Beeks line: Done with the Beeks line?

Of course, I'll never be done writing about this family, or at least learning about them.  However, I've come to a stopping point and any posts I write now will either be of things I've learned from the Huntington newspaper, or I'll post when I find the story of a new Beeks ancestor.  Since some of these people right now are first names only, I don't hold out a lot of hope for locating them, but certainly stranger things have happened.  My criteria for including people on this list is that they at least died in this country.  Some were probably immigrants and some may have been here for several generations, but I just can't trace them. 

Here are the names I'm looking for:

Timothy Martin, born about 1798 died before 1870; married in 1833  in Shelby County, Ohio to
Hannah Tilberry or Tilbury, born about 1810.  They may have died in Wabash County, Indiana.
possibly Eva, the wife of George Philip Serfass.  She would have been born about 1783, maybe.
Sabina, wife of Frederick Serfass, born about 1760.
Felix Weiss about 1720-1779 died in Hamilton Township, Monroe County, Pa.
Anna Maria van Buskirk, his wife, born about 1726
George Featheringill 1710-1767-died in Frederick County, Va.
possibly Elizabeth Marie Settlemire, his wife
Hannah, wife of William Lehew  about 1745-1810, died in wythe County, Va.
Tabitha, widow Underwood, wife of William Hunt, early Virginia
Elizabeth, wife of Hugh Donaghe
Isabel Hamilton, wife of John Donaghe
Thomas Hicklin, 1689-1772
Richard Bodkin 1710-1773
Elizabeth, wife of Richard Bodkin
Barbara, wife of Johan  Jacob Bentz
Rebecca Caroline, wife of Christian Funk
Polly Carter 1805-1880, Lagro, Wabash County, Indiana, wife of John Beeks
Elizabeth, wife of Johann Gottfried Neimrich 
Johann Gottfired Neimrich
possibly John Barnes and his possible wife Elizabeth, parents of Catherine Barnes

As you can see, for most of these people I have little to go on.  However, when the going gets tough, the tough get going.  They also ask for help, which is what I'm doing now.  Can you help me learn the stories of any of these people, and possibly their parents? 

Holbrook line: John Sheldon, Immigrant

This is another of those bad news/good news posts.  The good news is that quite a lot is known about John Sheldon after he arrived in Rhode Island.  The bad news is that nothing is known of his life prior to that time.  Is the glass half full, or half empty?

William Sheldon has been suggested as the father of John, but that isn't proven to my satisfaction so it's just as well to say his parents are unknown.  He is believed to have been born somewhere in Warwickshire, England, about 1630 but again, I've not seen records to support that, and the Sheldon Family Association only lists England and 1628.

So, John Sheldon's first 25 years are a mystery.  He was a tanner by trade, so possibly that was his father's occupation, too.  Or he could have been apprenticed to learn the trade from some other family member or even town resident, if we only knew what town and on which side of the ocean we should be looking.

The first official record of him has him on September 9, 1654, in the town of Providence, Rhode Island,  "falling on Hugh Benett in the night".  There is no explanation for this.  John appeared before the Town Deputies and acknowledged whatever it was that he had done, Hugh Benett declared himself satisfied, as did the town, and that was the end of that episode.

There are several records of land acquisitions and sales beginning on February 12 ,1660, when John bought land from Zachary Rhodes, near the dwelling house of William Carpenter.  William Carpenter was his bride's uncle.  John married Joan Vincent March 26, 1660, who was the daughter of Thomas Vincent and Fridiswide Carpenter.  I found it interesting that the intentions were made at a town meeting, not a church meeting, of Providence Settlement and Providence Plantation.  So did the Sheldons not attend a church?  Quakers and Baptists were common in Rhode Island, but so were "free thinkers".  John and Joan had at least five children. 

He was on a petit juror in 1672, but other than that his "sightings" are mostly to do with land transfers that I am not quite following.  If you  want to read the details, they are on the Randall and Allied Families tree at Rootsweb, which I got to just by googling "John Sheldon 1630".

By 1708, Joan had died and John was in his old age and apparently needed care.  He signed an agreement with his son Nehemiah, in which all of his personal estate was given to Nehemiah and Nehemiah in return promised to care for him as a dutiful child should.  He died September 2, 1708 at Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island. 

There is much I'd like to know about John, particularly his early years and his origin, but also his religion, if any, and  how he practiced his occupation.  I'd also like to know what he thought about some of our more famous Rhode Island ancestors, who lived when he lived, such as Roger Williams.   I would also like to know what John and family did during King Philip's War.  Did they leave?  Where did they go?  Did John serve in the military?  There is still more to the story, if we could just find it!

The line of descent is:

John Sheldon-Joan Vincent
Timothy Sheldon-Sarah Balcom
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
Lillis Winsor-Nathan Paine
Deborah Paine-Enos Eddy
Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Allen line, or not? Thomas Harris 1580-1634

I'm sticking my neck out here, because nothing I'm finding supports my tree that says that Rachel Harris, who married Thomas Starr, is the daughter of this Thomas Harris.  So we may or may not be related to this man.  Thomas Starr was from Canterbury, Kent, England and Thomas Harris is from Hatherup, Gloucester, England, so we need to find a reason and a way for the two to meet before we set this branch of the tree firmly in place.  It may well be that there will be a better candidate found for Rachel's parents, and that would be fine with me. 

However, in case this Thomas Harris is the right person, and because he came with the Winthrop Fleet and is therefore automatically interesting (to me, at least), I'll give the bare facts about him, mostly as researched by Robert Charles Anderson in The Great Migration Begins.  Thomas was the son of William amd Agnes Mason Harris, and was born at Hatherup, Gloucester, England, about 1580.  He married Elizabeth, (most sites, but not Anderson, say her name was Hills) sinetime before 1613, as children started arriving at that time.  Six children were noted in a will by Harris's nephew in 1639, but Rachel wasn't left a bequest.  There could be reasons for that, but nevertheless it is worth considering.  Known children of our couple are Anna, John, Thomas, William, Anthony and Daniel.  According to the approximate birth dates, there would have been time for a child named Rachel to have been born between Anna and John.  However, it seems that we have no definite birth dates for any of the children. or for Eliabeth, so this is almost just speculation. 

As mentioned, the Harris's came to New England in 1630, with the Winthrop fleet.  For whatever reason, whether political, familial, or religious, Thomas's name is listed as Thomas Harris alias Williams, and he continued to use that name, Harris alias Williams, for some time in the New World.  The family settled at Winnissimmet, later known as Chelsea and now part of Boston.  In 1630, shortly after arrival at Massachusetts Bay Colony, he requested freemanship which was granted as Thomas Williams alias Harris in 1631.  That same year he was granted the authority to set up a ferry to run between Winnissimmit and Charlton, and also from Winnissimmet to Boston, with fees sets by the authorities. 

We don't know how long this was actually in operation under Harris's watch, because by 1634 his widow had remarried and her new husband had control of the ferry.  (The ferry stayed in operation until 1917).  Elizabeth lived until February 16,1669/70, and was either 83 or 93 when she died.  We can guess that Thomas may have had an accident, or drowned, or succumbed to one or another of the illnesses that killed so many early pioneers.  We will likely never know that story, and we may not ever know whether Rachel was truly his daughter. 

If he is our ancestor, here is the line of descent:

Thomas Harris-Elizabeth Hills
Rachel Harris-Thomas Starr
Samuel Starr-Hannah Brewster
Thomas Starr-Mary Morgan
Thomas Starr-Jerusha Street
John Starr-Mary Sharp
John Starr-Betsy Havens
John Havens Starr-Clarissa Falley
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Their descendants

If someone knows whether or not Rachel Harris's father is Thomas, and whether or not this is the correct Thomas, I sure would like to know about it!

Harshbarger line: Done with the Withers family?

Tuesday I wrote a blog post about the end of the line, opportunities for discovery brick wall people in my husband's maternal grandmother's line.  Today I'm writing about the same sort of people in his paternal grandmother's line.  There aren't as many people that I'm missing, because my criteria is that I just want to get the family back across the ocean.  Many people in this line came to America in the 1730-1755 time period (a few earlier), so that doesn't include as many generations as did the Aldridge line. 

From what I can tell of the people I do know about, these folks were mostly from Germany and Switzerland.  I don't believe any of them were wealthy, or they would have left their footprints in the form of paperwork in more places than we can find them.  I envision them as being hard working, good folks, devout Christians whatever religion they were, and I'm proud that they are the ancestors of my children and grandchildren.

I just wish I could find some information about these missing people:

Elizabeth Miller, 1789-1869, married to Joseph Burkholder
possibly Adam Burkhalter and Anna Mellinger, born about 1700-1705  I'm not sure whether or not
     they came to America
possibly Johannes Gingerich and Anna G Sherk, about 1705-1771, again not sure if they came to
     Aneruca
Anna Margaret Conradt, wife of Johannes Conrad Reber, born about 1750
possibly Johann Gerber and Maria Gertraut Bener, born 1695-unsure if they came to America
Anna Maria Lauber born December 20, 1793 married Hans Jacob Kemmerli
Susanna, wife of Peter Shollenberger, born May 4, 1777 died November 11, 1849
Magdalena Kunkle born about 1725 married to Johann Caspar Schneer
Anna Eva Matte about 1700-abt 1772, wife of Wendel Essig
Joseph Withers born 1804 married to Mary Ann Gearhart born about 1812 (need parents for both of
      them)
Christina wife of Sebastian Kestenholtz, born about 1736
Christina Emmert born 1728, wife of Mathias Bruder
Mary Magdalea, wife of John Whetstone, November 1776 January 10, 1852
Anna Gerber wife of Jacob Maag  1703-1767
Adam Koch  and Catherine Drucker born 1735-died 1807 and 18817-need parents for both
Elizabeth Leitzee born about 1755, wife of Adam Koch Jr. 

That's only 21 people missing in this line, plus of course several generations of parents for some of them.  These, along with the list from Tuesday and several similar posts I'll be doing, will be my guideposts for researching in the future.  If I learn who these people, and their parents, are, I will be sharing, and I will be happy.  I would be delirious with joy if someone contacts me and helps me with any one of these folks! 

Beeks line: Done with the Aldridge family?

I thought I'd make a list of all my dead ends/brick walls/opportunities to find for the Beeks family, and I started with Cleo Aldridge.  That list along gives me over 50 names to work, just for people here in the US or who may have come to America, since for some of these people I have no date or location for a death and their children were definitely here . Some are first names only, or unknown wives of so and so.  Their roots are in England, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and perhaps other places.  Some were born as recently as 1797, many of the Germans were born in the first half of the 1700's, and some go back to the earliest colonial times. 

Better genealogists, with more money or/and time than I have, have worked diligently to find these people.  That doesn't mean that I won't be successful on any of these remaining folks, but it does mean that new records will have to be made available, or I will have to learn more about existing old records, before I can make much progress, and before I can write any more posts in this line.  

This post, then, is a salute to the following people in the line of Gretta Cleo Aldridge Beeks, the anonymous people who made America, who lived good lives and raised the generations that raised the generation that eventually settled in Andrews, Indiana.  In no particular order, they are:

Anna, wife of Solomon Rees
Hugh Humphriey 1670-1748
Elizabeth Lowry, wife of Hugh Humphrey
Mary McMillan 1650-1699, wife of Evan ap Owen
Philip Price died  about 1720
Elinor Lloyd, wife of David Rees
Thomas Scattergood 1600-1697
Elinor Peers, wife of Samuel Burgess
Catherine Anne Kynge, wife of William Edward Moone
Mary Taylor, 1675-1772 wife of Thomas Butterfield
John Butterfield and wife
Elinor Lewis, wife of Price Rhys
Maria Salame, wife of Anthony Hallman born about 1675
William Booth, father of Charles Booth born about 1655???
Agnes Jevan, wife of Samuel Jones
Randall Malin 1649-1730 and Elizabeth his wife
Gerdrew, wife of George Jacob possibly born about 1680
Hans Peter (Von) Rubel 1684-1750 and Anna Katrina Mueller
Patience Wooten 1622-1710  wife of John Walter
William Holloway 1586-1655 and unknown wife
wife of George Allen, possibly Katherine Watts but maybe not
Thomas Smith, father of the John Smith who married Susanna Hinckley   Did he come to America?
Elizabeth Trull, 1585-1666, wife of John Pers
Elspeth, wife of John Thomas Bloomfield
Jeremiah Folsom, probably my most wanted of all on this list about 1797 to about 1831
Elizabeth, 1752-1836 wife of John William Teague
Peter Tague 1725-1797 and wife Elizabeth
Stryntje Jacobs 1620-1699
Francois Sohier 1595-1663
Elizabeth Drabbe, 1660-1724 wife of Joost De Baun
Jason Wheeler 1765-1843 and Patience, his wife, also very high on my most wanted list. 
Parnell Lakin, 1705-1761, wife of George III Fee
Rebecca Parnell 1636-1715, wife of George I Fee
Rebecca wife of William Jump born about 1635???
George Fee born 1650
wife of William Lee was she Ann Granger?  possibly born about 1675
William Lee also possibly born about 1675
Elizabeth Soper, 1747-1815, wife of Jacob Aldridge
Eleanor Watkins 1715-1761, wife of John Aldridge
Mary wife of John Purdy. possibly born about 1657
Nicholas Aldridge and wife Margaret, born about 1629-1632

Whew!  To look at this list, you would think that I've not found much at all on the Aldridge family.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  I've written many posts about this family and have been delighted to learn about all of them.  But a true blue family historian always wants more!  I will keep this list and work on it from time to time.  Maybe there are answers out there that I haven't yet found.  If so, I will be posting more brief sketches, as I find them. 

Holbrook line: John Warren 1585-1667 Immigrant

Oh, there is nothing like a documented immigrant ancestor!  It's exciting to find one, it's exciting to find a little bit of his story, but it's frustrating too because for almost every fact fount I have more questions.  Our John has at least three more generations in back of him in England, so it's fun to note his background, instead of having guesses and suppositions.

John Warren was born shortly before August 1, 1585 (baptismal date) in Nayland, Suffolk, England.  His parents were John and Elizabeth Scarlett Warren.  John the father was a cardmaker.  Given his location and the amount of wool that was produced there, I believe he made equipment for carding wool, not playing cards.  The town is a small one, on the border with Sussex, and in the 1600's was a center for Puritan dissenters, at least for a time.

John's mother died about March 27, 1602.3 and his father then married Rose, who was buried August 11, 1610, and then married Rose Riddlesdale, who outlived him.  John the father died in 1613, when our John was 28 years old.  Our John was also a cardmaker, and earned enough of a living to marry  Margaret who has been identified as Margaret Bayly  They had at least seven children.  The first three died as infants or young children, but when John and Margaret came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, they had their four youngest children with them.

John was already in trouble with the Church of England in 1629, when he failed to kneel for communion.  Since there were several other men who also failed to do this, it is not likely that he had bad knees  As Puritans, the men had decided that kneeling to receive communion was not appropriate.  This seemed like a good time to leave England . The family came with Winthrop's fleet in 1630, but I'm not able to confirm whether or not they came on the Arbella, the flag ship of the fleet.  At any rate, they sailed with a number of good Puritans.

John was made a freeman at Watertown, Massachusetts, on May 18, 1631, although he may not have been a member of the church.  Church attendance was mandatory and he was fined several times for frequent absences from service.  There is some speculation that although he immigrated with and lived with Puritans, he was actually a Baptist at heart, or possibly a Quaker.  If he had admitted either of these leanings publicly, he would have been exiled, and perhaps he was already feeling his age.

John prospered in his new country, acquiring significant tracts of land by grant and it's possible he also purchased some property.  He was a selectman for at least two terms and also served on committees to lay out highways and to divide land, jobs meant for wise people.  He still owned 188 acres of land in various parcels when he died.  His real estate was then valued at 123 pounds and the rest of the estate was valued at a little over 47 pounds.  His inventory still included a musket, sword, and halberd.  These items were required of all men in case of attack, although by his death on December 13, 1667, he was 82 years old and would likely have been excused from military duty for some years.  Margaret had died 5 years before, on November 6, 1662.

These are the basic facts about John Warren.  I'd love to know more about him, especially his religious beliefs, and how he supported his family once he arrived in America.  Surely there wasn't that much of a demand for cardmakers in the early years of the colony.  There were books in his inventory so we can assume he was literate.  What was the source of his education?  As I said, the information we do have is wonderful but I'd like to know more!

The line of descent is:

John Warren-Margaret possibly Bayly
John Warren-Deborah Wilson
Mary Warren-John Burr
Mary Burr-Thomas Marsh
Deborah Marsh-Isaac Lazell
Deborah Lazell-Levi Rockwood
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Update.  Although the blog post itself may be accurate, this John Warren is no longer thought to be the father of the John Warren who married Deborah Wilson.  The John Warren who married Deborah Wilson married her in Exeter, N.H.  He is supposed to be a cardmaker and a tobacconist, but I don't have enough information to write a post about him, as yet.  The important thing is that John and Margaret don't appear to be our ancestors.  I am sorry to have misled you.  

Allen line: Frances Mauldin Holbrook line: Francis Mauldin 1600-1644

I'm counting this ancestor, my 8th and 9th great grandfather, under the Allen line, simply because I have very few Allen ancestors left to write about  However, he is also an ancestor in our Holbrook line, which technically means, I think, that we who have both Allen and Holbrook lines are our own cousins.  Hmmm...It's a good thing that's a long way back!

Of course frustratingly little is known of our double ancestor, Francis Mauldin.  He is said to have been born in 1600 in London, England, the son of another Francis Mauldin.  He emigrated from England to New Norfolk County, Virginia, with his wife, believed to be Katherine Sutton, and their daughter Margaret.  Katherine was probably dead by 637 or 1638, and Francis then married Grace Bennett, and had at least one child, grace, with her.  There may have been more children with Grace, and the mother of son Francis Mauldin is, as of this writing, not identified, at least not to my satisfaction. 

Francis, his wife Katherine and daughter Margaret came to Virginia in 1634.  He paid passage for his wife plus six other persons, some or all of whom would have worked for him as indentured servants until their labor paid francis for the cost of the passage, plus completing whatever the other terms of the indentureship were.  The length of any indentureship would have depended partly on the age of the men and partly on what skills they brought with them.  Francis initially would have had help in settling and farming the 450 acres he received as headrights for his family and the other six men.  This land was on the north side of the Nansemod River.  .

After the loss of his first wife, he married Grace Bennett and in just a few years, imported two servants, and received headrights for them.  It is thought that he also acquired additional land before his death.  Given the locations of the land, it is likely that at least one of the crops Mauldin raised was tobacco.  

This is what is known of Francis Mauldin, the first of the name in America.  His son Francis Mauldin became a carpenter, and his widow went to Maryland about 1649, possibly in search of religious freedom. 

Our lines of descent are:

Allen line:

Francis Mauldin-Katherine probably Sutton
Margaret Mauldin-Samuel Lane
Dutton Lane-Pretitia Tydings
Samuel Lane-Mary Jane Corbin
Lambert Lane Nancy Anderson
Nancy Ann Lane-James McCoy
Vincent McCoy-Eleanor Jackson
Nancy McCoy-George R Allen
Edward Allen-Edith Knott
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

The Holbrook line is

Francis Mauldin-Grace Bennett
Francis Mauldin-Elizabeth Mackall
Ann Maulden-William Amos
James Amos-Hannah Clarke
Benjamin Amos-Sarah Bussey
Elizabeth Amos-Robert Amos
Martha Amos-Peter Black
Elizabeth Black-Isaac Hetrick
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Harshbarger line: Edward Harshbarger, 1917-1976, Cousin

For my last Harshbarger post, I wrote about Robert D. Harshbarger, son of Logan and Chestia Kemery Harshbarger, and World War II veteran.  Today I'm writing about Edward Leroy Harshbarger, also the son of Logan and Chestia Kemery Harshbarger, and also a World War II veteran.  . 

Ed, as he is referred to in various newspaper articles, was born October 12, 1917.  He was the second and last of the Harshbarger children, as far as I know.  (It's possible one or more were born and died between the censuses and I haven't researched that possibility, so I want to leave that open for now).

No two children are alike, and Ed was born late enough that the Great Depression may have affected him more.  In 1930, he was living with his parents but in the 1940 census, when he was about 22, he was a boarder in the home of Stella M. Grunfeld, who was just three years older than she was. This was in Richland Township, Whitley County, Indiana. She was a factory worker and her was a truck driver, although in 1939 neither had received much income, she $70 and he nothing.  Ed had completed just the seventh grade in school, so he dropped out sometime after the 1930 census.  We don't know whether school was difficult for him or whether he was needed on the family farm. 

The next notice we have of Ed is that he has enlisted in the Army, on March  3, 1943.  Interestingly, his enlistment city is listed as Camp Perry Lacarne, Ohio.  I'm not sure of the chronology here but Camp Perry was a prisoner of war camp for German POWs.  He is listed as having a grammar school education, and in civilian life had an unskilled occupation in manufacture of furniture, so I'm not sure whether there's any connection between the job and the location or not.  By this time, he was married.  His height is listed as 86, which if this is correct and the measurement was in inches, would have made himm over 7 foot tall.  I rather think I' m not interpreting this correctly, because his weight is given as 103, presumably pounds.  I'm thinking he would have been as small man. 

There is much about his military life that I don't know.  He served in the European theater as an auto mechanic, initially in England and then seems, based on his battles, to have been in Northern France, the Ardennes, and Rhineland.  He has the Good Conduct Medal and others as well.  He was discharged, as a corporal, on October 22, 1945. 

I don't know much about Ed's life after he returned to the civilian world.  There is an April 1963 notice in the Columbia City, Indiana Commercial Mail that "Mr. and Mrs. Orris Stump and Mrs. Donald Heck were Sunday guests of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Harshbarger and son.  In the afternoon, they went to Columbia City to the Hillcrest Nursing home and visited with Mrs. Chauncey Kemery, mother of Mrs. Harshbarger.  I know the name of the son, but I don't know if he is still living so I am not giving it here. I haven't yet figured out how or if Stella Grunfeld was the Stella who married Ed, and if she was, how she connected to Mrs. Chauncey Kemery. Mrs. Chauncey Kemery in 1963 was the former Susan Reed James.  So where did the Grunfeld or Greenfield name come from?  Mysteries still remain, of course.  . 

The last information I have is about Ed's death.  Sadly, he died less than six months after his brother Robert was hit and killed by a vehicle.  Ed died of lung cancer on July 5, 1976.  His wife's maiden name here is given as Stella Greenfield, which may be the same as the Stella Grunfeld he was lodging with in 1940.  He had been employed as a factory employee in auto parts production, and his illness had lasted about 10 months. Logan and Chestia were left without children in their old age. 

I sometimes wonder about these cousins  I've found reference in the Huntington, Indiana Herald-Press that Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland Harshbarger had visited with Mr and Mrs Robert Harshbarger, either in Whitley County or at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Grover Harshbarger. I've not yet found anything indicating a social relationship with Ed and Stella, which could be for any number of reasons.  But I sure would have liked to have heard these three men, Cleve, Bob, and Ed, discussing their World War II experiences.  Hearing about the different ways they served their country, and the things and places they had seen, would have been a great addition to our family history. 

Beeks line: Thomas Page 1595-1676

I'm going to do a dangerous thing here, and write a little bit about an ancestor who hasn't been researched much.  At least, he hasn't been researched enough for the genealogy world to come to a consensus about who he is. 

Still, he's a good reminder that the Beeks family is made up of so many different kinds of people, who came from so many different places and so many different walks of life . Since there are still brick walls there may yet be more surprises for this family.  Today I'm writing about Thomas Page, who was born about 1595 in England and died March 10, 1676 in Rappahannock County.  I do have notes in my files as to the possible identity of his parents, but I am not sure enough about them to list them here.  Likewise, I have a name for a wife but she was about 30 years younger than he was so while it's possible that his wife was Elizabeth Allen, she surely would not have been his first wife since daughter Mary was born just 6 years after Elizabeth.  I've found a reference that says his wife was Elizabeth Finch Allen, and was born in 1607, but again, I'm not finding the documents or supporting evidence. 

What we do think we know about Thomas is that he came to America in 1650.  THe record I'm looking at sas he was "granted" land several times.  Only one of those times was the number of acres a nice, even number that would indicate possibly he had head rights for bringing 12 persons from home, or elsewhere, to work in the colony.  Also one listing includes 600 acres but is dated 12 plus years after Thomas died.  Either this land went to a different Thomas Page, or it could be that it was a delayed entry kind of thing.  The land he acquired included a parcel of 281 1/2 acres on the south side of Rappa River, another 600 acres on the south side of Rappahannock River, another 3075 acres in the same general location, and then 783 acres, and finally a second entry for 600 acres.  His will is said to be missing so we don't know how he disposed of it, or what other assets he may have had.

I have found reference to him as a colonel but I'm not sure what the basis for that is.  His death date is given as March 10, 1676 in Rappahannock County, and that's as much as most of the genealogy world seems to know about Thomas.  We know from earlier reading that if this is one Thomas Page who owned all this land, he must have been a tobacco farmer and probably a fairly well to do man at that.  The strong suspicion is that he would have had slaves or indentured servants, or both, to work the fields.  His home may have been fairly substantial, for the time and place, and he would most likely have belonged to the Church of England, like most of his neighbors. 

Thomas's heritage interests me, and the heritage he left his family is interesting, too.  Virginia planters were not at all common in the Beeks family, especially those who had a military rank like "Colonel".  I hope we can find more information about him!

The line of descent is believed to be

Thomas Page-Elizabeth
Mary Page-Valentine Allen
William Allen-Mary Hunt
Francis Allen-Peter Lehew
William Lehew-Hannah
Mary Lehew-William Featheringill
Elizabeth Featheringill-George Botkin
Charity Botkin-Jackson Wise
Mary Wise-William Beeks
John Beeks-Eliabeth Wise
Wilbur Beeks-Cleo Aldridge
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants