Jan Goosens was born about 1581 in Dakkam, Friesland, Netherlands. His parents were Jan Gerritsz MADDELIENEN (1560 – 1602) and [__?__]. He married Ebelken HERMANS 24 Dec 1606 in Sint Anthonis, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands Jan died in the Netherlands. Jan died in 1626 in Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands

Ebelken Hermans was born in 1578 in Noord, Sint Anthonis, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands Ebelken died in 1625 in Reusel-de Mierden, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.

Children of Jan and [__?__]

x

Children

1. Jan JANSE (See his page)

4. Aucke Janse Van Nuys

Aucke’s first wife Magdalena Pieters Van Langedyck was born about 1625 in Broek Op Lang, Noor Holland, The Netherlands. Her parents were Pieter Jansz (b: Abt.  1588 in Broek Op Lang, Nord Holland) and Adriaentgen Arentse (b: Abt. 1590 in Alkmaar, Nord Holland). Magdalena died in 1663 in New York, New York.

Aucke’s second wife Lysbeth (The Elder) Jans was born about 1625. She first married Jan Claeszen (b: ABT 1628) Lysbeth died about 1680

Aucke’s third wife Geertje Gysbrecht was born about 1635. She first married Jan Jacobse Van Rheenen (b: ABT 1630.)

Aucke Janse lived in Nuis (Nuys) Holland.  In 1651 he came to Flatbush, Long Island, New York.  To avoid confusion with other Janse families, the name was changed to Van Nuys.  Van means “of” or “from”.  Van Nuys means “from the town of Nuis (Nuys).  Nuys has been changed to Nice by some families.  The first sone of Aucke Janse was Jacobus Auckes.

Abstracts of wills on file in the Surrogates Office, City of New York (Volume I. 1665-1707), Pgs. 294, 295

“In the name of our Lord, Amen. Whereas I, Ankie Janse Van Huys, of the Town of Flatbush, in Kings County, considering the certainty of death and the uncertainty of the hour, And not willing to depart out of this world before he should have disposed of his worldly estate.”

Leaves “to his eldest son, John Anke, procured by his lawful wife Magdalena Anke,” £1, 4s. in money. Leaves to “all his children, procured by his first wife, Magdalena Anke, deceased, and to the children of his present wife, Geetie Ankes, procured by her first husband, John Jacobse, that are named and baptized Anke,” each 6 shillings.

Leaves all estate, houses and lands, to his Wife Geetie for life, and then to his children by his first wife Magdalena, viz., Anatie, wife of Dirck Janse Waertman, and the two children of Geetie Anke deceased, procured by Joost Fransen, viz., Sara Joosten, and Magdalena Joosten for one share. And Janettie Anke, wife of Ryne Aertsen, Jan Anke, Pontus Anke, Abigail, wife of Lippit Peterse, Jacobus Anke, and Famettie wife of Jan Stevense. And to the children of his present wife Geetie, procured by her first husband Jan Jacobse, viz. Lysbett Janse, wife of Dirck Janse Van Sutphen, and Eva Janse, wife of Jan Anke.

Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/16620397/person/405415927

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=barbarapumyea&id=I28666

Edward Allerton Coat of Arms

Edward Allerton was born in 1555 in St Dionis Backchurch, London, England. His parents were William ALLERTON and [__?__]. He married Rose DAVIS 14 Feb 1579 in St Dionis Backchurch, London, England. Edward died in 1590 in England.

St Dionis Backchurch was a parish church in the Langbourn ward of the City of London. Of medieval origin, it was rebuilt afrter the Great Fire of London to the designs of Christopher Wren and demolished in 1878.

Rose Davis was born 1559 in St Peter Cornhill, London, England. Rose died Jun 1596 in London, England and was buried  23 Jun  1596 St Dionis Backchurch, London, London, England.

St Peter upon Cornhill is an Anglican church on the corner of Cornhill and Gracechurch Street in the City of London Of medieval origin, it was destroyed in the Great fire of London in 1666 and rebuilt to the designs of Sir Christopher Wren. It is now a satellite church in the parish of St Helen’s Bishopsgate, and is used for staff training, bible studies and a youth club.

Children of Edward and Rose:

x

Children

1. Isaac ALLERTON (See his page)

2. Sarah Allerton

Sarah’s first husband John Vincent was born about 1590 in: London, Middlesex, England. He and Sarah married about 1608 in Leiden. John died about 1610 at: Leiden, Zuid-Holland.  Some researchers have given John and Sarah a son John, but no documentation has been found, and suggest Sarah brought 5 children with her in 1623 – the only children documented are Mary Priest, Sarah Priest and Samuel Cuthbertson

Sarah’s second husband Degory Priest (Wiki) origins are uncertain.  Degory Priest, also known as Digory” “Gregory”, “Degorie”, or “Digorie” and “Preist”, was born about 1579/80 in England. In a document signed in Leiden, Holland in April 1619 he deposed he was 40 years old.  It has been suggested that he may have been the Degorius Prust, baptized 11 Aug 1582 in Hartland, Devon, England, the son of Peter Prust.  However, given that the baptism appears to be about 3 years too late, and the fact that none of the Leiden Separatists are known to have come from Devonshire, it is unlikely this baptism belongs to the Mayflower passenger.  Degory Priest was one of the earliest to have arrived in Leiden, so it is more reasonable to suspect he is from the Nottinghamshire/Yorkshire region, the Sandwich/Canterbury region, the London/ Middlesex region, or the Norfolk region: all of the early Separatists in Leiden appear to have come from one of these centers.  Degory died 1 Jan 1621 in Plymouth, Mass.

Sarah and Degory were married on the same day as her brother Isaac ALLERTON and Mary NORRIS - 4 Nov 1611 Stadhuis, Leyden, Holland.

Diggorie Preest Jonman van Londe In Engelant Vergeselchapt met William Leesle & Samuel Fuller zyn bekende met Sarah Vincent mede van Londe in Engelant wedue van Jan Vincent Vergeselschapt met Jannetge Diggens & Rasemyn Gipsyn haer bekende

(Degory Priest, unmarried man, from London, in England, accompanied by William Lisle and Samuel Fuller, his acquaintances, with Sarah Vincent, also from London, in England, widow of John Vincent, accompanied by Jane Thickins and Rosamond Jepson, her acquaintances)

Sarah’s third husband Godbert Godbertson [sometimes transliterated as  Cuthbert Cuthbertson] was born in 1592 in “Oostland,” the area around Danzig, Poland. His parents were John Cuthbert and Katherine Coog. He was living in Leiden by April 1615, where he was a hatter. While in Leiden, he attended the English Separatist church.   He first married Elizabeth Kendall on May 27, 1617, in Leiden.   News of  Degory’s death was conveyed back to Leiden where his widow remarried in Nov 1621 to Godbert Godbertson.  Godbert died of smallpox 24 Oct 1633 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Mass.

Degory Priest was one of the first Separatists to arrive in Leiden, Holland, residing in that city by November 1611. He was a professional hatter. It is believed he came from one of the centers from which the earliest Separatists came – the London/Middlesex region. At his betrothal to Sarah Vincent in Leiden, he proclaimed that he was from London.  He was admitted a citizen of Leiden, Holland, in November, 1615, Isaac Allerton “guaranteeing for him” upon his admission to civic rights in that city.

Degory Priest departed Plymouth, England on the Mayflower on September 6/16, 1620 with 102 passengers and about 30 crew members in a small 100 foot ship leaving his wife and two daughters in Leiden, Holland. He had always planned to bring over his family later after the colony was established.

They had one son, Samuel. In 1623 Godbert, Sarah, their son Samuel and his step-children Mary and Sarah Priest came to Plymouth on the ship Anne.

Godbert was a freeman of the colony. He and his wife both died in 1633 during an outbreak of smallpox.The inventory taken after their deaths was the earliest in Plymouth to include both the wife’s and husband’s possessions. The estate at their deaths was heavily indebted, including one entry to Sarah’s brother, Isaac Allerton, of over £75.

Children of Sarah and Degory

i. Marah Priest b. 1613 Leyden, Holland; m. 1630 in Plymouth, Mass Phineas Pratt (b. 1590 in England – d. 19 Apr 1680 in Charlestown); d. 1 Jan 1671 Charlestown, Suffolk, Mass

Marah had eight children. Her name is often given as “Mary,” but Marah, meaning “bitterness” in Hebrew, taken from Ruth 1:20,was her name.

ii. Sarah Priest b. 1615 Leyden, Holland; m. 1631 in Plymouth, Plymouth, Mass to John Coombs (b. 1610 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England – d. 15 Oct 1646 in Plymouth) d. By October 1646 she went to England and presumably may have died there

Children of Sarah and Godbert

iii. Samuel Godbertson b. in Leiden about 1622. He was apprenticed to Richard Higgins to learn trade of tailor on 1 April 1634 He eventually settled in Dartmouth. He married a woman whose name is unknown, and had one son

Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=21890228&st=1

http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/Passengers/DegoryPriest.php

http://www.americanancestors.org/pilgrim-families-godbert-godbertson/

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~pattyrose/engel/gen/fg04/fg04_013.htm

Thomas Brigham was born 21 May 1576 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, East Riding Yorkshire, England. His parents were Richard BRIGHAM and Gillian TWELISON (Chillian, Tryelinson, Trevlin, Twelson, or Tryelinson) He had four brothers and a sister, named John, William, Richard, Robert and Elizabeth. He was the third oldest of the six children. He married Isabel WATSON 4 Feb 1600/01 in Holme On Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England. Thomas died 19 Mar 1632 in Holme On Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England

Isabel Watson was born 21 Feb 1561 in Holme On Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England. Her parents were James WATSON and Margaret [__?__]. She is mentioned in the wills of her father, James Watson, dated 10 July, 1615, her sister Isabel Brigham dated 8 June, 1634, and her brother-in-law Robert5 Brigham, dated 5 Sept., 1640. (P. and E. York Wills, vol. 34, fol. 95, vol. 42, fol. 281, and original will for 1640.) Isabelle had two brothers and eleven sisters, named William, Christopher, Dorothy, Daughter, Miss, Miss, Daughter, Daughter, Prudence, Constance, Katharine, Miss and Daughter. She first married Richard Ellithorpe 27 Oct 1582 in Holme-On Spaulding-Moor, Yorkshire, England. Isabel died 25 Jun 1634 in Holme On Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England.

Richard Ellithorpe was born 1560 in Holme On Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England. Richard died 1597 in Holme On Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, England.

Thomas  and Isabel Brigham  may be buried at the Church on Spaulding Moor

Children of Thomas and Isabel:

Thomas’ brother John married Isabel’s sister Constance. John Brigham married Constance Watson 30 Sep 1599 in Holme on Spalding Moor. Their son Thomas Brigham (1603-1653) accompanied his own-cousin Anne (Brigham) Crosby, wife of Simon Crosby, to New England in the ship Susan and Ellen in April 1635. Thomas lived in Cambridge, Mass.

Parents and Ancestors

Thomas’ grandparents were Thomas BRIGHAM and Jennet MILLINGTON  

Isabel’s grandparents were James WATSON and Margaret SOTHERN.

Children

1. Constance BRIGHAM (See Robert CROSBY‘s page)

2. Anne Brigham

Anne’s husband Simon Crosby was born 1608 in Holme On Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, England. His parents were Thomas Crosby and Jane Sotheron. Simon died Sep 1639 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Mass.

Anne’s second husband Rev. William Tompson was born 1598 in Lancashire, England.  His parents were William Thompson and Phillis [__?__]. He first married about 1625 in England to Abigail Collins (b. 17 Oct 1591 in Bramford, Suffolk, England – d. 1 Jan 1642 in Braintree). William died 10 Dec 1666 in Braintree, Norfolk, Mass.

William Tompson matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford University, England, 28 Jan 1619-20, aged 22, where he received the degree of B.A. 28 Feb 1621/22. He was curate at Winwick, but being persecuted for non-conformity he immigrate to New England in 1636. He was engaged first at Kittery or York, Maine, but after the church was institituted at Braintree 17 Sep 1639, was ordained there along with Rev. Henry Flint 19 Nov 1639

Freeman 13 May 1640 and received grant of 120 acres. In 1645 he was Chaplain for a quota of 200 men raised for campaign against Indians.  Wrote book “An Answer to Mr. Charles Herle” published in 1644 & 1650.

A modest & brotherly ansvver to Mr. Charles Herle his book against the independency of churches : wherein his foure arguments for the government of synods over particular congregations, are friendly examined and clearly answered : together with Christian and loving animadversions upon sundry other observable passages in the said booke : all tending to declare the true use of synods, and the power of congregationall churches in the points of electing and ordaining their owne officers and censuring their offendors

Author: Richard Mather; William Tompson
Publisher: London : Printed for Henry Overton …, 1644.

An heart-melting exhortation together with a cordiall consolation : presented in a letter from New-England to their dear countrymen of Lancashire : which may as well concern all others in these suffering times Author: Richard Mather; William Tompso Publisher: London : Printed by A.M. for I. Rothwell …, 1650.

In 1642 went as Missionary to Virginia but came back in 2 years. His wife died while he was absent on a mission with Rev. John Knowles and Thomas James to Virginia.

He was afflicted with melancholy in later years and died insane. He ‘fell into the Devil’s bath.’ as Cotton Mather’s Magnalia. III. cap. IVII. calls his state of melancholy.  He gave up his public ministry seven years.

William Tompson Gravestone — Hancock Cemetery, Quincy, Norfolk County, Mass.

Anne and Simon emigrated to New England on the Susan and Ellyn in the spring of 1635 to Cambridge Mass.   After Simon died, she married Rev. William Tompson of Braintree MA in 1645.  Anne died 11 Oct 1675 in Braintree, Mass.  Her grave is in the old Hancock burying ground in Quincy Mass.

Simon’s Parents – Thomas Crosby was born about 1575 in County York, England in either Holme-on-Spalding-Moor or Bubwith. He was the second child and only son of Anthony and Alison (Blanchard) Crosby.   Thomas’ father Anthony died in 1599 and Thomas inherited a hundred-acre farm in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor.  Thomas and Jane were married in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor on October 19, 1600. The couple had four sons:

i. Anthony Crosby, born about 1602
ii. Thomas Crosby, born about 1604
iii. William Crosby, born about 1606
iv. Simon Crosby, born about 1608

Tax records and other documents suggest that the family led a fairly well-to-do life.

Relatively late in life, Thomas and Jane emigrated to New England, possibly in the autumn of 1638 with a group of Reverend Ezekiel Rogers’ followers, but in any event prior to 1640. They may have lived with the widow of their son Simon in Cambridge, Massachusetts until she remarried in 1645 — at about that time, Thomas purchased a house in Cambridge. After a few years, he sold his holdings in Cambridge and the couple relocated, for the last time, to Rowley, Massachusetts. Thomas lived to over 85 years of age and died in Rowley in 1661, buried on May 6. Jane died the following year and was buried in Rowley on May 2, 1662.

Jane Sotheron, baptized in Holme-on-Spalding-Moor on March 4, 1581/82, was the daughter of William and Constance (Lambert) Sotheron. 1609 tax records indicate that William Sotheron was the wealthiest resident of the parish.

.
Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=29915238&st=1

http://dustyhills.net/b8.htm#P1225

Because 100 years is so rare, for this honor roll, I’m counting direct ancestors, their children and their children’s spouses.  Only three of our direct ancestors lived to be a hundred compared to 44 who lived to be 90+ (click the category link to see the list)

Marion Miner of the Central Valley at  103 Years 10 Months 5 Days is the record holder.   25% (4 out of 12)  lived to 100 years, 3 months, maybe just long enough after the excitement of the big event?

British Centenarian Smoking Cigarette, 1937 LIFE

In many countries, people receive a gift or congratulations on their 100th birthday. In the United States, centenarians traditionally receive a letter from the President, congratulating them for their longevity.  The Today Show show has also named new centenarians on air since 1983. In the United Kingdom and the Commonwealth Realms, the Queen sends greetings  on the 100th birthday and on every birthday starting with the 105th. Centenarians born in Ireland receive a €2,540 “Centenarians’ Bounty” and a letter from the President of Ireland.  Japanese centenarians receive a silver cup and a certificate from the Prime Minister of Japan upon their 100th birthday, honoring them for their longevity and prosperity in their lives. Swedish centenarians receive a telegram from the King and Queen of Sweden. Centenarians born in Italy receive a letter from the President of Italy.

An aspect of blessing in many cultures is to offer a wish that the recipient lives to 100. Among Hindus, people who touch the feet of elders are often blessed with “May you live a hundred years”. In Sweden, the traditional birthday song states, May he/she live for one hundred years. In Judaism, the term May you live to be 120 years old is a common blessing. In Poland, Sto lat, a wish to live a hundred years, is a traditional form of praise and good wishes, and the song “sto lat, sto lat” is sang on the occasion of the birthday celebrations–arguably, it is the most popular song in Poland and among Poles around the globe. Chinese emperors were hailed to live ten thousand years, while empresses were hailed to live a thousand years. In Italy, “A hundred of these days!” (cento di questi giorni) is an augury for birthdays, to live to celebrate 100 more birthdays.   Some Italians say “Cent’anni!”, which means “a hundred years”, in that they wish that they could all live happily for a hundred years. In Greece, wishing someone Happy Birthday ends with the expression να τα εκατοστήσεις (na ta ekatostisis), which can be loosely translated as “may you make it one hundred birthdays”.

Happy Birthday to our Centenarians!

103 Years 10 Months 5 Days –  Marion Harland Miner was born 13 Mar 1882 in Rock Bluff, Nebraska. His parents were Philo Sidney MINER Jr. and Calista Jane LATTA. He married Florence Ora Brown about. 1907.  Marion died 16 Dec 1985 in Dinuba, Tulare County, California. (Miner)

Marion was a farmer in the Central Valley.  He lived to be 103 and died in Dinuba, Tulare County.  His brother Anderson wrote in 1972:

At his 90th birthday celebration that “ol boy” don’t look a day older than he did twenty years ago.  He does all of the irrigating and cultivating on 27 acres of vineyard and sems to thrive on it.  His daughter Avalyn lives close by and he gets some of his meals there, but most of the time, he lives there all alone.  Hope I can do that well.

103 Years – Elizabeth ANDREWS was born in 1614 in Stoneham, Southampton, Hampshire, England. Her parents were Henry ANDREWS and Elizabeth BOND.   Elizabeth’s father emigrated to Dorchester, Mass in 1636, but returned to England and died in 1638 in Ashill, Somerset, England.  Alternatively, Elizabeth emigrated with her brother Henry Jr.   She married Thomas HARVEY in 1642 in Taunton, Mass.  After Thomas died, she married (second) Francis Street, of Taunton, to whom she bore one daughter. She married (third) Thomas Lincoln, the miller, of Taunton on 10 Dec 1665. Lincoln died in 1683, and his widow in 1717, aged one hundred and three years. (Miner)

102 Years, 11 Months, 24 Days —  Hannah Jewett was born 6 Apr 1699 in Rowley, Mass. Her parents were Maximilian JEWETT and Sarah HARDY. She married John Tenney 23 Jan 1718 in Rowley, Essex, Mass. Hannah died Mar 1802 in Bradford, Mass.

Hannah’s husband John Tenney was born 8 Dec 1692 in Bradford, Essex, Mass. His parents were Samuel Tenney and Sarah Boynton. John died 23 Aug 1732 in Bradford, Essex, Mass. (Miller)

102 Years, 6 Months, 27 Days — Ruth Fiske Estey was born 31 Mar 1800 in Kingsclear, York, New Brunswick. Her parents were Amos ESTEY and his cousin Mary (Molly) ESTEY. She married John S. Barker 20 Jul 1820. Ruth died 5 Jun 1831 in York, New Brunswick

Ruth’s husband John Spafford Barker was born 25 Oct 1792 in New Brunswick, Canada. His parents were John Barker and Mary Woodbury. John died 22 Apr 1895 in York, New Brunswick, Canada, age 102. (Miller)

101 years 8 months 10 days – Sarah Estey was born 4 Oct 1694 in Topsfield, Mass. Her parents were Isaac ESTEY II and Abigail KIMBALL. She married  Joseph Cummings 22 May 1712 Ipswich, Mass.  Sarah died before 1754 in Topsfield, Mass.

Sarah’s husband Captain Joseph Cummings was born 1 Sep 1692 in Woburn, Middlesex, Mass.  He was second cousin to his brother-in-law of the same name. His parents were Abraham Cummings and Sarah Wright. Joseph died 22 Apr 1794 in Topsfield, Essex, Mass. (Miller)

100 Years, 3 Months 29 Days – Henry LANCASTER (Langstar, Langstaff, Lankester) was baptized 20 Apr 1605 in Woodplumpton,   City of Preston, Lancashire, England.  His parents were Edward LANGSTAFF b. 1580 Lathbury Parish, Buckinghamshire, England and Elizabeth COLLINS. He married Sarah [__?__] in England.

Henry Lancaster was baptized in St Anne’s Church, Woodplumpton

Henry was in Portsmouth, New Hampshire 1630/31, sent by Captain John Mason.  In 1622, Mason and Sir Ferdinando Gorges received a patent from the Council for New England for all the territory lying between the Merrimack and Kennebec rivers.  In 1629 they divided the grant along the Piscataqua River, with Mason receiving the southern portion.  The colony was recharted as the Province of New Hampshire. It included most of the southeastern part of the current state of New Hampshire, as well as portions of present-day Massachusetts north of the Merrimack.

Henry married Josephine Knight in 1637 in New Hampshire.  He was in Dover by 1648.  Henry died 18 Jul 1705 in Dover, New Hampshire.  Death was by injury 10 days after an accidental fall. “After ten days iIlness, about 100 years old, a hale, strong, hearty man” he died as a result of a fall.  One record states that he fell into his lean-to, causing bruises and later inflammation. Another record, which seems to be  the more popular one, states that he fell from his horse, He is buried at Bloody Point, as is his wife, Lora. (Shaw)

100 Years 3 Months 23 Days – Mary Elizabeth McConahey was born 31 Jan 1804 in South Shenango, Crawford, PA.  Her parents were Robert McCONAHEY and Margret STORY. She married John A Latta 9 Mar 1801 in Crawford County, PA Mary died 23 Apr 1904 Herman, Washington, Nebraska.

Our ancestors are this couple’s brother and sister.  Jane McCONAHEY was born 9 Oct 1799 in Crawford County, PA She married William LATTA II  17 Jan 1822.  Jane died 19 Nov 1869 in Cass County, Nebraska (Miner)

100 Years, 3 Months, 11 Days – Moroni Miner was born 4 Jun 1835 in Kirtland, Ohio. His parents were Albert Miner and Tamma Dufree.  Albert Miner (1809 – 1848) was the grandson of Sgt Elihu MINER Jr. and the first cousin of  Philo Sidney MINER Sr.  He married Nancy Elizabeth Chase 4 Feb 1861 in Utah. Nancy  was born 27 Nov 1845 and died  3 Jun 1928 in Springville, Utah. Moroni died 14 Aug 1935 in Springville, Utah.  Lived to 100, A healthy Mormon lifestyle?

Tamma wrote in her autobiography:

 On the 4th day of June 1835. I had a son born, called his name Moroni, and Joseph Smith blessed him and said: “he should be as great as Moroni of old and the people would flee unto him and call him blessed.” They were still building the Temple. There were some of the brethren who came from a distance and stayed until the next Spring. Some stayed with us and received their endowments and were there to the dedication of the Temple in March 1836.  [Angel Moroni is the angel that Joseph Smith, Jr. claimed visited him on numerous occasions and led him to the golden plates from which he translated the Book of Mormon]

Moroni Miner(1835 – 1935)

A Short History of Moroni Miner Who Lived to Celebrate his 100th Anniversary

Moroni Miner, oldest resident of Springville, Utah, celebrated his one-hundredth
birthday Tuesday June 4, 1935, with a family reunion. Invitations were Issued to 500 relatives and friends, including the Black Hawk Indian War veterans and committeemen, and a number of other citizens; also to Sons and Daughters of Utah Pioneers and the older citizens of Springville, and Church Officials.

The program began at 10 a.m. at Park Ro-Shee in Springville. It was carried on as follows:

Baseball and other sports, 10 a.m. to noon; 12 noon to 2 p.m. picnic, program and stunts; 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., swimming and other sports; 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., intermission and lunch. At 7:30 p.m. a pageant, portraying the life of Mr. Miner’s mother, Tamma Durfee Miner, written and directed by Mrs. Eva Maeser Crandall, was presented In the Second Ward Chapel. A dance followed,

Mr. Miner, whose formula for a long life includes much work, a cheerful attitude and a desire to be useful, was born June 4th, 1835, in Kirtland, Ohio, a son of Albert and Tamma Durfee Miner. His parents lived at Nauvoo at the time the Latter-day Saints were
driven from that country, and Mr. Miner recalls seeing the Prophet Joseph Smith many times.

After the family moved to a settlement on the Des Moines river, Mr. Miner’s father died and he was forced to make a living for himself at the age of 13 years. He started west with the Brigham Company, but due to his age and not having the consent of his mother, he was advised to return to his family.

In June 1850, with his widowed mother and all her possessions-two oxen, two cows and a wagon, scant provisions and seven children, Mr. Miner crossed the plains. He walked the entire distance of 1000 miles, driving cattle and sheep along the way. He states that during this memorable journey, great herds of buffalo blocked the road and had to be driven back to make passage.

Upon arriving in Utah, the family lived on a farm near the Jordan River until 1851, When they came to Springville, where Mr. Miner has since made his home.

Many are the Interesting stories of early Pioneer life and early Indian uprisings, related by Mr. Miner in a history written by himself. In 1854, with others, he went to Cedar Valley, to burn charcoal for use by the Salt Lake City blacksmiths. The  Industry progressed well until they were discovered by the Indians, who drove them away and burned their belongings. That same year Mr. Miner was called upon to act as guard in the Indian War, and he assisted in moving all the houses outside the eight central
blocks in Springville, into a fort. It was during this year, also, that he assisted in building a 12-foot wall around the original eight blocks of the City, the wall being constructed by
taxation and donations against Indian attacks.

He was called as a young man to assist in building a fence across the mouth of the canyons east of Springville, as a protection  against Indians. He tells of many anxious hours spent guarding  the canyons from which Indians would swoop down into the valleys  burning and plundering as they came.

When a young man he also was called to haul freight from the Missouri River to Utah enduring many hardships and dangers on the journeys. They also hauled the mail on these trips.

An interesting quotation from his life’s history states: “In June of 1859, the holidays coming on, I was short of ready means I therefore yoked up my oxen and took a scythe into the field and cut a load of hay. After curing it I loaded it onto my wagon and
hauled it to Camp Floyd, forty miles away, and sold it for $10.00 This money bridged me along during the holidays in a very  satisfactory, manner.”

In another portion of the sketch he states. “In the fall of 1863, word came that there was a scarcity of flour in Montana. I loaded up 4000 pounds and with Alex Robertson, Bringhurst and Houtz outfits, of four or five wagons, all loaded with flour, left for Montana. Arriving there we sold our loads for $25.00 per hundred Pounds. I took a four mule team and wagon and some gold dust as my share.” That fall Mr. Miner states wheat took a jump to $8.00 per bushel.

Moroni, with his brother Carlos Miner, took a contract with the Central Pacific Railway company, in 1869, to build the grade at Promontory Point where the golden spike was driven to mark the spot where the east and west railroads came together.

Mr. Miner also assisted in the construction of the first irrigation  canals in this vicinity and helped to build the first meeting house.  He was instrumental in bringing educational advantages to pioneer family children in this community.

During his middle and later life, Mr. Miner engages in the grocery business and also has been a successful farmer and stockman.

He married Nancy Elisabeth Chase in February 1861. She died in 1928, at the age of 83 years. They were the parents of twelve sons and three daughters. One child died in infancy, three boys died young, and the rest grew to maturity. Eight sons and two daughters have been married in the Salt Lake Temple.

Aside from the work in Civic affairs, Mr. Miner has always taken an active part in Church affairs, serving in numerous capacities  in the auxiliary organizations. He filled a mission to the Southern States in 1893, leaving at the age of 58 years to begin his mission. Because of his advance age, he resigned from the Stake High Priests in 1914.

Despite his 100 years of life, many of which have been filled with hardships and disappointments, Mr. Miner is still young for his years. He gets about his home, attends Church and sometimes entertainments, converses on topics of the day, and enjoys tales
of pioneer life. He looked forward with a child’s enthusiasm to his 100th birthday celebration and said he hoped to have many more. (However, he passed away during the following year.)

He lived to see five generations of his family and was privileged  to attend the Golden Wedding celebration in 1933 of his eldest son Bert and wife in Springville. Other living children at the 100th anniversary of Moroni, were: Mrs. Elizabeth Miner Whitmore,
Gloyd, M.F, and Paul Miner from Springville, Utah; George Miner, San Francisco, California; Thorn Miner, Philadelphia, Pa., mAustin Miner, Provo, Utah; Mrs. Ruth Miner Bennion, Vernal, Utah, together with their families. He had 49 grandchildren; 69 great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild when he was 100 years of age.

Elder George Albert Smith of the Council of Twelve, and President Samuel 0. Bennion, of the First Presidents of Seventy, represented the General Authorities, and spoke in the afternoon meeting.

Mr. Moroni Miner received hundreds of telegrams and letters of congratulation during the day, among them a personal letter from President Heber J. Grant, congratulating him on having lived a full century.

Moroni immediately began his plans to go to the encampment of the Black Hawk Indian War Veterans to be held at Nephi Aug. 13, 14, 15, 16 and expressed a desire to camp out all of those days and nights. (Miner)

100  Years, 3 Months, 10 Days — Desire CUSHMAN was born 18 Sep 1710 in Plympton, Mass.  Her parents were Samuel CUSHMAN and Fear CORSER.   She married Ebenezer FOSTER on 17 Sep 1730 in Attleboro, Mass.  Ebenezer died from consumption 18 Jun 1749 in Cumberland, Providence, RI.  After Ebenezer died, she married John Allen of Bristol County.  Desire died 27 Nov 1810 in Attleboro, Bristol, Mass when she was a hundred years old! – Over 60 years after Ebenezer had passed. (Shaw)

Desire Cushman Foster Headstone — Gerrould Cemetery, Wrentham, MA

100 years 1 month 20 days  - Esther Wilmarth was born 28 Nov 1681 Rehoboth, Mass. Her parents were Jonathan WILMARTH and Esther PECK. She marrid William Dryer 4 Mar 1707/08 Rehoboth Esther died 4 Mar 1741 in Rehoboth, Mass

Esther’s husband William Dryer was born 28 Nov 1684 in Taunton, England. His parents were William Dryer and Anna Locke. He immigrated in 1704. William died 18 Dec 1784 in Rehoboth, Mass(came in 1704) D. 100 YRS OLD. (Shaw)

100 Years - Mary Latta was born in 1739 in Ireland. Her parents were Samuel LATTA and Mary McCOBB. She married Robert Glenn in Airsty, Ireland. Mary died in 1839 (Miner)

100 Years - Timothy Richardson was born 6 Dec 1682 in Woburn, Mass. His parents were Stephen RICHARDSON and Abigail WYMAN. He married Susannah Holden in 1713 in Woburn Mass. Timothy died 1 Jan 1716/17 in Wobrun Mass.

Timothy’s wife Susannah Holden was born 16 Oct 1694 in Billerica, Middlesex, Mass. Her parents were Justinian Holden and Susannah Dutton. Susannah lived to be a 100 years old and died in 1794 – Malden, Middlesex, Mass. (Shaw)

John Kingsley – Coat of Arms

John Kingsley Sr. was born 3 May 1579 in England. His parents were Edward KINGSLEY and Margaret BOND. He married Katherine BUTLER in 1614. John died in 1639 in England.

Katherine Butler was born in 1579 in Bodenham, Hertfordshire, England.  Her parents were William BUTLER and Ursula SMYTH.

Children of John and Katherine:

x
Children

1. Elder Stephen Kingsley

Stephen’s wife Mary Spaulding was born in 1600 in Lincolnshire, England. Her parents were Edward Spaulding and Rachel [__?__]. Her name not being given in any New England records. Mary died 10 Jan 1668 in Milton, Norfolk, Mass.

On 3 Jun 1635, Stephen Kingsley, his brother John, and Captain John Smith sailed on the James from Bristol, England.   Among the one-hundred passengers on board was a minister Richard Mather who sailed in disguise to America in escape from the wrath of King Charles.  John KINGSLEY wrote a journal giving details of the trip including surviving a hurricane, see his page for details.

Aug 1635 – Stephen emigrated to Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Came with Richard Mather in a ship of Puritans which survived a hurricane. Ship records have not been found so it is not known on which ship they came. He moved before 27 Mar 1637 to Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony. He was a farmer in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Hargrave calls him a “successful farmer.”

3 Apr 1637 – He granted a house lot in Dorchester, Massachusetts Bay Colony. His first record in New England when “it is agreed that Stephen Kinsley, labourer, shall have a house plott next unto our brother Alexander Winchester his garden plott”

19 Feb 1637/38 – Stephen Kinsley was granted a great lot for nine heads; four acres upon a head” at Mt. Wollaston,

27 Jan 1639 - Granted land at Mt. Wollaston, that became part of Braintree.

5 Jul 1639 – “William Needham, the cooper, shall have an acre for his house plot out of the little island at Mount Wollaston over against Barnaby Doryfalls land, beyond Mr. William Coddington’s brook. Also that Stephen Kinsley, husbandman, shall have the residue of the said island for his house plot there”.

22 Feb 1640 – “Brother Stephen Kingsley is to have his four acres formerly granted to be made seven acres upon a head, allowing for the same as others have done and are to do. This last suggests that his “great lot” at Mt. Wollaston was not yet laid out for him in 1641, as it was granted by the town of Boston in 1638, and in the meantime the town of Braintree had been set off, and Stephen Kingsley was one of those “neighbors and brethren of the Mount” who agreed with Boston upon the terms of the separation into a new town on Jan.27, 1639.

13 May 1640 – He took the oath of a freeman in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Selectman of Braintree 1640/42/48/51 etc.

Braintree, Norfolk, Mass

The town of Braintree was incorporated in 1640 and named after the English town of Braintree. It comprised land that was later split into Randolph, Holbrook, and Quincy, as well as parts of Weymouth and Milton, Massachusetts. The “North Precinct” of Braintree, which is now the bulk of the city of Quincy, was the birthplace of presidents John Adams and John Quincy Adams, as well as statesman John Hancock.  In January 2008 Braintree converted from a representative town meeting form of government to a mayor-council government.

1650 – Representative to the General Court in Braintree, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1653 – He deposed in the case of Wilson vs. Faxon (Early Court Rec. #188) aged 55,

12 Oct 1653 – Stephen was ordained the first ruling church elder of the church at Braintree. He was an original member of the Braintree Church

1654 – Resided in Milton, Mass

By 1654 he resided in present Milton on Milton Hill, as the road way to the mill at present Milton Lower Mills passed through his yard and 23 Feb 1656 he purchased a half interest in the Hutchinson farm, then in Dorchester bounds, now in present town of Milton (after 1662) (not the William Hutchinson grant in Braintree).

Sometime after moving to Dorchester in 1656, he returned to Braintree. He was Representative to the General Court in 1666 in Milton, Norfolk, MA.

11 May 1670 – He sold property in Milton, Norfolk, MA. and returned to Braintree. It is likely that he lived in Milton prior to this date.

27 May 1673 – He signed a will in Milton, Norfolk, MA.
He died on 4 June 1673 in Milton, Norfolk, MA.
He had an estate probated on 3 July 1673 in Milton, Norfolk, MA.

27 May 1673 – Will of Stephen Kingsly of Milton “being sick in body”

Son John sole executor & I give him my house, barn & orchard & all land adjoining on both sides the country highway & 12 a. salt meadow adjoining & the plain that is at the E. end of my land in Braintree 12 a. part whereof is in his present improvement & 40 a. upon the hill adjoining.

To son in law Henry Crane part of land in Braintree on S.E. side thereof & reaching from E. corner of my lot to end of the line of Gregory Bolster [Baxter] on to Braintree common 20 rods broad by the line so far as it will bear & away over to ye swamp & 3 a. over against his house being part of the field at present on my own improvement & he is to have my “fether” bed, bolster, pillow, rugg, & blanket.

To son in law Anthony Gullive the plain in his present possession excepting one corner thereof which bee over against Henry Crane’s house which shall be Henry’s from a white oak tree over against his barn to N.W. corner of my field providing Henry make a ditch fence between them, & to said Anthony 40 a. in Braintree provided he pay £30 to my son Samuel’s three children, £10 to the son at age 21 and to the daughters at age 18.

To son in law Robert Mason that house & land that was Nicholas White’s with 4 a. bought of Thomas Holman & 5 a. meadows & my lot by Henry Crane’s all besides 3 acres, for seven years and after Henry is to have it forever & Robert Mason is to have some acres of meadow till Isaac Groves is at age & then to be his & Robert Mason to have 15 a. 20 rods on S. side of Braintree line, also 2 oxen, 2 cows & my mare to be his own provided he bring up Isaac Gross orderly and carefully.

Witness: Thomas Holman, Robert Vose, William Daniell.
7-311, Inventory, Jun 27, 1673 – House & barn £60, 55 acres upland & orchard adjoining £420, 22 a. salt meadow £220. 50 a. upland lying on ye plaine at Milton £200, a little house formerly Nicholas White’s with a small orchard & 38 a. on both sides the country highway £152. 190 a. in Braintree bounds £332/10/.

2. John KINGSLEY (See his page)

Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=9797236&st=1

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=spragueged&id=I11435

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=annak1&id=I2753

Deerfield, Franklin, Mass

Deerfield was the northwesternmost outpost of New England settlement for several decades during the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries. It occupies a fertile portion of the Connecticut River Valley and was vulnerable to attack because of its position near the Berkshire Mountains. For these reasons it became the site of several Anglo-French and Indian skirmishes during its early history, as well as intertribal warfare.

At the time of the English colonists’ arrival, the Deerfield area was inhabited by the Algonquian-speaking Pocumtuck nation, with a major village by the same name. First settled by English colonists in 1673, Deerfield was incorporated in 1677. Settlement was the result of a court case in which the government in Boston returned some of Dedham to Native American control in exchange for land in the new township of Pocumtuck on which Dedham residents could settle. The Dedham settlers’ agent, John Plympton, signed a treaty with the Pocumtuck, including a man named Chaulk, who had no authority to deed the land to the colonists and appeared to have only a rough idea of what he was signing. Native Americans and the English had quite different ideas about property and land use; this, along with competition for resources, contributed to their conflicts.

The Raid on Deerfield occurred during Queen Anne’s War on February 29, 1704, when French and Native American forces under the command of Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville attacked the English settlement at Deerfield, Massachusetts just before dawn, burning part of the town and killing 56 villagers.

Minor raids against other communities convinced Governor Joseph Dudley to send 20 men to garrison Deerfield in February. These men, minimally trained militia from other nearby communities, had arrived by the 24th, making for somewhat cramped accommodations within the town’s palisade on the night of February 28. In addition to these men, the townspeople mustered about 70 men of fighting age; these forces were all under the command of Captain Jonathan Wells.

The Connecticut River valley had been identified as a potential raiding target by authorities in New France as early as 1702. The forces for the raid had begun gathering near Montreal as early as May 1703, as reported with reasonable accuracy in English intelligence reports. However, two incidents intervened that delayed execution of the raid. The first was a rumor that English warships were on the Saint Lawrence River, drawing a significant Indian force to Quebec for its defense. The second was the detachment of some troops, critically including Jean-Baptiste Hertel de Rouville, who was to lead the raid, for operations in Maine (including a raid against Wells that raised the frontier alarms at Deerfield). Hertel de Rouville did not return to Montreal until the fall.

The force assembled at Chambly, just south of Montreal, numbered about 250, and was composed of a diversity of personnel. There were 48 Frenchmen, some of them Canadien militia and others recruits from the troupes de la marine, including four of Hertel de Rouville’s brothers. The French leadership included a number of men with more than 20 years experience in wilderness warfare. The Indian contingent included 200 Abenakis, Iroquois, Wyandots, and Pocumtucs, some of whom sought revenge for incidents that had taken place years earlier. These were joined by another 30 to forty Pennacooks led by sachem Wattanummon as the party moved south toward Deerfield in January and February 1704, raising the troop size to nearly 300 by the time it reached the Deerfield area in late February.

The expedition’s departure was not a very well kept secret. In January 1704, New York’s Indian agent Pieter Schuyler was warned by the Iroquois of possible action that he forwarded on to Governor Dudley and Connecticut’s Governor Winthrop; further warnings came to them in mid-February, although none were specific about the target.

The raiders left most of their equipment and supplies 25 to 30 miles north of the village before establishing a cold camp about 2 miles from Deerfield on February 28, 1704. From this vantage point they observed the villagers as they prepared for the night. Since the villagers had been alerted to the possibility of a raid, they all took refuge within the palisade, and a guard was posted.

The raiders had noticed that there were snow drifts all the way to the top of the palisade; this greatly simplified their entry into the fortifications just before dawn on February 29. They carefully approached the village, stopping periodically so that the sentry might confuse the noises they made with more natural sounds. A few men climbed over the palisade via the snow drifts and then opened then north gate to admit the rest. Primary sources vary on the degree of alertness of the village guard that night; one account claims he fell asleep, while another claims that he discharged his weapon to raise the alarm when the attack began, but that it was not heard by many people. As the Reverend John Williams later recounted, “with horrid shouting and yelling”, the raiders launched their attack “like a flood upon us.”

The raiders’ attack probably did not go exactly as they had intended. In attacks on Schenectady, New York and Durham, New Hampshire in the 1690s (both of which included Hertel de Rouville’s father), the raiders had simultaneously attacked all of the houses; at Deerfield, this did not happen. Historians Haefeli and Sweeney theorize that the failure to launch a coordinated assault was caused by the wide diversity within the attacking force.

French organizers of the raid drew on a variety of Indian populations, including in the force of about 300 a number of Pocumtucs who had once lived in the Deerfield area. The diversity of personnel involved in the raid meant that it did not achieve full surprise when they entered the palisaded village. The defenders of some fortified houses in the village successfully held off the raiders until arriving reinforcements prompted their retreat. More than 100 captives were taken, and about 40 percent of the village houses were destroyed.

The raiders swept into the village, and began attacking individual houses. Reverend Williams’ house was among the first to be raided; Williams’ life was spared when his gunshot misfired, and he was taken prisoner. Two of his children and a servant were slain; the rest of his family and his other servant were also taken prisoner. Similar scenarios occurred in many of the other houses. The residents of Benoni Stebbins’ house, which was not among the early ones attacked, resisted the raiders’ attacks, which lasted until well after daylight. A second house, near the northwestern corner of the palisade, was also successfully defended. The raiders moved through the village, herding their prisoners to an area just north of the town, rifling houses for items of value, and setting a number of them on fire.

As the morning progressed, some of the raiders began moving north with their prisoners, but paused about a mile north of the town to wait for those that had not yet finished in the village. The men in the Stebbins house kept the battle up for two hours; they were on the verge of surrendering when reinforcements arrived. Early in the raid, young John Sheldon managed to escape over the palisade and began making his way to nearby Hadley to raise the alarm there. The fires from the burning houses had already been spotted, and “thirty men from Hadley and Hatfield” rushed to Deerfield. Their arrival prompted the remaining raiders to flee, some of whom abandoned their weapons and other supplies in a panic.

The sudden departure of the raiders and the arrival of reinforcements raised the spirits of the beleaguered survivors, and about 20 Deerfield men joined the Hadley men in chasing after the fleeing raiders. The English and the raiders skirmished in the meadows just north of the village, where the English reported “killing and wounding many of them”. However, the pursuit was conducted rashly, and the English soon ran into an ambush prepared by those raiders that had left the village earlier. Of the 50 or so men that gave chase, nine were killed and several more were wounded. After the ambush they retreated back to the village, and the raiders headed north with their prisoners.

As the alarm spread to the south, reinforcements continued to arrive in the village. By midnight, 80 men from Northampton and Springfield had arrived, and men from Connecticut swelled the force to 250 by the end of the next day. After debating over what action to take, it was decided that the difficulties of pursuit were not worth the risks. Leaving a strong garrison in the village, most of the militia returned to their homes.

The raiders destroyed 17 of the village’s 41 homes, and looted many of the others. They killed 44 residents of Deerfield: 10 men, 9 women, and 25 children, five garrison soldiers, and seven Hadley men. Of those who died inside the village, 15 died of fire-related causes; most of the rest were killed by edged or blunt weapons. They took 109 villagers captives; this represented 40 per cent of the village population. They also took captive three Frenchmen who had been living among the villagers. The raiders also suffered losses, although reports vary. New France’s Governor-General Philippe de Rigaud Vaudreuil reported the expedition only lost 11 men, and 22 were wounded, including Hertel de Rouville and one of his brothers. John Williams heard from French soldiers during his captivity that more than 40 French and Indian soldiers were lost; Haefeli and Sweeney believe the lower French figures are more credible, especially when compared to casualties incurred in other raids.

Illustration of 1704 Deerfield Raid Published 1900

The raid has been immortalized as a part of the early American frontier story, principally due to the account of one of its captives, the Rev. John Williams. He and his family were forced to make the long overland journey to Canada, and his daughter Eunice was adopted by a Mohawk family; she took up their ways. Williams’ account, The Redeemed Captive, was published in 1707 and was widely popular in the colonies.

She liked to go to Deacon French’s, who lived on what is now the site of the second church parsonage. The Deacon was the blacksmith of the village, and his shop stood a few rods west of his house. Eunice would stand hours watching him, as he beat into shape the plough-shares, that had been bent by [p.132] the stumps in the newly cleared lands. As the sparks flew up from the flaming forge, she thought of the verse in the Bible, “Man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward,” and wondered what it meant. Too soon, alas, she learned.

For the 109 English captives, the raid was only the beginning of their troubles. The raiders still had to return to Canada, a 300 miles  journey, in the middle of winter. Many of the captives were ill-prepared for this, and the raiders were themselves short on provisions. The raiders consequently engaged in a brutal yet common practice: captives were slain when it was clear they would be unable to keep up. Only 89 of the captives survived the ordeal; most of those who either died of exposure or were slain en route were women and children. Thomas’ wife Mary Caitin French was killed on the trip on 9 March 1703/04.

Deerfield Raid Map. Mary Caitlin French was killed about halfway through the journey

In the first few days several of the captives escaped. Hertel de Rouville instructed Reverend Williams to inform the others that recaptured escapees would be tortured; there were no further escapes. (The threat was not an empty one — it was known to have happened on other raids.)  The French leader’s troubles were not only with his captives. The Indians had some disagreements amongst themselves concerning the disposition of the captives, which at times threatened to come to blows. A council held on the third day resolved these disagreements sufficiently that the trek could continue.

Illustration by Howard Pyle showing the journey back to Canada

The raid failed to accomplish one of Governor Vaudreuil’s objectives: to instill fear in the English colonists. They instead became angry, and calls went out from the governors of the northern colonies for action against the French colonies. Governor Dudley wrote that “the destruction of Quebeck and Port Royal would put all the Navall stores into Her Majesty’s hands, and forever make an end of an Indian War”, the frontier between Deerfield and Wells was fortified by upwards of 2,000 men,  and the bounty for Indian scalps was more than doubled, from £40 to £100. Dudley also promptly organized a retaliatory raid against Acadia (present-day Nova Scotia). In the summer of 1704, New Englanders under the leadership of Benjamin Church raided Acadian villages at Pentagouet (present-day Castine, Maine), Passamaquoddy Bay (present-day St. Stephen, New Brunswick), Grand Pré, Pisiquid, and Beaubassin (all in present-day Nova Scotia). Church’s instructions included the taking of prisoners to exchange for those taken at Deerfield, and specifically forbade him to attack the fortified capital, Port Royal.

Deerfield and other communities collected funds to ransom the captives, and French authorities and colonists also worked to extricate the captives from their Indian masters. Within a year’s time, most of the captives were in French hands, a product of frontier commerce in humans that was fairly common at the time. The French and Indians also engaged in efforts to convert their captives to Roman Catholicism, with modest success. Some of the younger captives, however, were not ransomed, and were adopted into the tribes. Such was the case with Williams’ daughter Eunice, who was eight years old when captured. She became thoroughly assimilated, and married a Mohawk man when she was 16. Other captives also remained by choice in Canadian and Native communities such as Kahnawake for the rest of their lives.

Two of Thomas’ daughters who stayed in Canada married and had large families. The third daughter assimilated into the Indians at Kahnawake. One great-grandson was Archbishop Octave Plessis, who was the ranking churchman to champion the Catholic viewpoint to the British government in the first decades of the 1800′s. That the Church survived is largely due to his efforts.

Negotiations for the release and exchange of captives began in late 1704, and continued until late 1706. They became entangled in unrelated issues (like the English capture of French privateer Pierre Maisonnat dit Baptiste), and larger concerns, including the possibility of a wider-ranging treaty of neutrality between the French and English colonies. Mediated in part by Deerfield residents John Sheldon and John Wells, some captives were returned to Boston in August 1706. Governor Dudley, who needed the successful return of the captives for political reason, then released the French captives, including Baptiste; the remaining captives that had chosen to return were back in Boston by November 1706.

Thomas French and his children Mary and Thomas Jr. were brought back to Deerfield in 1706 by Ensign John Sheldon, in his second expedition to Canada for the redemption of the captives. An interesting evidence of the proneness of Deerfield maidens to versifying, exists in a poem said to have been written by Mary French to a younger sister during their captivity, in the fear last the latter might become a Romanist (Catholic).

Soon after his return, Thomas French was made Deacon of the church in Deerfield in place of Deacon David Hoyt, who had died of starvation at Coos on the march to Canada. In 1709, Deacon French married the widow of Benoni Stebbins. He died in 1733 at the age of seventy six, respected and regretted as an honest and usefu1:man and a pillar of the church and state.

Thomas French’s’ wife first wife Mary Catlin was born  10 Jul 1666 in Wethersfield, Hartford, CT.  Her parents were John Catlin and Mary Baldwin.  Mary died 9 Mar 1704 in Deerfield, Franklin, Mass.

No family suffered more than John Catlin’s in the destruction of Deerfield, Massachusetts during the Indian Massacre of 29 February, 1703/4. He was killed trying to protect his home. His sons Joseph and Jonathan were also killed. His married daughters Mary French and Elizabeth Catlin Corse were killed during the subsequent march to Canada. His wife, Mary, “being held with the other prisoners in John Sheldon‘s house, gave a cup of water to a young French officer who was dying. He was perhaps a brother of Hertel de Rouville. May it not have been gratitude for this act that she was left behind when the order came to march? She died of grief a few weeks later.”.

Thomas’ second wife Hannah Atkins was born  xx.   She was the widow of Joseph Edwards, and of Benoni Stebbins, who was also killed at the Deerfield Massacre.  Hannah died in 1737..

Children of Thomas French and Mary Carpon

i. Mary French (8 Mar 1685 in Deerfield, Mass - 12 Mar 1685 in Deerfield)

ii. Mary French (9 Nov 1686 in Deerfield, MA - 24 Mar 1758 in Bolton, Tolland, CT) Carried to Canada 1704.  Redeemed with father in 1706, at age 19.

iii. Thomas French , Jr. (2 Nov 1689 in Deerfield, MA - 26 Jun 1759 in Deerfield, MA)  Redeemed with father and sister Mary in 1706, probably brought back by Ens. John Sheldon

iv. Freedom French (20 Nov 1692 in Deerfield, Franklin, MA - 6 Oct 1757 in Montréal, Ile de Montréal, Quebec)  Freedom was eleven when she was carried to Canada.  She was  placed in the family of Monsieur Jacques Le Ber, merchant of Montreal, and on Tuesday, the 6th of April, 1706, Madame Le Ber had her baptized anew by Father Meriel, under the name of Marie Françoise, the name of the Virgin added to that of her godmother, being substituted for the Puritanic appellation of Freedom, by which she had been known in Deerfield. She signs her new name, evidently with difficulty, to this register, and never again does she appear as Freedom French.  She was often recorded as a guest at the marriages of her English friends.  Two years after her sister’s marrage, on the 6th of February, 1713 at the age of twenty-one, Marie Françoise French married Jean Daveluy, ten years older than herself, a relative of Jacques Le Roi, her sister’s husband. Daveluy could not write, but here, appended to the marriage register, I find for the last time the autographs of the two sisters written in full, Marie Françoise and Marthe Marguerite French.

v. Marguerite Martha French (12 May 1695 in Deerfield, MA Baptême: 23-02-1707, Montréal –  1 May 1762 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada)  Martha was given by her Indian captors to the Sisters of the Congregation at Montreal. On the 23d of January, 1707, she was baptized sous condition, receiving from her god-mother the name of Marguerite in addition to her own. On Tuesday, November 24, 1711, when about  sixteen., she was married by Father Meriel to Jacques Roi, aged twenty-two, of the village of St. Lambert, in the presence of many of their relatives and friends. Jacques Roi cannot write his name, but the bride, Marthe Marguerite French, signs hers in a bold, free hand, which is followed by the dashing autograph of the soldier, Alphonse de Tonty; and Marie Françoise French, now quite an adept in forming the letters of her new name, also signs.  On the third of May, 1733, just one month from the day of her father’s death in Deerfield, Martha Marguerite French, widow of Jacques Roi, signed her second marriage contract, and the following day married Jean Louis Ménard, at St. Laurent, a parish of Montreal.

vi. Abigail French (28 Feb 1698 Deerfield, MA - in Caughnawaga, a village of the Mohawk nation inhabited from 1666 to 1693, now an archaeological site near the village of Fonda, New York.  lived as an Indian, never married.)

vii. John French (1 Feb 1704 Deerfield, Franklin, MA - 29 Feb 1704 Killed in Deerfield Raid)

Deerfield Memorial

John Williams wrote a captivity narrative about his experience, which was published in 1707. The work was widely distributed in the 18th and 19th centuries, and continues to be published today. Williams’ work was one of the reasons this raid, unlike others of the time, was remembered and became an element in the American frontier story. In the 19th century the raid began to be termed a massacre (where previous accounts had used words like “destruction” and “sack”, emphasizing the physical destruction); this terminology was still in use in mid-20th century Deerfield. A portion of the original village of Deerfield has been preserved as a living history museum; among its relics is a door bearing tomahawk marks from the 1704 raid. The raid is commemorated there in leap years.

An 1875 legend recounts the attack as an attempt by the French to regain a bell, supposedly destined for Quebec, but pirated and sold to Deerfield. The legend continues that this was a “historical fact known to almost all school children.” However, the story, which is a common Kahnawake tale, was refuted as early as 1882.

Sources:

Raid on Deerfield: The Many Stories of 1704
Presents the perspectives of the Kanienkehaka, Wobanakiak, Wendats, French and English. Along with these five viewpoints, come different versions of the “facts,” different meanings that have been made out of the experience, and different stories that have been, and continue to be told. There is no “one truth” on this website; rather, it is for the visitor to determine his or her own truth and meaning about this event, the crosscurrents and forces that led up to it, and its powerful legacies.

The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America By John Demos 1995   –

Early on the morning of February 29, 1704, before the settlers of Deerfield, Massachusetts, had stirred from their beds, a French and Indian war party opened fire, wielding hatchets and torches, on the lightly fortified town. What would otherwise have been a fairly commonplace episode of “Queen Anne’s War” (as the War of the Spanish Succession was known in the colonies) achieved considerable notoriety in America and abroad. The reason: the Indians had managed to capture, among others, the eminent minister John Williams, his wife, Eunice Mather Williams, and their five children.

This Puritan family par excellence, and more than a hundred of their good neighbors, were now at the mercy of “savages” – and the fact that these “savages” were French-speaking converts to Catholicism made the reversal of the rightful order of things no less shocking. In The Unredeemed Captive, John Demos, Yale historian and winner of the Bancroft Prize for his book Entertaining Satan, tells the story of the minister’s captured daughter Eunice, who was seven years old at the time of the Deerfield incident and was adopted by a Mohawk family living at a Jesuit mission-fort near Montreal. Two and a half years later, when Reverend Williams was released and returned to Boston amid much public rejoicing, Eunice remained behind – her Mohawk “master” unwilling to part with her. And so began a decades-long effort, alternately hopeful and demoralizing for her kin, to “redeem” her. Indeed, Eunice became a cause celebre across New England, the subject of edifying sermons, fervent prayers, and urgent envoys between the Massachusetts Bay Colony and New France. But somehow she always remained just out of reach – until eventually, her father’s worst fears were confirmed: Eunice was not being held against her will. On the contrary, she had forgotten how to speak English, had married a young Mohawk man, and could not be prevailed upon to return to Deerfield.

Book Review by Benjamin Roberts — The Unredeemed Captive: A Family Story from Early America

On the night of the attack the Williams home was raided, and the two youngest children (a six-month old baby and a two-year old) were scalped. John Williams, his wife, and their five other children (Samuel: age fourteen, Stephan: age twelve, Esther age eight, Eunice age six, and Warham age four) were herded along with 112 other Deerfield captives on a three hundred mile journey to Montreal that lasted for two months. During the journey the Williams children were scattered amongst the various participating Indians tribes. Upon arrival in New France the captives were sold to the French, and later negotiated for release by the governors of French and English colonies. Almost three years later John Williams made his way back to New England. A release was negotiated for his children. All were returned except for his six-year old daughter Eunice. She remained in the hands of the Kahnawake Indians who refused to sell her to the French.

After ten years of fruitless attempts for Eunice’s release, John Williams was deeply saddened by the news that Eunice had forgotten how to speak English, had been baptized to the Roman Catholic faith by Jesuit priests, and had married an Indian or a “savage” as they were referred to in the correspondence of the Williams family. Until his death in 1729, John Williams tried several times to have Eunice freed. After his death, his son Stephan Williams, carried on the crusade.

For the first time in 36 years a meeting was arranged with Eunice. The meeting between the two siblings in 1740 lasted shortly: a translator was needed to help them communicate with each other. Eunice and her Indian husband agreed to spend the summer with her brother in New England. During the visit in 1741 the family tried to persuade Eunice, her Indian husband Arosen, and three children to stay permanently; however, they insisted on returning to Canada after agreeing to visit again the following year.

Another twenty years followed before Eunice would see her family again. In the meantime Eunice became a grandmother. The possibility of Eunice leaving her Indian family became even more remote. Years would pass before Eunice and her brother would again hear from each other. Eunice had a letter written and translated to her brother Stephan shortly before her 75th birthday; she requested to hear about her brother’s well-being, and said that she should probably never see him in this world because she had become too old to travel. They never met again. Stephan lived to the ripe-old age of ninety, and Eunice died at the age of eighty-five, yet their descendants, both Indians and New Englanders, kept in touch deep into the 19th century.

FACT: Within two years – perhaps less – of her arrival in Kahnawake, Eunice Williams had forgotten [how] to speak English.

Demos thereafter speculates that psychology could have played an important role:

“the trauma of capture – including as it did, the deaths of mother and siblings – might call forth its own ‘repression’; forgetting everything would be a kind of defense. Whatever the actual sources of change, the result was deeply significant. From now on Eunice would communicate only with her new people, in her new place, with a new set of customary forms. Language was the pivot and symbol of her personal acculturation”.

Besides speculating about Eunice’s loss of the English language, this conjecture also makes Eunice’s life-long desire to remain with the Indians quite understandable. Eunice became accustomed to the Indian way of life: she later married, had children and grandchildren, and became a valued member of the tribe. Who would give that up?

George Hardy – Coat of Arms

John Hardy was born in 2 Jun 1613 in Wetwang, East Riding Yorkshire, England. His parents were Richard HARDY and Alice WILSON. He married Olive COUNCIL 1632 in Bedfordshire, England. John died in 9 Jun 1677 in Isle of Wight, Virginia.

Olive Council was born in 1615 in England. Her parents were John COUNCIL and Elizabeth DRAKE. Olive did in 1675 in Lawns Creek Plantation, Isle Of Wight, Virginia,

Children of John and Olive:

Hardy Family Ancestry

The Hardy family were among the landed gentry of England in the early 11th Century. They are descended from the Norman knight De Hardie.

The first known Hardy in the line was John’s great grandfather John Hardy, who was a merchant in London and served as alderman and sheriff of London in the 1520′s. John Hardy married Mary Stanley, who died in 1543. Mary was of royal ancestry and traces her line back to William the Conqueror.

John and Mary’s son Sir Michael de Hardy was born in 1530 and died in 1595. He married Alice de Shelton.

Michael and Alice’s son Richard Hardy was born in 1567 and died in 1645. He married Alice Wilson. RICHARD HARDY (JOHN5, MICHAEL4 DE HARDY, JOHN3, JOHN2, RICHARD1) was born 1577 in Wetwang, East Riding, Yorkshire, England, and died 1645 in Isle of Wight County, Virginia. He married Alice Wilson 1602 in Yorkshire, England, daughter of Robert Wilson and Unknown. She was born January 12, 1586/87 in Shellington, Bedfordshire, England. Died in Virginia. Their son John Hardy, Sr. emigrated to Virginia.

Children of Richard HARDY and Alice WILSON:

i. Richard Hardy, b. 1604 , Yorkshire, England.

ii. Thomas Hardy, b. 1606, Yorkshire, England.

iii. Alice Elizabeth Hardy, b. 1608, Yorkshire England.

iv. George Hardy, b. 1610, Yorkshire, England.

v. Mary Hardy, b. 1612, Yorkshire, England.

vi. John HARDY, b. 1613, Yorkshire, England

Hardys in Virginia

John Hardy was the owner of the famous Hardy Mill; said to have been burgess, 1641-52; granted 1150 acres in Isle of Wight Co 1666

.In 1666, at age 56, John Hardy Sr. received his first land grant. As we all know land grants or “patents” were many times delayed for years, so he probably had been in the Colonies for well over 20 years at the time. He was granted 1150 acres for importing 23 persons including himself, his FIRST wife Olive Council, six of his children (George, Thomas, Richard, Isabel, John Jr., and Ann) as well as his future son-in-law William Mayo all of whom were born in England and he had never received a grant of land for their importation.

After Olive’s death about 1640, John married Alice Bennett and had three daughters, Olive, Lucy and Deborah all born in Isle of Wight Co., VA.

In John’s 1676-77 will, he doesn’t mention any of his sons nor his two daughters by Olive. He does name “my beloved wife Alice” and his three daughters Olive Driver, wife of Giles Driver; Lucy Council, wife of Hodges Council; and Deborah Hardy (his daughters by 2d wife Alice Bennett). He did name his grandchildren… Drivers, Councils and Ann Burnett.

“Hodges Council and His Descendants” states that the reason John Hardy Sr. didn’t mention his sons was that their Uncle George has left them legacies.

Isle of Wight Virginia

Children

1. George HARDY (See his page)

3. John Hardy

John’s wife Alice Bennett was born in 1640 in Virginia. Alice died in 1683

John Hardy Jr. was b. about 1635-1637 in Bedfordshire and came to Virginia with his father.  His (rather than his father’s) seems to have been the will was made 6 Oct 1676 and probated 9 Jun 1677. We have him m. to (variously) Alice Worthington, Alice, Tucker  Alice Johnson, Dinah [__?__] and the same Alice Bennett, with the following children: Olive, Ann, [+]Lucy, Isabella, and Deborah.

John Jr. made a will Oct 7, 1676, probated June 9, 1677; names his wife, Alice Hardy, Daughters, Olivia Driver, Lucy Council and Deborah Hardy He married Alice Johnson, a widow. They had: Olive m. Giles Driver; Lucy m. Hodges Council; Ann m. Robert Burnett; Isabel m. William Mayo; Deborah-untraced.

John  was a member of the House of Burgesses in 1668, and a Justice of the County Court about 1675. He married Alice Bennett, the widow Johnson, daughter of Thomas Bennett and Alice, widow Pierce. Thomas Bennett was born in Wilvescombe, Co., Somerset, England, and died in Virginia after 1632, having come on the Neptune in 1618, a member of the House of Burgesses from Mulberry Island in 1632.

Lucy Hardy, daughter of John Jr., was born in Isle of Wight County, VA, d. bef 1699, m. in 1670 Hodges Council, born in England, d. in Isle of Wight Co 1699, He received grants of 1200 acres from the VA Governors and purchased 300 acres. He left two wills on file in Isle of Wight Co, each recorded the same day in 1699, with the same people mentioned in both, but with a different division of land between heirs. He was possibly the s/o John Council who m. second in 1666 Alice, widow of Richard Jeffries.

4. Olive Hardy

Olive’s husband John Pitt was born 1 Jun 1634 in Isle Wight, Virginia. His parents were Robert Pitt and Martha Lear. He first married 1657 in Isle Wight, Virginia to Sarah Moone (b. 1639 in Isle Wight – d. 1677 in Isle Wright). John died 1702 in Isle Wight, Virginia.

5. Richard Hardy

Richard’s wife Mary Vincent was born in 1671 in Amelia, Virginia. Her parents were William Vincent and Elizabeth Cleuer. Mary died in 1702 in Isle of Wight, Virginia.

7. Ann Hardy

Ann’s husband Robert Burnett.  After Ann died, he married  Joan Allen Williamson, d/o Arthur Allen and Alice Tucker.

We know that Ann died shortly after the death of her father.   Burnett in his 17 July 1679 will left a legacy to his daughter Ann by his 1st wife, Ann, d/o John Hardy..

Sources

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=10969440&st=1

http://www.retracing-our-family-legacy.com/Hardy_Mill.html

http://fourfamilyhistories.com/Hardy/Hardy%20and%20Hardie.pdf

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/4488393/person/-1595871858/story/4efce172-cace-430a-8a5c-9177a5daec53?src=search

John Kendall Coat of Arms

John Kendall was born in 1580 in Norfolk, Norfolk, England. His parents were John KENDALL and Mary MILES. He married Elizabeth SACHERELL. John died 21 Mar 1660 in Cambridge, Middlesex, England

Elizabeth Sacherell was born 1584 in Cambridge, Middlesex, England.  Her parents were Henry SACHERELL and [__?__].  Elizabeth died 1640 in Cambridge, England

Children of John and Elizabeth:

The surname Kendall of England is of local derivation from the town of Kendall, Westmoreland county. The town’s name was doubtless derived from that of the river Ken, on which it is located. The family in England is very large and widely distributed, many of the branches bearing arms and having distinguished members. The name is found common in Bedfordshire, at Basingbourne, Essex; in Lancashire; at Smithsby, Derbyshire; in Cornwall; in Devonshire; and Hertfordshire. In 1575, a branch of the family settled in Thorpthules, Durham, a younger son of the Kendall family of Ripon, Yorkshire, where the family lived at an early date. Among the early Kendalls who were prominent was John Kendall, a sheriff of Nottingham, killed in the battle of Bosworth in 1485, fighting in the army of Richard III.

John Kendall, progenitor of the American family, lived in the county of Cambridge, England, in 1646, died there in 1660. Two of his sons came to America; Francis, mentioned below. 2. Deacon Thomas, who was a proprietor of Reading, Massachusetts, in 1644; was admitted freeman May 10, 1648; had ten daughters and no sons, thus leaving no descendants bearing his nam

Children

2. John Kendall

John’s Elizabeth Holly was born 1623 in Cambridge, England.

3. Francis Kendall

Francis’ wife Mary Tidd was born 23 Nov 1620 in England. Her parents were John Tidd and Margaret Greenleaf. Mary died 1705 in Woburn, Mass.

In December, 1658, Francis deposed that his age was about thirty-eight years.  On April 2, 1662, he deposed that his age was about forty-eight years.  Possibly the date of his birth was between the two dates indicated by these statements, say 1618.

He came from England before 1640.  With thirty-one others he signed the town orders of Woburn, December 18, 1640.  He had been living in Charlestown, of which Woburn was then a part, and where he was a taxpayer in 1645.

He used the alias, “Miles Kendall”. It has been said that he came with his brother, Thomas, and used the alias so his parents would not know he intended to emigrate. [In 1615 there was a Miles Kendall who was Governor of Bermuda. He and Francis were related and this may be why the name Miles suggested itself to Francis].

In 1640, Francis was living at Charlestown MA. He signed the town orders for the new town of Woburn and was one of its first inhabitants. He was described as “a gentleman of great respectability and influence”. However, in this strict Puritan environment, he was prosecuted along with 12 other Woburn citizens for differing from the Faith. He was charged with withdrawing from the worship of the Woburn Church and attending the services of the Anabaptists.

In the record of Francis’ Dec 24, 1644 marriage to Mary Tidd he is called Francis Kendall, alias Miles.  There are several explanations of this record.  It was common with emigrants to America to take assumed names to avoid vexatious laws, and there is a tradition that Kendall left England against the wishes of his family, using the name of Miles until he was settled in this country.  His brother, Thomas seems not to have used any other name.

Francis Kendall was admitted a freeman, May 10, 1648.  Sewall says of him: “He was a gentleman of great respectability and influence in the place of his residence.”  He served the town at different times for eighteen years as selectman, and on important committees such as those for distributing grants to the pioneers, and on building the meeting house.  He was tything man in 1676.

He was a miller by trade and owned a corn mill, which he left to his sons, Samuel and John.  This corn mill, at Woburn, has been in the possession of the family down to the present time.  The mill now, or lately on the Kendall place, is one built by Samuel Kendall soon after 1700 and is some distance from the location of the first mill.

Francis was a selectman of Woburn for 18 years at different time. He was fined sixpence for “being nere an hour to [too] late” at a selectmen’s meeting in 1674. In 1676 was chosen on committee to see that neighbors kept good order in their houses. In 1676, he was paid 10 shillings for shooting a wolf.

He died in September 1708 at Woburn at about age 88. His will dated May 9, 1706.  His sons, Thomas and John were the executors. In his will he left ½ of his corn mill to his son, John and 1/4 shares each to his other two sons, John and Samuel. Francis Kendall remembers likewise in his Will the eight children of of his brother Thomas, one of the first settlers of Reading, (and a deacon of the church there) who were living, when he, his said brother died.   An interesting account in a book by Ruth Lincoln Kaye, says that a characteristic of the Francis Kendall family is that a child is occasionally born with extra fingers or toes and that this trait has survived to the present generations

The Will of Francis Kendall Woburn, Massachusetts, May 9, 1706:

” In the name and fear of God, amen, I Frances Kendell in the town of Woburn, in the county of Middlesex in her Majesty’s Province of the Massachusetts Bay in New England, miller, being by the grace of God, of sound understanding and perfect memory, yet, stricken in years and expect daily my change, do therefore, make ordain and declare, this writing to be my last Will and Testament, the which let no man presume to alter or change.
First and principle, I give my soul to God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, three glorious persons, but one in infinite and eternal essence, hoping for salvation, by the merits of Jesus Christ alone.
Also I give my body to the earth, to be buried decently at the discretion of my executors and overseers, hereafter named, in hopes of a glorious resurrection, and as for portion of temporal goods and estate God in his bounty hath bestowed upon me, I give and bequeath in form and manner following:

1. To my eldest John Kendal I give my now dwelling house,my barn and barnyard; the orchard adjoining the barn; and the field, with the lowland, meadow land and orcharding, adjoin-ing my dwelling. Namely, all my land and meadow included in said field, to the bound of the land and meadow adjoining thereunto, which I have loaned my sons Thomas and Samuel Kendall and my daughter Mary Read, with all which bounds I have formerly stated, and further I give unto my son John Kendall one-half of my corn mill, together with the right of the streams, dams and utensils thereunto belonging; one-half of my woodland adjoining the woodland of Samuel Walker near Rock Meadow; one-quarter part of my herbage; half my right in the partnership in the mineral, called the Copper Mine, in Woburn; half my right of woodland at Ragg Rock; and half my wood lot at Rock Pond Meadow. All and singular the before-mentioned parts and parcels to be and remain unto my son John Kendall, his heirs and assigns forever, only excepting the liberty of a cart way through part thereof for the benefit of some of my children, as shall later be expressed.

2. To my son Thomas Kendall I give the land his house stands on, namely the land of mine lying on the west side of my mill pond and mill stream; all my land and meadow land from a stake near the place where the two brooks meet, and from thence by a line of marked trees to the land of James Peirce, bounded westerly by the land of Samuel Blodgett.Further it is my will that my son Thomas Kendall shall have free liberty for himself and his heirs to cart their hay from a piece of meadow which he formerly purchased of William Hamblet through the usual cart way in the land. I have in this my will given to my son John Kendal further I do hereby give to my second son Thomas Kendal one quarter part of my corn mill and proportional interest in the dams,streams and utensils thereunto belonging. I also give to my son Thomas Kendall one half of my wood lot near Rock Meadow adjoining the land of Samuel Walker, and also half my wood lot Rock Pond Meadow; half my interest in the mineral called the Copper Mine in Woburn; and also one quarter part of my right of herbage.

3. To my son Samuel Kendall, I give the dwelling house which he now lives in, and the barn, land, and meadow belong-ing to it, which is bounded by the land of Thomas Carter on the east, and to the north by the road leading to the mill, and partly by woodland formerly belonging to Jonathan Tompson and Joseph Wright, Sr., and on the west by the fence that part this from what I have given to my son John Kendall. I further give my son Samuell Kendall one acre of meadow in Horn Pond Meadow adjoining the meadow of my son Thomas Kendall,with free use and improvement of the usual cart way to the same through the land I have given in this will to my son John Kendall, which my second son Sam Kendell, his heirs and assigns shall improve from time to time for carting of his and their hay, forever. I further give my son Samuell Kendall one quarter part of my corn mill, and a proportional interest in the streams, dams,and utensils thereunto belonging, and further I do hereby give my son Samuel Kendall half of my wood lot at Ragg Rock, and one quarter part of my herbage.

4. To my son Jacob Kendall I give the thirty acres of land his house stands on with the woodland of mine it adjoins; all my woodland on the west side of the Great Meadow; a piece of woodland adjoining the meadow of John Knight; five cow commons; and my right of swamp at Clear Meadow Brook,excepting what I shall in this will give to my grandson Frances Green. I further give my son Jacob Kendall four acres of land adjoining the east end of his homestead.

5. To my daughter Mary Read I give that tract of land that her house stands on, which I let her use upon her marriage,which I estimate to be nine acres and is bounded on the north and northeast by the road leading to the mill; eastwardly by the woodland of Jonathan Tompson; and on the south by the land that I have in this will given to my son John Kendall.I further give to my daughter Mary Read two acres of land at Ragg Rock bounded northeasterly by the land of Jonathan Tompson; on the south by the land of Deacon Joseph Wright; and otherwise bounded by the woodland of my son-in-law Israell Read.I further give to my daughter Mary Read my right and title in the tract of land near John Bruce called Israell Read’s Newfield, bounded on the south by Concord Road, and on the north by the land of John Bruce.I also give my daughter Mary Read twenty acres of my great lot at Settle Meadow, and also a small piece of meadow in Horn Pond Meadow, adjoining the meadow I formerly sold to my son-in-law Israell Read, which runs from the corner of that meadow fence to the head of a spring which arises in the meadow, and along that spring to the place where the spring runs into the brook, and is bounded elsewhere by the meadow of my son-in-law Israell Read.I further give my daughter Mary Read all that tract of land her husband has fenced in by itself on the south side of the highway leading to Timothy Walker’s. Further it is my will that my daughter Mary Read and her heirs all have free liberty, at all times forever hereafter, to cart their hay from the meadow at Horne Pond through the land I have given my son John Kendall.

6. To my daughter Elizabeth Peirce, besides what I gave her when she married, and at other times, I further give her five shillings as a token of my love. In the case she shall have a child born of her own body, I hereby give to it [the child] ten pounds, to paid by my execu-tors, when it reaches the age of twenty-one years.

7. To my daughter Hannah Green, I give that piece of land and woodland of mine, bounded on the north by the land of William Bruce, and on the east-north-east by the highway near Samuel Snow, estimated to be eight acres; a woodlot at Ragg
Rock, near John Russill’s, adjoining the highway; a piece of land at Long Meadow Brook, on the west side of the meadow belonging to Captain Edward Johnson, which is about six acres; and a seven acre lot at Settle Meadow, which I received from my son-in-law William Green by way of exchange.These several parcels of land and woodland I hereby give my daughter Hannah Green, her heirs and assigns forever, and further give to my daughter Hannah Green ten pounds, to be paid to her by my son Samuel Kendall, two years after my decease.

8. To the children of my daughter Rebecca Eaton, deceased, I give a tract of land at Settle Meadow, purchased from Daniell Baken, and was his great lot, which contains an estimated forty-nine acres, unless my executors see cause to pay the chil-dren of my daughter Rebecca Eaton twenty pounds instead.

9. To my daughter Abigail Read, I give forty-seven acres of my great lot at Settle Meadow, which is my whole great lot except twenty acres I have given in this will to my daughter Mary Read.

10. I give to my three daughters, namely Mary Read, Hannah Green, and Eunice, the wife of John Kendall, all my household items, to be equally divided amongst them, in return for the great care, pains, and nursing they provided their mother, my late wife, during her last sickness.My daughter Mary Read shall have the liberty to redeem my feather bed, and enjoy the same, paying to her sisters more than her proportion of its value.

11. To my grandson Frances Kendall, the eldest son of my son John Kendall, I give that piece of meadow adjoining my cornmill and bounded on the south-east by the path leading to the mill, and bounded on the east partly by the orchard adjoining the barn which I gave my son John Kendall. I also give my grandson Frances Kendall a tract of land,which is fenced by itself, adjoining the previously mentioned meadow, bounded on the north-west by Timothy Walker’s land; on the south partly by the barn and barn yard, and the highway leading to the mill; and further bounded by the land I previously gave my daughter Mary Read.

12. To my grandson Ralph Kendall, the son of my son Thomas Kendall, I give my plow lot in Hodges Hole, and half the plow lot formerly belonging to Micheale Lippingwell.

13. To my granddaughter Mary Peirce, I give that lot I pur-chased from Daniel Baken near Dirty Swamp.

14. To my grandson Frances Green I give that land I pur-chased from John Mousell, Israell Walker, and Ephraim Buck in Wood Hill, and the right of five acres of Swamp Bottom.

15. To my grandson Samuell Kendall, the son of my son Sam Kendall, I give two small cedar lots in Lather Pole Swamp, the one of which was mine, the other which I purchased from Daniel Baken.

16. To my grandson Jacob Kendall, the son of my son Jacob Kendall, I give one piece of upland adjoining the swamp I have given to my son Jacob Kendall at Clear Meadow Brook.

17. To my granddaughter, Elizabeth Lampson, the daughter of my daughter Rebecca Eaton, I give my two cedar lots in the old Cedar Swamp, one of which was my own, the other which I purchased from Daniel Baken.

18. To my grandson William Read, I give one-half of my rightin a piece of land or woodland remaining undivided amongst the proprietors of the Seventh Division on Rock Meadow Plain.

19. To the eight children of my brother Thomas Kendall, who were living when my brother died, I give twenty shillings apiece to be paid by my executors. In case any of the eight children die, the eldest child of the deceased shall enjoy the mother’s gift. I do this in rememberance of the kindness I had for my loving brother.

20. It is my will to give my corn mill to my three sons, John Kendall, Thomas Kendall, and Samuel Kendall. Shall any of them refuse to repair, rebuild, or constantly maintain in good repair their respective part of the mills, dams, or utensils when reasonably required, then his or their part shall become that of those who undertake the rebuilding or repair. It is also my will that if any of my children, to whom in this will I have given a parcel or parcels of land in partnership,fail to agree to its division, then the division shall be made by the overseers of this will, whose decision shall stand. In the eighteenth article of this will I have given to my grand-son, William Read one half of my right in a piece of land or a woodland remaining undivided amongst the proprietors of the Seventh Division on Rock Meadow Plain. Upon further consideration, I give whole right title and interest in this piece of undivided land to my grandson, William Read.

Finally, I ordain my two loving sons, John Kendall and Thomas Kendall, executors of this , my last Will and Testament.

It is also my desire that my trusty and well-beloved friends, Major Jeremiah Swayn of Reading and James Fowle of Woburn, be the overseers of this will. In consideration of their care and trouble, I hereby appoint my executors to pay them thirty shillings apiece.

And thus having finished, by God’s help, this will as it is expressed and inserted on this and the other side of this sheet of paper, I exhort and command all my children and grandchildren to live in the fear of God, and in love and peace, and pray God, who is the God of love and peace, be with you all, amen.

I hereby revoke and disallow all other former wills and testaments before this time, ratifying and confirming this writing to be my last Will and Testament.

I, Frances Kendall, have set my hand and affixed my seal, this ninth day of May the fifth year of the reign of our Lady Anne, sovereign queen of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, Anno domini Seventeen Hundred and Six.

Signed, sealed and published to be the last Will and Testament of Frances Kendall, Sr.

In the presence of us
John Brooks
Daniel Baldwin
Edward Winn
Proved at Cambridge, 31 May 1708
[ Middlesex Probate 13053]

The mark and seal of Frances Kendall Senior”

4. Thomas Kendall

Thomas’ wife Rebecca Paine was born 17 Jul 1618 in England. Rebecca died 17 Jul 1703 in Reading Massacussetts, Middlesex, England.

Deacon Thomas Kendall, of Reading, and his wife Rebecca had ten daughters. Their sons died early. The daughters inorder to preseve the name Kendall decided that they would each name their first son Kendall. And so came to be Kendall Pierson, Kendall Boutwell, Kendall Eaton, Kendall Briant, and so forth. This in turn inspired Lillie Eaton, Esq., of South Reading to pen the following:

“She has ten daughters; and each one,
When married, christened her first son
Kendall; and thus we may infer
Why ’tis these names so oft occur.”

In determinning whether Dea. Thomas was in Lynn or Reading it is imperative to understand the emergence of Reading as a town in its own right. What eventually became Reading, Massachusetts was originally a part of the township of Lynn, Massachusetts.

• 1639: Under a grant of land from the General Court to the town of Lynn, a settlement called Linn Village was made as a part of the town of Lynn.
• 1644: “Redding” was set off from Lynn.
• 1647: “Reading” appeared as a town in its own right.

In truth, Deacon Thomas Kendall always resided in the same place. The name of the place where he resided changed from Lynn to Linn Village to Reading and for a period of time the names seem to have been used almost interchangeably. This caused confusion as the dates on records from the different reports had him appear to have been moving from one township to another in time periods when such moves did not seem to be either feasible or to make sense. Understanding that the towns’ names changed NOT the Deacon’s residence makes the records easier to understand.

Deacon Thomas Kendall Gravestone — Old Burying Ground, Wakefield, Middlesex, Mass

UPON Ye DEATH OF THOMAS KENDEL HERE IN Ye EARTH IS LAYD ON OF Ye 7 OF THIS CHURCH FOUNDATION SO TO REMAIEN TELY.T POWRFUL VOICE SAY RIS IN HERE A GLORIS HABITATION A PATARN OF PIATI & LOVE & FOR PEACE BUT NOW ALAS HOW SHORT HIS RACE HERE WE MOURN & MOURN WE MOUST TO SE ZION STONS LIK GOLD NOW LAYD IN DUST

This stone originally was in the towns very first burying grounds and were then re-located to the current location. There is a nice write up on this gravestone in “Graven Images – New England Stonecarving and Its Symbols, 1650-1815” by Ludwig. (Page 84)

5. Elizabeth Kendall

Elizabeth’s husband Morris Somes was born 1614 in Cambridge, England. His parents were Thomas Somes and Agnes [__?__]. He first married in 1641 to Marjorie Johnson (b. 1610 in Bedfordshire, England
- d. 22 Jan 1647 in Gloucester, Essex, Mass.) Morris died 13 Jan 1689 in Gloucester, Essex, Mass.

Morris and Elizabeth;s daughter Abigial Somes was arrested and indicted and sent to Boston Jail in 1692.  She surrvied and in 1693 was freed when the new Governor Phips, put an end to the hangings and arrests.

(Examination of Abigail Somes, May 13, 1692, at Salem)

Upon the glance of her Eye she struck Mary Warren into a [unclear: ] fit at her first appearance, and s’d Warren continually Crying out [unclear: ] it was this very Woman tho She knew her not before, only [unclear: ] that She herself in apparition and told her that her name was [unclear: ] and also that this was the very woman that had afflicted her all this Day, and that. she met her as she was comeing in att the gate, and bit her exceedingly att her first Examining there was found in her Apron a great Crotching Needle about the midle of it near her Belly, which was plucked out by one of the Standers by. by ord’r of the Magistrates, which the s’d Soams affirmed. She knew not how it came there; Mary Warren affirmed that she never saw the s’d woman before only in apparition, and then she told her that her Name was Abigail Soames and that she was sister to John Soams of Preston Cooper and that she lived att Gaskins, and that she had lain Bedrid a year. Being asked whether she was Sister to John Soams she answered peremptorily she would not tell for all was false that Warren said furthermore Warren affirmed that she told her that she was she s’d Soams was the Instrumental means of the Death of Southwick: Upon which s’d Soams casting her Eye on Warren [pincht] her into a dreadful fitt, and bitt her so dreadfully that the Like was never seen on any of the aflicted, which the s’d Warren Charged the s’d Soams with doeing off, saying that the s’d Soams told her this day she would be the death of her further Warren Affirms that she the s’d Soams ran two pinns into her side this day, which being plucked out the blood ran out after them. Goody Gaskin being present att this examination affirmed she had kept her Bed for most part these thirteen months. Warren further affirms she told her that when She did goe abroad att any time it was in the Night which Goody Gaskin being present Confirmed the same that that was the usual time off her goeing abroad — further more Warren affirmed that this Abigail Soams would have had her to have made a bargain with her, telling her if she would not tel of her being a sickly woman, she would not afflict her any more, and that then She should goe along with her, for this s’d Soams told her she was her God, Upon w’ch Warren answered she would not keep the Devils Councel. Soams told her she was not a Devil but she was her God. Q. Mary Warren is this true: A. It is nothing but the truth. Soams being asked who hurt Warren in the time of her fitt she answered it was the Enemy hurt her. I have been said she myself Distracted many atime, and my [senses] have gone from me, and I thought I have seen many a Body hurt mee, and might have accused many as well as she doth. I Really thought I had seen many persons att my Mothers Campe at Glowster, and they greatly aflicted me as I thought. Soams being Commanded while Warren was in a dreadful fit, to take Warren by the hand, the said Warren immediately recovered;

This Experiment was tryed three times over and the Issue the same. Warren after a Recovery being commanded to touch the s’d Soams altho she Assayed severall times to do it with great Earnestness she was not able, But fell down into a dreadful fit. Upon which the s’d Soams being Commanded take Warren by the hand, she immediately recovered her again. Warren affirming she felt something soft in her hand (her Eyes then being first shut) which revived her very heart. Warren being asked what the Reason was she could not Come to touch Soams affirmed she saw the apparition of Somes come from her Body, and would meet her, and thrust her with Vialunce back again, not suffring her to Come near her — Sometimes Soams, would say it was Distraction in talking she would often Laugh, upon which Laughing the aflicted person would presently fal into a fitt. Soams being asked whether she thought this was Witchcraft or whether there were any Witches in the world, answered she did not know anything but said itt was the Enemy or some other Wicked person or the Enemy himself that forces persons to afflict her att this time, presently this Warren fell into a trance comeing out of which she affirmed that Soams told her in the Prime of her trance that she would thrust an Awl into her very heart and would kil her this night. Soams could never cast her Eye upon Warren, but immediately she struck her down, and one time she affirmed s’d Soams struck her such a Blow as almost killed, which made the s’d Warren break out into abundance of tears. Soams being Charged with it, instead of bewailing itt Broke forth into Laughter. Warren being also afflicted by the [wringing] of her mouth after a strange and prodigious manner, Soams being Commanded to look upon her in that fit, premptorily answered she would not. Soams being by him ordered to turn her face about to look on the afflicted, which being accordingly done she shut her Eyes Close, and would not look on her being then ordered to touch her She did and immediately Warren Recovered, which no sooner done but Soams opened her Eyes and looked on the afflicted; and struck her into another most dreadful and horible fit, and in this manner she practised her Witchcrafts several times before the Court. Mary Warren Looking on her affirmed this to be the very woman that had so often afflicted her dureing the Examination and Charged her with it to her face. sometimes dureing the Examination Soams would put her oun foot behind her other leg, and immediately Warrens Legs would be Crossed and that it was impossible for the strongest man there to [uncrosst] them, without Breaking her Leggs, as was seen by many present After this Examination Warren says the apparition of Proctor, Nurse and Burroughs, that appeared before her, and Burroughs bitt her which bite was seen by many. Also Burroughs att the same time appeared to Margaret Jacobs who was then present, and told her as Jacobs affirmed, that her Grandfather would be hanged Upon which the s’d Jacobs wept. it was also observed by the Rev’d Mr Noyse, that after the needle was taken away from Soams, that Warren was neither bit. not pinched by the s’d Soams, but [pincht] so dreadfully on her throght that she cryed out she was almost killed.

Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=30231771&st=1

http://www.yeoldewoburn.net/Kendall.htm

(Examination of Abigail Somes, May 13, 1692, at Salem)

Upon the glance of her Eye she struck Mary Warren into a [unclear: ] fit at her first appearance, and s’d Warren continually Crying out [unclear: ] it was this very Woman tho She knew her not before, only [unclear: ] that She herself in apparition and told her that her name was [unclear: ]

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and also that this was the very woman that had afflicted her all this Day, and that. she met her as she was comeing in att the gate, and bit her exceedingly att her first Examining there was found in her Apron a great Crotching Needle about the midle of it near her Belly, which was plucked out by one of the Standers by. by ord’r of the Magistrates, which the s’d Soams affirmed. She knew not how it came there; Mary Warren affirmed that she never saw the s’d woman before only in apparition, and then she told her that her Name was Abigail Soames and that she was sister to John Soams of Preston Cooper and that she lived att Gaskins, and that she had lain Bedrid a year. Being asked whether she was Sister to John Soams she answered peremptorily she would not tell for all was false that Warren said furthermore Warren affirmed that she told her that she was she s’d Soams was the Instrumental means of the Death of Southwick: Upon which s’d Soams casting her Eye on Warren [pincht] her into a dreadful fitt, and bitt her so dreadfully that the Like was never seen on any of the aflicted, which the s’d Warren Charged the s’d Soams with doeing off, saying that the s’d Soams told her this day she would be the death of her further Warren Affirms that she the s’d Soams ran two pinns into her side this day, which being plucked out the blood ran out after them. Goody Gaskin being present att this examination affirmed she had kept her Bed for most part these thirteen months. Warren further affirms she told her that when She did goe abroad att any time it was in the Night which Goody Gaskin being present Confirmed the same that that was the usual time off her goeing abroad — further more Warren affirmed that this Abigail Soams would have had her to have made a bargain with her, telling her if she would not tel of her being a sickly woman, she would not afflict her any more, and that then She should goe along with her, for this s’d Soams told her she was her God, Upon w’ch Warren answered she would not keep the Devils Councel. Soams told her she was not a Devil but she was her God. Q. Mary Warren is this true: A. It is nothing but the truth. Soams being asked who hurt Warren in the time of her fitt she answered it was the Enemy hurt her. I have been said she myself Distracted many atime, and my [senses] have gone from me, and I thought I have seen many a Body hurt mee, and might have accused many as well as she doth. I Really thought I had seen many persons att my Mothers Campe at Glowster, and they greatly aflicted me as I thought. Soams being Commanded while Warren was in a dreadful fit, to take Warren by the hand, the said Warren immediately recovered;

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This Experiment was tryed three times over and the Issue the same. Warren after a Recovery being commanded to touch the s’d Soams altho she Assayed severall times to do it with great Earnestness she was not able, But fell down into a dreadful fit. Upon which the s’d Soams being Commanded take Warren by the hand, she immediately recovered her again. Warren affirming she felt something soft in her hand (her Eyes then being first shut) which revived her very heart. Warren being asked what the Reason was she could not Come to touch Soams affirmed she saw the apparition of Somes come from her Body, and would meet her, and thrust her with Vialunce back again, not suffring her to Come near her — Sometimes Soams, would say it was Distraction in talking she would often Laugh, upon which Laughing the aflicted person would presently fal into a fitt. Soams being asked whether she thought this was Witchcraft or whether there were any Witches in the world, answered she did not know anything but said itt was the Enemy or some other Wicked person or the Enemy himself that forces persons to afflict her att this time, presently this Warren fell into a trance comeing out of which she affirmed that Soams told her in the Prime of her trance that she would thrust an Awl into her very heart and would kil her this night. Soams could never cast her Eye upon Warren, but immediately she struck her down, and one time she affirmed s’d Soams struck her such a Blow as almost killed, which made the s’d Warren break out into abundance of tears. Soams being Charged with it, instead of bewailing itt Broke forth into Laughter. Warren being also afflicted by the [wringing] of her mouth after a strange and prodigious manner, Soams being Commanded to look upon her in that fit, premptorily answered she would not. Soams being by him ordered to turn her face about to look on the afflicted, which being accordingly done she shut her Eyes Close, and would not look on her being then ordered to touch her She did and immediately Warren Recovered, which no sooner done but Soams opened her Eyes and looked on the afflicted; and struck her into another most dreadful and horible fit, and in this manner she practised her Witchcrafts several times before the Court. Mary Warren Looking on her affirmed this to be the very woman that had so often afflicted her dureing the Examination and Charged her with it to her face. sometimes dureing the Examination Soams would put her oun foot behind her other leg, and immediately Warrens Legs would be Crossed and that it was impossible for the strongest man there to [uncrosst] them, without Breaking her Leggs,

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as was seen by many present After this Examination Warren says the apparition of Proctor, Nurse and Burroughs, that appeared before her, and Burroughs bitt her which bite was seen by many. Also Burroughs att the same time appeared to Margaret Jacobs who was then present, and told her as Jacobs affirmed, that her Grandfather would be hanged Upon which the s’d Jacobs wept. it was also observed by the Rev’d Mr Noyse, that after the needle was taken away from Soams, that Warren was neither bit. not pinched by the s’d Soams, but [pincht] so dreadfully on her throght that she cryed out she was almost killed.

Anthony Morse - Coat of Arms

Anthony Morse was born before 1578 in Marlboro, Wiltshire, England. His parents were William MORSE and [__?__]. He married Christian [__?__] in 1605 in Marlboro, Wiltshire, England. Anthony died 21 Nov 1621 in Marlborough, Wiltshire, England.

Anthony's children were baptized in St Peter's Church, Marlborough, Wiltshire

Christian [__?__] was born in 1580 in Marlboro, Wiltshire, England. She may have been Anthony’s second wife.  After Anthony died, she married 21 Nov 1621 to Thomas Quarrington. Christian died in 1630 in Marlbourough, Wiltshire, England.

Children of Anthony and Christian:

Will of Anthony’s father William Morse the elder of Radbourn Cheney, yeoman, will dated August 25, 1578, proved at London October 16, 1578.

To the poor of Radbourn Cheney 13 shillings 4 pence; to the reparation of the Cathedral church of Salisbury 6 pence; to the reparation of Radbourn church 12 pence; to son John, sheep and cattle; to son William and his heirs the house now in his occupancy called Edwards House, with lands in Heydon-Weeke, Moredon and Pyton and cattle and sheep; to son Roger one third of his farm in Weeke and Goulding, oxen, sheep etc. to son Anthony, 10 pounds; his young roan mare and sufficient meat and drink for him and his horse until he is twenty one years of age and afterwards during his life, at the charge of his son Roger and if Anthony should not be satisfied with his finding then son Roger to pay him 40 shillings a year during his life; to son Anthony his third bed with all the things belonging to it; to James Wake 3 pounds 6 shillings, 8 pence; to William Morse, a little boy, 20 shillings when he becomes twenty one years of age; to son Edmund, his house and lands in Redbourne for 41 years, paying unto the heir of the testator 40 shillings at the usual feast days; to Thomas Weston and Christian his wife the house and lands where he now dwells; if his son William dies without male heirs, then his son Roger is to succeed, next his son Edward, whom he appoints executor and his brother Thomas Morse, Nicholas and Henry Cusse supervisors.,

Anthony Morse Sr. of Marlborough, yeoman; will dated February 27, 1620/21 proved at London June 2, 1621. Gives for the reparation of St. Peter’s church in Marlborough 10 shillings; to his present wife, Christian; son Anthony; to his four children now living each 30 pounds when 18 years of age; mentions his child yet unborn; to Mr Hearne 10 shillings to preach at his funeral; appoints his wife executrix.

The High Street- Marlborough- c.1900

Children

4. William Morse

William’s first wife Elizabeth Prideaux was born 1609 in Soldon, Devon, England. Her parents were Humphry Prideaux and Honor Fortescue. Elizabeth died Dec 1663

James Passenger List

Newbury Witch Trial

William Morse was a key figure in the only recorded case of supposed witchcraft in Newbury that was ever subjected to a full legal investigation. The principal sufferer was William’s wife Elizabeth who resided with him in a house at the head of Market St. [later actually in Newburyport] across from St. Paul’s Church for which William had received in the lot in 1645.

William was then 65 years of age, a very worthy, but credulous and unsuspecting man who consequently was very easy prey to the taunting antics of a very roguish grandson who lived with them. Not suspecting any deception, the good man readily attributed all his troubles and strange afflictions to the supernatural instead of carefully analyzing the actions of those around him. With a belief in witchcraft almost universal at the time, it afforded a ready solution to anything strange and mysterious.

The only person to have suspected the boy as the author of the mischief was a seaman Caleb Powell who visited the house frequently enough to suspect that the Morse’s troubles had human, rather than supernatural, origins. Caleb informed Goodman Morse that he believed he could readily find and the source of the trouble and solve it. To add credibility to his claims, he hinted that in his many travels he had gained an extensive knowledge of astrology and astronomy. That claim, however innocently intended, led to Caleb being accused of dealing in the black arts himself–he was tried and narrowly escaped with his own life.

3 Dec 1679 – ‘Caleb Powell being complained of for suspicion of working with the devill to the molesting of YVilliam Morse and his family, was by warrant directed to the constable, brought in by him, the accusations and testimonies were read and the complaint respited till the Monday following.

8 Dec 1679 – Caleb Powell appeared according to order and farther testimony produced against him by William Morse, which being read and considered, it was determined that the said William Morse should present the case against Caleb Powell at the county court to be held at Ipswich the last Tuesday in March following and in order hereunto William Morse acknowledgeth himself indebted to the treasurer of the county of Essex the full summe of twenty pounds.

[The condition of this obligation is that the sayd William Morse shall prosecute his complaint against Caleb Powell at that time. Caleb Powell was delivered as a prisoner to the constable till he find security of twenty pounds for the answering of the sayd complaint, or else he was to be cast into prison.]

Anthony Morse gave the following testimony about the strange goings-on at his brother’s house on Dec 8, 1679:

“I Anthony Mors ocationlly being att my brother Morse’s hous, my brother showed me a pece of a brick which had several tims come down the chimne. I sitting in the cornar towck the pece of brik in my hand. Within a littel spas of tiem the pece of brik was gon from me I know not by what meanes. Quickly aftar, the pece of brik came down the chimne. Also in the chimny corar I saw a hamar on the ground. Their being no person near the hamar it was soddenly gone; by what means I know not, but within a littel spas after, the hamar came down the chimny and within a littell spas of tiem aftar that, came a pece of woud, about a fute loung, and within a littell after that came down a fiar brand, the fiar being out.”

William Morse was also asked to give testimony on the same day and reported instances of being in bed and hearing stones and sticks being thrown against the roof or house with great violence, finding a large hog in the house after midnight, and many strange objects being dropped down the chimney. Items in the barn were mysteriously overturned or out-of-place, shoes unexpectedly seemed to fly through the air as if thrown, and doors unexpectedly would open or close.

The handwritten testimony concludes with the telling statement:

“A mate of of a ship coming often to me [ie: Caleb Powell] said he much grefed for me and said the boye [William's grandson] was the cause of all my truble and my wife was much Ronged, and was no wich, and if I would let him have the boye but one day, he would warrant me no more truble. I being persuaded to it, he Com the nex day at the brek of day, and the boy was with him untel night and I had not any truble since.” When Caleb was finally acquitted, the judges looked for some other person guilty “of being instigated by the devil” for accomplishing such pranks, and for some reason selected Elizabeth Morse , William’s wife, as the culprit. [Elizabeth often served as a town midwife, and perhaps had incurred some male or professional' jealousies?]

5 Dec 1679 – The testimony of William Mors and his wife, which they both saw one last Thursday night my wife and I being in bed we heard a great noies against the ruf with stekes and stones throwing against the hous with great vialanse whereupon I myselfe arose and my wife and saw not anny body, but was forsed to retunie into the house againe, the stones being thrown so vilantly aganst us we gooing to bed againe and the same noies in the hus we Lock the dore againe fast and about midnight we heard a grete nayes of A hoge in the house and I arcs and found a grete hoge in the huse and the dore being shut. I opened the dore the hoge running vilently out. The next morning a Stek of Lenkes hanging in the Chemney fast I saw Com Down vilintly and not anny body ner to them and Jumped up upon A Chaire before the fire ; I hanged them up again and they Com down again into the fire. The next day I had an Aule in the window, which was taken away I know not how and Com Dune the chimney. I take the same ale and put into a Cubard and fasened the Dore.

The same ale Com Down 3 or 4 times. We had a basket in the Chamber Com Doun the Chemney. I tooke it up myselfe and laide it before me, it was Sudinly taken away I know not how and Com dune the Chimney againe. I then took a brick and put into it and said it shold cary that away, if it ded goo up againe. It was taken away I know not how and Com dune the Chemney and the brick a Letel after it. One Saturday next Corn stekes on Light fire dune Chimney and stones, and then my ‘awls taken away from me 4 times as I used them and Com Douen the Chemney 4 times. My nailes in a cover of A ferkin Com douen the Chemney againe. The dore being Locked I heard a hoge in the house I let alone until day and found it to bee one of my owne, willing to goo out. The next day being Sabath Stekes and stones were thrown viliantly [down] the Chemney. One Munday next Mr. Richeson and annother saw many things. I sent my boy to se if nothing was amis in my barne. I not being abel to tey my Catel up to ni^htes but stel being untied with many other strange thinges, the frame being thrown Downe upon the boy : We all run out to help him in.

‘ When we Com in we saw a Coten whele turned with the Leges upward and many thinges set up on it as a Stale and a Spade Lick the form of a ship. Potes hanging over the fire Dashing one against the other I being forsed to unhang them. We saw A andiron dance up and dune many times and into a Pot and out againe up atop of a tabal, the pot turning over and Speling all in it. saw a tube turn over with the hop fling of it. I sending my boy to fech my toles, which I doe mak Ropes with, so soone as the dore being opened thay Com viliantly Doune of themselves. Againe a tub of bred Com dune from a Shelufe and turned over. My wife went to make the bed the Clothes Ded fly of many times of themselves, and a Chest open and Shut and Dores fli together. My wife going into the Seler thinges tumbling dune and the dore fling together vialintly. I being at prayer my hed being Cufred with A Cloth A Chaire did often times bow to me and then Strike me on the side. My wife Corn out of the other rome A wege of Iron being thrown at her, and A spade, but [did] not rech her, and A stone, which hurt her much, I seting by the fire with my wife and to more neighbours with us A stone Struk against the Lampe and struk it out many times, and a shoo, which we saw in Chamber before Com doune the Chemney the Dore being shut and struk me A blow one the hed, which ded much hurte. A mate of A ship Coming often to me and said he much grefed for me and said the boye was the case of all my truble and my wife was much Ronged, and was no wich, and if I would let him have the boye but one day he would warrant me no more truble. I being persuaded to it he Com the nex day at the brek of day, and the boy was with him untel night and I had not any truble since}

The preceding testimony is in the handwriting of William Morse.

At the March term at Ipswich court the following additional testimony was produced in the case of Caleb Powell, taken February twenty-seventh, 1680.

27 Feb 1680 – Ipswich Court Testimony
Sarah Hale aged thirty-three and Joseph Mirick testify that Joseph Moores hath often said in their hearing that if there were any wizards, he was sure Caleb Powell was one.’ [This Joseph Moores was the boatswain of the ship, of which Caleb Powell was mate, and Joseph Dole, captain.]

Mary Tucker aged about twenty – She remembereth that Caleb Powell came into their house and sayd to this purpose that he coming to William Morse his house and the old man being at prayer he thought not fit to go in. but looked in at the window and he sayd he had broken the inchantment. for he saw the boy play tricks while he was at prayer and mentioned some and among the rest that he saw him to fling the sliooe at the old man’s head}

The court, after reading all the testimony that could be produced against Caleb Powell, came to the following conclusion.

Upon hearing the complaint brought to this court against Caleb Powell for suspicion of working by the devill to the molesting of the family of William Morse of Newbury, though this court cannot find any evident ground of proceeding farther against the sayd Powell, yett we determine that “he hath given such ground of suspicion of his so dealing that we cannot so acquit him but that he justly deserves to beare his owne shame and the costs of prosecution of the complaint.’ It is referred to Mr. Woodbridge to hear and determine the charges.’

The court at this time must have been men of profound wisdom and accurate discrimination, as they appear to have determined, first, that he was just guilty enough to pay the expense of imprisonment, secondly, that he ought ‘ to bear his owne shame,’ and, thirdly, that they had no reason to believe that he was guilty at all. This somewhat resembles the case, which is not found in the books, where A. sues B. for breaking a borrowed kettle. The defence was, ‘ first we never had the kettle, secondly, it was broken when we borrowed it, and thirdly, it was whole when we returned it.’

The people, however, were not so lenient as the judges. If Caleb Powell was innocent, some other person must be guilty of ‘ being instigated by the divil,’ for, in their opinion, no agency merely human could produce effects so strange and unaccountable. They accordingly selected Elizabeth Morse, the wife of William Morse, as the guilty person.

At a Court of Assistants held at Boston on May 20, 1680, Elizabeth Morse was indicted as “having familiarity with the Divil contrary to the peace of our sovereign lord the King” and the laws of God. In spite of her protesting her complete innocense, she was found guilty and sentenced by the governor on May 27th as follows:

“Elizabeth MORSE, you are to goe from hence to the place from when you came and thence to the place of execution and there to be hanged by the neck, till you be dead, and the Lord have mercy on your soul.”

Then, for an unexplained reason, Elizabeth was granted a reprieve on June 1, 1680 by Governor Bradstreet. The deputies of the local court did not agree with the decision, however, and complained in Nov 1680 to have the case reopened. Testimony was again heard in the general court through May 1681.

William sent several petitions pleading his wife’s innocence and attempting to answer the hysterical allegations of 17 Newbury residents who submitted testimony in writing offering their reasons why they had concluded that Goody Morse must be a witch and should be hung according to old Mosaic law. Reading the list of “reasons” today quickly strikes the 20th century mind as a dredging up of every petty annoyance, every grudge or neighborhood misunderstanding the townspeople could think of from sick cows to being snubbed in public.

It was owing to the firmness of Gov. Bradstreet in his initial decision that the life of Elizabeth Morse was saved and the town of Newbury prevented from offering the first victim in Essex County to the witchcraft hysteria. Later town records and other contemporary sources fail to record what happened to the “vile and roguish” grandson whose attempts to torment his elderly grandparents nearly resulted in his grandmother’s untimely death.

The execution was never carried out and, after a year in jail in Boston, Elizabeth was sent home to live with her husband – with a catch: She was forbidden to travel more than 16 rods (264 feet) from her property unless she was accompanied by a pastor or a deacon..

Elizabeth Morse Memorial -- No one knows where her grave is, but she almost certainly isn't with her husband because witches couldn't be buried in church ground. .

Here’s more detail on William’s petitions:

The case of Elizabeth Morse, who had been reprieved by the governor, was again brought before the general court, to whom William Morse, her husband, sent two petitions, the one on May fourteenth, in the elegant handwriting of William Chandler of Newbury, the other on May eighteenth, in the handwriting of major Robert Pike of Salisbury, who was the next year chosen one of the assistants.

His first petition is as follows.

To the honored generall court now sitting in Boston.

The humble petition of William Mors in behalfe of his wife, Elizabeth Mors your distressed Prisoner, humbly begging this that you would be pleased to give your petitioner leave to present to your consideration what may clere up the truth in those evidences wch hath bin presented and what is otherwise as first.

1. To Joseph Bayley his testimony. Wee are ignorant of any such thing. Had it bin then spoken of, we might have cleared ourselves. He might have observed some other as my wife, it being a frequent thing for Catle to be at a stand.

2. To Jonathan Haines. As to his Catle, or himselfe, not making good work at such a time, when Catlft are haggled out, to place it on such account) yt his neglect in not bringing us a bow of mault was the cause, which had it bin spoken of wee might have given full satisfaction.

3. To Caleb Moody. As to what befell him in and about his not seeing my wife, yt his cow making no hast to hir calfe, wch wee are ignorant of, it being so long since, and being in church communion with us, should have spoken of it like a Christian and yn proceeded so as wee might have given an answer in less time yn tenn yeares. Wee are ignorant yt he had a shepe so dyed. And his wife knowne to be a pretious godly woman, yt. hath oftne spoken to hir husband not to be so uncharitable and have and doe carry it like a Christian with a due respect in hir carridge towards my wife all along.

4. To John Mighill. About ye loss of his catle was yt he came one day to worke, and would have had him come another day to finish it because ye raine came in so upon us, and his not coming, judges my wife was angry and yrfore had such loss, wch wee never knew of. This being twelve yeares agoe did amaze us now to here of it.

5. To Zachariah Davis. To sensure my wife now for not bringing quills aboute sixteen yeares agoe yt his loss of calfes was for that, when his father being in communion with us did profess it to us yt he judged it a hand of God and was farr from blaming us but rather troubled his sonn should so judge.

6. To Joshua Richardson loosing a shepe and his taking it forth off our yard, my wife should say you might have asked leave, and whether overdriving it or what, now to bring it in I hope will be considered.

7. To John March Test. He heard John Wells his wife say she saw imp of God into said Morss howse. She being prosecuted would not owne it and was adjudged to pay damages, and now this is brought in.

8. To James Browne Test, yt one day George Wheeler going forth, my wife should say for a trifle she knew he should not come in againe, which my wife knowes not of it, nor doth some of ye owners ever remember such a thing as to judge or charge it on hir, but now is broughi forth sixteen yeares after when his wife said to goody Hale yt said Browne was mistaken. Hir husband did come home well that voyage; and that James Browne should say to Robert Bedell yt yt Powell, whom wee sued did put in these words and not himselfe in the test and yt said Browne did oune to his unkle Mr. Nicholas Noyes yt he could not sware to such a test ; and did refuse to doe it before Mr. John Woodbridge, and Mr. Woodbridge did admire he had sworne to it. And for his seeing my wife amongst troopers. What condition he might be in wee leave it to consideration. Wee are ignorant of such a thing till now brought in so many yeares agoe as he saith.

9. To good wife Ordway. Hir child being long ill, my wife coming in and looking on it, pitting of it, did feare it would dy, and when it dyed Israeli Webster our next neighbour heard not a word of it, nor spoken of by others, nor any of ye family, but hir conceite, and now brought in.

10. As for William Chandler’s test, aboute his wife’s long sickness and my wife’s visiting hir, she through hir weakness acted uncivilly and yet now to bring in against my wife, when for so many yeares being in full communion with us never dealt with us aboute any such thing, but had as loving converse with him as Christians ought, and knew no otherwise till now.

11. To widow Goodwin hir having hir child sick, gave forth yt it was bewitched by my wife, as she thought ; wee hearing of it dealt with hir aboute it, and she brake forth in teares, craving forgiveness, and said it was others put hir upon it to say as she did, but now urged by Powell to say as she now saith.

12. To John Chase so saying yt he saw my wife in the night coming in at a little hole, and ye like, when he himselfe hath said he did not know but he was in a dreame, and yt unto several persons he hath so said, though now as he test., when my wife disowns any such thing.

13. To John Glading yt saw halfe of my wife about two a clocke in ye day time, if so might then have spoken, and not reserved for so long a time, which she utterly denies it, nor know of any such thing, where she should be at yt time as to clere hir selfe.

14. To William Fanning should say my boy said the devill was at his howse. Upon Fanning’s saying to the boy ye devill was at their howse, and he would have me chide ye boy, which I tould said Fanning ye boy might be instructed to know ye devill was every where though not as at our howse, and should not in time of affliction upbraid him to our griefe.

15. To Jonathan Woodman [son of Edward WOODMAN], seeing a catt, and so forth, he struck at it, and it vanisht away and I sending for doctor Dole to see a bruise my wife had by the fall of a peece reching downe some bacan in our chimly, which was many days before this time, as doctor Dole affirms it was no green wound, though neglected to send for said Dole till then.

16. To Benjamin Lowle [Benjamin LOWELL], about my boy’s ketching a pidgin ; my boy desired of me to see to ketch a pidgin, by throwing a stone, or ye like, and he brought a pidgin, which I affirm was wounded, though alive.

17. To good wife Miricke about a letter. My wife telling her somewhat of ye letter, which she judges could not be and my wife hearing of it there was a discourse and so forth aboute this love letter, might speake something about it by guess, and not by any such way as she judged, and many have spoken, guessing at things, which might be.

As to our troubles in ye howse it hath bin dreddfull, and afflictive and to say it ceased upon hir departure, when it ceased before for a time and after she was gone there was trouble againe.

As to rumors of some great wickedness committed in ye house, which should cause ye divill so to trouble us, our conscience is clere of ye knowledge of any such thing more than our common frailtyes and I reverence the holy sourainty of God in laying such affliction on us. and that God’s servants may be so afflicted in this manner as hath bin knowne. And that Mr. Wilson of Ipswich, where she hath bin twenty-eight weekes, did declare to me yt my wife’s conversation was christian-like as far as he observed. Thus praying for you in this and all other your conceraes, am your distressed servant.

WILLIAM MORSE.
Newbury May fourteenth 1681.’

From the preceding petition of William Morse, and his attempted answers to the accusations and charges brought against his wife Elizabeth, and sent to the general court, it appears that seventeen persons had given in their testimony in writing, stating their reasons why they verily believed goody Morse was really a witch, and ought to be hung,’ Of these testimonies only one is to be found on the files of the general court. If this one is a fair specimen of the whole, the loss of the remainder is not greatly to be regretted, except as a specimen of the logic of that day, and of the manner in which some of our ancestors stated their premises, and drew thence their most profound conclusions. Zechariah Davis thus testifies verbatim and literatim.

When I lived at Salisbury, William Morses’ wife asked of me whether I could let her have a small passell of winges and I told her I woode, so she would have me bring them over for her the next time I came over, but I came over and did not think of the winges, but met goody Morse, she asked me whether I had brought over her winges and I tel her no I did not thinke of it, so I came 3 ore 4 times and had them in my minde a litel before I came over but stil forget them at my coming away so meting with her every time that I came over without them aftar I had promised her the winges, soe she tel me she wonder at it that my memory should be soe bad, but when I came home I went to the barne and there was 3 cafes in a pen. One of them fel a danceing and roreing and was in such a condition as I never saw on cafe in before, but being almost night the cattle came home and we put him to his dam and he sucke and was well 3 or 4 dayes, and on of them was my brothers then come over to Nubery, but we did not thinke to send the winges, but when he came home and went to the barne this cafe fel a danceing and roreing so wee put him to the cowe, but he would not sucke but rane a roreinge away soe wee gate him againe with much adoe and put him into the barne and we heard him roer severall times in the night and in the morning I went to the barne and there he was seting upon his taile like a doge, and I never see no cafe set aftar that manner before and so he remained in these fits while he died.’

Taken on oath June seventh, 1679.

From the date of the preceding testimony, it is evident it was used in the county court prior to the transfer of the case to the state tribunals. On the eighteenth of May, William Morse presented the following petition.

To the honored governor, deputy governor, magistrates and deputies now assembled in court May the eighteenth 1681.

‘The most humble petition and request of William Morse in behalf of his wif (now a condemned prisoner) to this honored court is that they would be pleased so far to hearken to the cry of your poor prisoner, who am a condemned person, upon the charge of witchcraft and for a wich, to which charge your poor prisoner have pleaded not guilty, and by the mercy of God and the goodness of the honored governor, I am reprieved and brought to this honored court, at the foot of which tribunal I now stand humbly prayinp your justis in hearing of my case and to determine therein as the Lord shall direct. I do not understand law, nor do I know how to lay my case before you as I ought, for want of which I humbly beg of your honors that my request may not be rejected, but may find acceptance with you it being no more but your sentence upon my triall whether I shall live or dy, to which I shall humbly submit unto the Lord and you.

William Morse in behalf of his wife
ELIZABETH MORSE.’

For reasons, which do not appear on the records, the deputies had changed their minds, and, instead of being dissatisfied with her respite, were willing to grant another hearing of the case. This the magistrates opposed. In the court record it is thus stated :

The deputyes judge meet to grant the petitioner a hearing the next sixth day and that warrants goe forth to all persons concerned, from this court then to appear in order to her further triall our honored magistrates hereto consenting.

WM. TORREY, Cleric.
May twenty-fourth; 1681.

Not consented to by the magistrates.
EDWARD RAWSON, Secretary.’

The following additional testimony, taken from the county files, is here presented, as necessary to a full understanding of the whole case. It is in the handwriting of John Woodbridge, esquire, and was undoubtedly copied by him from the original, written by William Morse ” himself, and should have been inserted in 1679. The curious reader will be much amused in comparing this, and the preceding testimony of William Morse, with the report of the same case, made by Increase Mather in his ‘ Remarkables,’ and especially that made by Cotton Mather, in volume second, pages 391 and 392′ of the Magnalia. In that “wonderful” book, the latter gentleman perverts and amplifies the testimony to a “prodigious and nefandous” extent.

The testimony of William Morse, which saith together with his wife aged both about sixty-five yeeres, that Thursday night being the twenty-seventh day of November, we heard a great noyes without round the house of knocking the boards of the house and, as we conceived, throwing of stones at the house, whereupon myselfe and wife lookt eut and saw no body and the boy all this time with us, but we had stones and sticks thrown at us that we were forced to retire into the house againe, afterwards we went to bed and the boy with us and then the like noyes was upon the roof of the house.

The same night about midnight the doore being lockt when we went to bed, we heard a great hog in the house grunt and make a noyes, as we thought willing to gett out, an cT that we might not be disturbed in our sleep I rose to let him out, and I found a hog in the house and the doore unlockt. The doore was firmly lockt when we went to bed.

The next morning a stick of links hanging in the chimney, they were thrown out of their place, and we hanged them up againe and they were thrown downe againe and come into the fire.

The night following I had a great awle lying in the window, the which awle we saw fall downe out of the chimney into the ashes by the fire.

After this I bid the boy put the same awle into the cupboard, which we saw done and the doore shut to. this same awle came presently downe the chimney againe in our sight, and I took it up myselfe. Againe the same night we saw a little Indian baskett, that was in the loft before, came downe the chimney againe and I took the same baskett. put a piece of brick in it, and the baskett with the brick was gone, and came downe againe the third time with the brick in it and went up againe the fourth time and came downe againe without the brick, and the brick came downe a little after.

The next day being Saturday, stones, sticks and pieces of bricks came downe so that we could not quietly eat our breakfast, and sticks of fire also came downe at the same time.

That same day in the afternoon my thread four times taken away and came downe the chimney againe ; my awle and a gimlett wanting, came downe the chimney. Againe my leather taken away came downe the chimney. Againe my nailes being in the cover of a ferkin taken away, came downe the chimney.

The next day being Sunday many stones and sticks and pieces of bricks came down the chimneye. On Monday Mr. Richardson [the minister] and my brother being there, the frame of my cow house they saw very firme, I sent my boy to skare the fowles from my hogs’ meat. He went to the cow house and it fell downe, my boy crying with the hurt of the fall. In the afternoone the potts hanging over the fire, did dash so vehemently one against the other, we sett downe one that they might not dash to pieces. I saw the andiron leap in to the pott and dance, and leap out, and againe leap in and dance, and leap out againe, and leap on a table and there abide, and my wife saw the andiron on the table. Also I saw the pott turn itselfe over and throw down all the water. Againe we saw a tray with wool leap up and downe and throw the wool out and saw no body meddle with it. Againe a tub his hoop fly off, of itselfe and the tub turne over and no body neere it Againe the woolen wheele upside downe and stood upon its end and a spade sett on it. Stephen Greenleaf [son of Edmund GREENLEAF],  saw it and myselfe and wife. Againe my rope tooles fell downe in the ground before my boy could take them being sent for them and the same thing of nailes tumbled downe from the loft into the ground and no body neere. Againe my wife and the boy making the bed, the chest did open and shutt, the bed clothes would not be made to ly on the bed, but fly off againe.

Thomas Rogers and George HARDY Jr. being at William Morse his house affirme that the earth in the chimney corner moved and scattered on them, that Thomas Rogers was hit with somewhat, Hardy, with an iron ladle, as is supposed. Somewhat hitt William Morse a great blow, but it was so swift that they could not tell what it was but looking downe after they heard the noyes they saw a shoe. The boy was in the corner at first, afterward in the house.

Mr. Richardson on Saturday testifyeth that a board flew against his chaire and he heard a noyes in another roome, which he supposed in all reason to be diabolicall.

John Dole saw a large fire stick of candle wood to fall downe, a stone, a fire brand, and these things he saw not whence they came, till they fell downe by him.

Elizabeth Titcomb aifirmeth that Powell sayd that he could find out the witch by his learning, if he had another scholar with him.

John Emerson aifirmeth  that Powell sayd he was brought up under Norwood and it was judged by the people there that Norwood studied the black art.’

In another paper entitled * a farther testimony of William Morse and his wife,’ he states that ; we saw a keeler of bread turn over a chair did often bow to me and rise up againe the chamber door did violently fly together and the bed did move to and fro and not any body neer them.’

He also states that the cellar door did violently fly down and a drum rolled over it his ‘ barn door was unpinned four times, and going to shut the doore, the boy being with me, the pin (as I did judge) coming downe out of the aire did fall down neer to me.’

Againe Caleb Powell came in as before and seeing our spirits very low by the sense of our great afflictions, began to bemoane our condition and sayd that he was troubled for our affliction, and sayd that he eyed the boy, and drawed neere to us with great compassion, poore old man, poore old woman, this boy is the occasion of your griefe, for he does these things and hath caused his good old grandmother to be counted a witch. Then sayd I, how can all these things be done by him ? Then sayd he although he may not have done all. yet most of them, for this boy is a young rogue, a vile rogue. I have watched him and see him do things as to come up and downe.

Caleb Powell also said he had understanding in Astrology and Astronomy and knew the working of spirits, some in one country and some in another, and looking on the boy said you young rogue to begin so soone. Goodman Morse, if you be willing to let mee have the boy, I will undertake you’ shall be freed from any trouble of this kind while he is with me. I was very unwilling at the first, and my wife, but by often urging me to, and when he told me whither and in what employment and company he should goe, I did consent to it and we have been freed from any trouble of this kind ever since that promise made on Monday night last till this time being Friday afternoone.’

After enumerating a great variety of marvellous exploits, such as ‘ hearing a great noyes in the other roome,’ ‘ his chaire would not stand still but ready to throw me backward,’ * my cap almost taken off my head three times,’ i a great blow in my poll,’ ‘ the catt thrown at my wife and thrown at us five times, the lamp standing by us on a chest, was beaten downe,’ and so forth, he thus conludes :

Againe a great noyes a great while very dreadful. Againe in the morning a great stone being six pounds weight did remove from place to place. We saw it. Two spoones throwed off the table and presently the table throwed downe, and being minded to write, my ink home was hid from me, which I found covered with a rag and my pen quite gone. I made a new pen and while I was writing, one eare of corne hitt me in the face and fire sticks and stones and throwed at me, and my pen brought to me. While I was writing with my new pen, my ink-home taken away. Againe my specticles thrown from the table, and throwne almost into the fire by me, my wife and the boy. Againe my booke of all my accounts throwne into the fire and had been burnt presently, if I had not taken it up. Againe boards taken of a tub and sett upright by themselves, and my paper, do what I could, I could hardly keep it, while T was writing this relation. Presently before I could dry my writing, a monmouth hat rubbed along it. but I held it so fast that it did blot but some of it. My wife and I being much afraid that I should not preserve it for the publick use, we did think best to lay it in the bible and it lay safe that night. Againe the next [night] I would lay it there againe, but in the morning it was not to be found, the bag hanged downe empty, but after was found in a box alone. Againe while I was writing this morning I was forced to forbeare
writing any more, I was so disturbed with so many things constantly thrown at me.

This relation taken December eighth, 1679.’

On the court records I find nothing more concerning Elizabeth Morse.  The following extracts are from an essay on witchcraft, by the reverend John Hale, of Beverly, and published in the year 1697

She [Elizabeth Morse] being reprieved was carried to her own home and her husband (who was esteemed a sincere and understanding Christian by those that knew him) desired some neighbour ministers, of whom I was one, to discourse his wife, which we did, and her discourse was very Christian, and still pleaded her innocence as to that, which was laid to her charge. We did not esteem it prudence for us to pass any definitive sentence upon one under her circumstances, yet we inclined to the more charitable side. In her last sickness she was in much trouble and darkness of spirit, which occasioned a judicious friend to examine her strictly, whether she had been guilty of witchcraft, but she said no, but the ground of her trouble was some impatient and passionate speeches and actions of her while in prison upon the account of her suffering ‘wrongfully, whereby she had provoked the Lord by putting contempt upon his word. And in fine she sought her pardon and comfort from God in Christ and dyed so far as I understand, praying to. and resting upon, God in Christ for salvation.’

It was owing, we believe, to the firmness of governor Bradstreet, that the life of Elizabeth Morse was saved, and the town of Newbury thus prevented from offering the first victim, in Essex county, to that lamentable spirit of delusion, which twelve years after left so dark a stain on its annals.
Sources:

http://nortvoods.net/morse.html

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=8640621&st=1

http://newbury.essexcountyma.net/morse.htm

http://www.morsesociety.org/

A sketch of the history of Newbury, Newburyport, and West Newbury, from 1635 to 1845 (1845) By Coffin, Joshua, 1792-1864; Bartlett, Joseph, 1686-1754

Anthony Morse 1 Source:

Anthony Morse 2

Anthony Morse 3

Anthony Morse 4

John Cheney - Coat of Arms

John Cheney was born 1568, Bennington, Lincolnshire, England. His parents were William CHENEY and William’s cousin Frances CHENEY. He married Elizabeth [__?__]. John died 16 May 1623, Bennington, Lincolnshire, England.

Elizabeth [__?__] was born 1568, Bennington, Lincolnshire, England. Elizabeth was buried 12 Jun 1614 in England.

Children of John and Martha:

John Cheney was born in Benington, (near Boston) Lincolnshire, England in 1568 to William CHENEY and Frances AGNES. He married Elizabeth [__?__] about 1595 in Waltham, Essex, England.  He married another Elizabeth [__?__]  on 28 Nov 1614. Their marriage was either a second or a late marriage. Two sons named John (b. 30 Jun 1605 and 9 Nov 1609) were included among John and Elizabeth’s ten children. Their son John, who was born 1605, was the family member who immigrated to New England in 1635.  John Sr. died in 1618, Lambourn, Berkshire, England or  16 May 1623, Bennington, Lincolnshire, England.

John Cheney, of Bennington in Lincolnshire, made his will, May 24, 1621, bequeathing to the poor of the parish, to wife Alice, to children and others. He names two sons John, one distinguished from the other by the terms ”John the elder” and ”John the younger.” John Cheney was buried March 21, 1633.

Edward was buried December 8, 1613; the wife Elizabeth was buried June 12, 1614. A Thomas Cheney was an alderman of Boston, England, in 1585, and the family has been prominent there for several centuries..

Since this is the one of the few lines I’ve found with knights.  I’ll go back further:
14th Generation – William CHENEY b.aby 1540, Thorngumbold, Holderness, Yorkshire, England d. 4 Aug 1608, Boston, Lincolnshire, England

15th William CHENEY b. ABT 1513, Thorngumbold, Holderness, Yorkshire, England

16th John CHENEY b. ABT 1485, England

17th Sir Thomas CHENEY of Irthlingborough (Sir) b. ABT 1448, Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire, England d. 13 Jan 1512/13, Austria-Hungary

18th (Sir Knight) John CHENEY b. ABT 1423, Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire, England d. 14 Jul 1489

19th Sir Lawrence CHENEY b: 1396, Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire, England d: 30 Dec 1461 Buried: Priory, Barnwell, England Escheator of Bedford & Buckingham. Sheriff of Cambridge and Huntingdon. Descendant of Charlemagne

20th (Sir Knight) William CHENEY b: ABT 1370, Fen Ditton, Cambridge, England d: ABT 1394 Sheriff of Cambridge and Huntingdon.

21st John CHENEY b: ABT 1345, Long Stanton, Cambridge, England

22nd Henry CHENEY b: ABT 1320

23rd Sir William De CHENEY b: 1274, Street, Sussex, England d: BEF 1334

24th Alexander De CHENEY b: ABT 1248, Newtimber, Sussex, England d: 1295

25th Alexander De CHENEY b: ABT 1218, Newtimber, Sussex, England

Children

2. William Cheney

Alternatively, William was John’s nephew and his parents were John’s brother Lawrence Cheney (b. 1566 in Lambourn, Berkshire, England – d. 2 Nov 1643 in Lambourne, Berks, England) and Julian Waldron (b. 1568 in Of Lambourn, Berkshire, England)

William’s wife Margaret Cole was born about 1604 in England. Her parents were William Cole and Elizabeth Deards. After William died, she married (2) Mr Burge (or Burges or Burdge) and moved to Boston. She made a will on 23 Sep 1686, and died sometime later that year in Boston, Suffolk Co., Mass.

It is still a mystery on how or when William arrived in Massachusetts. He was definitely living in Roxbury in 1640 because he was listed in the “estates and persons of the Inhabitants of Rocksbury”. At that time, William owned 24 1/2 acres.

William was a successful farmer. At the time of his death, he owned over 100 acres of land, his home and a house in Boston. The Cheney homestead was located on Dudley Street near Warren Street in Roxbury. Judging from the estate inventory, the main house was large. Probably, there was an entry area which opened on one side to the hall, and on the other side to the parlor. Behind both the hall and the parlor were bed chambers. The hall was the main living area of the Cheneys. The fireplace was located in the hall, and here was where the meals were prepared and eaten. The parlor was more of a state bedroom. Here the best bed with feather bolsters, pillows and fine linen was displayed. The room also boasted a great cupboard, a little cupboard and three chairs. Chairs were not common in New England households, and showed William to be above average in wealth. Also included in the estate inventory were 36 bushels of Indian corn, 12 bushels of Rye, 5 1/2 bushels of mault, 5 cows and 3 swine. This list gives a good indication of the Cheney diet. Indian corn was the staple of the Puritan diet. They learned how to plant, harvest and grind the corn from the Indians. The corn was then used in puddings, cakes, hominy, succotash, etc, etc. “Rye-n-Injun” bread, made from ground corn mixed with rye, was a moist bread which did not dry out quickly. The drink of the Cheneys was beer. It was drunk at all meals by the entire family. Mr Cheney obviously brewed his own beer since he had 5 1/2 bushels of mault.

21 Feb 1648 – William was elected to the board of assessors. He was also a constable of Roxbury in 1654-1656. Constables in those days did more than keep the peace, they also collected the tax money.

19 Jan 1656 – William was elected a member of the board of selectman, an office associated with men of education and rank. In 1663, William Cheney guaranteed yearly contributions to the Roxbury Free School. The school, a first for Roxbury, was built with care and furnished with “convenient benches with forms, with tables for the scholars, and a conveniente seate for the schoolmaster, a deske to put the dictionary on and shelves to lay up bookes”.

15 Feb 1663 – Cheney was chosen one of the Feofese of the school. The closest modern word for a feofee would be a director, and in Roxbury there were seven feofese. They made decisions on hiring of teachers, administrative matters and finances.

William Cheney did not join the Puritan Church until January 5, 1664 – at least 24 years after he arrived in Roxbury. This is an interesting fact because in those days Massachusetts was a Puritan Colony. The Church leaders were also the Colony leaders, and they dictated all aspects of life from what holidays could be celebrated (not Christmas) to what books could be printed and sold (mostly sermons). In 1631, it was enacted that “no one should be admitted a freeman, and so have the right to vote, unless he was a member of one of the churches within the limits of the colony”. How did William prosper in such a climate? Why did he wait so many years to join the Church. Possibly his wife joining the Church circa 1643, helped William maneuver around the Puritans. Whatever the case may have been, William was not made a “freeman of the Colony” until May 23, 1666. Unfortunately, he never got to use his new found right to vote because he fell ill in 1666, and died June 30th 1667. Sources: “The Cheney Genealogy” by Charles Henry Pope, 1897. “Customs and Fashions in Old New England” by Alice Morse Earle, 1893. “A Short History of the English Colonies in America” by Henry Cabot Lodge, 1881.

Margaret had a breakdown after William died. In the Church records of the time, Reverand S. Danforth noted that “Margaret Cheany widow having been long bound by Satan under a melancholick distemper, (above 10 or 11 yeares) which made her wholly neglect her Calling & live mopishly, this day (24 Mar 1673) gave thanks to God for loosing her chain & confessing & bewailing her sinful yielding to temptation” () Des pite William’s careful provision for Margaret in his will, her widowhood was not with out financial problems. She petioned the court regarding her son Thomas’ treatment of her, to which it responded: “In answer to the petition of Margaret Cheeny, widdow: The Court Orders that Thomas Cheeny her Son pay unto his sd Mother Five pounds in mony every quarter of the yeare, yearely for the improvement of the Estate left by his Father & give her good assurance of her living peaceably with him, otherwise that hee leave the house; the Estate being judged to bee wor th twenty five pound in mony per annum (Suffolk County Court, 749, dated 31 October 1676).

Sources:

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=119725764&st=1

The Cheney Genealogy by Charles Henry Pope, 1897 pg 29

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~higginsandwhitnah/johnchen%20desc.htm