The family of John Root 1642-1687

 Our next family head is John Root, the son of John and Mary Kilbourne Root.  He has my admiration because he chose to marry one of my favorite ancestors, Mary Ashley, the daughter of Robert and Mary (maiden name unknown) Ashley.  Anyone who chooses to marry a feisty woman like Mary goes high on my list.  John was born in 1642 in Farmington, Connecticut and was one of several Roots who moved north.  John died in Westfield, Massachusetts, as did at least four of his adult children.

John and Mary were married in 1664 and their children started arriving in 1667, all born in Westfield.  There may be an unsuccessful pregnancy at the start of their marriage.  (Many couples in this time period had a child born within 15-18 months of their marriage, it seems.)

The first child we know of is Mary, born in 1667.  She married John Smith , the son of John and Mary Partridge Smith.  Their children are Mary, Mercy, John, Rachel, Hezekiah and Noah.  Mary died in 1721 in Hadley, Massachusetts.

Sarah was born in 1670 and married Adijah Dewey, the son of Thomas and Constant Hawes Dewey.  (Thomas and Constant are our ancestors also, so we are once again in an entwining family, with deep and inter-connected roots.  Sarah and Adijah's children are Abijah, Thomas, Adijah, Sarah, Esther, Mary, Abigail, Bethiah, Anna, and Moses.  Sarah died in 1721 in Westfield.

John was the next born and the couple's first son, born in 1672.  He married Sarah Stebbins, the daughter of Edward and Sarah Graves Stebbins, who are also our ancestors.  They had just one daughter, Sarah.  He next married Elizabeth Bissell, the daughter of Samuel and Abigail Holcombe Bissell.  They had two children, Stephen and Moses.  John died in 1731 in Westfield. I'll write more of this family in my next post.  

Samuel was born in 1675 and died in Westfield in 1756.  He married Mary Gunn, the daughter of John and Mary Williams Gunn.  Their children are Jonathan, Mary, Margaret, Abigail, Samuel, Martin, and Margaret.  We are descended through this line, also, and I will write more of this family in a later post.

In almost every family I've been writing about, there is at least one mystery person.  In this line, it's Hannah, who was born in 1677.  We know that she married John Davis, "of Coventry" and that's all we know.  On one ancestry tree, John is identified as the adopted son of Samuel Root who died in 1711, but I find no documents to back that up.  We also don't know what happened to this couple.  I refer to these as witness protection plan people, because they seem to have disappeared from the face of the earth.  It's possible, of course, that they were killed in an Indian raid or lost at sea or died in an epidemic.  It's also possible that we just haven't looked in the right place to find them yet.

Abigail was the next daughter, born in 1680.  She married Joseph Moseley, the son of John and Mary (maiden name not found) Mosely.  Their children are Abigail, Abner, Sarah, David, Mary, Hannah, Isaac and Rachel.  Abigail died in 1773 in Glastonbury, Connecticut.  

Joshua was born in 1682 and died in 1730.  He married Margaret Gilbert, the daughter of Thomas and Anna Bancroft Gilbert.  (Anna is a descendant of yet another of our ancestors, Samuel and Margaret Stratton Wright.) Joshua and Margaret's children are Mercy, Joshua, Margaret, Hannah, Thomas, Ruth, Experience, Catherine, and Israel.  Joshua died in Sheffield, Massachusetts.

The last child born to John and Mary was Mercy, born in 1684.  She married Samuel Fowler, the son of Samuel and Abigail Brown Fowler.  Their children are Mehitable, Samuel, David, Bethesda, Stephen, Mercy, Bildad and Daniel.  

If this count is complete and correct, John and Mary Ashley Root are the parents of eight children and 51 grandchildren.  Many of the men fought in the various colonial wars and their descendants fought in the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.  They helped establish the families that helped establish America. 

The family of John Root 1608-1684

 A funny (?) thing happened on my way to writing this blog post.  I found errors, and ended up deleting about 3000 names from my tree, including lines to several royal ancestors.  From sad experience, I've found that there are many false lines back to royalty, so it no longer surprises me that I've inherited those.  I delete them as I find them.  However, my current belief is that the following information is correct.

John Root, the immigrant, was born February 20, 1608 in Badby, Northamptonshire, England, the son of John and Ann Rushall (NOT Mary Ann Russell) Root.  He married Mary Kilbourne, the daughter of Thomas and Frances Moody Kilbourne on January 10, 1640 in Farmington.  John and Mary had 8 children together, all born in Farmington.  John died with a decent estate in 1684 in Farmington and Mary died in 1697.  

Their first born son was John, born in 1642 and died in 1687 in Westfield, Massachusetts.  He married Mary Ashley, the daughter of Robert and Mary (maiden name not proven to my satisfaction) Ashley.  Their children are Mary, Sarah, John, Samuel, Hannah, Abigail, Joshua, and Mary.  I will be writing more of this family in my next blog post.

Samuel was born next, in 1644.  He married Mary Orton, the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Pratt (possibly Pell) Orton, and died in Westfield in 1711.  I have not found a record of children, although a daughter, Mary, has been mentioned without, as far as I can find, any documentation.  Other sources state that this couple had no children.  

The next child was Thomas, born in 1648.  (Was there an unsuccessful pregnancy between 1644 and 1648?  That is a conspicuous gap in this family record.)  He married three times.  His first wife, the mother of his children, is Mary Gridley, daughter of Thomas and Mary Seymour Gridley.  (Mary Seymour is connected to our family also.) Their children are Mary, Thomas, Samuel, Elizabeth, Sarah, Timothy, and Joseph.  He next married Mary Spencer, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Bearding Spencer (no known children), and then Sarah Leonard, the daughter of John Dumbleton.  Their children are Thankful and Mary.  Thomas also died in Westfield, in 1709.

Their first daughter, Mary, was born in 1650.  She married Isaac Bronson, the son of John and Frances Hills Bronson.  Their known children are Isaac, John, Samuel, Mary, Joseph, Thomas, Ebenezer , Samuel, Sarah, and Mercy.  Mary died in 1701 in Waterbury, Connecticut.  

Stephen was next, born in 1652.  He married Sarah Wadsworth, the daughter of John and Sarah Stanley Wadsworth.  Their children are Timothy, John, Mary, and Sarah.  (Mary married into the Judd family, so we likely have some connection there, but I haven't found it yet.)  Stephen died in 1717 in Farmington, Connecticut.  

Susannah was born in 1654 and married Joseph Langdon, the son of John and Mary Seymour Root Langdon.  (Mary Seymour Root, widow of John above, next married John Langdon.)  Their children are Sarah, Joseph, John, Samuel, Susanna, Ebenezer, Mary, Mary again, and Thomas.  She died in 1712 in Farmington, Connecticut.

The next child was Joseph, born in 1656.  He first married Elizabeth Warner, whom I am as yet unable to further identify.  Their children are Elizabeth, Mary, and Joseph.  He married Ruth Porter Smith, the daughter of Thomas and Sarah Hart Porter, in 1727, after his first wife's death.  Joseph died in 1739 in Farmington.  

The last son, Caleb, was born in 1658.  He married Elizabeth Salmon, the daughter of Thomas and Mary Phelps Salmon.  Their children are Mary, Caleb, Thomas, Elizabeth and Samuel.  There is a bit of confusion here because both Elizabeth and Caleb have a death date of June 10, 1712.  Yet, there is a statement in a Root genealogy that he also married an unknown daughter of the Gillette family.  I wonder whether Elizabeth had actually died earlier and Caleb had remarried.  Perhaps at least Samuel, who was born in November of 1712, was the son of the Gillette daughter?  More research needs to be done here.  Caleb was a physician, and died in Farmington.  

The Root men, in particular, had fine reputations among their peers.  They were all known as being tall (over six feet) and strong, and all fought in King Phillip's War,  and likely in other skirmishes with native Americans, because that's what men did in that time period.  We can be grateful for their courage and sense of service to their families and their colony.

The family of Josiah Whittemore 1784-1870

This is the last of seven posts about the men in our direct line of the Whittemore family. We've met Thomas, John, John, John, John, Josiah, and now Josiah's son, also Josiah.  Josiah, the subject of this post, was born in 1784 to Josiah and Lucy Snow Whittemore.  He appears to have left Massachusetts to go to New York about 1806, first in Clinton County and then in or near Hartford, Washington County.  I have been unable to locate any records of military service for him but it is at least possible, given his location, that he served in the war of 1812 in one way or another.  

Josiah married Betsey Foster, the daughter of Jude and Lydia (unknown) Foster in 1805.  Betsey died in 1854 and Josiah in 1870.  The couple had at least 5 children.

Their first born, in 1807, was Josiah. He married Alma Briggs, the daughter of Benoni and Mercy Hall Briggs.  Their children are Horatio Gates, Benoni, John, Alma, Washington, Lafayette, and Ella.  Josiah died in Wisconsin in 1890.  

John Dexter was born in 1809.  I haven't located any further records for him so there is a possibility that he died young.  

John Foster was born in 1814 and died in 1899 in Washington County, New York.  He married Calista Brayton, the daughter of Carr and Mary Bowen Brayton.  Their children are Lester, John, Byron, Myron, Edward, Charles, and Minnie.  

Next was Mary Elizabeth, who was known on at least some census reports as Lizzie.  She was born in 1817 and married Joseph Rockwood Holbrook, the son of Nahum and Susanna Rockwood Holbrook.  Their children are Clark, Nahum, Susan, Fremont, and Martha.  Lizzie died in 1884 in Cook County, Illinois.

The final known child was Martha, born in 1819 and died in 1863 in Hartford, Washington County, New York.  She married Elisha P Harden, the son of Samuel and Lydia Park Harden.  I could locate only two children for them, Lydia and Mary.  

This gives a total of 21 grandchildren for Josiah and Betsey, and of course there may be more.  Josiah's family was starting to spread out.  The Whittemores were born in Massachusetts for generations, but Josiah (as well as his father) died in New York.  At least one of his siblings died in Michigan, and two of his children died in Wisconsin and Illinois.  They were moving with the country, west.  I'm sure there were stories we would love to have known. 

The family of Josiah Whittemore 1749-1814

 Josiah Whittemore is one of our family's heroes, because he was part of the Massachusetts militia, and fought in the Revolutionary War.  He must have been a remarkable man, because he also fathered at least fourteen children.  It's time to take a quick look at his family, as we imagine them sitting around a dinner table (probably in shifts, as the family grew) and perhaps at family devotions together.  

Josiah is the son of John and Lydia Clough Whittemore, and was born in 1749 in Boston, Massachusetts.  He had left the Boston area by the time he married Lucy Snow in Lancaster on August 9, 1773.  The two would have been in the early years of their marriage when Josiah left for the war.  Lucy is the daughter of William and Elizabeth Stevens Snow, born in 1748 and died in 1794.  Together, Josiah and Lucy had at least 10 children.  After Lucy died, Josiah married Martha Parkhurst, the daughter of Nathaniel and Eunice Harrington Parkhurst.  She was born in 1764 and when her first husband, John Rider or Ryder, died in 1794 she had at least one son from that marriage.  I have seen it said that she had 14 children from her first marriage but I've located only one, and the statement may have originally read that she raised 14 children.  Josiah and Martha had at least four children together.

Most of Josiah and Lucy's children ended up in or near Fitzwilliam, New Hampshire, for reasons I haven't yet discovered.  (There were older Whittemores there also, and perhaps the New Hampshire branches were able to offer employment to the young men and women of the family.  Perhaps there was some sort of family discord.  It would be interesting to know the rest of the story...)

The first son born to Josiah and Lucy was William, born in 1774 and died in 1848.  He married Molly Locke, the daughter of William and Rebecca Barrett Locke.  Their children are Sophronia, Harriet, Albert, William, Gilman, Barrett, Mary, Rebecca, another William, and Otis.  

Next was John, born in 1775 and died in 1855.  He married Hannah Stone, the daughter of Samuel and Anna Stacy Stone.  Their children are Dexter, Joel, Danvers, John, Lucy, and Laura.  

Salmon was the nest son, born in 1778 and died in 1826.  He married Lydia Wheeler, the daughter of Hezekiah and Mary Wood Wheeler.  Their children are Mary, Sally, Abigail, Lydia, Cyrus, Elijah, Abigail, and George.  (This couple was married in Royalston, Massachusetts, but moved to New Hampshire.)

Mary was the couple's first daughter, born in 1780 and died in 1810.  She married Caleb Sweetser, the son of Michael and Mary Pool Sweeter.  Their children are Lucy, Thomas, Hannah, Betsey, Mary and Eliza.

A second daughter, Lucy, was born in 1783 and died in 1804.  As far as I have been able to learn, she did not marry, nor did she have children.  As all of the children mentioned so far, she died in New Hampshire.

The next son is an outlier, Josiah.  He was born in 1784 and died in 1870 in South Hartford, Washington County, New York.  He married Betsey Foster, the daughter of Jude and (probably) Lydia Foster.  There are indications that Lydia may have been a Goodenow but I haven't proven that yet.  Josiah and Betsey's children are Josiah, John Dexter, John Foster, Martha, and Mary Elizabeth.  I will write more of this family in my next post.

Levi was born in 1786 and died in 1847 in Troy, New Hampshire.  He married Mary "Polly" Blodgett, the daughter of Jonathan and Susanna Tenney Blodgett.  Their children are Mary Ann, Maria, Levi, Luther, Roancy, John, Susan, Caroline, Sarah and Cyrus.   

The next son was named Cephas.  He was born in 1787 and died in 1790.  

Otis was born in 1789 and died in 1828, although I have no definite date nor location for him.  He is said to have married Mary Ann Smith, although, again, I can find no marriage record nor a location.  Their children are Lucy, Mary Ann, and Otis.  

Josiah and Lucy's last child was Betsey, born in 1793 and died in 1881, probably in Michigan.  She married William Farrar, the son of Daniel and Lucena Joslin Farrar.  Their children are William, Lucy, Danvers, Lorenzo, Daniel, Hannah, John, George, Charles, James, Harriet, Ann, Samuel, Calvin, and Thomas, for a total of 15 children.  

And with that, Lucy died, of "nervous fever".  Lucy was the grandmother of 62, although of course many were born after her death in 1794.  Josiah married Martha Parkhurst Rider the following year, at least partly because he needed someone to help raise the children, who in 1795 would have ranged in age from 2 years old to 19.  

Josiah and Martha had four children together:

Cephas was born in 1797 and died in Charleston, South Carolina in 1877.  He married, in Boston, Massachusetts, Lydia Smith, the daughter of Alexander and Hepzibah Hobbs Smith.  (I have as of yet not been able to connect Mary Ann Smith, who married Otis Whittemore, to Lydia Smith, who married Cephas.) Their children are Lydia, John, Lyman, and Mary Jane.  It would be interesting to know more about Cephas' life, especially during the Civil War.  Why did he go to South Carolina, and when? I can locate him in 1860 as a farmer there, but can't find him in the 1850 census.  

Zenas was born in 1798 and died in 1872 in New Bedford, Massachusetts.  He was a soap and candle maker.  He had three wives.  Louisa Phillips, the daughter of Blaney and Chloe Murdock Phillips, was the mother of William, Martha, Eliza, Mary, Zenas, Josiah, and Zenas again.  (Shall we rejoice that finally Josiah had a namesake grandson?)  His second wife was Sophia Penniman (various spellings), daughter of Bethuel and Sophia Churchill Penniman.  Their son was Charles.  Lastly, he married Mary Tobey, the daughteer of Elisha and Phebe Jenney Tobey.  Their children included Martha, May, and Ella.  

The only daughter of Josiah and Martha was Martha, born in 1800 and died in 1848 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. She married William H Manchester, the son of William and Susan Howland Manchester.  Their children are Mary, Martha, Thomas, William, and Susan.

Josiah and Martha's last child was Sylanus, who was born in August of 1803 and died less than two months later.  

Josiah and Martha had 20 grandchildren, so adding that to the grandchildren of Josiah and Lucy, Josiah had at least 82 grandchildren.  I can't imagine getting that kind of happy news 82 times!  Whatever the reasons that the family didn't stay close geographically, this was a large family and it's fun to think that the siblings and cousins may have visited each other, from Michigan to South Carolina to New York and New Hampshire.