Clarissa Elizabeth Pray

Brief Life History of Clarissa Elizabeth

When Clarissa Elizabeth Pray was born in 1848, in Houlton, Aroostook, Maine, United States, her father, Elisha Clark Pray, was 42 and her mother, Bathsheba Hull Atherton, was 27. She married Ansel Elijah Syphers on 26 June 1865, in Houlton, Aroostook, Maine, United States. They were the parents of at least 1 son and 2 daughters. She died from 1878 to 1879, in Paris, Lincoln, Kansas, United States.

Photos and Memories (1)

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Family Time Line

Ansel Elijah Syphers
1839–1901
Clarissa Elizabeth Pray
1848–1879
Marriage: 26 June 1865
Addie May Syphers
1867–1944
Annie Hull Syphers
1869–1953
Frank Wilbur Syphers
1874–1955

Sources (6)

  • Clarissa E Syphers in household of Ansel E Syphers, "United States Census, 1870"
  • Clarissa Pray, "Maine, Marriages, 1771-1907"
  • Clara E Unknown in entry for Frank Wilber Syphers, "United States, Social Security Numerical Identification Files (NUMIDENT), 1936-2007"

World Events (8)

1851 · First State to Attempt Prohibition

"In 1851, Maine outlawed the sale of alcohol, allowing exceptions only for ""medicinal, mechanical, and manufacturing purposes"". This made Maine the first state to experiment with prohibition. Neal Dow, mayor of Portland, believed that alcohol was linked to slavery and was also convinced by the Christian temperance movement. Dow ran into problems later for his anti-immigration rhetoric against the Irish, and also for breaking his own prohibition laws; although not a designated ""purchaser"", Dow personally purchased alcohol to distribute to local doctors, violating a technicality. As the citizens turned against him, Dow eventually ordered soldiers to fire on protesters. This marked a sharp decline in Dow's political career, and the Maine Law was repealed by 1856. Aspects of the law would remain in tact, however, and ultimately paved the way for the 18th Amendment, which prohibited alcohol on the national level."

1854

Bleeding Kansas was a time period between the years 1854 and 1861 with a series of violent confrontations over whether slavery would be legal in Kansas Territory.

1861

Kansas is the 34th state

Name Meaning

Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Préith, popularly believed to be from an ancient Pictish personal name of unexplained etymology, but more likely a reinterpretation of the descriptive phrase na préith ‘of the cattle-spoil’.

English: topographic name for someone who lived by a meadow, from Old French pray, French pré, from Latin pratum ‘meadow’.

Americanized form of German Prey .

Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.

Possible Related Names

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