Holbrook line: John Burr 1659-1716

John Burr is among those of our ancestors who I am beginning to call the "Silent Generation".  Actually, there are several "silent" ancestors in many generations.  To explain my terminology, it means I have been unable to find more than bare bones information about the person and sometimes not even that. 

At least for John Burr, we know who his parents are, and we know the vitals about birth, marriage, and death.  If it wasn't for his will, that information is all that we we would have.  Also, we do know a little about the town he lived and died in, and we know a little of the history of his time.  So we can pull this silent man just a little bit out of the shadows, and start to see a little of his life.

John Burr was born January 6, 1659 in Hingham, Massachusetts.  His parents, Simon and Hester Burr, were the immigrants here.  I should stop a moment to explain that John's mother is variously seen as Hester Rose, Rose Hester, and Hester Sparhawk. Whatever her name, her parentage has not yet been established, to the best of my current knowledge.

Hingham was a small village on the Massachusetts coast line, what is known as the South Shore.  It is about 20 miles from Boston.  At the time John lived, it probably supported both fisherman and coastal mariners as well as farmers and tradesmen.  Our John was a farmer.  He is described using that word, rather than husbandman or yeoman, which is a bit unusual.  The only record of town service that we have was that he was a constable in 1698.

His father, Simon, served in King Philip's War and it is probable that John at least served at home.  He would have been just 16 when the war broke out, and would have trained for only a few days with the local training band.  He likely could shoot, but probably couldn't yet perform military maneuvers well.  Hingham wasn't directly affected by the war, and probably the village didn't evacuate as so many towns did.  It is also possible that John served in some of the campaigns that Massachusetts men were involved in during King William's War, particularly the battles in what became Maine and Nova Scotia.  If he wasn't there, he at least would have known all about it from stories from other citizens of the town. 

John married Mary Warren, daughter of John and Deborah Wilson Warren, on December 24, 1685 in Hingham.  He and Mary had 10 children together.  John's financial position would have been improved when Simon died in 1691.  His older brother Simon got about 60% of the estate and he got about 40%, but it was still enough to help, with eventually 10 children to raise.  Presumably the two men supported their mother until her death by suicide in 1693. 

The only other information we have about John is his will.  His estate totaled almost 922 pounds, which was a pretty good sum for a farmer.  He owned 9 different plots of land, which made up the bulk of the estate, plus various farm animals and household furnishings.  His "arms and ammunition" were valued at 1 pound, and his books at two pounds.  His house had at least four rooms, or chambers, with furniture in each. John has several dates of death attributed to him, but they are all between September 17 and  December 7, 1716.  His youngest son was just 13 when John died.  Mary lived as a widow until July 26, 1742. 

This is the little we know of John Burr, and I'd like to know more.  Wouldn't you?

The line of descent is

John Burr-Mary Warren
Mary Burr-Thomas Marsh
Deborah Marsh-Isaac Lazell
Deborah Lazell-Levi Rockwood
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph  Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

 

Holbrook line: Joseph Thomson 1698-1755

There are certain towns in Massachusetts that should be "destinations" for family travelers.  One such area is Springfield-Westfield, in the Connecticut River valley, where many of our Allen names lived for generations.  Another is the Mendon-Wrentham-Franklin-Bellingham area, which was home to many of our Holbrook families for generations.  Sometimes our ancestors were big people in these little places, and sometimes they didn't leave much of a trace. 

Joseph Thomson (or Tomson, or Thompson) is one of our Mendon-Bellingham ancestors, who didn't make much of an impact on the town, as far as we can tell.  He lived, married, had children, and died.  Even though there is a lot we don't know about him, we do know that he lived in interesting times, and we know that his estate papers will tell us a little about his life. 

First, what we do know.  Joseph was born in Medfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on October 19, 1698, to John and Hannah Wight Thomson.  Medfield at the time would have felt like a new town.  It was originally founded in 1649 but was burned during King Philips War, so none of the hoes were more than 20 or so years old.  And memories were long.  Joseph had at least seven brothers and sisters, so his parents had plenty to do.  One thing they likely did was send the boys to school.  Another Holbrook ancestor, Ralph Wheelock, had founded the school there and it was important that boys learn to read and write.

Joseph married Mary Holbrook, daughter of Peter and Alice Godfrey Holbrook, on March 28, 1725, in Bellingham, Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The town had been officially formed in 1719, but people had been living in the area for some time.  Joseph's parents died in Bellingham, so it seems likely that his parents had initiated the move prior to Joseph's reaching the age of 21, but we don't know for sure when the move was made.  Joseph and Mary had 11 children together, so again, this was a busy family, with busy parents. 

Some of the Thomsons and most of the Holbrooks were Baptists, but the church didn't form until mid-century so Joseph, even if a member, would not have had a lot of influence there.  He doesn't show up on the earliest membership rolls, so perhaps he stayed in the Puritan church.  He does show up as one of only 50 qualified voters in the town, in 1739. 

I don't know if he ever served in the military.  We was of the right age to be in Queen Anne's war and might have been in King George's War, but I've not yet found his name on any such listing.  His inventory does include "Armour, gun, sword and accoutrements" so he was or had been ready to serve, at one time. 

Joseph died January 2, 1755, without having a will.  His appraisers were Ebenezer Thayer, (ancestor), Samuel Hayward, and John Metcalf.  Besides the military items listed above, he had several parcels of land, bedding for four beds, feathers, household goods, husbandry and carpenter tools, farm animals, and a lot of flax, It's hard to tell whether there was a loom or spinning wheel because several lines list an object and then say "and sundry items" so similar words.  He did have a few books.
There is a careful documentation in the file of who was to get which part of which parcel of land and other belongings.  Mary was entitled to her one third of the estate and the rest was divided up among the children.  Mary died March 4, 1781.  I haven't located a burial location for them but it was probably what is known as the North Cemetery, where many of the town's founders are buied.

So that's the little we know about Joseph Thomson.  He was a decent man, or there would be stories of any shenanigans in court records.  He may or may not have been a religious man, whether Puritan or Baptist.  He may or may not have served in one of more of the conflicts that were an ongoing part of colonial life.   But he was our ancestor, anchored in time and location, and for that, I am grateful.

The line of descent is:

Joseph Thomson-Mary Holbrook
Alice Thomson-Joseph Rockwood
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook=Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Another Ebenezer Thayer 1699-1771

I had something of a genealogy scare when I started researching for this post.  I saw that there are several trees that give different parents for our Ebenezer than I had thought correct.  So I spent some time going through what records I could find on line and ended up confident that the parents I'm showing are more likely to be correct than the ones others are showing.  Whew!  I let my breath out when I came to my conclusion, because I've made enough errors already and don't want to perpetuate any more. 

So, Ebenezer Thayer was born April 12, 1699 in Mendon, Massachusetts, the son of Ebenezer and Martha Thomson Thayer.  (I wrote about Ebenezer Senior recently, with never a thought that he might be the wrong guy.)  Ebenezer, the subject of this post, had at least two brothers and four sisters, named in his father's will in 1722 (father was of Bellingham then).  Bellingham was formed out of Mendon and it appears that at least some of the family land was on the border between the two towns, but the main dwelling house was part of Bellingham. 

Our Ebenezer married Mary Wheelock on August 9, 1721.  She was the daughter of Benjamin and Huldah Thayer Wheelock, and yes, there was a family connection between Ebenezer and Huldah.  The two were first cousins once removed.  When Ebenezer Senior died in 1722, he left a lot of land and other assets, to the value of about 795 pounds.  Ebenezer, as the oldest son, received a double share and it looks like he would have been set for life. 

Then it gets confusing, and I've not been able to find a will to give answers.  Mary, the wife of Ebenezer, is said to have died in 1731 and Ebenezer is said to have married Hannah Greene in 1734 and fathered more children with her.  I can't find a record of Mary's death or of the marriage of Ebenezer and Hannah, so I'm confused.  I don't know whether the Ebenezer who married Hannah was ours or not.  Some of the printed genealogies say that it was an Ebenezer who was born in 1720 who married Hannah, and that makes no sense either.  There was an Ebenezer who was born to Isaac Thayer in 1697; could it have been this Ebenezer who married Hannah?

And yet, there are just three records of births to Ebenezer and Mary in the town records...so what really happened? 

Another point of confusion is the use of the term "Captain" in 1754.  Which Ebenezer was this?  And how did he obtain the title of "Captain"/  What military service might this person have been part of?  The most likely explanation, given the birth date of 1699 for our Ebenezer is that he was somehow involved in King George's War,but I've found no evidence for that yet. 

There was only one Ebenezer who was taxed in 1726 in Bellingham, one who was qualified in 1739 to be a voter (implying land ownership and church membership, I believe).  His name is on a petition asking to be assigned to Mendon II district for ecclesiastical affairs, in 1747.  I know that Mendon had a serious church problem as did Bellingham, as the church in Bellingham was Baptist.  Perhaps Ebenezer was not of that persuasion and wanted to go to a more traditional church. 

Since I can't find a will or estate papers for Ebenezer, I don't know whether he held on to some of his father's wealth or not.  Farming in that area of Massachusetts was difficult as the soil was not suited for farming, or at least not easily farmed.  Was his will taken by someone who wanted it for personal reasons, or did he never have a will?  But shouldn't he at least had a probate record?

I'd like to know about Ebenezer, of course.  Did Mary die and did her remarry?  Where are Mary's death records?  What were his religious beliefs, and how did he acquire the title of "Captain", if this man is ours?  I sure hope someone who has studied this family will have some answers and be willing to help us learn more of our ancestor's story.

The line of descent is:
Ebenezer Thayer-Mary Wheelock
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Turner, our own iron man

Usually when I write a blog post, I have a birth date and a death date, even if those dates are approximate, and my job is to fill in the dash between those dates, telling a story about who the person was and what they did.  For today's post, I have only the vaguest of ideas about dates, and I'm not sure whether I'm telling the story of one man, or of two.  I am going to treat this as two men, with the understanding that I am fully open to corrections and additional information. 

The first John Turner seems to have been born perhaps about 1600.  He came to America by 1643, when his name was on an early petition for Lynn, Massachusetts.  He was there in 1654, as an iron worker.  In 1648, he was charged with stabbing his daughter in law, Sarah Turner, and was sentenced to be severely whipped.  It is thought that this was the wife of his son Lawrence.  He is also thought to have had a son John.  There don't seem to be any further known records about John in Lynn.  Speculation is that he had been an iron worker in England, perhaps at Hammersmith, and had come to Massachusetts specifically to work at the first iron works set up in the colony. 

The next time we find John Turner, he is in Taunton, Massachusetts, in 1654.  This John Turner worked as a foreman at the forge in Taunton.  He is believed to be the son of the John Turner at Lynn, but it's possible that this was the same man.  If he was the son, then he followed in his father's trade, and likely moved up in the world, because by 1690 he was listed as the "clerke" at the iron works at Taunton, which was perhaps close to the role of manager, or maybe chief financial officer.  It was a position of respect, anyway.

John at Taunton was a married man, with at least three daughters, Jane, Mary, and Margaret.  It's thought that his wife's name was Jane, but records are lacking.  (Taunton's early records were destroyed by fire). 

The other things we know about John are that he was a surveyor in 1675 (the only town office he is known to have filled, although there were likely others), that he purchased a share or part of a share in the company, that he acquired some of the land purchased from the native Americans in 1672, and that he took an oath of fidelity, probably related to when William and Mary took the thrones in 1688.  He's not found on the list of freemen, which means he likely was not a member of the church.  He may have had a few animals but he wasn't a farmer in the traditional sense of the word.  It would be a great help to review his will, but it seems to have gone missing, whether in the destruction of other town records or for some other reason, I don't know. 

Taunton was only lightly affected by King Philip's war, with minor attacks on only two occasions.  A couple of houses were burned and one man was killed.  The town in general did not evacuate, so it seems likely that John would have served in one of the garrison houses, either as a ember of the militia or as a civilian pressed into duty. 

John was working in 1690 but I've not located any further records of him.  He was outside of the box for our family, not a pastor or a school teacher or a farmer.  The work of the iron works was truly essential to the success of the colony, as the only other source of iron was from England itself, a long and costly way to procure it.  So his work was important to the colony, and his life is important to us. 

The line of descent is

John TUrner-Jane
Jane Turner-Richard Godfrey
Alice Godfrey-Peter Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Cook
Jesse Holbrook-Abigail Thayer
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Eliabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Benjamin Wheelock 1678-1746

 Earlier this week I wrote about Jonathan Thayer, of whom I could find little or nothing.  Now I'm writing about his son in law, Benjamin Wheelock, who lived in the same small town, and I've found a ton of information about him.  His father, also Benjamin Wheelock, was a founder of the town of Mendon, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and was respected in the town.  This Benjamin also was respected, sometimes being given the title of "Mr." in the town records, and his son Benjamin, who is not our direct ancestor, carried on the family tradition.

This Benjamin was the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Bullen Wheelock and a grandson of Ralph Wheelock, the immigrant.  He was born December 12, 1768 and was one of at least five children.  He came to Mendon as a young boy and lived his whole life in this frontier village.

On December 9, 1700 he married his step sister, Huldah Thayer, who was the daughter of Jonathan and Elizabeth French Thayer (Elizabeth had married Benjamin's father, after they were both widowed).  Since it's reasonable to suppose that the two knew each other well, we can assume this marriage was a happy one.  They had at least eight children together, and the family, or at least Benjamin, seems to have prospered.

In The Annals of the Town of Mendon, it is often hard to differentiate between the three (at least) Benjamin Wheelocks.  But in 1707 ours is identified as Benjamin Wheelock Jr., as a selectman, so we are willing to consider the possibility that some of the remaining references to Benjamin between then and 1716, when his father died, could be our Benjamin.

 In 1705, Benjamin Wheelock and his successors were granted use of the "mill pond" for as long as they kept in in repair and serviceable for the town's use. The mill pond was used as a reservoir with water released as necessary to run the mill. I don't know if this signifies that the mill was run by the Wheelocks, or whether there is something else significant about this.  If someone knows, please let me know!

I didn't find anything specific about Benjamin in the military, but it seems likely he was in the training band, if nothing else.  I did find that he was appointed to a committee to oversee the building of the town meeting house in 1720.  It was to be 50 ft long, 45 ft wide, 20 ft high, and to be a "studded house", as differentiated from a log cabin, I suppose.  He also was appointed to a committee to sell the "pew rooms" in 1737.  I'm not clear on the meaning of this, either.

He was the recipient of several grants of land that the town made, and two of the three times I noted he drew a low number, so he chose some of the best of the land that was being divided.  In another grant, he drew lot 122, so this was probably mediocre at best.

Benjamin was a selectman several times, starting in 1707 and probably ending in 1739, when he was also chosen to be the representative to the general court in Boston.  He refused to serve, but it's not stated why he chose to stay home.  He was already 61 years of age, and may have not felt up to the task.  Just as likely, Huldah died July 7 of that year and he probably wanted to stay home, to care for her and watch after the family.

Benjamin remarried on August 21, 1740, to Rebecca Nurse Kinney.  (No, I haven't checked to see if she was connected to the Nurses of Salem).  He died 6 years later, on September 13, 1746.  His will is quite extensive.  He left twenty pounds each to the daughters of his deceased daughter, Mary Thayer, and some personal belongings beside.  His will specifies that all bequests are to be in the "old tenor", which is a reference to a fairly recent change in currency.  He wanted them to be given the money as he had known it all his life, and that carried more value than the more recent currency.

I was also fortunate enough to locate his inventory.  It is quite specific, including the value of items devised in the will.  His inventory was valued at over 1120 pounds, again in the "old tenor".  I think we would classify him as"well to do", if not wealthy.  Benjamin Wheelock was a family man, a civil servant, a member of the church, and a leader in the community.  We can be proud of him!

The line of descent is

Benjamin Wheelock-Huldah Thayer
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Jonathan Thayer 1658-1690

A life cut short...Jonathan Thayer was one of the several children of Fernando or Ferdinando and Huldah Hayward Thayer.  He was born January 1, 1658 and he died sometime in 1690.  He lived just 32 years.  That is probably why I can find so little information about him. 

He married Elizabeth French, daughter of John and Freedom French, on June 22, 1679, and that is where he and Elizabeth raised their family. Four children, Huldah, Grace, Deborah and Jonathan, were born to the couple, and our Jonathan also had an illegitimate child with Sarah Darling, Hezekiah Thayer, who died young. (This last was born in 1687). It would be interesting to find the court records for that situation.  Jonathan probably had to pay some kind of support for the young child, and Sarah could very well have been jailed and whipped.   

That is as much as I can tell you, and honestly, I don't have a source for the Hezekiah story.  It's on Find a Grave, so take it for whatever it's worth.

Now, I'm going to speculate for a couple of sentences.  Huldah, Jonathan's mother, died in 1690.  1690 was a horrible year for smallpox in the Boston area (Mendon was near enough for this purpose to be counted as Boston.)  Did both of them die of smallpox?  Jonathan apparently died before September 14, 1690 (date of inventory)  and his mother died in September,   Had one of them been caring for the other?

We can't tell much about Jonathan from the inventory, which was taken September 14, 1690.  The inventory included 10 acres of land, a dwelling and out (housing, laying, not sure what it says), two cows, three yearlings, and one calf, ten swine, 2 horses, a cart, arms and ammunition, a debt from his father, and a few household goods such as beds and a chest.  It's a pretty meager inventory. 

Elizabeth went on to marry Benjamin Wheelock in 1692, and her daughter Huldah, our ancestor, married his son Benjamin, also our ancestor.  It's nice to think that something good happened out of these tragedies. 

The line of descent is:

Jonathan Thayer-Elizabeth French
Huldah Thayer-Benjamin Wheelock
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook=Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Holbrook line: Peter Holbrook 1656-1712

Peter Holbrook has been a favorite of mine, ever since several years ago, when I read the will of his grandfather, Thomas, who died in 1677.  Peter was just about 21 at the time.  Thomas's will states that because Peter took care of him and of his wife in their old age, he was leaving his dwelling house, orchard, and arable land in Weymouth to Peter.  I don't know many young men who would care for their grandparents for such a long time, so I am already favorably impressed with this ancestor.

But let's back up and start at the beginning.  Peter was the son of Thomas and Joanna Kingman Holbrook on September 6, 1656 by the dating method most sites are using.  Peter was of the first generation born in New England, in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony.   His father was about ten years old when he came to America with his father, so Peter may or may not have heard many stories about life in the home country.  He was raised a Puritan, so he knew how to read and write, and he'd learned enough about how to run a farm to take care of his grandparents; land.  He was probably a bright and hard working young man.

We don't know what he looked like, but he had enough going for him to capture the heart of Alice Godfrey, daughter of Richard and Jane Turner Godfrey.  Peter and Alice were married about
1677, apparently in Mendon.  It's hard to know the exact timeline because Peter was caring for his grandparents until March (grandfather) or April (grandmother's date of death, of 1677.

His responsibilities in caring for his grandparents probably explains why I don't find his name listed as a soldier in King Philip's War.  He had more immediate duties.  The town the young couple went to, Mendon, was totally burned by the Indians during the War, so it's just as well that the couple wasn't there yet.  They apparently did move to town soon after the war, though  Peter's name starts showing up in town records at least by 1685, when he is charged a high "rate" of one pound and five shillings to support Mr. Rawson, the town pastor, for sixx months.  Only a handful of men had a rate higher than Peter's.

While Peter and Alice were raising a large family of at least eleven children, Peter was making his way in the world.  I'm not sure just when, but at some point he went from being "Peter Holbrook" to being "Deacon Peter Holbrook".  He was a commissioner in 1685 and was a selectman several times over the next 25 years.  He was appointed to a committee to "run the lines" between Mendon and Sherburn in 1699, which may have required some diplomatic skill.

In 1694, Peter received a 7 year lease to the "training field", with the stipulation that he was to clear the field of "bushes" and have it ready for pasture.  Apparently the men were no longer using the training field, although I can't think that they were no longer training.  There were small wars in progress and Mendon, while no longer quite as exposed as it had been, would still have been aware of such things.  Military organization did not often make it into the town history books, so we are left to wonder about the training and military service of the town's men.

Peter died May 3, 1712.  Alice had died earlier, in 1705, and Peter married Elizabeth Shaw two years later.  His will makes generous provisions for her care, gives a double share to eldest son John, and leaves bequests to his younger children who had not yet received their land.  The three older sons had received lands by deed prior to Peter's final illness.  His inventory was valued at over 278 pounds, including real estate.  He had a few farm animals, furniture, bookx, and hand tools but there was nothing in the inventory to make me think he was especially prosperous, or at least not much of a spender.  Most of his wealth was in his land, and in his family.

I'm proud of Peter.  He was a good grandson, a deacon in the church, a respected man in his community and a good father.  No wonder Elizabeth Shaw was willing to marry him!

Our line of descent is

Peter Holbrook-Alice Godfrey
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Cook
Jesse Holbrook=Abigail Thayer
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph R Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Fun fact:  Peter Holbrook was the ancestor of William Howard Taft, President of the US, Barbara Bush, and George W Bush, another President.  

Holbrook line: Nathaniel Hawes 1660-1714

As I started this post, I had very little information about Nathaniel Hawes beyoun the basics.  He is like many other second generation ancestors.  The immigrants themselves may have quite a bit of information available about them, but these second generation folks are not so easily traceable.  Well, we know who their parents are and usually vital records, but not much more than that.  Such is the case with our Nathaniel.

He was born August 14, 1660 at Dedgam in Suffolk COunty, Massachusetts, and he died there October 18. 1714.  His parents were Edward and Eleanor or Eliony Lombaard Hawes, and they were the immigrants.  Nathaniel was one of at least nine children, so he had a lot of siblings.  the Hawes family was probably in the lower half of Dedham residents, as far as economics go, so Nathaniel was probably let out at a young age to learn a trade.  That trade eluded me until I saw his inventory.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We don't know how or whether Nathaniel was involved in King Philip's War.  He wasn't 15 yet when the war broke out, and by the time he turned 16, the war was winding down.  We do know that Dedham was a gathering place for militia, and that quite a few men from Dedham were at the "Great Swamp Fight", but it is likely that Nathaniel stayed home to help protect this family.  

At the age of 27, Nathaniel married Sarah Newell, daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth Curtis Newell, on March 29, 1688.  Sarah was 22 at the time, so they would likely have been considered mature enough to marry and perhaps to set up their own household.  Nathaniel and Sarah had eight children, and there was another daughter who apparently did not survive infancy.  Of the eight, only one was a son, Nathaniel Jr., who was born in 1701, when there were already five girls.  (Nathaniel Jr must have been one spoiled child, wouldn't you think?)  Two more sisters were born after Nathaniel, to complete the family.

That's what we know of Nathaniel.  We can draw some inferences that he was somewhat respected, because several of his daughters married into families that were important in Dedham history (Puffer, Bacon, Aldis).  Nathaniel died October 14, 1714, when he was 54 years old. 

And then, there's the inventory.  It included two parcels on land, farm animals, wearing apparel, woodenware (a clue that the family was not weathy), books worth one pound (so he was literate), and, interesting to me, cooper's tools.  So he built barrels or other wooden containers for liquids, most likely, to help increase the family income.  This was a skill that he must have learned somewhere, perhaps as a young man when he may have been an apprentice or at least a laborer in someone's shop. Nathaniel left most of his estate to his wife, with the stipulation that when Nathaniel Jr. reached the age of 21 he would receive a double share, and the estate was to be given to his children when Sarah died or remarried.

Sarah did remarry, to Deacon Samuel Rocket or Rockwood) and she presented another inventory when the estate was closed out in 1720.  I'm not sure whether the daughters had received their shares by then or not.  The youngest daughter would have been just 13. 

I'm glad to know that Nathaniel had a trade as well as a farm, orchard, and dwelling.  I'm glad to know he had some books.  I wish I knew more about him.  I didn't locate his name as any kind of town office holder, and that is a little bit curious given the families his daughters married into.  I need to do more research on that.  I like to imagine Nathaniel as a cooper, making barrels or buckets or pails.  I can smell the wood now, and can imagine what equipment he might have had.  I'd like to hear his story about King Philip's War, though. 

The line of descent is

Nathaniel Hawes-Sarah Newell
Elizabeth Hawes-Samuel Wilson
Rebecca Wilson-Jonathan Wright
Molly Wright-Amariah Holbrook
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Maary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

 

Holbrook line: Benjamin Wheelock 1639-1716

Benjamin Wheelock, who may have been the first Wheelock born in the American colonies, certainly has stayed out of view of family historians.  We have bits and pieces, enough to have a vague outline, but we don't know nearly as much about him as he know about his father. 

His parents were Rev. Ralph and Rebecca Clarke Wheelock. Rev. Wheelock was a graduate of Clare College at Cambridge University, and Rev. Ralph came to America as a Puritan pastor.  He is also recognized as the first public school teacher in America.  So, poor Benjamin!  His father was both a pastor and a schoolteacher; what chance did the poor kid have?

Benjamin had four older siblings and one younger sibling.  He was born January 8, 1639/40 in Dedham, Massachusetts, where his parents had gone soon after arriving in Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The family stayed there until Benjamin was about 11 years old and then they moved to Medfield, Massachusetts.  Typically boys were put into some kind of a trade or on the job training program by the time they were 14.  We don't know if this happened to Benjamin, or whether his father's more professional occupations might have allowed Benjamin to stay at home longer.  Perhaps he was needed for the chores around home, as his father was busy preparing sermons and lessons and may not have paid much attention to other things that needed to be done. 

Benjamin married Elizabeth Bullen, daughter of Samuel and Mary Morse Bullen, on May 21, 1668 in Medfield.  He was a little older than typical for his generation, about 28, but Elizabeth was about 21, about typical for young women.  Benjamin and Elizabeth stayed in Medfield, where he had a house built the year of their marriage.  He acquired other land and became known as a "proprietor", which gave him certain rights in land divisions that not every resident had. 

Benjamin and Elizabeth had at least five children, and at least four were born in Medfield.  Sometime in 1685 or 1686, the family moved to Mendon, where Benjamin is listed as a founder.  Here he was a tything man, a constable, and a selectman, so he was well regarded there.  He purchased land from Matthias Puffer and undoubtedly hoped to live out his days in Mendon, along with his wife Elizabeth.

However, Elizabeth died in 1689,  Benjamin may have married Elizabeth French, widow of Jonathan Thayer and daughter of John French, in about 1692.  It is possible that he fathered two more children with her, although some think this is not correct.  I guess I hope it is true, that he had children when he was well into middle age, because they would have kept him young, or at least helped care for him as he aged.

Benjamin died September 13, 1716 at Mendon.  I've not found a will or inventory, which is disappointing.  That might give us more insight into what Benjamin did for a living, and how well he was doing, financially.  It might also tell us what land he owned, and whether he had a library of more than a Bible and a couple of religious books. 

From what little we know, we know that he was respected in his community, that he raised a good family, and that he was at least as "religious" as his neighbors.  Being chosen as a selectman was an honor, and it's an privilege to be able to claim him as an ancestor.

The line of descent is

Benjamin Wheelock-Elizabeth Bullen
Benjamin Wheelock-Huldah Thayer
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Hobrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Samuel Sumner 1638-who knows? Not what I expected to find!

Well, you never know.  You just never know, and that's what makes genealogy so fascinating.  Who would think that a man in his later fifties would just pull up stakes from Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and transport himself, his wife, and most of their thirteen children, mostly adults, to Dorchester, South Carolina?  These kinds of surprises just keep me going. 

To start at the beginning, Samuel Sumner was born May 18, 1638 in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony to William and Mary Swift Sumner.  (Some sites list his mother as Mary West but I don't find evidence for that-yet.)  He was one of at least seven children born to this couple, and he was raised to be a good Puritan. 

Samuel married Rebecca Staples, daughter of John and Rebecca Borrobridge Staple, at Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony, on March 7, 1659.  The couple had thirteen children together, and were apparently faithful members of the church,  There were two men from Dorchester named Samuel Sumner who went on the "Canada" expedition in 1690, under Captain John Worthington.  One was a sergeant and one an ensign.  One returned, one didn't.  This expedition had tried to capture Quebec from the French but were not successful.

As good Puritans, Samuel and Rebecca were among those who went with Rev. Joseph Lord to the settlement they named Dorchester in what was then Berkeley County, South Carolina.  They were dismissed from the church November 1, 1696, to go south.  Assuming they left soon after, that might have been a rough trip, traveling south by ship in early winter.  It's 962 miles by road so would probably have been further than that by boat.  This was still hurricane season, so it is by God's mercy and grace that they made it safely. 

It's not known why the New England church decided to start a daughter church in South Carolina.  Perhaps they were aware that the Anglican church also wanted to develop the area.  Maybe it was population pressure, where they were already running out of land in the New England Dorchester.  It doesn't appear to be a church split at all.  But Samuel, whose parents had pioneered in Dorchester, now became a pioneer and immigrant of sorts in South Carolina. 

I don't know anything about his life in South Carolina, or his death.  I found a tentative, undocumented death date for Rebecca of 1710.  Life along the Ashley River would have been very different from Massachusetts, and there were many illnesses that took the lives of these early settlers, from smallpox to malaria to other southern fevers.  They wouldn't have had much exposure to malaria or the other fevers in the north, so perhaps it was one of these diseases that took one or both of them.

I haven't yet found his will or inventory, nor anything that really states his occupation.  However, whatever his occupation in the north, when he settled in South Carolina, he would have become a farmer first and foremost.  Crops had to be raised, families needed to be fed.  We aren't told, or at least I haven't found, what material assistance they may have been given by the church, to help feed them until the first crops came in.  We do know that the settlement only lasted about 45 years.  When it closed, some of the congregation moved south to Georgia, some stayed in place and some went back "home" to Massachusetts. 

Samuel and Rebecca's daughter, Rebecca, had married Ephraim Wilson and they did not travel south with most of the family.  So our line continued in New England but still, this is intriguing and unexpected 225 year old "news".  You never know what you don't know until you find out you don't know it! 

The line of descent is:

Samuel Sumner-Rebecca Staples
Rebecca Sumner-Ephraim Wilson
Samuel Wilson-Elizabeth Hawes
Rebecca Wilson-Jonathan Wright
Molly Wright-Amariah Holbrook
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Fun fact:  This South Carolina settlement appears to be within a stone's throw of the home of my brother in law.  Both have a Summerville, SC address now.  We've been there, and didn't know of the family connection at the time. 

Holbrook line: Joseph Holbrook 1683-1750

Joseph Holbrook, our ancestor, lived a quiet life, but thankfully left a few clues behind him so that we have some idea of his life.  He was born May 8, 1683, in Mendon, Massachusetts to Peter and Alice Godfrey Holbrook.  Joseph was of the fourth Holbrook generation to set foot in America.  His father was also born in Massachusetts Bay Colony, and his grandfather and great grandfather were the immigrants of the family. 

Joseph grew up with his ten siblings in Mendon, but eventually the town started getting crowded, and younger sons weren't likely to receive as much land or other parental help as the older brothers.  Joseph married Mary Cook, daughter of Nicholas and Joanna Rockwood Cook, on December 19, 1710, in Mendon and they apparently lived there for a few years.  Joseph's name, however, was on a petition asking to have the town of Bellingham formed in 1729.  I haven't figured out yet whether Joseph's land was actually in what became Bellingham, or whether he had to physically move to go to Bellingham.  At any rate, he lived out the rest of his days in Bellingham, without making many waves.

He was a husbandman, a farmer who owned his own land, and he had nine children to support.  So he worked hard, as did Mary.  There is a story that he was a Baptist, but I've not found anything to substantiate that yet.  Stories that he rode to New Jersey to get a professor for Brown University in Rhode Island apparently confuse our Joseph with another, perhaps his son Joseph, because Brown University wasn't founded until 14 years after our Joseph died.  However, we know that son Jesse was a Baptist, jailed for refusing to pay taxes to the state church, so perhaps Joseph was indeed Baptist, or became one in his later years. 

Bellingham was a small town.  in 1739, Joseph was one of only fifty men living within town boundaries who were eligible to vote in the town elections.  He may or may not be the Joseph who was town clerk, and who was selected as town treasurer in 1743.  The son Joseph was born in 1714, so may have been a little young for such a responsibility, but it's hard to tell from the references I've seen.  He wasn't referred to as Senior or Junior, as Deacon or any other title. 

Joseph died in Bellingham April 25, 1750 intestate, without a will.  His widow Mary asked that son Joseph be appointed administrator and that was approved.  A partial inventory, not totalled, is found on American Ancestry.  It looks like his estate was valued at over 350 pounds, with several tracts of land, husbandry tools, five beds, a Bible and other books included.  Mary lived until 1766, so she had the worry of watching several of her sons fighting in the French and Indian War.  She was undoubtedly a strong lady, as Joseph was a strong man. 

The story of the Holbrooks touches many parts of our nation's history.  Joseph was a part of that, and when I think of him, I will think of him as just that, part of our family history as well as our nation's history. 

The line of descent is:

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Cook
Jesse Holbrook-Abigail Thayer
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen. 

Holbrook line: Israel Lazell 1671-1755

Eighty four years ought to have been enough to have left more of a footprint than our ancestor Israel seems to have left.  I have birth and marriage records, his will, and an inventory.  I don't have a death record, I don't have a burial location, I don't know what church he attended, if any, and I don't have a reference to his occupation, although I can guess it from the inventory.  There is also one reference that he was a constable for a one year period.  End of story.

So, even though this will be a short post, this is what I know so far.  Israel Lazell was born September 24, 1671 in Hingham, Massachusetts to John and Elizabeth Gates Lazell.  He was one of at least 11 children born to the couple, and he apparently lived his whole life out in Hingham.  I say apparently because for some reason I am not locating a death record there, although his will states he was of Hingham, in Suffolk County.  It is of course possible that he died elsewhere, perhaps on a visit to one of his children.  Hingham was attacked by the natives so it's likely that his family evacuated the town, at least for a time. 

The first we hear of Israel after his birth is his marriage, to Rachel Lincoln, daughter of Daniel and Susanna Cushing Lincoln, also of Hingham, on July 6, 1698.  I don't know the religion of this couple but their first names indicate they were likely Puritan.  The Old Ship Church in Hingham was built in 681, when Israel would have been just ten years old, and this is likely the church that he and his family attended both before and after his marriage.  Israel and Rachel had at least four children who survived, and possibly others who died young.  We don't know how literate Israel was, but he did sign his name to his will, and there were books in his inventory, so he must have had more than the minimal amount of education.  (Typically, boys of this period learned to read and write, and girls learned to read well enough to read the Bible.) 

The next information I've found about Israel is his will.  Rachel had died in April of 1748 but it appears that Israel kept on doing what it was he was doing (farming, it appears) up until his final illness.  The inventory is more extensive than would have been necessary for just one man living by himself.  But wait, there's a discovery.  Listed on his inventory is "one Negro woman".  So he had a slave who cooked and cleaned for him, and probably took care of the smaller livestock and spun wool (a spinning wheel is in the inventory) and most of the things that a wife would have done.  We have no way of knowing how long he had "owned" her or what her age, or her name, may have been. 

Other information on the inventory is also revealing, though not as surprising.  He had a sword, and several pieces of land (given away in the will), cattle and oxen and sheep, a fishing rod (Hingham is on the coast line), a "pare" of spectacles, 4 barrels of cider, several books, and furniture including a "great chare".  In the will, it looks like our ancestor Isaac received a double share of the land that was granted.  The total estate was valued at about 755 pounds, which was not large but would have been enough to have helped his sons a bit. 

That's what I know about Israel.  It sounds like he worked hard, farmed and fished, and was mostly occupied with supporting his family rather than public service.  He deserves to have his place in our family tree noted. 

The line of descent is: 

Israel Lazell-Rachel Lincoln
Isaac Lazell-Deborah Marsh
Deborah Lazell-Levi Rockwood
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Rockwood 1641-1724

Our ancestor is notorious, not because he did anything wrong, but because he has confused and confounded genealogists and family historians.  His death date is often given far too early, 1676, when it was his son John Rockwood who died during an attack by the Nipmucks during King Philip's War.  He is sometimes assigned to the wrong parents.  Nicholas Rockwood and Margaret Holbrook are not correct, as they didn't marry until our John was a teenager.  Having said that, here's what we do know about John Rockwood, whose name is sometimes spelled Rocket or Rockett, just to make it more fun to research him. 

He was born November 1, 1641 probably at Braintree, Massachusetts (even though the vital records don't seem to list his birth there).  His parents were Richard Rockwood and Agnes Lovell, sometimes seen as Agnes Bicknell.  Actually, Robert Charles Anderson doesn't accept that her maiden name was Lovell.  She was married to Zachary Bicknell and married Richard Rockwood as a widow.  John had an older step brother and at least two sisters who apparently grew up in the same household. 

He married Joanna Ford, daughter of someone named Ford, apparently.  There seems to be no firm resolution as to this; I've seen Nicholas, Thomas, and William Ford each listed on a different website as her father.  However, I can say that they married July 15, 1662 in Braintree.  John and Joanna had at least ten children together. Some were born in Braintree, some in Mendon, and some in Medfield.  The family moved to Mendon by 1667, when John was awarded land in the meadows, probably indicating he already had a houselot, although it wasn't surveyed until 1669.  That same year, he was appointed to a committee to agree on the boundaries between Mendon and Dedham.

John would likely have been content to stay his whole life in Mendon, but King Philip's War, particularly the burning of the towa n and the death of his twelve year old son, sent him and the family to Medfield for at least a few years.  It would have been a fearsome time, and difficult to rebuilt after losing everything.  I don't find him listed as a soldier in the war but he would have been only 34 or 35 years old so it's likely that he at least did garrison duty or was otherwise engaged with the militia.

His will tells us that he was a husbandman, or farmer.  Joanna had died at some point because his will refers to his wife Rebecca, identified elsewhere as Rebecca Crafts.  He wrote his will in Mendon but there isn't a death record there, so he may have moved, either to be with his wife's family or with one of his children.  Unfortunately, I've not found an inventory for him, yet, which may indicate he had already disposed of his land and had few personal possessions. 

John Rockwood was one of those quiet men, it seems, who took care of his family, saw sorrow and joy, and helped build New England.  I'd like to learn more about him.

The line of descent is:

John Rockwood-Joanna Ford
Joanna Rockwood-Nicholas Cook               
Mary Cook-Joseph Holbrook
Jesse Holbrook-Abigail Thayer
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Second line starts with John Rockwood and Joanna Ford
Joseph Rockwood-Mary Hayward
John Rockwood-Deborah Thayer
Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
and on as above.  So Susannah and Nahum were fourth cousins.  I wonder if they knew that?

Holbrook line: Samuel Hayward 1641-1713

Samuel Hayward left us some traces in the records, and for that, in this month of November, I am profoundly grateful.  He is one of those ancestors who seem to be little researched, perhaps because there were several Samuel Haywards in Massachusetts Bay Colony of about the same time period and year.  Fortunately, if we limit our search to Braintree and then Mendon, Massachusetts, his story becomes if not clear, at least less murky. 

Our Samuel was born in about 1641 to William and Margery Knight Hayward.  I haven't found record of his birth but it was in the Boston or Braintree area, because that is where his parents settled early.  (His parents were those I've written of before, who apparently went to Barbados for a short time before arriving in Massachusetts.)

Samuel was one of at least 8 children, so he had quite a full family life.  As an adult, he was a "housewright", so he was likely apprenticed to or at least worked with a housewright as soon as he had finished whatever schooling he acquired.  A housewright built wooden (as opposed to stone or brick) houses, but the job involved more than a carpenter's work.  He cut the wood, sawed it into planks, and then built the house with the wood he had chosen and prepared.  There was no middleman, and no one else to blame if something was not done correctly.  I have much respect for housewrights after learning this!

Samuel married Mehitable Thompson, daughter of John and Sarah Trevore Thompson, on November 28, 1666 in Medfield, Massachusetts.  They had at least twelve children together.  Samuel is listed as a founding father of Mendon, which was officially formed from Braintree in 1667.  He held several town positions.  In 1668 he was a surveyor of highways, in 1692 and 1696 a selectman, and in 1696 also a tything man. 

One of the most remembered events of his life was probably King Philip's War.  Mendon was one of the towns that was attacked early in the war, with loss of life, and later the town was burned to the ground by the native Americans.  Mendon had several villages of "praying Indians", converted by our grand uncle John Eliot, and it was not these groups who rebelled.  They did, however, suffer consequences.  Samuel and his family left Mendon, perhaps soon after the first attack, but Samuel was back in 1677 to rebuild his home, and doubtless those of others who returned also. 

There were at least two Samuel Haywards who are listed as soldiers in King Philip's War, but I didn't find those reports also listing other Mendon men, so I think the ones who are listed in the records are not our Samuel.  He may have gone to stay with friends or relatives in Braintree, expectantly waiting for the end of the war. 

By 1680 Samuel's family was probably back in Mendon, and life was slowly returning to normal.  Samuel was hired by the town to raise (build} the meeting house, which was to be 26 feet by 24 feet in size.  He was to be paid 3 shillings a day, with part of that to be in kind, a cow and a calf.  There was some unspecified dispute involved during or following construction, but it was resolved and the town and Samuel each went about their business.

Samuel's wife Mehitabel died in 1700 and the next year he married Elizabeth Sabin.  Samuel died on July 29, 1713, without leaving a will.  If there is an inventory, I haven't located it, either.  However, I did locate papers, filed in Suffolk County, showing that the surviving children (or in the case of the several daughters who were married, their husbands) agreed to a settlement of the estate.  Interestingly, there were few who could sign their name to this document; most used a mark.  (Joseph Rockwood, our ancestor, did sign his name and it is quite legible.)  A probate judge signed off on the "deal" and presumably everyone lived happily ever after.  We do know that Samuel had a house and quite a bit of land.  Housewright may not sound like a glamorous job, but in a time when everyone needed to have a house built, it paid the bills and then some.

I like Samuel.  He took care of his family, he was a public servant, an honest and hard working man, and he served his church also.  And I especially like that I was able to find a little bit of information about him!

The line of descent is:

Samuel Hayward-Mehitabel Thompson
Mary Hayward-Joseph Rockwood
John Rockwood-Deborah Thayer
Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thompson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Simon Thompson, Immigrant 1619-1658

Simon Thompson was about 11 years old when he came to Massachusetts with his father, James Thompson or Thomson, and his step-mother, Elizabeth.  He was born to James and his mother, Ann, and was christened July 3, 1619 at Friesden, Lincolnshire, England.  He was one of four children born to this couple before Ann died about December 13, 1625.  Simon's father, James, married Elizabeth in 1625 and soon moved to the neighboring parish of Fishtoft.  This couple had two children born in England.  When James and Elizabeth came to Massachusetts they had four children with them, Simon, James, Jonathan and Olive.

James settled in Charlestown so that is where Simon spent his early teen age years, probably learning a trade as well as how to adjust to this whole new world he could explore.  James soon moved on to Woburn, as did Simon, and that is where Simon met and married his wife, Mary Converse, the daughter of Edward and Sarah Parker Converse,  They were married December 19, 1643 in Woburn, and had at least six children together.

After that, we don't know much about Simon.  He is not listed in the list of freemen in Massachusetts, although his father, James was so listed.  He was made a freeman of Woburn in 1648, according to information found on Wikitree, so I'm not sure why he didn't show up in the state record.

We know he had some land because it is mentioned briefly in a record of deeds for early Woburn.  This particular reference, the only one I found, refers to land in a meadow, so from that, we can infer that he also had a house lot.  Family tradition says that he was an early town clerk, but I cannot verify that-yet.  We can be pretty sure, with the designation of meadow-land, that Simon farmed, but we don't know if that was his only occupation.

We can also be sure that he attended what became the First Congregational Church of Woburn, whether or not he was a member.  During the early days of each "plantation" or settlement that I've read about, an appointed drummer walked through the village, beating the drum at each household, so the persons residing could fall in line and march to the meeting house for service.  Every resident was expected to be at service whether or not they belonged to the church.

The Wikitree that I referenced earlier states that Simon had helped to organize the town of Chelmsford, but it's not clear that he ever moved there.

Simon died while still quite young.  He was not yet 40 years old when he died in May of 1658.  He likely died of an illness because he reportedly wrote his will a few weeks before he died.  I have been unable to find a cause of death, nor have I found the will or inventory.   He left the widow's third to Mary, a double portion to his surviving son James, and the rest was left to his four daughters.  All of the children were minors, which is probably one reason that Mary remarried quickly.  She married John Sheldon of Billerica in 1659, the year after Simon's death.

This certainly is not a satisfying blog post.  There surely is more information about Simon than I've located.  However, it at least helps us remember Simon and a little of the kind of life he lived.  He's another of the quiet people who helped build America, and for that alone we should be thankful.

One of his famous descendants was Calvin Coolidge, "Silent Cal".  Perhaps he took lessons from this ancestor!

The line of descent is

Simon Thompson-Mary Converse
Jonathan Thompson-Thankful Woodland
Martha Thompson-Ebenezer Thayer
Ebenezer Thayer-Mary Wheelock
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-May Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Ephraim Wilson 1656-1733,

OK.  So here's another ancestor who lived through tough times, but of whom we know very little.  I've ordered a book about the history of Dedham, Massachusetts because we have so many ancestors there, but it's not here yet.  Perhaps it will tell us more about Ephraim and perhaps we will still not know much. 

First, the name Ephraim is unusual.  It was not carried down in our line; at least none of our later ancestors have that first name.  It comes from the Old Testament; Ephraim was a child of Joseph and Asenath, and the patriarch of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.  Biblical names were frequently used by the Puritans of Massachusetts, and Ephraim's parent qualified in that regard. 

Ephraim was a son of Henry and Mary Metcalf Wilson (sometimes spelled Willson),  His parents, both immigrants, married in 1642 in Dedham, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Ephraim was born in 1656, the last of their five children. 

The first record I can find of Ephraim is during King Philip's War, when he was about 20 years old.  He earned twelve shillings for serving under Captain Jacob in Medfield, where native Americans attacked and destroyed about half the town despite there being a relatively large garrison there.  Because Ephraim's pay record is from June of 1676 and the attack occurred in February, it's possible that he was not there when the town was attacked, but was sent after the fact to guard against further attacks.  Interestingly, the towns were responsible for paying the soldiers and then were reimbursed by the colony.  So Ephraim's family, probably his father, received the pay and we don't know whether Ephraim received any of it or not.  The family may have used it to help replace whatever income was lost to them when Ephraim left his job and went to war.

I don't know what kind of job Ephraim had.  He didn't marry until 1681, when he married Rebecca Sumner, daughter of Samuel and Rebecca Staples Sumner.  They had at least five children together-Samuel, Rebecca, Nathaniel, John and Ephraim.  Ephraim was a little older than was typical for the time and place, which could indicate that he was still busy establishing himself in his trade or on a farm prior to his marriage. 

He died February 20, 1733, a few months short of 77 years.  His stone is still standing and can be seen on his Find A Grave memorial.  Unfortunately, I've not found a will or inventory for Ephraim.  That could tell us a lot about what his occupation may have been, possibly his religion, perhaps items that would indicate a financial status.  The likelihood is that he was a Puritan, that he was a farmer, and that he worked hard for a living.  I can't wait till the Dedham book arrives to see if there are any gems there that will tell us more. 

The line of descent is:

Ephraim Wilson-Rebecca Sumner
Samuel Wilson-Elizabeth Hawes
Rebecca Wilson-Jonathan Wright
Molly Wright-Amariah Holbrook
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Thompson 1667-1749

John Thompson was a second generation New Englander.  His grandfather had come to America and his father was born here.  So in many ways he's of an invisible generation.  He was too late to be chronicled in the Great Migration materials and too busy making a living to leave much of a record behind him.  Except, in this case, there is a book called "Annals of Mendon 1659-1760 that gives some brief mentions of him.  This is a cause for rejoicing in the genealogy world.

John was born on Christmas Day in 1667 in Mendon, Massachusetts.  Perhaps that gave the family a reason to celebrate the day, even though Christmas celebrations were either banned or greatly frowned on by the Puritans who ruled Massachusetts Bay Colony.  John's parents were John and Thankful Woodland Thompson, and he was the first of 9 children born to the couple.  As the first child and the first son, he may have been spoiled just a little as he grew up, but it seems that no child in New England was coddled for long.

Of course, for many years he was referred to as "John Jr" in town records.  Before he showed up in town records, he had at least one life experience that would have made him mature quickly.  Mendon was burned by the native Americans in King Philip's war. Before that happened, the natives had killed about six settlers in a surprise attack, and the town was abandoned.  So it was a desolate settlement that was burned, but still, it was home.  Town records seem to be silent about where people went or when they came back.

The first notice I found of John was in 1689, when he was about 22 years of age.  He was taxed 13 shillings and 10 pence for the pastor's salary, and this probably happened every year.  In 1695, the tax records show that he was taxed 5 shillings 5 pence in "country pay" (wood, hay, grain, whatever the family could spare) and 1 shilling three pence in actual cash money.  John married Hannah Wight, daughter of Samuel and Hannah Albee Wight, but the year is missing from the records.  Their nine children were born from December of 1689 to 1708, which indicates they were likely married in early 1689 or sooner.

John was active in the town and in protecting his family.  In 1694 and 1695 he received bounties for killing wolves.  He may have found them on his land, or he may have tracked or trapped them.  Perhaps he would have interesting stories to tell us about these events.  In 1710 he was given permission with John Corbet and others to build a sawmill on the town commons land that abutted the Charles River, so he likely had additional income from that investment.  That same year, Sergeant John Thompson was chosen as a town selectman.  By 1719 he was an ensign, basically a second lieutenant.  There were still threats from native Americans in and around the area, and this was a responsible position.

The next reference I found to him was in 1727, when he was on a committee to "perambulate" the town limits between Bellingham and Mendon.  He probably lived in north Bellingham, which was a daughter town of what had once been a much larger Mendon, although I've not found land records yet.

The final document I've found is John's will, It doesn't seem to be dated, but John died March 6, 1749.  He provided for his widow and his six sons, with son John getting more than the others, and cash was to be given to the daughters after his widow's death.  There is also an interesting admonition at the end saying in rather flowery language that he commends his children to God and that they need to behave as Christians toward each other.  I've not seen that in a will before.  Unfortunately, I didn't find an inventory.  Hannah lived another ten years, so she was about 92 years old when she died in 1759.

The line of descent is

John Thompson-Hannah Wight
Joseph Thompson-Mary Holbrook
Alice Thompson-Joseph Rockwood
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Thomas Holbrook 1625-1697 Immigrant

There's not as much readily available information about our ancestor Thomas Holbrook as I would like, so I'll continue to look.  Because he is an ancestor at least twice, he's important to our family. 

However, I do know this mucxh.  Thomas, sometimes referred to as Thomas II, was born in 1624 and christened at St John the Baptist, Glastonbury, Somersetshire, England.  His parents, Thomas and Jane Powy oe Powis Holbrook, were from Wales.  Thomas may or may not have learned some of the stories about Glastonbury as a young boy, from Joseph of Arimathea's appearance there to the stories about King Arthur.  There were Saxon ruins as well as those of the Normans, and a very old church, so Thomas had a lot of places to explore. 

Thomas's parents came to Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635 on the Marygould. along with Thomas and three of his siblings.  The family settled in Weymouth and that is where his parents died in 1677.

Records are scarce or hiding, so we don't know when Thomas went to Braintree, although he was there by 1653.. Actually the two towns are very close together so it is possible that he didn't have to move at all, but that the change in address took place due to events around him.  He married Joane Kingman, daughter of Henry and Joanna Drake Kingman, probably shortly before the move.  Thomas Sr was a Puritan as was Henry Kingman, so that is likely the way these Holbrooks raised their children, too.

Braintree contributed men to foght in King Philip's War, although it appears that the town itself was not molested.  One of those men was Thomas Holbrook.  This was more likely to be Thomas's son, Thomas born 1653 than it was our Thomas, but the possibility exists.  And if enough men left Braintree, our older Thomas would have acted as militia.  

Thomas had a small inheritance when his father died in 1677, and Joane received twelve pounds from her father's estate, plus a chest.   Thomas and Joane had at least five children together, four of whom lived to adulthood.

I haven't yet been able to learn much more about his life, except that he was likely a church member and then, his will.  He had a Great Bible and other books, a gun and a sword, farm animals, what appears to be quite a lot of boots (if I'm reading this correctly, Was he also a shoemaker?) and quite a bit of land.  His estate was valued at 687 pounds.  Joane died in 1696 and Thomas in 1697.

For now, we will have to leave Thomas as just a shadow of a person, bare outlines telling his story.  It would be nice to find more, to learn more about his life and how he impacted the Colony.

Oh, yes...The Presdients Bush, and President Taft, among others, descend from this couple.

The line of descent is

Thomas Holbrook-Joane Kingman
Peter Holbrook-Alice Godfrey
Mary Holbrook-Joseph Thompson
Alice Thompson-Joseph Rockwood
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susanna Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-ary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

The second line is the same through Peter Holbrook and Alice Godfrey; then

Joseph Holbrook-Mary Cook
Jesse Holbrook-Abigail Thayer
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
(the rest as above)

Holbrook line: Nicholas Cook 1659-1730 Baptist

Nicholas Cook is interesting to me because he was an early Baptist, yet was permitted to live in his hometowns without apparent harm or discrimination.  He may or may not have known our ancestor Roger Williams, but he would surely have known of him, because Bellingham, Massachusetts, his final earthly home, was not far from Rhode Island.  But I'm getting ahead of his story.

Nicholas was born February 9, 1659/60 to Walter Cook.  His mother may have been Catherine Brenton.  I look at all the reasons why Catherine is Nicholas's mother, and then I look at the arguments against it, and I just scratch my head.  Walter was definitely married when Nicholas was born, and Nicholas is his son.  He was born in Weymouth, Massachusetts, where his father had settled before moving on to Mendon.  Mendon was a large territory but not a higly populated town.  In fact, Mendon had to be abandoned during King Philip's War.  The settlers had already fled but the native Americans burned the small settlement anyway. Based on the reported birth locations of Walter's children, it appears that the family moved to Mendon sometime between 1664 and 666, so they were there perhaps 10 years before the war broke out.

Nicholas would have been about 16 years old as the war began, so he may or may not have been involved.  I didn't find his name in the books "Soldiers in King Philip's War", so perhaps he was detailed to help care for the women and children, wherever they had gone.  It would have been perhaps 40 miles for the family to travel back to Weymouth, but perhaps they did travel that far.  We just don't know.  and

Nicholas married Joanna Rockwood or Rocket, daughter of John and Joanna Ford Rockwood on November 11, 1684 in Mendon. Nicholas was about 25 and Joanna was just seventeen years old at the time.   The couple set up housekeeping and had eeven children together, so Nicholas had much to do to keep these mouths fed, and Joanna was constantly busy, too.  Nicholas is listed as a husbandman, so he owned land.

Mendon was founded in 1660, and it was much larger than its present boundaries at the time.  One of the towns that it "birthed" was Bellingham, and that is where Nicholas and Joanna lived.  Nicholas is considered one of the first two founders of the town,  Both men (the other was Jacob Bartlett) were Baptists, but we don't know for sure whether they became Baptists after the town was formed, or whether they had formed their decisions earlier.  Bellingham has been described as a town of Quakers and Baptists during its early years, so it must have attracted dissenters and protected them, too, as necessary. 

Nicholas was chosen constable for his section of town in 1708, indicating he had a certain standing in the town.  Joanna died two years later, and Nicholas had children to care for.  The youngest was just three years old and the oldest about 20.  Two years after Joanna's death, he married Mehitable Hayward Staples, widow of Abraham Staples.  She had four children when she married, and the new couple had a son, so a large family became, in my way of thinking, enormous.

Nicholas died at Bellingham on December 1, 1730.  For a husbandman, he had a sizable estate valued at 1200 pounds.  I found his inventory, and there is discussion in the estate pages (found in Suffolk County) about how the estate should be divided.  Nicholas didn't leave a will, so the court did the best they could with the division of land and property.  Somehow the 1200 pounds worked out to about 79 pounds for each of the children, which may mean that Mehitable was still alive and got her widow's third.  

Nicholas's inventory included 4 pieces of property, with the most highly valued being one that had his homestead on it.  He had books valued at one pound, and militia arms, so he perhaps had not yet been excused from training duty.  Most of his other inventory was either household goods or typical farming equipment, including several cattle of various types, swine, and sheep, as well as what were probably cash crops of grains. 

I've been glad to make the very brief acquaintance of Nicholas.  These men (and women) who stood up for their religious convictions fascinate me.  What gave them the strength to resist government and peer pressure, to follow their own understanding of God's Word?  Did they suffer for their stand? 

The line of descent is:

Nicholas Cook-Joanna Rockwood
Mary Cook-Joseph Holbrook
Jesse Holbrook-Abigail Thayer
Amariah Holbrook-Molly Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susanna Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Holbrook line: Joseph Rockwood, who are you?

I'd like to put dates in for his birth and death.  I thought I knew them.  I thought I knew who his parents were.  But now that I'm getting ready to write a little about his life (and it's little enough, I will say), I'm confused. 

So, I will say that Joseph was probably born in Mendon, Massachusetts in 1727 or in 1722.  His parents were either John Rockwood and Deborah Thayer, or Joseph Rockwood and Elizabeth Turner.  He comes from a long line of Johns and Josephs who lived in the same area for many years and who names their sons both John and Joseph.  So you can see the problem, which I haven't yet solved.  I'm posting this in the hopes that someone has documentation that proves, either by will or land records, which Joseph is which, and which parents are his.

Mendon, Massachusetts was founded in 1667 and John Rockwood, who is Joseph's great-grandfather, was one of the first founders of the town.  The town was burned during King Philip's war but was rebuilt in 1680.  Many of the first settlers stayed there for generations, and we find a lot of family names on the lists of those first founders.  But information about the later lines is sparse. 

Assuming that his parents were John and Deborah, Joseph had as many as eight siblings.  However, if he was the Joseph born in 1722, his parents were Joseph and Elizabeth, and his father died before our Joseph was even born.  That would have likely been a veryh difficult life.

We do know that Joseph married Alice Thomson or Thompson, daughter of Joseph and Mary Holbrook Thomson, on March 10, 1750 in Bellingham.  Bellingham was created from the very large land that Mendon had charge of, in 1719/  It is likely that Joseph didn't move very far at all when he married.  Joseph and Alice had nine children, all in Bellingham. 

I can't imagine the pain that Alice would have suffered as she lost her family.  On October 6, 1778, their son Joseph died, "on returning from the Army", so I'm not sure whether he made it home first or not.  Joseph himself died November 10, 1778, just a little over a month after their son had died.  Alice was not done grieving.  In 1786, just as her sons were reaching manhood, John and Cephas died while at sea.  Their death dates are given as one day apart.  Did a hurricane or a nor'easter take them? Where had they been?  Were they seamen or traders or what?  Regardless of the circumstances, Alice would have been overcome with sorrow.  Levi and Daniel seem to be the only sons left to her.

I haven't yet found a will that I think was Joseph's, nor have I found a father's will that clearly identifies his children.  I will continue to look, and to think.  Besides wanting to verify his parentage, I would also like to find his religion (many of the families in Bellingham were Baptist) and his occupation.  I'd also like to know if he was involved in the French and Indian war.  I know men from his area were drafted into the King's service, but I've not found a record for Joseph, at least not yet. 

I plan to keep looking for information about Joseph, and his parents.  Someone is right about his parents, and someone is wrong.  I'd like to declare the winner.  If you have records or documents that would help in straightening this out, I would be most appreciative if you'd contact me.  Thanks!

The line of descent is:

Joseph Rockwood-Alice Thomson
Levi Rockwood-Deborah Lazell
Susannah Rockwood-Nahum Holbrook
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Pheobe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants