--- title: The lady vanishes description: The name Martha Babcock Greene Amory might not immediately resonate, but the lives of her immediate forebears are well-known to us today. image: https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/paris-civil-records-1024x535-1.jpg --- # [Vita Brevis A resource for family history from AmericanAncestors.org](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # The lady vanishes [April 12, 2016](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/04/lady-vanishes) [Critical Analysis](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/critical-analysis), [International genealogical research](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/international-genealogical-research), [American History](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/american-history), [Research Methods](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-methods), [Brick Walls](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/brick-walls), [Research tips](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/research-tips), [Family stories](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/tag/family-stories) [Rhonda McClure](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/rmcclure) [![paris civil records](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hs-fs/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/paris-civil-records-1024x535-1.jpg?width=604&height=316&name=paris-civil-records-1024x535-1.jpg)](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Imported_Blog_Media/paris-civil-records-3.jpg)The name Martha Babcock Greene Amory might not immediately resonate, but the lives of her immediate forebears are well-known to us today. She was born in Boston 15 November 1812, the daughter of Gardiner Greene and his third wife, Elizabeth Clarke Copley. Mrs. Greene was the daughter of John Singleton Copley, the well-known American painter, and his wife Susannah Farnum Clarke; she was the granddaughter of Richard Clarke, whose consignment of tea was thrown into the harbor during the Boston Tea Party. That’s a lot of history for just a couple of generations! On 15 October 1832, Martha married Charles Amory, a mover and shaker in the financial and social circles of Boston. She then traveled abroad with him, and her letters to her mother of her experiences were [published in 1922](https://archive.org/details/weddingjourneyc00updigoog) as *The Wedding Journey of Charles and Martha Babcock Amory, Letters of Mrs. Amory to Her Mother Mrs. Gardiner Greene, 1833-1834, *Volume 1, France and Italy. At the beginning of the book is a note authored by “D.B.U.” that indicates much of the above information, but also states that Martha died in Paris in January 1880 and her husband Charles died 18 years later. Given her illustrious family, one would assume that any information about her birth and death would have been accurately identified by some researcher in the past. A recent Ask-a-Genealogist question about the death of Mrs. Amory mentioned another death date for her of 1879 in Paris and requested additional information. The reason for the question was that the researcher had located Martha, her husband Charles, and their son Copley residing in Boston as enumerated on 2 June 1880 in the 1880 U.S. Federal Census. If she truly was residing in Boston in June of 1880, then it is unlikely that she died in January 1880, as the book stated, or in 1879, as the researcher had found. In searching for additional information on Martha, an entry for FindAGrave.com stated that she died in December of 1879. Again, based on the 1880 census this is not possible. It is cases like this where, as researchers, we often assume a previous researcher – like the editor of the published Amory letters – has superior resources and we then neglect to look at, say, subsequent census records. Verification of Mrs. Amory’s actual death date in the records of Paris may not be something that someone would think of doing, especially if they are unfamiliar with record availability in France. In the case of the vital records for the city of Paris, though, there are digitized indexes and records available through the [Paris Archives](http://canadp-archivesenligne.paris.fr/). The city of Paris is divided into 16 districts (les arrondissements). The digitized records are arranged by event (birth, marriage, and death) and by district. There are 10-year indexes for each district for each event. After using these and locating the correct entry, it is possible for the researcher to then turn to the actual records (actes) and view the original record. As a result of these online records, the death date of Martha Babcock Greene Amory is no longer a mystery. She died in Paris 30 January 1881 and the event was recorded the next day: 31 January. This is a classic example of how important it is to view the actual records, rather than taking the word of what appears to be an accurate published volume. ### Share this: - [mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/04/lady-vanishes](mailto:?body=https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/04/lady-vanishes) - - - More - - ![Rhonda McClure](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/hubfs/Rhonda_McClure.jpg) ## About Rhonda McClure Rhonda R. McClure, Senior Genealogist, is a nationally recognized professional genealogist and lecturer. Before joining American Ancestors in 2006, she ran her own genealogical business for 18 years. She was a contributing editor for Heritage Quest Magazine, Biography magazine and was a contributor to The History Channel Magazine and American History Magazine. In addition to numerous articles, she is the author of twelve books including the award-winning The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Online Genealogy, Finding your Famous and Infamous Ancestors and Digitizing Your Family History. She is the editor of the 6th edition of the Genealogist’s Handbook for New England Research, available in our bookstore. When she isn’t researching and writing about family history, she spends her time writing about ice hockey, covering collegiate to NHL teams and a couple of international teams. Her work has allowed her the privilege of attending and covering the 2018 Winter Olympics in PyeongChang, Korea and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan. Areas of expertise: Immigration and naturalization, late 19th and early 20th century urban research, missionaries (primarily in association with the American Board of Commissioners of Foreign Missions), State Department Federal records, New England, Mid-West, Southern, German, Italian, Scottish, Irish, French Canadian, and New Brunswick research as well as Internet research, genealogical software and online trees (FTM, RootsMagic, Reunion, AncesTrees, etc.), digital peripherals, and uses both Mac and Windows machines.[View all posts by Rhonda McClure →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/author/rmcclure) [← Patriots](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/04/patriots) [Keeping time →](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/2016/04/keeping-time) This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. ### Recent Posts [Sailor Bill and His Forgotten Wife](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/sailor-bill-and-his-forgotten-wife) [Professor X](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/professor-x) [Part I: Malaga Island, Maine](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/part-i-malaga-island-maine) [The Norwegian folge](https://vitabrevis.americanancestors.org/the-norwegian-folge) [Research…in a Miniskirt? 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