • The “John B H Kimber, age 1” enumerated inside family 291 gets a live hypothesis: if Eliza was recently married in 1859–60, she may herself have been a widow Kimber first — Hutchinson → m. Kimber (son John B H, b. WI 1859) → widowed → m. Martin Peters 1859–60 → widowed → m. Henry Martin 1862. Three widowhoods in four frontier years is a lot; the tamer alternative is that the infant belongs to the adjacent Kimber households (Jese 32 b. England; Zena B 27 + Mary W 24, school teacher, b. NY). UNRESOLVED — the 1862 marriage record’s rendering of her name (“Peters”?) and any Kimber marriage/death records 1857–1859 would decide.
  • The 1870 household’s “John Martin, 13” is an open identity — RESOLVED same day via image 263 (page 35, family 291 continuation): John W Peters, 2, b. Wisconsin, and Eliza A Peters, 1, b. Wisconsin complete the household. So ALL FIVE older “Martin” children of the 1870 census (Elias, Charles, John, Eliza, +Mary J who is absent by 1870) are image-proven Peters children — with the married-within-the-year ticks, most parsimoniously Martin Peters’ children by a first wife who died c. 1859 (possibly at Eliza A’s birth). Citation: FamilySearch ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBS6-87N, image 263 of 324, IGN 005171815 (~/Downloads/Transcript-1.pdf).
  • William (b. c. 1861) — the between-marriages child: born after the July 1860 census, while Eliza was married to Martin Peters → plausibly Martin × Eliza’s only child together, which explains “William Portos/Peters, 18” still carrying the Peters name in Henry’s 1880 household. Eliza’s blood children would then be: William Peters (c. 1861) + the four Martin sons and daughters born 1864–1871+.
  • Mary J Peters (6 in 1860) is absent from the 1870 Martin household — placed out, married young, or died; candidate pool now overlaps Mrs. Chas. Walker / Mrs. Thos. Melville (Henry’s 1896 Card of Thanks).
  • Kimber-widow hypothesis DOWNGRADED: with Eliza A (1) in the family, a second one-year-old (John B H Kimber) makes “Eliza’s baby by a prior Kimber marriage” untidy; boarder/relative of the adjacent Kimber households is the better default. Keep only as a footnote unless the 1862 marriage record says otherwise.
• Household oddities: “John B H Kimber, age 1, b. Wisconsin” is enumerated on line 35 inside family 291 (the Peters family), with Kimber households in the adjacent dwellings. And the household appears to break across the page — baby Eliza A Peters (b. 1859, indexed separately) and any John should be on the next image (263). The 1870 household’s “John Martin, c. 1857” is NOT on page 34.
• Citations: page 34 — “Wisconsin, United States records,” FamilySearch ark:/61903/3:1:33S7-9BS6-8W4, image 262 of 324, Image Group 005171815 (NARA M653); record index ark:/61903/1:1:MW9Q-B6Z. Page 35 — ark:/61903/3:1:33SQ-GBS6-87N, image 263 of 324. Images filed at sources/1860-census-nasewaupee-p34-peters-household.pdf and sources/1860-census-nasewaupee-p35-peters-continuation.pdf.
• The 1880 household’s “son-in-law William Portos/Peters (18)” may actually be her Peters son (b. c. 1862 — possibly born after this census).
• New research target: Martin Peters — death or disappearance in Door County 1860–62; and the Peters marriage (to Eliza, or — if the married-within-year tick is real — his earlier marriage in New York that produced Elias and Mary J).
• Died October 17, 1884 (FindAGrave #130255266, Bayside Cemetery, Sturgeon Bay — exact date and burial new 2026-07-15).
• Birthplace now contested → likely resolved via FS tree [LEAD 2026-07-15]: 1860 census says England; 1870 says Canada; Eliphlet’s 1920 report said England. The FamilySearch tree profile (K814-2YL, 21 attached sources, quality “Medium”) gives b. 1830, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Niagara, Ontario, Canada — specific enough to likely be sourced, and it dissolves the contradiction (born Upper Canada to an English-born father; enumerators wrote either). Verify against the actual attached sources before promoting to the frontmatter.
• FS tree also carries: Residence 1850, Lockport, Niagara Co, NEW YORK (1 source) — Eliza at ~20, directly across the river from her birthplace. Geography convergence worth noting: the Peters children were born NY 1853–54, and Henry Martin was “in New York state” 1851–54 — Niagara County NY may be the common upstream ground of this whole Door County cluster. Pull the 1850 census source: whose household is she in? Thomas Hutcheson’s = parents-in-one-image + unmarried at 20 (consistent with marrying Martin Peters 1859–60 as his second wife).

Next steps

1. Check Eliza’s FamilySearch sources — any census records, immigration records?
2. Where in England? — immigration or census records might specify a county.
3. Thomas Hutcheson and Sophia Miller — are there more details on FamilySearch?