I've written earlier of Henry Brown's parents, William and Jane Mills or possibly Burgis of Rusper, Sussex, England. Henry was one of their seven children and was christened on December 28, 1626. Henry was with his parents on the voyage to America in 1645, when his mother and a sibling died during the ocean crossing. Henry was just 18 years old, and now he would have to help his father settle, as well as his two remaining sibilings. William settled on Long Island but Henry went to Providence, Rhode Island. This leads me to wonder what his religious beliefs were, and whether he was more comfortable under the religious freedom that Rhode Island offered, or whether his reason for going there was something entirely different.
Henry probably had received a good education in England, as his grandfather was a pastor. From the number of offices Henry held as an adult it is apparent that he also was regarded as a man of common sense. He was made a freeman in 1655, and at various times from 1656 to 1684 he was commissioner, constable, on the grand jury, town treasurer, deputy, assistant, and on the town council. It appears that he left his home in 1675 or 1676, during King Philip's War. He would have been about 50 years old, so possibly he served in the militia during that time although I haven't found his name on a militia list. He may have aged out by the time of the war.
He married Waite Waterman, the daughter of Richard and Bethiah Waite Waterman probably before 1670. He sold a house, one of the original home lots that had already been through several owners, in 1668 so it's possible this was in preparation for his marriage. Or perhaps Waite didn't care for the location for some reason. It was at almost the very north end of town and she may have wanted to live closer to her parents, who were aging.
Henry and Waite had at least five children, including son Richard who was born in 1676. Waite died sometime in or before 1682, leaving a family of young children. Henry remarried in 1682 to Hannah Field Mathewson, daughter of John Field and widow of James Mathewson. They had one child together.
We know that Henry was taxed at a rate of 8 shillings in 1687 and was on the list of those from whom a poll tax was due in 1688. After that, there is little notice of Henry in the records I've consulted.
He wrote his will on September 22, 1698 and was dead by February 20, 1702/03, when the will was probated. Unfortunately, I've not found a copy of the will, which I would dearly love to see. Did he love books as much as his father did? What religion did he profess? How had he made a living all these years? And was he a happy man? All we really know is that he was well respected in the community, and that he had a wife, and children. Yet, he is part of our family and we can respect him, just as his community did.
The line of descent is:
Henry Brown-Waite Waterman
Richard Brown-Mary Pray
Deborah Brown-Othniel Brown
Sarah Brown-Enos Eddy
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Eddy=Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Showing posts with label Waterman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Waterman. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 13, 2018
Friday, June 15, 2018
Holbrook line: Richard Waterman, Immigrant
By now, you've noticed that I find most of our ancestors to be fascinating people. Richard Waterman also falls in that category, I think because he is just a little bit different from many of our New England ancestors. We don't know his origins nor do we know more than the name of his wife, which was Bethiah.
The first thing we know actually raises more questions. Richard arrived in Salem, Massachusetts on June 16, 1629, having been sent there as a hunter by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. So, how did he become a hunter? What experience did he have, and where did he get it? Was there enough call for a hunter in Salem that he could make a living? Or was he one of our first frontiersmen, shooting animals for their furs? We do know he killed a wolf in 1632 but we don't have any further knowledge about his success, or lack thereof.
We don't know when he and Bethiah married. It may have been early in 1629, before Richard came to America, or it may have been a shipboard romance. My feeling is that there wouldn't have been enough time for him to have met, courted, and married in Salem, and given time for their first child, Mehitabel, to have been born "about" 1630. Of course, if that guess for a date is off then maybe the marriage did happen here. The Watermans had three more children, Waite, Resolved, and Nathaniel. Some sites also give a son Joseph but the sources I've found don't support that.
Richard was likely a member of the Salem church because his son Nathaniel was baptized there in August of 1637. However, he became a supporter of Roger Williams during the times Roger lived in Salem, and when Roger was banished, he soon sought and was given permission to follow Roger into Rhode Island. In fact, Waterman was invited to leave on March 12, 1637/38, with the other followers of Roger Williams. Once in Providence, he settled down again. He had a house lot located between those of Francis Weston and Ezekiel Holyman, and acquired other land besides.
He also seems to have been caught up in the "Gorton controversy", which I don't pretend to understand. Mr. Gorton was of strong religious beliefs, and was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1644. So was Richard Waterman. He seems to have been imprisoned and tried more for political than religious reasons, although he was a strong supporter of Warwick, where Mr. Gorton settled, and owned land there. Opinions differ as to whether he actually moved his family therfe, but Robert Charles Anderson seems to think he lived in Warwick for about four years, from 1666 to 1670.
In Salem, he had had little to do with the government, perhaps because he was out hunting for much of the time. However, in Providence, he was on the committee to establish colony government, and served as the Commissioner for Providence to the Rhode Island Court on at least 10 occasions. He was also a selectman and a magistrate, and served on several juries.
Savage says that he was chosen colonel of the militia, which would be a high honor and responsibility. It may be that he was chosen partly for his woodsmen skills, but he also seems to have been a leader as well.
Richard died at Providence October 26, 1673 and Bethiah died December 3, 1680. He left a will naming his heirs and granting his lands to them but the will was burned when the native Americans attacked and burned Providence during King Philip's War. Bethiah would have lived through that war, and it would be interesting to know how she survived, and with whom she lived after the war. She would have been perhaps 75 years old at the time of her death.
Richard is interesting because of the connection with Roger Williams, and his later support of Mr. Gorton, because he was a hunter by trade, because he survived several months in a Massachusetts prison, and because he was respected so much although it appears that he had very little, if any, formal education. He was a remarkable man.
Our line of descent is
Richard Waterman-Bethiah
Waite Waterman-Henry Brown
Richard Brown=Mary Pray
Deborah Brown-Othniel Brown
Sarah Brown-Enos Eddy
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Richard was also the father in law of Mercy Williams, who married Resolved Waterman and then Samuel Winsor. Our line goes through Samuel.
The first thing we know actually raises more questions. Richard arrived in Salem, Massachusetts on June 16, 1629, having been sent there as a hunter by the Massachusetts Bay Colony. So, how did he become a hunter? What experience did he have, and where did he get it? Was there enough call for a hunter in Salem that he could make a living? Or was he one of our first frontiersmen, shooting animals for their furs? We do know he killed a wolf in 1632 but we don't have any further knowledge about his success, or lack thereof.
We don't know when he and Bethiah married. It may have been early in 1629, before Richard came to America, or it may have been a shipboard romance. My feeling is that there wouldn't have been enough time for him to have met, courted, and married in Salem, and given time for their first child, Mehitabel, to have been born "about" 1630. Of course, if that guess for a date is off then maybe the marriage did happen here. The Watermans had three more children, Waite, Resolved, and Nathaniel. Some sites also give a son Joseph but the sources I've found don't support that.
Richard was likely a member of the Salem church because his son Nathaniel was baptized there in August of 1637. However, he became a supporter of Roger Williams during the times Roger lived in Salem, and when Roger was banished, he soon sought and was given permission to follow Roger into Rhode Island. In fact, Waterman was invited to leave on March 12, 1637/38, with the other followers of Roger Williams. Once in Providence, he settled down again. He had a house lot located between those of Francis Weston and Ezekiel Holyman, and acquired other land besides.
He also seems to have been caught up in the "Gorton controversy", which I don't pretend to understand. Mr. Gorton was of strong religious beliefs, and was banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1644. So was Richard Waterman. He seems to have been imprisoned and tried more for political than religious reasons, although he was a strong supporter of Warwick, where Mr. Gorton settled, and owned land there. Opinions differ as to whether he actually moved his family therfe, but Robert Charles Anderson seems to think he lived in Warwick for about four years, from 1666 to 1670.
In Salem, he had had little to do with the government, perhaps because he was out hunting for much of the time. However, in Providence, he was on the committee to establish colony government, and served as the Commissioner for Providence to the Rhode Island Court on at least 10 occasions. He was also a selectman and a magistrate, and served on several juries.
Savage says that he was chosen colonel of the militia, which would be a high honor and responsibility. It may be that he was chosen partly for his woodsmen skills, but he also seems to have been a leader as well.
Richard died at Providence October 26, 1673 and Bethiah died December 3, 1680. He left a will naming his heirs and granting his lands to them but the will was burned when the native Americans attacked and burned Providence during King Philip's War. Bethiah would have lived through that war, and it would be interesting to know how she survived, and with whom she lived after the war. She would have been perhaps 75 years old at the time of her death.
Richard is interesting because of the connection with Roger Williams, and his later support of Mr. Gorton, because he was a hunter by trade, because he survived several months in a Massachusetts prison, and because he was respected so much although it appears that he had very little, if any, formal education. He was a remarkable man.
Our line of descent is
Richard Waterman-Bethiah
Waite Waterman-Henry Brown
Richard Brown=Mary Pray
Deborah Brown-Othniel Brown
Sarah Brown-Enos Eddy
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Richard was also the father in law of Mercy Williams, who married Resolved Waterman and then Samuel Winsor. Our line goes through Samuel.
Friday, May 18, 2018
Holbrook line: William Browne 1593-1650 Immigrant
He was just a name on our tree, until I started finding his story. Now he is very dear to me. Somehow and for some reason as yet unexplained, I feel connected to William Browne.
It can't be geography. William Browne was born in Rusper, Sussex, England in 1593, when Queen Elizabeth still had ten years to live. Sussex is on the south east coast of England, and Rusper is on the northern edge of Sussex, now relatively close to London but not so much 425 years ago. William was the son of Rev. Joseph and Margaret Patching, so perhaps it's the preacher's kid connection, but it seems more than that.
William grew up in a large family of perhaps as many as eight children, so it is somewhat surprising that he was able to obtain an education. He became a schoolmaster and apparently taught up until his departure for the new world in 1645. (As mentioned many times, this is where I can't "connect". The bravery of these people is beyond all of my understanding but commands my utmost respect.)
By the time the family came over, William had been married to Jane Mills since 1611. She was the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Mills. Again, they had a large family of nine children, which makes one wonder how they survived on a schoolmaster's salary. Only three of the children are known to have come to the New World-Henry, Phebe, and Mary. The voyage over must have been horrific, because wife Jane and their eldest son John both died of smallpox on the voyage. How frightening that must have been for all of the passengers, and how disheartening for William!
William first went to Saybrook, Connecticut but seems to have stayed there only a short time. His daughter Mary married Robert Marvin and William made his home with them at Southampton, Long Island, New York. This was already a whaling community, so the opportunities for trading were good and William made his living as a merchant.
One wonders why the family went to Long Island. Was it for more religious freedom? Was it economics? Was it land? Since William's son Henry went to Rhode Island, a reasonable guess might be that religion had something to do with it, but we will probably never know for sure.
William seems to have been a respected man for he was made a freeman at Southampton in 1648 and shared in a division of lands later that year. He signed some sort of register on July 2, 1650 but three weeks later his daughter and her husband applied for administration of his estate., so his death must have been sudden. His inventory was taken the next day and valued at 165 pounds. I guess what blesses me is that of this, his books were valued at 5 pounds. He and I share a love of books. I wish I knew what books he owned, because that would tell us much more about him.
William may or may not have lead a fairly easy life in Rusper, but his tragic losses on the voyage here and then his efforts to begin a new life on Long Island are the stories that should be told in a movie. I can't do it justice in a blog post.
The line of descent is:
William Brown-Jane Mills (some say Jane Burgis)
Henry Browne-Waite Waterman
Richard Browne-Mary Pray
Deborah Browne-Othniel Brown (no apparent relationship)
Sarah Brown-Enos Eddy
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Brown Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
It can't be geography. William Browne was born in Rusper, Sussex, England in 1593, when Queen Elizabeth still had ten years to live. Sussex is on the south east coast of England, and Rusper is on the northern edge of Sussex, now relatively close to London but not so much 425 years ago. William was the son of Rev. Joseph and Margaret Patching, so perhaps it's the preacher's kid connection, but it seems more than that.
William grew up in a large family of perhaps as many as eight children, so it is somewhat surprising that he was able to obtain an education. He became a schoolmaster and apparently taught up until his departure for the new world in 1645. (As mentioned many times, this is where I can't "connect". The bravery of these people is beyond all of my understanding but commands my utmost respect.)
By the time the family came over, William had been married to Jane Mills since 1611. She was the daughter of Thomas and Margaret Mills. Again, they had a large family of nine children, which makes one wonder how they survived on a schoolmaster's salary. Only three of the children are known to have come to the New World-Henry, Phebe, and Mary. The voyage over must have been horrific, because wife Jane and their eldest son John both died of smallpox on the voyage. How frightening that must have been for all of the passengers, and how disheartening for William!
William first went to Saybrook, Connecticut but seems to have stayed there only a short time. His daughter Mary married Robert Marvin and William made his home with them at Southampton, Long Island, New York. This was already a whaling community, so the opportunities for trading were good and William made his living as a merchant.
One wonders why the family went to Long Island. Was it for more religious freedom? Was it economics? Was it land? Since William's son Henry went to Rhode Island, a reasonable guess might be that religion had something to do with it, but we will probably never know for sure.
William seems to have been a respected man for he was made a freeman at Southampton in 1648 and shared in a division of lands later that year. He signed some sort of register on July 2, 1650 but three weeks later his daughter and her husband applied for administration of his estate., so his death must have been sudden. His inventory was taken the next day and valued at 165 pounds. I guess what blesses me is that of this, his books were valued at 5 pounds. He and I share a love of books. I wish I knew what books he owned, because that would tell us much more about him.
William may or may not have lead a fairly easy life in Rusper, but his tragic losses on the voyage here and then his efforts to begin a new life on Long Island are the stories that should be told in a movie. I can't do it justice in a blog post.
The line of descent is:
William Brown-Jane Mills (some say Jane Burgis)
Henry Browne-Waite Waterman
Richard Browne-Mary Pray
Deborah Browne-Othniel Brown (no apparent relationship)
Sarah Brown-Enos Eddy
Enos Eddy-Deborah Paine
Joseph Brown Eddy-Susan Lamphire
Susan Eddy-Hiram Stanard
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
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