Due Family
James Wilson Due and Roxana Metcalf
Hancock, NH; Stoddard, NH; Nelson, NH; Marlborough, NH; Swanzey, NH
Written by Gail Golec, 2024
Records for the Due family in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, go back to at least 1821, with the birth of a man named James Wilson Due in the town of Hancock, NH, on October 6, to Elliot Due (of Hancock) and Lois French. Sometime in the 1840s, James W. Due married Roxana Estelle Metcalf, whose parents were John and Keziah Metcalf and she was born in Washington, NH. The couple lived in Hancock, NH, where they had a son, Albert W. Due, born April 17, 1847, in Hancock, NH.
By 1850 James W. Due (a 29 year old farmer, born in New Hampshire) had moved to and was living in Stoddard, NH with his family: wife, Roxana (25 years old; born in New Hampshire); son, Albert W. (4 years old; born in New Hampshire) and daughter, Alberetta Maria (2 years old; also born in New Hampshire). This census record lists everyone in the Wilson family as white. Around 1855, James and Roxana may have been living in Nelson, NH, where their daughter, Cora R., who was born. But by 1857, the Dues had moved back to Hancock, NH, where they had yet another daughter, Hattie E. Due, on May 29 (1857).
By 1860, the Dues were still living in Hancock, NH and their household consisted of James (38 years old, day laborer with $140 in real estate and $100 in personal estate); Roxana E. (34 years old); children, Albert W. (14 years old, attending school), Alfreta W. (11 years old, attending school), Cora R. (5 years old, attending school) and Hattie E. (3 years old). Again in the 1860 federal census as in 1850, all members of the Due household are listed as white. Around 1861, James and Roxana had a fourth daughter, Mattie S., possibly in Hancock, NH though no birth certificate has been found to confirm the town of Mattie S. Due’s birth. On September 25, 1869, eldest daughter Alfreta M., then 20 years old, married James Warren Woodward, also 20 years old and white, in Troy, NH by Rev. Jonathan S. Herrick; this was the first marriage for the bride and groom. J. Warren’s parents were Franklin Woodward and Abigail Louise Dyer and his profession was listed as “carpenter”.
By 1870, the Due family had moved to Marlborough, NH; James’s name shows up in the record as “Wilson Due”, a 47 year old, day laborer with $1200 in real estate. And while his wife, Roxanna E. (44 years old and keeping house) is listed as ‘white”, her husband Wilson/James and their four children still living at home (Albert W., 24 years old, day laborer; Cora R., 15 years old; Hattie E., 13 years old; and Mattie S., 9 years old) were all listed as ‘mulatto’. Also, their married daughter, Alfreta M. (Due) Woodward (21 years old, keeping house) is also listed a ‘mulatto’. It should be noted that this 1870s federal census is the only record that lists the Wilson family members as anything other than white. On November 4, 1873, Albert W. Due, 26 years old and eldest child of James and Roxana, died and was buried in Graniteville Cemetery in Marlborough, NH.
At some point between 1870 and 1877, James Wilson Due and Roxana Estelle (Metcalf) Due divorced. Though no record for the divorce has yet been recovered, ancillary documents and events attest to the divorce. On November 29, 1877, Roxana Estelle Metcalf Due married a man named Archibald Chase in Winchendon, MA. Roxana was then 55 years old and was listed as white and having been born in Washington, NH; Chase was a 73-year old upholsterer from Royalston, MA; both were listed as white; this was Roxana’s second marriage and Archibald’s third .
In 1880, James Wilson Due was a 58-year old laborer, boarding in the household of Frank Byron and still living in Marlborough, NH; the census record indicates that James Due was divorced. On June 27, 1881, James and Roxana’s middle daughter, Cora R. Due, died in Winchendon, MA at 26 years old. On November 23, 1885, their other daughter, Hattie E. Due married William O. Small in Dover, NH. Hattie was living in Dover at the time of her marriage and she and her husband were listed as white, 28 years old and this was the first marriage for both. William O. Small was listed as an engineer living in Portland ME and having been born in Bowdoin, ME to O.A. and Chastity Small .
Patriarch James Wilson Due died in Greenfield, NH on April 13, 1898 at 76 years old. His death record lists him as a farmer, white, that he died of heart disease and confirms he had been divorced. He was buried in Marlborough, NH and the service was attended by Albert F. French.
By 1900, daughter Hattie E. (Due) Small and her husband William O., were living in Brockton, MA. They had been married for 14 years at that point, had no children but did employ a British-American servant and boarded seven lodgers. WIlliam was listed as a stationary engineer. In 1916, eldest Due daughter, Alveretta M. (Due) Woodward passed away at Elliot Hospital in Keene, NH, where she had been a patient for 60 days. Alveretta was a 67 year old widow and had been living in West Swanzey, NH at the time of her death; she had spent most of her adult life working as a housekeeper and her death record identified her as white. One of the last records for a member of the Wilson family comes from the 1920 federal census that lists daughter Hattie (Due) Small as a 62 year old widow, living on North Main Street in Leominster, MA, working as a restaurant chef and lodging in the home of a couple that went by the name of Beaudette.
It is unclear how or why the census taker in 1870 identified father James Wilson Due and all of his children (Albert, Cora, Hattie and Mattie) and even daughter Alfreta, who then was married with a different name and lived in a different household (although right next door) as mulatto, when every other document, from census records, birth records, marriage and death records indicate the family was white.
GENEALOGICAL SUMMARY
JAMES WILSON DUE was born in Hancock, NH on Oct. 6, 1821 to ELLIOT DUE and LOIS FRENCH. He married ROXANA METCALF of Washington, NH. They had: Albert W. Due (1847-1898), Alberetta M. (1848), Cora R. (1855), Hattie E. (1857), Mattie S. (1861). James Due died on April 3, 1898 in Greenfield, NH.
ALBERT W. DUE was born April 17, 1847 in Hancock, NH to James Wilson Due and Roxana Metcalf. He died November 4, 1873 in Marlborough, NH.
SOURCE MATERIALS
Find-a-Grave, Marlborough, NH
Massachusetts Vital Records, Deaths, Winchendon, 1881- Ancestry.com
Massachusetts Vital Records, Marriages, Winchendon, 1877- Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Births, Hancock, 1821, 1847- Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Greenfield, 1898- Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Deaths, Keene, 1916- Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Marriages, Dover, 1885- Ancestry.com
New Hampshire Vital Records, Marriages, Troy, 1869- Ancestry.com
U.S. Federal Census Records, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, 1920- Ancestry.com