On Medium I recently asked, Who was Cornelia Martin? And in answering that question, I found a good example of the type of loss suffered by families in 19th century America.

While working on an upcoming book on the Lincoln line of Windham, Connecticut, I found the children of Nathaniel Martin listed in his will. I was able to find his daughter Cornelia’s birth record, but then she’s gone.

I couldn’t find any other vital records, though her siblings’ fates were all well documented. But I did find a woman of the same name in an asylum in Vermont. Was that her?