Holbrook line: Benjamin Perrin 1726-1807

 Who did Benjamin Perrin marry?  Did he serve in the French and Indian war?  Why did he move at least twice as an adult?  And was he, at heart a Baptist? As you can see, there is still much to learn about Benjamin.  But there are clues that at least can give us reason to ask questions, and we can be grateful for that much.  

Benjamin was born April 17, 1726, in Woodstock, Connecticut, the son of John and Abigail Morris Perrin.  He grew up in Woodstock and it is thought that he married there, to Mary whose last name is frequently given as Osborn, but I've not found documentation for that.  The supposed place of marriage is Woodstock, but again, these records are not documented in the vital records of Woodstock that I've reviewed on-line.  

Still, we can believe that Benjamin married someone named Mary in about 1752, because the children started arriving in 1753.  Also in 1752 Benjamin bought land in Holland, Massachusetts, (actually Brimfield, at the time) which was about 18 miles from Woodstock.  He purchased 133 acres from Ebenezer Moulton, and paid almost 67 pounds for it.  (The only Ebenezer Moulton I located was born in 1746, so possibly the name should be John, Ebenezer's father, rather than Ebenezer.)  The land was located "south of Mud Pond."

John and Mary had eleven or possibly twelve children together, born from 1753 to 1776.  Sadly, six of them died at an early age, from infancy to age 16.  Even in those days, this was outside of the norm so one has to wonder if there was something either genetic or environmental that was causing so many sad days for the parents.  

The first mention I found in the history of Holland regarded a vote in 1756 that was challenged.  Apparently Benjamin should not have been allowed to participate in that action, as he was a Baptist.  But four years later, Benjamin's signature was on a petition asking for a second church to be located in the south part of Brimfield, the part that later became Holland.  We don't know whether Benjamin had changed churches or not, but his name is definitely there.  

Although Benjamin was of the right age and in the right location to have fought in the French and Indian War (possibly going to Quebec), I have not yet found his name in any military records.  His children came regularly during that time period, so perhaps he didn't go, or possibly was one of the many who suffered illness and returned home early.  I'd love to find the answer to that question!

At least one of Benjamin and Mary's sons served in the Revolutionary War, and there were several Perrins from both Woodstock and Brimfield who served, so this seems to have been a patriotic family.  We don't know of any service that Benjamin provided during that war, either, but we can't rule out the possibility.   

There is a long silence about Benjamin, until his death in Holland on June 9, 1807.  We can, however, judge what his family thought of him by the verse on his headstone:  

"A husband kind & good a parent dear

To all obliging and sincere

True to his God the orphans friend and guide

He liv'd beloved and lamented di'd."

In his will, he left specific amounts to his wife, Mary, and to daughter Mary, Henry, John, Amasa, Hallowell (he got more than the others) and Asrael, who apparently got less but who may have owned the family farm.  Any additional amounts were to be divided equally among all the the children.  His inventory of personal property included an eight day clock, which was valued at $34.50, by far the most valuable item.  We don't know whether he still owned land, or whether he may have distributed it earlier.  

I would have liked to have known this man, who lived beloved and died lamented.

The line of descent is

Benjamin Perrin-Mary possibly Osborn

Mary Perrin-David Fay

Luceba Fay-Libbeus Stanard

Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

 

Beeks line: Does David Ruble belong here?

 So many genealogists have posted about former President Barack Obana's ancestry, that you would think the folks who are from his mother's side of the family would be well known by now.  And yet, the Hannah who married Samuel Dunham is identified by the best of the genealogists as Hannah (?Ruble).  Those genealogists haven't further identified her, but there are many trees out there identifying her father as David Ruble born anywhere from 1736 to 1743 as her father, and Sarah Malin as her mother.  That is what my tree shows.  

However, I just found the estate papers for David Ruble, who died in East Bethlehem, Washington County, Pennsylvania in 1808.  These can be found on Ancestry.  Unless I missed it, there is no mention of a Hannah Ruble or a Hannah Dunham in those papers, and they are fairly detailed.  Also, the guesstimate date for Hannah's birth is 1753 to 1758.  This would make it highly unlikely that  the David supposedly born in Frederick County, Virginia in 1743 is her father.  So we have at least two negative factors suggesting that if Hannah was indeed a Ruble, David is likely not her father.  

But wait, there's more!  There are land records in Berkeley County, Virginia (formed out of Frederick County) that can be interpreted as meaning that David Ruble was selling land to Samuel Dunham as his son in law, which was right next to another documented Ruble daughter, who was married to an Isaac Chenowith and the deed used the same language of "for other just causes and circumstances".  We do know that Samuel Dunham was in Berkeley County prior to 1791, and he had apparently been there for quite some time prior to that. 

There are some people who believe that Hannah was a Chenowith, which is still a remote possibility but the land record is certainly intriguing.  Still, why would the estate of David not include Hannah?  He died in 1808 and she died in 1826.  

However, in case this is our David Ruble, or in case someone is tracing David through another ancestor, here are a few facts I've found:

David was the son of Ulrich and Jane Jacob Ruble, who lived in Frederick County, Virginia.  Their lives would have been affected by the French and Indian war, and David may have had an unsettled childhood.

He seems to have been in Washington County by 1776 and was an active Baptist there.  He is recognized by the Daughters of the American Revolution as an ensign in the militia in Washington County from 1781-1783, under Captain Ezekiel Rose. Rose was part of the 5th Battalion, and participated in the Battle of the Upper Sandusky, against several native American villages.  This is not a pretty story, and we don't know for sure that David was there, but it seems likely.  It is almost a certainty that David would have been involved in actions against the British led native Americans, whether or not he was involved in this 1782 expedition and battle.  

We have a couple of tax records about David, the most interesting being from 1798, which tells us that his home was 20 x 22, made of logs, and had two stories, and two windows with a total of 12 lights (sections).  He seems to have lived fairly modestly, but his home is larger than some of the others on that page.  We don't know whether or not he was involved in the Whiskey Rebellion, but many men in Washington County were, so he was at least aware of the tensions.  (This was due to the government imposing a tax on the whiskey many farmers produced.  It was easier to ship whiskey to the east than it was to transport grain.)  

There is reference in the papers to David's will, but the will itself is not included.  The list of items sold at auction  include a silver watch, a pocket compass, several books, a saddle, and various tools and implements.  There is no mention of real estate, but that may have been disposed of in the will, nor of farm animals.  Sarah had died in 1794.  They were likely buried on or near their farm, or possibly in a Baptist churchyard, but records are lacking.    

What do you think?  Does David belong in this line, or are we still searching for Hannah's father?

The proposed line of descent is;

David Ruble-Sarah Malin

Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham

Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight

Samuel G Dunham-Eliza Matilda Reese

Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Tidd about 1625-1703

 The facts about this John Tidd have been intermingled with those of his father, John Tidd, who was married to Margaret (probably Greenleaf) and who died in 1656.  Knowing that his father died in 1656 and that our John's son John (John III) was born in 1655 helps us distinguish among the men.  But there is still a bit of date confusion that is difficult to sort out.

John Tidd came to New England in 1637 as a young man of about 19, as a servant to Samuel Greenfield, who was a weaver.  So far so good.  However, John's own testimony late in life as to his age was about eight years off, which seems to be off by more than the one or two years family historians tend to know about.  I haven't seen the original records and it's possible that "12" was misread and noted as "19", but that's just speculation.  Nevertheless, we have the will of John Tidd who died in 1656, and we know that this John was a 'proprietor" in 1646, so the connection is there whether the dates add up or not.  The 1625 birth date I've shown accords with John's own statement, and makes him 21 or older at the time he was a proprietor.  

John came to Massachusetts Bay Colony with his father, and likely he was a servant to Samuel Greenfield.  He has been identified as being a weaver, which would make sense, that he learned the trade from Greenfield and then eventually went out on his own.  By 1650, John was living in Woburn and he married Rebekah Wood, parents as yet unidentified there on April 14, 1650.  

The family lived in Woburn for something close to 30 years.  John is noted as being a constable there in 1677, but by 1680 he and Rebekah had moved a few miles to what would eventually become Lexington, but at the time was known as Cambridge Farms, just north of Cambridge itself.  His name is on a petition that the area be allowed to form a separate parish, and have their own church, which was initially denied but eventually granted by the authorities.  Lexington, however, didn't become a town until 1714.  

John and Rebekah had at least seven children together, with the last being born in 1665.  Rebekah was a busy mother, but this was not unusual for the time.  It doesn't appear that Woburn was badly impacted by King Philip's War in 1675-76, except that John's son John, also our ancestor, appears to have been a soldier during that conflict.  Of course, John and Rebekah would have worried about his safety and possibly contributed to whatever his needs were during that time.  

Other than a few court cases where John seems to have been a witness, there is little further record of John.  We do, however, have his will, which he wrote August 7, 1701.  His date of death is given as April 13, 1703, and he is buried at the Old Burying Ground in Lexington, with his stone still visible.  

His will doesn't list his wife by name but we know that Rebekah died in 1717.  His will directs payments to five pounds each to his grandchildren whose parent had already died, and lesser amounts to his other grandchildren.  His wife was to have the use of all of the personal property, and then it was to go to their daughters.  This leads me to think, although I have not researched this, that he had probably given his children gifts of land or money earlier, as most of the bequests skipped a generation.  Unfortunately, we don't have an inventory as that could have told us more about how he lived.

This is a brief summary for a man who lived 78 years and who was an immigrant.  John contributed to his communities and his church, raised a family, sent at least one son off to war, and cared enough about his grandchildren to leave them each a remembrance.  He had his eye on the future.  

Fun fact, maybe: There was a John Tidd of Lexington who was wounded on April 19, 1775, at Lexington, in the first real skirmish of the Revolutionary War.  He was likely a descendant of our John, and thus a cousin.   Several other Tidds from Lexington were also soldiers during the Revolution.  I think John would have been proud!

The line of descent is;

John Tidd-Rebekah Wood

John Tidd-Elizabeth Fifield

Elizabeth Tidd-Joseph Stevens

Elizabeth Stephens-William Snow

Lucy Snow-Josiah Whittemore

Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster

Mary Elizzabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Hayes 1663 -1726

 I've written of John's family before, of his supposed grandfather, Peter Hayes.  Did you notice the word supposed?  I am no longer confident that this ancestor has been traced correctly.  The above Peter had a son Peter who had a son John or John Joseph or Jacob John, but that John seems to have gone to North Carolina and stayed there.  That John was not the John Hayes of Baltimore County, Maryland, the ancestor I'm writing about today.  The only potential clue I have as to our John's parentage is that a John Hayes arrived in Maryland in 1659.  I don't have any proof at all that his is our John's father, but I do think we should look at him and at any other Hayes family in Maryland by the time our John was born about 1663.

Baltimore County Families, by Robert Barnes is a wonderful resource, and he notes that in 1723 our John gave his age in 1723 as 60 years old, which puts further doubt on his being the son of Peter Hayes, as that John was born about 1655.  Barnes says only that John was in Baltimore County by 1686, when he purchased his first land there.  Of course, he could have spent his entire life in Baltimore County but was not legally noticed until he did something that required an official document.  I've checked a few of the most likely church records and haven't found a Barnes family noted, but that means little.  

John's first known wife was Abigail Dixon, the daughter of John and Jane Dixon and the widow of Thomas Scudamore.  They made some land transactions together, mostly connected to Abigail's first husband, but by 1694 they seem to have been settled at a tract known as "Mount Hayes", which was 317 acres in size.  John and Abigail had four daughters before Abigail died sometime prior to 1705.  In 1705, John was married to Elizabeth, who was possibly related to the Longland family, and he is thought to have also married Mary Ann, so Elizabeth may have also died. There is a Mary Ann Hayes in 1718 who was allowed to have a bed, gun, pot, laborer's tools and such household equipment as necessary for subsistence. If this was the same Mary Ann, the couple may have separated after just a brief marriage.  In addition to the three wives, a John Hayes was named by Dorothy Richards as the father of her child in March 1716/1717.  It is more than possible that this was also our John's child.  

John is found in several documents relating to land purchase and sales, and was also a witness to several wills of neighbors.  He had a license to run an "ordinary" in 1717, so he didn't depend solely on farm income to support the family.  

John died sometime in February of 1726, leaving his real estate and most of his personal property to his "son", Thomas Stansbury.   His daughter, Jane Dixon Hayes, had married Thomas Stansbury in 1709, and John must have thought highly of him.  It's quite possible that John was living with his daughter and her husband at the time of his death.   

This is a very fractured picture of our ancestor, and I'm not sure we've put the pieces together correctly.  He may have been a bit of a rake, but Thomas Stansbury, his son in law, seems to have been a perfectly respectable man, and one wonders whether Thomas's family would have approved of his marrying a Hayes daughter, if John was the kind of man he sort of sounds like.  Maybe he was a good man down on his luck, after losing two wives.  It doesn't seem that he would have been granted a license for an ordinary if he was not regarded as an upright citizen.  What do you think?

The line of descent is

John Hayes-Abigail Dixon

Jane Dixon Hayes-Thomas Stansbury

Thomas Stansbury-Hannah Gorsuch

Rachel Stansbury-Alexis Lemmon

Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick

Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black

Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

 

Harshbarger line: Solomon Eliot Bennett 1791-1859

 First, the bad news: A lot of the "information" about Solomon Bennett is undocumented, as far as I can tell.  And he lived or owned property in several locations, sometimes simultaneously.  But the good news is, there is some documented information available.  It is up to you (us) to decide whether the undocumented "facts" make sense.

Solomon's parents are given as Caleb and Ann Catherine Wilson Bennett, who were married November 8, 1785 in Baltimore County, Maryland.  Solomon is said to have been born in 1791 in Somerset County, Pennsylvania.  Now, how did Caleb and Ann get from Baltimore to Somerset County?  In the first place, in 1791 Somerset County had not yet been separated from Bedford County, Pa, so birth records would likely be found in Bedford County.  But of course it was too early for government birth records.  Any records would need to be found either in Bible records or church records, and I've not located anything applicable yet.  There is, however, some justification to think Bedford/Somerset would be a logical place for Caleb to be in 1791, because in 1790 there was a Caleb Bennett with two males under 16, and one female, in Washington County, Maryland.  If the Bennetts were on the move, this is a logical migration route from Baltimore and the trip from Washington County northwest to Bedford/Somerset County would make some sense, difficult as the trip may have been.

I have undocumented notes in myo file that Solomon Bennett was a private in Capt Thomas Henry's Co in 1814 and was raised in and around the boro of Beaver.  I am not at all sure this is our Solomon, because Beaver is north of Pittsburgh, but we can't ignore the possibility that this was our man.  

We do know that the Bennett family moved west sometime after the close of the war.  Caleb is found in the 1820 census in Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio, with males of the right age to be Solomon.  Also listed is a William Bennett, who may be a brother to Solomon.  Neighbors include Farmers and Wyatts, so this is likely our family.  (Solomon's wife was a farmer, and her mother was a Wyatt.  It makes sense.)  

Solomon married Margaret Farmer on April 17, 1821 in Bethel Township, Miami County, Ohio.  She was the daughter of William and Jean Wyatt Farmer.  Solomon was about 30 years old at the time and Margaret was about 20.  The couple apparently lived in Miami County for some time.  There is a record in the Eel River, Indiana list of original land owners compiled by the Huntertown Historical Society that says Solomon was from Greene County and Miami County, Ohio.  I haven't yet located records for him in Greene County, but there may well be some out there.

By 1835, Solomon was buying land in Allen County, Indiana.  This was just about halfway between Churubusco and Huntertown, inside the Allen County line.  He purchased 40 acres and then in 1837 purchased another 80 acres. I'm not sure when he moved, or whether he might have come to Indiana first and then returned to Ohio for his family.  Undocumented reports show that he had children born in Whitley County, Indiana as early as 1831 but I am not sure at all that the birthplace is correct.  Solomon and Margaret had at least eight children.  

There are some land entries for Solomon in Allen County but he was in Whitley County, Indiana in the 1850 census, where he was a farmer.  He is said to have died in South Whitley, Indiana in 1859.  I've been unable to locate records for that, or for a burial site.  I haven't located a will, either.   

As background information, we know that Solomon lived in interesting, not to say perilous, times.  The Whiskey Rebellion of 1794 in western Pennsylvania would have been very much a matter of family concern, although we don't know which side his parents would have taken, nor do we know whether it directly affected them.  It would surely have affected neighbors.  In the War of 1812, again the family would have been affected whether or not the Solomon Bennett recorded is our man.  When the Bennetts moved to Miami County, it was still almost frontier country, the natives having left the area not many years earlier.  Allen County also was almost frontier in 1830, so Solomon was basically starting over, having to clear land and build a home for his family as a middle-aged man.  Interesting times!

There is a lot that we don't know about Solomon.  Was he a veteran of the war of 1812?  What was his religion?  We know at least one of his children, Farmer Matthew, was a Quaker in Wabash County, but we don't know whether Solomon was also of that belief.  Where did he live before he came to Indiana, and what was his motivation for moving west?  And was he glad he made that move?

The Harshbarger family can be grateful he came to Indiana, because that's where the connection was made.  The line of descent is:

Solomon Bennett-Margaret Farmer

Mary Bennett-John Harter

Clara Harter-Emmanuel Harshbarger

Grover Harshbarger-Goldie Withers

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Clough 1648-1718

 John Clough (also found as Cluff, and pronounced as Cluff) was a first generation ancestor.  His parents, John and Jane (possibly Sanders  or possibly Dummer) Clough, came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 and settled in Salisbury, Essex County.  This is at the very tip of northeastern Massachusetts, where the border now touches New Hampshire.  It's a seacoast town, and would have been a good location to start a new town and to raise a family.

Our John was one of at least 8 siblings, and was the first son.  As such, one might have expected him to follow the occupation of his father, a house carpenter, but John is referred to as a yeoman in his will.  He probably had some carpentry skills, also, just from helping his father as a young boy, but he seems to have preferred the farming life. He did, however, follow his father in civic duties, serving as a selectman for the town in 1695, 1696. 1700, 1702, 1703 and 1705.  It would be interesting to understand why he was chosen for the position some of those years, and not others.  Was there conflict, or did he merely wish to take some time for his family?

He took the oath of allegiance and fidelity in 1677, and was made a freeman in 1691, which were fairly routine actions, but part of the process of becoming eligible to serve. 

 John married Mercy Page, daughter of  John and Mary Marsh Page of Haverhill, on November 13, 1674, at Salisbury.  These two towns are only about 12 miles apart, and depending on the location of each of the families, they may have been nearer neighbors than 12 miles because town boundaries stretched far.  She was about six years younger than John, which was not an unusual age spread at the time.  

John and Mercy appear to be somewhat rare in this time frame, at least as far as our family goes, in that it doesn't seem that their life was radically affected by King Philip's War.  I've not found his name, nor for that matter, that of other Salisbury men, on lists of soldiers during the war, and Salisbury doesn't seem to have been attacked or possibly even raided during the conflict.  Perhaps the location on the coast protected them.  We can wonder, though, how the witch trials in Salem, which was about 40 miles away, might have affected the family.  Surely if nothing else, this is a topic of whispered conversation between the adults of the family, and a time to pray. 

John and Mercy had at least 12 children together, which would keep a yeoman busy.  Mercy joined the church in 1691.  There doesn't seem to be a record of John joining the church, but many of the early church records have been lost so it's entirely possible that he was a member.  At any rate, he would have been expected to attend church and to support the pastor whether or not he was in full communion with the church body.  Their sons, at least, would likely have been taught to read and write, and probably the girls would have been taught to read, because is was expected that everyone would be able to read the Bible, if nothing else.  If we judge by the Biblical names he gave all of his children (Benoni, Mary, John, Cornelius, Caleb, Joseph, Sarah, Jonathan, Mercy, Moses, Aaron, and Tabitha), and by the language in his will, John was certainly a devout man. 

John may have sensed that he was nearing the end of his life in 1715, when he wrote his will, but he lived until April 19, 1718.  I was excited when I found the will but a bit disheartened to note on the front page "Inventory Missing".  I guess the glass is half full.  In his will, he leaves everything to his wife during her widowhood and also leaves her some property to dispose of as she wishes.  (That was, in my opinion, a smart move because it would encourage her children to continue caring for her, in hopes that they would receive some of her small estate.) He left land or money to each of his children, but it appears that his youngest sons, Moses and Aaron, received the most.  It's possible that the older children had already received gifts from him.  Mercy died in 1719; there is a probate record for her that disposes of her goods and land to her children and grandchildren.   

John is another of the ancestors in our line who worked hard and raised a large family and helped to settle the country.  

The line of descent is 

John Clough-Mercy Page

Benoni Clough-Hannah Merrill

Benjamin Clough-Faith Hart

Lydia Clough-John Whittemore

Joisah Whittemore-Lucy Snow

Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

 

Beeks line: Isaac Malin 1708-1763

 It looks like not a lot of work has been done to research Isaac Malin, or at least not a lot has been published about him.  He actually started out life as Isaac Malin Jr., the son of Isaac and Elizabeth Jones Malin, but once his father died, he became Isaac Senior with his own son Isaac becoming Isaac Jr.  There were probably other Isaac Malins, too, who would have been first cousins of the Isaac I'll write about here.  So it's confusing and it's always possible that some records attached to this Isaac belong to another Isaac, and the opposite is also possible.

Isaac was born January 8, 1708 in Chester County, Pennsylvania. Of course that location brings up the question "Was he Quaker?" and the answer is a pretty definite yes.  His parents and grandparents were Quaker.  In fact, Randall Malin, his paternal grandfather, was an early immigrant to Pennsylvania (1682) and settled in what is now Delaware County, Pennsylvania, among others of the same faith.  Our Isaac was the first Malin in this direct line to have been born in the colony, as his father was born in England, just before the family immigrated.

The first record we can find of Isaac is in the will of his brother, Jacob, whose will was probated May 30, 1727.  Isaac was named as an executor of the will, which left 150 acres to Jacob's widow for support and maintenance of his children.  Two years later, Isaac married Lydia Booth, daughter of Charles and Mary Elizabeth Conway Booth, on November 17, 1729 at the Goshen Monthly Meeting.  In 1734 there is a reference in Philadelphia County to Isaac Malin Jr. having 150 acres of land.  I am not sure this is our Isaac, but it's possible that it is.  

Isaac and Lydia are reported to have had as many as fourteen children.  All are supposed to be noted in the Hopewell Meeting records, but I haven't seen the records and don't know exactly what they say.  I have names for five of their children, including Sarah.  Hopewell, of course, is not in Pennsylvania at all but is in Frederick County, Virginia (the very northern tip of Virginia).  I'm not sure when the Malins moved west, and perhaps those records would help clarify who was born at which location.  

We have enough information, though to enable us to wonder.  I found a reference to a Lidya Malin , widow with three children, in 1757 as part of a request from Hopewell Meeting for monetary relief for those who had lost their homes to the Indian enemy earlier.  While this doesn't seem to be our Lydia, it does show that the Malins were in Frederick County by that time, and probably sooner.  And it shows that along with other Quaker families in the area, they were under attack or fear of attack during the French and Indian war.  Some families undoubtedly packed up and went back east, but some stayed.  We don't know for sure what happened with Isaac and his wife.  He may have stayed and she may have gone back east. 

 As a Quaker, Isaac was unlikely to have taken up arms but he certainly could have enjoyed a front seat to history as George Washington and his troops marched with Braddock through Frederick County to their defeat.  He may even have been part of the expedition in some sort of support capacity, such as hauling supplies or building roads.  We just don't have the records yet to know for sure.  

I've not yet found land records, or a will, or any of the other documents that would help us understand Isaac's position and life in Frederick County.  We can probably assume that he farmed, and that he lived rather close to the Hopewell Meeting House, which is located about 9 miles north of Winchester in the community of Clear Brook.  Isaac died January 3, 1763 (I've not found the source for this yet) but Lydia lived until sometime between 1784 and 1794,  She had seen not only the French and Indian War, but the Revolutionary War, as the new country of the United States of America formed.

There are a lot of questions still to be answered about Isaac and his life, but we may know enough to see him in the shadows of our family forest, waiting to come forward and be acknowledged.  This is a beginning.

 Full disclosure:  Not everyone agrees with the line of descent I'm posting.  I believe it to be correct based on current but scanty evidence, geographic location, and other factors but I have no absolute proof that it's correct.  If someone can provide me with additional documents that would prove or disprove the connection, I'd be thrilled.  The question is in regard to the wife of Samuel Dunham.  Was she Hannah Ruble, the granddaughter of Isaac and Lydia Booth Malin, and daughter of David and Sarah Malin Ruble, or was she Hannah Chenoweth, parents unknown?  

The supposed line of descent is:

Isaac Malin-Lydia Booth

Sarah Malin-David Ruble

Hannah Ruble-Samuel Dunham

Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight

Samuel Dunham-Eliza Matilda Reese

Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

Harshbarger line: Lorentz Schollenberger 1737-1785

 Johann Lorentz Schollenberger (various spellings) qualifies as an immigrant ancestor.  He was born in Albig, in the Rheinland Palatinate of Germany on or before August 14, 1737.  His parents were Johann Friedrich and Anna Katherina Hoppach Schollenberger, and the family may have originated in Flaack, Zurich Canton, Switzerland.  I'm not finding Schollenberger names in the Mennonite records, so I'm guessing this was not a Mennonite family, but one that went to Germany for economic reasons.  It looks like it was Lorentz's great grandfather who made the move from Switzerland to what became Germany, sometime before his grandfather's birth in 1673. (I'm still researching the move and trying to establish a religion for this family.)

Friedrich, Lorentz's father, came to Pennsylvania in 1742, and we can assume that the family also came at that time.  Lorentz would have been five years old-old enough to be a handful, I would think, if he were so inclined.  

We have only bits and pieces of information about Lorentz's life here.  His father settled in Greenwich Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania and Lorentz stayed there his entire life.  He may have married twice.  The first marriage was about 1760 to Catherine Elizabeth Mertz, and they may have had two children.  She is believed to have died in 1762.  On August 13, 1763, he married Anna Elizabeth Mertz, the daughter of Johann Michael and Margareth Mertz.  The two Mertz women were sisters, with our Elizabeth being about 11 years younger than Catherine Elizabeth.  There were at least nine children born to Lorentz and our Elizabeth, so there was quite a family to support, and to help as the children grew older. 

I found (so far) only one tax record for Lorentz, from 1767.  He is listed in Greenwich Township, Berks County, with 150 acres of land, 4 horses, 4 cattle, and three sheep, and was taxed at "9" (shillings?).  This was the highest amount of tax on that page, so he must have been a little better off than some of his neighbors.  Perhaps he worked hard at his occupation as a weaver (noted on the guardian records discussed below) as well as on the farm.   

Elizabeth died in 1776 and unfortunately, Lorentz died at a relatively early age also, probably in 1785.  In November of that year, his son Jacob, who was born in 1769, (in court language, "above the age of fourteen") filed a petition asking that he be allowed to choose his guardian. In it, he says that his father died intestate (without a will) but seized (in possession of) a considerable real and personal estate.  I've been unable to locate the results of that petition, nor an inventory.  Oh, to be able to travel to Reading, Pennsylvania and look through the records there!  

This is as much as I've learned about Lorentz.  As he was 17 years old when the French and Indian war broke out, and as there were raids in Greenwich Township by natives helped by the French, it is likely that he was involved at some point in defense of his father's home, and possible that he was in a militia that went on patrols.  It's also possible that the family went to Reading during the worst time of the raids.  I don't know for certain, and I also don't know for certain what church the Schollenbergers were part of.  The names I've found are for a generation or two after our Lorentz, so I'm still searching for that information, also.  He was young enough to have served in the Revolutionary War, also, but I've not found any indication yet that he was in a militia or the Pennsylvania Line.  As a weaver, he may have been more valuable turning out material for soldiers' uniforms.

Yes, I wish I knew more about Lorentz, and yes, I'll keep looking.  But I'm happy to have even these tidbits, that help us understand a little bit more about this family.  

The line of descent is:

Lorentz Schollenberger-Elizabeth Mertz

Peter Schollenberger-Susanna

Catherine Schollenberger-George Essig

Susannah Essig-Daniel Kemery

Adam Kemery-Nancy Buchtel

Della Kemery-William Withers

Goldie Withers-Grover Harshbarger

Cleveland Harshbarger-Mary Beeks

Their descendants

 

Holbrook line: John Thompson abt 1618-1685

I hesitate to write about the early life of John Thompson.  There are several men by that name in our ancestor's time frame, in various locations.  So, to clarify, I am going to give the most commonly found information, with a warning that it may or may not be accurate.  Once we get into John's adult life, we are on more solid ground, but it's shaky going at first.

John's parents may have been David and Amyes Colle Thompson or Thomson.  He was reputed to be a "Scotsman" and at one time owned Thompson's Island (formerly Trevore's Island) in Boston Harbor.  He was there as early as 1626, and traded with native Americans, as well as helping to establish Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  He had a son named John, and many believe, (and many don't) that our John was his.  There were several other John Thompsons in the same area at the same time and I would not be surprised to someday learn that this connection is faulty.  

Now let's move on to more solid ground. John married Sarah, probably Trevor about 1640-1642.  If this identification is correct, Sarah may be the daughter of William Trevore, who was a sailor on the Mayflower, but that seems to be speculation.  It is more than possible that there was some sort of relationship, because before Thompson's Island was known by that name, it was known as Trevore Island and occupied by William for a short period of time.  

The family settled first in Weymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony where he was included in the second division of lots in 1663.  He moved a few years later to become a proprietor of Mendon, a distance of roughly 40 miles but inland from the coast that he had likely lived on.  He actually had land in Mendon in 1664, but we don't know when the move was actually made.  Some say he was a captain of various ships before his move to Mendon, but again, there were a lot of John Thompsons.

Since he was a proprietor of Mendon, we can probably assume that he was one of the men who were made freemen of the colony sometime between 1648 and 1664, but again, there were several men by that name and it is hard to know which one is ours.  We can also assume that King Philip's War affected him, as the town was attacked by the Nipmuc, 5 or 6 settlers were killed, and the town was abandoned for a time.  However, nothing is noted in town records that would help us determine when families started rebuilding their lives in Mendon. 

There is a will on record, written March 26, 1684 and probated April 27, 1686 in Suffolk County.  In it, he names his wife, Sarah, a son John, and two daughters, Mehitable Hayward and Sarah Aldrich.  His will is a little surprising in that he leaves ten pounds to his wife, 10 shillings to one daughter and five to the other, and everything else to his son John.  It's possible that Sarah was already living with her son and thus had no need of a dower third, but this is the first time I've seen a will not allocating property, even a room in a house, to a widow.  Unfortunately, I've not located an inventory, which would give us a closer look at John's life.  

John is another ancestor for whom there are many questions and not a lot of answers.  He has been researched by noted genealogists who know much more than I do and study records much more closely, and some think one way and one another, as far as his ancestry, and whether or not our John was a sea captain.  I guess we'll have to be content with this much knowledge, and these many questions.

The line of descent is:

John Thompson-Sarah probably Trevor

Mehitable Thompson-Samuel Hayward

Mary Hayward-Joseph Rockwood

John Rockwood-Deborah Thayer

Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson

Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell

Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Note: Alice Thompson who married Joseph Rockwood is also a descendant of John Thompson, through his son John.  Thus, we have a double descent from John Thompson.