Holbrook line: Introducing John Cary, Carey, or Carew

 When I learned that Josiah Standish most assuredly did not marry Sarah Doty, I had to delete a lot, and I mean a lot, of people from my tree.  In place of those 1500 or so people, I can add back two, plus 12 children.  It's not a very fair trade, losing a Mayflower passenger and all his kin, for someone of whom so little is known.  But it is what it is, and finding more will be fun, if and when it happens.

So who did Josiah Standish (1670-1753, grandson of the famous Myles Standish) marry?  It turns out that her name was Sarah Cary.  She was the daughter of John and Elizabeth Godfrey Cary.  We know about Elizabeth's father, Francis Godfrey, because Elizabeth was the aunt of Alice Godfrey who married Peter Holbrook.  If you are reading my current posts about the Holbrook family and how they intertwined with so many early residents of southeastern Massachusetts, you'll not be at all surprised by this.

As usual, there are several men by the name of John Cary, Carey, or Carew to shift through.  We can easily eliminate John Cary, a merchant in Boston, as there are records for him after our John Cary died.  Our John's son, John, ended up in Bristol, Rhode Island but was in his father's location long enough to make things a little confusing.  

John's background is not well-known, neither his parents nor his location.  A family historian says that he came from a family wealthy enough to send him to France for a year of his schooling, but I've not found any documentation for that.  We know he was educated enough to be town clerk for 25 years, and the gentleman (Seth Cary) who reported the French education also says he was the first teacher of Latin in New England.  This may or may not be accurate.  

Also in the field of speculation, some claim that he was a member of the Carew family in Somersetshire, England, who were apparently part of the nobility, with castles in Somersetshire and in Pembrokeshire, Wales.  One of the Carew family made mention in a will of John Carew, who had left the area when the will was written, but that doesn't necessarily mean that he is talking about our John, who came to America about 1638 or 1639.  It is said that the English pronounced the name "Carew" as "Carey" and that is how the name was changed, but take that with a grain of salt until you find substantiating evidence.

His arrival in Plymouth Colony, and his settling first in Duxbury (where our ancestors William Brewster and Myles Standish had also settled, some years earlier) is the first solid information we have about John.  I have seen several birth dates for him, mostly in the 1610-1612 range, which would mean he was in his late 20's when he crossed the ocean.  He married Elizabeth Godfrey of Duxbury in June of 1644, and moved on to Bridgewater.  54 men were original proprietors of Bridgewater in 1646, but only about one third of them actually took up residence there.  John was one of them.  He was made a freeman of the town and served as constable and held other town offices also.

John and Elizabeth had 12 children, six sons and six daughters.  All of them grew to adulthood and it was said that there "wasn't a Judas among them", meaning they were all seen as upright people. (I plan to write more about the family in a future post.)  Bridgewater was attacked during King Philip's War and at least some buildings were burned by the natives, but I don't know yet know how the Cary family fared, or whether they left town, went to a garrison house, or stayed in their own home.  Several of the Cary sons were old enough to serve as soldiers but John was over 60 and so likely was not serving in the militia.  

Elizabeth died in 1680, after 36 years of marriage and twelve children.  John died the following year.  His son John was appointed the administrator of the estate but I have not yet located those records.  Perhaps an inventory would give us clues about his educational level, and other items could indicate whether he had treasured heirlooms from England, which would be another clue as to his origin.  

We may not yet know enough about John to write a full "This Is Your Life", but we do know enough to welcome him to the family!

The line of descent is:

John Cary-Elizabeth Godfrey

Sarah Cary-Josiah Standish

Hannah Standish-Nathan Foster

Nathan Foster-Elizabeth Lansford

Jude Foster-Lydia M

Betsy Foster-Josiah Whittemore

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants