William was the second son of Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook. I've written posts about Thomas, about Thomas's family, and about William earlier. We have at least one line of descent from William, and his family connects with others in our family tree, which is when things start to get very tangled, complicated, and interesting.
We know William was baptized in Glastonbury, Somerset, England on June 12, 1620 and we know he somehow arrived in America. It's presumed he traveled with his parents but there is no record of him on that ship manifest. He would have been about 15 at the time. His wife was Elizabeth, often given the name Pitts because her mother was an Elizabeth Pitts, but so far no one has been able to prove her ancestry. The older Elizabeth Pitts may have had a second or third husband named Pitts, and Elizabeth the younger may be someone entirely different. We just don't know.
We do know that William had two wives, the second being Abigail Wright Sharp Clapp, who was twice widowed when she married William, and who outlived William. There were no children by the second marriage, both spouses being over the age of 60 and perhaps older, as I was unable to find a marriage date for them.
William was known as a captain and as a deacon. He and Elizabeth had at least six children, and there are at least four more who may or may not be their children.
Elizabeth was the first born. She married John Sprague on December 13, 1666 and then James Bick or Buck before 1689. She had 7 children with John-John, Elizabeth, Melicent, William, Persis, Ebenezer and Hannah. We have Spragues in our tree but as of now, I don't find a connection.
Samuel is described in William's will as his oldest son. He was born January 24, 1643 and on June 23, 1675 married Mary Pierce, daughter of Michael and Persis Eames Pierce. They may have had at least five children and lived at Weymouth, Mendon, and finally Scituate, where Samuel died in 1712. Known children are Persis, Elizabeth, and Mary. Samuel is likely their son, and it's possible that Bethiah is their daughter. Persis married John Farrow, Elizabeth married Nathaniel Winslow, and Mary married Eleazer Daniels.
Son William was born at Weymouth June 23, 1657. He married Margaret Fairbanks, daughter of George and Mary Adams Fairbanks. They had three children together-Mary, Margaret, and William. William died on November 19, 1714 and Margaret then married Josiah Thayer, the son of Fernando or Ferdinando and Hulda Hayward Thayer. William and Margaret had no children, but we are connected to the Thayer family through Josiah's brother, Ebenezer, who is our ancestor.
Daughter Hopestill was born next, but there seems to be no record of her birth. She married Samuel Read, son of John and Sarah Lessie Read. They had at least three children, Ebenezer, Samuel, and Mary. There are claims of additional children but I've seen no proof for them.
Cornelius is a bit of a mystery, or his wives are. He was born in November, 1662, and died December 14, 1742. His first wife is Margery, likely Margery Eames, daughter of Justus and Mehitable Chillingworth Eames. They had two children, Margaret and Mehitable. Margaret didn't marry, but Mehitable married John Corbett, who was the son of Robert and Priscilla Rockwood Corbett. Priscilla's parents are John and Joanna Ford Rockwood, who are our ancestors through their son Joseph.
Cornelius' second wife, Experience, has not yet been further identified. They likely married in 1694. Cornelius and Experience had Experience, who married Timothy Thayer (connection not known, but there likely is one); Elizabeth, who married Samuel Jackson; Abigail, who married John Jones, Mary, who married Ebenezer Bicknell, William, and Hannah, who died young.
Jane came next. Her date of birth is not recorded. She married John Albee, who was the son of Benjamin and Hannah (maiden name not known) Albee. They had two children before he was killed by the natives in an attack on Mendon during King Philip's War. Hannah is not traced, but Experience married Stephen Sly and had eight children.
Jane next married Alexander Balcom as his second wife, and had seven children with him: John married Sarah Bartlett, the daughter of John and Alice (maiden name unknown) Bartlett; Freegift, who died "distracted" and apparently did not marry; Joseph, who married Phoebe possibly Mendon; Hannah, who married Ebenezer Haywood and John Arnold; Samuel, who died at the age of 26 and possibly did not marry; Deborah, who married an Arnold but died at the age of 25, and Lydia, who married Samuel Hix.
Their next daughter was Experience, who married an Albee and then a Hyde.
Finally there was Mehitable, who married Jonathan Sprague, a brother to the John who married her oldest sister Elizabeth. They had at least six children, Jonathan who married Bethiah Mann and then Hannah Hawkins; William who married Alice Brown and then Mary Walling; Patience, who married William Jenckes; Joanna, who married John Teft; Mary, who married Daniel Brown; and an unnamed daughter who married Ebenezer Cook. We are likely related somehow to Daniel Brown, as we have several men by that name and from that location in our tree, and Alice and Daniel may be siblings.
The problem with this post is that Sarah Balcom, our ancestor, is listed as the child
of Alexander and his first wife, so perhaps the whole premise of this post is not correct! Our Sarah, the child of Alexander, is
reported to have been born in 1663, long before Jane married
Alexander. I am leaving the post as written, because one of the reasons I wanted to do this kind of post was to explore the close relationships among and between our families. William may not be "Grandpa", but he is still "Uncle"! Also, this post took quite a while to write, and why "waste" it? Now, I'm off to confirm that Sarah's birthdate is too soon for her to have been Jane's daughter, and then to correct my tree.
