Allen line: Daniel Eldridge 1659-1726

Daniel Eldridge fascinates me.  He is one of the few Allen ancestors we have in Rhode Island, for one thing.  For another thing, he seems to have belonged to at least two different denominations, or churches.  Whether that was because of geography, or because he had a religious conversion, I don't know.  But he at one time was part of the First Congregational Church of Stonington, Ct, and a few days before his death became part of St Paul's Episcopal Church in Narragansett, Rhode Island.  There is speculation that his parents were Baptists, so that makes the whole church situation even more intriguing.

Daniel was the son of Samuel and Elizabeth Miller Eldred or Eldridge, one of at least 7 children.  He appears to be perhaps the next to the last child, and as such, he didn't live in the many locations that his oldest siblings did.  Daniel was born in Kingston, Rhode Island in 1659 and died there or at Narragansett, RI on August 18, 1726.  Kingston and Narragansett are only about 9 miles apart now, but the town limits may have been smaller then and it could have been a longer journey between the two towns.  Or perhaps he actually lived on a border between the two communities.  He also lived for several years in Stonington, Ct, which was about 30 miles from Narragansett.  These were all towns on the coast line, so it leads one to wonder whether he was somehow involved in shipbuilding or in some sort of maritime trade.  I haven't been able to determine his occupation, although we know his father was a cordwainer.  As a younger son, he likely didn't follow in his father's footsteps.  

Daniel married Mary, usually identified as Mary Phillips, about 1687 probably in Kingston.  The couple had ten known children.  Daniel witnessed several deeds in Rhode Island, but by 1706 the family was in Stonington, where Mary owned the covenant in 1707 and several children were baptized at the Congregational Church in Stonington.  (Congregational indicates a Puritan heritage, with congregations choosing their own pastors, who were usually from New England).   A Daniel Eldridge owned the covenant there in 1716, but that may have been son Daniel. 

In town records of his death, he is referred to as "Captain Daniel".  I haven't been able to determine when he received this military title.  His father participated in King Philip's War and it seems likely that Daniel would have done the same, as he was above the age of 16 when the war broke out.  It's unlikely that he was a captain at this time.  It's also possible that he was involved in one or more of the wars that came later, such as Queen Anne's war or King William's war.   At any rate, Daniel as a teenager would have been greatly affected by King Philip's war as the family lost everything to an assault by the natives.  This may help explain why Daniel was 28 years old when he married. 

Daniel was a freeman in Kingstown in 1696.  He was referred to as captain when he purchased land in Narrangansett, Rhode Island in 1709, but apparently the family lived in Stonington longer, because he was a deputy from Stonington to the General Court at Hartford in 1709 and 1715.  He also served as justice of the piece for several years.  We see him back in Kingstown in 1719, where he was a member of the militia until sometime in 1725.  

I'm not sure when the couple went to Narragansett, but Daniel was "clinically baptized" by the pastor of St Paul's church there, and this was an Anglican church.  "Clinically baptized" was a new term to me, but it seems to mean that he was baptized on his sick bed or in this case on his death bed, as he died just three days later.  I've not found documentation for the death of Mary, but she is said to have lived until 1750.

I've also not found a will or estate papers for Daniel.  They would be most helpful in perhaps determining what economic status he may have had, and what his occupation was.  However, I'm more interested in this man's spiritual journey.  How and why did he go from being raised as a Baptist, to becoming a congregationalist, to a final baptism in the Anglican church?  Did he read books, was he persuaded by others, or was it simply a matter of geographic convenience, that he worshiped with the community where he resided?

The line of descent is:

Daniel Eldridge-Mary possibly Phillips

Daniel Eldridge-Abigail Fish

Sarah Eldridge-Thomas Chester

Bathsheba Chester-Jonathan Havens

Betsy Havens-John Starr

John Havens Starr-Clarissa Falley

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knoth-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants

Holbrook line: Isaac Newell 1632-1707

 Isaac was an immigrant, having been born about 1632 in or near Ipswich, Suffolk, England.  He would have little memory of England, though, as he was just two years old when he immigrated with the rest of his family in 1634.  I always think of the very young children, and their mothers, when I read about their trip to the New World.  We know how crowded and how hazardous those ships were, and we wonder how the mothers kept their children safe and occupied during the weeks it took to make the trip across the Atlantic.  

It's not known for sure who "mother" was; but her first name was Francis,  There is speculation that her name may have been Foote but that seems to be only speculation at this point.  His father was Abraham Newell, and Abraham was 50 years old when he brought his family to New England.  Abraham, a tailor by trade, settled in Roxbury, some distance from Boston at the time, and Isaac seems to have lived his whole life in Roxbury.  

Considering that he was technically an immigrant, there is not much information about Isaac.  This is even more surprising when we consider that he married Elizabeth Curtis, daughter of William and Sarah Eliot Curtis.  Sarah was a sibling to Rev. John Eliot, known as the Apostle to the Indians, so it seems that the Newells would be deserving of more genealogical attention than they have received so far. 

Isaac appears to have been a farmer all of his life.  He inherited some of his father's rather extensive holdings, although oldest brother Abraham received more than Isaac and his brother John did.  

We know he was part of the church at Roxbury, being listed as a member on December 3, 1660.  His wife Elizabeth became a member on July 22, 1661.  Isaac's name is on a petition sent to the general court in 1664, and on another petition in 1672.  He is reported to have sat on several local juries at various times, but that appears to have been his only contribution to public service.  We find no record of his having been part of a military unit, although he was likely part of the training band formed by each community.  Roxbury was spared during King Philip's War, so he may have never been called to duty during that conflict.  However, his family was not untouched as Elizabeth's brother, Philip Curtis, was killed at Grafton, Massachusetts in an assault on an Indian camp.  

Isaac and Elizabeth were married at Roxbury December 14, 1659, and they had nine children together.  Two sons died during a small pox epidemic in 1678, about a month apart.  Surviving sons were Isaac, Ebenezer and Josiah, and daughters were Sarah, Elizabeth, Hannah and Experience.  

There seems to be no record of a will or estate left when Isaac died on December 8, 1707 in Roxbury.  He had acquired additional land besides the bequest of his father, but perhaps he had sold it, or given it to sons, before his death.  As always, I regret the lack of an inventory, because that usually sheds some light on the lives of an ancestor during this time period.  However, we do have these few facts about Isaac, and for that we are glad.  

The line of descent is:

Isaac Newell-Elizabeth Curtis

Sarah Newell-Nathaniel Hawes

Elizabeth Hawes-Samuel Wilson

Rebecca Wilson-Jonathan Wright

Molly Wright-Amariah Holbrook

Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

 

Harshbarger line: Hans Huber 1662-1750

 Hans Huber was the immigrant in this line, and he was a Mennonite.  That much seems certain.  Other than that, there is quite a bit that is up for debate about him.  For instance, who were his parents?  There seem to be several theories, but based on geography, I have tentatively given his parents as Hans Jacob and Barbara Buman Huber.  This family comes from Hausen, Zurich, Switzerland.  Hans had at least three brothers and sisters, but his early life was probably difficult.  Mennonites at the time were despised by the Swiss authorities, and were not allowed to accumulate any wealth.  They also faced the constant thread of imprisonment, although I've not found a record that Hans was ever imprisoned for his religious beliefs.  Some of his neighbors and fellow worshipers likely were.  

Hans moved around quite a bit during the years before his immigration to America.  He is seen in Friedrichstadt, Germany Wesenmatt, and the Ibersheim in Hesse, but by 1700 Hans was back in Hausen.  The next ten years are fuzzy as to where he was.  He would likely have tried to stay in the background as much as possible.  Most sources think that Hans arrived in Pennsylvania in 1710, on board the "Mary and Lyon".  Hans Huber was a common name so it is hard to be sure, but there are records for a John Hoober in 1721 at Conestoga in Lancaster County.  Our Hans had a son named Jacob who was also listed in that tax record, and they were noted as being "Palatine", the area where many Mennonites lived for months or years before moving on to America.  

There is a good deal of debate, also, about Hans's wife.  It seems that wife number one died about the time son Jacob was born, and he then married wife number 2.  The second wife was Margaret Koch, and a slim majority of sites show her as the mother of Jacob, next in the line of descent.  The most common name I've seen for his first wife is Barbara Lier.  More research needs to be done to confirm whether there was one marriage or two, and if two, whether Jacob was the child of the first or the second wife.  Regardless, Margaret would have been the only mother Jacob ever knew. 

Hans is thought to have had between 6 and 14 children.  Six are mentioned in his will, son Jacob and 5 daughters.  Undoubtedly they were an industrious family.  Hans had land surveyed in 1735, 200 acres in Earl Township.  We have no way of knowing how long he had lived on the land before getting the survey that allowed the transaction to become legal.  He had an additional 150 acres surveyed in 1737.  By now, his children would have been grown and he had apparently reached some degree of prosperity, in order to purchase more land.  

He was either prosperous or generous, or both, because in his will he left money to the "poor of the people called Mennonists in Pennsylvania" and also to the poor of the "Mennonists at the place in Germany called Ibersheimerhof".  If his wife predeceased him he left money to the children of her sister, still in Germany.  He wrote the will February 17, 1746 and it was proven on October 23, 1750.  He's buried at the Groffdale Mennonite Brick Church Cemetery at Leola in Lancaster County, where a monument erected in 1928 stands.  Perhaps coincidentally, and perhaps not, 1928 is the year that his 7th great grandson, Herbert Hoover, was elected President of the United States.  

The line of descent is:

Hans Huber-Barbara or Margaret

Jacob Huber-Anna

Anna Elizabeth Huber-Jost Gingrich

Maria Gingrich-Adam Burkholder

Joseph Burkholder-Elizabeth Miller

Barbara Burkholder-Benjamin Buchtel

Nancy Fannue Buchtel-Adam Kemery

Della Kemery-William Withers

Goldie Withers-Grover Harshbarger

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

 

Holbrook line: Deacon John Hanchett 1649-1744

Proprietor. Selectman.  Deacon. Sergeant.  These are just a few of the labels that can be applied to our ancestor John Hanchett.  He was respected in his town and was probably an educated man, based on the fact that he was a selectman for many years, a deacon in the church, and was active in supporting the school, finding a pastor, processioning boundaries, and fulfilling other civic duties.  His inventory lists only two books, his Great Bible and his book of Psalms, but the man was 95 years old.  It's possible that his eyesight had failed and other books were given away.  (There was, however, no mention of spectacles in the inventory).

John Hanchett was born in Wethersfield, Connecticut on September 1, 1649, to Thomas and Deliverance Langton Hanchett.   He moved often as a child and youth, as his father moved to New London in 1651, to Northampton, Massachusetts by 1660, to Westfield, Massachusetts and then finally to Suffield in 1671.  Perhaps his father had a trade that was needed as new towns were formed.  John married Ester Pritchard (Prittchet in some records) on September 6, 1677.  She was from Westfield and records of the marriage are in both Westfield and Suffield records, so I'm not sure which town had the honor.  

(I find it interesting that we have these Holbrook ancestors in Westfield, at the same time that we had many Allen ancestors there. Our ancestors were neighbors but never could have foreseen that in 280 years, their descendants would find each other and marry!)  

John and Esther had 9 children together, in their roughly 34 years of marriage.  John apparently liked married life because he married three more times during his life, to Mrs. Mary Harmon, then to Mrs. Sarah Tayler, and finally to Mrs. Mary Southwell, who survived him.  He had step children but I've not determined how many, or whether he helped raise any of them.  

Other than the references to "sergeant" Hanchett, I've been unable to find anything that shows that John was a soldier in King Philip's War.  However, Westfield was a source of soldiers for the war, and John was living there then.  If he didn't leave the area to fight, he would have been guarding the town, unless he left the area during this time, which doesn't seem likely but is possible.  

His inventory doesn't give us much idea of what he had been doing as far as occupation, but his will gives all his land and commons rights, including his "now house" to son John, excepting only what his wife needs during her widowhood.  So it's not an easy matter to figure his estate value, but selectmen were generally at least comfortable in their finances so we can assume that was true in this case, until additional information comes to light.  

I look forward to learning more about this man, but I'm delighted to have this much information.  He is another example of a good man who helped build this country.

The line of descent is:

John Hanchett-Ester Pritchard

John Hanchett-Lydia Hayward

Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard

Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy

Libbeus Stanard-Luceba Fay

Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Beeks line: Jacobus Pieterse Slot 1669-1725

 Although Jacobus (also known as Cobus and as Jacob) lived in the culture of the Dutch Reformed folks in early New Jersey, his grandfather was Danish.  The family had moved to Amsterdam and then to New Amsterdam, and then on to New Jersey by the time Jacobus was born in 1669.  His parents, Pieter Janse and Merritje Jacobs Slot, had him baptized at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Bergen (now Jersey City) and he seems to have stayed there his whole life.  Most of his neighbors would have been of one or another reformed churches, as some were Huguenots who had been forced out of France by the religious wars.  Some had lived in Amsterdam also, so were known to the family.  

I've now given almost everything that is know about Jacob.  He married Maria Demarest, daughter of Jean and Jacomina de Ruine Demarest, probably about 1695.  They joined the Hackensack Dutch Church on April 5, 1696 after attending the French Church at Kinderkamack.  The French church had been founded by David Demarest.  The new church may have been closer for them to attend, or there may have been some sort of church dispute.  

The couple had at least eleven children, starting with Petrus in 1696 and ending with Benjamin in 1721.  There are records for the baptism of most, if not all, of the children.  When I look at the map now, this area is totally urban, but of course at the time the Slots lived there it would have been frontier, with threats and skirmishes with native Americans, and animals such as wolves and bears to contend with.

 I would love to know whether Jacob served in the militia.  I'd love to know what his will and inventory could tell us.  I'd love to know whether he could read and write, and whether he had another means of income besides farming.  So there is much yet to be learned about Jacob, but we at least can acknowledge his place in Beeks family history, and imagine what his culture may have been.

The line of descent is:

Jacobus Slot-Maria Demarest

Benjamin Slot-Sara Demarest

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Mary Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Clarke 1642-1686

 It should be easier to make sense of this man's life than it is.  He was the son of Robert Clarke, Surveyor-General of Maryland (and probably first wife Eleanor), and Robert's life is fairly well documented.  So if John's, except that he seems to have been in more than one place at the same time, and to have been older than the date I've used indicates, if indeed he was granted land in 1655 for headrights to several people.  I suspect we could be dealing with more than one John Clarke, so I'll try to include only the information I think is most likely to be correct here.  The other possibility is that John was born earlier, perhaps in England, and thus would have been old enough to have had head rights in 1655.  I think more research needs to be done about this.

John is frequently referred to as "Gent" or "planter" in land records.  It makes sense that he would have owned quite a bit of land, as his father probably looked out for his son's interests while making his surveys, as well as leaving him extra land as the oldest son.  John married Ann at some point.  Most trees show his wife to be Ann Dent, but there are some other possibilities and I'm not yet ready to hazard a guess as to who his wife was.  

We know that there were five children living when John wrote his will in 1685-John, Robert, Benjamin, Franklin, and Ann.  There may have been other children born to the couple who were not alive at the time the will was written.  John left a tract of 1000 acres to his children, and the rest of his land and estate to his wife, to do with as she wished.  When Ann died, any remaining land or estate was to go to his eldest son, John. 

His land, or at least part of it, seems to have been located on the west side of the Wicomico River, which in turn was a tributary of the Potomac River.  This land he sold or gave to his brother Thomas in 1681.  He evidently lived on the border of Charles County and St Mary's County, so records can be found in both counties, but I'm not sure where he was living at the time of his death. 

Basically, except for some land transactions, this is what we know of John.  His father was Catholic but we don't know if John was also Catholic, or whether he was of the Anglican church.  Maryland started out as a tolerant colony but became involved in bitter religious disputes.  Perhaps he kept whatever religious beliefs he had to himself.  Because he owned a lot of land and grew tobacco, we can guess that his lands were farmed by either slaves or indentured servants, or both.  (The persons he was granted head rights for, if this is the correct John Clarke, may well have served out their indenture on his lands.  At this time in Maryland history, indentured servants were common, as were native American slaves and those imported from Africa, so it could have been any, all, or some combination of the above.  No slaves are mentioned in his will and I haven't yet located an inventory.  

There are a lot of reference books about the early days of St Mary's and Charles Counties, but unfortunately they don't seem to be readily available on line.  When I am able to return to library haunting, I will want to see what more I can learn of our ancestor, John Clarke.  There are probably stories to tell!

The line of descent is:

John Clarke-Ann

Robert Clarke-Selina Smith

Hannah Clarke-James Amos 

Robert Amos-Martha McComas

Robert Amos-Elizabeth Amos

Martha Amos-Peter Black

Elizabeth Black-Isaac Hetrick

Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Allen line: James Bird 1631-1708

 I think it's a good thing that I write these posts, because I challenge myself (rather too frequently, it seems) to double check what I think I know, as I'm writing.  Sometimes I am confident that I have the correct information, sometimes I learn that I have the wrong information, and sometimes I end up with many more question marks than I started with.  

James Bird is one ancestor who seems to have several errors in his family tree.  For one thing, many people say he was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1631.  That seems unlikely because Hartford wasn't formed until 1635-36, and because his father, Thomas Bird, is thought to have not come to the colony until 1639.  James is believed to be the son of Thomas and his unknown first wife. We don't know where in England (presumably) he was born, but we can believe that James spent most if not all of his boyhood in Hartford.  He had at least a brother and a sister, and they probably kept each other company while learning the skills they would need in later life.  

James married Lydia Steele March 31, 1657.  She is almost always listed as the mother of our connection, but she died in 1659 and our Rebecca was born in 1670.  (So posts I've written about the Steele family should be ignored as far as being in our ancestry!)  James's second wife was named Rebecca but that is all that is known of her.  She probably came from the Hartford area, but that is all that is currently known.  

We know that James was a freeman in 1657 and specifically a freeman of Farmington in 1669. (I've found two dates for the formation of Farmington, one in 1645 and one in 1660.  The 1660 date is reported with a comment that James was an early settler and proprietor of Farmington. This may or may not be correct.)  

James had 7 children, and it's thought that their mother was Rebecca, although birth dates are lacking in some instances and it's possible that one or two of the children were Lydia's.  We don't know a lot about James's life but we can guess that he was involved in the militia, and was eligible to be called out in one or more of the battles of King Philip's War in 1675-76.  We have one story that indicates he may have not always been even-tempered.  Apparently there was either a political or a church dispute in 1673, and James was so upset during a meeting that he stomped out of the building and went, or said he went, to Waterbury, which is about 25 miles from Farmington.  If so, he didn't stay there long because he is on record in the Congregational Church of Farmington in 1679 and 1681. If this was a church dispute, it may have been over infant baptism. 

James died in 1708 in Farmington (not Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts.  That was an entirely different James Bird, but their marriage and death records are sometimes conflated.)  Although he was about 77 years old, it seems that he died without a will.  Rebecca must have died earlier, because I saw no mention of her in the settlement papers.  The sons and sons in law of James got together and agreed on a distribution of the assets, with son Thomas getting the land and the others getting various farm animals and personal property.  This was apparently agreed to without a family fight, which speaks well of the family that James and Rebecca had raised.  

I'd like to learn more about James, of course. Most particularly I would like to know who his wife was, and of course I'd like to know more about his occupation (if any beyond farming) and his military service.  But I'm glad to know this much, and I'm glad to see the humanity of this man who had strong feelings about what went on in his church or/and community.  

The line of descent is:

James Bird-Rebecca

Rebecca Bird-Samuel Lamb

Samuel Lamb-Martha Stebbins

Eunice Lamb-Martin Root

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

 

 

Holbrook line: Josiah Standish 1633-1689

Josias or Josiah Standish (mostly Josias in the earliest records) grew up in the shadow of his famous Mayflower passenger father, Captain Myles (Miles) Standish.  Those men and women who were survivors were people he would have known personally.  His father settled at Duxbury, not far from the home of Elder William Brewster.  What an awesome heritage he had, both with his own parents and with those who were part of early Plymouth Colony.  So we should know a lot about him, shouldn't we?  And yet, there is much of him that we don't know.  

His father, as noted was Myles Standish and his mother was Barbara.  (Rose, sometimes seen as his mother, had died in the first winter.)  The mystery of his mother's name and origins is one of the deep questions in Mayflower ancestry still to be solved.  Josias was probably born about 1633, although I've seen guesses as early as 1629 and as late as 1637, probably at Plymouth but possibly at Duxbury.  He had several siblings although at least two appear to have died as infants or in early childhood.  As much as anyone who grew up in that tiny colony could be called such, he appears to have been one of the privileged ones, with respected parents who were somewhat well off financially, for the time and place.  

Josiah would have early learned to hunt, and fish, to help with the farm animals, and as he reached the age of 16 or so, to participate in the military training and patrols that was required of all colonists.  We don't know what trade, if any, he had but his namesake son became a carpenter, so perhaps that is what Josias did, too.  He likely had some trade because he was not the first son and thus wouldn't have been raised with the expectation of inheriting his father's lands.  We can guess that he learned to read and write, and that he regularly attended the Pilgrim church services, because that's what boys in that time and place did.

In 1654, Josiah married Mary Dingley, but she died in just a few months.  There were no surviving children from this marriage and it's not known whether hers was a childbirth death or from some other cause.  Josiah mourned not only his wife but also his father, who died at about the same time. He inherited 40 pounds and probably some personal items from his father, which likely increased his financial standing.  He soon remarried, to Sarah Allen, who was the daughter of Samuel and Ann Whitmore Allen.  She was the mother of all of his children, probably at least seven although I have seen lists that included many more.  

Josiah either owned several parcels of land at once, while living mostly in one place, or moved around a lot.  (If he was a carpenter or other skilled tradesman, it would be plausible that he would have moved often.) Besides Duxbury, we find references to him in Bridgewater, Marshfield and Sandwich, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and in Norwich and Preston, Connecticut.  We know he was a lieutenant of the military company of Bridgewater in 1660, and he was a selectman of Duxbury in 1666.  He was also a deputy of Plymouth Colony (to the General Court) several times.  

At his death, he was referred to as Captain Standish, so he must have stayed active in the military training band for most if not all of his life.  It's not clear what decided the Standishes, who were middle-aged, to move to Norwich and then Preston, Connecticut.  (Preston was actually formed in 1687, and Josiah was of Norwich in 1686, so perhaps this last move was not a move at all, but merely was the result of the formation of the new town.)  Whatever caused the move, the Standishes didn't have long to enjoy their new surroundings.  Josiah died March 19, 1690 (some sources say 1689; it's probably the double dating thing again that is causing the variance) and Sarah died sometime after.  

I haven't located a will or inventory for Josiah, which would tell us much.  His father's inventory was quite extensive and lists quite a few books by title.  It would be interesting to see whether Josiah inherited, and kept, any of those same books.  Also, he may have referred to his trade, or stated that he was a yeoman, or given us other details that would help us understand this son of a Mayflower passenger. There are always more questions than answers!

The line of descent is"

Josiah Standish-Sarah Allen

Josiah Standish-Sarah Doty

Hannah Standish-Nathan Foster

Nathan Foser-Elizabeth Lunsford

Jude Foster-Lydia M

Betsy Foster-Josiah Whittemore

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph R Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Beeks line: Francois Sohier 1595-1663

Don't believe everything I write here, because I can find very little documentation for this ancestor.  I am reasonably certain that he is an ancestor in the Beeks line, but I'm not sure he actually immigrated to the New World.  I sure would love to find a record so that I could verify unsourced trees that are "out there" on the 'net.  But because he is an ancestor, and because I think his story is fascinating, regardless of whether or not he actually came here, I wanted to share the bits and pieces of his life, including speculation.  (Much of the information I am using is from a blog post at https://a400yearstory.wordpress.com.  The information appears to be well researched, with many secondary sources, which is why I'm going to base this post on that article.  

I always take it with a grain of salt, when I find records that say so and so descended from royalty, but there seems to be a possibility that this Francois was one of the many millions of descendants of Charlemagne, and that his ancestors participated in the Crusades and were at least minor nobles.  The record of Sohiers dates back to the birth of Jean Sohier in 1435 on the island of Jersey, and usually we can't get that far back unless there was some sort of reason.  Peasants weren't necessarily tracked as well.  

However that may be, Francois was born about 1595 in Nieppe, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.  His family were Protestants and left France during one or another of the many wars for religious (and other) dominance of northern France and the Spanish Netherlands, but Francois was born in France so either the border moved or they returned home.  The story of the Huguenots, as the Protestants were known, is tragic and inspiring, and we can use this label to describe Francois.  

He married Margrieta, possibly in Holland, but they apparently lived in either Nieppe or Hainaut for most of their married life.  It's not clear who Margrieta's parents were.  Also not clear is how many children the couple had, nor when they sailed for New Netherlands.  There is so much of the story we are missing, but we know something of Dutch life during the early years, and it appears that Francois's story is intertwined with that story.  He would have known, or at least seen, Peter Stuyvesant and other of the early leaders of the colony.  He is believed to have died in 1663 in Flatbush, Kings County, New York, so he would have missed most of the tension relating to the English takeover, but he may well have lived through some of the troubles with the native Americans.  

I hope to learn more about Francois when I am able to go to the library in Ft Wayne again, but that will be a while.  Meanwhile, I like to remember that part of the Beeks heritage is Dutch and French, and that these ancestors contributed much to the building of what became America.  

The line of descent is:

Francois Sohier-Margreita

Marie Sohier-David Demarest

Jean Demarest-Jacomina DeRuine

Peter Demarest-Maretje Meet

Lea Demarest-Samuel David Demarest

Sarah Demarest-Benjamin Slot

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants