Showing posts with label Lloyd. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lloyd. Show all posts

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

Holbrook line: John Whittemore 1685-1748

What fun!  Most of our ancestors were good folks, either farmers or pastors, and sometimes it's hard to find something new to say about their lives.  But every once in a while, someone steps out of the box and does something entirely different, and perhaps is entirely different, from our norm.  John Whittemore just may be one of those men.

John Whittemore was born February 23, 1685 in Charlestown, Massachusetts, the son of John and Elizabeth Annable Whittemore, and he's one in a succession of four men named John Whittemore, each of whom is our ancestor.  Confusion reigns, but I think I have this man figured out. 

At some point in his life, John left Charlestown and settled in Boston.  He married Elizabeth Lloyd, the daughter of Edward and Hannah Griffin Lloyd.  The Lloyds were a Charleston family who had moved to Boston also.  I'm wondering if John was maybe an apprentice or some sort of shipworker there, because the marriage took place in Boston.  John and Elizabeth had at least five children together, including our John born 1714. 

I'm still trying to pull together John's story as far as his adult life goes.  I know that he was a mariner and a retailer, perhaps not at the same time or perhaps at the same time.  His father in law had died with a good supply of "rhum" and spirits, and John may have inherited or purchased that, as he also sold strong spirits.  So, basically he ran a tavern or a liquor store.  He must have been somewhat successful because he built a new home in 1733,   We know that because he was granted liberty to dig a frain from his new house, which was apparently on Sheaf St.  It looks like this would have been just blocks from what we know as the Old North Church, in the north end of Boston.  It was also near Copp's Hill Burying Ground

, which is where he was buried. 

Elizabeth died August 13, 1746 and John died April 21, 1748,  In his will, he left 100 pounds to his oldest son, John and 150 pounds (old tenor, not the new fangled money the colony had printed) to son Edward.  He also left each of them 1/4 of his "moveable estate".  Three grandsons, including another of our Johns, were to share 100 pounds.  To Elizabeth, his daughter, he left his house and land, and all his liquors.  One can speculate that the two sons were set up in life already but that Elizabeth would need some source of income.  I wonder what the city fathers thought of that. 

The only reference I found to a possible religion for John was that his son John was baptized at "Second Church", which is now known as Old North Church.  Increase Mather was the pastor at the time.  There doesn't seem to be any record of the other children's baptism.  Perhaps John was away so much that he wasn't often there to see that the children were baptized, or perhaps Elizabeth had enough to do to take care of her family.

I would love to find his inventory, to learn whether he was well to do or not.  I'd also love to learn more about his story as a mariner, and I do have a few new sources to look at for that.  If I find anything interesting, I'll do an update.  And of course, I'm wondering how involved he was in the slave trade, and whether he had one or more slaves.  That would be more than possible if he was importing rum, also. But for now, we at least have a sense that John lived in one of the (to me) most interesting places in the world, and had a fascinating career.  That's pretty cool.

The line of descent is:

John Whittemore-Elizabeth Lloyd
John Whittemore-Lydia Clough
Josiah Whittemore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore=Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants



Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Holbrook line: Edward Lloyd, of Boston

I'm in trouble with this post, and hope someone will read it, weep, and then contact me with the correct information.  Some of this is fact and some is a wild guess; I'll try to make clear which is which. 

Here's what I think I know:  Edward Loyd, Lloyd or Lyde, was living in Boston, Massachusetts when he married Hannah Griffin in 1677 in Concord, Massachusetts Bay Colony,  He was a mariner by trade, according to his will, and at the time he wrote his will said he was of Boston.  There is a note to the side that said "Jamaica" but I don't know if there was a section of Boston known as Jamaica that early, or whether this was a note that Edward had actually died in Jamaica, on one of his voyages.  The will, which was probated in 1704, mentioned his wife, not by name, and two daughters, Hannah and Elizabeth.  The court documents explain that his wife's name was Mary.

This is where it gets confusing.  Perhaps our Edward Loyd was not the husband of Hannah Griffin.  Perhaps he was the husband of Mary Wheelwright, married in 1660 in Boston.  Mary's father, John Wheelwright, left land in England to his grandson, Edward Loyd or Lyde when he died.  Is this Edward Lyde our Edward Lloyd?  Mary Atkinson had a son, Edward Lloyd, baptized at Old South Church in Boston in 1674.  By then she had been a widow, for the second time, for about 7 years but this is the first I can find of an Edward Lloyd who might fit into this family.  Does he also fit into ours?  I'm not sure.

All we really know is that our Edward was the father of two girls and had a wife, Mary, when he died.  We know his estate was valued at about 77 pounds, including 75 gallons of "Rhum", and a sugar loaf.  He also had an old Bible.  The rum makes one wonder...why did he have this much on hand?  Was he a small time merchant, or did he expect to sell the rum to another party?  Had he purchased the rum in Jamaica or some other Caribbean port?  He apparently owned no land or buildings when he died. 

So, the question is, are these Edward Lloyd's the same person?  Was the  Edward who married Hannah Griffin a descendant of the Edward who married Mary Wheelwright?  Or were these two entirely separate families, with only the common name in common? 

Perhaps I shouldn't have written anything until I had this better figured out.  But if I don't ask for help on this, I may never find our answers.  Besides, I like to write about men who were mariners, who had a bit of mystery about them.  I will definitely be keeping an eye out for Edward Lloyd, as I continue to work to tell the stories of our ancestors. 

The line of descent is:

Edward Loyd-Hannah Griffin
Elizabeth Lloyd-John Whittemore
John Whittemore-Lydia Clough
Josiah Whittemore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Friday, January 11, 2019

Holbrook line: Thomas Whittemore, Immigrant

I'm pleased to be writing about Thomas Whittemore (Whitmore), not just because he is our immigrant ancestor and not just because there's quite a bit of material readily available about him.  It's also the completion of a promise I made myself early in this genealogy journey.  Mary Elizabeth Whittemore, my great great grandmother, was a brick wall for me in the early days of my genealogy search, and I remember promising her that I would find her family and tell their story.  It's satisfying to me to be able to do that now, with the help of a lot of other family historians along the way. 

Thomas Whittemore was born or christened on June 6, 1593 in Hitchin, Herefordshire, England.  His parents were Thomas and Mary Meade Whitmore. and our Thomas was one of at least ten children born to his parents.  Hitchin is or was a market town and a wool center, so it is quite possible that the Whitmores were involved in that somehow, whether raising sheep or working in mills.  It seems to have had a larger population than the towns that many of our ancestors were from, which may or may not explain why there are fairly good records there. 

Thomas married three times.  The name of his first wife is unknown.  His second wife was Sarah Deardes, whom he married in 1623.  No children are known from that marriage.  He next married Hannah Chawkley on October 26, 1632, and she is the mother of all of his known children, all thirteen of them!  Roger Thompson, in his book "From Deference to Defiance: Charlestown, Massachusetts 1629-1692" says that Thomas came to Charlestown in about 1639, aged about 43, in a party of eight.  That would be himself, his wife Hannah, and six children (Son John had died probably shortly after birth in 1635, but there were these six who came with them).  I'm not sure that Sarah, Mary, and Thomas were his, or else they did belong to one of his earlier wives, for those children are given birth dates well before his marriage to Hannah.  It's possible that they were other relatives that he agreed to bring to America, but it looks like more research needs to be done about those children.  Daniel, Nathaniel, and another John were the children of Thomas and Hannah, who accompanied them on the trip.

The family settled in Charlestown soon after their arrival.  In 1638 or 1639, this would have been quite a small town because in 1658 there were still fewer than 200 heads of household.  We don't know a lot about Thomas's life in Charlestown.  He had a farm that was situated on the Mystic River so he would have had easy access to fish and, likely, seafood, to supplement whatever he grew on his farm.  We don't know if he had another occupation.  I found no record of him in the applications for freeman, so apparently he never acquired the right to vote, and I found no record that he served in any sort of political or government post. 

Thomas died on May 25, 1661 at Malden, which was carved out of Charlestown.  Descendants lived on his property until the mid 1800's, which is pretty remarkable.  At his death, his estate was valued at 286 pounds.  He wanted Hannah to have the right to live in the house for as long as she lived (no language about "and remains unmarried") and gave the bulk of the estate to his son Daniel, with smaller bequests to Nathaniel and John.  Son Thomas had been given property of some type in England and had returned there to live, but "to save trouble" he was bequeathed five shillings if he came back to claim it.  The other children were to receive small bequests as they turned 18, or 21, or married.

Hannah married as her second husband Benjamin Butterfield in 1663 and lived until 1677.  

So that's what is known of Thomas Whittemore.  His children served as minor officials such as constable and hog reeve, but we don't know how active they were in church life, or more particularly, spiritual life.  I've not found anything that indicates whether or not Thomas could read, nor have I found an inventory of his assets.  I'll keep looking for those.   Thomas Whittemore, no matter how respected or not respected he was during his lifetime, deserves our gratitude for bringing his family here and for raising good citizens.  He helped make America.

The line of descent is:

Thomas Whittemore-Hannah Chawkley
John Whittemore-Mary Upham
John Whittemore-Elizabeth Annable
John Whittemore-Elizabeth Lloyd
John Whittemore-Lydia Clough
Josiah Whittemore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants








Friday, July 13, 2018

Holbrook line: John Annable, Immigrant

I'm going to say a couple of things in this post that go counter to what is posted on many trees on line.  I'm even going to advance a theory, or half of a theory, as to who this gentleman really is.  What I am not going to do is answer the questions as to when and where he was born, when he came to America, and other questions about his origins. 

Most trees say that John's parents were Anthony Annable and Jane Mumford.  It is true that they were early immigrants, but I've seen no record of John being their child. Also, they settled in Barnstable which would mean John had somehow gone from Cape Cod, to the very northern part of Massachusetts to live, far from his family.  This would have been very unusual in those early days of Massachusetts. 

Furthermore, I've found evidence of a record that says John Annable was in Essex County, (probably in the area of Ipswich although it wasn't officially formed until 1634) as early as 1625.  He appears in court records as early as 1638.  This presents another problem.  John's birth date is given as 1618-1625, with only one giving a firm date and place.  If this ias our John Annable, then he came to America almost as soon as he was born, and it may be his father, who may be John Annable, that we are seeing in the early years at Ipswich.  Or, the alternate theory would be that he was born earlier than the guesses, for that is what they seem to be, and that he married late, or married a second time, fairly late in his life.  There don't seem to be any death records for John Annable prior to our John's death, so I'm suspicious that our John may have been born as early as 1603, in order to be at Ipswich by 1625.  And the date could go back further than that. 

What I have been able to learn about John is that he was a tailor, which implies he had learned a trade somewhere, presumably in England.  Would the very earliest settlers in Ipswich have needed a tailor, or did he do something else to support himself?  This was a town made up largely of farmers and fishermen, so he probably engaged in one or both of these occupations to start with. 

He appeared in court primarily as a witness but there are two cases in the 1650's that mention him.  In one, he was suing Edward Gilman, Jr. for withholding pipe staves, apparently paid for, and in another he is acknowledging a debt to Mr. John Ward of Haverhill of 14 pounds.  This may be more in the line of record keeping,  as in today's liens and mortgages, rather than an actual appearance in court.  He was also a witness several different times. 

He married, variously between 1647 and 1649, Anna Whipple, daughter of Matthew and Ann Hawkins Whipple, and they had at least seven children. (Matthew Whipple was a clothier.  Is this where John got his training, from or in connection with his father in law?)  John died October 6, 1664, intestate (without a will).  Administration of the estate was granted to Anna and the eldest son John, which was a bit unusual for that time and place.  The estate was to remain in her hands for the bringing up of the children, and John was to receive 20 pounds and each of the other children 10 pounds as they came of age. 

The inventory, taken by Robert Lord, shows a value of 181 pounds, which was pretty fair for a tailor.  It includes a "dwelling house, barne, and land about" it valued at 80 pounds, plus six acres of marsh and four of upland, and quite a few household good, a few items that may be related to the tailoring trade, several items of real furniture, books, farm animals, and food stuffs.  He was relatively prosperous for a tailor.

I am sure there are Annable researchers out there.  I'd sure love to hear from some of you, with your own questions and research, to see if we can give John a father and mother, and to understand how John came to be in Ipswich.  Please contact me or leave a message on this post!

The line of descent is:

John Annable-Anna Whipple
Elizabeth Annable-John Whittemore
John Whittemore-Elizabeth Lloyd
John Whittemore-Lydia Clough
Josiah Whittemore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their  descendants


Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Holbrook line: John Upham, Immigrant

It's a wonderful thing to find information about an ancestor who hadn't really been on my radar.  However, he was on Robert Charles Anderson's radar, for his "Great Migration" project, and I'm so glad.  He actually found about 10 pages of information about our ancestor, but I'll not use all of it here as I try to keep these posts to ten paragraphs or less. 

John's parents were Richard and Maria Upham, and he was born in about 1599 in Bicton, Devon, England.  This was a tiny little village (current population about 280) with a long history dating back to the Domesday Records.  The church that was in place when John was born is partially demolished now, and was replaced by something more "modern" in 1850.  It's almost on the coast of southern England, but with no apparent connection to the ocean.  We don't know anything about John's like in England, until in 1626 he married Elizabeth Slade, also in Bicton.  We then find that they traveled to the New World on board the Marygould in 1635.   He was listed as a husbandman, aged 35 and his wife was 32.  There were three Upham children, and also Sarah Upham, who was 26 and traveling with them.  She was a sister to John.

John and his family first settled at Weymouth, probably with a newborn son Phineas, and there were two additional children born to the couple while they lived at Weymouth.  He probably joined the Weymouth church almost immediately, because he was made a freeman on September 2, 1635.  He was a deputy for Weymouth several times in the 1630s,.  During the middle 1640s, he was selectman four different times,  He was given land at least twice during the land divisions of the villate of Weymouth, and by 1643 owned a lot of thirty acres, plus two acres of salt march, and other plots of four acres and two acres.

Sometime in 1650 or 1651 it appears that the family left Weymouth and moved to Malden.  , where he served several times as a Malden commissioner to end small cases, and a Malden Selectman.  He also got himself in trouble with the church, or rather, with the pastor who was called to the church against the wishes of several Malden men, and the advice of the authorities.  Thirteen of the men, including our John Upham, were forced to apologize, and they were fined, which fine was upheld when the men appealed the judgement.  The men may have had the last word, however, as the pastor did not stay long in Malden.  John was selected a deacon of the church in 1658.Katherine 

By 1662 John was starting to dispose of some of his lands.  He gave land to his daughter in law, and to his son Phineas.  Unfortunately, Phineas died shortly after his father, not having carried out the terms of his father's will to give legacies to John's three surviving daughters.  Elizabeth Slade Upham died after February 2, 1670 and John married shortly after August 14, 1671, to Katherine Richards Hollard, who was a widow.  John gave up his right to any of Katherine's goods or estate that came to her from her husband Angell Hollard.  When he died on February 25, 1681/82, he had very little left in his estate, about 19 pounds and 4 shillings.  He had dispensed of the real estate earlier.  

That's what is known of John Upham.  He was a respected and respectable man although perhaps his education was less than desired.  He could sign his name, however.  He woked himself up from "husbandman', to "yeoman", to "planter", and acquired the title of "Deacon".  Not bad for a man from a town of 280 or so. We can be proud of him.

The line of descent is:

John Upham-Elizabeth Slade
Mary Upham-John Whittemore
John Whittemore-Elizabeth Annable
John Whittemore-Elizabeth Lloyd
John Whittemore-Lydia Clough
Josiah Whittemore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph R Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gloadys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants 




Friday, March 3, 2017

Holbrook line: Matthew Whipple 1588-1647

It's always fun to find an ancestor I've overlooked, and to find there is quite a bit of information about him, AND to find his will AND his inventory.  So it's been a fun morning. 

Matthew Whipple isn't a name that leaps to my mind when remembering my immigrant ancestors, but maybe now he will be.  There is a log of information about him on the Geni sight, and more on AmericanAncestors.  The will is found in Volume 1 of The Probate Records of Essex County, which means it's been transcribed and although I still struggle with archaic spellings and meanings and even vocabulary, at least I don't have to try to read ancient handwriting. 

Matthew was born, or christened, December 19,1588, in Bocking, Essex, England.  His parents were Matthew Whipple and Joan.  Matthew of England was a clothier, and based on his will, was apparently well off.  I'm not finding a lot of information about Bocking on line, but I did find St Mary's Church, which is where Matthew probably attended as a child, and where his father is buried (likely his mother, too)..  He had at least nine brothers and sisters, and Matthew was the fifth child born into the family. 

Matthew married Ann or Anne Hawkins on May 7, 1622, at St Mary's church in Bocking.  I haven't done any proof work to say whether I believe this or not, but Ann is supposed to be a granddaughter of the famous John Hawkins, merchant, slave trader, explorer, treasurer and controller of the English Navy.  (I am learning to be somewhat doubtful when I find a line tied to someone famous, since I've been burned a few times by published genealogies that turned out to be mistaken or in some cases just plain fraudulent.)

Matthew and Ann had at least 5 children and possibly more.  Apparently most were born in Bocking but the last one or two may have been born in Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay Colony.  The family immigrated apparently between 1636 and 1638.  He was a member of the church there and I believe that when I see the phrase "Deacon Whipple" it refers to our Matthew.  Ann died sometime before September 28, 1646, when Matthew married Rose Barker Chute, who outlived him. 

I've found that Matthew held many offices but I've not found a list other than that he was frequently a "clerke",  That indicates he could read and write, and that is supported by contents of his inventory which included 29 books.  He was one of the largest landowners in the area, along with his brother John.  From his inventory, we can see that he farmed, that he had several weapons, and that he had a large amount of linen goods as well as at least three wheels, two linen and one cotton.  It appears that his home had at least three  rooms as many objects, including 85 "peeces" of pewter were in the hall, and the linens and some clothes were in the parlor.  There was a chamber over the parlor which held miscellaneous items, and then there are a lot of tools that must have been kept in a barn.  He had a dwelling house with 4 acres of ground that included a "barne" and other out houses, a 6 acre lot, a four acre lot, six acres of marsh, and a farm containing 160 acres plus a meadow of 30 acres, and then another 20 acres of marsh and "wast" land.  We are surprised that his estate was valued at only a little over 287 pounds when we see the long list of his property. 

His will was written March 7, 1645 and then he added a codicil September 13, 1646 to provide for his new wife, Rose.  All of her items that she brought to the marriage were to remain hers, and she was given 10 pounds, besides.  William must have died within a year, because the will was proven July 28, 1647. 

I'd love to learn more about Matthew and his life in both Bocking and Ipswich.  It's been fun to learn this much but I always have more questions, it seems.  For now, we know of another immigrant to the New World, one who apparently did well for himself and his family.  It's a start.

The line of descent is:

Matthew Whipple-Ann Hawkins
Anna Whipple-John Annable
Elizabeth Annable-John Whittemore
John Whittemore-Elizabeth Lloyd
John Whittemore-Lydia Clough
Josiah Whittermore-Lucy Snow
Josiah Whittemore-Betsy Foster
Mary Elizabeth Whittemore-Joseph R Holbrook
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants

Tuesday, May 3, 2016

Beeks line: David Rees 1655-1706 Immigrant

This will be a very short post, for such an important person in the Beeks line.

We know that he was born about 1755 in Redstone, Pembrokeshire, Wales, that he married Elinor Lloyd, and that he purchased land in Pennsylvania in 1686.  At the time, he was referred to as of "Llandewl" in the county of Pembroke. The land he purchased was 200 acres, part of land belonging to Francis Howell.  As far as I've been able to determine, Francis was not related to the Rees family nor to the Lloyd family, but that is subject to change.

At any rate, this was part of the William Penn land that Penn had so heavily promoted, especially to Quakers, and the Rees family was strongly Quaker.  That probably meant they were not wealthy, but they did have enough money to come to Pennsylvania and to buy land.  The land was somewhere in the area of Newtown, Pennsylvania, and the Reese family stayed there until David died in 1706.  He would have been about 51 years old, and he left eight children, some born in Wales and some in America although I've not found a really good listing for where each child was born. 

There are two children who are in the Beeks line: Morris, who married Sarah Butterfield and Thomas, who married Margaret Bowen.  Later two of Henry's grandchildren married, because it was not unusual for first cousins to marry at that time.  Hannah Rees, daughter of Morris Rees and Sarah Butterfield, married Thomas Rees, son of Thomas Rees and Margaret Bowen.  (It is hard to keep these Rees names straight, especially when they migrate to the Reese spelling, or going backward, dealing with the very Welsh Rhys spelling.)

This is as much as I've been able to learn to date about David Rees. I'd like to know more about him.  Did he prosper in America?  What Quaker meeting was he a part of?  Did his children all stay within the Quaker faith (Morris and Thomas did, but what of the others?)?  And what became of his wife, Elinor? 

 The Beeks line includes a lot of interesting people, but I think the Welsh Quakers are among the most interesting.  I'd love to walk among them for an afternoon and listen to them and watch them at work and at worship.

The lines of descent are:

David Rees-Elinor Lloyd
Morris Rees-Sarah Butterfield
Hannah Rees-Thomas Rees
Solomon Rees-Anna possibly McNeal
Owen T Rees-Margaret Moon
Eliza Rees-Samuel G Dunham
Margaret Catherine Dunham-Harvey Aldridge
Cleo Aldridge-Wilbur Beeks
Mary Margaret Beeks-Cleveland Harshbarger
Their descendants

Thomas Rees is the son of Thomas Rees and Margaret Bowen, and the older Thomas is the son of David and Elinor.