Holbrook line: Jude Foster 1759-1789

Why would we be interested in a man who lived only 30 years, long ago?  First, he's an ancestor.  Second, his line ties in to that of Miles Standish and Edward Doty, two passengers on the Mayflower.  Third, he served in the Revolutionary War.  Fourth, he died just three weeks after receiving a pension.  Fifth, he is also the ancestor of the late Supreme Court Associate Justice Harry Blackmun, who served on the Supreme Court from 1970-1994, so we would, for better or worse, be distant cousins to him. 

For a man of such importance to the family, there is not much information about him, and some of that is contradictory.  He was born April 10, 1759 perhaps in Western, now Warren, Worcester County, Massachusetts, to Nathan Foster Jr. and Elizabeth Lunsford or Lansford.  Some sources state he is born in Stafford, Tolland County, Connecticut; until I find proof one way or the other, I'm willing to leave his birth place as "unknown."  He was one of at least nine children. 

He would have been sixteen years of age when he joined Captain Josiah Putnam's Co. of Colonel Jedediah Foster's Regiment, to march on the alarm at Lexington.  That service lasted just 8 days, and when he returned to enlisted in Captain John Grainger's Company of Colonel Learned's Regiment, and served three months, 1 week, and one day.  He was also on a payroll return dated October 7, 1775.  Next we find that he had enlisted January 1, 1776 in Jonathan Danforth's Company, Colonel Asa Whitcomb's regiment, and was shown as sick in hospital at Camp Ticonderoga. His service at that time lasted 10 months and 26 days.  He recovered and was shown on Captain Daniel Gilbert's Compny, Colonel Job Cushings reiment, from July 13,1777 to September2,1777, a total of one month and four days, service at Bennington.  There was another 3 months of service in Captain Thomas Whipple's Co, Colonel Abijah Stearns regiment, from March 30 to July 2, 1778, serving three months and three days "guarding Convention troops."

Somewhere probably following this last service, he married Sarah Goodenough (Goodenow, Goodnow).  She is reported as being from Princeton, Massachusetts, which was near the towns of Paxton and Western.  They appear to have settled in Paxton, also near Princeton, but there is a possibility that they also lived in Rowe, which was more to the north and west of Paxton.  They had at least four daughters.  Sally and Polly are sometimes shown as Sally/Polly, but I think these were two different girls.  The others were Lydia, Judith, and Betsey.  Sarah died sometime before Jude's death, because at the time of his death he was married to "Lydia M." It's not clear who she was nor how long they were married, but generally the children, except perhaps for Lydia, are thought to be Sarah's.  Proof at this point is lacking.

Since Jude was awarded a pension in 1789, this indicates that he was an invalid and unable to earn a living.  Unfortunately, it seems that the records from that time period were destroyed or at least are unable to be located, so we are left guessing.  Did he have injuries, or was it a debilitating illness such as consumption (tuberculosis) that killed him at such a young age?   He had served his state and country for over a year, at least some of that time under very difficult conditions (Ticonderoga comes to mind), and any of several conditions could have caused his death.  He died March 28,1789, about 2 weeks before his thirtieth birthday.

I've not found a will or a true inventory for Jude, but I did locate partial probate records on AmericanAncestors.org.  His administrator was his brother Joel.  His assets totaled $364.90 and his debts, which were many, totaled $267.95. That would have left the widow with very little to live on.  Jude's main assets were land in Paxton and in Rowe, which had been sold by order of the court, and also $31.67 owed in back pension from the United States.  I need to trace the men who owed him money and the men to whom he owed money.  One name in the list that leaps out at me is "David Goodenough", who I'm hoping could be Sarah's brother or father.  (I don't know who Sarah is, at the moment, and I'd love to place her with her family.)   

Lydia was still alive in 1801, but that is the last I could find of her.  She apparently raised her daughters, or perhaps set them out as servants or apprentices, but they married and had families of their own.  Jude and his wives must have done something right, besides Jude's sacrifices for his country. 

I have clues to follow up from the probate records.  I need to find where his land was, and why he owned land in Rowe.  I need to locate birth records, which so far have eluded me and I need to trace the people named in the probate records, to see if any of them lead to Sarah's family.   I'd also like to know how Jude supported his young family following the war, if he was able to work at all.  I think I would have liked this man, and I certainly honor him now for his service to his country and to his family.

If some one reading this can answer any of my questions, I'd love to hear from you.  Jude's full story needs to be found, and told.  Please contact me via comments or at happygenealogydancingATgmailDOTcom.  You'll know what to do with the AT and the DOT.

The line of descent is:

Jude Foster-Sally Goodenow (probably)
Betsey 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: George Allen circa 1583-1649

Lots of people "know" who George Allen is, where he came from, the names of his wives, and the names of his children.  The problem is that there is no documentation for any of these facts, and they may or may not be as believed.  So all I will say about George's early life is that he was born somewhere in England (most likely) about the year 1583 (most likely) and that he married more than once while in England.

Our first known record for him is in the records of his departure from England on an unnamed ship, from Weymouth, Dorsetshire, on March 20, 1634/35.  On that record, he is erroneously listed as being age 24, but was probably closer to 50.  His wife Katherine, who was 30, and sons George, 16, William,8, and Matthew, 6, and a servant, Edward Poole were with him.  It seems likely based on ages that George was the son of an earlier marriage, and there may have been other children (females, who would not necessarily be listed on the manifest) who were also in the party.  Daughter Rose, for instance, is generally thought to have been the child of George's first marriage, and she is not listed on the manifest.

George is sometimes referred to as an "Anabaptist", which would mean he did not believe in infant baptism.  This may explain the difficulty in finding birth/baptismal records for the above noted children, which might provide clues to the parents and their location.  Some of his children became part of the Quaker tradition, which was a difficult way to live in Puritan Massachusetts.

When George arrived in the New World, he was first at Weymouth, Massachusetts and within two  years was an early settler of Sandwich, Massachusetts. His land in Weymouth seems to have been given or sold to sons George, Ralph, and John.  We don't know how or when Ralph and John arrived in Weymouth, and again, we don't know their ages or the name of their mother. 

George, despite being an "Anabaptist", was made a free man of Plymouth Colony September 3, 1639, when Sandwich officially became a town.  That same day, he was appointed Constable, and held various other town offices during the early 1640s. He was also the deputy for Sandwich to Plymouth General Court from 1640-1644.  This would have meant traveling from Sandwich, which is on the north side of Cape Cod, up the coast of what is now Massachusetts to Plymouth.  This may have been a trip made by ship rather than horseback or walking, for by the time he was first elected, he would have been approaching age 60. 

Within a few years of his last known election as deputy, his health failed him.  His date of death isn't known, but he was buried May 2, 1648.  His will was not dated but was proved June 7, 1649. His inventory, excluding real estate, was 44 pounds 16 s, and most of his estate was given to his wife and "five least children".

There is so much I'd like to know about George, including more about his religious beliefs.  He would not have had to have been a member of the church in Plymouth Colony to be a free man, so what were his beliefs and practices?  How did the family become acquainted with Quaker beliefs, and how many practiced that faith?  Why was Sandwich more tolerant of Quakers than other towns, particularly in Massachusetts Bay Colony?  I'd love to know who George's parents were, and I'd love to know why he decided to come to America when he was probably about 54 years old. Did his sons come first, and then encourage him to come, or did George lead the way and the older sons came later?  I'd like to know who his wives were, and I'd like to know more about how he lived in Sandwich.  Did Edward Poole stay with him as a servant, or if he eventually earned his freedom, did the family have other servants?

As usual, there are more questions than answers when I think about George Allen, but I have to admire him, as I do all immigrants who came to the New World when it was nothing but a few towns on the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

The line of descent is:

George Allen-first wife (possibly Katherine Davis)
Rose Allen-Joseph Holway or Holley
Mary Holley-Nathaniel FitzRandolph
Samuel Fitzrandolph-Mary Jones
Prudence Fitzrandolph-Shubael Smith
Mary Smith-Jonathan Dunham
Samuel Dunham-Hannah Ruble
Jacob Dunham-Catherine Goodnight
Samuel Goodnight Dunham-Eliza M Reese
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Gretta Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendents

Fun fact:  There is also a line of descent for the Holbrook line:

George Allen-first wife
Samuel Allen-Ann Whitmore
Sarah Allen-Josiah Standish
Josiah Standish-Sarah Doty
Hannah Standish-Nathan Foster
Nathan Foster-Elizabeth Lansford
Jude Foster-Sarah Goodenow
Betsy Foster-Josiah Whittemore
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph R Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendents


Most of the information for this post came from "The Great Migration" volume 1, pages 27-35.