Beeks line: George Fee abt 1700-1790

 I've written about George Fee's father, also named George Fee, before.  I've mentioned that the family came from County Fermanaugh, Ulster, Ireland, but that prior to 1600 the ancestral home had been somewhere in Scotland.  George is believed to have been born in County Fermanaugh in about 1700, although records have not been found to support this.  He was in Baltimore County about 1725 (there is a George Fee who owned land in Dorchester County in 1722, a tract called "Glasgow".  This may belong to George's father, and if so, may also provide a clue to the area of origin of the family.)

George settled first in what became Frederick County, Maryland, by 1745, when he received a patent for 150 acres of land, and was there until at least 1760, when he sold land there.  This may be when he moved to either Fayette or Washington County, Pa, near present day Brownsville.  It is more than possible that he was involved in the French and Indian War, and possibly even the Revolutionary War, although he would have been quite old for the second war.  At any rate, based on where he lived, he would have constantly been on the lookout for raiders of various Indian tribes, first those allied with the French and secondly those allied with the British.  Much has been written about life on this frontier and about the hardships the people endured.  George's family was extremely fortunate in that none of them seem to have been injured, captured, or killed during the uprisings.  

George was married to Parnell widow Snowden sometime between April 22, 1725 and July 1726.  Quite a few trees, with no sources, give her maiden name as Lakin, saying she was a daughter of Abraham and Martha Lee Lakin.  I am not yet convinced, but I'm putting it out there as a possibility.  (If anyone finds a marriage record for Henry Snowden and Parnell, that should give us a last name.  Hint, hint!)  The problem with this is that George and Parnell's daughter Elizabeth Fee, married Joseph Lakin, who is also shown as a child of Abraham and Martha Lakin.  So Elizabeth would have been marrying her uncle, which is not totally impossible but certainly needs further investigation.

George and Parnell had at least three children, Elizabeth, Rachel, and Thomas, and possibly John.  The two daughters married Lakins and Thomas's second wife was the daughter of Robert and Sarah Lakin Leith, so this was a tight-knit family.  

George undoubtedly farmed and it is not unlikely that at least some of his crop was turned into whiskey, as this was a more profitable product than plain corn for the farmers of that area.  He died before the Whiskey Rebellion, but may have been involved in some of the tensions leading up to that event.  He is believed to have died about 1790, although again, I have not found any documentation for this.  

I've not found a will or estate papers for George, so this is as much as I know about him.  I'd like to find more records and learn more about this man, who may have spoken with an Irish lilt or a Scottish burr.  It's fun to imagine his voice, and the stories he might have told.  

The line of descent is:

George Fee-Parnell

Elizabeth Fee-Joseph Lakin

Mary Lakin-John Simpson Aldridge

John Simpson Aldridge-Lucinda Wheeler

Darlington Aldridge-Leah Folsom

Harvery Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

Holbrook line: Joseph Stannard 1635-ish-1688

 It's a good thing family historians like mysteries and unanswered questions, because we sure have a lot of them.  Joseph Stannard is a case in point.  We know his parents were John and Margaret Miller Stannard (Stonard and other spellings), who were married in London, England in 1631.  We know he was one of at least four children, but there don't seem to be existing birth records for him.  Many trees say he was born in Hartford (or Haddam, or Saybrook), Connecticut, but his parents to the best of our knowledge were never there, so that is erroneous.  He was almost certainly born somewhere in England, because his parents didn't come to New England until later.  John Stannard is not listed in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Directory, but he is shown to have had land in Roxdbury, Massachusetts by 1639 so John, at least, had arrived by then.  It's possible that he went back to England to gather his wife and children, or possible that Margaret and children arrived on their own, but one way or another, the family was here by 1642.  

John died in Roxbury in 1649, which probably left Joseph adrift at the age of 14.  He would probably have been apprenticed, if he was lucky, or simply became a servant in another family in order to keep eating.  His mother married Thomas Waterman about a year after John's death, so Joseph became part of a blended family, if he was still living at home.

The next we hear of Joseph is his listing as an early founder of Haddam, Connecticut, in about 1668.  About the same time, he married Elizabeth Spencer, daughter of Gerard and Hannah Hills Spencer, who were also of Haddam.  Haddam was founded by people from Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor, but I've not located Joseph in any of those locations.  Joseph had a four acre lot on the west side of the Connecticut River, not far from the lots of John Spencer and Gerard Spencer.  So there was family in that same small settlement.

Joseph and Elizabeth had at least five, and possibly six children.  There are two dates given for the birth of William Stannard, and it's possible that the first William died very young and a later son was given his name.  (This was a common practice at the time, and William was the name of Elizabeth's maternal grandfather.)  A meeting house was built in 1673 and Joseph and Elizabeth would have attended church services there.  

At some point, the Stannards moved to Saybrook, Connecticut, which was more or less on the coast,  and Joseph died there on August 20, 1688, at what was known as "Oyster Quarter".  He left a will but it was declared invalid.  Perhaps it didn't have the proper signatures, or perhaps it was an oral will with not enough witnesses, or there may have been some other legal defect.  At any rate, an inventory was taken.  In the estate settlement, which is disputed by Joseph's son-in-law, the sons try to make a fair division of property.  The inventory, which may have been reconstructed in 1699 from the original 1688 inventory, showed only about 48 pounds of goods, including land that sons Joseph and Samuel had been given.  We have no cause of death for Joseph, but because his will was apparently done hurriedly, it may have been a sudden illness or

The inventory has just enough detail for us to think that Joseph was probably a small time farmer, with several animals and a few acres of land.  He did have a gun at the time of his death, and a few household goods.  His wife Elizabeth is not mentioned in the settlement, so she had probably died prior to Joseph's death.  The daughter Elizabeth would have been just 11 years old when her father died, but was married by the time the settlement was reached in 1699.

I'm left wondering whether Joseph was involved in King Philip's War.  Many men in Connecticut went north to protect Massachusetts towns along the Connecticut River, and some went east and were involved in the Great Swamp Fight.  I've not found Joseph's name listed anywhere, so perhaps his involvement was slight.  He may have been standing guard at home.  I'd sure like to learn that part of his story, as well as why he left Haddam for Saybrook.

The line of descent is:

Joseph Stannard-Elizabeth Spencer

Joseph Stannard-Hannah Brackett

John Stannard-Hannah Jordan

John Stannard-Hannah Hatchett

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

  

 

Holbrook line: Medad Pomeroy 1695-1767

An interesting thing happened as I was researching this post.  I started tripping over names in the Allen line, such as Dewey, Hitchcock, Ashley, Root, Noble, and more.  Our Holbrook and Allen lines were married into each other's families, neighbors and church members and part of the same militias at times.  Who knew?  That's one of the things that fascinates me about family history, how the stories intertwine.  

Medad Pomeroy is the fourth Pomeroy ancestor I've written about (Eltweed, the first Medad, and Joseph are the earlier ones) and there is still another Medad to go, if I can find sufficient information about him.  This Medad is fairly well documented, although I have yet to find an occupation for him.

Medad Pomeroy was born in Northampton, Hampshire, Massachusetts Bay Colony on July 16, 1695, the son of Joseph and Hannah Seymour Pomeroy.  Some family listings for Joseph and Hannah miss Medad because he and Eliakim were born in Northampton, but the family moved to Suffield, which was then also in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1699 when Joseph was offered land there if he would come and start a blacksmithing business.  (Many of the early Pomeroys were blacksmiths or metal workers of some kind, but I have not found anything stating that was Medad's occupation).  Eventually Suffield became a part of the colony and then state of Connecticut, which means records need to be checked in each state.

So Medad grew up in Suffield, and Suffield is where he died.  We don't know how often he left town, but we do know that in 1723 he served on a military expedition during Dummer's War for 5 weeks and 2 days under Capt. Adijah Dewey, who was the brother of my seventh great grandmother, Elizabeth Dewey, and  who married Sarah Root, the daughter of John and Mary Ashley Root, also my 7th great grandparents.  That is just one of the connections that boggles my mind. 

The military expedition may have been to the area in and around Deerfield, Massachusetts, which had again been threatened by native Americans urged on by the French.  There was a council with the natives there in 1723.  It is also possible that this same group went further north, but I haven't been able to confirm that.

This is the only military record I could find for Medad, who was a private.  He assumed town responsibilities before and after this service, service as constable, fence viewer, assessor, and survey of highways during his lifetime, as well as moderator for town meetings, and selectman several times.  He was obviously well-respected in Suffield.  I've read that selectmen were generally of the upper class in terms of financial standing, but I don't know if that holds true for Medad or not. 

Medad did manage to find someone to marry who was outside of the family circle.  On February 12, 1718 he married Hannah Trumbull, daughter of John and Elizabeth Winchell Trumbull in Suffield.  He and Hannah had at least six children together, all named in his will.  Hannah is left half of his homestead during her lifetime, and then Medad and Phineas  get the larger bequests, along with the responsibility to see that the other children receive the bequests of ten to fifteen pounds each.  Although I've not found an inventory, it doesn't appear that this was a well to do family at the time of his death, which occurred on June 11, 1767.  Hannah is in the will so presumably survived him but I've not yet found a trustworthy date for her death.  

The picture I have of Medad is one of a good, honest, well-respected man.  He raised a family and some of his sons and grandsons went to college, became soldiers in the Revolutionary War, pastors and physicians, and contributed to the history of our land.  We can be glad to be associated with this family, whether directly through the Holbrook line or indirectly through that intertwined Allen line.

The line of descent is

Medad Pomeroy-Hannah Trumbull

Medad Pomeroy-Eunice Southwell

Eunice Pomeroy-Libbeus Stannard

Libbeus Stanard-Luceba/Euzebia Fay

Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Harshbarger line: Henry Cook 1794-1861

 Henry Cook is both an open book and a mystery.  He's an open book because we can trace him from at least 1820 to 1860 through census records.  He have his date of birth, as noted on his gravestone (well, calculations are in order, but since no birth or church records have been found, it's the best we have).  So while we can trace the decades of his life with some degree of certainly, we can't name his parents for sure, nor can we guess why son William is left out of his father's distribution.  So there are mysteries yet.

Henry Cook notes on the census (or whomever gave the census taker the information) that he was born in Pennsylvania.  It's believed that he was born in Berks County, which later became Schuylkill County, and that he was the son of Adam and possibly Elizabeth Leitzel Koch.  There may have been eight or more Koch children, and the family was originally from Germany.  Adam's father, also Adam, was the original immigrant.  Full disclosure:  I have seen one tree giving him a different set of parent, who were from New Jersey.  I have not been able to find any documentation at all for this family, and it doesn't make as much sense as the parents I have tentatively given him.  The Adam I mentioned did have a son named Henry, and the Koch family intermarried mostly with families from Germany.  Henry's wife was descended from German immigrants.  

We don't know when Henry started using the name "Cook" instead of "Koch" but he is listed as "Cook" in the 1820 census in Canton, Stark County, Ohio.  He seems to have been a fairly recent arrival, because it's believed that his son William was born in Pennsylvania and his son Joseph was born in 1819 in Stark County.  He married Catherine Whetstone (Wetstein and other spellings), daughter of John and Mary Magdaline Whetstone, probably about 1815 or 1816, although again, I've not found records yet.  

The young couple settled into life in Canton, Ohio where Henry was a blacksmith.  He went into partnership with a man named Levi but the business failed.  Then he seems to have been blacksmithing and farming, and in 1842 had to file for bankruptcy.  By now there were several mouths to feed but the older children (there were at least 8) would have either been on their own or at least working and contributing financially to family life.

His son Joseph was in Whitley County by 1845, and William may have come just after the 1850 census was taken.  Henry actually purchased land in 1843 in Whitley County.  Joseph may have made the move first, perhaps to clear the land and get a farm up and running.  Henry was still in Stark County at the 1850 census, but was in Nimshillen Township, still occupied as a blacksmith.  Doubtless he did some farming, too.  There are several land records for Henry involving land that he purchased or possibly leased from various Kepler men in Stark County.  He owned land in Thorn Creek Township, Whitley County when he died September 16, 1861.  

Henry Cook is buried at Stough Cemetery, which if it isn't in Thorn Creek Township is very near to it, just north of Columbia City, a little west of SR 9.  His wife, Catherine, who died August 19, 1887, is  buried there, also.  Henry left an inventory showing farm animals and equipment, some household goods that were mostly claimed by his widow, and several notes, both owed to others and owing to him.  It appears that son William owed his father $88 but the debt was settled for $79.   The mystery, of course, is why William doesn't seem to have been given a share of his father's estate.  Perhaps he had been given land or money earlier (he was the oldest surviving son, it seems), but I have found no record of that.  

I'd like to hear some of Henry's stories.  The trip to Ohio would have been difficult, even though some or most of it would have likely been by water.  Stories I have read of travels just a few years earlier indicate it may have taken months to make make the trip.  And then, why did they decide to go to Whitley County?  The trip would not have been as difficult as the trip from Pennsylvania to Ohio, but it likely wasn't easy, and by now they were more than 30 years older than during their first major move. He was a young man during the War of 1812.  Did he participate, or did he want to?  There are always questions to ask about these ancestors of ours.  

The line of descent is

Henry Cook-Catherine Whetstone

William Cook-Elizabeth Brown

Barbara Cook-William Withers

William Withers-Della Kemery

Goldie Withers-Grover Harshbarger

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

Their descendants

Holbrook line: Zachariah Eddy 1664-1737

 If this name seems familiar, it's because I've previously written about Zachariah's father, also named Zachariah Eddy.  But this Zachariah is also an ancestor, and he has his own story to tell.  I just wish I knew more of it!  

Zachariah was born April 10, 1664 at Swansea, Massachusetts, which is actually just 12 miles or so from Providence, Rhode Island.  His parents were Zachariah and Alice Paddock Smith, who were each born in the New World to immigrant ancestors.  Zachariah was the first of at least 8 children in his family, which is a good position to be in as the oldest child generally got a larger share of whatever estate there was, as well as being taught his father's trade.  Unfortunately, his father died with a small estate, but he had already given land to his children so the younger Zachariah may have had something to start with, anyway.  

Probably the stories that Zachariah would want to tell us about his youth would have revolved around King Philip's War.  He was about 11 years old when the war broke out, and Swansea was attacked by the native Americans very early in the war.  Most of the townspeople fled to local garrisons and then, as the war continued, many, including our Eddy family, went further east to Plymouth Colony where they found refuge, some with family members.  Zachariah would have probably been tasked with helping to care for the three brothers and sisters who were part of the family at this time (the others were born later).  He must have been very glad to return to Swansea, where the family picked up the pieces of their home and farm and continued their life.  

Zachariah married Mercy Baker on February 13, 1684 and had five children with her before her death.  He next married Amphillis (various spellings) Smith, daughter of Edward and Amphillis Angell Smith, a widow of Noah Whipple of Providence, about 1707.  (The two may not have lived far apart, as Providence covered a good deal of land at the point and so did Swansea.)  They are located in Providence for the next several years, where they had four children together. Amphillis' two children by Noah Whipple were probably also part of this household, as they went by the surname of "Eddy". Zachariah was admitted as a freeman on March 4, 1708, where he left records at least through 1716.  He was a waywarden in 1710 and had various other responsibilities during his time at Providence.

By 1731, when Zachariah would have been 65 years old, the couple had moved to Glocester, Rhode Island, which may have been as much as 20 miles from Providence.  Or, again, since the town was formed in 1731, it's possible that this is where the couple lived after their marriage and only the town name changed. Zachariah was the town's first constable.  It was considered frontier country at the time, so if this was a new location, it would have required considerable labor to clear land, build a home, and establish a farm.

We don't have a record of Zachariah's religion but his father had been a Baptist and it's likely that this couple also followed that religion.  I've not found his name on any military lists but it is more than possible that he was involved in one way or another in the ongoing conflicts that occurred during his likely period of military service.  

There is apparently a will for him at Glocester but I am unable to find a copy on line.  There are a lot of questions about Zachariah that a will or/and inventory might help answer.  For instance, was he literate? Did he have books in his home?  Did he have arms and ammunition other than a musket used for hunting?  And did he have a trade other than farming?

Amphillis died in 1726 and Zachariah died April 12, 1737.  The next generation in our story, Elisha Eddy, lived and died in Glocester, but that is a story for another time.  We have deep roots in Rhode Island, and the Eddy family is one of those rooted families.

The line of descent is:

Zachariah Eddy-Amphillis Smith

Elisha Eddy-Sarah Phetteplace

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

Beeks line: Jean Demarest 1645-1719

I've long been fascinated with and challenged by the Demarest family.  I'm fascinated because they come from a culture far different than most of the family culture (not England, but France) and were contemporaries of men I learned about in school, like Peter Stuyvesant.  I'm challenged because the name has so many variants in spelling.  I use Demarest because the biography of his father that I have uses that spelling, but it can and has been spelled Desmarets, DeMarets, des Marest, de Mare, de Mereetz, de Maree, and probably others.  Even his first name, Jean, is sometimes seen as either Jan or John.  So there are difficulties.  Fortunately, there are also good books about the family, including the one I alluded to, "A Huguenot on the Hackensack" by David C. Major and John S. Major.  Much of the information in this post comes from that book.   

Jean was born in 1645 at Middleburg, Zeeland, in what is now The Netherlands to his parents, David and Marie Sohier Demarest  The Middleburg location was the first of several stops for the family, for their family home had been in Beauchamps, Chambrai, France.  Our family was Protestant and the religious wars of the time forced the family to flee to the Netherlands.  A few years later, they traveled to Mannheim, in what is now Germany, but this doesn't seem to have been due to religious pressures. There the family was part of a French-speaking Protestant church, so perhaps they went there to join other family members, to rejoin part of their original church congregation, or simply because of economic opportunities.  They were in Mannheim by about 1650 so Jean may have had very little memory of his early childhood at Middleburg.

Jean's parents, David and Marie, determined in about 1662 to travel to the New World, to what was then New Netherlands, and they arrived on the Bonte Koe in late spring or early summer of 1663.  It is likely that the ship first docked at New Amsterdam, which was then under control of the Dutch West India Company.  They had set sail from Picardie, France, with the couple's four surviving children, of whom Jean would have been the oldest at eighteen.  He was young enough to be a real asset to the family but not yet old enough to be thinking of beginning his own family, so for several years Jean worked within the family.  

They first lived on Staten Island with a group of other French speaking Huguenots, and about two years later went to New Harlem, which was on Manhattan Island several miles north of New Amsterdam.  This was frontier land,still populated by bears and wolves, but was thinly settled by Protestants of several nationalities.  By now this was no longer part of a Dutch colony, but had been seized by the British.  So by now Jean may have had a vocabulary comprised mainly of French, but also with Dutch, German, and English words.  He may have picked up a few native American words, too, as the family negotiated for a new tract of land near what became Hackensack, N.J.  In New Harlem, he was a constable and also a member of the Committee of Safety. 

It appears that the Demarests moved from New Harlem to New Jersey in 1678.  By now, Jean had been married for about 10 years to Jacomina DeRuine, daughter of Simon and Magdalena Van Derstraaten deRuine. They had their own farm in New Harlem and would soon have their own home in New Jersey, very near Jean's parents. (The area known as the French Patent, which the Demarests had purchased from the Indians, is actually not far as the crow flies from New Harlem, but traveling by boat added many miles to the distance.) He served as a lieutenant of the militia in Bergen County, New, Jersey, where he lived.  He owned land in the French Patent and later inherited the family farm from his father.  He also had land in New York, showing that Jean was both hard working and successful.

 Jean and Jacomina had at least eleven children together, and it has been speculated that she may have died in childbirth or as a result of it, on March 4, 1692.  If the dates are correct, Jean would marry again just 19 days later, to Marretje Vanwinckell, who would have been almost 40 at the time.  She died in 1702 and by December 20 of that year Jean was married again, to Magdalena Laurens.  He must have been attractive to women, to marry so quickly after the death of each of his first two wives.  (He was prosperous, he was a hard worker, he was a church leader, so what's not to like?)

Jean lived out his days in the French Patent, having acquired much land and having served as a leader in various capacities.  He helped found the early church that French Protestants attended.  He was involved in a military revolt against the government led by another French Huguenot, Jacob Leisler, but withdrew his participation and support in time to avoid repercussions. This revolt was both political and religious, and due partly to a bad governor of the time. It's hard to say which factor was most important to Jean. (Leisler was hanged and beheaded).  

Jean died October 16, 1719, likely at his farm on the Hackensack River. I haven't seen the will but it doubtless provided for his children.  Finding the will or and/inventory would be like winning the lottery!   However, we don't need the will or inventory to know that this man lead an eventful life, and was a leader in his community.

There are two lines of descent from the interesting Jean Demarest.  

One line is

Jean Demarest-Jacomina De Ruine

Maria Demarest-Jacobus Slot

Benjamin Slot-Sarah Demarest

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague or Tague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

The second line is Jean and Jacomina

Peter Demarest-Maretje Meet

Leah Demarest-Samuel Demarest (Samuel was a descendant of David and Marie Demarest, Jean's               parents)

Sarah Demarest-Benjamin Slot

 

 

 

 

 

Allen line: Thomas Noble 1665-1750

We have a lot of men named Thomas Noble in our direct line, at least six of them.  By the time you add in uncles and cousins who are also named Thomas, there is just a slew of men by that name.  Fortunately, genealogists have most of them figured out and there is quite a bit of information about many of them.

This Thomas Noble is the grandson of the Thomas Noble, immigrant who married Rachel Gardner, and the son of Thomas Noble who married Hannah Warriner.  This family was firmly settled in Westfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony although Thomas himself was born in Springfield January 14, 1665/1666 if the family genealogy written by Lucius Manlius Boltwood is correct.  Our Thomas was one of at least ten children born to Thomas and Hannah.

The Noble family was well regarded in the small village and as Thomas matured, he, too, became well-respected.  He married Elizabeth Dewey, daughter of Thomas and Constant Hawes Dewey, on December 19, 1695.  Thomas was 30 years old, which is a bit old to be marrying for the first time but there is no indication of an earlier marriage.  Elizabeth was eighteen years old.  Elizabeth came from a family of at least ten children, so it should be no surprise to us that Thomas and Elizabeth also had a large family.  They are credited with having had eleven children, although two died as infants and one as a young man.

Thomas put himself under the watch of the Westfield church October 11, 1696, apparently a probationary period before he became a member on June 4. 1699.  He was then ordained a deacon of the church on May 25, 1712, and is therefore often referred to as "Deacon Thomas".  He was a selectman three different years, and was frequently moderator of town meetings from 1717 to 1726.  He inherited or/and purchased his father's land and home, and continued farming the land.  Frequently he was appointed to committees that required some tact and diplomacy, such as smoothing out questions over town boundaries, and inquiring whether a pastor would be willing to "lay down preaching".  He also helped determine the location for the new meeting house, which was a contentious subject in town.  

I've been unable to locate his name on any of the military lists for the time period.  He was only 9 or 10 years old at the time of King Philip's War, so would have stayed in a local garrison during that time.  But there were constant incursions with various native American tribes, including the battles at Deerfield, just up the Connecticut River, in 1704.  It's hard to imagine that he didn't take some role in protecting the town, if he didn't actually go out on patrol.  And of course he could have been involved in the other wars that took place in the 1690s and 1700s, although, as noted, I've not yet found record of that.

The other major item I have not found is a record of a will or/and inventory.  Perhaps the documents have disappeared, or perhaps Thomas had already deeded or otherwise granted his property.  We know that his son Thomas continued to live in the house that his father (possibly grandfather) had built.  There is a picture of that on Early American Ancestors.  It's a depiction of the house as it appeared in about 1725, and shows part of a barn at the rear.  I love that we have this picture but of course it also generates questions.  Thomas died July 29, 1750 and Elizabeth died October 2, 1757.  

As with so many of our ancestors, we can be proud of and humbled by this man, as well as grateful for his life.

The line of descent is:

Thomas Noble-Elizabeth Dewey

Thomas Noble-Sarah Root

Stephen Noble-Ruth Church

Ruth Noble-Martin Root Jr.

Ruth Root-Samuel Falley

Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants

 

 

 

 

Beeks line: Joseph Lakin 1729-abt 1802

 There is a lot of confusing information about Joseph Lakin.  His father, Abraham Lakin, had a brother named Joseph and there are various possibilities regarding cousins of our Joseph to further muddy the waters.  There is always the slight possibility that our Joseph hasn't been identified correctly, but his parentage, and his children, are noted by Benjamin Lakin in 1847.  He was a cousin of our family, and although there is a possibility he was mistaken, it appears that he may have been working from a family Bible or other document, although no dates are given.  So keeping in mind the possibility that this may be revised if new information comes to light, the current best guess is as follows:

Joseph Lakin was born in about 1729, possibly in Prince Georges County, Maryland.  His parents were Abraham and Martha Lee Lakin.  Martha may have been a "local girl" but Abraham was from England.  Joseph would have been a first generation American.  Joseph was one of at least 10 children, so his parents would have been kept quite busy.  Abraham died in 1744, still in Prince Georges County.  

Joseph married Elizabeth Fee, daughter of George and Parnell Fee, about 1750, and they had at least three children together.  The Lakins and the Fees were closely related through intermarriage and it's possible that Elizabeth was Joseph's niece.  Some web sites make that claim.  My eyes roll trying to figure this out but we have to assume it's a possibility.  The marriage is supposed to have taken place in Prince Georges County, but it was likely Frederick County, which had just been formed.  In 1748, a large chunk of land was taken from Prince Georges which became Frederick County, which went all the way to what eventually became the border with West Virginia.  Although Joseph's father is frequently shown as having died in Prince George's County (technically correct), his land is noted as being in Frederick County and Joseph inherited some of it l.  

We know Joseph was in Frederick County in 1775-76, when he was listed as an associator on a list put together by the committee of observation of Frederick County.  These were patriots but not part of the militia in Maryland, as I understand it.  I've not found his name as having been a soldier in either the French and Indian war or the Revolutionary War, but his age would fit him into the first conflict quite readily, and based on where he lived, he was likely at least part of the militia during the conflicts leading up to the Revolutionary War, and to the War itself.  His geographic location put him right in the midst of ongoing raids by native Americans (sponsored by France earlier, and England later).  

We know of only three children born to Joseph and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth died in 1776, which would indicate that perhaps there were more children than we know of, who either died young or lived unnoticed.

Joseph and Elizabeth are included in the book "The Tenmile Country and Its Pioneer Families" by Howard L. Leckey.  The Tenmile Creek was a tributary to the Monangahela River, which in turn was a tributary to the Ohio River.  Much if not all of this territory is in southeastern Pennsylvania, which is where the Lakins may actually have lived, if and when they left Frederick County.  From the map, it looks like this would be perhaps 15 miles northeast of Waynesburg, Pa.  The book says that the Lakins moved on to Ohio.  It is certain that their daughter, who married Revolutionary War soldier John Simpson Aldridge, moved on to Ohio (Clermont County) and three Lakins, John, Joseph and Samuel, are listed in Clermont County on an 1810 tax list.  Our Joseph is believed to have died by then but he may have come with one of the younger Lakin families.  

Joseph would have lived in an interesting time and place.  He and his family doubtless were forced to shelter in Fort Jackson or other of the forts and garrisons built for defense during the wars and other times the natives were raiding.  Certainly some of their neighbors died under horrible circumstances.  Joseph may or may not have gone to war.  Also after the war the Whiskey Rebellion took place and was at least talked about in the local homes and taverns.  We have no indication that Joseph was a participant but it's possible.  Many farmers there did convert their crops to liquid form to sell in places like Philadelphia.  

So we have a lot of speculation but not much in the way of facts regarding Joseph.  Until documents are uncovered, we'll just need to be content knowing that there was a strong and vigorous man in the family named Joseph Lakin, and that he contributed to both the family heritage and the country's growth.

The line of descent is

Joseph Lakin-Elizabeth Fee

Mary Lakin-John Simpson Aldridge

John S Aldridge-Lucinda Wheeler

Darlington Aldridge-Leah Folsom

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Their descendants