William was born in or near Glastonbury, Somerset, England shortly before June 14, 1620. His parent were Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook. William was an immigrant, probably about 15 years old, who may or may not have arrived with his parents when they came to America in 1635. His name is not on the manifest of the Marigold, as his parents and siblings are, so the record could have been a mistake or it is possible that William traveled separately. He went first to Weymouth with his family, and was made a freeman there in 1647.
He married Elizabeth Pitts about 1643, probably in Weymouth. They had ten or possibly 11 children together, but not all lived to adulthood. He must have been a man who was admired, because I've found reference to him both as "Deacon Holbrook" and "Captain Holbrook". He was assigned land in the new settlement of Mendon and went there in 1663. I have also seen comments that he owned "vast tracts" of land although the records I've looked at indicate more modest holdings, as he bought and sold perhaps 40 acres at a time.
We don't know much about his life but we can guess that it was upended when King Philip's War began in 1675. Half a dozen settlers were killed in the first raid in 1675. The settlers left the area in great haste, and a few months later the settlement was burned to the ground. William did not return to rebuild in Mendon. Instead, he want to Scituate, Plymouth Colony, where he and Elizabeth lived out their lives. We don't know when he was given the title of "Captain", or whether he served in the militia during this time.
From William's inventory, it appears that he was either a weaver or a merchant in textiles, or possibly both. William Bradford II was involved in the paperwork of settling the estate. Elizabeth died about 1696 and William married that same year to Abigail Wright Sharpe Clapp. He provided for her out of his estate, which totaled about 170 pounds, plus whatever real estate he had. He scratched his initials instead of signing his name, but that could have been due to age and illness rather than illiteracy.
Here's the sad thing about his life. His inventory included a "Negro man" with a value of 26 pounds. We don't know when and under what circumstances he was purchased or acquired (perhaps he came with second wife, perhaps not). We don't know how old he was. We don't know his name. We don't know so much about this man, but we know there was a connection with William. This is hard to write about. We have a few other New England ancestors who "owned" slaves, but not many. This is hard to accept and to write about, but we need to know the good, the bad, and the ugly about our ancestors, if we are to understand them and their world.
There's much we don't know about William Holbrook, but it's a joy to know this much. I treasure every ancestor and look forward to the hunt to learn more about him.
Our line of descent is:
William Holbrook-Elizabeth Pitts
Jane Holbrook-Alexander Balcom
Sarah Balcom-Timothy Sheldon
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
Lillis Winson-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
This is Gladys Holbrook's maternal line. She also has a paternal line that ends up with William's parents, Thomas and Jane Powyes Holbrook. So, as so often happens, she is her own distant cousin.
Showing posts with label Balcom. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Balcom. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 4, 2018
Friday, October 27, 2017
Holbrook line: John Sheldon, Immigrant
This is another of those bad news/good news posts. The good news is that quite a lot is known about John Sheldon after he arrived in Rhode Island. The bad news is that nothing is known of his life prior to that time. Is the glass half full, or half empty?
William Sheldon has been suggested as the father of John, but that isn't proven to my satisfaction so it's just as well to say his parents are unknown. He is believed to have been born somewhere in Warwickshire, England, about 1630 but again, I've not seen records to support that, and the Sheldon Family Association only lists England and 1628.
So, John Sheldon's first 25 years are a mystery. He was a tanner by trade, so possibly that was his father's occupation, too. Or he could have been apprenticed to learn the trade from some other family member or even town resident, if we only knew what town and on which side of the ocean we should be looking.
The first official record of him has him on September 9, 1654, in the town of Providence, Rhode Island, "falling on Hugh Benett in the night". There is no explanation for this. John appeared before the Town Deputies and acknowledged whatever it was that he had done, Hugh Benett declared himself satisfied, as did the town, and that was the end of that episode.
There are several records of land acquisitions and sales beginning on February 12 ,1660, when John bought land from Zachary Rhodes, near the dwelling house of William Carpenter. William Carpenter was his bride's uncle. John married Joan Vincent March 26, 1660, who was the daughter of Thomas Vincent and Fridiswide Carpenter. I found it interesting that the intentions were made at a town meeting, not a church meeting, of Providence Settlement and Providence Plantation. So did the Sheldons not attend a church? Quakers and Baptists were common in Rhode Island, but so were "free thinkers". John and Joan had at least five children.
He was on a petit juror in 1672, but other than that his "sightings" are mostly to do with land transfers that I am not quite following. If you want to read the details, they are on the Randall and Allied Families tree at Rootsweb, which I got to just by googling "John Sheldon 1630".
By 1708, Joan had died and John was in his old age and apparently needed care. He signed an agreement with his son Nehemiah, in which all of his personal estate was given to Nehemiah and Nehemiah in return promised to care for him as a dutiful child should. He died September 2, 1708 at Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island.
There is much I'd like to know about John, particularly his early years and his origin, but also his religion, if any, and how he practiced his occupation. I'd also like to know what he thought about some of our more famous Rhode Island ancestors, who lived when he lived, such as Roger Williams. I would also like to know what John and family did during King Philip's War. Did they leave? Where did they go? Did John serve in the military? There is still more to the story, if we could just find it!
The line of descent is:
John Sheldon-Joan Vincent
Timothy Sheldon-Sarah Balcom
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
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
William Sheldon has been suggested as the father of John, but that isn't proven to my satisfaction so it's just as well to say his parents are unknown. He is believed to have been born somewhere in Warwickshire, England, about 1630 but again, I've not seen records to support that, and the Sheldon Family Association only lists England and 1628.
So, John Sheldon's first 25 years are a mystery. He was a tanner by trade, so possibly that was his father's occupation, too. Or he could have been apprenticed to learn the trade from some other family member or even town resident, if we only knew what town and on which side of the ocean we should be looking.
The first official record of him has him on September 9, 1654, in the town of Providence, Rhode Island, "falling on Hugh Benett in the night". There is no explanation for this. John appeared before the Town Deputies and acknowledged whatever it was that he had done, Hugh Benett declared himself satisfied, as did the town, and that was the end of that episode.
There are several records of land acquisitions and sales beginning on February 12 ,1660, when John bought land from Zachary Rhodes, near the dwelling house of William Carpenter. William Carpenter was his bride's uncle. John married Joan Vincent March 26, 1660, who was the daughter of Thomas Vincent and Fridiswide Carpenter. I found it interesting that the intentions were made at a town meeting, not a church meeting, of Providence Settlement and Providence Plantation. So did the Sheldons not attend a church? Quakers and Baptists were common in Rhode Island, but so were "free thinkers". John and Joan had at least five children.
He was on a petit juror in 1672, but other than that his "sightings" are mostly to do with land transfers that I am not quite following. If you want to read the details, they are on the Randall and Allied Families tree at Rootsweb, which I got to just by googling "John Sheldon 1630".
By 1708, Joan had died and John was in his old age and apparently needed care. He signed an agreement with his son Nehemiah, in which all of his personal estate was given to Nehemiah and Nehemiah in return promised to care for him as a dutiful child should. He died September 2, 1708 at Kingston, Washington County, Rhode Island.
There is much I'd like to know about John, particularly his early years and his origin, but also his religion, if any, and how he practiced his occupation. I'd also like to know what he thought about some of our more famous Rhode Island ancestors, who lived when he lived, such as Roger Williams. I would also like to know what John and family did during King Philip's War. Did they leave? Where did they go? Did John serve in the military? There is still more to the story, if we could just find it!
The line of descent is:
John Sheldon-Joan Vincent
Timothy Sheldon-Sarah Balcom
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
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
Friday, July 7, 2017
Holbrook line: Alexander Balcom 1615-1711
Answers! We need answers! Who was Alexander Balcom? Where did he come from? Did he go first to Massachusetts, or did he go straight to Portsmouth? Who were his parents? Did he have a first wife named Sarah (or any other name)? What religions was he? was he in Rhode Island due to his religious beliefs?
It's hard to write about a man who leaves us with so many questions, yet we do know a little about him. He is believed to have been bornsin Batcombe, Sussex, (or possibly Somerset) England, although as far as I can tell there are no records available to support this. I've seen dates as early as 1615 and as late as 1650 suggested for a birth date. I've also seen it suggested that his father was William. I will leave that out there as a suggestion only, because I can't verify it. Surely there are answers some where, though!
We really don't know anything at all about Alexander for the first 50 or so years of his life. By 1664, he was living at Portsmouth, then considered part of Providence Plantation but yet a separate town. It was located on Aquidneck Island, famous for being the first home in exile of Anne Hutchinson. It was founded by religious dissidents from Massachusetts, but I don't know if that was still a characteristic of the town 25 years later,, when it seems that our Alexander arrived. He married Jane Holbrook, daughter of William and Elizabeth Pitts Holbrook. The Holbrook family emigrated from Glastonbury, Somerset, England so that might support a Somerset rather than a Sussex Balcombe setting. However, the Holbrooks stayed in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, so Jane was leaving her family to come to Rhode Island.
She may have been quite young when she came to Rhode Island with Alexander, and it's possible that she was a stepmother to at least a couple of the children attributed to the couple. I've found nothing further on her, except that she died about 1696, which even that is possibly incorrect because she was named as an executor in Alexander's will of 1711.
We do know a little more about Alexander. His occupation is given as mason, a skilled trade that was probably in demand as newer, more substantial homes were built on the island. He also had cooper tools in his 1711 estate inventory, so he may have had more than one trade. Interestingly, although his inventory was pretty meager, with a value of only a little over 35 pounds it did include books, pewterware and brassware. It appears that the lands that he owned were already disposed of, at least some of them to his sons.
I've been reading some of the early town records and it's fascinating to see how the town set itself up, how they settled disputes, how often they had to tax people for various needs, how they took care of their poor, how they made sure every house had access to fresh water, and how they prepared for possible military action as the native Americans threatened them. Alexander Balcom may or may not have been part of the decision making (I haven't yet found that he was made a free man), but he was certainly affected by these decisions. The island itself was beautiful and our ancestor may have had a good life indeed. It's one more of the many things we may never know for sure about him.
The line of descent is:
Alexander Balcom-Jane Holbrook
Sarah Balcom-Timothy Sheldon
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
Lillis Winsor-Nathan Paine
Deborah Paine-Enos Eddy
Joseph B Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Note the Holbrook at the top and borrom of this list. We are probably our own cousins through this line, somehow.
Fun fact: Mamie Doud Eisenhower was Alexander and Jane's seventh great granddaughter. In my generation, we are their ninth great grandchildren. That makes us very distant cousins-eighth cousins, twice removed, I think!
It's hard to write about a man who leaves us with so many questions, yet we do know a little about him. He is believed to have been bornsin Batcombe, Sussex, (or possibly Somerset) England, although as far as I can tell there are no records available to support this. I've seen dates as early as 1615 and as late as 1650 suggested for a birth date. I've also seen it suggested that his father was William. I will leave that out there as a suggestion only, because I can't verify it. Surely there are answers some where, though!
We really don't know anything at all about Alexander for the first 50 or so years of his life. By 1664, he was living at Portsmouth, then considered part of Providence Plantation but yet a separate town. It was located on Aquidneck Island, famous for being the first home in exile of Anne Hutchinson. It was founded by religious dissidents from Massachusetts, but I don't know if that was still a characteristic of the town 25 years later,, when it seems that our Alexander arrived. He married Jane Holbrook, daughter of William and Elizabeth Pitts Holbrook. The Holbrook family emigrated from Glastonbury, Somerset, England so that might support a Somerset rather than a Sussex Balcombe setting. However, the Holbrooks stayed in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, Massachusetts, so Jane was leaving her family to come to Rhode Island.
She may have been quite young when she came to Rhode Island with Alexander, and it's possible that she was a stepmother to at least a couple of the children attributed to the couple. I've found nothing further on her, except that she died about 1696, which even that is possibly incorrect because she was named as an executor in Alexander's will of 1711.
We do know a little more about Alexander. His occupation is given as mason, a skilled trade that was probably in demand as newer, more substantial homes were built on the island. He also had cooper tools in his 1711 estate inventory, so he may have had more than one trade. Interestingly, although his inventory was pretty meager, with a value of only a little over 35 pounds it did include books, pewterware and brassware. It appears that the lands that he owned were already disposed of, at least some of them to his sons.
I've been reading some of the early town records and it's fascinating to see how the town set itself up, how they settled disputes, how often they had to tax people for various needs, how they took care of their poor, how they made sure every house had access to fresh water, and how they prepared for possible military action as the native Americans threatened them. Alexander Balcom may or may not have been part of the decision making (I haven't yet found that he was made a free man), but he was certainly affected by these decisions. The island itself was beautiful and our ancestor may have had a good life indeed. It's one more of the many things we may never know for sure about him.
The line of descent is:
Alexander Balcom-Jane Holbrook
Sarah Balcom-Timothy Sheldon
Martha Sheldon-Thomas Mathewson
Deborah Mathewson-Joseph Winsor
Lillis Winsor-Nathan Paine
Deborah Paine-Enos Eddy
Joseph B Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Note the Holbrook at the top and borrom of this list. We are probably our own cousins through this line, somehow.
Fun fact: Mamie Doud Eisenhower was Alexander and Jane's seventh great granddaughter. In my generation, we are their ninth great grandchildren. That makes us very distant cousins-eighth cousins, twice removed, I think!
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