This is another case of "Will the real Thomas King please stand up?" Many people are identifying him as the Thomas King who was born at Taunton, Dorset, England before April 20, 1676 and he was then believed to be about 71 years old. So wew have a nine to ten year discrepancy on his birthdate, or location, or both.
We also don't know the name of his wife, other than Ann or Anne. It is possible that he had two wives named Ann, since the first one died in 1642 and he didn't marry Bridget Loker until 1655. However, Ann #1 is believed to be the mother of all his children, since all known children were born before she died. Thomas and Ann are believed to have come to America about 1638, so some of the possibly as many as nine children were born here.
It is likely that Ann died of complications of childbirth because the last son, Thomas, was born December 4, 1642 and Ann #1 died December 24, 1642. Sadly, their infant son followed within a few days and died on January 3, 1643. So there Thomas was in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a widower with as many as nine children, and it's hard to imagine that he didn't marry again, quickly. Unless he had a sister or other close relative who could live in the home and help out, Thomas would have needed a wife, quickly. The other possibility is that all the children who were underage were bound out, or sent to live with relatives. As far as I know, there is no documentation for this; it's just speculation on my part.
Thomas and family seem to have spent their first two or three years in Watertown and then moved on to Sudbury. The Kings stayed there for several years, even after Ann had died. After he had married Bridget, he was found in Marlborough. This had been considered part of Sudbury until it was partitioned so I'm not sure whether he actually moved or not. In Marlborough, he was a selectman, a town constable, and responsible for laying out the highways in town. He received several grants of land in the divisions that were made to the settlers.
When King Philip's War came in 1675-76, Thomas was counted in the household of his son-in-law, William Kerley. He may have gone there, temporarily, for protection. Or, as a seventy year old man (or older, depending on birth date), he may have been ready to live with a younger member of his family.
He wrote his will on 3/21/1675 and added a codicil January 15, 1676. The inventory showed a valuation of 295 pounds, 10 shillings.
This is what we know. We don't know what his occupation was, or what religion he professed. We don't know whether he was literate. We don't know about his life during the thirteen years between the death of Ann #1 and Bridget. We don't know what the exact circumstances were that had him living with his son in law in 1675-76, and we don't know whether Bridget was with him then or not.
But we do know he was an immigrant here during the end of the Great Migration, and we know he contributed to the growth of America. He wasn't rich but he wasn't poor, either. He had probably improved his family's fortune by coming to America, so it was a win for him and a win for us.
The line of descent is:
Thomas King-Ann
Sarah King-Nathaniel Joslin
Nathaniel Joslin-Esther Morse
Israel Joslin-Sarah Cleveland
Sarah Joslin-Edward Fay
David Fay-Mary Perrin
Luceba (Euzebia) Fay-Libbeus Stannard
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Friday, September 28, 2018
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Holbrook line: George Langton, Immigrant
George Langton (also spelled Langdon, and perhaps Landon and Lanckton) is a Holbrook ancestor twice, since we descend through two of his daughters. It would be nice to know more about his story, but so far we have been told by one secondary source or another that he was from Cornwall, or Herefordshire, or was a French Huguenot. If Landon and his family was French, and if they were Huguenots, his parents were likely not Jaques and Mademoiselle Le Duc, as their birth dates were too early to make it possible for them to be George's parents. Since we don't know for sure when George was born, that makes it harder yet to identify his parents. I've seen birth dates of from about 1598 to about 1605. DNA results reported on George's Wiki Tree page seem to show that he most likely came from the area around Langton by Malton, Yorkshire, England. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that records survive from our period of interest.
We don't know much of anything about George until, at the age of somewhere between 30 and 40, he is found in Wethersfield, Connecticut about 1636. He is believed to have married in England, about 1629, a woman named Sarah, and four children were born to them in England, with possibly others born in Wethersfield. Sarah died in Wethersfield and George and family moved on to Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where George married Hannah Lambe, the widow of Edmund Haynes. George and Hannah had one child, Esther or Hester.
In Springfield, George was a town officer for at least one term. He and Hannah both testified in a witchcraft trial against Hugh Parsons, in 1652, and sometime between 1653 and 1656 moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he spent the remainder of his life. (Hugh and his wife Mary were each found guilty of witchcraft. Mary is believed to have died in prison, before she could be executed. Hugh's sentence was rescinded and we don't know what became of him, but likely he didn't stay around Springfield, either.)
He may have been a master carpenter who helped build the Springfield church. He contributed several acres for the upkeep of a pastor in Northampton, and also two bushels of wheat for Harvard College, so he also grew crops, as did most of the families in these small villages. George died December 29, 1676. He was certainly old enough to have died a natural death, but this was also the time of King Philip's war. It is possible that the stress of that conflict led to an early death. (He is not listed as having been buried at the Old Burying Ground, so perhaps death occurred elsewhere, with a family member.)
Life was never easy for our immigrant ancestors.
One line of descent is:
George Langton-Sarah
Hannah Langton-William Pritchard
Esther Pritchard-John Hanchett
John Hanchett-Lydia Hayward
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
The second line is
George Langton-Sarah
Deliverance Langton-Thomas Hanchett
John Hanchett-Esther Pritchard
So yes, John Hanchett and Esther Pritchard were first cousins. It wasn't unusual in small villages on the frontier.
We don't know much of anything about George until, at the age of somewhere between 30 and 40, he is found in Wethersfield, Connecticut about 1636. He is believed to have married in England, about 1629, a woman named Sarah, and four children were born to them in England, with possibly others born in Wethersfield. Sarah died in Wethersfield and George and family moved on to Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where George married Hannah Lambe, the widow of Edmund Haynes. George and Hannah had one child, Esther or Hester.
In Springfield, George was a town officer for at least one term. He and Hannah both testified in a witchcraft trial against Hugh Parsons, in 1652, and sometime between 1653 and 1656 moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he spent the remainder of his life. (Hugh and his wife Mary were each found guilty of witchcraft. Mary is believed to have died in prison, before she could be executed. Hugh's sentence was rescinded and we don't know what became of him, but likely he didn't stay around Springfield, either.)
He may have been a master carpenter who helped build the Springfield church. He contributed several acres for the upkeep of a pastor in Northampton, and also two bushels of wheat for Harvard College, so he also grew crops, as did most of the families in these small villages. George died December 29, 1676. He was certainly old enough to have died a natural death, but this was also the time of King Philip's war. It is possible that the stress of that conflict led to an early death. (He is not listed as having been buried at the Old Burying Ground, so perhaps death occurred elsewhere, with a family member.)
Life was never easy for our immigrant ancestors.
One line of descent is:
George Langton-Sarah
Hannah Langton-William Pritchard
Esther Pritchard-John Hanchett
John Hanchett-Lydia Hayward
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
The second line is
George Langton-Sarah
Deliverance Langton-Thomas Hanchett
John Hanchett-Esther Pritchard
So yes, John Hanchett and Esther Pritchard were first cousins. It wasn't unusual in small villages on the frontier.
Friday, September 21, 2018
Allen line: Isaac McCoy, Missionary and more
I've wanted to write about Isaac McCoy for a long time. I knew that most of his personal papers were at Kansas State Historical Society library, and I know that I am unlikely to ever get to go there to read them myself. I found the next best thing, a book written by a remarkable woman, Carol Spurlock Layman, who spent many years getting to "know" Isaac McCoy, my third great grand uncle, and now on my hero list. The book is "Isaac McCoy and the American Indians". I recommend reading the book, but if you're not ready to do that yet, this post might give you some insight into his life and times.
Isaac was the son of William and Elizabeth Royse McCoy, one of at least eight children. We might think he grew up in poverty, but he had the huge advantage of having two religious parents who prayed for all their children. He was rich in the spiritual heritage he had, and it showed throughout his life. Isaac was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and "enjoyed" the trip to near Louisville that the family made together on the Ohio River, in 1789. The family settled in Kentucky but eventually moved to Silver Creek in southern Indiana, where William founded a church and pastored it for several years.
Isaac was called to the ministry and in 1808 he and his wife, Christiana Polke (related to President James Polk but I'm not sure how) went to a settlement at Maria Creek in Knox County, Indiana and started a church there. Isaac learned pastoring skills there, but he felt the call to do more, and knew that meant ministering to the native Americans. In 1817, the McCoys decided to accept this call on their lives, and they were never the same.
I could write for hours about what they did and how they suffered, but that is all in the book. They lived for a while at Fort Wayne, and then went north where they settled among the Pottawatomi and Ottawa tribes, starting a mission station, school, and church that both natives and whites attended. As time went on, Isaac became convinced that the natives would have to leave the lands they were on and travel west, across the Mississippi and beyond, to settle there away from the white men who were destroying them by providing whiskey and other alcohol. Eventually some of the natives did go to the Indian territory he had located and surveyed for them, and Isaac and Christiana continued their missionary work there.
Two things stand out to me about this man and his wife. Isaac was typically gone for a good part of each year, either working with other natives or traveling for supplies or going on political trips. Fourteen times he went to Washington, D.C., often traveling by horseback and camping out if there were no nearby homes or taverns to offer shelter. Sometimes he took a son, or a native American, but sometimes he went alone, and he was never able to take his wife. She was too busy taking care of the family and the mission to go along. So the couple was often separated in distance.
The other thing that strikes me is the sadness they often faced. They had fourteen children together, but by the time Christiana died about 1851, only two were living. I cannot imagine losing that many children. They also lost many native children who were staying at the mission, and many friends among the natives. It seems that it must have been unbearable to face so many sorrows, but Isaac and Christiana continued their service to the natives. Isaac himself was ill for much of his life, from fevers and other illnesses. Sometimes when it looks like he stayed at the mission for several months, it was because he spent two months or more in bed, recovering from a bout with malaria or whatever it was that had him down. Isaac died in Louisville in 1846
The sad thing is that Isaac wasn't really successful in providing a new home for the natives. Many went to other locations, many died from disease, a few stayed behind in Indiana and Michigan, and of course they did not get the lands they were promised. However, he seems to have been an early supporter, almost a founder of the Southern Baptist church (as opposed to the Baptist church he always had belonged to, despite their lack of official financial support for his cause), who were willing to do more for the natives as far as missionary work goes.
He is a hero in my eyes because of all the sacrifices he made, because of all the good he did, and because he was able to explain God to the natives in terms they understood. He wasn't perfect, he made some bad choices in how he approached certain things, but I know that when the crowns are passed out, he will have one that is extra shiny and crowded with jewels. I sure wish I had known this man!
If you'd like to see a picture of Isaac, there is one on his Find a Grave listing, and also on his Wikipedia story. Both sites give more information than I've included here. I hope I've given you a sense of who the man was and why he deserves honor. I also hope you'll go to these sites and read more, even if you're not going to read the book right now.
Isaac was the son of William and Elizabeth Royse McCoy, one of at least eight children. We might think he grew up in poverty, but he had the huge advantage of having two religious parents who prayed for all their children. He was rich in the spiritual heritage he had, and it showed throughout his life. Isaac was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and "enjoyed" the trip to near Louisville that the family made together on the Ohio River, in 1789. The family settled in Kentucky but eventually moved to Silver Creek in southern Indiana, where William founded a church and pastored it for several years.
Isaac was called to the ministry and in 1808 he and his wife, Christiana Polke (related to President James Polk but I'm not sure how) went to a settlement at Maria Creek in Knox County, Indiana and started a church there. Isaac learned pastoring skills there, but he felt the call to do more, and knew that meant ministering to the native Americans. In 1817, the McCoys decided to accept this call on their lives, and they were never the same.
I could write for hours about what they did and how they suffered, but that is all in the book. They lived for a while at Fort Wayne, and then went north where they settled among the Pottawatomi and Ottawa tribes, starting a mission station, school, and church that both natives and whites attended. As time went on, Isaac became convinced that the natives would have to leave the lands they were on and travel west, across the Mississippi and beyond, to settle there away from the white men who were destroying them by providing whiskey and other alcohol. Eventually some of the natives did go to the Indian territory he had located and surveyed for them, and Isaac and Christiana continued their missionary work there.
Two things stand out to me about this man and his wife. Isaac was typically gone for a good part of each year, either working with other natives or traveling for supplies or going on political trips. Fourteen times he went to Washington, D.C., often traveling by horseback and camping out if there were no nearby homes or taverns to offer shelter. Sometimes he took a son, or a native American, but sometimes he went alone, and he was never able to take his wife. She was too busy taking care of the family and the mission to go along. So the couple was often separated in distance.
The other thing that strikes me is the sadness they often faced. They had fourteen children together, but by the time Christiana died about 1851, only two were living. I cannot imagine losing that many children. They also lost many native children who were staying at the mission, and many friends among the natives. It seems that it must have been unbearable to face so many sorrows, but Isaac and Christiana continued their service to the natives. Isaac himself was ill for much of his life, from fevers and other illnesses. Sometimes when it looks like he stayed at the mission for several months, it was because he spent two months or more in bed, recovering from a bout with malaria or whatever it was that had him down. Isaac died in Louisville in 1846
The sad thing is that Isaac wasn't really successful in providing a new home for the natives. Many went to other locations, many died from disease, a few stayed behind in Indiana and Michigan, and of course they did not get the lands they were promised. However, he seems to have been an early supporter, almost a founder of the Southern Baptist church (as opposed to the Baptist church he always had belonged to, despite their lack of official financial support for his cause), who were willing to do more for the natives as far as missionary work goes.
He is a hero in my eyes because of all the sacrifices he made, because of all the good he did, and because he was able to explain God to the natives in terms they understood. He wasn't perfect, he made some bad choices in how he approached certain things, but I know that when the crowns are passed out, he will have one that is extra shiny and crowded with jewels. I sure wish I had known this man!
If you'd like to see a picture of Isaac, there is one on his Find a Grave listing, and also on his Wikipedia story. Both sites give more information than I've included here. I hope I've given you a sense of who the man was and why he deserves honor. I also hope you'll go to these sites and read more, even if you're not going to read the book right now.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Holbrook line: Nathaniel Treadway, Immigrant
I didn't put the birth date of Nathaniel in the title for this post, because as far as I can tell, it's undetermined. There are a lot of trees on line that give him a birthdate of August 7, 1604 in Wiltshire, England. No doubt there was a Nathaniel Treadway born on that date in that location but we have little reason to think this is "our" Nathaniel Treadway. Our Nathaniel was likely born about eleven years later. His parents were Nathaniel and Mary Howe Treadway, who were married in Colchester, Essex, England on September 23, 1614. This makes a birth date in 1615 more likely, although as far as I know, no records have yet been found for his birth. Colchester at the time was a town built around the cloth trade, and Nathaniel was a weaver, so it may be a matter or missing records that keep us from locating his birth records.
Nathaniel was in Sudbury, Massachusetts by 1639, which is where he is presumed to have married Suffrance Haynes, daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Gourd Haynes. The date is generally given as May 10, 1640 but it's possible that it was a year earlier. Their first child, Jonathan, was born November 11, 1640, and they had at least six other children. Sometime between 1642 and 1646 the family moved to Watertown, Massachusetts which was their "forever" home.
Nathaniel seems to have been a man of some influence. He was a selectman in Watertown for seven different years. He was also a highway surveyor.
Nathaniel died July 20, 1689 at the age of 73. His estate indicated a value of 377 pounds, including four books. He also owned four cows, two oxen, and fifteen sheep, as well as several parcels of land. Suffrance had died seven years earlier.
There is much yet to be learned about Nathaniel. I found a brief mention that he was a "meeting house man". I'm not sure whether this means he was a member of the church, or had some town or church position, or what it means. I've not found a record of him as a freeman, which seems a little bit out of the ordinary. How educated was he? As a selectman, one would think he could probably read and perhaps write, but four books are not sufficient to make a judgement that he was or was not literate. Perhaps more of his books had already been given away. I'd like to know more about this ancestor of ours.
The line of descent is:
Nathaniel Treadway-Suffrance Haynes
Elizabeth Treadway-Joseph Hayward
Lydia Hayward-John Hanchett
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba (Euzebia) Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Nathaniel was in Sudbury, Massachusetts by 1639, which is where he is presumed to have married Suffrance Haynes, daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Gourd Haynes. The date is generally given as May 10, 1640 but it's possible that it was a year earlier. Their first child, Jonathan, was born November 11, 1640, and they had at least six other children. Sometime between 1642 and 1646 the family moved to Watertown, Massachusetts which was their "forever" home.
Nathaniel seems to have been a man of some influence. He was a selectman in Watertown for seven different years. He was also a highway surveyor.
Nathaniel died July 20, 1689 at the age of 73. His estate indicated a value of 377 pounds, including four books. He also owned four cows, two oxen, and fifteen sheep, as well as several parcels of land. Suffrance had died seven years earlier.
There is much yet to be learned about Nathaniel. I found a brief mention that he was a "meeting house man". I'm not sure whether this means he was a member of the church, or had some town or church position, or what it means. I've not found a record of him as a freeman, which seems a little bit out of the ordinary. How educated was he? As a selectman, one would think he could probably read and perhaps write, but four books are not sufficient to make a judgement that he was or was not literate. Perhaps more of his books had already been given away. I'd like to know more about this ancestor of ours.
The line of descent is:
Nathaniel Treadway-Suffrance Haynes
Elizabeth Treadway-Joseph Hayward
Lydia Hayward-John Hanchett
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba (Euzebia) Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Friday, September 14, 2018
Holbrook line: Samuel Morse 1576-1654 Immigrant
What would it take for a man of 50 to decide to take his family across the ocean to a land they had only heard of, with challenges both known and unknown? He was a "husbandman", meaning that he farmed either land owned by someone else, or a small farm. So he didn't have much money in England, and perhaps he thought life would be better here.
We do know a little more about Samuel than we do about some of our ancestors. His parents were Reverend Thomas and Margaret (probably King) Morse, and he was born on or shortly before June 12, 1576 in Boxted, Essex, England. Boxted is a small village on the northern border of Essex, not far from the North Sea. The current population is about 1350 people. Two groups of religious dissenters had gone from this area to New England in 1630, so in addition to economic reasons, perhaps the Morses were following family, or certainly, neighbors.
Samuel married Elizabeth Jasper, daughter of Lancelot and Rose Shephard Jasper, on June 29, 1602, at Redgrave, Suffolk, England. This was about 40 miles from Samuel's home at Boxted, but we don't know how they met. Perhaps Samuel's father had preached at Redgrave, or maybe Elizabeth visited someone in Boxted. At any rate, they met, married, and settled down in or near Redgrave, where several of their children were born. Their last three children were born at Burgate, Suffolk, England, which seems to be quite close to Redgrave.
Samuel, Elizabeth, their twenty year old son Joseph and a 2 year old granddaughter traveled together on the ship Increase in 1635. Samuel was listed as 50 and Elizabeth as 48. It is uncertain how the other children got to New England but there are only ship and other records for a small fraction of those who arrived in New England, so that is not a problem. Samuel and Elizabeth first went to Waterwon, and then to Dedham, which are both towns settled by those settlers who had come over from Boxted in 1630. The Morses were iamong the first settlers of Dedham in 1637, when Samuel was admitted to the church. He was made a freeman on October 8, 1640.
We don't know what education Samuel had but he must have had at least the basics because he served Dedham as a treasurer and a selectman, he was an assessor for the meetinghouse rate, and he was a fenceviewer and highway surveyor. One would think that the treasurer's position would require basic math skills, and the selectman's job may have required literacy.
In 1652, Samuel and Elizabeth moved on to Medfield, where they were early settlers. I find it hard to fathom moving across the ocean, living in one town, going to another, and then finally, at the age of 67, starting over in another village. Starting over may well have meant building one's own home, clearing one's own fields and helping with the common, and helping develop roads for the new village. It would have been a lot of work! Samuel still owned land in Dedham when he died in December of 1654, but it's unclear whether he also owned land at Medfield.
His estate was valued at 124 pounds, 7 shillings, of which 40 pounds was real estate. I don't know what his net worth would have been when he left England, but he seems to have improved his circumstances here.
He left descendants who would not only improve their circumstances, but improve the country. John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, is a descendant, as are Wild Bill Hickock, Emily Dickinson, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and the two Presidents Bush. There are also some famous entertainers in the list such as Raquel Welch and Elizabeth Shue. We are cousins, very distant, to all these people!
The line of descent is:
Samuel Morse-Elizabeth Jasper
Mary Morse-Samuel Bullen
Elizabeth Bullen-Benjamin Wheelock
Benjamin Wheelock-Hulda Thayer
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly oh where are you Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susannah Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
If I have this figured right, Hulda Thayer was Ebenezer Thayer's niece, so Abigail Thayer's grandmother Hulda was also her aunt. Can that be right?
We do know a little more about Samuel than we do about some of our ancestors. His parents were Reverend Thomas and Margaret (probably King) Morse, and he was born on or shortly before June 12, 1576 in Boxted, Essex, England. Boxted is a small village on the northern border of Essex, not far from the North Sea. The current population is about 1350 people. Two groups of religious dissenters had gone from this area to New England in 1630, so in addition to economic reasons, perhaps the Morses were following family, or certainly, neighbors.
Samuel married Elizabeth Jasper, daughter of Lancelot and Rose Shephard Jasper, on June 29, 1602, at Redgrave, Suffolk, England. This was about 40 miles from Samuel's home at Boxted, but we don't know how they met. Perhaps Samuel's father had preached at Redgrave, or maybe Elizabeth visited someone in Boxted. At any rate, they met, married, and settled down in or near Redgrave, where several of their children were born. Their last three children were born at Burgate, Suffolk, England, which seems to be quite close to Redgrave.
Samuel, Elizabeth, their twenty year old son Joseph and a 2 year old granddaughter traveled together on the ship Increase in 1635. Samuel was listed as 50 and Elizabeth as 48. It is uncertain how the other children got to New England but there are only ship and other records for a small fraction of those who arrived in New England, so that is not a problem. Samuel and Elizabeth first went to Waterwon, and then to Dedham, which are both towns settled by those settlers who had come over from Boxted in 1630. The Morses were iamong the first settlers of Dedham in 1637, when Samuel was admitted to the church. He was made a freeman on October 8, 1640.
We don't know what education Samuel had but he must have had at least the basics because he served Dedham as a treasurer and a selectman, he was an assessor for the meetinghouse rate, and he was a fenceviewer and highway surveyor. One would think that the treasurer's position would require basic math skills, and the selectman's job may have required literacy.
In 1652, Samuel and Elizabeth moved on to Medfield, where they were early settlers. I find it hard to fathom moving across the ocean, living in one town, going to another, and then finally, at the age of 67, starting over in another village. Starting over may well have meant building one's own home, clearing one's own fields and helping with the common, and helping develop roads for the new village. It would have been a lot of work! Samuel still owned land in Dedham when he died in December of 1654, but it's unclear whether he also owned land at Medfield.
His estate was valued at 124 pounds, 7 shillings, of which 40 pounds was real estate. I don't know what his net worth would have been when he left England, but he seems to have improved his circumstances here.
He left descendants who would not only improve their circumstances, but improve the country. John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, is a descendant, as are Wild Bill Hickock, Emily Dickinson, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and the two Presidents Bush. There are also some famous entertainers in the list such as Raquel Welch and Elizabeth Shue. We are cousins, very distant, to all these people!
The line of descent is:
Samuel Morse-Elizabeth Jasper
Mary Morse-Samuel Bullen
Elizabeth Bullen-Benjamin Wheelock
Benjamin Wheelock-Hulda Thayer
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly oh where are you Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susannah Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
If I have this figured right, Hulda Thayer was Ebenezer Thayer's niece, so Abigail Thayer's grandmother Hulda was also her aunt. Can that be right?
Tuesday, September 11, 2018
Holbrook line: William French about 1605-1681, Immigrant
William French is another confusing ancestor. I'm quite sure he knew who he was, where and when he was born, and pretty much his entire life story, but he hasn't chosen to share this information with us. Neither has anyone else, to date. Plenty of people seem to think they know his parents, but there was an article published 100 or years ago proving that the William French born or christened March 15, 1603 in Halstead, Essex, England died in 1621, the son of Thomas French and Agnes Olmstead. So that is not our ancestor. There is another William French who was born in 1606 in Halstead, Essex, England but so far I haven't been able to trace that William down. Perhaps he is ours and perhaps he is not.
We also don't know who his wife was, beyond the name of Elizabeth. She may have been Elizabeth Symmes or Elizabeth Godfrey, but I've seen no evidence for either theory. The family came from somewhere in England and arrived on the ship "Defence" in the summer of 1635. William was admitted as freeman in Cambridge soon after his arrival. There were at least four children born in England and six in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, although Robert Charles Anderson lists nine and is doubtful about one of those. Elizabeth died and William married Mary Lothrop on May 6, 1669, and four children were born to this couple, all in Billerica, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
There are some fascinating questions about William beyond the usual who were his parents. For instance, he is listed as being a tailor by occupation. So, did he become a tailor here, or did he learn the trade in England for preparation here, or had he practiced the trade in England for several years? The reason this is interesting is because he seems to have been quite an educated man. He wrote to a friend in England about the religious professions of an Indian and that material was eventually included in a pamphlet published in England called "Strength out of Weakness; or a Glorious Manifestation of the Further Progress of the Gospel among the Indians of New England. Held Forth in Sundry Letters from divers Ministers and Others."
William was admitted to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1638, and was elected sergeant in 1642, and October in 1647. He still owned an old musket and gun barrel at his death. The French family moved from Cambridge to Billerica in 1652, and there William served as a deputy to the General Court at least three separate times. He was empowered to marry others, which I believe was a civil rather than a religious duty at this time. He acquired, bought, and sold land several times during his lifetime, but still had land valued at about 104 pounds when he died, which was included in his estate's value of roughly 207 pounds, after debts were paid. This was a fair amount for a tailor to leave, especially since his will showed that he had provided for his first family at an earlier time. He did leave twenty shillings to each of his grandchildren.
The line of descent is:
William French-Elizabeth
Hannah French-John Brackett
Hannah Brackett-Joseph Stannard
John Stannard-Hannah Jordan
John Stannard-Hannah Hanchett
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stnnard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
We also don't know who his wife was, beyond the name of Elizabeth. She may have been Elizabeth Symmes or Elizabeth Godfrey, but I've seen no evidence for either theory. The family came from somewhere in England and arrived on the ship "Defence" in the summer of 1635. William was admitted as freeman in Cambridge soon after his arrival. There were at least four children born in England and six in Cambridge, Massachusetts Bay Colony, although Robert Charles Anderson lists nine and is doubtful about one of those. Elizabeth died and William married Mary Lothrop on May 6, 1669, and four children were born to this couple, all in Billerica, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
There are some fascinating questions about William beyond the usual who were his parents. For instance, he is listed as being a tailor by occupation. So, did he become a tailor here, or did he learn the trade in England for preparation here, or had he practiced the trade in England for several years? The reason this is interesting is because he seems to have been quite an educated man. He wrote to a friend in England about the religious professions of an Indian and that material was eventually included in a pamphlet published in England called "Strength out of Weakness; or a Glorious Manifestation of the Further Progress of the Gospel among the Indians of New England. Held Forth in Sundry Letters from divers Ministers and Others."
William was admitted to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1638, and was elected sergeant in 1642, and October in 1647. He still owned an old musket and gun barrel at his death. The French family moved from Cambridge to Billerica in 1652, and there William served as a deputy to the General Court at least three separate times. He was empowered to marry others, which I believe was a civil rather than a religious duty at this time. He acquired, bought, and sold land several times during his lifetime, but still had land valued at about 104 pounds when he died, which was included in his estate's value of roughly 207 pounds, after debts were paid. This was a fair amount for a tailor to leave, especially since his will showed that he had provided for his first family at an earlier time. He did leave twenty shillings to each of his grandchildren.
The line of descent is:
William French-Elizabeth
Hannah French-John Brackett
Hannah Brackett-Joseph Stannard
John Stannard-Hannah Jordan
John Stannard-Hannah Hanchett
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stnnard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Friday, September 7, 2018
Holbrook line: Philip Phetteplace 1621-March 22, 1698 Immigrant
I'm writing this blog post on the theory that writing even one paragraph about an ancestor is better than ignoring him completely I don't put the odds of finding more information very high, since the distinguished genealogist Donald Lines Jacobus tried in 1969, and found only a couple of comments in the records about Philip. We know more about his family background than we do about other of our ancestors, but less about his life. That dash between 1621 and 1698 is just not very full.
Philip was born or baptized April 14, 1621 in Ringwood, Hampshire, England, to Walter and Parnell Cole Phetteplace (Fetteplace, and other spellings, of course). Jacobus traces this family back to about ..1210 A.D., and others have said the family came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror. Regardless, the family had been in the area of Ringwood for probably 200 years before Philip was born. Ringwood is located just north of the south coast of England, on the border with Dorset county. It has a currently population of about 14,000 people but was probably smaller when Philip was a child.
We don't know when Philip married but speculation is that it was later in life. We also don't know when he came to the Colonies, or when he arrived in Rhode Island. We don't even know when he married. We know that he asked for admittance as a freeman to the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island on September 22, 1671, and he was granted that status on October 14. In 161, he witnessed the will of Philip Sherman, and acknowledged his signature when the will was admitted to probate in 1687.
His four known children, who may have been born in Rhode Island, were Sarah, Walter, Philip, and Samuel. His namesake, Philip, was a Quaker but we have no indication of our subject's religion. Portsmouth was the home of Anne Hutchinson for a time, and was later referred to as a town full of New Light Baptists. Perhaps he was some kind of religious dissident, and perhaps not. The other observation we can make is that he was able to sign his name, based on the will testimony. Whether he had more education that that, we don't know.
Philip died at Portsmouth March 22, 1698 but I haven't located a will or inventory.
It's frustrating to know so little about a man. He had dreams, he had a vision of a better life in America, he had values he would have wanted to implant in his children. What were they? What were his views on slavery? How did King Philip's War affect him, if at all? This dash, the one between 1621 and 1698, if just frustratingly thin.
The line of descent is:
Philip Phetteplace-unknown
Walter Phetteplace-Joanna Mowry
Sarah Phetteplace-Elisha Eddy
Enos Eddy-Sarah Brown
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Philip was born or baptized April 14, 1621 in Ringwood, Hampshire, England, to Walter and Parnell Cole Phetteplace (Fetteplace, and other spellings, of course). Jacobus traces this family back to about ..1210 A.D., and others have said the family came over from Normandy with William the Conqueror. Regardless, the family had been in the area of Ringwood for probably 200 years before Philip was born. Ringwood is located just north of the south coast of England, on the border with Dorset county. It has a currently population of about 14,000 people but was probably smaller when Philip was a child.
We don't know when Philip married but speculation is that it was later in life. We also don't know when he came to the Colonies, or when he arrived in Rhode Island. We don't even know when he married. We know that he asked for admittance as a freeman to the town of Portsmouth, Rhode Island on September 22, 1671, and he was granted that status on October 14. In 161, he witnessed the will of Philip Sherman, and acknowledged his signature when the will was admitted to probate in 1687.
His four known children, who may have been born in Rhode Island, were Sarah, Walter, Philip, and Samuel. His namesake, Philip, was a Quaker but we have no indication of our subject's religion. Portsmouth was the home of Anne Hutchinson for a time, and was later referred to as a town full of New Light Baptists. Perhaps he was some kind of religious dissident, and perhaps not. The other observation we can make is that he was able to sign his name, based on the will testimony. Whether he had more education that that, we don't know.
Philip died at Portsmouth March 22, 1698 but I haven't located a will or inventory.
It's frustrating to know so little about a man. He had dreams, he had a vision of a better life in America, he had values he would have wanted to implant in his children. What were they? What were his views on slavery? How did King Philip's War affect him, if at all? This dash, the one between 1621 and 1698, if just frustratingly thin.
The line of descent is:
Philip Phetteplace-unknown
Walter Phetteplace-Joanna Mowry
Sarah Phetteplace-Elisha Eddy
Enos Eddy-Sarah Brown
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Holbrook line: William Holbrook 1620-1699 Immigrant
William was born in or near Glastonbury, Somerset, England shortly before June 14, 1620. His parent were Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook. William was an immigrant, probably about 15 years old, who may or may not have arrived with his parents when they came to America in 1635. His name is not on the manifest of the Marigold, as his parents and siblings are, so the record could have been a mistake or it is possible that William traveled separately. He went first to Weymouth with his family, and was made a freeman there in 1647.
He married Elizabeth Pitts about 1643, probably in Weymouth. They had ten or possibly 11 children together, but not all lived to adulthood. He must have been a man who was admired, because I've found reference to him both as "Deacon Holbrook" and "Captain Holbrook". He was assigned land in the new settlement of Mendon and went there in 1663. I have also seen comments that he owned "vast tracts" of land although the records I've looked at indicate more modest holdings, as he bought and sold perhaps 40 acres at a time.
We don't know much about his life but we can guess that it was upended when King Philip's War began in 1675. Half a dozen settlers were killed in the first raid in 1675. The settlers left the area in great haste, and a few months later the settlement was burned to the ground. William did not return to rebuild in Mendon. Instead, he want to Scituate, Plymouth Colony, where he and Elizabeth lived out their lives. We don't know when he was given the title of "Captain", or whether he served in the militia during this time.
From William's inventory, it appears that he was either a weaver or a merchant in textiles, or possibly both. William Bradford II was involved in the paperwork of settling the estate. Elizabeth died about 1696 and William married that same year to Abigail Wright Sharpe Clapp. He provided for her out of his estate, which totaled about 170 pounds, plus whatever real estate he had. He scratched his initials instead of signing his name, but that could have been due to age and illness rather than illiteracy.
Here's the sad thing about his life. His inventory included a "Negro man" with a value of 26 pounds. We don't know when and under what circumstances he was purchased or acquired (perhaps he came with second wife, perhaps not). We don't know how old he was. We don't know his name. We don't know so much about this man, but we know there was a connection with William. This is hard to write about. We have a few other New England ancestors who "owned" slaves, but not many. This is hard to accept and to write about, but we need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about our ancestors, if we are to understand them and their world.
There's much we don't know about William Holbrook, but it's a joy to know this much. I treasure every ancestor and look forward to the hunt to learn more about him.
Our line of descent is:
William Holbrook-Elizabeth Pitts
Jane Holbrook-Alexander Balcom
Sarah Balcom-Timothy Sheldon
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
Lillis Winson-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
This is Gladys Holbrook's maternal line. She also has a paternal line that ends up with William's parents, Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook. So, as so often happens, she is her own distant cousin.
He married Elizabeth Pitts about 1643, probably in Weymouth. They had ten or possibly 11 children together, but not all lived to adulthood. He must have been a man who was admired, because I've found reference to him both as "Deacon Holbrook" and "Captain Holbrook". He was assigned land in the new settlement of Mendon and went there in 1663. I have also seen comments that he owned "vast tracts" of land although the records I've looked at indicate more modest holdings, as he bought and sold perhaps 40 acres at a time.
We don't know much about his life but we can guess that it was upended when King Philip's War began in 1675. Half a dozen settlers were killed in the first raid in 1675. The settlers left the area in great haste, and a few months later the settlement was burned to the ground. William did not return to rebuild in Mendon. Instead, he want to Scituate, Plymouth Colony, where he and Elizabeth lived out their lives. We don't know when he was given the title of "Captain", or whether he served in the militia during this time.
From William's inventory, it appears that he was either a weaver or a merchant in textiles, or possibly both. William Bradford II was involved in the paperwork of settling the estate. Elizabeth died about 1696 and William married that same year to Abigail Wright Sharpe Clapp. He provided for her out of his estate, which totaled about 170 pounds, plus whatever real estate he had. He scratched his initials instead of signing his name, but that could have been due to age and illness rather than illiteracy.
Here's the sad thing about his life. His inventory included a "Negro man" with a value of 26 pounds. We don't know when and under what circumstances he was purchased or acquired (perhaps he came with second wife, perhaps not). We don't know how old he was. We don't know his name. We don't know so much about this man, but we know there was a connection with William. This is hard to write about. We have a few other New England ancestors who "owned" slaves, but not many. This is hard to accept and to write about, but we need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about our ancestors, if we are to understand them and their world.
There's much we don't know about William Holbrook, but it's a joy to know this much. I treasure every ancestor and look forward to the hunt to learn more about him.
Our line of descent is:
William Holbrook-Elizabeth Pitts
Jane Holbrook-Alexander Balcom
Sarah Balcom-Timothy Sheldon
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
Lillis Winson-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
This is Gladys Holbrook's maternal line. She also has a paternal line that ends up with William's parents, Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook. So, as so often happens, she is her own distant cousin.
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