Could Betsey (__) Bigelow Phelps have been Betsey Crow?

Question

Zenas Bigelow and his wife Betsey were in Transittown, New York, by 1800 and Batavia by 1803. Zenas died intestate and administration was granted to his widow Betsey in Genesee county 7 May 1808. Probate records document that she remarried between 1811 and 1812 to Zerah Phelps (who died by 6 Jan 1820 when his estate was inventoried). Her appearances in the 1810, 1820, and 1830 census indicate Betsey was born between 1776 and 1780.

Zenas and Betsey are my ancestors through their daughter Eliza (Bigelow) Cross (identified in an 1812 guardianship record as the daughter of Zenas, late of Batavia).

When I added Zerah Phelps to my Ancestry tree, I was surprised to find my paternal aunt and I have autosomal DNA matches with a descendant of Zerah and his first wife Deborah Crow - which shouldn't be the case if he was just Betsey's second husband. Where might those DNA matches be coming from?

Deborah Crow was the daughter of Nathaniel Crow and Abigail Olmsted, who baptized five children in East Hartford, Conn.: Abigail 1763, John 1765, Lucy 1769, Nathaniel 1772, and Deborah 1774. Another son, Stephen, was baptized 1779 in Winsted, 30 miles west. My aunt and I found more DNA matches with descendants of Abigail (Crow) Kellogg and descendants of Stephen Crow. The History of Wyoming County, New York indicates that Zerah Phelps and his wife Deborah and her brother Stephen Crow were among the first settlers together of Attica, New York, in 1802-3. We also have matches with a descendant of Isaac Olmsted, half-brother of Abigail (Olmsted) Crow.

I think this strongly suggests that Betsey, the wife of Zenas Bigelow and Zerah Phelps, was Betsey Crow, sister of Deborah, who settled western New York with her siblings' families and as a widow married her widowed brother-in-law. This would place Betsey's birth around 1776-1778, during the time of her parents' move from East Hartford to Winsted.

The Internet(tm) thinks Nathaniel Crow died 1822 in Litchfield. Winsted is in Litchfield county, and Nathaniel's daughter Abigail (Crow) Kellogg was a member of its church, but early church records are largely missing. I haven't (yet) found any information about the later years or deaths or estates of Nathaniel or Abigail (Olmsted) Crow that might shed any further light on their children.

Is this enough information to identify my ancestor Betsey as Betsey Crow?

Answer 1

I'll have to leave an assessment of the DNA evidence to some better schooled in it (and can answer the questions of who has been tested, etc., WilkiTree, as I understand it,  considers DNA supportive rather than primary evidence).

However, my suggestion for finding additional paper trail evidence is to contact the respective New York State county historians. Most upstate New York counties have a county historian, usually found through the county government website or sometimes the historical society. In some cases, each larger town has one. I've found them amazingly helpful and in all cases they have information simply not available via internet sources. If you want talk with someone in Genesee county historian office, the contact info is here.