Holbrook line: John Crocker the invisible, almost 1672-

My goodness.  Some of these ancestors not only played hide and seek, but they apparently dug holes in the ground and stayed there most of their lives-or possibly went out to sea.  I have found very little about this ancestor.  In fact, some authorities think he died young.  Well, perhaps he did, but it was after he had married and fathered four children.

John was a son of Thomas and Rachel Chappell Crocker, born in New London, Connecticut and probably died there, too.  I say "probably" because I've found no death record, and the will for the John Crocker I've found is for a man by the same name in Barnstaple, Massachusetts.  He names several children that are not our ancestor's children, and doesn't name our John's children at all, so my conclusion is that this is not our John Crocker.  Perhaps he died at sea and his death was not recorded.

We do know that he married Mercy Tubbs, the daughter of Samuel and Mary Willey Tubbs probably by 1701.  The two of them had four children together, three daughters and a son.

The only other tidbit of information I was able to pull from my search of quite a few records (not an exhaustive search, so keep looking, if you're also a descendant) regards one night of bad behavior in September of 1699.  One wonders whether this was the result of a bachelor party for John, although I've certainly not heard of the tradition being observed in this time period.  Nevertheless, John Chapell, Isreael Richards, John Crocker and Thomas Atwell were accused of "nightwalking" on the Sabbath eve of September, committing "various misdeameanors as pulling up bridges and fences, cutting the manes and tails of horses, and setting up logs against peoples doors."  For this, they were charged in county court, and sentenced to pay 10 shillings each, and to sit two hours in the stocks.  (Found in Frances Manwaring Calkins History of New London, Connecticut).

Yikes!  They really had stocks?  And our ancestor was placed there?  Well, it wasn't the only time we had ancestors in the stocks, and they all survived that experience.  John must have learned his lesson, for his name isn't mentioned again in the research I've done.

Other than a possible death date of August 25, 1706, which I have been unable to document, that is what is known of John Crocker.  He would have been only 34 years old.  He left three children, Hannah having died as an infant, and a widow.  Mercy lived 52 more years, dying on March 4, 1758 in New London.  She married a man twenty years older than herself, Thomas Leach, in December of 1706, and had more children with him.

Of course I would love to find out more about him.  Did he die at sea, or in a military expedition, or from a sudden illness?  Was Mercy happy to be married to him? Was she happy in her second marriage?  What did John do for a living?  Surely we are not the only people pondering these questions.

The line of descent is:

John Crocker-Mercy Tubbs
Rachel Crocker-Kingsland Comstock
Rachel Comstock-John Eames
John Eames-Elizabeth Longbottom
Hannah Eames-James Lamphire
Susan Lamphire-Joseph Eddy
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen