Beeks line: Jacobus Pieterse Slot 1669-1725

 Although Jacobus (also known as Cobus and as Jacob) lived in the culture of the Dutch Reformed folks in early New Jersey, his grandfather was Danish.  The family had moved to Amsterdam and then to New Amsterdam, and then on to New Jersey by the time Jacobus was born in 1669.  His parents, Pieter Janse and Merritje Jacobs Slot, had him baptized at the Reformed Protestant Dutch Church of Bergen (now Jersey City) and he seems to have stayed there his whole life.  Most of his neighbors would have been of one or another reformed churches, as some were Huguenots who had been forced out of France by the religious wars.  Some had lived in Amsterdam also, so were known to the family.  

I've now given almost everything that is know about Jacob.  He married Maria Demarest, daughter of Jean and Jacomina de Ruine Demarest, probably about 1695.  They joined the Hackensack Dutch Church on April 5, 1696 after attending the French Church at Kinderkamack.  The French church had been founded by David Demarest.  The new church may have been closer for them to attend, or there may have been some sort of church dispute.  

The couple had at least eleven children, starting with Petrus in 1696 and ending with Benjamin in 1721.  There are records for the baptism of most, if not all, of the children.  When I look at the map now, this area is totally urban, but of course at the time the Slots lived there it would have been frontier, with threats and skirmishes with native Americans, and animals such as wolves and bears to contend with.

 I would love to know whether Jacob served in the militia.  I'd love to know what his will and inventory could tell us.  I'd love to know whether he could read and write, and whether he had another means of income besides farming.  So there is much yet to be learned about Jacob, but we at least can acknowledge his place in Beeks family history, and imagine what his culture may have been.

The line of descent is:

Jacobus Slot-Maria Demarest

Benjamin Slot-Sara Demarest

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Mary Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

Holbrook line: John Clarke 1642-1686

 It should be easier to make sense of this man's life than it is.  He was the son of Robert Clarke, Surveyor-General of Maryland (and probably first wife Eleanor), and Robert's life is fairly well documented.  So if John's, except that he seems to have been in more than one place at the same time, and to have been older than the date I've used indicates, if indeed he was granted land in 1655 for headrights to several people.  I suspect we could be dealing with more than one John Clarke, so I'll try to include only the information I think is most likely to be correct here.  The other possibility is that John was born earlier, perhaps in England, and thus would have been old enough to have had head rights in 1655.  I think more research needs to be done about this.

John is frequently referred to as "Gent" or "planter" in land records.  It makes sense that he would have owned quite a bit of land, as his father probably looked out for his son's interests while making his surveys, as well as leaving him extra land as the oldest son.  John married Ann at some point.  Most trees show his wife to be Ann Dent, but there are some other possibilities and I'm not yet ready to hazard a guess as to who his wife was.  

We know that there were five children living when John wrote his will in 1685-John, Robert, Benjamin, Franklin, and Ann.  There may have been other children born to the couple who were not alive at the time the will was written.  John left a tract of 1000 acres to his children, and the rest of his land and estate to his wife, to do with as she wished.  When Ann died, any remaining land or estate was to go to his eldest son, John. 

His land, or at least part of it, seems to have been located on the west side of the Wicomico River, which in turn was a tributary of the Potomac River.  This land he sold or gave to his brother Thomas in 1681.  He evidently lived on the border of Charles County and St Mary's County, so records can be found in both counties, but I'm not sure where he was living at the time of his death. 

Basically, except for some land transactions, this is what we know of John.  His father was Catholic but we don't know if John was also Catholic, or whether he was of the Anglican church.  Maryland started out as a tolerant colony but became involved in bitter religious disputes.  Perhaps he kept whatever religious beliefs he had to himself.  Because he owned a lot of land and grew tobacco, we can guess that his lands were farmed by either slaves or indentured servants, or both.  (The persons he was granted head rights for, if this is the correct John Clarke, may well have served out their indenture on his lands.  At this time in Maryland history, indentured servants were common, as were native American slaves and those imported from Africa, so it could have been any, all, or some combination of the above.  No slaves are mentioned in his will and I haven't yet located an inventory.  

There are a lot of reference books about the early days of St Mary's and Charles Counties, but unfortunately they don't seem to be readily available on line.  When I am able to return to library haunting, I will want to see what more I can learn of our ancestor, John Clarke.  There are probably stories to tell!

The line of descent is:

John Clarke-Ann

Robert Clarke-Selina Smith

Hannah Clarke-James Amos 

Robert Amos-Martha McComas

Robert Amos-Elizabeth Amos

Martha Amos-Peter Black

Elizabeth Black-Isaac Hetrick

Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Allen line: James Bird 1631-1708

 I think it's a good thing that I write these posts, because I challenge myself (rather too frequently, it seems) to double check what I think I know, as I'm writing.  Sometimes I am confident that I have the correct information, sometimes I learn that I have the wrong information, and sometimes I end up with many more question marks than I started with.  

James Bird is one ancestor who seems to have several errors in his family tree.  For one thing, many people say he was born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1631.  That seems unlikely because Hartford wasn't formed until 1635-36, and because his father, Thomas Bird, is thought to have not come to the colony until 1639.  James is believed to be the son of Thomas and his unknown first wife. We don't know where in England (presumably) he was born, but we can believe that James spent most if not all of his boyhood in Hartford.  He had at least a brother and a sister, and they probably kept each other company while learning the skills they would need in later life.  

James married Lydia Steele March 31, 1657.  She is almost always listed as the mother of our connection, but she died in 1659 and our Rebecca was born in 1670.  (So posts I've written about the Steele family should be ignored as far as being in our ancestry!)  James's second wife was named Rebecca but that is all that is known of her.  She probably came from the Hartford area, but that is all that is currently known.  

We know that James was a freeman in 1657 and specifically a freeman of Farmington in 1669. (I've found two dates for the formation of Farmington, one in 1645 and one in 1660.  The 1660 date is reported with a comment that James was an early settler and proprietor of Farmington. This may or may not be correct.)  

James had 7 children, and it's thought that their mother was Rebecca, although birth dates are lacking in some instances and it's possible that one or two of the children were Lydia's.  We don't know a lot about James's life but we can guess that he was involved in the militia, and was eligible to be called out in one or more of the battles of King Philip's War in 1675-76.  We have one story that indicates he may have not always been even-tempered.  Apparently there was either a political or a church dispute in 1673, and James was so upset during a meeting that he stomped out of the building and went, or said he went, to Waterbury, which is about 25 miles from Farmington.  If so, he didn't stay there long because he is on record in the Congregational Church of Farmington in 1679 and 1681. If this was a church dispute, it may have been over infant baptism. 

James died in 1708 in Farmington (not Dorchester, Suffolk, Massachusetts.  That was an entirely different James Bird, but their marriage and death records are sometimes conflated.)  Although he was about 77 years old, it seems that he died without a will.  Rebecca must have died earlier, because I saw no mention of her in the settlement papers.  The sons and sons in law of James got together and agreed on a distribution of the assets, with son Thomas getting the land and the others getting various farm animals and personal property.  This was apparently agreed to without a family fight, which speaks well of the family that James and Rebecca had raised.  

I'd like to learn more about James, of course. Most particularly I would like to know who his wife was, and of course I'd like to know more about his occupation (if any beyond farming) and his military service.  But I'm glad to know this much, and I'm glad to see the humanity of this man who had strong feelings about what went on in his church or/and community.  

The line of descent is:

James Bird-Rebecca

Rebecca Bird-Samuel Lamb

Samuel Lamb-Martha Stebbins

Eunice Lamb-Martin Root

Martin Root-Ruth Noble

Ruth Root-Samuel Falley

Clarissa Falley-John Havens Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants

 

 

Holbrook line: Josiah Standish 1633-1689

Josias or Josiah Standish (mostly Josias in the earliest records) grew up in the shadow of his famous Mayflower passenger father, Captain Myles (Miles) Standish.  Those men and women who were survivors were people he would have known personally.  His father settled at Duxbury, not far from the home of Elder William Brewster.  What an awesome heritage he had, both with his own parents and with those who were part of early Plymouth Colony.  So we should know a lot about him, shouldn't we?  And yet, there is much of him that we don't know.  

His father, as noted was Myles Standish and his mother was Barbara.  (Rose, sometimes seen as his mother, had died in the first winter.)  The mystery of his mother's name and origins is one of the deep questions in Mayflower ancestry still to be solved.  Josias was probably born about 1633, although I've seen guesses as early as 1629 and as late as 1637, probably at Plymouth but possibly at Duxbury.  He had several siblings although at least two appear to have died as infants or in early childhood.  As much as anyone who grew up in that tiny colony could be called such, he appears to have been one of the privileged ones, with respected parents who were somewhat well off financially, for the time and place.  

Josiah would have early learned to hunt, and fish, to help with the farm animals, and as he reached the age of 16 or so, to participate in the military training and patrols that was required of all colonists.  We don't know what trade, if any, he had but his namesake son became a carpenter, so perhaps that is what Josias did, too.  He likely had some trade because he was not the first son and thus wouldn't have been raised with the expectation of inheriting his father's lands.  We can guess that he learned to read and write, and that he regularly attended the Pilgrim church services, because that's what boys in that time and place did.

In 1654, Josiah married Mary Dingley, but she died in just a few months.  There were no surviving children from this marriage and it's not known whether hers was a childbirth death or from some other cause.  Josiah mourned not only his wife but also his father, who died at about the same time. He inherited 40 pounds and probably some personal items from his father, which likely increased his financial standing.  He soon remarried, to Sarah Allen, who was the daughter of Samuel and Ann Whitmore Allen.  She was the mother of all of his children, probably at least seven although I have seen lists that included many more.  

Josiah either owned several parcels of land at once, while living mostly in one place, or moved around a lot.  (If he was a carpenter or other skilled tradesman, it would be plausible that he would have moved often.) Besides Duxbury, we find references to him in Bridgewater, Marshfield and Sandwich, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and in Norwich and Preston, Connecticut.  We know he was a lieutenant of the military company of Bridgewater in 1660, and he was a selectman of Duxbury in 1666.  He was also a deputy of Plymouth Colony (to the General Court) several times.  

At his death, he was referred to as Captain Standish, so he must have stayed active in the military training band for most if not all of his life.  It's not clear what decided the Standishes, who were middle-aged, to move to Norwich and then Preston, Connecticut.  (Preston was actually formed in 1687, and Josiah was of Norwich in 1686, so perhaps this last move was not a move at all, but merely was the result of the formation of the new town.)  Whatever caused the move, the Standishes didn't have long to enjoy their new surroundings.  Josiah died March 19, 1690 (some sources say 1689; it's probably the double dating thing again that is causing the variance) and Sarah died sometime after.  

I haven't located a will or inventory for Josiah, which would tell us much.  His father's inventory was quite extensive and lists quite a few books by title.  It would be interesting to see whether Josiah inherited, and kept, any of those same books.  Also, he may have referred to his trade, or stated that he was a yeoman, or given us other details that would help us understand this son of a Mayflower passenger. There are always more questions than answers!

The line of descent is"

Josiah Standish-Sarah Allen

Josiah Standish-Sarah Doty

Hannah Standish-Nathan Foster

Nathan Foser-Elizabeth Lunsford

Jude Foster-Lydia M

Betsy Foster-Josiah Whittemore

Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph R Holbrook

Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown

Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

Beeks line: Francois Sohier 1595-1663

Don't believe everything I write here, because I can find very little documentation for this ancestor.  I am reasonably certain that he is an ancestor in the Beeks line, but I'm not sure he actually immigrated to the New World.  I sure would love to find a record so that I could verify unsourced trees that are "out there" on the 'net.  But because he is an ancestor, and because I think his story is fascinating, regardless of whether or not he actually came here, I wanted to share the bits and pieces of his life, including speculation.  (Much of the information I am using is from a blog post at https://a400yearstory.wordpress.com.  The information appears to be well researched, with many secondary sources, which is why I'm going to base this post on that article.  

I always take it with a grain of salt, when I find records that say so and so descended from royalty, but there seems to be a possibility that this Francois was one of the many millions of descendants of Charlemagne, and that his ancestors participated in the Crusades and were at least minor nobles.  The record of Sohiers dates back to the birth of Jean Sohier in 1435 on the island of Jersey, and usually we can't get that far back unless there was some sort of reason.  Peasants weren't necessarily tracked as well.  

However that may be, Francois was born about 1595 in Nieppe, Nord-Pas-de-Calais, France.  His family were Protestants and left France during one or another of the many wars for religious (and other) dominance of northern France and the Spanish Netherlands, but Francois was born in France so either the border moved or they returned home.  The story of the Huguenots, as the Protestants were known, is tragic and inspiring, and we can use this label to describe Francois.  

He married Margrieta, possibly in Holland, but they apparently lived in either Nieppe or Hainaut for most of their married life.  It's not clear who Margrieta's parents were.  Also not clear is how many children the couple had, nor when they sailed for New Netherlands.  There is so much of the story we are missing, but we know something of Dutch life during the early years, and it appears that Francois's story is intertwined with that story.  He would have known, or at least seen, Peter Stuyvesant and other of the early leaders of the colony.  He is believed to have died in 1663 in Flatbush, Kings County, New York, so he would have missed most of the tension relating to the English takeover, but he may well have lived through some of the troubles with the native Americans.  

I hope to learn more about Francois when I am able to go to the library in Ft Wayne again, but that will be a while.  Meanwhile, I like to remember that part of the Beeks heritage is Dutch and French, and that these ancestors contributed much to the building of what became America.  

The line of descent is:

Francois Sohier-Margreita

Marie Sohier-David Demarest

Jean Demarest-Jacomina DeRuine

Peter Demarest-Maretje Meet

Lea Demarest-Samuel David Demarest

Sarah Demarest-Benjamin Slot

William Lock-Elizabeth Teague

Sally Lock-Jeremiah Folsom

Leah Folsom-Darlington Aldridge

Harvey Aldridge-Margaret Catherine Dunham

Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks

Mary Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger

Their descendants

 

Holbrook line: Rev. Samuel Winsor 1677-1758

 Our family is blessed to have many pastors in our heritage, on both the Allen and the Holbrook sides (and yes, there are a few in the Harshbarger and the Beeks lines, too, for that matter).  But the Winsor family may have some sort of record as far as this line goes, for the number of pastors in the family.  Samuel Winsor (actually he was the second Samuel Winsor) is in a fairly large group of Winsor family members who were pastors.  I believe they were all Baptist pastors, which may indicate that immigrant Joshua Winsor was highly influential in the family, having two sons, at least two grandsons (one of which is this Samuel) and two great grandsons of his who were all Baptist pastors in Rhode Island, and I wouldn't be surprised to find more through additional generations.  

This Samuel was born November 18, 1677 in Providence, the son of Rev. Samuel and Mercy Williams Winsor.  (Mercy was the daughter of Roger Williams, the founder of Rhode Island, so here is another part of the pattern of pastors).  As far as I have been able to learn, he never left Rhode Island.  I'm not aware that he had any college training; Baptist pastors were not necessarily as educated as those of the Puritans or Church of England.  They of course knew how to read and write, and learned their reasoning and orating skills elsewhere.  Our Samuel is called a "great preacher" so he learned well, somewhere.

Samuel was one of at least four children, growing up in Providence, close to the ocean, and close to farmland but also close to swamps and forests.  One wonders what kind of childhood he had.  Did he spend a lot of time in nature, a lot of time at chores, a lot of time in schooling?  As a pastor's child, he probably had to behave himself, but maybe there was a bit of mischief to him, too.  We just don't know.  

Samuel was 25 when he married Mary or Mercy Harding on January 7, 1703.  She was the daughter of Abraham and (probably) Deborah Gardiner Harding.  As far as I know, there were no pastors in the Harding or Gardiner lines, but it's likely that the Harding family also had Baptist leanings.  Samuel and Mary were the parents of at least nine children, which was enough to keep Mary busy, and probably Samuel, too.  He was an active layman in the church for the first 20 years of their marriage, and was probably a farmer, or at least farmed enough to feed his family.  I've found no information regarding any other occupation.

Samuel was ordained at the First Baptist Church in Providence in 1733, and preached there until his death in 1758.  By the time he became pastor, his children were either grown or almost grown, so this was very much a second career for him.  It says much for the life he had lived that his neighbors approved of his ordination and of his serving his home church.  He must have been well respected, liked, and trusted.  I would certainly like to hear one or his sermons, to get a better idea of the man.  The one thing I learned is that he may have had a bit of a stubborn or determined streak, as the church had a quarrel over whether it was necessary to have the "laying on of hands" in order to become a member of the church.  Samuel said it was necessary, and that's the view that prevailed.  

Samuel died November 17, 1758, the day before his 81st birthday.  Mary outlived him by about 13 years, dying in 1771.  I know that Samuel left a will but I have not yet been able to locate a copy of it.  That, and an inventory, would tell us more about this interesting ancestor.  

The line of descent is:

Samuel Winsor-Mary Harding

Joseph Winsor-Deborah Mathewson 

Lillis Winsor-Nathan Paine

Deborah Paine-Enos Eddy

Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire

Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard

Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick

Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook

Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen

Their descendants

 

Allen line: Deacon John Hitchcock 1642-1712

 It's either feast or famine in the genealogy world.  Many times I struggle to find enough information to even write five paragraphs about an ancestor.  Other times, there is more information that I can use, even if I write a longer post.  John Hitchcock, Deacon and Lieutenant, belongs in the second group of people.  That makes me happy.  

John was born on September 27, 1642 in what was then the colony of New Haven but now is New Haven, Connecticut.  He was the son of Luke and Elizabeth Gibbons Hitchcock, and was their first child.  He had two or possibly four siblings, but at any rate, this was a relatively small family for the time.  This was of economic benefit to him as his father was not a poor man, and John not only inherited part of his estate, but he also learned to read and write, and, based on what his later life shows, he also learned many practical skills.  I like to think his father had something to do with that, too.  

I don't know how it happened, but John ended up in Springfield, Massachusetts, home to so many of our Allen ancestral families.  There he married Hannah Chapin, who was the daughter of Deacon Samuel and Cicely Penny Chapin on September 27, 1666.  John and Hannah had at least nine children together, but at least one didn't survive infancy. 

John had a rather low profile for a few years.  He apparently was friends with several other young men who were high spirited, because three years after his marriage, he was accused of and fined for "fast riding" (the equivalent of speeding) through town.  The only time that was permitted was when the cavalry was out on a training run, and this apparently was not one of those times.  This is one of the few things I found about John that didn't reflect well on him, and I imagine Deacon Samuel may have had a word or two with him about that.  At about the same time as this incident, he was paid a bounty for having killed a wolf, so we can guess that he spent some time farming and helping to tame the wilderness.

We know that in 1678 he and Japeht Chapin and Nathaniel Foot were granted to use town lumber (from trees the town owned, likely on the commons) to build a sawmill, as long as it was located beyond the boundary the town gave them, and as long as they held the cost of lumber milled there to a certain price.  It would be interesting to know whether this was a profitable business for the men.  

John apparently began his public service in 1672, when he was chosen constable for the town.  He had some position of authority for most of the rest of his life, either as a selectman (12 years), as a deputy to the General Court (five terms) a hayward, a surveyor, a "commissioner for public assessment", or a clerk of the market.  

We don't know when he was selected church deacon, but he was called such when he died, and he had been involved in various negotiations with the church pastors, and with the building of the meeting house, down through the years.

Many times I have to speculate about what someone was doing or where they were during King Philip's War.  With John, we at least know that he was injured at the fight at Turner's Falls.  Mostly untrained militia attacked a native American encampment and were then ambushed.  Indian raids had been a constant threat so a battle like this was probably inevitable.  Most of the people of Springfield were either in garrisons or had left the area until the situation stabilized, but there were quite a few men from Springfield who were involved in this battle.  One source says that one arm was shot through and the other one broken, so John probably had to return home to recover.  Ensign John was promoted to lieutenant because of his gallantry on the field.  Because of his participation in this battle, his son John was awarded land in what became Bernardstown in 1736, along with surviving soldiers or their descendants.  

So we can say that John was relatively well off, because those were the people who were chosen selectmen.  We know he was active in the church because he was a deacon.  We know he got along with people and was respected, or he would not have been chosen for so many positions requiring tact and skill.  He was educated, because he was on committees to set and collect rates (taxes).  He was hard working, and he had frontier skills that allowed him to protect his family and guard his town.  

John left a will and an inventory when he died on February 9, 1712.  His estate was valued at over 700 pounds.  He left houses or/and land to each of his sons, provided for his wife, gave smaller bequests to his daughters, and gave his weapons to his grandsons.  Later, the court approved a request to give more to his widow, until her death.  

His inventory, besides about nine different parcels of land, includes several weapons (mentioned above), a great Bible and small books, and household items and farm implements and animals.  Among his other attributes, he was a financial success, if not a wealthy man.  

The line of descent is:

John Hitchcock-Hannah Chapin

John Hitchcock-Mary Ball

Samuel Hitchcock-Ruth Stebbins

Margaret Hitchcock-Richard Falley

Samuel Falley-Ruth Root

Clarissa Falley-John H Starr

Harriet Starr-John Wilson Knott

Edith Knott-Edward Allen

Richard Allen-Gladys Holbrook

Their descendants