Holbrook line: The family of Peter Holbrook

 I've written an earlier post about Deacon Peter Holbrook.  He was the grandson of the first Thomas Holbrook who received a farm and more from his grandfather in gratitude for taking care of Thomas and his wife Jane in their old age.  It seems that he was a remarkable man, and we have two lines of descent from him.  

Peter was born March 7, 1655/56 in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony, a son of Thomas and Joanna Kingman Holbrook.  He was married twice, but all eleven children are from his first wife, Alice Godfrey, who was the daughter of Richard and Jane (probably Turner) Godfrey.  They lived in the part of Mendon that became Bellingham, and resided there all of their days. After Alice's death in 1705, he married Elizabeth Shaw Poole, the daughter of John and Alice Phillips Shaw, and the widow of Joseph Poole. Elizabeth had nine children, so together, if all the family gathered at once, there would have been 20 offspring plus spouses for many of them, and even a few grandchildren.  Peter died May 3, 1712 at Mendon.

Peter and Alice's children were:

John Holbrook, born September 24, 1679 and married at Mendon in 1705 Hannah Chapin.  (I don't know whether she is connected to our Chapin family or not, but it's possible.  Their children, born between 1707 and 1730, were Thomas, Hannah, Lydia, Josiah, Moses, John, Luke and Aaron.  

Peter Holbrook, born October 16, 1681, married Hannah Pool.  She may or may not have been his step-sister, but was likely to have been some relationship to the Elizabeth Poole who married the older Peter Holbrook.  Peter and Hannah had eight children, at least two of whom died as infants.  Their children were Peter, Isaac, Daniel, Elizabeth (died young), Abigail (died young), Elizabeth, Oliver, and Abigail.  It was not unusual in those times to name younger siblings for those who had died early.  

Joseph Holbrook, born May 8, 1683, is our ancestor.  He married Mary Cook, the daughter of Nicholas and Joanna Rockwood Cook, and they had at least nine children-Alice, Joanna, Joseph, Rachel, Asahel, David, Mary, Martha, and Jesse. Mary's mother was the sister of our ancestor Joseph Rockwood.  

Sylvanus Holbrook (sometimes seen as Silvanus) was born August 15, 1685.  He married Naomi Cook, whose may be the daughter of John and Naomi Thayer Cook.  I would consider it at least possible that she was related to Mary Cook above. We have separate lines of descendancy from both John and Naomi.  This gets complicated, and is one example of how we are our own cousins.  Sylvanus and Naomi had at least five children-Ruth, John, Sylvanus, Sarah, and Catherine.  Eunice is also listed as their child but she was born considerably after the others and I wonder if perhaps she was the daughter of the younger Sylvanus.  

Peter and Alice named their first daughter Joanna, and she was born March 7, 1686/7.  She married William Hayward, who was the son of Jonathan and Trial Rockwood Hayward.  Trial was the sister of our ancestor Joseph, and of Joanna Rockwood Cook, mentioned above, if I have this figured correctly.  Jonathan was a grandson to our ancestors William and Margery Knight Hayward.  Joanna and William had 6 children-Martha, Peter, Joanna, Rachel, Daniel, and William.  

Their next child was another son, Richard.  He was born May 20, 1690 and married Abial Albee, daughter of Benjamin and Abial possibly Wheelock Albee.  Benjamin is likely a relative, and if Abial Wheelock is correct, she is a granddaughter of our ancestor Ralph Wheelock. Richard and Abial had at least seven children-Susannah, Benjamin, Abigail, Richard, Thankful, Peter and Sarah.

Eliphalet Holbrook was born January 27, 1691/92.  He married Johannah Rockwood, who was a daughter of Joseph and Mary Hayward Rockwood.  Unless, of course, she was Hannah Rockwood, as one site states, in which case she was undoubtedly family but I'm unable to identify a Hannah Rockwood in this time period.  Eliphalet and Johannah had at least seven children-Ebenezer, Seth, Eliphalet, Noah, Caleb, Elijah, and Johannah.  (In case you're wondering about the name Eliphalet, it is, like most other names in these early Holbrook families, Biblical.  Eliphalet was a son of King David.)

William Holbrook was their next child.  He was born March 28, 1693/94 and he married Hopestill Read, the daughter of Samuel and Deborah Chapin Read.  There is likely a connection to Hopestill Holbrook, daughter of the William who turned out not to be our direct ancestor and married to a Samuel Read, but I haven't figured it out yet.  They had nine children: Silence, Mary, Isaac, Alice, Ruth, Deborah, Alice, Anna, and Thomas, but several of their children died young.  

The next son was Samuel.  He was born February 27, 1695/96 and married Hannah Albee, who was 12 years older than he was.  She was the granddaughter of Benjamin and Hannah Albee, who are our ancestors.  Samuel and Hannah had at least six children: Abigail, Keziah, Samuel, Jonathan, Peter, and Nathan.  

The last son born was Thomas, born perhaps 1698, and died in 1702.  He seems to be the only one of Peter and Alice's children to die before adulthood.   

And then, finally, a second daughter was born, Mary, on October 14, 1702.  She was the last child of this couple, and I can only imagine Alice's joy, and also Joanna's, as there would finally be another girl/woman to help around the house.  I have wondered how Alice got along, with the chores for such a large family, with just one daughter to help garden, take care of the animals, cook, clean, make clothes and do laundry, and everything else that went with running a large household in colonial America.  I don't know whether to hope or not hope that they had some help, which would likely have been an indentured servant, or possibly even a slave.  

But to return to Mary...She married Joseph Thompson, and we are also descended from this couple.  They had at least nine children-Daniel, Joseph, Peter, Nathan, Alice, Mary, Chloe, Esther, and Ruth.  Ruth died early, but the other eight are named in Mary's will.  

Peter and Alice didn't live long enough to see many of their grandchildren, but there was a total of at least 74 who would have called them "Grandfather" and "Grandmother".  Some of their grandchildren are noted as having served in the French and Indian War, and the Revolutionary War.  They were part of the making of America, as well as part of a very large family that was connected in many ways to other of our ancestors. 

 

The family of Thomas Holbrook 1624-1697

 The last post I wrote turned out to be superfluous in that I haven't at this point been planning to write posts about the families of siblings of my ancestor.  But it was great news because it pointed out an error I had in my tree and lets me continue looking for the first wife of Alexander Balcom.  

I have every reason to believe that this post will be mostly correct and connected, as I write about the family of Thomas Holbrook, Jr.  I learned in preparing for this post that Thomas served in King Phillip's War under Captain Isaac Johnson, and that his heirs received land in Bedford, Hillsborough, New Hampshire in 1733, as a result of his service.  There's always something new to learn.  

To recount the basics, Thomas was born in 1624 or early 1625 at Glastonbury, Somerset, England, the son of Thomas and Jane Holbrook Powyes.  He arrived with his parents and siblings in 1635 in New England and his family settled in Weymouth, part of Massachusetts Bay Colony.  There Thomas observed his father and learned good lessons of citizenship and stewardship.  Either in Weymouth or in Braintree he married Joanna Kingman, daughter of Henry and Joanna Drake Kingman, about 1650.  

Thomas and Joanna (also seen as Joan) settled in Braintree and there they had at least seven children.  Records seem to be missing which would give us the exact date of birth for the children, and there are several different lists out there. This seems to be the most reliable but I will comment on other possibilities later in this post.

Mary is usually listed as the first born, but her first known marriage wasn't until 1687 so she may be incorrectly placed in the family.  Her marriage was to Joseph Colburn.  Joseph was born in 1663, the son of Nathaniel and Priscilla Clark Colburn.  Mary's date of death is given as 1738. Mary and Joseph had just one child, a son.

John Holbrook was born October 15, 1653 in Braintree and died December 25, 1678, at the age of 25.  He is not known to have married.

Peter, the son who took care of his grandparents in their old age, was born September 6, 1655 and died May 3, 1713 in Mendon.  I have written a separate blog post about him, as this is our direct ancestor in this group. He married Alice Godfrey and they are the parents of at least 10 children.

Thomas Holbrook is usually listed as a child of Thomas and Joanna, is reported to have been born in 1651 and died in 1728. He may have married a Deborah Damon, and definitely married Mary or Marah White, daughter of Thomas and perhaps Mary Pratt White.  Thomas and Mary had at least six children.

Joanna was born October 30, 1656, in either Weymouth or Braintree, and married Uriah Clark, son of Hugh and Elizabeth Clark. They had at least three children, and she died on February 28, 1682, at Roxbury.  She was just 25.

Susanna was born October 3, 1658 and married Andrew Willet, son of Thomas and Mary Brown Willet.  They had at least seven children.  She may have died about 1705.

Joseph Holbrook was born April 10, 1660 and died before 1695.  I have not been able to locate anything additional about Joseph, so he may have died young.  

There are some who believe that Thomas and Joanna had at least two additional daughters, Anne and Elizabeth.  Some also believe that there was a son William.  All of these are assigned "about" birth dates of from 1646-1650.  This would mean that either the Thomas-Joanna marriage was earlier than is thought, or that Thomas had a previous relationship, whether marriage or not.  It is also possible that these were not his children, and as I can find no supporting information, I am merely mentioning this as a possibility.  

When Thomas died, he left a healthy estate, but only four living children.  There were at least 27 grandchildren, but I've not yet followed them to note their stories and life spans.  Thomas continued the line of Holbrooks, and that is what is pertinent to this post. 

The family of William Holbrook 1620-1699

 William was the second son of Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook.  I've written posts about Thomas, about Thomas's family, and about William earlier.  We have at least one line of descent from William, and his family connects with others in our family tree, which is when things start to get very tangled, complicated, and interesting.

We know William was baptized in Glastonbury, Somerset, England on June 12, 1620 and we know he somehow arrived in America.  It's presumed he traveled with his parents but there is no record of him on that ship manifest.  He would have been about 15 at the time.  His wife was Elizabeth, often given the name Pitts because her mother was an Elizabeth Pitts, but so far no one has been able to prove her ancestry.  The older Elizabeth Pitts may have had a second or third husband named Pitts, and Elizabeth the younger may be someone entirely different.  We just don't know.

We do know that William had two wives, the second being Abigail Wright Sharp Clapp, who was twice widowed when she married William, and who outlived William.  There were no children by the second marriage, both spouses being over the age of 60 and perhaps older, as I was unable to find a marriage date for them.  

William was known as a captain and as a deacon.  He and Elizabeth had at least six children, and there are at least four more who may or may not be their children.  

Elizabeth was the first born.  She married John Sprague on December 13, 1666 and then James Bick or Buck before 1689.  She had 7 children with John-John, Elizabeth, Melicent, William, Persis, Ebenezer and Hannah.  We have Spragues in our tree but as of now, I don't find a connection. 

Samuel is described in William's will as his oldest son.  He was born January 24, 1643 and on June 23, 1675 married Mary Pierce, daughter of Michael and Persis Eames Pierce.  They may have had at least five children and lived at Weymouth, Mendon, and finally Scituate, where Samuel died in 1712.  Known children are Persis, Elizabeth, and Mary.  Samuel is likely their son, and it's possible that Bethiah is their daughter.  Persis married John Farrow, Elizabeth married Nathaniel Winslow, and Mary married Eleazer Daniels.  

Son William was born at Weymouth June 23, 1657.  He married Margaret Fairbanks, daughter of George and Mary Adams Fairbanks.  They had three children together-Mary, Margaret, and William.  William died on November 19, 1714 and Margaret then married Josiah Thayer, the son of Fernando or Ferdinando and Hulda Hayward Thayer.  William and Margaret had no children, but we are connected to the Thayer family through Josiah's brother, Ebenezer, who is our ancestor.

Daughter Hopestill was born next, but there seems to be no record of her birth.  She married Samuel Read, son of John and Sarah Lessie Read.  They had at least three children, Ebenezer, Samuel, and Mary.  There are claims of additional children but I've seen no proof for them.

Cornelius is a bit of a mystery, or his wives are.  He was born in November, 1662, and died December 14, 1742.  His first wife is Margery, likely Margery Eames, daughter of Justus and Mehitable Chillingworth Eames.  They had two children, Margaret and Mehitable.  Margaret didn't marry, but Mehitable married John Corbett, who was the son of Robert and Priscilla Rockwood Corbett.  Priscilla's parents are John and Joanna Ford Rockwood, who are our ancestors through their son Joseph.  

Cornelius' second wife, Experience, has not yet been further identified.  They likely married in 1694.  Cornelius and Experience had Experience, who married Timothy Thayer (connection not known, but there likely is one); Elizabeth, who married Samuel Jackson; Abigail, who married John Jones, Mary, who married Ebenezer Bicknell, William, and Hannah, who died young.  

Jane came next.  Her date of birth is not recorded.  She married John Albee, who was the son of Benjamin and Hannah (maiden name not known) Albee.  They had two children before he was killed by the natives in an attack on Mendon during King Philip's War.  Hannah is not traced, but Experience married Stephen Sly and had eight children.  

Jane next married Alexander Balcom as his second wife, and had seven children with him: John married Sarah Bartlett, the daughter of John and Alice (maiden name unknown) Bartlett; Freegift, who died "distracted" and apparently did not marry; Joseph, who married Phoebe possibly Mendon; Hannah, who married Ebenezer Haywood and John Arnold; Samuel, who died at the age of 26 and possibly did not marry; Deborah, who married an Arnold but died at the age of 25, and Lydia, who married Samuel Hix.

Their next daughter was Experience, who married an Albee and then a Hyde.  

Finally there was Mehitable, who married Jonathan Sprague, a brother to the John who married her oldest sister Elizabeth.  They had at least six children, Jonathan who married Bethiah Mann and then Hannah Hawkins; William who married Alice Brown and then Mary Walling; Patience, who married William Jenckes; Joanna, who married John Teft; Mary, who married Daniel Brown; and an unnamed daughter who married Ebenezer Cook.  We are likely related somehow to Daniel Brown, as we have several men by that name and from that location in our tree, and Alice and Daniel may be siblings.

The problem with this post is that Sarah Balcom, our ancestor, is listed as the child of Alexander and his first wife, so perhaps the whole premise of this post is not correct!  Our Sarah, the child of Alexander, is reported to have been born in 1663, long before Jane married Alexander.  I am leaving the post as written, because one of the reasons I wanted to do this kind of post was to explore the close relationships among and between our families.  William may not be "Grandpa", but he is still "Uncle"! Also, this post took quite a while to write, and why "waste" it?  Now, I'm off to confirm that Sarah's birthdate is too soon for her to have been Jane's daughter, and then to correct my tree.

Holbrook: The Family of Thomas Holbrook 1589-1677

 I've written before of Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook, our first ancestors of that surname in America.  I gave very little information about their children, however, other than the post I wrote about their son Thomas, who is also our ancestor.  This post will give brief details about their other children, the ones who sat around their dinner table, helped with chores, slept in possibly the same room or in a sleeping loft, and who knew each other quite well.  Five of their known six children were apparently born in Glastonbury, Somerset, England, and they probably all came to New England with their parents in 1634, although only four of the children are listed on the ship manifest.  

The first son was John, known variously as Lieutenant or even Captain, due to his service in King Philip's war.  He was born April 6, 1617 at Glastonbury.  He was married three times and had at least ten children.  His first wife was Sarah Heardman, although I have also seen French given as her surname.  She died in 1644/45 and he married Elizabeth Stream or Streame about a year later.  Elizabeth died in 1688 and he then married Mary Jacob Otis, a widow with one child.  She survived him and was well cared for by John's will.  Like his parents, John lived in Weymouth, Massachusetts,

Thomas and Jane named their second child William. an ancestor I've written about previously.  He was born June 14, 1620, married Elizabeth Pitts about 1643 and they had at least 8 children. She died and he later married Abigail Wright, the widow of Robert Sharp and Thomas Clapp.  She had five children from her first two husbands, so the extended family would have been quite large.  William was both a Captain and a deacon, and lived in Weymouth but was in Scituate after his second marriage.  He died in Scituate.  

I've written previously about Thomas, the third son.  He was married to Joanna Kingman and they had at least five children.  He died in Braintree in 1696.  He is also our ancestor.

Thomas and Jane also had three daughters.  Anne was born about 1629 and married John Reynolds in 1650 in Weymouth.  They had at least four children.  She died in 1699 in New London, Connecticut, the only child of the couple to move outside the Weymouth area.  

Elizabeth Holbrook was born February 13, 1630 in Glastonbury.  She married Walter Hatch May 6, 1650 in Scituate, but they were in Weymouth later.  They had at least eight children.

Jane  Holbrook married Thomas Drake .  She was born or christened in 1636, probably in Weymouth.  Jane and Thomas had as many as 8 children, and stayed in Weymouth their entire married life, unless they left during King Philip's war.  Drake saw active service during that conflict.  

It's interesting to note that there was a gap of 5 or more years between the births of Elizabeth and Jane.  One could suspect that there was at least one pregnancy during that time, but that perhaps there was a stillbirth or very early infant death.  

Thomas and Jane had about 34 grandchildren, and most of them lived within just a few miles. It's fun to think about how the families lived and worked together as the children became adults, and mostly stayed within hollering distance of home. The grandchildren would have had many cousins to play, learn, and work with.  The entire family would have worried as some of the men were fighting during King Philip's War, and as fifteen homes in the town were burned during two separate attacks on the town.  It is likely that at least some of the Holbrook family went to a safer location until the war was over, but I've not found documentation for that.  

The Holbrook men contributed to their community, their church, and their colony, and were valued members of their town. The women, while less noticed, did more than just raise children.  They also contributed to the life of their community.  Men and women like these, along with their many descendants, are part of what makes America great.