JOHN & PHOEBE HEMPSTEAD'S MOTHER...?

Quick note - found today on Ancestry:

New York, Town Clerks' Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, 

ca 1861-1865 Record for John Hempsted

Suffolk > Brookhaven-Southold > 226

Name: John Hempsted
Birth Place: Brooklyn, New York
Father: Christopher Hempsted
Mother: Marie Pease
Residence Place: Riverhead, New York
Enlistment Date: 30 Aug 1862
Enlistment Location: Riverhead, Suffolk, New York
Regiment: 127th Infantry
Company: K
Rank: Private
Race: White
Marital Status: Married

Source Citation: New York State Archives; Albany, New York; Town Clerks´ Registers of Men Who Served in the Civil War, ca 1861-1865; 
Collection Number: (N-Ar)13774; Box Number: 59; Roll Number: 32.

Now who the heck is MARIE PEASE?

John Hempste(a)d is the brother of my 2nd great grandmother, Phoebe [Hempstead] Morrell who died in 1912.  At the 1910 census her husband was deceased and Phoebe was living with her married daughter.  Most likely that daughter, Alice Marie [Morrell] Cramer provided the info for her mother's death certificate, which stated Phoebe's mother to be ALICE SMITH, born U.S.  [In one census, Phoebe's mother's place of birth is shown as New Jersey - all others say New York.]  Phoebe and John's father was Christopher Hempste(a)d - thankfully, all records concur on this!

Phoebe and John were born about 2 years apart.  There was an older brother born 2 years prior to John.  Their father remarried a woman I thought was his 2nd wife about 1837; their first [known] child was born about 1838-1839.  It appeared that the first 3 children all had the same mother.  Could Alice Smith and Marie Pease somehow be the same person [Alice Marie Smith or Pease], or did Christopher have more wives than I know of [3 so far]? The Town Clerk's information would have been provided by John himself around 1862...so it's also possible that the info on Phoebe's death certificate is incorrect.  ARGGH!

HERKIMER COUNTY HEMPSTEADS!

Just found online at familysearch.org some probate documents from Kings County, New York for Christopher Hempstead [Jr.], born approximately 1807, died 1881 in Brooklyn.  The biggest surprise was mention of a deceased son, named - of course - Christopher [III].  He would have been the eldest son, born approximately 1825, married probably Mary [surname unknown], born in Wales.  He married approximately 1850, does not appear in the 1850 census that I can find.  However in the 1860 census there is a Christian Hempstead of the right age, wife born Wales, 3 children that match later details exactly, plus one daughter of whom no further mention is found.  He lived in Erie County, Buffalo, New York.  As far west in the state that you can get.  What could have taken him so far from Brooklyn?  His children later lived in Herkimer County, German Flatts, Ilion township [per 1881 probate documents plus found in earlier censuses].  That's a lot closer to Brooklyn than Erie County, but - how and why did the family, or perhaps orphaned children, remove from Buffalo to Ilion?  In 1870 I found a census entry for the possible widow of Christopher III; few details are shown in that census, but she was still in Buffalo.  Her children in the same census year were mostly in Herkimer County, living in various households.   Only one child, daughter Phoebe E. Hempstead, was living in Brooklyn at the date of Christopher Hempstead [Jr.]'s probate; she was of full age and residing in an orphan asylum.  She was found at the same approximate address at the 1880 census.  Had she lived there long?  How did she get back to Brooklyn?

RECENTLY...

...I've just been recording in PAF the new info I've found on this family. This was a fairly prolific family, it seems a bit strange that I haven't been contacted by any living descendants [with the exception of Kimi Ruiz, descendant of Emma Augusta Hempstead].

At any rate, my primary question was answered, Phoebe Hempstead does descend from Joshua Hempstead of New London CT. I still have nothing on Sarah Sherman, wife of Christopher Hempstead [Sr.]. And the Nathaniel Hempstead b. 1803 Brooklyn NY, died 1870 Riverhead, Long Island...I  believe he married Caroline Glispie, but can find absolutely nothing on the family he may have had, nor what occurred in his life between his marriage and his death...I did find one or two articles in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle mentioning a Nathaniel Hempste[a]d who was drunk and disorderly...don't know if that was him or not.
 

EXCITING INFORMATION

Mr. Benjamin Feldman, author of "Butchery on Bond Street", has very generously sent me copies of some of the historical documents he used for researching the Hempstead family during the writing of his book.  The documents are primarily copies of some of the probate documents of Nathaniel Hempstead [Sr.] and Christopher Hempstead [Sr.].  These documents, particularly those that pertain to Nathaniel's Will, establish the names of their children, spouses of their children, and in some cases the grandchildren.  My feeling that Clement Miner Hempstead was the son of Nathaniel Jr., and brother of Nathaniel III, was confirmed!  I have a couple of new surnames to research [Covel and Van Winkle, which gentlemen married Hempstead daughters], along with the name of a previously unknown-to-me daughter [Cordelia Hempstead, dau. of Christopher & Sarah].

Stay tuned!!