No one seems to be sure of his first name, which doesn't really matter much because he would have gone by the name of Michael, anyway. Hans Michael Reyer (also various spelling for the last name, such as Reiher) was born in 1686 or 1689 in Schwabbach, Wurtemburg, in what is now Germany. His parents were Johannes Michel Reiher, from Paris, France (or possibly Metz) and Anna Caatharina last name as yet unknown. They married in Wurtemburg.
This man, whom I will refer to as Michael, led a fascinating life. He was a part of the Huguenot movement, the French Protestants who were persecuted by the Catholics in France, if we are to believe what we read. He lived to be about 83 years old, some say 86. He was married three different times, and had 24 children, as reported in "The Perkiomen Region volume 1, printed in 1895). I have found names and approximate birth dates for "only" eleven of them.
I've not found anything yet about his early life, or even his early married life, but he emigrated in 1732 when he gave his age as 45, and arrived at Philadelphia on a ship called the Loyal Judith. Two sons arrived with him but we don't know how many of the rest of his family may have come, or when, except that his wife and at least one daughter arrived here also. They may have traveled on the same ship and simply not been listed, because they were women. At least two and more likely more of the children were born in America. There was a huge age different in the children, with birth years from about 1711 to at least 1752. His first wife, our ancestor, Anna Maria Seeland, died in 1742 in Upper Salford Township, in what is now Montgomery County, Philadelphia.
As of yet, I don't know much about Michael's life here except that he was a member of the Old Goshenhoppen church, which was Lutheran. He was one of the church wardens and as such, along with representatives from the Reformed church, bought jointly thirty eight and a quarter acres for the use of the two congregations in 1737. The first mention I've found of a church building was 1744, so it may have taken a while to raise the funds to erect the building. Micheal is believed to be buried at the cemetery there but I didn't locate records on Find A Grave.
He wrote his will on November 1, 1771 and died January 3, 1772. A son, John, filed a petition that the estate not be probated until another son, Charles, was present. There may be a family dynamic indicated that we don't understand. In the petition, he refers to his father as "yeoman", meaning he owned land. The inventory of personal property was valued at 79 pounds, 18 shillings, and one pence, including a large Bible, several books, and an almanac. He could read, but we don't know whether these were written in English or in German. He must have owned a good deal of land because it sold for 790 pounds, 14 shillings. Michael had done well for his family. This was not a huge estate but it was more than many of his neighbors.
I wonder how many of his children were still living, and were still in the same general area. I wonder how he managed to support such a large family. Did his older children postpone their own marriages and families in order to help raise the younger ones? What sort of problems did this area have with the native Americans during the French and Indian war? Michael was already relatively old when the conflict started. Did he serve? Did he take his family to a safer area, or a fort? What else could Michael tell us about if we could sit down and ask him about his life?
I'd like to do more research about Michael, and if I find more information, I will post updates or a new blog. In the meantime, it's good to know more about this French or German ancestor, who took a big risk in coming to America.
Our line of descent is
Hans Michael Reyer-Anna Maria Seeland
Anna Maria Reyer-Johan Jacob Nuss
Anna Elizabeth Nuss-Johan Jacob Hetrick
Abraham Hetrick-Sarah Lemmon
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Friday, October 5, 2018
Tuesday, October 2, 2018
Holbrook line: Dethmarus Sternberg, Immigrant
I've been waiting for several years for the facts about this ancestor to come out. I think I've waited in vain, and it will be some time, if ever, before the origins of this man are determined. We know where he was baptized, and we know his parents' names and when and where they were baptized. But after that, it gets confusing. Was Detmar's father a German count, or a Dutch count, or an Englishman named Stansbury who decided to stay in the area of the Low countries after spending time there during one or another of the many wars those countries had? Was his mother some relation to William of Orange? All these theories are mentioned on various internet sites but no one seems to really have documents that show anything for sure. The one exception is a crude drawing of heraldry, with a 1609 date, and the name Sternberg written on it. It's written in a foreign language so I have no idea what the sketch actually says.
Detmar was the son of Dethmarus and Catherine Morske Sternberge, and was baptized in the Protestant church honoring St. Rainaldi in Dortmund, Prussia in 1628. He was probably born shortly before that. He married Catherine (Renske was her nickname but we don't know her given name) probably about 1650. Their first and perhaps only son was named Tobias. The three of them came to Maryland in 1658 according to Detmar's claim for headrights, and he had also transported a man by the name of John Dowlin. So he had 200 acres, or at least the right to 200 acres.
I wish I knew more about Detmar. He arrived in 1658 and was in 1663 selling land. Why? Did he acquire other land? Did he originally acquire unsuitable land? What crop was he trying to raise? Did he actually work the land, or was that done by servants and slaves? Did he have another trade or way to support himself? What was his religion? We know he was living in 1678 but we don't know when after that he died. And most certainly, I'd love to know more about his origins. Did he find fellow Germans in the area, or Dutch, or English? What was his relationship with his neighbors? Could he speak English at all? Since we don't know the answers to these questions, this post is not a story of his life but just a beginning, hoping to point us toward a fuller understanding of our ancestor with the strange sounding name.
Two generations after Detmar arrived, the family, or at least some of it, changed its name to Stansbury, and that is the name our line is using today.
Here's the line of descent:
Detmar Sternberg-Catherine (renske)
Tobias Starnborough-Sarah Raven
Thomas Stansbury-Jean Dixon Hayes
Thomas Stansbury-Hannah Gorsuch
Rachel Stansubry-Alexis Lemmon
Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Detmar was the son of Dethmarus and Catherine Morske Sternberge, and was baptized in the Protestant church honoring St. Rainaldi in Dortmund, Prussia in 1628. He was probably born shortly before that. He married Catherine (Renske was her nickname but we don't know her given name) probably about 1650. Their first and perhaps only son was named Tobias. The three of them came to Maryland in 1658 according to Detmar's claim for headrights, and he had also transported a man by the name of John Dowlin. So he had 200 acres, or at least the right to 200 acres.
I wish I knew more about Detmar. He arrived in 1658 and was in 1663 selling land. Why? Did he acquire other land? Did he originally acquire unsuitable land? What crop was he trying to raise? Did he actually work the land, or was that done by servants and slaves? Did he have another trade or way to support himself? What was his religion? We know he was living in 1678 but we don't know when after that he died. And most certainly, I'd love to know more about his origins. Did he find fellow Germans in the area, or Dutch, or English? What was his relationship with his neighbors? Could he speak English at all? Since we don't know the answers to these questions, this post is not a story of his life but just a beginning, hoping to point us toward a fuller understanding of our ancestor with the strange sounding name.
Two generations after Detmar arrived, the family, or at least some of it, changed its name to Stansbury, and that is the name our line is using today.
Here's the line of descent:
Detmar Sternberg-Catherine (renske)
Tobias Starnborough-Sarah Raven
Thomas Stansbury-Jean Dixon Hayes
Thomas Stansbury-Hannah Gorsuch
Rachel Stansubry-Alexis Lemmon
Sarah Lemmon-Abraham Hetrick
Isaac Hetrick-Elizabeth Black
Mary Alice Hetrick-Louis Stanard
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Friday, September 28, 2018
Holbrook line: Thomas King, Immigrant
This is another case of "Will the real Thomas King please stand up?" Many people are identifying him as the Thomas King who was born at Taunton, Dorset, England before April 20, 1676 and he was then believed to be about 71 years old. So wew have a nine to ten year discrepancy on his birthdate, or location, or both.
We also don't know the name of his wife, other than Ann or Anne. It is possible that he had two wives named Ann, since the first one died in 1642 and he didn't marry Bridget Loker until 1655. However, Ann #1 is believed to be the mother of all his children, since all known children were born before she died. Thomas and Ann are believed to have come to America about 1638, so some of the possibly as many as nine children were born here.
It is likely that Ann died of complications of childbirth because the last son, Thomas, was born December 4, 1642 and Ann #1 died December 24, 1642. Sadly, their infant son followed within a few days and died on January 3, 1643. So there Thomas was in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a widower with as many as nine children, and it's hard to imagine that he didn't marry again, quickly. Unless he had a sister or other close relative who could live in the home and help out, Thomas would have needed a wife, quickly. The other possibility is that all the children who were underage were bound out, or sent to live with relatives. As far as I know, there is no documentation for this; it's just speculation on my part.
Thomas and family seem to have spent their first two or three years in Watertown and then moved on to Sudbury. The Kings stayed there for several years, even after Ann had died. After he had married Bridget, he was found in Marlborough. This had been considered part of Sudbury until it was partitioned so I'm not sure whether he actually moved or not. In Marlborough, he was a selectman, a town constable, and responsible for laying out the highways in town. He received several grants of land in the divisions that were made to the settlers.
When King Philip's War came in 1675-76, Thomas was counted in the household of his son-in-law, William Kerley. He may have gone there, temporarily, for protection. Or, as a seventy year old man (or older, depending on birth date), he may have been ready to live with a younger member of his family.
He wrote his will on 3/21/1675 and added a codicil January 15, 1676. The inventory showed a valuation of 295 pounds, 10 shillings.
This is what we know. We don't know what his occupation was, or what religion he professed. We don't know whether he was literate. We don't know about his life during the thirteen years between the death of Ann #1 and Bridget. We don't know what the exact circumstances were that had him living with his son in law in 1675-76, and we don't know whether Bridget was with him then or not.
But we do know he was an immigrant here during the end of the Great Migration, and we know he contributed to the growth of America. He wasn't rich but he wasn't poor, either. He had probably improved his family's fortune by coming to America, so it was a win for him and a win for us.
The line of descent is:
Thomas King-Ann
Sarah King-Nathaniel Joslin
Nathaniel Joslin-Esther Morse
Israel Joslin-Sarah Cleveland
Sarah Joslin-Edward Fay
David Fay-Mary Perrin
Luceba (Euzebia) Fay-Libbeus Stannard
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
We also don't know the name of his wife, other than Ann or Anne. It is possible that he had two wives named Ann, since the first one died in 1642 and he didn't marry Bridget Loker until 1655. However, Ann #1 is believed to be the mother of all his children, since all known children were born before she died. Thomas and Ann are believed to have come to America about 1638, so some of the possibly as many as nine children were born here.
It is likely that Ann died of complications of childbirth because the last son, Thomas, was born December 4, 1642 and Ann #1 died December 24, 1642. Sadly, their infant son followed within a few days and died on January 3, 1643. So there Thomas was in Sudbury, Massachusetts, a widower with as many as nine children, and it's hard to imagine that he didn't marry again, quickly. Unless he had a sister or other close relative who could live in the home and help out, Thomas would have needed a wife, quickly. The other possibility is that all the children who were underage were bound out, or sent to live with relatives. As far as I know, there is no documentation for this; it's just speculation on my part.
Thomas and family seem to have spent their first two or three years in Watertown and then moved on to Sudbury. The Kings stayed there for several years, even after Ann had died. After he had married Bridget, he was found in Marlborough. This had been considered part of Sudbury until it was partitioned so I'm not sure whether he actually moved or not. In Marlborough, he was a selectman, a town constable, and responsible for laying out the highways in town. He received several grants of land in the divisions that were made to the settlers.
When King Philip's War came in 1675-76, Thomas was counted in the household of his son-in-law, William Kerley. He may have gone there, temporarily, for protection. Or, as a seventy year old man (or older, depending on birth date), he may have been ready to live with a younger member of his family.
He wrote his will on 3/21/1675 and added a codicil January 15, 1676. The inventory showed a valuation of 295 pounds, 10 shillings.
This is what we know. We don't know what his occupation was, or what religion he professed. We don't know whether he was literate. We don't know about his life during the thirteen years between the death of Ann #1 and Bridget. We don't know what the exact circumstances were that had him living with his son in law in 1675-76, and we don't know whether Bridget was with him then or not.
But we do know he was an immigrant here during the end of the Great Migration, and we know he contributed to the growth of America. He wasn't rich but he wasn't poor, either. He had probably improved his family's fortune by coming to America, so it was a win for him and a win for us.
The line of descent is:
Thomas King-Ann
Sarah King-Nathaniel Joslin
Nathaniel Joslin-Esther Morse
Israel Joslin-Sarah Cleveland
Sarah Joslin-Edward Fay
David Fay-Mary Perrin
Luceba (Euzebia) Fay-Libbeus Stannard
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Tuesday, September 25, 2018
Holbrook line: George Langton, Immigrant
George Langton (also spelled Langdon, and perhaps Landon and Lanckton) is a Holbrook ancestor twice, since we descend through two of his daughters. It would be nice to know more about his story, but so far we have been told by one secondary source or another that he was from Cornwall, or Herefordshire, or was a French Huguenot. If Landon and his family was French, and if they were Huguenots, his parents were likely not Jaques and Mademoiselle Le Duc, as their birth dates were too early to make it possible for them to be George's parents. Since we don't know for sure when George was born, that makes it harder yet to identify his parents. I've seen birth dates of from about 1598 to about 1605. DNA results reported on George's Wiki Tree page seem to show that he most likely came from the area around Langton by Malton, Yorkshire, England. Unfortunately, it doesn't appear that records survive from our period of interest.
We don't know much of anything about George until, at the age of somewhere between 30 and 40, he is found in Wethersfield, Connecticut about 1636. He is believed to have married in England, about 1629, a woman named Sarah, and four children were born to them in England, with possibly others born in Wethersfield. Sarah died in Wethersfield and George and family moved on to Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where George married Hannah Lambe, the widow of Edmund Haynes. George and Hannah had one child, Esther or Hester.
In Springfield, George was a town officer for at least one term. He and Hannah both testified in a witchcraft trial against Hugh Parsons, in 1652, and sometime between 1653 and 1656 moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he spent the remainder of his life. (Hugh and his wife Mary were each found guilty of witchcraft. Mary is believed to have died in prison, before she could be executed. Hugh's sentence was rescinded and we don't know what became of him, but likely he didn't stay around Springfield, either.)
He may have been a master carpenter who helped build the Springfield church. He contributed several acres for the upkeep of a pastor in Northampton, and also two bushels of wheat for Harvard College, so he also grew crops, as did most of the families in these small villages. George died December 29, 1676. He was certainly old enough to have died a natural death, but this was also the time of King Philip's war. It is possible that the stress of that conflict led to an early death. (He is not listed as having been buried at the Old Burying Ground, so perhaps death occurred elsewhere, with a family member.)
Life was never easy for our immigrant ancestors.
One line of descent is:
George Langton-Sarah
Hannah Langton-William Pritchard
Esther Pritchard-John Hanchett
John Hanchett-Lydia Hayward
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
The second line is
George Langton-Sarah
Deliverance Langton-Thomas Hanchett
John Hanchett-Esther Pritchard
So yes, John Hanchett and Esther Pritchard were first cousins. It wasn't unusual in small villages on the frontier.
We don't know much of anything about George until, at the age of somewhere between 30 and 40, he is found in Wethersfield, Connecticut about 1636. He is believed to have married in England, about 1629, a woman named Sarah, and four children were born to them in England, with possibly others born in Wethersfield. Sarah died in Wethersfield and George and family moved on to Springfield, Massachusetts Bay Colony, where George married Hannah Lambe, the widow of Edmund Haynes. George and Hannah had one child, Esther or Hester.
In Springfield, George was a town officer for at least one term. He and Hannah both testified in a witchcraft trial against Hugh Parsons, in 1652, and sometime between 1653 and 1656 moved to Northampton, Massachusetts, where he spent the remainder of his life. (Hugh and his wife Mary were each found guilty of witchcraft. Mary is believed to have died in prison, before she could be executed. Hugh's sentence was rescinded and we don't know what became of him, but likely he didn't stay around Springfield, either.)
He may have been a master carpenter who helped build the Springfield church. He contributed several acres for the upkeep of a pastor in Northampton, and also two bushels of wheat for Harvard College, so he also grew crops, as did most of the families in these small villages. George died December 29, 1676. He was certainly old enough to have died a natural death, but this was also the time of King Philip's war. It is possible that the stress of that conflict led to an early death. (He is not listed as having been buried at the Old Burying Ground, so perhaps death occurred elsewhere, with a family member.)
Life was never easy for our immigrant ancestors.
One line of descent is:
George Langton-Sarah
Hannah Langton-William Pritchard
Esther Pritchard-John Hanchett
John Hanchett-Lydia Hayward
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
The second line is
George Langton-Sarah
Deliverance Langton-Thomas Hanchett
John Hanchett-Esther Pritchard
So yes, John Hanchett and Esther Pritchard were first cousins. It wasn't unusual in small villages on the frontier.
Friday, September 21, 2018
Allen line: Isaac McCoy, Missionary and more
I've wanted to write about Isaac McCoy for a long time. I knew that most of his personal papers were at Kansas State Historical Society library, and I know that I am unlikely to ever get to go there to read them myself. I found the next best thing, a book written by a remarkable woman, Carol Spurlock Layman, who spent many years getting to "know" Isaac McCoy, my third great grand uncle, and now on my hero list. The book is "Isaac McCoy and the American Indians". I recommend reading the book, but if you're not ready to do that yet, this post might give you some insight into his life and times.
Isaac was the son of William and Elizabeth Royse McCoy, one of at least eight children. We might think he grew up in poverty, but he had the huge advantage of having two religious parents who prayed for all their children. He was rich in the spiritual heritage he had, and it showed throughout his life. Isaac was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and "enjoyed" the trip to near Louisville that the family made together on the Ohio River, in 1789. The family settled in Kentucky but eventually moved to Silver Creek in southern Indiana, where William founded a church and pastored it for several years.
Isaac was called to the ministry and in 1808 he and his wife, Christiana Polke (related to President James Polk but I'm not sure how) went to a settlement at Maria Creek in Knox County, Indiana and started a church there. Isaac learned pastoring skills there, but he felt the call to do more, and knew that meant ministering to the native Americans. In 1817, the McCoys decided to accept this call on their lives, and they were never the same.
I could write for hours about what they did and how they suffered, but that is all in the book. They lived for a while at Fort Wayne, and then went north where they settled among the Pottawatomi and Ottawa tribes, starting a mission station, school, and church that both natives and whites attended. As time went on, Isaac became convinced that the natives would have to leave the lands they were on and travel west, across the Mississippi and beyond, to settle there away from the white men who were destroying them by providing whiskey and other alcohol. Eventually some of the natives did go to the Indian territory he had located and surveyed for them, and Isaac and Christiana continued their missionary work there.
Two things stand out to me about this man and his wife. Isaac was typically gone for a good part of each year, either working with other natives or traveling for supplies or going on political trips. Fourteen times he went to Washington, D.C., often traveling by horseback and camping out if there were no nearby homes or taverns to offer shelter. Sometimes he took a son, or a native American, but sometimes he went alone, and he was never able to take his wife. She was too busy taking care of the family and the mission to go along. So the couple was often separated in distance.
The other thing that strikes me is the sadness they often faced. They had fourteen children together, but by the time Christiana died about 1851, only two were living. I cannot imagine losing that many children. They also lost many native children who were staying at the mission, and many friends among the natives. It seems that it must have been unbearable to face so many sorrows, but Isaac and Christiana continued their service to the natives. Isaac himself was ill for much of his life, from fevers and other illnesses. Sometimes when it looks like he stayed at the mission for several months, it was because he spent two months or more in bed, recovering from a bout with malaria or whatever it was that had him down. Isaac died in Louisville in 1846
The sad thing is that Isaac wasn't really successful in providing a new home for the natives. Many went to other locations, many died from disease, a few stayed behind in Indiana and Michigan, and of course they did not get the lands they were promised. However, he seems to have been an early supporter, almost a founder of the Southern Baptist church (as opposed to the Baptist church he always had belonged to, despite their lack of official financial support for his cause), who were willing to do more for the natives as far as missionary work goes.
He is a hero in my eyes because of all the sacrifices he made, because of all the good he did, and because he was able to explain God to the natives in terms they understood. He wasn't perfect, he made some bad choices in how he approached certain things, but I know that when the crowns are passed out, he will have one that is extra shiny and crowded with jewels. I sure wish I had known this man!
If you'd like to see a picture of Isaac, there is one on his Find a Grave listing, and also on his Wikipedia story. Both sites give more information than I've included here. I hope I've given you a sense of who the man was and why he deserves honor. I also hope you'll go to these sites and read more, even if you're not going to read the book right now.
Isaac was the son of William and Elizabeth Royse McCoy, one of at least eight children. We might think he grew up in poverty, but he had the huge advantage of having two religious parents who prayed for all their children. He was rich in the spiritual heritage he had, and it showed throughout his life. Isaac was born in Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and "enjoyed" the trip to near Louisville that the family made together on the Ohio River, in 1789. The family settled in Kentucky but eventually moved to Silver Creek in southern Indiana, where William founded a church and pastored it for several years.
Isaac was called to the ministry and in 1808 he and his wife, Christiana Polke (related to President James Polk but I'm not sure how) went to a settlement at Maria Creek in Knox County, Indiana and started a church there. Isaac learned pastoring skills there, but he felt the call to do more, and knew that meant ministering to the native Americans. In 1817, the McCoys decided to accept this call on their lives, and they were never the same.
I could write for hours about what they did and how they suffered, but that is all in the book. They lived for a while at Fort Wayne, and then went north where they settled among the Pottawatomi and Ottawa tribes, starting a mission station, school, and church that both natives and whites attended. As time went on, Isaac became convinced that the natives would have to leave the lands they were on and travel west, across the Mississippi and beyond, to settle there away from the white men who were destroying them by providing whiskey and other alcohol. Eventually some of the natives did go to the Indian territory he had located and surveyed for them, and Isaac and Christiana continued their missionary work there.
Two things stand out to me about this man and his wife. Isaac was typically gone for a good part of each year, either working with other natives or traveling for supplies or going on political trips. Fourteen times he went to Washington, D.C., often traveling by horseback and camping out if there were no nearby homes or taverns to offer shelter. Sometimes he took a son, or a native American, but sometimes he went alone, and he was never able to take his wife. She was too busy taking care of the family and the mission to go along. So the couple was often separated in distance.
The other thing that strikes me is the sadness they often faced. They had fourteen children together, but by the time Christiana died about 1851, only two were living. I cannot imagine losing that many children. They also lost many native children who were staying at the mission, and many friends among the natives. It seems that it must have been unbearable to face so many sorrows, but Isaac and Christiana continued their service to the natives. Isaac himself was ill for much of his life, from fevers and other illnesses. Sometimes when it looks like he stayed at the mission for several months, it was because he spent two months or more in bed, recovering from a bout with malaria or whatever it was that had him down. Isaac died in Louisville in 1846
The sad thing is that Isaac wasn't really successful in providing a new home for the natives. Many went to other locations, many died from disease, a few stayed behind in Indiana and Michigan, and of course they did not get the lands they were promised. However, he seems to have been an early supporter, almost a founder of the Southern Baptist church (as opposed to the Baptist church he always had belonged to, despite their lack of official financial support for his cause), who were willing to do more for the natives as far as missionary work goes.
He is a hero in my eyes because of all the sacrifices he made, because of all the good he did, and because he was able to explain God to the natives in terms they understood. He wasn't perfect, he made some bad choices in how he approached certain things, but I know that when the crowns are passed out, he will have one that is extra shiny and crowded with jewels. I sure wish I had known this man!
If you'd like to see a picture of Isaac, there is one on his Find a Grave listing, and also on his Wikipedia story. Both sites give more information than I've included here. I hope I've given you a sense of who the man was and why he deserves honor. I also hope you'll go to these sites and read more, even if you're not going to read the book right now.
Tuesday, September 18, 2018
Holbrook line: Nathaniel Treadway, Immigrant
I didn't put the birth date of Nathaniel in the title for this post, because as far as I can tell, it's undetermined. There are a lot of trees on line that give him a birthdate of August 7, 1604 in Wiltshire, England. No doubt there was a Nathaniel Treadway born on that date in that location but we have little reason to think this is "our" Nathaniel Treadway. Our Nathaniel was likely born about eleven years later. His parents were Nathaniel and Mary Howe Treadway, who were married in Colchester, Essex, England on September 23, 1614. This makes a birth date in 1615 more likely, although as far as I know, no records have yet been found for his birth. Colchester at the time was a town built around the cloth trade, and Nathaniel was a weaver, so it may be a matter or missing records that keep us from locating his birth records.
Nathaniel was in Sudbury, Massachusetts by 1639, which is where he is presumed to have married Suffrance Haynes, daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Gourd Haynes. The date is generally given as May 10, 1640 but it's possible that it was a year earlier. Their first child, Jonathan, was born November 11, 1640, and they had at least six other children. Sometime between 1642 and 1646 the family moved to Watertown, Massachusetts which was their "forever" home.
Nathaniel seems to have been a man of some influence. He was a selectman in Watertown for seven different years. He was also a highway surveyor.
Nathaniel died July 20, 1689 at the age of 73. His estate indicated a value of 377 pounds, including four books. He also owned four cows, two oxen, and fifteen sheep, as well as several parcels of land. Suffrance had died seven years earlier.
There is much yet to be learned about Nathaniel. I found a brief mention that he was a "meeting house man". I'm not sure whether this means he was a member of the church, or had some town or church position, or what it means. I've not found a record of him as a freeman, which seems a little bit out of the ordinary. How educated was he? As a selectman, one would think he could probably read and perhaps write, but four books are not sufficient to make a judgement that he was or was not literate. Perhaps more of his books had already been given away. I'd like to know more about this ancestor of ours.
The line of descent is:
Nathaniel Treadway-Suffrance Haynes
Elizabeth Treadway-Joseph Hayward
Lydia Hayward-John Hanchett
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba (Euzebia) Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Nathaniel was in Sudbury, Massachusetts by 1639, which is where he is presumed to have married Suffrance Haynes, daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Gourd Haynes. The date is generally given as May 10, 1640 but it's possible that it was a year earlier. Their first child, Jonathan, was born November 11, 1640, and they had at least six other children. Sometime between 1642 and 1646 the family moved to Watertown, Massachusetts which was their "forever" home.
Nathaniel seems to have been a man of some influence. He was a selectman in Watertown for seven different years. He was also a highway surveyor.
Nathaniel died July 20, 1689 at the age of 73. His estate indicated a value of 377 pounds, including four books. He also owned four cows, two oxen, and fifteen sheep, as well as several parcels of land. Suffrance had died seven years earlier.
There is much yet to be learned about Nathaniel. I found a brief mention that he was a "meeting house man". I'm not sure whether this means he was a member of the church, or had some town or church position, or what it means. I've not found a record of him as a freeman, which seems a little bit out of the ordinary. How educated was he? As a selectman, one would think he could probably read and perhaps write, but four books are not sufficient to make a judgement that he was or was not literate. Perhaps more of his books had already been given away. I'd like to know more about this ancestor of ours.
The line of descent is:
Nathaniel Treadway-Suffrance Haynes
Elizabeth Treadway-Joseph Hayward
Lydia Hayward-John Hanchett
Hannah Hanchett-John Stannard
Libbeus Stannard-Eunice Pomeroy
Libbeus Stannard-Luceba (Euzebia) Fay
Hiram Stanard-Susan Eddy
Louis Stanard-Mary Alice Hetrick
Etta Stanard-Loren Holbrook
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
Friday, September 14, 2018
Holbrook line: Samuel Morse 1576-1654 Immigrant
What would it take for a man of 50 to decide to take his family across the ocean to a land they had only heard of, with challenges both known and unknown? He was a "husbandman", meaning that he farmed either land owned by someone else, or a small farm. So he didn't have much money in England, and perhaps he thought life would be better here.
We do know a little more about Samuel than we do about some of our ancestors. His parents were Reverend Thomas and Margaret (probably King) Morse, and he was born on or shortly before June 12, 1576 in Boxted, Essex, England. Boxted is a small village on the northern border of Essex, not far from the North Sea. The current population is about 1350 people. Two groups of religious dissenters had gone from this area to New England in 1630, so in addition to economic reasons, perhaps the Morses were following family, or certainly, neighbors.
Samuel married Elizabeth Jasper, daughter of Lancelot and Rose Shephard Jasper, on June 29, 1602, at Redgrave, Suffolk, England. This was about 40 miles from Samuel's home at Boxted, but we don't know how they met. Perhaps Samuel's father had preached at Redgrave, or maybe Elizabeth visited someone in Boxted. At any rate, they met, married, and settled down in or near Redgrave, where several of their children were born. Their last three children were born at Burgate, Suffolk, England, which seems to be quite close to Redgrave.
Samuel, Elizabeth, their twenty year old son Joseph and a 2 year old granddaughter traveled together on the ship Increase in 1635. Samuel was listed as 50 and Elizabeth as 48. It is uncertain how the other children got to New England but there are only ship and other records for a small fraction of those who arrived in New England, so that is not a problem. Samuel and Elizabeth first went to Waterwon, and then to Dedham, which are both towns settled by those settlers who had come over from Boxted in 1630. The Morses were iamong the first settlers of Dedham in 1637, when Samuel was admitted to the church. He was made a freeman on October 8, 1640.
We don't know what education Samuel had but he must have had at least the basics because he served Dedham as a treasurer and a selectman, he was an assessor for the meetinghouse rate, and he was a fenceviewer and highway surveyor. One would think that the treasurer's position would require basic math skills, and the selectman's job may have required literacy.
In 1652, Samuel and Elizabeth moved on to Medfield, where they were early settlers. I find it hard to fathom moving across the ocean, living in one town, going to another, and then finally, at the age of 67, starting over in another village. Starting over may well have meant building one's own home, clearing one's own fields and helping with the common, and helping develop roads for the new village. It would have been a lot of work! Samuel still owned land in Dedham when he died in December of 1654, but it's unclear whether he also owned land at Medfield.
His estate was valued at 124 pounds, 7 shillings, of which 40 pounds was real estate. I don't know what his net worth would have been when he left England, but he seems to have improved his circumstances here.
He left descendants who would not only improve their circumstances, but improve the country. John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, is a descendant, as are Wild Bill Hickock, Emily Dickinson, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and the two Presidents Bush. There are also some famous entertainers in the list such as Raquel Welch and Elizabeth Shue. We are cousins, very distant, to all these people!
The line of descent is:
Samuel Morse-Elizabeth Jasper
Mary Morse-Samuel Bullen
Elizabeth Bullen-Benjamin Wheelock
Benjamin Wheelock-Hulda Thayer
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly oh where are you Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susannah Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
If I have this figured right, Hulda Thayer was Ebenezer Thayer's niece, so Abigail Thayer's grandmother Hulda was also her aunt. Can that be right?
We do know a little more about Samuel than we do about some of our ancestors. His parents were Reverend Thomas and Margaret (probably King) Morse, and he was born on or shortly before June 12, 1576 in Boxted, Essex, England. Boxted is a small village on the northern border of Essex, not far from the North Sea. The current population is about 1350 people. Two groups of religious dissenters had gone from this area to New England in 1630, so in addition to economic reasons, perhaps the Morses were following family, or certainly, neighbors.
Samuel married Elizabeth Jasper, daughter of Lancelot and Rose Shephard Jasper, on June 29, 1602, at Redgrave, Suffolk, England. This was about 40 miles from Samuel's home at Boxted, but we don't know how they met. Perhaps Samuel's father had preached at Redgrave, or maybe Elizabeth visited someone in Boxted. At any rate, they met, married, and settled down in or near Redgrave, where several of their children were born. Their last three children were born at Burgate, Suffolk, England, which seems to be quite close to Redgrave.
Samuel, Elizabeth, their twenty year old son Joseph and a 2 year old granddaughter traveled together on the ship Increase in 1635. Samuel was listed as 50 and Elizabeth as 48. It is uncertain how the other children got to New England but there are only ship and other records for a small fraction of those who arrived in New England, so that is not a problem. Samuel and Elizabeth first went to Waterwon, and then to Dedham, which are both towns settled by those settlers who had come over from Boxted in 1630. The Morses were iamong the first settlers of Dedham in 1637, when Samuel was admitted to the church. He was made a freeman on October 8, 1640.
We don't know what education Samuel had but he must have had at least the basics because he served Dedham as a treasurer and a selectman, he was an assessor for the meetinghouse rate, and he was a fenceviewer and highway surveyor. One would think that the treasurer's position would require basic math skills, and the selectman's job may have required literacy.
In 1652, Samuel and Elizabeth moved on to Medfield, where they were early settlers. I find it hard to fathom moving across the ocean, living in one town, going to another, and then finally, at the age of 67, starting over in another village. Starting over may well have meant building one's own home, clearing one's own fields and helping with the common, and helping develop roads for the new village. It would have been a lot of work! Samuel still owned land in Dedham when he died in December of 1654, but it's unclear whether he also owned land at Medfield.
His estate was valued at 124 pounds, 7 shillings, of which 40 pounds was real estate. I don't know what his net worth would have been when he left England, but he seems to have improved his circumstances here.
He left descendants who would not only improve their circumstances, but improve the country. John Chapman, otherwise known as Johnny Appleseed, is a descendant, as are Wild Bill Hickock, Emily Dickinson, William Howard Taft, Calvin Coolidge, and the two Presidents Bush. There are also some famous entertainers in the list such as Raquel Welch and Elizabeth Shue. We are cousins, very distant, to all these people!
The line of descent is:
Samuel Morse-Elizabeth Jasper
Mary Morse-Samuel Bullen
Elizabeth Bullen-Benjamin Wheelock
Benjamin Wheelock-Hulda Thayer
Mary Wheelock-Ebenezer Thayer
Abigail Thayer-Jesse Holbrook
Amariah Holbrook-Molly oh where are you Wright
Nahum Holbrook-Susannah Rockwood
Joseph Holbrook-Mary Elizabeth Whittemore
Fremont Holbrook-Phoebe Brown
Loren Holbrook-Etta Stanard
Gladys Holbrook-Richard Allen
Their descendants
If I have this figured right, Hulda Thayer was Ebenezer Thayer's niece, so Abigail Thayer's grandmother Hulda was also her aunt. Can that be right?
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