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.