When Rebecca M. Stidham was born about 1829, in New Castle, New Castle, Delaware, United States, her father, Joseph L Stidham, was 32 and her mother, Elizabeth Reynolds, was 29. She married Wilson Hilyard about 1850, in Wilmington, New Castle, Delaware, United States.
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Being a second spiritual and religious awakening, like the First Great Awakening, many Churches began to spring up from other denominations. Many people began to rapidly join the Baptist and Methodist congregations. Many converts to these religions believed that the Awakening was the precursor of a new millennial age.
"Isaac Reeves is credited with being Delaware's first farmer to plant over 30 acres of peaches near the city of New Castle. In over ten years, he would expand his crop to over a hundred acres. His success prompted others to plant orchards in Kent and Sussex counties. This gave the state the nickname the """"Peach State"""" for awhile."
Abraham Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.
Americanized form, via Stedham , of an unidentified Scandinavian or perhaps Dutch surname recorded in DE in the 17th century as Stiddem. Possible Dutch source is Van Stedum, a habitational name from Stedum, a village near Loppersum in the province of Groningen, named with plural dative from stad, denoting a place or country estate (with specific rights). Compare Stidam .
Possibly also an altered form of English Stedham .
History: The progenitor of (the majority of) the Stidhams was Timon Stidham, the pioneer physician in New Sweden (today DE), who arrived from Sweden in 1638 for the first time, and again in 1654, when he settled in Fort Christina (later Willmington, DE). His original surname was recorded as Stiddem, the form not found in Scandinavia or elsewhere in Europe.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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