The family of Thomas Starr 1615-1658

Last week I wrote about the family of Comfort and Elizabeth (possibly Watt or Watts) Starr.  Comfort is recognized as the immigrant ancestor, head of a family that has grown even more than one would expect, over the ensuing generations.  This week I will continue following our line of Starrs.

Once again, there are some very important missing facts regarding Thomas and his family, particularly the identity of his wife and mother of his children.  Her name was Rachel, and they were supposed to have married about 1638 in Rhode Island.  Her name is often seen as Rachel Harris, but I know of no documentation to back that up.  He is not known to have lived in Rhode Island at all, with his homes at various times being in Duxbury, Scituate, Yarmouth, and finally Charlestown, Massachusetts.  He died on October 26, 1658 at Charlestown, at the early age of 42.  Thomas was a surgeon during the Pequot War and is referred to as "Dr. Starr" so he likely moved from time to time to where his services were most needed.

He did take time out of his schedule to raise a large family with Rachel, as was the custom in this family.  Their children are:

Samuel, born about 1640.  He married Hannah Brewster, granddaughter of William and Mary Brewster of the Mayflower.  Their children were Benjamin, Samuel, Thomas, Comfort, and Jonathan, and I will write more about them in my next blog post.

The next child was another son, Thomas Jr.  He married Ruth Barney and Elizabeth Gilbert.  He married Ruth about 1692 so it is likely that these children belong to Elizabeth, who was the daughter of Thomas and Jane Rossiter Gilbert.  Except, one source indicates that Thomas Gilbert did not have a daughter named Elizabeth, so this whole subject needs more research. Thomas's children were Thomas, Benjamin, Jehosophat, Sarah, and Elizabeth.  Thomas Jr. died in 1704.

Comfort, (undoubtedly named for his grandfather even those these names are not in the order one would expect), was born November 15, 1644 and died October 18, 1693 at Middletown, Connecticut.  He married Marah Weld, daughter of Joseph and Barbara Clapp Weld.  They had 9 known children-Comfort, Joseph, Mary, Hannah, Joseph (again), Benjamin, Rachel, Thomas, and Daniel.  

Their first and, as it turned out, only daughter, Elizabeth was born June 7, 1646. She married John Treadwell (Tredwell), son of Edward and Sarah Howes Treadwell.  They had at least three children-John, Thomas, and Elizabeth.  Elizabeth died March 6, 1681, at the age of 34.  

Son Benjamin was born February 6, 1647/48 and died before April 30, 1676. I have not found a cause of death for him but this was during the time of King Philip's War so it is possible that he died as a result of that conflict.  He had not yet reached the age of thirty.  His wife was Elizabeth Allerton, who was the granddaughter of Isaac Allerton and Fear Brewster.  (Fear was William Brewster's daughter, and Isaac was one of the Mayflower Pilgrims.)  They had one son, Allerton.

Jehosophat Starr was the next born, on January 12, 1649/50.  He is not known to have married, but is credited with three children-Jehoshophat, Elizabeth, and Hannah.  I have found no documentation of his marriage, his children, or his death, which is only noted as after 1671.  More research needs to be done.

Constant was the first of Thomas and Rachel's children to die as a child, but not the last.  He was born in 1652 and died October 5, 1654, in Charlestown.  

William was born next, on March 18, 1654/55, but died December 13, 1659.  The back to back deaths of Constant and William must have been particularly hard, especially since Thomas may have felt that he "should" have been able to save them.  

Josiah Starr, known as "Captain" was born September 1, 1657 and died January 4, 1714/15.  His wife was Rebekah but her maiden name isn't known at this time.  They had at least 8 children together-Benjamin, John, Thomas, Rachel, Josiah, Rebecca, Samuel, and Comfort.  

Their last son was John, born in 1658.  There is very little to be found about him, except that he was alive January 1, 1684/85.  We don't know whether he married, whether he had any children, or anything else about him, for that matter.  There are any number of reasons that someone's death would not have been noted, including being lost at sea, murdered in the back country, kidnapped and taken to Canada, or simply the loss of records wherever he died, but it is sad not to be able to bring his life to an end.

Thomas and Rachel had at least 31 grandchildren, which is not a terribly large number for the time, but it was enough to contribute to keeping the Starr family name going through New England and New York. 

The family of Comfort Starr

 Comfort Starr, referred to as Dr. by many, is our first immigrant of the Starr name.  His parents were Thomas and Susan (possibly Moore) Starr.  His parents may or may not have been immigrants.  I have seen trees claiming he died in Ashford, Kent, England and also that he died in Massachusetts Bay Colony.  Thomas's will seems to have been written in England, so for the time being and until someone convinces me otherwise, I'll leave him in England.  

Comfort was born July 6, 1589 and in Ashford, Kent, England. His father or possibly his grandfather was relatively well to do, and Comfort, as a second son, was trained to be a chirurgeon.  There seems to be some dispute about what the job of surgeon entailed in the early 17th century.  Some say a surgeon was not as educated as a doctor, because their primary job was to cut off limbs and stitch up wounds.  Others say he was a physician, and there is some evidence that he at least had some medicines at his disposal.  But would he have had access to these pain killers as a chirurgeon, also?  I am still working on this problem.  Either way, he was probably able to provide for his family above the subsistence, or even working class, label, as indicated by the three servants he brought with him to America, one of whom was his sibling, Truth Shall Prevail.

Comfort married Elizabeth Watts in Sussex, England and they had ten children together, nine of them born at Ashford.  There is some question, actually, about Elizabeth.  I have also seen her referred to as Elizabeth Mitchell, and identified as the daughter of Thomas Hayward Mitchell and his wife Margaret.  I don't know which is correct, or whether Elizabeth Mitchell may have been a widower of a man named Watts.  (For such a well-known family, there are a lot of research questions that are not yet answered properly, I think.)

Comfort and Elizabeth came to America in 1635, with their three oldest children.  It appears that some of the other children came later.  Of the ten children, two did not survive childhood.  

Thomas, named for his father and grandfather, was the first born son, baptized December 31, 1615.  He would have been 19 when he immigrated, and five years later he married Rachel, most often seen as Rachel Harris.  They had 10 children-Thomas, Samuel, Comfort, Elizabeth, Benjamin, Jehosophat, Constant, William, Josiah, and John, and I will write about them in my next post.

Judith was born before January 11, 1617/18 and buried August 25, 1622.  

Mary was baptized April 16, 1620, and married John Maynard in 1640.  They had five children-Mary, Lydia, Hannah, Mary, and Zachariah. Mary died before her father wrote his will in 1659, but he left bequests to the children.

Elizabeth was baptized June 3, 1622 and married John Fernside or Ferniside by July of 1642.  Their children were Hannah, Elizabeth, Sarah, Jacob, Lydia, Ruth, Mary, Abigail, and Sarah (again).  

Comfort was baptized April 11, 1624.  He married first Grace, and later Anne Finch, who was the mother of his three known children-Josiah, John, and George.  He apparently was in Massachusetts for about 15 years and returned to England in 1650, where he lived his life as a pastor.  

John Starr was baptized October 15, 1626 and married Martha Bunker, daughter of George and Judith Major Bunker.  They had at least eight children, many of whose names are now familiar to us-Elizabeth, Judith, Eleazer, Lydia, Comfort, John, and Benjamin.   

Samuel Starr was baptized March 1, 1628/29, and was buried April 16, 1633.

Hannah Starr was baptized July 22, 1632 and married John Cutt.  He became the first president of the providence of New Hampshire, appointed by King Charles II.  They had five children together-John, Elizabeth, Hannah, Samuel, and Mary.  

Lydia was baptized March 22, 1634/5 and married Simon Eyre.  She died in 1653, aged less than 20, leaving just one child, Simon, whose last name was later spelled Ayers.  

Ruth Starr was the last child, born about 1637, in Massachusetts, although there seem to be no contemporary records of her birth.  She married Joseph Moore in 1656, and was already deceased when her father wrote his will in 1659.  The deaths of these last two children may or may not have been related to childbirth, but both women were very of child bearing age when they died.

This gives Comfort and Elizabeth 41 grandchildren, some of whom they would never have seen (son Comfort's children having been born in England).  The children seem to have all been good citizens, who made good lives for themselves and their own children.  We can be proud of the contributions that Dr Comfort and Elizabeth made to their community.

 

Holbrook: Loren Holbrook and his family

 Loren Holbrook is a hard man to write about.  I never did do a profile sketch of him, probably because he is recent enough in our family history that I know stories about him.  I also know his two daughters had somewhat different opinions of him, and I don't know which are "true".  Probably all the stories are "true" but have to be seen in their context in order to understand them, and the people who could give us that context are gone.  This post will give the facts of his life and mention his children. 

Loren Holbrook was born March 13, 1883 in Chicago Heights, Illinois, the second known son of Fremont and Phoebe (Phebe) Brown Holbrook.  He had an older brother, Ray, and a younger brother, Clark.  We know from the 1940 census that the highest grade of school he completed was the third year, but I don't know whether the school he attended would have been a three year or a four year high school at that time.  At any rate, I've read some of his letters and he wrote well, both expressively and with correct grammar and punctuation.  

By 1908, he was in Washington State, where he purchased land in 1911 that was on the border of Ferry and Stevens counties.  He had gone to Washington intending to invest in mines but I don't think that worked out for him.  In later life he mostly worked in the lumber industry and sawmills, eventually owning his own operation near Kettle Falls.  His estate was large enough that it made the Spokane, Washington newspapers, so he was somewhat successful.  He employed at least some indigenous men, but it's not known how large his operation was.  He had retired by the time of his death.

Etta Stanard arrived in Stevens county in 1913, to join her parents and siblings who were already there.  She taught school, and Loren courted her and won her heart quickly.  They were married August 16, 1914.

The couple had four children together.  Ray was born November 4, 1915.  He entered the Army in 1940, became a member of the First Special Service Force (known as the Black Devils) and was killed at Anzio, Italy on March 30-31 (nighttime operation), 1944.  Ray did not marry or have children.

Their second son was Howard S Holbrook, born April 18, 1918 in Colville, Washington.  He had physical and mental challenges as well as a prison record, and never married.  He died August 27, 1992.

Their first daughter was Lois Phoebe Holbrook, born January 9, 1923.  (There was a gap of five years here and I've often wondered if there was an unsuccessful pregnancy during this time.)  She married Lloyd Melcher, who became a carpenter and contractor, and the couple had four children, two of whom are living.  

The final child was Gladys May Holbrook, born November 17, 1925.  She married Richard Allen, who became a pastor, on June 28, 1947 and the couple had four children, two of whom are living.  

Loren and Etta seem to have had a good marriage for the first few years, but after the birth of Gladys their relationship deteriorated.  One reason may have been Etta's prolonged stay in Spokane, after Gladys was born, but that may also have been because there were already difficulties.  Etta filed for divorce in 1928 but that was apparently withdrawn, because she filed again in 1933.  Etta had mental issues most of her life, possibly beginning with the last pregnancy, and it would have been hard to live with a woman as confused as she sometimes was.

Loren had a housekeeper, Hannah (keeping her last name private because I don't know if her children are living) who was apparently a widow.  She lived in Loren's household for several years and the Holbrook boys knew her children well, as Loren often mentioned them in letters to Ray.  She may or may not have been a common law wife, but in Loren's will, he referred to Etta as his one and only wife.  Hannah's name was listed as wife in Loren's obituary, but she may have been the informant so that is not entirely trustworthy.  I find no record of a marriage.

Loren died October 16 or 17, 1948, on the Deer Park Highway in Spokane County.  He had suffered a heart attack and his car was wrecked, but he may never have known about the wreck.  

 I have written a fairly general, somewhat sanitized post here because living people may not want more details publicized.  However, if you are a descendant of Loren and Etta, and wish more information, please contact me and I'll be happy to help as much as I can.

This is the end of our particular line of Holbrooks, from Thomas to Thomas to Peter to Joseph to Jesse to Amariah to Nahum to Joseph to Fremont to Loren.  We are now "daughtered out", and I will start a new family next week. 

The family of Fremont Holbrook

 I wrote a short blog post about Fremont Holbrook in 2014, and have learned little more of his life since then.  He was the son of Joseph Rockwood and Mary Elizabeth Whittemore Holbrook, and was born February 10, 1851 in Cook County, Illinois.  I've not found information about his education but he clearly was literate and well respected in his community, so he probably at least finished high school, or seminary as it was sometimes called then.  He was too young to have served in the Civil War, but he likely followed the war closely, and probably rooted for the Union and for Abraham Lincoln.  

His marriage was to Phoebe Ann Brown, daughter of Adam and Phoebe Myers Brown, on October 10, 1877 in Cook County.  The Brown family was in Bloom Township, not far from Chicago Heights, where the Holbrooks lived.  They may have met at an inn the Browns operated, but that is speculation.

Fremont and Phoebe were Methodists, and long time members of the local church.  They had a family of three sons.  There was a gap of five years between the second and third sons, so it is possible that there was a lost pregnancy or an infant death that is not recorded.  (That is my speculation only, there could be other reasons for the gap.)

It has been difficult for me to find much information about their sons, so I apologize for the lack of information.  However, one of these men was my grandfather, the other two were grand uncles, and they deserve to have what is known about them mentioned at least once.

Ray Rockwood Holbrook was born in 1881, exact date not known.  He married Mary Ruby Maddox January 6, 1910.  His employment on the census and World War I draft records is given as in the shipping department of a chemical factory.  I haven't been able to further identify Ruby, except that she frequently sang for social clubs, weddings, and other occasions.  As far as the census records show, there were no children, although of course it's possible that one or more children were born and died between the census years.  Ray died July 31, 1929 in Chicago Heights, two years short of his 50th birthday.  I found Ruby in the 1940 census, living in Chicago Heights, where she owned a home and had at least three boarders.  I've not located her in the 1950 census, nor have I located death information.  

Their second son was Loren, born March 13, 1881.  He married Etta Stanard (Stannard) and they had four children.  I will write more of his story in a future post.

Clark was the youngest son, born in 1888.  He married Nellie M Waggoner January 10, 1920, after returning as a corporal from serving in France in World War 1.  I may or may not have the correct Clark Holbrook in the 1920 census, because he was then listed as a single boarder on Michigan Avenue in Chicago, even though the census was taken after his marriage.  By 1930, this Clark Holbrook owned a hotel, the Hotel Del Mar.  That is recorded as his residence but there is no mention of Nell.  (Nor, for that matter, is she to be easily found anywhere else in the 1930 census.)  The "hotel" appears to have been a three story building, brick, and may or may not be still standing.  The Holbrooks were together in the 1940 census in Chicago Heights (probably the family home built by Fremont), by which time Clark was not working.  Shortly after this, they moved to Dade County, Florida, where he worked as a court reporter for 16 years, before dying in 1958.  It does not appear that this family had children, or if they did, the child or children did not survive.  I have one picture of this man, in which he appears to look very much like his brother Loren.

This is little enough information about men that my mother may have heard stories about.  I am grateful for this much information, but how I wish I knew more about them.

The family of Joseph R. Holbrook 1814-1881

 As I write this post, I'm thinking of the pictures that used to be published in our local newspapers, of five generation families.  Usually someone is holding an infant or toddler, and the representative of the oldest generation is anywhere from 70 years old, upwards.  When I was a baby, Joseph Holbrook could theoretically have been in my five generation photo, except that he had already been gone about 70 years.  I guess my point is that my posts about the Holbrook line are getting close enough that I can relate to these people a little more, even though there are still many unanswered questions about them.

Joseph Rockwood Holbrook is the youngest son of Nahum and Susanna Rockwood Holbrook, born January 4, 1814 in Washington County, New York.  He stayed there long enough to marry Mary Elizabeth Whittemore, daughter of Josiah and Betsy Foster Whittemore, on or about May 7, 1836.  (I am still searching for the records to confirm this date.)  They didn't stay in New York long, because the first of there children, born less than two years later, was in Crown Point, Lake County, Indiana, and the rest of their children were born in Bloom Township, Cook County, Illinois, starting in 1840.

The known children of Joseph and "Lizzie", as she is referred to on one census record, were:

Clark Holbrook, born March of 1838 in Crown Point, as mentioned above.  He married Ann K Raymond, whose parents aren't known to me, and they had Mary, Howard, Christie, Alice, and George.  Clark died in 1904.

Nahum was born June 10, 1840, in Bloom Township, where his parents settled for the rest of their lives.  Nahum married Clarissa Hewes, daughter of Benjamin and Rebecca Bulinghame Hewes, and they had Helen, Kathryn, Minnie, Nora, Luella, George, and Walter.  He died in 1875.

Their first daughter, Susan, was born April 30, 1842,  Sadly, she never even appears on a census record as she died in 1848.  

Fremont (in the early days, seen as Freemont) was born in February of 1850.  He married Phoebe Brown and they had three children, who will be mentioned in a later post.

Their last known child was Martha (known as Mattie), born May 9, 1852.  She married William A DuBreuil, son of Augustus and Elizabeth Hoxley DuBreuil, and had children L. E., who only lived 12 years, Weldon, Allan, Forrest, and Winfield.  Martha died in 1916.

Clark and Nahum were each eligible to be involved in the Civil War, but I haven't found their names on the databases I've consulted.  Joseph was a well to do man and I wonder if these Holbrooks purchased substitutes, as was a common and acceptable practice.  This is speculation on my part.  

I've noticed several trends with this family.  The naming patterns have changed, with most of the children not giving traditional family or Biblical names to their children.  Joseph, of course, was the first in our direct line to strike out on his own, crossing several states to arrive at his new home (although, as noted in my last post, he had siblings within 150 miles of Cook County).  And his family is the smallest in number that I've yet seen in the Holbrook line.  

I would love to find a photo of this man, and of his wife!