Allen line: Samuel Street 1635-1717, Pastor

It's wonderful to find an ancestor with stories.  It's even better to find one with records.  Best of all is an ancestor who has both.

Samuel Street was probably born in England, perhaps in Bristol, the son of Reverend Nicholas and Anna Poole Street.  Because we don't have a definite birth date nor a date of immigration for his parents, it's also possible that Samuel was born either on the ocean trip or soon after his parents' arrival in New England.  He was one of at least five children but seems to be the only son of his parents.

Being an only son of a pastor, Samuel was likely steered toward, or at least encouraged, to attend Harvard College, the first college in New England and one intended to educate pastors.  Samuel took advantage of the opportunity and learned Hebrew, Greek, and Latin as part of his education, along with classes in Scripture and probably in some kind of elocution.  A pastor surely must know how to speak!  He graduated from Harvard in 1664 and in November of that same year married Anna Miles, daughter of Richard and Mary Katherine Elithorpe Miles. Samuel and Katherine had at least five children together. 

Samuel was ready to start his new life in New Haven, Connecticut, where he taught in the Hopkins Grammar School for several years.  He started out with just eight pupils but the school grew during his time there. He was made a freeman in 1669, so at last he was eligible to vote in town elections.  In 1672, Samuel was invited to go to Wallingford as the pastor, to replace John Harriman.  Samuel agreed to go, but wanted a new house built for him and his family.  His salary was 50 pounds a year.

 The small congregation met at the home of Lieutenant Nathaniel Merriman and Ensign Munson for several years, until a meeting house was built.  The first meeting house was twenty eight feet long and twenty four feet wide, but it did give the congregation room for everyone to sit, one hopes.  As the settlement of Wallingford grew, the church was expanded several times and a "fort" was built around it.  Street's salary was doubled and he was given several grants of land by the town.  The website for the First Congregational Church of Christ advises that they have been at the same location, at Center Street and South Main Street, since 1675.

Even more remarkable, the home that was built for Samuel and his family still stands, also on South Main Street.  It is a typical New England saltbox style, but maybe a little larger than some I've seen.  Wouldn't it be fun to visit there?

Samuel Street served his congregation for 45 years.  Samuel Whittelsey of Yale College was  ordained at Wallingford in 1710 after Samuel Street became old and infirm.  Samuel died January 16, 1717, about thirty years after his wife Anna had died. I didn't find a will but I did find an inventory.  It appears that his estate was valued at about 619 pounds, plus or minus 31 pounds because I can't tell if that second number was to be added to or subtracted from the original number.  Among the items in his inventory was a gun, an old musket, and swords, He also owned enough animals for a large farm, a considerable number of household goods, and other items that tell us he was fairly well to do.

This tells us a lot about Samuel but I have more questions.  What was his experience in the military, if any?  Did he serve in King Philip's War, or in other incursions against the native Americans?  I know some pastors were also officers or soldiers in the training bands that responded during these wars.  What did Samuel think of the battles, whether or not he was part of them?  Did he hold any positions of leadership in the town, or did he steer clear of anything that might be considered political?

This is, however, a pretty good collection of information about a man who may have been an immigrant, but who surely was an early settler of Connecticut.  I'm glad I've been able to find and share this information, and to add another pastor to the Allen line. 

Fun fact:  Samuel Street is also the ancestor of Lyman Hall, signer of the Declaration of Independence; General William Tecumseh Sherman, Civil War General; and Norman Rockwell, beloved artist.  We're all cousins! 

The line of descent is:

Samual Street-Anna Miles
Nicholas Street-Jerusha Morgan
Jerusha Street-Thomas Starr

John Starr-Betsy Havens
John Havens Starr-Clarissa Falley
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edsward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line:Thomas J Knott's obituary 1887

Sometimes it takes a village to help a family historian find a particular piece of information.  Sometimes it takes determination and persistence.  Sometimes it takes a kick in the pants from someone else.  And sometimes it takes all of the above.

Here was my situation.  I knew a fair amount about Thomas Knott, based on his own journal and what I've found on line.  I'd made a trip with my sister to the county he died in, visited all the appropriate places, and didn't have any luck in locating his final resting place.  In fact, on that trip three years ago, I was told by the librarian then in charge that they didn't have any information on my ancestor, and we were not even allowed into the genealogy room.  Determination kicked in and I decided to make contact with people with Thomas Knott in their public trees, to see if I could find someone who could answer the last questions for me about an obituary and resting place.

A distant cousin, Mike Sexton, responded and put the obituary on his tree.  The problem was, when I tried to download and print it, some of the wmords were just plain illegible.  Also there was no source listed.  He told me he found his copy in 1985. so I knew there must have been some microfilm available sometime.  I filed it in the back of my mind, as something maybe I'd look for someday, if I ever returned to the area.   

Three years after our initial search, I was invited back to my sister's home and told that we needed to try to find that obituary and any other missing information about Thomas, because the microfilm, if there was one, wouldn't be getting any easier to read.  She was right, and that gave me the kick in the pants I needed. 

This time, we were welcomed to the genealogy room and told to look at whatever we wanted, and the young woman would be glad to help us if we had questions.  After a few false starts, we found the microfilm and were overjoyed to see that the date we needed was included in the very first film they had.  A few minutes of searching produced the obituary we were looking for, and we got to share in the thrill of a successful hunt.  The young woman, whose name I did not capture, was excited, too, and asked for a copy because there was no other information about him in their records.

Without further ado, and with thanks to Mike Sexton, Sue Fuller, and the unnamed librarian, here is what the obituary of Thomas Knott, as printed in the Mt. Vernon, Illinois Weekly Register on February 23, 1887, page 4 column 5 says:

Heading:  "Knott"

Text:  "Thomas Knott was born near Steubensville, Ohio, Apr. 13, 1808, and died at his home in Shiloh township, this county, February 16, 1887 in the 79th year of his age.  Two or three years ago he was hurt by a fall that prematurely lamed him, and perhaps enfeebled him so as to hasten the fatal result of his last illness, which was pneumonia.  Reared in the then new country of eastern Ohio, he was inured to hardships and developed a frame and muscle that were little less than gigantic.  But his educational advantages were few, few but well improved.  He joined the M.E. church in his youth, and November 6. 1829 he was married to Miss Hannah Bell, who survives him in her 76th year.  Their house was the preachers' stopping place and through life they were active and useful christians.  After a few years, however, they transferred their connection to the Presbyterian church, of which they ever remained faithful members.  From Ohio they went to Michigan, where he worked at his trade-millwright-for several years, when they went to Iowa.  He was operating a mill near Tipton in that state, when he concluded to seek a home in Jefferson county, about nine years ago.  In early life he was a man of immense activity.  He went overland to California in 1852, and again by sea in 1857, working there several years at his trade.  He raised three sons and a daughter, Mrs. Weaver, of Tipton, Iowa.  One son has remained with his parents, having a family also of his own, and one is living in Colorado.  The third, Rev. John W. Knott, has a church at Sweatland, Iowa.  All except the one in Colorado were at his death and burial.  His remains were interred at Union cemetery Thursday, Rev. Mr. Lewis, pastor of the Presbyterian church here, officiating."

There are some half truths and many omissions in the obituary, written by an unknown author.  For instance, there is no mention at all of son Elzy Hodges Knott, who had been murdered in Nevada, nor of Thomas's life in Nevada where he intended to bring his family to settle.  There is no mention of at least one law suit against Thomas and Hannah, in Ohio.  There is no mention of Thomas's letters to Brigham Young, and only the passing reference "by sea" to refer to Thomas's trips from San Francisco to New York via the Isthmus of Panama.

Nevertheless, it does expand my knowledge of my great great grandfather.  We again visited the cemetery mentioned to see if we could locate any sign of his grave.  There are quite a few graves there with missing headstones, and of course it's possible that there never was a headstone in the first place.  We found plots that appeared to be vacant, near people who had died about the same time Thomas did, so we think he was there or very near there.  At least we have a cemetery.

Thank you to the village who encouraged me to keep looking, to Mike Sexton who convinced me there was reason to give the search another try, to the librarian who encouraged us to look for what we wanted, and to my sister, who enticed me to the area for one more try.

The line of descent is:

Thomas Knott-Hannah Bell
John W Knott-Harriet Starr
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Allen line: Benjamin Hoyt 1644-1735

Benjamin was a first generation American.  His parents, Simon and Susanna Smith Hoyt, had come to New England in 1628.  Depending on whom you believe, he had either six or fifteen siblings.  The "extra" eight are from a proposed first marriage, but I'm not sure this was the same Simon Hoyt.  So, he may have married Jane Stoodley first, but Simon did marry Susanna Smith,  on April 2, 1635  in Stamford, Connecticut, and they are the parents of Benjamin. 

Benjamin was born February 2, 1644 but the location is uncertain.  His parents may have been in the process of moving from Windsor to Stamford, and for whatever reason, records of his birth have been lost.  As is frequently the case, the next mention I can find of Benjamin is his marriage, on January 5, 1670, at Stamford to Hannah Weed, daughter of Jonas and Mary (last name unknown) Weed. They stayed in Stamford their entire married life. Benjamin and Hannah had six children together.

I have found little else about Benjamin's life.  Presumably he kept a low profile, but he was also a man of some wealth.  In a 1699 listing of estates for tax purposes his estate had an assessed value of 112 pounds, one of the highest half dozen or so in the town.   In 1700 he was one of two men chosen "collector", to gather Mr. Davenport's rate.  I believe this refers to a salary for the town pastor.  He was granted additional land in 1700 but the lands were assigned by lot and Benjamin's name was one of the last on the list.  His land, wherever it was, may not have been desirable.

I haven't been able to locate information about whether Benjamin was involved in King Phiilip's War in 1675-76.  He was of the proper age to be needed for service, but perhaps was far enough away from the conflict that he didn't participate.  I also don't know his occupation.  Since he was one of the wealthier men in town, it's possible that he was a merchant or had ties to the maritime business in one way or another.  I'd love to find information to verify or disprove this speculation.  Based on his being appointed for Mr. Davenport's rate, he must have been a church goer.

I''ve not found his will or inventory, which would tell us a lot about the life he lived.  Was he literate, for instance?  Did he have inventory reflecting life as a merchant?  Or was it just household goods and farm equipment?  I'd love to know the details!  Benjamin died January 28, 1736, at the age of 9.  Hannah died in 1711.  I didn't find any mention of a second wife for Benjamin, so he may have remained a widower for about 24 years. 

This is not much of a story for a man who lived 91 years on the edge of the ocean, during the earliest years of the colony.  He saw a lot and did a lot that we may never know about.  Respect to Benjamin Hoyt. 

The line of descent is

Benjamin Hoyt-Hannah Weed
Hannah Hoyt-Daniel Scofield
Hannah Scofield-Nathaniel Finch
Jesse Finch-Hannah
Hannah Finch-John Bell
Hannah Bell=Thomas Knott
John Wilson Knott-Harriet Starr
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants

Fun Fact:  Benjamin Hoyt is my seventh great grandfather.  He is aslo the seventh great grandfather of Nancy Davis Reagan, making us eighth cousins.  And to think I was never invited to the White House!

Holbrook line: David Winchell 1643-1723

49!  That's how many references there are to David Winchell in the "Documentary History of Suffiel, and he didn't even arrive there until he was about 34 years old.  Sometimes it's a feast, sometimes it's a famine.  This is definitely a feast, even though the print in this book is incredibly small.

But let's start at the beginning.  David Winchell was a first generation New Englander, born to Robert and Mary Phelps Winchell in Windsor, Connecticut on October 22, 1643.  He was one of ten children born to the couple, although it appears that one died close to birth and one died as a toddler.  The family lived in Windsor, and David married his wife, Elizabeth Filley, daughter of William and Margaret Filley there on March 1, 1672.

The young couple stayed in Windsor for a few years.  David contributed to a fund for those who lost much in King Philip's War in 1677, and then no more is heard of him in Windsor.  In fact, it appears that he was granted land in Suffield as early as 1671, so perhaps for a few years he lived in both places, or maybe it took a few years to get the house ready for his family.  He and Elizabeth spent the rest of their lives in Suffield,which was originally part of Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he was chosen as constable, selectman or land measurer for 25 years.  His home lot was on High Street in Suffield and it appears that he had several land acquisitions, including one as late as 1711.  Except, some of the townspeople objected to that particular land grant and it was soon annulled.

David was on the committee to oversee the construction of the first meeting house in 1679, and on a committee to secure the second minister of the church.  In 1692 he was on the list of those who were privileged to vote in town elections.  This may or may not be the same as a "freeman", but it was close.  Many of the assignments he accepted from the town were peace keeping type missions, where he was asked to help approach ministerial candidates, or unhappy ministers, or mediate a dispute about where a highway should go, or to help locate a school teacher for the town.

However, in Colonial Justice in Western Massachusetts there is mention in two places of scrapes David was in.  He was fined four pounds for scurrilous comments about the minister, and for pressing for a different constable in a town meeting, than was "contrary to the mind of the people".  In 1681 Lt. Anthony Austin complained against David Winchell and two other men for defaming him and for taking the dispute to a town meeting  Apparently the men apologized and that was the end of it.

So, peacemaker, disturber of the peace, church man, selectman, committeeman, land measurer, this is our ancestor.  He and Elizabeth had eight children together.  When he died at the age of 80, there were undoubtedly grandchildren and even great grandchildren to mourn him.  Elizabeth died five years later, in 1728.  I've not located a will that I was sure was his, or hers, and I would certainly like to do that.  However, we have much to be proud of when we think of David Winchell, and we may even appreciate him more, knowing he was not quite perfect!

The line of descent is

David Winchell-Elizabeth Filley
Elizabeth Winchell-John Trumbull
Hannah Trumbull-Medad Pomeroy
Medad Pomeroy-Eunice Southwell
Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard
Libbeus Stanard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Andreas Zimmerman, Immigrant

Sometimes I have a lot of information to put into a blog polizst, and sometimes, "I got nuttin".  The latter is the case today.  I'm writing this post mostly in the hopes that someone will  help straighten me out, because honestly, I'm not sure that Andreas Zimmerman is our ancestor.  Lots of sites say that he is, but I can't find anything that connects Andreas to our known ancestor, Anna Elizabeth Zimmerman, who married Johann Jacob Hetrick.  Surely someone has some documentation that connects Anna Elizabeth to Andreas? 

In fact, the problems start with Anna Elizabeth's birth or baptism date.  When I actually look at the records, the date frequently quoted is the date Anna Margaretha was christened.  I can't find such a record for Anna Elisabetha.  There is an Anna Elizabetha born two years earlier, in a different place, and her mother's name is given as Anna Margaretha, with a father's name of Zimmerman, but I haven't been able to trace her down. 

So all I will say about Andreas is that he was born in or about 1672, and he married Anna Elizabetha Mueller on April 24, 1703, again with no documents to support that statement.  He and his wife came to Pennsylvania in 1727 (actually, we're not sure she came with him but it appears likely) and they settled at or near Pine Grove, in what is now Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.  This would have been very much frontier country, which is where many of the German immigrants headed.  Andreas must have worked very hard there, but I've not found his name in any of the early Pennsylvania land records, so I don't know whether he owned land. I've also not located his name in church records, but this was very early in the settlement of Pennsylvania and records for the frontier are scarce. 

The next thing I know about Andreas is that he died in 1733, and his wife died in 1740.  I have a list that shows this couple with 10 children, all born in Germany, but I don't know whether or not it is accurate, or complete.  I haven't found a will, or a cemetery, or anything that helps me anchor this man to a definite time and place.  It's frustrating!  Surely someone knows something!

If you can help prove or disprove this line, I would be very glad to hear from you!

The supposed line of descent is:

Andreas Zimmerman-Anna Elisabetha Mueller
Anna Elizabetha Zimmerman-Johan Abraham Hetrick
Johan Jacob Hetrick-Anna Elizabeth Nuss
Abraham Hetrick-Sarah Lemmon
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Christopher Myers 1776-1856, revisited

One of the things I just love about genealogy is that one is never done with the search, or with an ancestor.  When I first wrote about Christopher Myers, back in June of 2014, there was still much to learn about him.  There is still much to learn about him, five years later.  In fact, until today, I had not found one new piece of information.  However, on a recent day trip we drove through the town of Goshen, county seat of Elkhart County, Indiana, and that reminded me that I had never found a will for this man. 

It took about ten seconds on Ancestry to locate his estate.  It was a good news bad news kind of find.  The good news was that there were 283 pages in his file.  The bad news is that not everything was included, as far as I can tell.  I didn't find the will, for instance, which one would think was rather important.  But I did find enough to deduce that each of his nine children were to receive equal shares, which amounted to about $1500 over the course of several years. and that if a child was deceased, the parent's share was to be divided among the parent's children, so the grandchildren of Christopher Myers.  There were a lot of heirs and a lot of payments, so the whole thing gets rather complicated. 

However, the main thing is that I have concluded that our ancestor was not a poor man.  If he lived in a cabin at first, it seems probable that either he added on to it or he built a new house at some point.  He owned, at his death, five different tracts of land, all in Elkhart County and totaling about 417 acres.  Even at the age of 80, he had a respectable number of farm animals-2 mares with colts, cows, calves and yearling bulls, eighteen head of hogs- plus farm wagons and feed, a number of farm tools, plus certificates of deposit at the Goshen bank, and notes held from 29 different individuals, for sums ranging from $9.50 to $200.  Many, if not all, of these were to family members, including $200 loaned to our own Adam Brown. 

I'd like to give a very late shout out to Christopher's son Gideon Myers, who was the executor of Christopher's will.  He worked to settle the estate for at least eight years, with at least three separate times that he had to obtain receipts from each and every one of the heirs, stretching geographically from Preble County, Ohio to Iowa.  Much of the estate papers are taken up with that paperwork.  There's also a bill, apparently the only one outstanding, of $330 for "nursing the old gentleman during his last sickness for six weeks and the trouble and expense incident to entertainment of friends of the old man"; "nursing the old gentleman during a spell of sickness in 1855", and "washing for the old man from 13th December 1854 till time of his death", due to Lucus McCumsey.  It's possible that he was a family member, but I haven't yet identified him.  At any rate, Gideon did a great job of keeping track of all the details, submitting reports to the court, asking for extra time to sell land, and so on and on and on. 

There is much more to be gleaned from these estate papers, but this will help us understand Christopher and his final years, after the death of his wife Elizabeth Nation in 1852.  I'd love to find the will, but for now, this tells us so much more than we knew before, about Christopher's life in Elkhart County, Indiana.  What will we learn from our next discovery?

The line of descent is:

Christopher Myers-Elizabeth Nation
Phoebe Myers-Adam Brown
Phoebe Brown-Fremont Holbrook
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Harshbarger line: Johann Jacob Fehler 1746-1817

Johann Jacob Fehler left just enough of a paper trail that I can write a few sentences about him.  He was the son of Jacob and Anna Margareth Lowenguth, and was born April 13, 1746 in Upper Tulpehocken Townhip, Berks County, Pa.  Jacob and Margareth were apparently killed in one of the many attacks by the native Americans, in 1758, and our Jacob was an orphan at the age of 12,  He had three  older and five younger siblings, except that maybe he didn't.  The will of Jacob Lowenguth refers to an only son, Jacob, and two daughters, which would not explain the long list of children I've found for them. 

At any rate, our Jacob would have lived with other family members, or assigned a guardian by the court.  I've not found a record yet of what happened to the children, but somehow they survived the horror of being orphaned and went on to live their lives. 

Our Jacob is next found marrying Anna Eva Behney, daughter of Peter and Anna Barbara Behney, on October 26, 1767, but I haven't yet found records specifying the location.  Some say it was in Heidelberg Township, Berks County and some say East Hanover Township, Dauphin County.  We know he was in East Hanover Township by 1781, when there is record of the baptism of the ninth of his twelve children.  The distance between Jacob's childhood home and his new home was about 30 miles, down a mountain valley and Jacob may have been quite happy to leave his childhood home behind. 

We don't know what Jacob did during the Revolutionary War.  His name is not found on the digital archives of Pennsylvania web site, or perhaps I didn't think of enough way s to check the spelling for Fehler.  It seems that he would at least have been in a militia, since at the start of the war he was only about 30 years old.  Certainly news of the war would have reached him and he would have followed the events with interest, if he didn't go off to war for at least a time. 

Jacob and Eva had 12 children together.  I've not located a death date for Eva but it's possible that Jacob remarried as his will names a wife whose name starts with Pa...Jacob was apparently a successful farmer, for his will lists many items that are to be the property of his wife.  His son Christly is to care for his (Step) mother, and daughter Barbara is also to be allowed to live in the house.  If Christly and Barbara can't get along, then he is to build her a new house to live in, and a barn.  Christly gets the home farm of about 50 acres.  Other sons have already received land from their father, and the remaining daughters are to get 50 pounds apiece, to make them roughly equal to what the sons got earlier. 

The only other fact we know about Jacob is that he and Eva attended Lutheran churches.  He died October 1, 1817 and was buried at the Sattazahn Lutheran Cemetery near Jonestown, which is named for a Revolutionary War hero.  There may or may not be a connection there. 

Jacob Fehler deserves our admiration.  He certainly had a traumatic childhood but he rose above it, made his way through or around the Revolutionary War, married, raised a large family, and when he died at the age of 71, was able to have given or to give each of his children enough to give them a real boost in their financial condition.  He was another hard working :German", although he was of the generation born in the colony of Pennsylvania. 

The line of descent is

Jacob Fehler-Eva Behney
Christina Fehler-John Harshbarger
George Harshbarger-Mary Kepler
Lewis Harshbarger-Catherine Mentzer
Emmanuel Harshbarger-Clara Harter
Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers
Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks
Their descendants
 

Allen family: Martin Root, Patriot 1721-question mark

There is probably more information about Martin Root than I have been able to find.  It is probably documented better than I have been able to find.  He seems to be a very elusive person, so this is only the best I can do, at this time.  I just don't want him to go completely unnoticed in our family, because he lived through some very turbulent times and surely there are records to search that I've not yet located.  If and when I do, I will either update this post or do a whole new post. 

We know that Martin was born either December 19, 1720 or December 14, 1791.  It's quite possible there were two babies by the name of Martin Root.  It's also possible that the date on one, or the other, or both, has been misread.  His parents were Samuel and Mary Gunn Root, and he was born in Westfield, Massachusetts.  Martin's grandparents had all been born in New England so his connections with England were tenuous, at best.  Maybe his grandparents had passed on a story or two, but most of what he knew would have come from his own home and surrounding towns.

Martin married Eunice (sometimes seen as Unis) Lamb, daughter of Samuel and Martha Stebbins Lamb, on May 16, 1745 in Springfield, Massachusetts, where the Stebbins and Lamb families had lived for many years.  Westfield is currently 14 miles from Springfield but if we make allowance for a sprawling city, maybe it was more like 20 miles at the time.  However, Westfield had a small river that connected with Springfield, so transportation would have been easy.  The two may have met through mutual family members or friends, or their fathers may have done business together, or perhaps a chance meeting on the street.  

Samuel and Eunice had 11 children together, starting in 1746 and ending in 1767. (Eunice, you have my admiration and my sympathy, both!).  I've not yet learned what Samuel did for an occupation, nor have I learned what, if anything, he did in the French and Indian War.  He was certainly a perfect age to have been in the conflict, and the Springfield area contributed a lot of men to the effort, but I've not yet located his name in a file or record.

We do know, however, that he is listed as a Patriot in the DAR index, because he was a member of the Committee of Correspondence, Inspection, and Safety in 1776 and 1777.  They worked to co-ordinate with other cities in Massachusetts (and probably Connecticut) and helped make sure the men had the best supplies available to them.  Several websites state that he marched to Lexington after the April 18,1775 alarm but it seems to me that it's more logical that it was his son, Martin Root, Jr. (also our ancestor) who went on that expedition.  Martin Junior was born in 1753 and would have been the right age to go to war.  However, the Martin Root military story is even more complicated because the Martin Root who shows up on Fold 3 records died in 1777, which doesn't fit either of our men.  So some more digging needs to be done on the Revolutionary War story.  Regardless, the service on the Committee does allow anyone who can prove descent to join the DAR, if you are so inclined.

I haven't found a death date for Eunice, but neither have I found a re-marriage for Martin.  So perhaps they both lived to a good age.  Martin's death date is also in dispute.  Many websites give it as 1788 but "Deaths in the First Church, Westfield, Massachusetts 1728-1836" gives a date of March 11, 1791 for Martin Root, with the notation 71 years.  This closely matches our Martin and I am using this until someone sets me straight or I find further information.  Again, there were several Martin Roots and it's possible that this is "the other" Martin Root, if there was one.

That's not much information for a man who lived 71 years, more or less.  We know his family but we don't know how he supported them.  I've not found a will.  I did find a record of an ear mark for cattle registered by son Martin, so there is that slight hint that maybe his father also had a farm.  I would certainly love to know whether/when/where he served in the French and Indian War.  The hint in the death record shows us that he was a member of the First Church of Westfield.

It's frustrating to feel that there are stories that need to be told, and yet they are just beyond my fingertips.  I'd love to hear from others who are researching this man!

The line of descent is:

Martin Root-Eunice Lamb
Martin Root-Ruth Noble
Ruth Root-Samuel Falley
Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr
Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott
Edith Knott-Edward Allen
Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook
Their descendants