David Dow

David DOW – bcdg – (1714 – 1794) was Alex’s 6th Great Grandfather; one of 128  in this generation of the Miller line.

The Book of Dow, Genealogical Memoirs of the Descendants of Henry Dow 1637, Thomas Dow 1639 and Others of the Name, Immigrants to America During Colonial Times.is the Bible of Dow researchers and Charles Percy Dow’s alpha system for recording Dows is important to know

David Dow was born 25 Dec 1714 in Haverhill, Essex Mass.  His parents were Stephen DOW and Mary HUTCHINS. He married his first wife Abigail Kelly 28 Jan 1736/37 in Salem, Rockingham, New Hampshire.   Alterntively, he married Abigail a few miles away in Methuen, Mass.  or maybe they were two names for the same place.

As early as 1736, Salem was the “North Parish” of Methuen, Massachusetts, or “Methuen District.” In 1741, when the boundary line between Massachusetts and New Hampshire was re-established, the “North Parish” became part of New Hampshire, and was given the name “Salem,” taken from nearby Salem, Massachusetts..

After Abigail died, he married his second wife  Mary BROWN 10 Apr 1744 in Salem NH.   David and Mary immigrated to the Saint John River in Canada.  David died 1794 in Oromoeto, New Brunswick, Canada,  killed by a falling tree that he was cutting.  Note that he was 80 years old at the time.  It is said that David was the second interment in the great Dow Cemetery.  Ten years later, David’s grandson and namesake David Dow was also killed by a falling tree, while he was clearing the Sullivan Creek hill road near Dow Settlement, Canterbury, NB. 

“Lumbering in New Brunswick – Lumbermen at work in the forest”. Engraving by Johannes Oertel, published in the Illustrated London News, 23 August 1858. Credit: Rob Fisher.

Abigail Kelly was born 16 Mar 1711/12 in Amesbury, Mass and died 29  Dec 1743 in Salem, NH.

Mary Brown may have been born 19 Jan 1725/26 in Bradford, Essex, Mass.  Many genealogical records show her parents to be Caleb BROWN and Elizabeth JEWETT However, Caleb’s and Elizabeth’s Mary was born 12 Dec 1725 in Boxford, Essex County, MA; died in Maugerville, Sunbury County, New Brunswick; married Capt. Francis Peabody 18 Nov 1742  in Boxford, Essex County, MA. They had six children (1743 thru 1760) and Francis died in 1771. Their Mary died 24 Oct 1771.  Our Mary died in 20 Oct 1770.

Francis Peabody lived in Boxford, MA until 1764, when he moved to the St. John River in a part of Nova Scotia set off in 1784 as New Brunswick. He and two son-in-law, James White and James Simonds, were among the pioneer English settlers of Maugerville, NB. Francis was commander of a company in the French and Indian War. He participated in the attack on Ticonderoga in July 1759. The next year, his company was in the expedition against Canada by way of Albany and Lake Champlain. After the French surrendered at Chambly, the company returned to Ticonderoga, then marched across country to Boxford, arriving about Dec. 1.

The link between Robert Piercy Dow’s The Book of Dow and the Caleb Brown who married Elizabeth Jewett was resisted for a long time due to much of the information appearing to be false. For example, some of the people are described as being born in Ipswich, England and dying in Ipswich, Massachusetts (as well as other New World cities with Old World counterparts such as Bradford).  Nonetheless, much of the information comes from several different reliable Jewett family histories.  

I don’t know if this is a meaningful clue, but the Book of Dow says Caleb was from Bradford and the 12 Dec 1725 Mary Brown was born in Boxford.  The two towns are about 10 miles apart.  It’s odd there were two Mary Browns born a month apart, died a year apart who both immigrated from the Rowley area to New Brunswick.

Children of David and Abigail Kelly

Name Born Married Departed
1. bcdga Abigail Dow 12 Sep 1737 Salem, NH 29 Dec 1743
2. bcdgb Hannah Dow 4 Sep 1740 Salem, Mass
3. bcdgc Mary Dow 17 Dec 1743 Salem, NH Must have died in infancy as a younger sister is also Mary. Apparently her birth cost her mother’s life

.
Children of David Dow and Mary Brown:

Name Born Married Departed
4. bcdgd Enoch DOW 7 Dec 1744, Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts Ruth MORTON c. 1770 23 Sep 1813 Canterbury, York County, New Brunswick
5. bcdge Nith Dow 10 Mar 1747/48 Salem NH
6. bcdgf Mary Dow 13 Oct 1749 Salem NH 20 Sep 1770
7. bcdgg Elizabeth Dow 20 Apr 1753 Salem NH

David was a lumberman and was in business with his sons Enoch, Nith and orphaned nephew William. He moved to Oromocto New Brunswick between 1753 when he was last recorded in Salem, NH and the 1770 birth of a grandson.  Given their early immigration, the Dow’s aren’t Torries who escaped after the Revolution.  See my post New England Planters in New Brunswick for their historical story.

“Dow’s Hill” at the mouth of the St. John’s River in New Brunswick is said to be named after David’s second daughter Hannah, though the Hanna Dow Hill I found is on Deer Isle next to the coast of Maine.

David died an elderly man at Majorfield [Maugerville] when a tree fell on him. R. P. Dow claims he is the second person  buried at the Great Dow Cemetery, even though he must have died more than a decade before the first, John Norton, and in another county.

The village  of Oromocto was initially an Acadian village. During the Expulsion of the Acadians, the village was burned in the St. John River Campaign (1758). During the American Revolution, Fort Hughes was built in the community after the rebellion at Maugerville, New Brunswick. (A replica of Fort Hughes was built at Sir Douglas Hazen Park.).

York County New Brunswick

York County Townships David Dow lived in the Canterbury area.

The vast majority of Dows in New Brunswick, and by far the largest Dow line there were the descendants of David DOWthe bcdg line, the youngest son of Stephen DOW, bcd.  This large group of Dow’s left New England before the American Revolution, were Pre-Loyalists, and they for the most part settled along the St. John River, primarily in Maugerville.  When the Maugerville settlement encountered bad economic times, many of this line returned to the United States.  Most of those who remained, however, moved further up the St. John River and settled, at least initially, primarily in the area of Canterbury, York County, NB.  This area of Canterbury was, and still is, generally known by the name Dow Settlement.   Eventually some moved even further up the River to the area around and north of Woodstock, Carleton County,, New Brunswick.

Canterbury, New Brunwick Today

The Book of Dow pg 688 – 

David Dow bcdg.  A posterity of any of the three younger sons of Stephen Dow has been difficult to trace.  In all the genealogical efforts previous to that of the present Author, the lines have been dismissed after the bare collection of such vital statistics as survive in Salem, Methuen and Plaistow.  No direct descendant was found in forty years of search.  Every item of the lines bddg, bcdh and bcdi was dug out by the present Author.

The vital statistics of Haverhill were well kept from the beginning, but from about 1740 that part of Haverhill which became other towns, containing almost all the homes of Dows of the b line, was very poorly managed.  The records of Methuen are less than 50% complete.  Not 25% of Plaistow were copied from one book to another and such wholesale errors in dates, names and other particulars were made that one doubts even the good faith of the copyist.

Nothing of bcdg would ever been found, had not the Author obtained the mass of old letters which Edgar R. Dow had been unable to identify.  Among them were two from a very old man of Canterbury, NB, written in 1885.  The ink was home made and faded almost to illegibility.  The writer showed that at one time his knowledge of his family was great, but forgetfulness and confusion had attacked his mind.  He dwelt upon the names David and Enoch, but occasionally transposed  them.  However, they were father and son.  He mentioned Majorfield as their home before coming to Canterbury.  Both names were favorites in the family in every later generation.  There were discrepancies in the narrative, many pages long, which at first seemed insurmountable when the Author took as a working hypothesis that David was the missing bcdg.

So, the Author began a series of letters, one to every person named Dow who could be found in New Brunswick.  Finally, in 19245 one of these reached William Segee Dow of Old Town, Maine, who had from boyhood taken deep interest in the progeny of David, but who had not even hoped to find out who David was. The correspondence following has been constant.  The Author gave his hypothesis with every scrap of information bearing upon it.

Thereupon W S Dow revisted Canterbury, redoubled his efforts, revised every paper obtainable, searched the memory of every elderly kin, and recopied every gravestone. David’s grandsons had themselves been interested in finding out who they were genealogically. Another letter was found written by one of them, in which the statement was clear that Enoch was a son of David and had a brother Nith and a brother William. This is proof of identity, when one refers back to the Plaistow records. Nith is a unique name.

William is found to be not a brother, but the orphaned nephew of David and cousin of Enoch. Finally, the birth date of Enoch of Plaistow coincides with that given in his death record. From this start, little by little, we have been able to reconstruct David and his entire posterity, a most important happening for this Book, becuase his posterity is by far the largest of any Dow and is probably not exceeded by any man in this country.

It is not often that a man has fourteen children and one of his sons has seventeen, almost all surviving to procreate another generation.

Let us hasten to the reconstruction. David Dow m. Jan 28 1736-7 Abigail Kelley, both of Salem. Next entry is: Mary, wife of David Dow d. Salem Jan 1, 1743. Abigail Dow d Salem Dec 29, 1743. David Dow, yeoman of Methuen, m. Salem Apr 10 1744 Mary Brown b Jan 9, 1725-6, daughter of Caleb of Bradford and Elizabeth. There were children by both wives.

By referring to the birth records of the children, it is easy to see that Mary, wife of David is a clerical error in re-copying for Abigail Kelley Dow, and that David promptly remarried. Localities prove that the family lived in Salem up to 1753. It then disappears until 1770, date of birth of a grandson to David. Family tradition gives the place as Majorfield, but we do not believe Majorfield was founded until 1783. No evidence that David served in the French wars, in which three of his brothers gained distinction.

In 1776 some David Dow of Cumberland, Nova Scotia receipted in Boston for pay 1 mo, 5 days, Capt Jabez West, Col. Jonathan Eddy. This company was raised mostly in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, and age almost precludes that the enlister was our David. In the same company was a John Dow unknown to us, hailing from St John. Probably a member of the g Dow family. It is interesting to note that the Canadian coast furnished about an equal proportion of Federal sympathisers as the 13 colonies furnished tories.

Unmistakable family traditions says that David came to New Brunswick from Newburyport. In 1785 he was living in New Brunswick, an avowed tory, as were all his neighbors. it was in Newburyport, then, the sea port for all the Haverhill region, that David learned of lands beyond seas, lands which could be had, not for the asking, merely for the pre-empting. Two of his sons were Canadian-born according to tradition.  It is not impossible that David was more or less at home there as early as 1772.  Nevertheless, he might have been of Berwick, Maine in 1776 (cf bcdgg).

The great influx of former tories to NB came in 1783, a single expedition.  In 1785 surely David was of Majorfield, a pioneer in a region of rich timber alongside the St John River and much below Canterbury.  Many of his companions later came to found Canterbury, all well known Mass Bay names, all tories.   We believe that David who knew the NB coast from 1772, led the party to Majorfield.  He was elderly when he died there, a tree which he was chopping falling upon him.   Curiously, his grandson David, years later, was killed under exactly the same circumstances.

One account has it that Majorfield was abandoned between 1785 and 1788, but this seems in error,  In 1796 land in that county was granted to William Dow, whom we identify as the orphan bcdbd.  In 1815 land near where Canterbury now is was granted to William Dow.  This entry we do not understand for bcdhd never went to Canterbury, but returned to the US in 1803.  Most likely the 1815 date is wrong and that bcbhd got that land prior to 1803 and quit-claimed it to his cousin.

The Majorfield colony had a hard time.  All the clearing and the homes were close to the River.  The industry was in floating timber to tidewater and selling it.  Three times the Spring freshets assumed great proportions and swept away all the homes in Majorfield.  Thereupon the colonists became utterly discouraged.  Nith Dow, William Dow and others returned across the border.

Enoch Dow bcdgd decided to remain and formulated a plan to move upstream to a safer shore and used for his purpose the Canterbury land grant.  A dozen or so families went with him.  They built a largew flat boat and poled it up the river.  The forest was trackless and so remained many years.  The migration was in 1803 – this date is positive..  About 100 miles north they stopped and chose the right bank for the new settlement.

Some years later Dow’s Settlement was founded across the stream and about 4 miles higher up.  Still another 4 miles up, the lane was settleed, another Dow home. William Segee Dow, whose knowledge of early New Brunswick history is profound, disagrees with the Author on the whereabouts of David Dow’s family on various dates.  There was a settlement, he explains, by Newburyport people at Port Arthur (now St John) as early as 1761-2 and David was among them.  He asserts that Enoch was married in Majorfield and his first born ws there in 1770.  He thinks the family were American sympathizers. although after the war it was more polite to display tory convictions.  The first tories from the Statesx came in 1783 and the influx lasted several years.

Another line of New Brunswick Dows was founded when John Dow [bbbfab] moved from Haverhill  and started and operated a ship building enterprise in Oromoncto, Sunbury County, New Brunswick.

John’s brother Joseph was closely associated in partnership with his brothers in the ship building operations in Oromoncto in Sunbury County (at the junction of the Oromoncto and St. John Rivers) and when that operation failed, he failed too.  It was Joseph’s two son’s, William Dow, bbbfaab, and John Dow, bbbfaac, (as well as their three sisters), who did not return to New England like many in the associated family did.

They remained in the general area of Oromonto (i.e., in or around Kingsclear, York County, NB) and then both moved their families upriver to Carleton County, NB, where they both remained until their deaths.

This was  a completely different from Dow Settlement (later called East Brighton and today non-existent) in Brighton Parish of Carleton County, New Brunswick, just a few miles east of Lower Brighton which is on the St. John River just north of Woodstock.

He was born in Haverhill, Mass, Jan 12, 1783.  If, as it is believed, he was the son of Joseph, it is altogether probable that other children preceded him in the 15 years since the marriage of Joseph and Judith Emery.  In 1803 he went to New Brunswick.  Family tradition steps in once more with a reason for this change – because he was a Tory.  This may have been, although the large number of Tories left New England at about the time of the evacuation of Boston by the British in the War of the Revolution.  Without doubt feeling against the mother country still ran high in 1803, and in going to a British province he might have let it be known that he had tory sympathies in order to secure peace in his new surroundings and to keep on good terms with his neighbors.  It is not believed that he became a British subject as he afterwards held town office in New Limerick, Me.

The lack of record of his brothers and sisters in Haverhill leads to the belief that they accompanied him to the Province.  At the junction of the Oromocto River with the St John he settled and became a builder of ships.  His business prospered and he became a man of substance and of local prominence at least.  Several full rigged ships came from his yard, among which are remembered the names of three: the “Rival,” the “Sir Howard Douglass,” named for the Governor of the Province, and the “Phoebe,” named for his wife.  Some of the vessels he built he operated himself between the Province and British ports.  The Phoebe was one of these and was lost on a voyage to Liverpool, with no insurance.

Children

6. bcdge –  Nith is proven to have return from New Brunswick in 1803 but further untraced.

7. bcdgf.  Some Mary died 20 Sep 1770.  Some Mary died unmarried in Salem 1 Jan 1844.  Alternatively presumption is that Mary accompanied her parents to New Brunswick. ] Source:

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/r/a/Dorothy-Kratzer-CO/GENE1-0007.html

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_d.htm

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/p/o/r/Debra-F-Porter-ON/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0020.html

http://www.dowlink.net/the_dows_of_new_brunswick.htm

The Book of Dow, Genealogical Memoirs of the Descendants of Henry Dow 1637, Thomas Dow 1639 and Others of the Name, Immigrants to America During Colonial Times. by Robert Percy Dow 1929

Dedicated to all Dows Everywhere

Posted in -8th Generation, Immigrant - North America, Line - Miller, Missing Parents, Pioneer, Veteran | Tagged | 7 Comments

Enoch Dow

Enoch DOW (bcdgd)  (1744 –  1813) was Alex’s 5th Great Grandfather; one of 64 in this generation of the Miller line.  He left hundreds of descendants.  Over two-thirds of the population of the western border area of Canterbury New Brunswick is closely akin with the posterity of Enoch Dow.

The Book of Dow, Genealogical Memoirs of the Descendants of Henry Dow 1637, Thomas Dow 1639 and Others of the Name, Immigrants to America During Colonial Times.is the Bible of Dow researchers and Charles Percy Dow’s alpha system for recording Dows is important to know

Enoch Dow  was born 7 Dec 1744, Methuen, Essex County, Massachusetts.  His parents were David DOW and Mary BROWN. He moved from New Hampshire to Orocmocto New Brunswick in 1753 with his parents and brothers.  The Dows aren’t Torries who escaped after the Revolution, the were New England Planters.  See my post New England Planters in New Brunswick for their story.

 He married Ruth MORTON about 1770 probably in Majorfield, Sunbury County, New Brunswick, Canada.   Enoch died 23 Dec 1813, in Dow Settlement, (Dumfries Parish) York County, New Brunswick Canada and is buried in Lower Meductic Cemetery,  in Canterbury (between Highway 2 and the St. John River).

Enoch Dow – Monument

Lower Meductic Cemetery

Ruth Morton was born 3 Jun 1752 in Freetown, Bristol Mass.  Her parents were Seth MORTON and Elizabeth ALLEN.  Ruth died in 1825 in Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick, Canada

Ruth Morton Dow – Inscription

Children of Enoch and Ruth:  [Note: discoveries after the publication of the Book of Dow rearranged the birth order of some children, the letter key is unchanged from the original.]

Name Born Married Departed
bcdgdb 1. John Dow 1770
Majorfield (Maugerville) Sunbury, New Brunswick
Hannah Brooks
1801
Kings, New Brunswick,
25 Sep 1832 Woodstock, York County, Canada
bcdgda 2. Jesse Dow 1772
Stepchild?
Mary Tidley (Teed)
4 Mar 1802 Canterbury, York, New Brunswick
22 Mar 1867 Canterbury, York Co, New Brunswick
bcdgdc 3. David Dow 1773
Majorfield, NB
Unmarried 1794 or more likely c. 1803
Canterbury, NB
Killed by a falling tree like his grandfather
bcdgdd 4. Amos Dow 1775
Majorfield, NB
Ann Teed
4 March 1802 Woodstock, NB
1837
bcdgde 5. Enoch Dow 1777 in Majorfield, New Brunswick, Canada Basha Cronkite
1799 – Queens, New Brunswick
1845 in Onocoto, York Co, New Brunswick, Canada
bcdgdf 6. Mary “Molly” Dow 1778
Majorfield, NB
Amos Brooks 1843
bcdgdg 7. Rhoda Dow 14 Nov 1786 Canterbury, York, New Brunswick John Porter
28 Jul 1808 Woodstock, Carlton, New Brunswick
15 Feb 1877 Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick
bcdgdi 8. Ruth DOW 1 Dec 1787 Woodstock Parish, York, New Brunswick Abraham ESTEY
17 Nov 1812 Frederickton, New Brunswick
2 Jan 1864
bcdgdj 9. Hannah Elizabeth Dow 1791
New Brunswick
David Phillips
2 Feb 1812 Southhampton, York, New Brunswick. Canada
30 May 1816 Southhampton, York, New Brunswick Canada
bcdgdh 10. Esther Dow 11 Nov 1797 Canterbury, New Brunswick, Canada Stephen Brooks Watson
12 Jul 1818 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick
21 Apr 1886 in Stillwater, Penobscot Co, Maine Burial: 23 Apr 1886 Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine

Enoch worked with his father, brother Nith and cousin William as lumbermen.

Plan of Maugerville, Including Sheffield

The above plan of the river shows the locations of the early settlers of Maugerville; in order ascending the river.

The lower ten lots of the township and Mauger’s Island were granted to Joshua Mauger. Just above were the lots of Gervas Say, Nehemiah Hayward, John Russell, Samuel Upton, Zebulon ESTEY, John Estey, Richard ESTEY I and Edward Coy.

At the head of Mauger’s Island were the lots of Matthew Wason, Samuel Whitney and Samuel Tapley.

Between Mauger’s Island and Middle Island the lots were those of Jeremiah Burpee, Jonathan Burpee, Jacob Barker, Daniel Jewett, Ezekiel Saunders, Humphrey Pickard, Moses Pickard, Jacob Barker, jr., Isaac Stickney and Jonathan Smith.

Opposite Middle Island, in order ascending, were Thomas Barker [Richard ESTEY’s son-in-law], John Wason, Daniel Palmer, Richard Kimball, Joseph Garrison, Samuel Nevers, Peter Mooers, Richard ESTEY Jr., Jabez Nevers, Enoch DOW and Hugh Quinton.

Between Middle and Oromocto islands were Thomas Christie, Elisha Nevers, Jedediah Stickney, Stephen Peabody, Capt. Francis Peabody and William McKeen.

Opposite Oromocto Island were Israel Perley (at the foot of the island), Lt.-Col. Beamsley P. Glasier, John Whipple, Nathaniel Rideout, Capt. Francis Peabody, Alexander Tapley, Phineas Nevers, Joseph Dunphy, William Harris, Ammi Howlet, Samuel Peabody and Oliver Peabody.

Above Oromocto Island we find the lots of Asa Perley, Oliver Perley, George Munro, James Simonds, Joseph Buber, Joseph Shaw, Benjamin Brawn, Daniel Burbank, Thomas Hartt and the Widow Clark. Thence to the upper boundary of the township, a distance of two miles, there were at first no settlers, but in the course of time Richard Barlow, Nehemiah Beckwith, Benjamin Atherton, Jeremiah Howland and others took up lots.

In 1803, he loaded a large flat bottomed boat with all their belongings and poled up St. John river from Maugerville to Canterbury,, leading 20 families upriver and founding Dow Settlement on his land grant, 2 miles of river front and 4 miles deep.  After land was cleared, he helped to build a church and Dow Cemetery.

Here is Google map’s directions of the 100 kilometers from Maugerville  (then Majorfield) to Dow Settlement,.  At that time, there were no roads, only a trackless wilderness forest and the river.

In Robert Piercy Dow’s Book of Dow, Enoch is given the coding “bcdgd” (p. 690).

The Majorfield colony had a hard time.  All the clearing and the homes were close to the River.  The industry was in floating timber to tidewater and selling it.  Three times the Spring freshets assumed great proportions and swept away all the homes in Majorfield.  Thereupon the colonists became utterly discouraged.  Nith Dow, William Dow and others returned across the border.  Enoch Dows bcdgd decided to remain and formulated a plan to move upstream to a safer shore and used for his purpose the Canterbury land grant.  A dozen or so families went with him.  They built a largew flat boat and poled it up the river.  The forest was trackless and so remained many years.  The migration was in 1803 – this date is positive..  About 100 miles north they stopped and chose the right bank for the new settlement.  Some years later Dow’s Settlement was founded across the stream and about 4 miles higher up.  Still anothyer 4 miles up, the lane was settleed, another Dow home.

Some remembered Enoch Dow as an outspoken Tory during the Revolutionary War, although he was part of the group to settle in New Brunswick with the Massachusetts firm of Simonds, Hazen and White (headquartered in Newburyport, where the Dow clan originated) which settled in the area as early as 1762 (before his father settled there). His name is listed among those granted land. There is even proof of an Enoch Dow that served in the rebel army of the time. He was a Baptist. In 1803, he moved from the original Majorfield settlement to form Canterbury, after several floods destroyed the houses of Majorfield.

Village of Canterbury, New Brunswick

Enoch Dow bcdgd had a wife Ruth, m before 1770. There was no clue to her identity, but Sally Hull, Enoch’s great grand daughter, who had lived with her grandfather, maintained  that she had known who Ruth was but had forgotten. As Mrs. Hull was over 90, this was not strange. W S Dow, trying to jog her memory, ran over various names until he came to Norton.   A John Norton was a pioneer of 1803 and was the first to be buried in what is now the great Dow Cemetery. The second interment in the great Dow Cemetery was David Dow [our David DOW’s grandson], killed by a falling tree, while he was clearing the Sullivan Creek hill road.   Mrs. Hull brightened. Surely the missing Ruth was Ruth Norton, John’s sister, both pioneers from the states. [editor’s note –  Mrs Hull’s memory notwithstanding, it is more likely that her maiden name was Morton.]

Almost the first act of the settlers was to build a church and lay out the Dow cemetery, which is about a quarter mile below. With few exceptions everyone now buried in this large cemetery was a Dow by birth or marriage and in 1926 it was planned to double its size. Enoch Dow was a Baptist and every descendant was of that denomination with only three exceptions who turned Mormon and went to Utah. Enoch and sons did most of the building of the new church and Enoch Jr was its Lay Minister for years.

Enoch was a lumberman both at Majorfield and Canterbury NB. That was the only wealth giving occupation of the region. He died 23 Sep 1813.  He was outspoken as a tory, although two of his uncles and eight cousins had careers as fighters on the Federal side.  Some Enoch Dow enlisted 1776 for the Canadian campaign.  Some Enoch Dow was a private at Winter Hill 1777.  If these are not our Enoch, we do not know who they were.  It is quite possible that both were our Enoch who later recanted.  If so, he never in after years admitted service.

There is a homogeneity of the enormous posterity of Enoch Dow worth noting, the family being the largest by far of any Dow thus far. It is rare that a man should have 14 children, almost all maturing and that one of those children should have 17, almost all producing posterity. There is not a single instant in this posterity of death from tuberculosis or cancer. Average longevity is remarkably great, but a majority suffer from rheumatism in old age.

A search of the galley proofs of this Book by members of the Canterbury family and others has provoked a lively search into the political opinions of the pioneers as well as the origin of the various families of early New Brunswick.  It is a majority verdict that Enoch Dow was not so much a tory, after all.  Moreover, the Author clings to his original opinion that Enoch saw service in the Federal Army.

There is no way of knowing what families accompanied Enoch from Majorfield to Canterbury.  It is certain that the Nortons came with him.  The Majorfield party had to scatter rather widely, as Enoch’s land grant was a large one.  It had about two miles on the river front and extended about 3 1/4 miles inland.  This tract was divided by Enoch among his sons and they, in turn, divided among all their sons.

The Nortons who were never tories were their nearest neighbors.  The Teeds sprang from a Federal soldier.  They and the Dickinsons settled in Lower Woodstock.    The Brooks family pioneered Southampton; the Philips Northampton; the Ways and the Hillmans in Temple, four miles below.  The Tompkins, in spite of the name, were a German family and came later, as did the Lutwicks.  The original Hartley farm was in Southampton.  The Marstons of Canterbury descended from a British soldier of 1812.  The Yerxmas sttled at Kesewick, 20 miles from Fredericton.  The Cronkites were of lower Southampton; the Porters of Lower Woodstock.

William Segee Dow, whose knowledge of early New Brunswick history is profound, disagrees with the Author on the whereabouts of David Dow’s family on various dates.  There was a settlement, he explains, by Newburyport people at Port Arthur (now St John) as early as 1761-2 and David was among them.  He asserts that Enoch was married in Majorfield and his first born ws there in 1770.  He thinks the family were American sympathizers. although after the war it was more polite to display tory convictions.  The first tories from the Statesx came in 1783 and the influx lasted several years.

Early New Brunswick Probate Records 1785-1835 by R. Wallace Hale,

“Enoch, Dow Parish of Woodstock, York Co. Will dated 20 Sep 1813, proved 1 Feb 1814. Names wife Ruth, sons John Jesse, Amos, Enoch, daughters Molly Dow, Rhody (sic) Dow,Hannah Dow, Ruth Dow, and Easter Dow. Son John Dow and wife Ruth Dow executors. Wittnesses :James Upham, Amos Estey, Matthew Phillips.”

Children

1. John Dow – bcdgdb –

John’s wife Hannah Brooks was born in May 1772 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick Canada. Hannah died 19 Nov 1858 Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick. The Brooks family pioneered Southampton, York, New Brunswick.

Many years ago a grandson and a distant cousin furnished information of his personality, but from their distance was compelled to use much hearsay.  W S Dow recently [1927] collected dates and exact facts.  Primogeniture operated to make him the leading citizen of Canterbury, New Brunswick, but his own ability had more to do with it.  He was a magistrate for many years and for twenty years represented his home town in the Provincial Legislature.  Hannah Brooks, his wife, may have been one of the original Majorfield party.  He had all the characteristics of the sternest New England Puritans.  Like the whole community, he was a dogmatic and polemic Baptist.

Children of John and Hannah:

i. Enoch Dow – bcdgdaa – b. 26 Apr 1802 in Canterbury, York Co, New Brunswick; d. 1883 always appears as Esq. ; m.  23 Nov 1824 in Northampton, York Co, New Brunswick to Mary (Molly) Jane Philips (b. Abt 1802 in New Brunswick – d. 18 Oct 1875 Canterbury),   Enoch and Molly had four children born between 1829 and 1838.

Enoch  was easily successor to his father in ability and influence, the local magistrate for many years.  He served as Captain in the Aroostock War of 1839 and his name is found in the Maine official roster, although he was always a Canadian of Canterbury.  Enoch was a stern magistrate and shared the intense religiousness of his father and grandfather, that type which seems to delight in regarding all pleasure as sin, and consequently his home was not a joyous place.

One of his sons, unable to endure home life, ran away in early manhood and remained unheard of for eighteen years.  Enoch regarded his loss as a direct visitation of Providence rebuking him for his unworthiness, but it is not recorded that his home life became less stern.

ii. Hulda Dow – bcdgdab – b. 1805 Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York New Brunswick; d. 1878; m. Amos Lewis, no children

iii. Mary Dow – bcdgdac – died in infancy

iv. Mary Dow – bcdgdad – b. 1808; m. [__?__] Scriver

v. Asa Dow – bcdgdae – b. 02 May 1810 in Canterbury, York County, New Brunswick; d. 17 Mar 1898 in Meductic, York County, New Brunswick

vi. Gertrude Dow – bcdgdaf – b. 1812 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; m. [__?__] Thomas

vii. Hannah Dow – bcdgdag – b. 1813 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York New Brunswick; m. William Coulter

viii. Calvin Dow – bcdgdah – Twin b. 1814 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick d. 1867; – Unmarried

ix. Luther Dow – bcdgdai – Twin b. 1814 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; d. 1870; – Unmarried

x. John Wesley Dow – bcdgdaj b. 1815 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York New Brunswick; d. 1894; – Unmarried

xi. Chloe Isabella Dow – bcdgdak – b. 1817 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; m. 26 Dec 1857 Woodstock (Bureau de Santé), Acadie (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) Age: 40 to David m Patterson (1815 – _)

Chloe is said to have inherited a family Bible full of valuable data.  This has not come to light.

xii. Lydia Dow – bcdgda – b. 1819 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. unmarried

2. Jesse Dow – bcdgda

Jesse’s wife Mary Tidley (Teed) was born 25 Mar 1782.   She was Ann Teed’s sister, the Dow brothers and Teed sisters possibly had a double wedding 2 Mar 1802. Her parents were Sylvanus Teed (Salaveras Tidley) and Mary Nye. Mary died 27 Mar 1869 in Canterbury New Brunswick . The Teeds sprang from a Federal soldier.

Jesse was a farmer and lumberman.  Buried in Dow Cemetery, his stone giving 1772 – 1867, his wife appears as Tid,

Jesse Dow (1772-1867) and Mary Teed (1782-1869) Headstone — Lower Meductic Cemetery , Meductic, New Brunswick, Canada

Beyond doubt he had more lineal descendants at his funeral than any other Dow in history, although Phoebe (Green) Dow, Quaker, died at 102 years of age with 250 surviving descendants. Moses Dow, Jesse’s son, in 1885 gave the list of children and details as given below:

i. Solomon Dow – bcdgdaa -b. 1802 in Canterbury Station, New Brunswick; d. 1865/1895; m. 25 Jul 1833 in Canterbury, York Co, New Brunswick to Martha Wright (b. 1806 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick- 1882)

12 children, 30 grandchildren, 2 great grandchildren when he died.  Solomon and his brother Jacob had river front farms, but undertaking some unusually large lumbering operations, became financially involved and lost their farms.  Solomon moved to “The Lane” and is buried in Dow Cemetery,

ii. Jacob Dow – bcdgdab – b. 6 Jan 1804 in Canterbury, New Brunswick; d. 1 Jul 1872 in Canterbury, New Brunswick; m. 26 Jul 1836 Woodstock, New Brunswick Age: 32 to Frances “Fannie” Yerxa (b. 1809 Douglas, New Brunswick –  d. 1884 Canterbury New Brunswick). Fannie’s parents were John Yerxa and Joanna Sarah  Merrithhew (or Catherine Gerow).

John was a loyalist from Sleepy Hollow New York, who arrived in New Brunswick in 1783.   John (Johanni(e)s) Yerxa (Jurckse, Jurcks(x)en, Jurckse, Yerkes, Djurckse, Dirckse(n), Yourx) Baptized 08-Oct-1751 in Dutch Reform Church known as “The Old Sleepy Hollow Church”, Westchester Co., New York – born – Cortland Manor; died 11-Jun-1828 on farm Lot #6, Douglas Parish, York Co, NB in her 77th year. One of the first settler in Province of New Brunswick, left 14 children, 86 grandchildren & 55 great-grandchildren.

Jacob and Fannie had 7 children and 20 grandchildren.    Jacob was a lumberman with his brother on a tract by the river, which they lost through over extended credit.  It may be remembered that at this time the British government suddenly withdrew its preferential tariff on lumber in favor of its colonies.  Scandinavian lumber then poured in, bankrupting many of the strongest firms of New Brunswick.  The bbbfa Dow family were thus reduced from millionairedom to ruin.  Jacob moved back to Dow’s Settlement, near his brother Samuel and cousin David.  In 1847 he built a log house there, still standing and occupied [in 1926].  The solid log house of the period was not built because it was cheaper, but because it resisted cold better than any other.

iii. Rhoda Dow – bcdgdc – b. 4 Oct 1805 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. 1869; Unmarried

iv. Ruth Dow – bcdgdad – b. 26 May 1807 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. 1901 in Dow Settlement, New Brunswick; m1. Elias Brown (properly Brawn); m2. 10 Mar 1840 – Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick, to Jacob S. Cummins (1805 – 1889) (Cummings is interchangeable spelling);

7 children, 17 grandchildren.  Ruth is buried in Dow Cemetery.  She had one son, Moses Brown Cummings (1836 – 1912), by her first husband.  Moses was a Civil War vet and died in Charlestown, Maine.

v. Betsey Dow – bcdgdae – b. 06 Feb 1809 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. before 1885; m. Thomas Edwards, a Scotchman; had a farm near Benton.  7 children, 32 grandchildren

vi. Samuel Dow – bcdgdaf – b. 25 Sep 1810 in Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; d. 30 Sep 1886 in Dow Settlement, York, New Brunswick; m. 8 Sep 1835 Canterbury Kings, New Brunswick to Mahala Yerxa (14 Mar 1815-1889);

17 children; 50 grandchildren.  His farm in Dow’s Settlement adjoins that of his brother and wife’s sister.  Their children had more cousins living within a few miles than most any other family in America.  Of 17 children, no fewer than 7 survived in 1927. I don’t normally include great grandchildren, but seventeen children is our family tree record for one mother, so in honor of the achievement, here is a list:

  1. Milne L Dow (1835 – 1918)
  2. Charles Perley Dow (1837 – 1907)
  3. Emma M Dow (1839 – 1902)
  4. Gideon Yerxa Dow (1840 – 1933)
  5. Amaziah N Dow (1841 – 1928)
  6. John Yerxa Dow (1841 – 1931)
  7. Archibald F Dow (1843 – 1891)
  8. Barbara Yerxa Dow (1844 – 1864)
  9. Ruth Dow (1846 – )
  10. Joanna Dow (1847 – 1900)
  11. Lydia J Dow (1849 – 1944)
  12. Thursa Theresa Dow (1852 – 1897)
  13. Samuel Howard Dow (1853 – 1923)
  14. Alice E Dow (1856 – 1922)
  15. Asa N Dow (1858 – 1931)
  16. Frances Loretta Dow (1860 – 1934)
  17. Dudley James Dow (1863 – 1935)

vii. Aaron Dow – bcdgdag – b. 14 Jun 1812 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. 17 Sep 1888 in Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick, burial Lower Meductic Cemetery, Meductic; m. Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick to Lydia Cummings (1823 Dumfries, New Brunswick – 31  Jul 1890 Dumfries, New Brunswick, burial Lower Meductic Cemetery, Meductic)

Lived their whole lives at Dow Settlement. Their son Boardman carried on the family homestead in 1926.   13 children, 36 grandchildren, 1 great grandchild Not the record number of his brother Samuel, so I won’t include, but I’ve seen the list.    😉

viii. Olive Dow – bcdgdah – b. 20 Jan 1814 in Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; m. 7 Jul 1836 Dumfries, York, New Brunswick to Moses Hillman (1817 – 1904).

Moses’ brother Tristram Winslow Hillman (1800-1885) married our ancestor Harriett PARKS. She was the widow of Isaac MILLER Jr. She was more than 30 years younger than Isaac and there were 39 years between Isaac’s oldest and youngest children. Harriet was a widow with 8 of her 10 children living, beside seven or eight of her 13 step children, when she married Tristram Winslow Hillman in 1846. See Isaac’s page for her struggles living as a widow in the New Brunswick wilderness. He was referred to in family history as “that queer duck Hillman.”

Farmers of Temple, New Brunswick; 6 children, 32 grandchildren, 5 great grandchildren.

ix. Moses Dow – bcdgdai – b. 03 Jan 1816 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; d. 1908; m. 4 Jun 1840 to Nancy B Cummings (24 May 1824 Fayette, ME – 1917)

Farmer, lived on the place inherited from his father. He started investigation of his family history which his grandnephew afterwards developed.  In 1885 the only information obtainable was from old letters, tombstones and personal memories.  Moses gave the first list of Enoch’s children in 1885, while the birth order was later revised, the Book of Dow’s key was based on this early list.    Moses had a large supply of these.  11 children, 25 grandchildren

x. Esther Dow – bcdgdaj – b. 27 Dec 1818 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; convert to Mormonism; Moved to Utah and became a plural wife; 2 children; never communicated with her family

xi. Ephraim Dow – bcdgdak – b. 27 Jun 1820 in Canterbury, Dumfries Parish, York New Brunswick; d. 1874 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; m1. Canterbury to Mary Blake (1829 – ); m2. 1846 Canterbury to Eliza Knowles (1825 – )

Both Mary and Eliza were from New Hampshire tory families. Lumberman, always lived in Canterbury, New Brunswick; Buried with two wives in Dow Cemetery;  7 children, 7 grandchildren

xii. Lydia Dow – bcdgdal – b. 26 Oct 1822 in Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; d.1915; m. Amos Knowles (1820 – ); 2 children

xiii. Mary Lucrecia Dow – bcdgdam – b. 12 Jul 1824 in Northampton, Carlton, New Brunswick; d. 20 May 1895 in Northampton, York, New Brunswick; m. 27 Feb 1851 Northampton, Carlton, New Brunswick Age: 26 to Charles Sheffield Grant (b. 21 Jun 1826 – d. 18 Jan 1898 Northampton Kirk Cemetery, Woodstock, New Brunswick,) Charles’ parents were  William Grant (1774 – 1847) and Ann Maidstone Hillman (1780 – 1860)

Mary and Charles were farmers of Northampton; 4 children, 3 grandchildren

xiv. Jesse Dow – bcdgdan – b. 11 Dec 1826 in Dumfries Parish, York, New Brunswick; d. 1899 ; m. 1853 Dumfries Paris to Susan Wright (27 Jul 1828 Canterbury NB –  11 Oct 1903 Auburn, Maine) Daughter of Josiah Wright;

10 children, 9 grandchildren

1851 Census of New Brunswick York County, Dumfries Parish, page 18

Name, Sex, Relation, Age, Origin, Date of Entry
Jessie Dow M Head 79 U.S. Farmer Birth
Mary Dow F Wife 69 U.S. Birth
Ledia Dow F Daughter 29 U.S. Birth
Jessie Dow F Son 23 U.S. Birth

Moses Dow M Head 36 U.S. Farmer Birth  (Jessie’s son Moses lived next door)
Nancy Dow F Wife 27 U.S. 1832
Adney Dow M Son 11 U.S. Birth
Jerusha Dow F daughter 8 U.S. Birth
Thankfull Dow F Daughter 6 U.S. Birth
Alonzo Dow M Son 4 U.S. Birth
Aaron Dow M Son 2 U.S. Birth
Nancy Dow F Daughter 5 mths U.S. Birth

4. Amos Dow – bcdgdd –

Amos’ wife Ann Teed  was born about 1774 in York, New Brunswick.  She was Mary Tidley’s (Teed) sister, the Dow brothers and Teed sisters possibly had a double wedding 2 Mar 1802. Her parents were Sylvanus Teed and Mary Nye. Ann died after 12 Jan 1852. The Teeds sprang from a Federal soldier.

Amos was a farmer and lumberman, he took a prominent place in the early development of Canterbury.  He died 1837.  We note in his posterity the strongly marked tendency towards intermarriage with original Canterbury families

Children of Amos and Ann:

i. David Dow – bcdgdda -b. 14 Jul 1801 in Dow Settlement, York, New Brunswick; d. 1888 in Ludlow, Aroostook, Maine m. 16 Nov 1824 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick to Mary Pearley Way (b. 5 Oct 1799 Eel River, York Co, New Brunswick – d. 1881 in Ludlow, Aroostook, Maine) Mary’s parents were Titus Way (b. 10 Nov 1756 in New London, New London, CT – d. 1830 in Eel River, New Brusnwick) and Elizabeth Porter (b. ~1756 – d. bef. 1830 in Eel River, New Brunswick) David and Mary had eight children.

David Dow M Head 50   (David lived next door to his cousin Moses, son of his Uncle Jessie Dow (see immediately above)
Mary Dow F Wife 52
Amos L Dow M Son 25
John A Dow M Son 23
Esther Dow F Daughter 24

Charlotte Dow F Daughter 20 b. 24 Jan 1830 in New Brunswick, Canada; d. 24 Jul 1910 in Dyer Brook, Maine; m. Charles Frederick Watson (b. 1834 in Carlton, New Brunswick, – d. 21 Sep 1905 in Ludlow, Aroostook, Maine) Charles parents were William Watson (~1801 – 1880) and Jane Philips Wolverton (1804 – ~1874)

Rhoda Dow F Daughter 18
Hannah Dow F Daughter 16
Mary Dow F Daughter 14
Walter Dow M Son 12

Farmer and mill man, is really the founder of Dow’s Settlement, although the land belonged to his grandfather.  He build a home and dam there, with a saw mill and grist mill. After Mary’s death he spent the rest of his life with a son in Ludlow, Maine.

ii. Charlotte Dow – bcdgddb – b. 1806 in Dow settlement New Bruswick; m. 1824 – Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick to Matthew Lutwick (1801 – ); both buried Dow Cemetery. Three children

iii. Nancy Dow – bcdgddc – m. Elias Knowles Three children

iv. Hannah Dow – bcdgddd – m. Daniel Randall. farmers of Dow Settlement, a daughter died young.

v. John Dow – bcdgdde – b. 1810 York, New Brunswick; d. 1855/57 New Brunswick; m. 27 Jan 1842 Southampton Parish (York), New Brunswick Age: 32 to his first cousin Maria Brooks;

Lived on Enoch’s original farm, where Spurgeon Dow lived in 1927.  Four of his children married Dow descendants

vi. Margarette Dow – bcdgddf – b. 1810/12 Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. 1902 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick m. 24 Sep 1836 Kenswick Ridge, New Brunswick Age: 24 to Benjamin Merrithew (b. 27 Jul 1811 in Keswick, York Co, New Brunswick – d. 1884 in Fredericton, York, New Brunswick); Margarette and Benjamin had five children born between 1837 and 1849.

Farmers of Canterbury Lane;

vii. Eliza Ann Dow – bcdgddg – b. 25 Jun 1814 in Canterbury, New Brunswick; d. 11 July 1921 in Marpole, Old, British Columbia; m. 1837 to George Debeck (1814 – 1870)

107 years, 16 days
Alternative time units
39,097 days
3,377,980,800 seconds
56,299,680 minutes
938,328 hours
5585 weeks

George DeBeck II & Eliza Ann Dow

Longest lived of any Dow;  Children b. Canterbury.  About 1860 the whole family with others of the original Majorfield settlement went by caravan to Eburn, near Vancouver, BC.  Eliza whose posterity is large, became the only centenarian in the Province and her birthday celebration was a notable event.  She lived and retained her faculties six years longer.

Eliza Ann and her son Howard Debeck

George’s grandfather Lt. John Ludwig DeBeck was born 1755 in Germany and died just after the loyalists return from New York to New Brunswick, either before or after his son’s birth.

George’s father George Debeck Sr. was born in b. Abt. 1783, Fort Howe St. John N.B. just after the Loyalists returned from New York. George went to France in about 1803 or 1804 and fought for Napoleon, he was awarded the Cross de legion of Honour, which he kept hidden when he returned to N.B. in 1809 and married Mary Green. He was wounded in the Battle of Wagram (near Vienna, Austria) on July 4-6 1809, according to family he was by then a Captain and was the only officer in his company to survive the battle. The two-day battle of Wagram was particularly bloody, mainly due to the extensive use of artillery on a flat battlefield packed with some 300,000 men, casualties totaled more than 78,000.

He was awarded the cross of the legion of honour, supposedly by Napoleon himself. When George returned to New Brunswick he encountered some opposition in the community as a result of his military adventures and because British subjects were not permitted to hold Napoleonic decorations, and kept his Grand Cross secret for the rest of his life. After his death in 1862, his daughter Mary Debeck Baker prepared to leave for a new home in Nova Scotia, she pressed the medal and John Ludwig Debecks muster rolls into the hands of her sister-in-law Mary Moore Porter Debeck asking that they be given to the laters son Wallace as he was next in the male line of descent. Wallace later donated the muster rolls to the Canadian National Archives and the medal is now in the keeping of his son ,Armand DeBeque of DeBeque Colorado. George DeBeck is buried in St. John United Church Cemetery, McKenzie Corner, N.B. His gravestone simply reads: DEBECK   George  died 23 Jan. 1862  78 yrs.

Debec, Richmond Parish, Carleton County, New Brunwick,an unincorporated area located between a few miles south of the midpoint between Woodstock to Houlton, Maine. is named for George Debeck, settler 1835 and mill operator. CPR station in 1861, called Debec Station in 1869, when a second line was built from Woodstock to Houlton (Maine). Debec Brook flows NE to Bulls Creek”. (Rayburn )

Debec was a small village about 40 houses, a bank, doctor, dentist, blacksmith shop and a garage. It had at one time a lumber mill (George Debeck’s, believe it burnt down, one of the reasons they left.). In the early 1900s the surrounding areas depended on the rail junction for trains service, mail and groceries. Many trains stopped there and many village residents worked for the CPR. The Debec Post office had rural routes to outlying communities such as Elmwood and McKenzie Corners. There was no church till the 1940s . There was a Debec school.

To help you follow the family’s story, Children of Eliza Dow and George Debeck:

1. Emmeline Debeck, b. b. 1837; d. 1860.

2. Mary Ann Debeck, b. 17 Mar 1839

3. Olive Hillman Debeck b. 1841

4. Howard Ludlow Debeack b. 1843, New Brunswick; d. April 04, 1924, Penticton.

5. Hannah Althelia Debeck b. 1845; d. 25 Mar, 1864, Richmond N.B.

6. Helen Eliza Debeck b. 1847, Debec Junction, Carleton, N.B.; d. 12 Dec 1875, New Westminister.

7. Warren Debeck, b. 1849.

Had to throw this in — The story of Waren’s son George W. Debecks courtship has seen print several times. In 1877 he eloped with a 16 year old St. Annes Convent girl hiring the only cab in New Westminister and the onlt tugboat to effect their getaway. He intercepted the line of girls as they were marched to Church Sunday morning Mar. 19 quickly helping Miss Keary into the waiting cab,and sped to the Fraser River and the waiting boat. they were able to escape to Port Townsend WA to be married without interference, as George W. had given 2 loggers a bottle of liquor to cut the telegraph wires and Emma’s parents were powerless to send word ahead. It was later theorized that the two loggers might have comsumed their reward before going about earning it,because they did a very effective job of cutting off New Westminister’s contact with the rest of the world. Two miles of telegraph wire had been taken down and it was over a week before service was restored . The romantic young couple returned to be forgiven by their parents and lived to celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary

8. George Ward Debeck, b. 27 Sep 1849; d. 10 Apr 1943

9. Leonora Debeck, b. 1852

10. Clarence Hunter Debeck, b. 1855

11. Josephine Eugenia Debeck, b. 1859; d. 1884, L.A.

12. Roderick Debeck, b. 1859, New Brunswick; d. 1860, N.B..

From DeBeck Family New Brunswick to British Columbia

The DeBeck family’s move to B.C. came about after a neighbor and friend James Bell left New Brunswick to seek his fortune in the West in British Columbia. After a few years he returned home to New Brunswick with money in his pockets and tales of gold to be had for the taking in British Columbia. He married Olive the daughter of George and Eliza DeBeck on Sept 23, 1863 and bought a piece of land and intended to settle down and farm in New Brunswick.

At the same time, Eliza Ann and George’s 15-year-old son (George) Ward DeBeck decided to run away from home. George caught up with him in St. Andrews and convinced him to return and attend school for another year on the understanding that after the year he would be free to go if he wanted.

Meanwhile after a year Jim Bell decided he wasn’t cut out for farming and decided to leave again for British Columbia This time accompanied by his wife Olive DeBeck and young Ward. By his own accounts George Ward’s first glimpse of the West Coast was in California on July 23, 1866. Olive and Jim continued on to Victoria, while Ward stayed in Gilroy California until 1868.

Jim Bell started a Coal business at Kavanaugh’s Wharf in Victoria British Columbia.

Eliza Ann and George’s son Howard Ludlow DeBeck and his wife Emmaline Weeks decided to make the trip to the West Coast from New Brunswick. They sailed from New York on July 1 1867 on board the S.S.Ocean Queen He was not accompanied by his son Warren as has been recorded by the family. Howard joined Jim Bell in his coal business in Victoria. It is not known when Warren arrived There is a story of him travelling to Australia. He was working with his father and brothers at Burrard Inlet in 1869.

The rest of the family was supposed to have come together, though the passenger list of the Del Norte lists only Miss H.DeBeck, Miss L. DeBeck, Mr.and Mrs.DeBeck and child, the child was either Clarence or Josephine.

The DeBeck’s had left a married daughter in New Brunswick, Mary Ann DeBeck had married Samuel Yerxa as well as 2 daughters and a son in the Richmond Churchyard. Emmaline had died of T.B July 7, 1860 and Hannah Althea had died April 9 1864 from Diphtheria. Roderick had died Jan 18 1859 age 5 weeks 2 days.

In 1869 the family seemed to be all together George Sr. and sons Ward and Warren were working at Burrard Inlet logging employed by either Burrard Inlet mill or Hastings mill. Clarence went to New Westminister and drove a stage and went to school. Howard bought property from Hugh McRobert’s on Sea island and moved there with his wife and 2 little daughters Marion and Georgina. Daughter Olive and husband James Bell now lived in New Westminister. Daughter Helen Eliza DeBeck married William Gibson a grocer in Victoria in 1869 or 1870.

In May of 1870 George DeBeck II . accidentally slipped while logging and was killed. His obituary in the Mainland Guardian dated Sat May 7 1870 reads:

Fatal Accident”:

On Wednesday afternoon last, Mr. George DeBeck met with his death in a very sudden and unexpected manner. It would appear from the evidence elicited at the inquest, that while in the act of stepping over some logs lying at a sharp angle, he slipped and fell.the concussion was so sudden and violent as to produce dislocation of the vertebrae, the immediate cause of his death. Mr. DeBeck held a very high position in the esteem and respect of his fellow citizens,and will be a real loss to the community. He leaves a widow and family to deplore his loss. Mr.DeBeck was a native of New Brunswick where he held a very respectable position. When the sad news, reached the city, Dr. Black the coroner for the district, proceeded to the inlet and did an inquest on the remains. From the position of the deceased when found by his youngest son and the character of the injuries there can be no doubt as to the cause of death, and the verdict was returned accordingly. The remains of the lamented gentleman were brought to town on Thursday,and will be interred today at the cemetery in Sapperton (Now called Fraser Cemetery in New Westminister)

This is what Ned DeBeck (Exodus) writes of his grandfather George DeBeck II “We have no clear picture of what he was like (George) as he met his death so soon after coming here. He could neither read nor write. Ward, his son, tells of reading the newspaper to him before he left home. He was particularly interested in the progress of the American Civil War. He was a very religious and devout man. He would never break his bread in the sight of the Lord without removing his hat. Even when it was cold or raining he would take no bite till he had taken off his hat. He must have been a pretty good father as all of his children got some education. None of them got more than what would call the eighth grade, but that was the fault of the schools in N.B. not his. He was sufficiently interested in his family to follow his scapegrace son Ward, clear down to St. Andrews and sufficiently broadminded to realize that a sixteen year old son can not be held on apron strings.”

Another tragedy struck the family the next year in 1871 when Howard’s wife Emmaline died giving birth to third daughter Emma Augusta. Emma was the first white child born in Richmond. Howard and Emmalines other daughters were Marion Lee DeBeck and Georgina Elmar DeBeck. [I had no idea Richmond, population 190,000 and site of Olympic speed skating, was so new]

In 1871 Warren traveled back to New Brunswick and married Annie Elizabeth.Trafton of Woodstock in October of that year. They returned to New West where poor Annie passed away shortly after her arrival on April 22, 1873 at the age of 24.

Leonora DeBeck also married that year on Dec. 5, 1871 to J.C. Hughes (Josias Charles) an accountant at the Mill where her brothers worked. The DeBeck family seemed to have unending loss, Leonora’s first born Charles Arthur Hughes died on May 25 1874 at Burrard Inlet a few weeks after his birth

Daughter Helen Eliza DeBeck died in Dec. of 1875 a few days after the birth of her third daughter Olivia Helen Gibson who was born Nov. 23 1875 She gave birth and died at the home of her sister Olive Bell in New Westminister.Family story is she died from consumption (TB).

In 1877 the 4 DeBeck brothers -Clarence, Howard, Ward and Warren started the Brunette Saw mill – from History of New Westminister page 132

” The first New Westminister mill to become a lasting success was the four DeBeck brothers Brunette Mill .the story has it that in 1877, this quartet rowed across the Gulf of Georgia to Baynes Sound, north of Nanaimo,where they bought a small engine, a circular saw, a hand edger and a trimmer on the installment plan with nothing down. They moved the machinery to a four acre site where the Brunette River joins the Fraser that they bought from the provincial government for $100 The DeBeck mill at Sapperton was soon one of the most profitable in the business. ………”

A young man named James Buckam Kennedy came to New West in 1877 and began working as a planer at the mill in 1880 he bought Ward’s interest and became family later marrying Josephine DeBeck, sister of the DeBeck brothers.on Nov. 30 1880 in New Westminister. Josephine had T.B. and went down to Los Gatos California to recover in the better weather she died there in 1885 at the age of 25. She is buried in the Fraser Cemetery in New Westminister.

Ward married in 1877 causing a big stir with his elopement with Emma Mary Keary to Washington State on March 19 1877. Ward lived for a year in Yale after selling his interest in the sawmill and later moved to Oregon Washington, and Idaho.

Clarence Hunter DeBeck married in 1879 to Emily B. Edwards they settled in New West.

Warren remarried in 1880 to Elizabeth Armstrong they lived in and had 2 children Annie in 1882 and Warren John in 1883 (33) More loss for the family as Warren died in 1884 at the age of 35. His son Warren John died at the young age of 27 in Kamloops in 1911.

And Leonora’s husband Josias Charles Hughes died Nov. 8 1886. leaving Leonora with 3 children to raise.

Eliza Ann (Dow) DeBeck had been for years living with Howard and helping him raise his children After many years as a single father, Howard remarried Aug 7 1889 to Selina Clarke. During this time Howard operated a men’s furnishings store on Columbia St at Sixth.

In 1891 when Howard’s youngest daughter married Arthur Emerson Rand, Eliza “Little Grandma” went with them to live in their new home. After the death of granddaughter Augusta Rand on Oct. 13 1909, Eliza went to live with son Ward and family at Eburne She lived with son Ward until her death on July 11 1921 ,at the age of 107.

Howard following an attack of asthma went to Penticton to live in 1909, he remained there till his death on April 4 1924 at the age of 81. He is buried in the Fraser Cemetery in New Westminister

Clarence sold out of the sawmill and purchased a tugboat and engaged in the towing business till 1894 when he engaged in work for the Government as Captain of the snagboat “The Sampson” remaining in federal service for about 10 years. Later he and his son-in law C.W. Tait established the Fern Ridge Lumber and Shingle Mills in Langley District and in 1913 bought the Royal City Shingle

Mills. Clarence passed away in 1924. He is buried in the Fraser Cemetery in New Westminister His wife Emily is also buried there

Ward had returned to B.C. in 1886 and had been engaged in logging until 1891 when he went to timber cruising after that he tired mining until he was appointed Indian Agent at Alert Bay, and was stationed there in 1902 where he was stationed till 1906. He next went back to timber cruising and logging and still had an interest in several mines. Ward died in B.C. on April 10, 1943. His wife Emma predeceased him in 1939. they are buried in The Fraser Cemetery in NewWestminister

viii. Mary Ann Dow – bcdgddh – m. [__?__] Barker

5. Enoch Dow – bcdgde –

Enoch’s wife Basha Cronkite’s birth is unknown but her family were proably of the Majorfield party. Henry Cronkhite (b. 29 Sept. 1745) moved to New Brunswick after the Revolutionary War. He belonged to the King’s American Regiment and fought with the British. At the End of the war the regiment went to N.B. to disband. He married Elizabeth (Grant,previous marriage) and they had 7 children, Henry, Abraham, Mary B., Simon, Jabez, Reuben and Jacob. There is no record of a Basha, but there are a lot of blank spaces in the research. There are numerous families in that area, Woodstock, Southhampton, and into Maine. I believe that all the Cronkhite’s (different spellings) are related and descend from Henry. Henry was the oldest son of Jacobus Cranckheyt (1721) who was born in Tarrytown, N.Y. The American Patriarch of thie family was Harck Syboutszen (Kranckheyt) ( 1620 ) from Langendyck, Holland.

Enoch’s services as lay preacher either brought no income or at best, not enough for his support.  He took up a farm 8 miles back from the River near Canterbury Station.  He died in 1845.

First preacher in Canterbury; baptized more people in St John’s River than any five subsequent preachers. Source : book- “Early New Brunswick Probate Records 1785-1835 by R. Wallace Hale, published by Heritage Books, Inc.

Children of Enoch and Basha

i.  Israel Dow – bcdgdea – b. 1806 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; d. 1881 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick; m. 1830 Fredericton Bureau de Sante, , New Brunswick Age: 24 to Harriet Dickinson (1809 – ); Harriet’s parents were Reuben Chase Dickinson (1791 – ) and Phoebe Teed (1789 – ) Israel and Harriett had ten children born between 1830 and 1851.

Their farm was at Grant’s Crossing, Canterbury Lane.

ii. Levy (Levi) Dow – bcdgdeb – b. 1790 in Canterbury, New Brunswick; d. Waupaca Co, Wisconsin; m. Mahala Dickinson (b. 1809 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick – ); moved about 65 years ago to Wisconsin [about 1862] ; lost sight of; At least four children.

His brother Isreal married Harriet Dickinson
He entered USA port of entry, Apr 1866, at Calais, Maine and on to Wisconsin.
He was Naturalized 1 Dec 1871, Madison, Dane Co. Wi.
Occupation Farmer

Levi’s son Andrew (1842-1927) was the Mayor of Ogdensburg, Waupaca, Wisconsin, lived on a farm with livestock, lived his life as a gentle person. During the Flu epidemic (1918) when many local residents died, including the parents of a little girl which he took into his home to raise with his children. They were a Catholic family, the Priest in those days went into the homes and

taught catechism. When he came into his home the little girl was lonely and frightened and did not respond to him as he would like, The Priest struck her, when Andrew witnessed this he told the Priest never to lay a hand on her again or he would strike him. The Priest showed his authority by striking the poor little girl again. Andrew kept his word by hitting him so hard it knocked out some of his teeth. As the Priest quickly left he cursed Andrews Potato crop, and ordered him out of the church. Well that year Andrew had the very best Potato crop ever and when he saw the Priest on the street one day he invited him to come back the next year. and curse his crops again. He had a Livery Stable was quite well off.

iii. Hannah Dow – bcdgdec – b. 1808 in New Brunswick; d. 1867 in New Brunswick m. 6 Dec 1826 Frédéricton (Bureau de Santé), Acadie (Nova Scotia and New Brunswick) Age: 18 to John Dickinson (1803 – 1885); indirectly increasing the Dow-Dickinson marriages by five (Children married Dows) Five children

iv. Sarah Dow – bcdgded – b. 1812 New Brunswick; d. 27 Jan 1870 NB; m. 18 Jul 1830 Age: 18 to John Stuart Young (1801 – 1873)

Nearby farmer Three children, one JW Saunders Young became a baptist minister carrying on the work of Enoch 2nd.

v. Olive Dow – bcdgdee – m.  Matthew Phillips, a son of Hannah Dow (bcdgdj)  Over 70 years ago [before 1857], they left the neighborhood and it is vaguely recalled that they joined the Mormons taking with them their kinswoman Esther Dow.

Matthew Phillips (b. 1747 in Horseneck, Essex, New Jersey – d. 3 Jul 1823 in Northampton, Carleton, New Brunswick, Canada), possibly this Matthew’s grandfather was a witness to Olive’s grandfather Enoch DOW’s will:

“Enoch, Dow Parish of Woodstock, York Co. Will dated 20 Sep 1813, proved 1 Feb 1814. Names wife Ruth, sons John, Jesse, Amos, Enoch, daughters Molly Dow, Rhody (sic) Dow, Hannah Dow, Ruth Dow, and Easter Dow. Son John Dow and wife Ruth Dow executors. Wittnesses: James Upham, Amos Estey, Matthew Phillips.”

vi. Mary Dow – bcdgdef – m. [__?__] Estey

6. Mary “Molly” Dow – bcdgdf –

Molly’s husband Amos Brooks was born in 1778 in New Brunswick. The Brooks family pioneered Southampton. Amos died instate Amos died instate Parish of Northampton, York Co. Intestate. Administration granted 6 April 1825 to Isaac Brooks of Northampton. Fellow bondsmen Benjamin Brooks of Northampton and Reuben Chase of Woodstock.

Evidently Amos Brooks died prior to 5 Nov 1830, as administration of estate of Amos Brooks granted that date to Dow Brooks with fellow bondsmen John Grant and Henry Cronkhite (Molly’s brother-in-law), all of Northampton. An undated note in the file refers to the “Matter of Chas. BROOKS,” stating Amos Brooks died leaving the following children, lists sons Isaac, Dow, Charles, Amos, George, daughters Mary, Esther, [Minnie] and Caroline. List is notated that sons Isaac and Amos and daughter Mary deceased;

Molly and Amos lived in Southampton across the River from Canterbury; both buried Dow Cemetery.

Children of Mary and Amos

i. Dow Brooks – bcdgdfa – b. 1806 New Brunswick; d. After 1881 Census; m. Mary Watson (b. 13 Apr 1821, New Brunswick – Aft 1881); 6 children

ii. Charles Brooks – bcdgdfb – m. Mary Wright; 6 children

iii. George Brooks – bcdgdfc – m.  Nancy Clark

iv. Maria Brooks – bcdgdfd – m. 27 Jan 1842 – Southampton, York, New Brunswick to her first cousin John Dow (bcdgdde) (1810 – 1856)

iv. Hester Brooks – bcdgdfe – m. William Brown (probably Brawn)

v. Isaac Brooks – possibly the eldest, not listed in the Book of Dow

vi. Amos Brooks not listed in the Book of Dow

vii. Caroline Brooks not listed in the Book of Dow

7. Rhoda  Dow bcdgdg –  b.1789 New Brunswick.

Rhoda’s husband John D. Porter was born 1784 in Canterbury, York, New Brunswick. His parents were cousins John Porter and Mary Porter. John died 23 Jan 1860 in Woodstock Parish, York, New Brunswick.

John and Rhoda lived Lower Woodstock where the Porter clan was located; both buried Porter private cemetery.  Their large posterity is at present [1927] very numerous around Woodstock and if any one wished could be easily traced.

Children of Rhoda and John

i. George Porter – bcdgdga – b. 1804 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick; d. 22 Dec 1881 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick m. Rebecca Dickinson (1818 – ); 8 children

ii. John Dow Porter – bcdgdgb – b. 25 Feb 1819 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick; d. 28 Aug 1913 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick, m. Emily Chapman; 7 children; m2. Mary Irvine; 4 children

iii. Marjorie Porter – bcdgdgc – 19 Sep 1828 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick; d. Jul 1916 in Northampton Kirk, Carleton, New Brunswick; m. 18 Jan 1846 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick to Elijah Watson (b. ~1817 in Carleton Co, New Brunswick – d. 20 Aug 1854 Lower Meductic, York Co, New Brunswick) Elijah’s parents were Peter Watson (1789 – 1879)and Hannah Ingraham (1795 – 1849) Marjorie and Elijah had four children born between 1846 and 1852.

m2. 16 Dec 1855 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick to Charles Trafton (b. 20 Jan 1829 in New Brunswick – d. 17 Jan 1910); Marjorie and Charles had four children born between 1857 and 1862.

iv. Mary Moore Porter – bcdgdgd – b. 3 Nov 1813 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick; d. 27 Jul 1902 in Escanaba, Delta, Michigan; m. Enoch Debee; 4 children

v. Esther Porter – bcdgdge -b. 1809 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick; d. 7 Feb 1877 in Woodstock, , New Brunswick, m. Joseph Scott; 8 children

vi. Jacob C. Porter – bcdgdgf – b. 1826 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick; d. 1905 in Meductic, New Brunswick; m. Esther Dickinson; 10 children

vii. Mary Porter – bcdgdgg – m. Dr. Charles Rice; 5 children

1851 Census of New Brunswick Carleton County, Woodstock Parish, page 35

John Porter M Husband 66 Native Farmer 1785
Rhoda [Dow] Porter F Wife 64 Native 1787 – bcdgdg 

John Junr Porter M 32 Farmer 1819 (living next door, John’s son – bcdgdgb]
Emily A Porter F Wife 29 Native 1822
Albert Porter M Son 10 Native 1841
Jacob Porter M Son 8 Native 1843
Emily Porter F Daughter 6 Native 1845
Woodford Porter M Son 5 Native 1846
Thadias Porter M Son 2 Native 1849
Margary Porter F Daughter Infant Native 1851

Jacob Porter M Husband 25 Farmer 1826 [living nearby, John’s son bcdgdgf]
Easter Porter F Wife 23 Native 1828
Eanoch Porter M Son 6 Native 1845
Hezekiah Porter M Son 4 Native 1847
Mary Porter F Daughter 2 Native 1849
Edwin Porter M Son Infant Native 1851

George Porter M Husband 47 Native Farmer 1804 [Living nearby John’s son or brother] bcdgdga
Rebeca Porter F Wife 33 Native 1818
Amanda Porter F Daughter 13 Native 1838
Henryetta Porter F Daughter 11 Native 1840
Jonathan Porter M Son 9 Native 1842
Rhoda Porter F Daughter 7 Native 1844
Jane Porter F Daughter 5 Native 1846
David Porter M Son 3 Native 1848
Melvina Porter F Daughter 1 Native 1850

8. Ruth DOW- bcdgdi – ( See Abraham ESTEY ‘s page)

9. Hannah Dow – bcdghi

Hannah’s husband David Phillips was born 22 Oct 1786 in Meductic, Carleton, New Brunswick. His parents were Matthew Phillips (1747 – 1823) and Maria Ackerman (1747 – 1807). David died 31 Mar 1866 in Southampton, York, New Brunswick, Canada.  The Brooks family was one of the pioneers from Majorfield.

Matthew Phillips was a witness to Enoch’s 1813 will.

Hannah’s gravestone is small and eluded notice until 1926.  She died 1816 age 25.  Absence of other stones indicates that if she had children, they were elsewhere with her father.

Child of Hannah and David

i. George Matthews Dow (Matthew G D) Phillips b. 23 May 1816 in Southampton, York Co, New Brunswick; d. 22 Sep 1893 in Provo, Utah; Burial: Provo City Cemetery, Provo, Utah; m. 15 Oct 1836 in Southhampton, York Co, New Brunswick to Elizabeth Phillips (b. 22 Sep 1815 in Southhampton, York Co, New Brunswick)

10. Esther Dow – bcdgdh

My previous story was that Esther was born in 1788 and she married a Mormon and moved to Utah. Another of Esther’s first cousin Olive Dow (bcdgdee) married Matthew Phillips, a son of Hannah Dow (bcdgdj)  Over 70 years ago [before 1857], they left the neighborhood and it is vaguely recalled that they joined the Mormons taking with them their kinswoman Esther Dow. Another researcher thought “apparently they moved out of the neighborhood, perhaps toward Frederickton.”

Thanks to a heads up from Michelle Daniels and her many years of research, I’ve found that she married Stephen Brook Watson and moved to Bangor, Maine. Michelle has Esther’s birth date as 11 Nov 1797 in Canterbury, York Co, when her mother Ruth was 45 years old, six years after her next oldest sibling , so Esther may have been a “surprise” baby.

Esther’s husband Stephen Brooks Watson was born 3 May 1795 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick. His parents were Peter Watson (b. ~1759 England – d. Aft. 1814 in Woodstock, New Brunswick) and Louisa Woolverton (b. ~1761 – d. 17 Mar 1853 in Woodstock, Carleton, New Brunswick). Stephen died 23 Sep 1848 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine and is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor.

Stephen Brooks Watson(1795-1848) Gravestone — Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine, Plot: 430PG

Stephen’s brother William Watson married David Dow’s (b. 1801 ) daughter Esther Dow (b. 17 May 1827) married William Watson (b. 1801) and Jane Philips Wolverton (b. 1804)’s son William Watson (b. 1829)

In the 1850 census, Esther was a 54 year old widow living in Bangor, Penobscot, Maine with four children at home ages 10 to 30.

Esther Dow Watson (1797-1886) Gravestone – Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine, Plot: 430PG

Children of Esther and Stephen:

i. Asa H Watson b: 16 May 1820 in Carleton Co, New Brunswick; d. 21 Jul 1871 in Old Town, Penobscot Co, Maine; Burial: 22 Jul 1871 Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor; m1. 15 Mar 1843 in Jacksontown, Carleton Co, New Brunswick to Charlotte Elizabeth Corey (b: Oct 1822 in Queens Co, New Brunswick – d. 14 Oct 1846 in Maine, Burial: Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor); Her parents were Stephen A Corey( b: 1797) and Sarah Cyphers Brown (b: in Queens Co, New Brunswick)

In the 1860 census, Asa was farming in Orono, Penobscot, Maine with his mother Esther and youngest brother Howard.

m2. 12 Sep 1865 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine to Miranda “Maranda” C Hardy (b: Oct 1825 in Naples, Cumberland Co, Maine – d. 2 Feb 1918 in Old Town, Penobscot Co, Maine of Senility, Burial: 4 Feb 1918 Riverside Cemetery, Stillwater, Penobscot Co, Maine) Asa and Miranda had two children, Etta (b. 1866 ) and Alice (b. 1871). Miranda’s parent were Jonathan Hardy (b: in New Hampshire) and Mary Jordan (b: in Portland, Cumberland Co, Maine) Maranda had first married 24 Dec 1847 in Piscataquis Co, Maine to Nathan Brasier (b: Abt 1824 in Maine – d. 31 Jul 1864 in Maine) and had three children from this marriage.

In the 1870 census, Asa and Miranda were farming in Orono, Penobscot, Maine.

ii. Mary Dow Watson b: 4 Sep 1822 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick c: 29 Feb 1824 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick; d. 3 Jan 1917 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine; Burial: 4 Jan 1917 Mt. Hope Cemetery, Bangor; m. 27 Oct 1842 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick to George Lathrop Churchill (b: 25 Oct 1819 in Woodstock, Carleton Co, New Brunswick – d. 2 Jan 1889 in Portland, Cumberland Co, Mainel Burial: 5 Apr 1889 Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor) George’s parents were Benjamin Churchill (b: 1 Feb 1790 in Yarmouth, Yarmouth Co, Nova Scotia) and Elizabeth Everett (b: 16 Feb 1793 in Kingston, King Co, Nova Scotia)

In the 1880 census, George and Mary were living in Portland, Cumberland, Maine. Mary’s mother Esther was living with the family. George was a grocer. George and Mary didn’t have children.

iii. George W Watson b: 15 Jun 1824 in New Brunswick; d, 15 Aug 1850 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine

Some genealogies say George may have married Viola J Scott (b. 1830 Maine – d. Aft. 1900 census Dexter, Penobscot, Maine), but that George E and Viola Watson were living in Dexter, Penobscot, Maine in the 1860, 1870 and 1880 census, long after the 1850gravestone date.

iv. Elijah J Watson b: 20 Feb 1827 in Eel River, York Co, New Brunswick; d. 28 Nov 1910 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine of Senility; m1. 14 Apr 1850 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine to Salome P Haskell (b: 11 Mar 1818 in Hebron, Oxford Co, Maine – d. 12 Mar 1875 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine, Burial: 13 Mar 1875 Mount Hope Cemetery, Bangor) Salome first married [__?__] Williams and had a son Albert Williams (b: ~1844 in Massachusetts)

Elijah and Salome had three children born between 1857 and 1862 in Bangor Maine

In the 1870 census, Elijah was a carpenter in Bangor, Penobscot, Maine.

m2. 14 Mar 1883 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine to Martha “Mattie” Dawson (b: Oct 1830 in Brewer, Penobscot Co, Maine – 26 Dec 1915 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine of Arteriosclerosis, Burial: Mount Hope Cemetery) Mattie’s parents were Stephen Dawson (b: Jun 1813 in England – d. aft 1900 census) and Martha Thompson (b: 1815 in Greenfield, Penobscot Co, Maine – ) Mattie first married 10 Aug 1861 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine to John N Williams.

In the 1892 city directory, Elijah lived at 62 Pearl Street Bangor, Maine.

v. Aaron D Watson b: Apr 1831 in Eel River, York Co, New Brunswick; d. 1 Feb 1902 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine of Conjestion of Lungs; m. 6 Jan 1852 in Bangor, Penobscot, Maine to Mary Lavinza Colbath (b: 8 Apr 1835 in Exeter, Penobscot Co, Maine 0 d. 15 Oct 1892 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine of Consumption) Mary’s parents were John Smithson Colbath (1784 – 1864) and Mary Quimby (1795 – 1881) Aaron and Mary had seven children born between 1856 and 1877.

In the 1880 census, Aaron D and Mary L were farming in Bangor, Penobscot, Maine.

Aaron D Watson (1833-1892) Gravestone — Mount Hope Cemetery , Bangor, Penobscot County, Maine, Plot: Lot 922CG

vi. Walter S Watson b: 4 Dec 1831 in Jacksontown, Carleton Co, New Brunswick; d. 7 Apr 1907 in Boston, Mass. of Pneumonia/ Gripe; Burial: Milton Cemetery, Milton, Norfolk Co, Mass; m. 9 Apr 1856 in Dorchester, Suffolk, Mass to Sarah B Hutchinson (b.  7 Dec 1836 Dorchester  – d. 15 Mar 1909 Boston;  Burial: Milton Cemetery, Milton, Norfolk Co, Mass) Sarah’s parents were Joseph Hutchinson (b: St. John, St. John, New Brunswick) and Sarah B Marshall (b: Milton, Norfork, Mass.)

Walter was a Cabinet Maker 1856 in Dorchester.   Walter and Sarah had three children born between 1861 and 1867.

Young Walter Watson and his brothers Elijah,Walter, and Charles William

In the 1870 census, Walter and Sarah were living in Boston Ward 16, Suffolk, Mass with three young children and Walter’s mother Esther. Walter was working as a cabinet maker.

vii. Charles Watson b: Abt 1833 in New Brunswick

viii. Amelia Watson b: Abt 1834 in New Brunswick; d. Aft. 1850 census when she was living with her mother in Bangor.

ix. Susan Watson b: Abt 1838 in New Brunswick; d. Aft. 1850 census when she was living with her mother in Bangor.

x. Howard Watson b: 21 Mar 1840 in Jacksontown, Carleton Co, New Brunswick; d. 5 Jul 1911 in Melrose, Middlesex Co, Massachusetts of Acute Cardiac Dilatation(sic)/Chronic Aortic Disease; Burial: 7 Jul 1911 Wyoming Cemetery; m. 28 Oct 1868 in Bangor, Penobscot Co, Maine to Annadora E “Annie” or “Dora” Washburn (b: Abt 1847 in Maine – d. Aft 1920 census) Annadora’s parents were Thelismer B Washburn b: (~1815 in Maine) and Citogenne Greenwood Bearce (b: 7 Apr 1820 in Hebron, Maine (Oxford)) Citorgenne was 1/64 Wampanoag/ Narragansett Indian from his father side.

In the 1900 census, Howard and Dora were boarding in Chicago, Illinois where Howard was the manager of a machinery company.

Sources:

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/r/a/Dorothy-Kratzer-CO/GENE1-0005.html

http://www.angelfire.com/music2/greggwager/wager368.html

http://members.tripod.com/Tere_4/more.htm

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/d/o/w/Kenneth-H-Downey/WEBSITE-0001/UHP-0548.html

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/10708951/person/215834934

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=43885314

http://automatedgenealogy.com/censusnb51/SurnameSearch.jsp?surname=Dow

http://www.dowlink.net/the_dows_of_new_brunswick.htm

The Book of Dow, Genealogical Memoirs of the Descendants of Henry Dow 1637, Thomas Dow 1639 and Others of the Name, Immigrants to America During Colonial Times. by Robert Percy Dow 1929

http://boards.ancestry.com/thread.aspx?mv=flat&m=32&p=surnames.cronkite

Dedicated to all Dows Everywhere

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=43885314&st=1 See Michel Daniels mdaniels67@aol.com

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/k/r/a/Dorothy-Kratzer-CO/PDFGENE1.pdf

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~missourirayfamilies/12.htm

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mdaniels67&id=I33738

http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=mdaniels67&id=I33738 Contact Michele Daniels mdaniels67@aol.com

Posted in -7th Generation, 90+, Historical Monument, Immigrant - North America, Line - Miller, Pioneer, Place Names, Veteran | Tagged | 23 Comments

Miles Moore

Miles MOORE (1620 – 1689) was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather; one of 4,096  in this generation of the Miner line.

Immigrant Ancestor

Miles Moore was born about 1620 in Powerstock, Dorsetshire, England.  His birth dates is based on being called “old” in 1680.  I have seen considerable variation published birth dates from 1610 to 1627, but I don’t think any are definitive.  He arrived in America before 1643.  He married “widow” Isabell JOYNER before 1643 in Milford, Connecticut.  He joined the church at Milford, 8 Feb 1650/51. Miles died in 1689 in New London, CT.

Nestling at the foot of the ancient hill fort of Eggardon, Powerstock is scattered over the hills and dales with its roots embedded before history was recorded.

Some websites show Miles Moore as being born in Southwold, Suffolk, the son of a Thomas Moore (1584-1645) and Elizabeth Young. This contradicts the evidence above; and it is not backed up by wills nor any other original source documents of which I am aware.

Isabell Joyner was born  6 June 1613 Hertford, England.   She joined the Milford Connecticut church on 29 Nov 1640 with the annotation: “Married since to Miles Moor.” Her last name was sometimes recorded as “Jaynes” or “Jayner.”   Isabell died in 1690 in New London CT.

Children of Miles and Isabell:

Name Born Married Departed
1. Elnathan Moore bapt.
26 May 1644 Milford, New Haven, CT
11 Mar 1647/48
2. Martha Moore? bapt.
26 May 1644 Milford, New Haven, CT
11 Mar 1644/45
3. Deborah Moore bapt.
31 Oct 1647 Milford, New Haven, CT
John Stebbins
8 May 1663 New London
Mar 1647/48?
4. Merriam MOORE bapt.
8 Nov 1647 Milford, New Haven, CT
John WILLEY
18 Mar 1669/70 in New London, CT
.
Samuel Spencer
1689
New London, CT
1706, East Haddam, Middlesex, CT.
5. Lydia Moore bapt.
6 Oct 1649 Milford, New Haven, CT
Deacon Manassah Minor
(Thomas MINER’s son)
26 Sep 1670 New London, CT.
12 Aug 1720
Stonington
New London, CT
6. Abel Moore bapt.
15 Feb 1651/52 Milford, New Haven, CT
Hannah Hempstead
22 Sep 1670 New London, CT
9 Jul 1689 “the road” Dedham, Norfolk, Mass
7. William Moore c. 1650 Milford, New Haven, CT Mary Wellman
16 Aug 1677 Killingworth, CT
.
Mary Crow (Crowell)
17 Jul 1700 Yarmouth, Barnstable, Mass
.
Tamazin (Tamson) Simmons
10 Jun 1728 Windham, Windham, CT
28 Apr 1729 Norwich, CT
8. Mary Moore b.
1 Jan 1653
bapt.
5 Feb 1653 Milford, New Haven, CT
9. Elnathan Moore b.
2 Sep 1655
bapt.
14 Oct 1655
Milford, New Haven, CT
Moore family baptisms from The Barbour Collection (Connecticut Vital Records to 1870)

Moore family baptisms from The Barbour Collection (Connecticut Vital Records to 1870)

Moore from Families of Early Milford, CT

Families of Early Milford, CT   (MC1 = Records of the First Church of Milford,  MVR = Milford Vital Records,  ES = Mortality list of Rev. Erastus Scranton)  Compiled by Susan Abbott 1979

Miles Moore (1620-1680) is believed to have immigrated from England to America in the 1640’s.  He married “Widow Isabel Joyner” at Milford, CT where next to her 29 Nov 1640 admission to the church membership it states “married since to Miles Moor”.  Miles Moore is called a “planter” at Milford and was admitted to the church on 08 Feb 1651.  It appears that all of the children were born in Milford and that the dates in the “birth” space are baptism dates.

The History of Milford (1639 – 1939) states that Miles Moore settled in Milford in 1646.

Miles Moore moved his family to New London, CT in 1657 when he purchased a homestead from John Gager. He became a Freeman there 14 May 1663 and afterward served New London as constable. Miles Moore and his wife were living in 1680 when they were admitted to full communion in the New London church with “old Goodman Moore and his wife, sometime members of the church at Milford”.

He and his wife seem to have let their church membership drift, and seem to have been dropped at Milford. At New London in their old age, they appear to have again affiliated on basis of former membership at Milford. In the printed New London Church Records, it reads “1681: More, old goodman and wife.”

“The “Genealogical Dictionary of New England Settlers” gives a little bit more additional information about Miles Moore. It says he was of Milford in 1646, but removed as early as 1657 to New London. He was a freeman in 1663, and called “old” in 1680.

Constable in New London

Milford Pioneers

Milford lies in New Haven County on Long Island sound and is separated from the township of Stratford on the west by the Housatonic river, and about 10 miles S.W. of New Haven. The town, one of the original six plantations of New Haven Colony, was established in 1639, two years after the Pequot War, by Reverend Peter Prudden (lot 40). First named Wepowage, the Indian name for the river that flowed through the settlement, by indigenous tribes, Milford was purchased 12 Feb 1639 by William Fowler (lot 41), Edmund Tapp (lot 35), Zachariah Whitman (lot 32), Benjamin Fenn (lot 3), and Alexander Bryan (lot 23) from local tribes for “six coats, ten blankets, one kettle, twelve hatchets, twelve hoes, two dozen knives, and a dozen small looking-glasses.”

The Milford men came in two bodies, those of 1639 and those of 1645. Most of them were from the English counties of Essex, Hereford and York. There were fifty-four heads of families or approximately two hundred settlers. Some came from New Haven, others from Wethersfield, following Rev. Peter Prudden who had ministered there between the formation of his own church at New Haven, August 22, 1639, and his ordination as pastor of the Milford church, April 18, 1640, after which Mr. Prudden took up his residence in Milford.

In the fall of 1639 a band of settlers from New Haven went through the woods guided by Indian fighter Thomas Tibbals. Peter Prudden (the Herefordshire minister) led the group.Tradition held that the pioneers of Milford were wholly or in large part discontented settlers from Dorchester and Watertown MA who traveled through the woods to Hartford, to New Haven, to Milford. Supposedly they carried the Dorchester church records with them, and the records were lost on the journey. Most of the settlers had come from London to Boston with John Davenport, Theophilus Eaton, etc. two and one-half years earlier. A year later, they went with the Davenport company to the mouth of the Quinnipiac River. The settlement at Milford was laid out in long, narrow lots, which permitted all settlers to have the same kind of land. The salt hay that grew on the marshy meadow was much prized.

Title to the region was based solely on land purchase from the Indians and not upon any grant from the English Crown. The first purchase included nearly all of the present towns of Orange and Milford, and part of the town of Woodbridge. Deeding the land to its new owners was effected with the old English “twig and turf” ceremony. After the customary signing of the deed by both parties, Ansantawae was handed a piece of turf and a twig. Taking the piece of turf in one hand, and the twig in the other, he thrust the twig into the turf, and handed it to the English. In this way he signified that the Indians relinquished all the land specified in the deed and everything growing upon it The Paugusset Indians sold the Wepawaug land in the hope that they would enlist English protection against the Mohawks, who were continually raiding their territory.

Children

1. Elnathan/ Martha Moore

Connecticut, Births and Christenings, 1649-1906 shows Martha or Elnathan Moore born 1644 died 1645 Milford. Could this be a case of not being able to read the church record clearly? If they were twins it’s a coincidence that they both died 11 Mar.

3. Deborah Moore

The Barbour Collection just says John married Deborah [__?__] 8 May 1663 in New London. It’s possible that she was a different Deborah and Miles and Isabel’s daughter Deborah died young.

Deborah’s husband John Stebbins was born 25 Mar 1640 Watertown, Middlesex, Mass. His parents were John Stebbins (1602-1685) and Margaret Riggs (1615-1679) . Alternatively, his mother was Mary Anne Munson. John died 17 Mar 1706/07 New London, CT.

John’s parents are believed to have married in about 1633 in England. They immigrated to America in the 1630s when John Sr. came to be a proprietor at Watertown, Massachusetts where their 3 children were probably born. John Stebbins Sr. was among the first settlers in 1645 in Pequot Country (what became New London, Connecticut) when he moved to Upper Mamacock. It officially became New London, Connecticut on 06 May 1646. John Stebbins Sr. had homelot #5 of 36 in 1647 at New London and his family soon joined him there. John Stebbins Sr. was a New London fence-viewer in 1647 and a New London constable in 1660. John Stebbins Sr. was a Freeman on 14 Oct 1669.

John was constable of New London in 1660.

Source: New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial - Edited by William Richard Cutter

Source: New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial – Edited by William Richard Cutter

Children of Deborah and John

i. Daniel Stebbins m. Bethiah Comstock Bethiah’s parents were Gideon Comstock and Peltiah Elderkin.

ii. John Stebbins b. 11 Feb 1661 in New London, New London, CT; d. 16 Sept 1756; m. 17 Jun 1697 in New London, CT to Phebe Minor (b. ~1660 – 17 Jul 1715) Phebe’s parents were our ancestor Clement MINER  and his second wife Martha Wellman (1652 – 1681) John and Phebe had six children born between 1698 and 1709.

Our branch of the Miner and Stebbins families became very close with several intermarriages in the next generations.

6. Abel Moore

Abel’s wife Hannah Hempstead was born 11 Apr 1652. Her parents were Robert Hempstead and Joanna Willey.  Her grandparents were Isaac WILLEY and Joanna LUTTEN, though this is open for discussion. See Isaac’s page for details.

Abel died of sunstroke 9 Jul 1689 while traveling through Dedham, Mass when he was only about 45 years old.   He was probably traveling on business in connection with his role as constable of New London.  After Abel died, Hannah married Samuel Walker.

Abel Moore Bio - History of New London by xxx 1895

Abel Moore Bio –  From History of New London by Francis Manwaring Caulkins 1895

Children of Abel and Hannah:

i. Miles Moore b. 24 Sep 1671 New London; m. 28 Dec 1698 New London to Sarah Danniels (b. 10 Feb 1679 New London – d. ) Sarah’s parents were John Daniels and Mary [__?__].

ii. Abel Moore b. 14 Jul 1674 New London; m. 1705 to Lydia Post (b. 1673 – )

iii, Mary Moore b. 1678

iv. John Moore b. 1680

v. Joshua Moore

5. Merriam MOORE (See John WILLEY‘s page)

6. Lydia Moore

Lydia’s husband Deacon Manassah Miner was born 28 Apr 1647 in New London, CT.   His parents were Thomas MINER and Grace PALMER.  After Lydia died, he married Frances West (Werden) 20 Apr 1721 in Stonington, CT. Manassah died 22 Aug 1728 in Stonington

Manassah was the first white male born in New London. He served in King Phillip’s War

Manasseh Minor Gravestone — Wequetequock Burial Ground, Stonington, New London, CT

x

Lyde Moore Minor Gravestone — Wequetequock Burial Ground, Stonington, New London, CT

7. William Moore

William’s wife Mary Wellman was born 1650 in New London, New London, CT. Her parents were William Wellman and Elizabeth Spencer. She first married Jan 1666/67 Killingworth, Middlesex, CT to Thomas Howard (b. abt 1646 New London – d. 17 Dec 1675 Killingworth, Middlesex, CT). Thomas was killed in the Great Swamp Fight (See my post Great Swamp Fight – Connecticut Regiments.) Thomas and Mary had three children before she married William Moore 16 Aug 1677 Killingworth, Middlesex, CT Mary died 3 Apr 1700 in Killingworth, Middlesex, CT.

William’s second wife Mary Crow (Crowell) was born 1653 West Yarmouth, Barnstable, Mass. She first married about 1671 in Yarmouth to Joshua Allen (b. abt. 1643 Salem Village, Mass – d. 27 Dec. 1699 Windham Ponds, New London, CT) Mary died 18 Sep 1727 Windham, Windham, CT

William’s third wife Tamazin Simmons was born 30 Nov 1710 Windham, Windham, CT. Her parents were Jacob Simons and Mary Crane.

Mary Moore b. 1652/53 was not the daughter of Miles and Isabel

The Mary Moore that married Caleb Boynton 24 Jun 1672 – Newbury, Essex, Mass was the daughter of Edward Moore and Ann [__?__].

Sources:

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_m.htm

http://reocities.com/Heartland/lane/9458/moore.html

http://www.pcez.com/~bigshoe/du/Mix/miner.html

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/28044925/person/5121345262 (Source for Baptism Dates)

http://www.geni.com/projects/Early-Families-of-Milford-Connecticut/2741

Five volumes of the Records of the First Congregational Church of Milford were brought to the Connecticut State Library on 30 January 1930 by David A. Clarke, 5th, for his father, David L. Clarke, Clerk of the Church. These records begin in 1639 and come down to 1926.

While every effort was made through the decades to take proper care of these records, it was not until the early 1900s that they had the protection of any kind of safe. When they came into the custody of Mr. Clarke, he placed them in his safe located in his home. It was this safe which, when the Clarke home burned in 1922, preserved these invaluable records dealing with the religious life of Milford from 1639. While some of the pages were badly charred, no part of the records were lost.

Thus, the LDS film of these records is very dark in places, while as others have suggested, the handwriting, especially that of the second pastor Roger Newton, is difficult to decipher. Click here for some examples of how the pages look.

Posted in 13th Generation, Immigrant - England, Line - Miner, Public Office | Tagged | 11 Comments

Henry Champion

Henry CHAMPION (1611 – 1709) was Alex’s 10th Great Grandfather; one of 2,048  in this generation of the Miner line.

Immigrant Ancestor - Champion Coat of Arms

Immigrant Ancestor – Champion Coat of Arms

Henry Champion was born about 1611 in Norwich, Norfolk, England.  His birthdate is estimated based on the story that he was 98 when he died. His parents were Henry CHAMPION and Mary RAMSEY. He  immigrated before 1647 and became a freeman on 12 May 1670 in Lyme, Connecticut Colony.  He married Sarah [Bennett?] on 1 Aug 1647 in Lyme, Saybrook Colony, now New London County, Connecticut.  He married his second wife  Deborah Palmer Jones on 21 Mar 1697/98 in Lyme, Connecticut Colony.  Henry died on 17 Feb 1708/09 in Lyme, Connecticut Colony.

Henry was a founder of Lyme CT.   Connecticut River Old Lyme

Sarah [Bennett?] was born in 1626 in England.  Sarah died in 1697 in Saybrook, CT.

Deborah Palmer was born 5 Feb 1643 in Wethersfield, Hartford, CT. Her parents were Henry Palmer and Katherine  [__?__]. She first married Lewis Jones 4 Dec 1660 in Wethersfield, CT. She next married Samuel Burnwell in 1685 in Milford, New Haven, CT and finally married Henry Champion 21 Mar 1697/98. She was evidently very shrewd, as she induced the old man to make a very good marriage settlement on her and finally involved him in a lawsuit with the widow of his eldest son, who maintained a strong fight for her rights in the property of her husband.  Deborah died Oct 1727 in Saybrook, Middlesex, CT.

Children of Henry and Sarah:

Name Born Married Departed
1. Sarah CHAMPION 1649
Saybrook, CT
Henry BENNETT
9 Dec 1673
Lyme CT
31 Mar 1727 Lyme CT
2. Mary Champion 1651
Saybrook, CT
Aaron Huntley
22 Feb 1676 Lyme
10 Dec 1732
Lyme, CT
3. Stephen (Fenner) Champion 1653
Saybrook, CT
May 1660
Old Saybrook
4. Henry Champion 1654
Saybrook, CT
Deborah Crane
1676 in Connecticut,
.
Susanna DeWolf
1 Apr 1684 Lyme,
Jul 1704
Lyme, CT
5. Thomas Champion Apr 1656 Hannah Brockway,
23 Aug 1682 Lyme
5 Apr 1705
Lyme, CT
6. Fenner Champion 1658
Saybrook
May 1660
Saybrook
7. Rachel Champion 1660
Saybrook, CT
John Tanner
1680 in Saybrook, CT
2 Dec 1687
Lyme, CT

Henry Champion  came to the American colonies and settled at Saybrook, CT as early as 1657.   His land is described in the records of 1660, when they were first kept. Before 1660 he had sold his lot on the town plot to Jonathan Rugg. He removed, with his family, to the east side of the Connecticut river, and became one of the most active founders of Lyme, being propounded a freeman May 12, 1670. The records of that town were begun in 1674, and on June 18, 1674, a record of his land is made; he owned several lots at this time.

The portion of the territory of the Saybrook Colony east of the Connecticut River was set off as the plantation of East Saybrook in Feb 1665. This area included present-day Lyme, Old Lyme, and the western part of East Lyme. In 1667, the Connecticut General Court formally recognized the East Saybrook plantation as the town of Lyme now Old LymeLyme disease was first discovered in the town in 1975.

Old Lyme, New London, CT

Henry lived in the house which he had built on the hill just east of the meeting-house, near the old burying-ground, and he very likely was a farmer as the rest of the settlers were. His ear-mark was recorded March 24, 1673/74. In Mar 12, 1671, representatives of the town of New London entered a complain against Henry Champion and several of his fellow townsmen in the court at Hartford. The trouble between the town was a strip of land between Birde Brook and Niantic river, including Black Point in Lyme, which both towns claimed by virtue of previous grants. New London was fined nine pounds and Lyme five pounds, and these fines were afterwards remitted.

His name occurs frequently in the records as a grantor or grantee of land. He was a witness of the will of Tobiah Colls, of Saybrook, Sep 2, 1664, and was a beneficiary in it, as were the other two witnesses.

When Sir Edmund Andros received the government of Connecticut in Oct 1687, he ordered an inventory to be taken, Aug 27, 1688, and Henry Champion’s property was valued at 37 pounds. At this time he had given much of his property to his sons. Nov 12, 1706, there is a deed of gift to his grandson Henry, eldest son of Henry, his son, in which he gives part of his home lot on Meeting House Hill, and “said Henry was not to put any tenant on this tract during the liftime of his grandfather or his wife Deborah,” who signed the deed of consent “as per marriage agreement.”

His wife was probably a sister or daughter of one of the early settlers of Saybrook. His second wife  Deborah was evidently very shrewd, as she induced the old man to make a very good marriage settlement on her and finally involved him in a lawsuit with the widow of his eldest son, who maintained a strong fight for her rights in the property of her husband.

Children

1. Sarah CHAMPION (See Henry BENNETT‘s page)

2. Mary Champion

Mary husband Aaron Huntley was born 15 Apr 1654 in Boston, Suffolk, Mass. His parents were John Huntley and Jane Curtis. Aaron died 24 May 1745 in Lyme, New London, CT.

4. Henry Champion

Henry’s first wife Deborah Crane was born 1660 in Lyme, New London, CT. Deborah died before 1684 when Henry remarried.

Henry’s second wife Susanna DeWolf was born 22 Dec 1664 in Lyme, New London, CT. Her parents were Balthazar DeWolf and Alice Peck. Susanna died Jul 1704 in Lyme, New London, CT.

Henry Champion Jr. Husband of Sussana De Wolf. Their children are Joshua, Henry, Susanna, Samuel, Alice, Henry, Rachael, Abigail, Stephen and Mary.

Alice may have been the daughter of William Peck who owned land in East Saybrook.  There doesn’t seem to be a connection to our Rehoboth Pecks Rev. Robert PECK and Joseph PECK. He is not connected to the Van Peeks. According to Savage he was a London merchant. There were lots of William Pecks, but this one had a son Jeremiah who was perhaps born in London, and 3 children born in the colonies. Since there are more than 10 years between Jeremiah’s birth and the ones born here there is lots of room to add Alice. Jeremiah was born in 1623, so perhaps Alice was born about 1625. There is no marriage record of Bal and Alice. There is no birth record of Alice. Alice could not be in her father’s will for she had already died, and she already had received her dower.

Bal sold part of her dower to her brother Jeremiah Peck, who was the minister in Saybrook for a short time, and her brother Joseph, who owned the property adjacent to the De Wolfs, witnessed the deed. Virgil tells us that the Huntleys lived on one side of Bal and Alice, who lived on the other side?

I decided that Alice was Bal’s wife because her property showed that her father owned land in Saybrook, yet no Saybrook proprietor had a daughter Alice. The answer is simple. When most of Saybrook moved to Norwich, a lot of land was purchased by outsiders, including William Peck. The deeds show he owned land on the east side at Brides Plaine and the Cove. He gave some of his land outside the fort and a hundred and fifty pound right at Saybrook to Alice as her dower. When Jeremiah Peck resigned, the de Wolfs returned to Saybrook from Wethersfield. Jeremiah sold one lot to his neighbor, one of the Lord family. After he left, Joseph and the De Wolfs were in possession of a hundred and fifty pound right. This was about the time the Love Parting created Lyme, so there were no record keepers yet in Lyme.

The fact that Joseph owned a fifty pound right and a lot on Lyme Rd. shows up in his first deed giving him a new land, and Baltazar is recorded in the grant book with a hundred pound right. However at the first division of the commons, he was only given land for a fifty pound right “in his wife’s right.” It appears that Alice and Bal each controled a fifty pound right. This can be proven by the fact that he was given only a ten acre lot in each division. If he had a hundred pound right, he would have gotten twenty acres each time. He sold his land from the first three divisions of the commons to Henry Champion, but Alice seems to have taken her share at Duck River. The De Wolf lots were never surveyed until Alice gave her original lot to her son Edward, adjoining the lot of Joseph.

Henry Champion Jr – Headstone  Burial: Duck River Cemetery Old Lyme New London County Connecticut,

5. Thomas Champion

Thomas’s wife Hannah Brockway was born 14 Sep 1664 in Lyme, New London, CT. Her parents were Wolston Brockway and Hannah Briggs. After Thomas died, she married 21 Jun 1709 in Lyme, New London, CT to John Wade (b. 1663 in Lyme – d. 24 Mar 1728 in Lyme). Hannah died 2 Mar 1750 in Lyme, New London, CT.

7. Rachel Champion

Rachel’s huband John Tanner was born 1651 in Middlesex, CT.   John died in 1720 in East Haddam, Middlesex, CT.

Sources:

http://www.gulbangi.com/5families-o/p16.htm#i400

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hubbard/NNY_index/champion.html

http://genforum.genealogy.com/dewolf/messages/671.html

http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/13935922/person/34358616

Posted in 12th Generation, 90+, Immigrant - England, Line - Miner, Pioneer | Tagged | 7 Comments

Robert McConahey

Robert McCONAHEY (1767 – 1847)  is Alex’s 6th Great Grandfather, one of 128 in this generation of the Miner line.

Convoy Parish County Donegal, Northern Ireland

Robert McConahey was born 1767 in Convoy, County Donegal, Ireland.  Robert went from Scotland to Ireland and from there came to the United States and lived for a period in Chester County near Philadelphia. It is said that he walked from Philadelphia to Crawford County near the town of Westford , PA and took up a tract of land. He returned to Chester County and married Margret STORY in 1797 and then returned to Crawford county to live permanently.  Robert died 24 Oct 1847 or 24 Nov 1846 in South Shenango, Crawford, Pennsylvania.

Crawford County

South Shenango Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania

Margaret Story was born in 1777 in  Convoy, Donegal, Ireland. Alternatively, she was born in Letterkenny, Donegal, Ulster, Ireland.  Her parents were Robert STORYand Margaret “Lacey” LACKEY.   Margaret died 12 Aug 1844.

Margaret Story McConahey circa 1845

Children of Robert and Margaret:

Name Born Married Departed
1. Jane McCONAHEY 9 Oct 1799, Crawford County, PA William LATTA II
17 Jan 1822
19 Nov 1869 Cass Co., NE
2. Margaret McConnaughey 1803
Crawford, PA
William Story (Margaret’s cousin and David’s brother) 4 Mar 1888 Conneaut Twp., Ashtabula Co., Ohio
3. Mary Elizabeth McConahey 31 Jan 1804 South Shenango, Crawford, PA John A, Latta
(Wiliam’s brother)
9 Mar 1801 Crawford County, PA
23 Apr 1904 Herman, Washington, NE
4. James McConahey 1807,
Jamestown PA
10 Nov 1834 Jamestown, PA
5. Anna McConahey 1809 John McKissick (William’s brother
6. Isabelle McConahey c. 1810, South Shenango Twp, PA William McKissick (John’s brother) 22 May 1849 South Shenango Twp, PA
7. Sarah McConahey 1811 David Story (Sarah’s cousin and William’s brother) Aft 1880 census, Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska
8. Matthew McConahey c. 1812, Crawford County, PA 1828 Crawford County, PA
9. John McConahey c. 1813, Crawford County, PA 1839
Crawford County, PA
10. Robert McConahey Aug 1813, South Shenango, Crawford, PA Margaret McDowell Lackey
3 Aug 1838 Crawford, Pennsylvania
.
Martha Ann Sloan
10 Jun 1851 Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania
28 Apr 1909 South Shenango, Crawford, PA

Robert’s grandson John McConnaha said Robert’s father, whose name he could not recall served with his five brothers under King William in the war between the Protestants and Catholics of Scotland and England, and probably spent his last years in Scotland. I think this must have been an earlier ancestor because William III died in 1702 and Robert was not born for another 65 years.

Robert McConahey circa 1845

Robert McConahey circa 1845

When Robert  came to America he spelled the name McConnaughey but somewhere along the line he changed the spelling to McConahey.  All the papers relating to him and his family spell the name McConahey. On his grave marker and others in South Shenango the name is spelled McConahey.

From Reminiscences of Pioneer Life By Robert Ray Latta (Robert McConahey’s grandson) 1912

1 May 1798 – Deed for 200 acres delivered to Robert McConahey

The Shenango  township lies mostly within the Pennsylvania Population Land District, and the following persons agreed at the time mentioned to settle the various tracts within a few days from the date of contract, and were to receive the following amounts of land: Tract 794, Robert STORY [Robert’s father-in-law], 1 May  1798, 200 acres, deed delivered August 17, 1808 Tract  795, Robert McCONAHEY , 1 May 1798, 200 acres, settled under contract.

Shenango Township

Quoted from History of Crawford County, Bates, 1899 Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh

Robert McConahey was a native of Ireland who settled in Westmoreland County. In 1798 he arrived in South Shenango with knapsack and camp kettle on his back, and settled upon a farm which he afterward occupied. He built a rough cabin and, leaving some of his possessions within it returned to Westmoreland County for horses, sheep and cattle which he drove before him over the mountains. Upon his arrival he found that Indians had broken in and stolen his clothes and dishes during his absence.

McConahey Society of America, Annual Bulletin, Number 1, January 1963

Robert McConaughey (1) of this group and his wife, Margaret Story, May well be found to belong to one or the other of groups here listed. Robert McConaughey (1) was born in 1767, and came to America after the Revolution but before 1797. The legendary story of this family compares with similar versions in other lines, which may assist us eventually in a “tying” together. This group E family originated in Scotland where they fought with Robert Bruce at the Battle of Bannock burn. Six brothers, each more than six feet tall, marched three on the right hand and three on the left hand of the Bruce; and after the battle four lay dead on the field. Other versions say the were all red-headed!

Children

1. Jane McCONAHEY (See William LATTA II ‘s page)

2. Margaret McConahey

Margaret’s husband William Story was born in 1795 in Venango, Pennsylvania. He was Margaret’s 1st cousin.  His parents were Robert Story and Ann Read His grandparents were  Robert STORY and Margaret [__?__]. His brother David Story married Margaret’s sister Sarah. William died 1 Jan 1880, Conneaut, Ashtabula, Ohio of paralysis.

In the 1850 census, William and Margaret were farming in Cornplanter, Venango, Pennsylvania.  They had a couple of borders, but no children listed.

In the 1870 census, William and Margaret Story were living in Conneaut, Astabula County, Ohio.  Conneaut is the extreme northeast corner of Ohio on the shore of Lake Erie, touching Pennsylvania.  William, 75 years old was listed as a farmer. Margaret was 67 years old and Anna  Story living with them was 30 years old. William and Margaret were born in PA however both William and Margaret list their mother and father as of foreign birth. In the 1880 census Margaret was still living in Conneaut with Anna R Story listed as a niece who is 36 years of age.

3. Mary Elizabeth McConahey

Mary’s husband John A, Latta was born 9 Mar 1801 in Crawford County PA. He was William’s brother and his parents were William L. LATTA and Elizabeth RANKIN.  John died 1 Nov 1884 in Herman, Washington, Nebraska.

Mary Elizabeth

• Resided on 10 Oct 1850 in Division 20, Washington, Iowa.

• Resided on 30 Jun 1860 in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska Territory.

• Resided on 25 Jun 1880 in Rosita, Custer, Colorado

• Was housewife on 25 Jun 1880 in Rosita, Custer, Colorado

• Resided at the home of her daughter and son-in-law Isabel & Stephen Davis on 26 Jun 1900 in Herman, Washington, Nebraska

• Lived to be 100 years

Mary Elizabeth McConahey Latta

From and including: Tuesday, January 31, 1804 To and including: Saturday, April 23, 1904 is 36,608 days

Or 100 years, 2 months, 24 days
OR 3,162,931,200 seconds
52,715,520 minutes
878,592 hours
5229 weeks (rounded down)

John was the only brother to be born in the United States Born at Crawford Co., Pa. March 9, 1801.  He married Mary Ann McConahey (sister to Jane McConahey LATTA) on 2 Jan, 1834.

From a letter from John’s brother Thomas to another brother Moses telling of the death of their mother on 23 May 1846.

When I arrived in Shenango (Pa.) I found brother  William had started with all his family (except [our ancestor] Robert) for the neighborhood of Madison, Ind. with a design of getting up the cooleage business there in the barrell line, expecting to make a fortune and pay off all his debts in a short time.  He went from Shenango in very low circumstances, and left a number of his friends to suffer on his account.  … Brother John has left his old station, and rented the old Allen farm.  He gets along hardly enough.  He is involved some on William’s account.

From “Reminiscences of pioneer life.” By John’s son Robert (Freck) Latta 1912.

.

.

Our sister and sister-in-law Mary Elizabeth McConahey Latta  (30 Jan 1804 – 23 Apr 1904)

He had a residence on 10 Oct 1850 in Division 20, Washington, Iowa. He had a residence on 30 Jun 1860 in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska Territory. He had a residence on 25 Jun 1880 in Rosita, Custer, Colorado.

John Latta Mary McConahey Latta Gravestone – New England Cemetery
Blair, Washington County, Nebraska

Children of John and Mary Elizabeth:

i. James McConahey Latta b. 22 Sep 1834 in Crawford County, Pa.; d. 03 Feb 1920 in Logan, Harrison County, Iowa; buried Logan Cemetery; m. 16 Nov 1867 to Anna Jane Kendall (174 Feb 1838 Illinois – 12 Mar 1897 in Logan, Harrison County, Iowa; buried Logan Cemetery)

Anna Jane Kendall Latta, circa 1870

Anna Jane Kendall Latta, circa 1870

James McConahey Latta enlisted in “B” Co. 29th Iowa. Inf. in 1862.  Engaged in 16 battles, coming out without a scar.  Was shot at the Battle of Saline River.  The ball passed through his body.  Left on the battle field for dead, and was so reported.  The Union forces being driven back, was picked up by the Confederates, carried to Shreveport, La.  Was in prison for 18 months.  The first news the family had of him was when he came crippling home.

Lamed for life. Sawyer and farmer. Lived on a farm three miles west of Logan, Iowa until the death of his wife, then with his children. James and Anna are both buried at the Logan Cemetery, Harrison Co, Iowa.

1891 Harrison County Iowa History, PP.682,683

James M. Latta, who has been a resident of Harrison County for a quarter of a century, and who is now a resident of section 15, Calhoun Township, forms the subject of this sketch.

He was born in Crawford County, Pa., September 22, 1834, and is the son of Hohn and Mary (McConahey) Latta. The father was of Scotch ancestory, born in 1801, and had a family of four daughters and three sons, of whom our subject was the oldest child. When he was about ten years of age his patents emigrated to Carroll County, Ohio, and a year and a half later to Iowa.

They first located at Des Moines and drifted about the state, living in Washibgton, Monroe, Page, Mills and Harrison Counties. From Page County the moved to Cass County, Neb., then moved back to Iowa, and subsequently yo Washington County, Neb., where the father died, October 27, 1884. The mother is still living at the advanced age of eighty-eight.

When in Cass County, Neb., our subject in the autumn of 1862, enlisted in Company B, Twenty-ninth Iowa Infantry, and served until June 17, 1865, receiving his discharge at Davenport, Iowa, June 17, 1865. He at once came to Mills County, Iowa, and from there to Harrison County as above related.
November 16, 1867, just after he returned from the war, he married Anna J. Kendall, a native of Illinois, born February 17, 1837. She was the oldest of a family of nine children, born to William and Martha Kendall, who were of Scotch descent.
Mr. and Mrs. Latta are the parents of six children.

Politically, our subject is a firm supporter of the Republican party, “voting as he shot!” Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian Church, and he is a member of Fuller Post, G.A.R. at Logan.

James was listed twice inn the 1880 census, once living with his parents in Rosita, Custer, Colorado and again living with Anna and six of his children in Calhoun, Harrison, Iowa.

James McConahey Latta

ii. Robert Ray “Freck” Latta b. 4 Mar 1836 in Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania; d. 18 Sep 1925 in Garrison, Christian, Missouri; m. 7 Apr 1857 Weldon Grove, Missouri to Mary Anna Cain (b. 18 May 1822 Beaver County, Pennsylvania – d. 20 Jun 1909 Garrison, Christian County, Missouri) Her parents were James Cain (1787 Beaver County, Pennsylvania – 27 Aug 1850 Meigs County, Ohio) and Nancy “Agnes” McElhaney. Mary Anna first married Nelson Edson (1820 – 1857) and had seven children including George Chandler Edson (1845-1932) who married Freck’s cousin Margaret J McConahey (See below) Mary Anna’s brother Pressley married Freck’s sister Margaret.  Her parents were James Cain (1787 Beaver County, Pennsylvania – 27 Aug 1850 Meigs County, Ohio) and Nancy “Agnes” McElhaney.

Mary and her husband, Nelson, her mother Agnes, and two brothers including Pressley Martin Cain who married Freck’s sister Margaret Storey Latta (see below) were traveling in Keokuk, Iowa on their way west when Nelson died from Cholera. Mary was pregnant with their youngest child at the time. She married Freck in April 1857 in Page Co., Iowa and they had five more children. They eventually settled in Christian County in south Missouri, and they are buried in Garrison.

Freck wrote a book entitled “Reminiscences of Pioneer Life” published in 1912 by Franklin Hudson, Kansas City, MO.(no longer in print) The following is an excerpt from the book, page 162:

“Freck, like thousands of others, surely lost his head over holes in the ground, which were called “mines.” In the process Mary and Freck’s babies all married, except their “baby boy” and Florence, the sweet little baby girl who was born in the dark, shady woods while the cannon down in the South-land belched forth fires of death and a loaded musket stood by the bedside. For twenty years Freck trailed over the ranges, and up and down the canyons and the gulches, at times working for a “grub-stake,” and again digging holes in the ground and panning dirt by the streams,, and living in cabins and tents and covered wagons. And Mary stayed with Freck through all these long and weary years, and shared his discouragements, his failures, his hopes, his cabins, his tents, and his covered wagon homes in the Rocky Mountains. And in the evenings, while the mountain wind sobbed and moaned in the pines or shivered through the aspen groves, with a miner’s glass they would examine the bits of rock and be almost persuaded that the hidden treasure was almost within their grasp. From the far north to the far south end of the Rocky Mountains, thousands of men were doing as Freck was doing, and meeting with the same disappointments; and many grew discouraged and reckless, and became dissolute gamblers and drunkards, and went to the dogs. But during all these years Freck never stood at the bar and drank a glass of whiskey, nor played a game of cards, nor crossed the threshold of a dance-hall; no, thank God! not once; because Mary stayed with him and was his guardian angel.

For three years Freck worked in a lumbering-camp in the Rocky Mountains and dug no holes in the ground, and had gotten together fifteen hundred dollars in gold and three teams; for Freck and Mary worked with their might and early, and late.

Then they, by a schemer, were induced to turn their faces to the south and take up land under the great Toas…..”

Freck and Mary eventually settled in southern Missouri, in Garrison, Christian County where it is believed, but not proven, that Freck had family. They are buried in the Garrison cemetery, their graves being one of the oldest.

Freck’s Boyhood Home from Reminiscences of Pioneer Life by R Latta – Google Books

Robert Ray “Freck” (on account of his freckles) got a job in 1852 at the age of 16,  carrying the United States mail by horseback between Washington and Bloomfield, Iowa, a distance of 80 miles.  The round trip had to be made in four days, a ride of 40 miles a day and the compensation was $480 a year.  He noted that he rode through prairie and gloomy woods 84 times and only met one horseman, one team and a band of Indians.  A few years later Freck and his family moved by wagon train across the  State to Page County, Iowa, where they built a log cabin and settled in.   In 1860 they went to Cass Co., Neb. and in 1861 to Mills Co., Iowa and in 1870 to Silver Cliff, Colo.  He was a miner.  In 1898 lived at Colorado Springs, Colo.  Wrote a book, “Reminiscences of Pioneer Life – Google Books“, published in 1912.  Click here for a review and excerpt.  It’s a fun read in a jaunty style as you can see from the preface.

Reminiscences of pioneer life – Preface.

In the late fall of 1856, another prairie schooner arrived with Pressley Martin Cain (Press), his widowed mother Nancy Agnes Cain and his sister, Mary Anna Cain Edson. His father, James Cain, had been a Scotch seceder and a soldier who fought under General Harrison in the War of 1812. With winter approaching, Freck’s mother invited the Cains to move into their cabin until they could build their own home in the spring.

According to information, Mary was eleven years older than Freck and had four children by her first husband, named Edson, who had died of cholera. m. Mrs. Mary A. Edson, nee Cain, sister to his sister Margaret’s husband, April 7, 1857, in Page Co., Iowa. She died on a farm on Ozark Mts. June 20, 1909. They were the first couple married in Valley Tp., Iowa. In 1860 they went to Cass Co., Neb. and in 1861 to Mills Co., Iowa and in 1870 to Silver Cliff, Colo. Miner. In 1898 lived at Colorado Springs, Colo. Wrote a book, Robert and Mary are buried in the Garrison Cemetery, Christian County, Missouri. Their tombstones read: Mary Latta, 1824-1909, and Robert R. Latta, March 4, 1836 – Sept. 1925. In the 1920 Census, Robert was listed as living in Garrison, Christian County, MO. He was 83 years old. He was living with his daughter, Florence M. Cain, age 56, and his grandson, James R. Cain, age 14…

Reminiscences of pioneer life 5..

In the 1880 census, Robert R and Mary A were living in Rosita, Custer, Colorado with five children where Robert was a lumber dealer.

Robert Ray (Freck) Latta

iii. Margaret Storey Latta b. 26 Feb 1839 near Jamestown, Pennsylvania; d. 22 Jun 1941 in Oakland, Douglas, Oregon; m.9 Apr 1857 Clarinda, Page, Iowa to Pressley Martin Cain (b. 26 Feb 1838 in Beaver City, Beaver, Pennsylvania – d. 9 Jul 1911 in Douglas, Oregon); Pressley’s sister Mary Anna married Margaret’s brother Freck.  His parents were James Cain (1787 Beaver County, Pennsylvania – 27 Aug 1850 Meigs County, Ohio) and Nancy “Agnes” McElhaney.

Mary Cain Edson and her husband, Nelson Edson, her mother Agnes Cain, and two brothers including Pressley Martin Cain were traveling in Keokuk, Iowa on their way west when Nelson died from Cholera. Mary was pregnant with their youngest child at the time. She married Freck in April 1857 in Page Co., Iowa and they had five more children. They eventually settled in Christian County in south Missouri, and they are buried in Garrison.

In the late fall of 1856, another prairie schooner arrived with Pressley Martin Cain (Press), his widowed mother Nancy Agnes Cain and his sister, Mary Anna Cain Edson. His father, James Cain, had been a Scotch seceder and a soldier who fought under General Harrison in the War of 1812. With winter approaching, Freck’s mother invited the Cains to move into their cabin until they could build their own home in the spring.

Presley enlisted in the Iowa 4th Light Artillery Battery on 29 Jul 1863. He received a disability discharge on 15 Jan 1865 at Thibodeaux, LA.

In the 1880 census, Presley and Margaret were living in Rosita, Custer, Colorado.

Margaret Story Latta 1

iv. William McCobb Latta b. 1840 Somerset, Pennsylvania; d. 6 Oct 1863 in Little Rock, Arkansas,

William also enlisted in 1862 in “B” Co. 29th Iowa Inf. After campaigning through Mo. and Tenn. while on a long march through the swamps of Arkansas he was seized with a virulent fever, fell out of the ranks, lay in the woods with three others for three days, was picked up by a supply train, taken into Little Rock, Ark. where he died the next day, October 6, 1863.

v. John Erskine Latta b. 22 Jan 1842 – Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania; m. his first cousin Margaret E. Storey (b. 1842) (See below)

He had a residence on 10 Oct 1850 in Division 20, Washington, Iowa.

He resided at the home of his aunt and uncle William & Jane Latta on 30 Jun 1860 in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska Territory.

John enlisted in the 4th Iowa Battery (field artillery) in 1862.

In the 1885 Iowa census, John and Margaret were farming in Atlantic, Cass, Iowa with five children ages 5 to 20 at home They resided at Corner Eighth Street and Hazel Streets. In 1897 John lived near Plattsmouth, Cass County, NE.

Other researchers say John died 31 Mar 1863. But he was found in the Iowa State Census in 1885 living in Atlantic, Cass, Iowa with his wife and children.

vi. Mary Elizabeth Latta b. 2 Mar 1845 in Jamestown, Mercer, Pennsylvania; d. 28 Dec 1932 in Herman, Washington, Nebraska; m. 25 Sep 1862 to her cousin Dr. John McConaha (b.10 Dec 1838 in Near Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania – d. 07 Mar 1920 in Fulton, Callaway, Missouri). His parents were Robert McConahey and Margaret McDowell Lackey (See below). His grandparents were Robert McCONAHEY and Margret STORY.

John chose the spelling, McConnaha. His grandaughter, Margaret Ball, she said that when his mother, Margaret Lackey died and his father married Martha Sloan that he was angry and changed his name. No other person in the family used this name. However, because he was a well known physician and people knew he was these people, some, even the press, assumed that was the correct spelling. An example is Mary Elizabeth Latta’s obituary spells her name McCopnnaha, but her tombstone says McConahey.

In the 1880 census, John and Mary were farming in Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska with six children ages 4 to 16.

vii. Isabelle (Belle) F Latta b. 16 Mar 1847 – , Carroll, Ohio; d. 14 Aug 1906 – Herman, Washington, Nebraska; m. 25 Sep 1862 Plattsmouth, Cass, Nebraska to Stephen Davis (May 1835 Pennsylvania – 1911)

She had a residence on 10 Oct 1850 in Division 20, Washington, Iowa.

She had a residence on 30 Jun 1860 in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska Territory.

She had a residence on 26 Jun 1900 in Herman, Washington, Nebraska with her husband, two children and 96 year old mother on her way for her century.

5. Anna McConahey

Anna’s husband John McKissick was born about 1805 in Pennsylvania. His brother William married Anna’s sister Isabelle. Their parents were Daniel McKissick (b. Scotland) and Jane Moore. Alternatively their parents were John McKissick and Isabelle McFate

In the 1850 census, John and Anna were farming in District 13, Wapello, Iowa

Children of Anna and John

i. Thomas McKissick b. 1831 PA; d. 1885; m. Bef. 1876 tp Eliza D Duncan (b. 1858 Pennsylvania – Aft 1920 census) Note that Eliza was 27 years younger than Thomas.

In the 1870 census, Thomas was a single farm laborer in St Vrain, Weld, Colorado Territory living with the James & Cornelia Mills family. In the 1880 census, Thomas and Eliza were living in Weld, Colorado. Thomas suffered from paralysis of the spine. His 30 year old cousin Daniel Story (see below) was living with the family and mining for silver. In the 1910 census, Eliza was a widow and living with her son John in Denver, Colorado.

ii. Isabell McKissick b. 1836 PA; d. Aft 1850 census District 13, Wapello, Iowa. Isabelle’s cousin (see below) was born at almost the same time

iii. Robert McCissick b. 1837 PA In the 1860 census, Robert was a single farmer near Clarinda, Nodaway, Page, Iowa

iv. John W. McCissick b. 17 Dec 1840 in Pennsylvania John’s cousin of the same name was born in 1838 (See below); d. 4 Feb 1917 in Oakland, California; m. 1866 to Mary Jane Canaday (b. 22 Feb 1843  Vermilion, Illinois – d.  9 Apr 1920 Oakland, California)

In the 1870 census, John and Mary were farming near Burlington, St Vrain, Weld, Colorado Territory with three young children ages 2 to 4 near his brothers Thomas and James

In the 1900 census, John and Mary were farming in Sierra Township, Tehama, California. Red Bluff is the seat of Tehama county, but I’m still trying to find out where Sierra Township was. By 1910, John, Mary and Nettie had moved to Santa Rosa.

v. William McCissick b. 1844 PA

vi. James McKissick b. 1850 PA James cousin of the same name was born in 1849.(See below). In the 1870 census, James was single and living near his brothers Thomas and John in St Vrain, Weld, Colorado Territory.

vii. Claus McKissick

6. Isabelle McConahey

Isabelle’s husband William McKissick was born about 1805 in Pennsylvania. His brother John married Isabelle’s sister Anna. Their parents were Daniel McKissick (b. Scotland) and Jane Moore. Alternatively their parents were John McKissick and Isabelle McFate

In the 1850 census, William and Isabella were farming in French Creek, Mercer, Pennsylvania

In the 1870 census, William and Isabel were farming in Cornplanter, Venango, Pennsylvania

Children of William and Isabelle (Note: some of these children’s records say their mother was Isabelle Carey, but do not provide any detail on her background)

i. Mary J. McKissick b. 10 Feb 1833 in Pennsylvania; d. 28 Feb 1862; m. George Frederick Mallard (b. 08 Mar 1822 in France – d. 02 Feb 1891 in Meadeville, Crawford, Pennsylvania) George Frederick and Mary had three children Joseph (1855 – 1932), Alexander (1858 – 1942 and Mary Isabella (1860 – 1938). By the 1870 census, George Frederick had remarried to Caroline Pernet (Pernatt) (b. 1824 Marne, France) and was still farming in Wayne, Crawford, Pennsylvania. Ancestry.com shows a marriage record for Louise-Caroline-Adele PERNET

Marne, France. Maybe George Frederick went back home to find a second wife.

ii. Isabella “Belle” McKissick b. Dec 1835 in Pennsylvania Isabelle’s cousin (see above) was born at almost the same time; d. 1911 in New Lebanon, Mill Creek, Mercer, Pennsylvania; m. 1859 to Abraham Blatt (b. 14 Jul 1833 in Pennsylvania – d. 1894 in Berks County, Pennsylvania) His parents were Peter Blatt (1801 – 1867) and Rachel Beidler (1802 – ).

Abraham enlisted as a Corporal on 27 June 1863 at the age of 29. in Company K, 55th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania He mustered Out Company K, 55th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania on 26 Aug 1863. The 55th Pennsylvania Infantry Regiment lost 7 officers and 201 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded and 3 officers and 268 enlisted men to disease during the Civil War.

In the 1880 census, Abraham and Isabelle were living in New Lebanon, Mercer, Pennsylvania where Abraham was a wagon maker.

iii. John McKissick b. 1838 PA John’s cousin of the same name was born in 1840 (See above); m. 1867 to Melissa Arabelle Morrison (b. 14 Apr 1839 in Pennsylvania – d. Aft 1920 census) Her parents were Isaiah Morrison (1806 – 1868) and his cousin Matilda Morrison (1817 – 1877).

In the 1900 census, John and Adelia were farming in Columbus, Warren, Pennsylvania.

iv. Nathaniel McKissick b. 1839 PA; d. May 1850 in Mill Creek, Mercer, Pennsylvania

v. Elizabeth McKissick b. 1841 in Cornplanter, Venango, Pennsylvania; d. 23 May 1896;

vi. Sarah McKissick b. 1843 PA

vii. Susan McKissick b. 1845 PA

viii. William Henry McKissick b. 19 Dec 1846 Pennsylvania; d. 16 Dec 1926 New Castle, Lawrence, Pennsylvania; m. 1 Feb 1866 Clarion County, Pennsylvania to Mary Elizabeth “Eliza” Burns (b. Oct 1846 in Pennsylvania – d. 1926)

It’s possible this William’s parents were Henry McKissick and Mary Lucinda Wallace, but in the 1870 census William and Eliza were living with his parents near Oil City, Cornplanter, Venango, Pennsylvania.

In the 1900 census, William and Mary were living in Newcastle Ward 4, Lawrence, Pennsylvania with five children at home ages 6 to 28. William was a quarry boss and his oldest son Richard was foreman.

ix. James McKissick b. 1849 PA James cousin of the same name was born in the 1850.(See above).

7. Sarah McConahey

Sarah’s husband David Story was born about 1810 in Pennsylvania He was Sarah’s first cousin. His parents were Robert Story and Ann Read. His grandparents were Robert STORY and Margaret Lacey LACKEY. His brother William Story married Sarah’s sister Margaret. David died between 1860 and 1870 in Cass County, Nebraska.

In the 1840 census, David and Anna were farming in South Shenango Township, Crawford, County, Pennsylvania.

In the 1850 census, David and Sarah were farming in South Shenango Township, Crawford County with eight children at home.

Story, David – age 40 born in PA farmer
Sarah – age 39 born in PA
Ann R. – age 11 born in PA
Margaret – age 9 born in PA
Robert – age 8 born in PA
William I. – age 6 born in PA
Alexander M. – age 4 born in PA
Sarah M. – age 2 born in PA
David E. – age 2 born in PA
Daniel M. L. – age 1/12 born in PA
(Robert R. and David Story lived next door to each other, with James Story only two houses over in this census.).

David came to Nebraska Territory in 1857, settling on a claim in Cass county about one mile southeast of Murray.

The History of the United Presbyterian Church, Murray, Nebraska, 1860-1960 by Margaret Spangler Todd

“According to appointment of the General Assembly of the United Presbyterian Church made at Philadelphia in May 1860 I came a missionary to Nebraska Territory in July and commenced preaching half time in Rock Bluff Cass County.” Thus Rev. Thomas McCartney entered the first minutes in the Session Records of the Rock Bluffs United Presbyterian Church.

The next item entered was dated August 18, 1860, reading: “By arrangement with those who requested preaching August 18th was designated as the time for the organizing a church. And on the day appointed, after a sermon from Matthew 11:29 the following people were admitted in full communion by assenting to the pricinples of the church, to wit: Robert M. LATTA [our ancestor and David Story’s first cousin] Letitia LATTA [Robert’s wife], William L. Thompson, Hanna E. Thompson, William H. Royal, Elizabeth Royal, David Storey  , Jane Latta and Mary Latta.” Also Robert M. LATTA and W.L. Thompson were, by ballot, chosen as ruling elders and the organization named “The United Presbyterian Congregation of Rock Bluffs.”

The following Act of Legislature was approved January 4, 1861: “To incorporate The United Presbyterian Church at Rock Bluffs City: Section I – Be it enacted by the council and the house of representatives of the Territory of Nebraska, that Joh Latta [Robert’s brother John Allison], William H. Royal, David Storey,  Robert M. LATTA and William L. Thompson and their associates and successors, the members of the United Presbyterian Church of Rock Bluffs City, Cass County, be, and the same are hereby created a body politic and corporate, under the name style and title to remain in perpetual succession with full power to plead and be impleaded, to sue and be sued, to receive, acquire hold and possess property, real, person and mixed; to use, employ, manage and dispose of all such property as they deem proper for use and well being of said church and in consistent with the provisions of said act, to elect such trustees and other officers and make such rules and by-laws as they deem proper provided always, that they do any act or make any rule or by-law which shall in any way conflict with t he constitution of the United States or doctrine or usages of the United Presbyterian Church of the United States of America.”.

1860 Census David and Sarah were farming in Nebraska – Cass County – Plattsmouth They were fairly prosperous RE – $7,200, PP-$400    Their farm as adjacent to that of Robert Story (b. 1815 Ireland) and  his wife Ann Jane.

In the 1870 census, Sarah was a widow farming in Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska with her children Robert, William, Alexander and Sarah.

In the 1880 Nebraska census, Sarah was living with her son-in-law and daughter H.L. and Sarah Oldham in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska.

Children of David and Sarah

i. Ann R Story b. 1840 PA; d. Aft 1860 census Cass, Nebraska Territory

ii. Margaret Story b. 1842 PA Aft 1860 census Cass, Nebraska Territory; m. her first cousin John Erskine Latta ( b. 22 Jan 1842 – Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania) (See above)

John resided at the home of his aunt and uncle William & Jane Latta on 30 Jun 1860 in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska Territory.

John enlisted in the 4th Iowa Battery (field artillery) in 1862.

In the 1885 Iowa census, John and Margaret were farming in Atlantic, Cass, Iowa with five children ages 5 to 20 at home They resided at Corner Eighth Street and Hazel Streets. In 1897 John lived near Plattsmouth, Cass County, NE

iii. Robert Story b. 1842 PA; d. Aft 1870 census Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska

iv. William J Story b. 1844 PA; d. Aft 1870 census Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska

v. Alexander M. Story b. Mar 1846 PA m. 1889 to Florence M. [__?__] (b. May 1868 Wisconsin)

In the 1900 census, Alecxander M and Florence were living in Cripple Creek, Teller, Colorado where Alexander was mining gold. By the 1920 census, Alexander M and Florence M were back in South Shenango, Crawford, Pennsylvania.

vi. Sarah “Sadie” M Story b. 1848 PA; d. Aft 1920 Census, Murray, Cass, Nebraska; m. 1872 Missouri to Humphrey Lee Oldham (b. 1845 in Chariton, Missouri – d. betw. 1910-1920 in Cass, Nebraska) His parents were Jackson Goodman Oldham (1813 – 1890) and Mary Abbott “Polly” Jackson (1817 – 1894).

In the 1900 census, Humphrey and Sadie were farming in Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska

vii. David Story b. 1848 d. bef. 1855 David was apparently the twin brother of Sarah M.

viii. Isabel Jane Story d. before 1855 Two children of David and Sarah Story are buried in the South Shenango Cemetery, David I and Isabel Jane. David was apparently the twin brother of Sarah M. The dates of their deaths can not be determined but they died around 1855 prior to the family leaving for Nebraska..

ix. Danial M Story b. 1850 PA

In 1880 Daniel was a silver miner in Weld Colorado with his cousin Thomas McKissick

In the 1900 census, Daniel was living with his sister and brother-in-law Sadie and Humphrey Oldham in Rock Bluffs Nebraska. His occupation is listed as gold miner, though there isn’t much gold in Rock Bluffs.

10. Robert McConahey

Robert’s first wife Margaret McDowell Lackey was born 04 May 1818 in Fallowfield Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania.   Her parents were Robert Lackey(b. 1790 in Pennsylvania – d. 16 Aug 1845 in Conneault Lake, Sadbury, Crawford, Pennsylvania) and Mary Kelly (b. 1794 in Carlisle, Cumberland, Pennsylvania – d. 23 Dec 1857 in Fallowfield, Crawford, Pennsylvania)   Her grandparents were Hugh Lackey “Leckie” (b. 1750 in Ulster, Ireland – d. 25 Jan 1832 in Salem, Mercer, Pennsylvania) and Julia Mc Dowell (b.1765 Ulster, Ireland – ).  Margaret died 14 Oct 1850 in South Shenango Twp, Crawford, PA.

Robert’s grandmother was  Margaret Lacey LACKEY.   I wonder if Robert and Margaret were cousins.

Two of Margaret’s brothers and sisters had McConahey for a middle name. Janette McConaughey Lackey (b. 27 Dec 1821 in Fallowfield, Crawford, Pennsylvania – d. 9 May 1851 in E Fallowfield, Crawford, Pennsylvania) and David Mconahy Lackey (b. 26 Sep 1830 in Greenwood, Crawford, Pennsylvania – d. 29 Mar 1863 in Osawatomie, Miami, Kansas) David M Lackey enlisted in Company D, 10th Infantry Regiment Kansas on 21 Apr 1862. David died of disease Company D, 10th Infantry Regiment Kansas on 1 Feb 1863 at Osawatomie, KS. The regiment lost a total of 146 men during service; 2 officers and 26 enlisted men killed or mortally wounded, 4 officers and 114 enlisted men died of disease.

Another of Margaret’s brothers had Story for a middle name! William Storey Lackey (b. 10 Aug 1837 in Greenwood, Crawford, Pennsylvania – d. 26 Oct 1864 in Florence, Florence, South Carolina) William enlisted in Company F, Pennsylvania 101st Infantry Regiment on 19 Nov 1861. The regiment was mostly captured on Apr 20, 1864 at the Siege of Plymouth. William “mustered out” as a POW on 26 Oct 1864 at Florence, SC.

Robert’s second wife Martha Ann Sloan was born 22 Jan 1829, Her parents were James Sloan and Katherine Imbrie. Martha died 30 Jan 1912 in South Shenango Twp, PA.

In the 1850 census, Robert and Margaret were farming in Crawford County – South Shenango Township, Crawford County, Pennsylvania.

In the 1860 census, Robert and Martha were farming (RE-$4,000, PP-$1,920) in South Shenango Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania. Margaret Lackey died in 1850 and Robert remarried in 1851. John would be 21. He graduated from College and left for Nebraska in 1859. Mary McConahey, Age 19, Teach Comm School, (Daughter of 1st marriage)

In the 1870 census, Robert and Martha were still farming (RE-$9,350, PP-$1865) in South Shenango Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania.

In the 1880 census, Robert and Martha were still living in South Shenango Township, Crawford, Pennsylvania.

Edson, Effie, age 10, grand daughter
Edson, Maggie, age 8, grand daughter

The Edson girls are the daughters of Margaret McConahey (daughter of Robert and Margaret Lackey) and George Edson. Apparently they came to live with Robert and Martha after their mother’s death in 1873.

Children of Robert and Margaret also migrated to Iowa and Nebraska in the 1850’s.

i. Dr. John McConaha b.10 Dec 1838 in Near Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania – d. 07 Mar 1920 in Fulton, Callaway, Missouri; m. his first cousin Mary Elizabeth Latta (See above)

John chose the spelling, McConnaha. His grandaughter, Margaret Ball, she said that when his mother, Margaret Lackey died and his father married Martha Sloan that he was angry and changed his name. No other person in the family used this name. However, because he was a well known physician and people knew he was these people, some, even the press,assumed that was the correct spelling. An example is Mary Elizabeth Latta’s obituary spells her name McCopnnaha, but her tombstone says McConahey.

In the 1880 census, John and Mary were farming in Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska with six children ages 4 to 1

ii. Mary Elizabeth McConahey b. 24 Feb 1841 in Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania; d. 13 Apr 1928 in Colony, Adams, Iowa; m. 1868 to Robert Countryman (b.1833 Ontario, Canada – d. 24 Sep 1919 Weeping Water Ward 1, Cass, Nebraska) He was already living in Cass County, Nebraska Territory
with Nicholas and Amanda Country, maybe his aunt and uncle, in the 1860 census, so he must have met Mary Elizabeth when she came out west to visit.

Mary McConahey Countryman,  circa 1895

In the 1880 census Robert E and Mary E were farming in Rock Bluffs, Cass, Nebraska with six children at home ages 1 month to 11 years.

iii. Margaret J McConahey b. 28 Jan 1843 in Jamestown, Crawford, Pennsylvania; d. 22 Feb 1873 in Rock Bluff, Cass, Nebraska; m. 22 Nov 1866 to George Chandler Edson (b. 17 Apr 1845 in Miegs, Ohio – d. 3 Oct 1932 in Denver, Colorado) He was one of seven children of Nelson Edson (1820 – 1857) and Mary Agnes Cain (1822 – 20 Jun 1909 Garrison Christian County, Missouri,) Mary and her husband, Nelson, her mother Agnes,and two brothers were traveling in Keokuk, Iowa on their way west when Nelson died from Cholera. Mary was pregnant with their youngest child at the time. She married (Margaret J McConahey’s cousin see above) Robert Ray Latta in April 1857 in Page Co., Iowa and they had five more children. They eventually settled in Christian County in south Missouri, and they are buried in Garrison.

George enlisted in Company C, Nebraska 1st Cavalry Battalion on 27 Apr 1864. He mustered out on 10 Jul 1865 and transferred to Company E, Nebraska 1st Cavalry Regiment on 10 Jul 1865. He was promoted to Full Bugler on 01 Mar 1866 and mustered out on 01 Jul 1866.

The battalion was attached to the District of Nebraska and operated against Indians in Nebraska and Colorado and guarded the Overland Mail routes. After the end of the Civil War the battalion was consolidated with the 1st Regiment Nebraska Volunteer Cavalry on July 10, 1865.

Duty at Fort Cottonwood, Nebraska Territory, October and November, 1864. Duty at Gillman’s Station until January, 1865. Duty at Cottonwood Springs until February, 1865, and at Gillman’s Station until July, 1865. Company “B” at Dakota City until July, 1865. Scout from Dakota City April 12–16, 1865. Scout to Middle Bow River April 22–27. Company “C” had duty at Fort Cottonwood, until July, 1865. Scout from Cottonwood May 12–14, 1865. Company “D” had duty at Omaha until February, 1865. Moved to Fort Kearney February 25 and duty until April, and at Fort Laramie until July

Margaret and George’s daughters Effie, age 10, and Maggie age 8 came to live with their grandparents in 1880 after their mother’s death in 1873.   In 1878, their son Frank  was living with his father and new wife,

After Margaret died, George married Elizabeth Hulda McNurlin (b. 27 Jun 1839 tHuntingdon, Pennsylvania; d. 7 Apr 1921 in Nehawka, Nebraskaa; Her parents were James McNurlin (1805 – 1880) and Rachel Jeffers (1803 – 1880). She had first married Levi Thrush. By the 1920 census, George was retired in Lincoln, Nebraska. (b.

.

Children of Robert and Martha

iv. James Carrough McConahay b. 10 Oct 1852 in PA; d. 04 Jan 1910 in Spokane, WA; m. 1875 to Lousia Williams (b. Oct 1854 in PA – d. 02 Jul 1924 in Spokane, WA.) Her parents were William Williams and Margaret A Newboldt

James Carroughs McConahey, circa 1885

In the 1900 census, James and Louisa were living in Kent, Portage, Ohio with five children at home ages 3 to 19 where James worked as a day laborer.

A letter written by JC McConahey, Hilltard, Wash and addressed to Martha McConahey, Westford, Crawford County., the letter is written on Northern Pacific Railway Company stationery. The envelope is postmarked Spokane, Wash, Feb 6, 1909 and stamped on back, Westford, PA, Feb 8, 1909.

Dear Folks
I have not heard any thing from you for a long time and I do not know what is the reason. You all ought to have as much time as I have I get up at 4PM get supper walk 3/4 of a mile take a street car and go 5 more go to work at 7 and quit at 6 get home about 7 or 1/2 past go to bed and get up at 4 again so you see how much time I have. We are not any of us very well. All have bad colds. Jim is back in the N.P. yard again and we make $6.80 when we both work, but since he has gone back to work I do not work so steady. Roy is yard master for the NP at Sabdpoint, Idaho Latta and he were up last Sat. and stayed over Sunday Effa & Babies are well.

James Carrough McConahay was impressed by preacher Billy Sunday (1862-1935)

There is great excitement here over Billy Sunday He certainly has this town going. He has a big wooden that holds 10,000 people and he has the use of the Armory across the street – which holds 3,000. He uses this for overflow meetings or for those who can’t get in the tabernacle. and this meeting is conducted by one of his assistants. Last Sunday the 24th of Jan. both were full making 13,000 people and over 5,000 were turned away. I managed to get a seat by going 1 1/2 hours before he started. His subj was Booze or get on the water wagon and at the close when he called for an expression on local option every man in the house stood up and remember this meeting was for men only Well I went to see him about 7 or 8 times and he got me all right the third time I heard him. He landed Roy and Lotta Sunday night and now thank God I am free. Louisa is so happy she can’t keep still I think it is coming to her for she has been praying for me for 30 years. All of my family are now in the fold of Christ but Jim and if could get to hear Billy he would get him too. The day Billy preached his famous Booze Sermon, He said we will sing 2 more verses more and then I am going at you. he took of his coat, collar, vest and cuffs and rolled up his sleves above his elbows. I have a great many good speakers but I never have heard Billy Sundays equal. He had a week ago over 3,000 converts and he is counting on 10,000 and I guess he will get them. Last Sunday after meeting he left here with 100 workers from Spokane for Olympia in the interests of local option and Monday eve he poured hot shot into those senators and representatives for 2 1/2 hours. He told them you pass Local Option or take your last look at the capital for if you don’t give it to us the way people want it I will come back in 4 years and stump the State and beat every one of you. Thank God for Billy Sunday. Well I must close. Write soon at least to congratulate me. Give love to all

Yours in haste

J.C.M.

P.S.
Tell Mother & daddy I’ll be there ”

v. Robert Irwin McConahay b.18 Apr 1854; d. 24 Oct 1918; m.26 Aug 1875 to Clara Adella “Dell” Collins (b. 1856 – d.Sep 1921 in Elmhurst Hospital, Hartstown, PA.)
obert married in 1875 and was living with his own family in South Shenango Twp in 1880

In the 1880 census, Robert I and Dell were farming in South Shenango Township, Crawford County, PA.

vi. Gertrude (Emma) McConahay b. 1857 PA ; d. 1924 Park Lawn Cemetery, Jamestown, Mercer County, Pennsylvania,; Unmarried

In the 1920 census, Gertrude was living with her brother-in-law and sister William P and Catherine J Johnson in West Mead, Crawford, Pennsylvania.

vii. William Story McConahay b. 06 Apr 1860 in South Shenango Twp, Crawford PA; d. Jul 1942 in Williamsfield, OH.; m.  27 Aug 1890 in Kinsman, OH, to Maude Elizabeth Lossee (b. 1867 in Kinsman, OH – d. 1948 in Williamsfield, OH) Her parents were Wallace Lossee and Ellen French.

William Story McConahey family circa 1905

William Story McConahey family circa 1905

William and Maude raised their five sons on the family farm finally leaving the farm between 1910 and 1920. The 1910 census shows the family living on the farm along with William’s mother, Martha, his brother Luther, and Rettie Little, age 28, listed as a servant. By 1920, only two of the sons remained on the farm, Wallace V (head) and William P along with Emma R Little, again listed as a servant. William and Maude relocated to Jamestown, PA and William became an insurance agent for Central Life Insurance Company of Illinois. By 1930 William and Maude had relocated to Williamsfield, Ohio. Living in the household were youngest son, Donald, 20 years old, and Retta Little, listed as a border. William’s occupation is Insurance salesman, while Don is listed as a laborer. The other brothers had moved on and had families of their own. William and Maude continued to live in Williamsfield until their deaths, William in 1942 and Maude in 1949. They are both buried in Williamsfield.

viii. Luther David McConahay b. 1863 PA

In the 1910 census, Luther was living with his brother William and his family in South Shenango, Crawford, Pennsylvania

ix. Jessie Katherine “Cate” McConahay b. 25 Apr 1864 in South Shenango Twp, PA; d. 29 Apr 1922 in Meadville, PA; m. 1884 to William P. Johnson (b. 1861 Pennsylvania – Aft 1920 census)

In the 1900 census, William P and J Kate were farming in West Shenango, Crawford, Pennsylvania.

Sources:

Reminiscences of pioneer life By Robert Ray Latta 1912.

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/c/Robert-C-Mcconahey/GENE2-0001.html

http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/m/c/c/Robert-C-Mcconahey/GENE1-0001.html

Conneaut Township History

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~ronnadumas/i1819.html#i25947

http://usgwarchives.org/maps/pa/county/crawfo/usgs/

Posted in -8th Generation, Immigrant - Scot-Irish, Line - Miner, Pioneer | Tagged , | 12 Comments

Missing Parents

7th Generation

Louis B. HORTONs Parents

Tryphosa Ames’ Parents.  Tryphosa married Louis B. HORTON.  The only information I have on them is their daughter Rebecca Tryphosa Horton’s baptism and a 1850 census record.

Anna [__?__]’s Parents.  John Morton McCAW married Anna [__?__] on  19 Sep 1822. Anna [__?__] was born in 1805 in South Carolina.  Anna (Annie) died on 7 Apr 1894 in Americus, Lyon County, Kansas.

8th Generation

The name of Roger PARKE Jr.’s wife is unknown. Some mistaken information having to do with a will of a Thomas ROBINSON  got the idea that her name was Susannah ROBINSON started but it has no basis in truth, having been researched extensively by many Parke family researchers. It has also been speculated that his wife was Jane Stout or a woman named Hannah before 1704, but this also is just speculation – so his wife’s name is unknown.

James Smith’s Parents – James  SMITH’s Parents – James Smith was born about 1769 probably in Pensylvania.  He married Anna [__?__].  They moved to Kentucky and then settled in Somers Township, Preble County Ohio in 1802.  James died about 1852 in Preble County, Ohio and is buried in Hopewell Cemetery.

Agnes [__?__] ‘s Parents – Agnes died in 1814 in Camden, Preble County, Ohio  She married Samuel PATTERSON Jr in Abbeville District, South Carolina before 1792.

Ruth Thatcher’s Parents – Charles WEBBER  Jr. was born in 1764 in Dresden, Maine. He married  Ruth THATCHER 2 Apr 1792 in Yarmouth, Maine. He also may have married Mary Sturgis whose parents were Edward STURGIS V and Mary BASSETT…  Vassalboro; Village Cemetery, North Vassalboro; and Webber Cemetery, Vassalboro,  respectively ( MOCA 4:2655 and 2684). Marriages/intentions in VR Vassalboro.

Charles Webber, Jr. m. Mary Sturgis and m. int. 2 April 1792 Ruth Thatcher of Yarmouth (p. 33)

9th Generation

William CROSS Wife Judith’s Parents – William was born in 1738 in New Hampshire.  Judith [__?__] was born about 1780 and died 18 Aug 1843.

Mary’s Dean’s Parents – Mary [__Maiden Name?__] Dean was born about 1749 in Sharon, Litchfield, Connecticut. Mary first married Isreal Dean in 1763.     She next married Elihu MINER Jr. about 1776 in Sharon, Litchfield, CT.  Her first child,  Amos Dean, was born in 5 Aug 1764 in Marlborough, Hartford, CT and Lydia Dean was born 28 Feb 1767 in Salisbury, CT.   Mary died in 1782 in East Haddam, Connecticut. Amos married Marilvah Ingham on Nov 1795. Israel Dean was born about 1740 in Colchester, New London, CT..  His parents, Seth Dean and Ann Skinner, were married 29 Oct 1721 in Colchester, CT. Isreal died in 1768 in Salisbury, CT.

Eleanor [Borden?]’s Parents – Eleanor was born in 18 July 1761. She married Thomas DeLONG in Eleanor died after the 1850 census in Caroline, New York.

Oliver Perkins Jr’s Wife’s Parents – The name of Oliver’s wife is not yet known.

Nathaniel Pease III’s Wife’s Parents – Nathaniel PEASE III was born 28 DEC 1753 Enfield, CT.   The name of his wife is not not known

10th Generation

Mary Brown’s Parents –  Mary Brown may have been born 19 Jan 1725/26 in Bradford, Essex, Mass.  She married David Dow 10 Apr 1744 in Salem NH.   Many genealogical records show her parents to be Caleb Brown and Elizabeth Jewett However, Caleb’s and Elizabeth’s Mary married Francis Peabody (Source:http://familytreemaker.genealogy.com/users/t/a/y/James-R–Taylor/GENE6-0010.html#CHILD17039619)

Hannah [__?__]’s Parents – Matthew POLLEY married Hannah [__?__] about 1720.  After Hannah died, he married Abigail Gilbert on 17 Apr 1738 at the First Church in New London, CT. Hannah [__?__] died before 1738.

Elizabeth [__?__]’s Parents.  William ALLEN married Elizabeth [__?__] about 1702.

Sophia Nichol’s Parents – Nathaniel PEASE II was born  10 Sep 1732 in Enfield, CT.    He married Sophia NICHOLS. 31 Oct 1751  Nathaniel died at sea in Suawesi Tengah, Indonesia.  Sophia Nichols was born between 1730 and 1735 in Enfield, CT.  After Nathaniel died, she married Benjamin Parsons 27 Oct 1763 in Enfield, Hartford, Connecticut. Benjamin Parsons was born 5 Mar 1729 in Enfield, Hartford, CT. His parents were Christopher Parsons and Mary Pease.  Benjamin died 13 Dec 1795 in Aroostook, Maine.

11th Generation

Sarah Saunders’ Parents – Sarah was born in 1705 in East Haddam CT.  She married John Willey II 5 Apr 1722 in East Haddam.  Sarah died in 1791 in East Haddam.

Lydia [__?__]’s Parents – Lydia  was born in 1669 in Strafford NH.   She married Joshua CROMWELL about 1699 in Dover NH. on Lydia was still alive on 19 January 1743/44 when she deeds with her husband. Both Lydia and Joshua are dead by 1752 when their children exchange deeds for their land .

Edward Jones’ Parents – Edward JONES  was born about 1685 in New York state.  He was possibly the son of Thomas JOANES of Jamaica, Long Island.  (Not the famous pirate Thomas Jones of  Jones Beach fame.)  See below for a discussion possible origins. He married Catherine DECKER about 1715 in Staten Island.  Edward died between 1735 and 1749 in Staten Island, New York

Susannah [__?__]’s Parents – Susannah [__?__] was born about 1665. She married John JOHNSON Jr. in 1682 in New London, CT.

Susannah [__?__]’s Parents -. Susannah [__?__] was born about 1670 in Rehoboth, Mass.  Alternatively, she was born 5 Jan 1664.   She married John ORMSBY in 1695.  Susannah died 26 Dec 1752 in Norwich, CT.

Mary Gibbs parents – She married Joseph PARMENTER about 1700 in Sudbury, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts.  Mary Gibbs was born in 1682.  There was a Mary Gibbs  who was born 3 Aug 1691 in Sudbury, Mass, but that would make her only 12 years old when her daughter Bathsheba was born.  That Mary Gibbs  parents were John GIBBS and Sarah CUTLER. Our Mary died 6 Apr 1752 in Sudbury.

Mary Edgeley’s Parents – Mary was born in 1655 in East Hampton, Suffolk, New York?  She married Edward AVERY before 1671. Edward died in Eastchester, Westchester, NY.  An Edward Avery married  Mary Edgley in 1626 in London. Could this be coincidence or is the wife Mary Edgeley for our Edward a guess? (Registry of Bishop of London.)

Edward Avery, St. Peters, Paul’s Wharf, London, dyer, and Mary Edgley, widow of JohnEdgley, St. Bartholomew-the-less, West Smithfield, London, at Horsney, Middlesex Sep 9 1626.

Phillip Call Sr’s Parents – Philip was born 1684 in Newbury, Mass.  His parents are not known, though many sources say his father was John COLE. Other sources say that his father was Philip CALL I, but that Philip died in 1662.   He married Sarah TRESWELL 20 Jan 1706/07 in Amesbury, Essex, Mass.  Philip died 10 Aug 1757 either at Stevenstown, NH  or maybe at Ft. William. Henry in NY in battle.

12th Generation

First Wife of Alexander Balcom  Sr.‘s Parents

Thomas Robinson’s Wife – Thomas ROBINSON  was born in England.  He married Susannah [ __?__] in 1666 in Crosswicks Creek, NJ, Thomas died 13 APR 1690 in Crosswicks Creek, West Jersey .

Eytie Ariaansz’s Parents – Eytie  was born Abt. 1654 in Albany, NY.  She married Hendric Gerrits Van WIE. After Hendrick died, she married Andries Jacobsz Gerdenier on 13 Nov 1692 in Albany. Eytie died in 1704 in Albany, NY.

Margaret [__?__]’s Parents – Margaret was born in 1640. She married John CORSER before 1688. Margaret died in  1713 in Massachusetts.

Nathaniel White’s Parents –  Nathaniel WHITE was born about 1660 in Purpooduck, York Co., Maine. Nathaniel died after 1691 His ear was cut off and he was later killed in Indians.

William WOODCOCK’S second wife Mary’s parents – Mary was born about 1646 in Bristol, Mass.

Philip Call II wife’s parents – Phillip CALL II was born  7 Jan 1659 in Ipswich, Massachusetts Bay and  died after 1732 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

13th Generation

Maria Cornelis Adriaens (Adriaensen)’s Parents – Maria was baptized Sep 1643 in Goirle, Noord-Brabant, Netherlands.  She married Jan Juriaensen BECKER about 1660 while living in the Delaware River Colony.Her parents may have been Cornelis Daniel ADRIAENS and Adriana Joost DANIELS. Maria died before 1684.

Mary [__?__]’s Parents – Mary  was born in 1638.Hope Willemze was born about  1650 in Hempstead, Nassau, NY. She married Hope WILLEMZE in 1668 in Oyster Bay, Nassau County, NY. He died 9 Aug 1704 in Cape May, NJ.

Joanna [__?__]’s Parents – Joanna married William COURSER before 1638 in Boston.

Thomas Lumbert’s third wife – He first married in 1602  and his first wife did sometime between 1608 and 1617.  He married a second time in 1617 to someone who died after 1623.  Thomas emigrated in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet on the Mary and John, first settling in Dorcester, Mass. He married a third time about 1635, possible a sister or sister-in-law of Alice (Richards) Torrey[TAG:67:51].  After 1645, he married Joyce Small Wallen, widow of Ralph Wallen of Plymouth.

Elizabeth Willey’s parents – She  was born 1650 in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts. She married John HARVEY 1675 in Taunton, Mass.  Elizabeth died 9 Jan 1705 in Lyme, New London, Connecticu

Posted in Research | 1 Comment

John Perkins

I had previously thought John PERKINS (1583 – 1654) was the only triple ancestor in our family tree, but it turns out that the Henry Bennett that his daughter Lydia married was not the father of Henry BENNETT II.   Nonetheless, John was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather through his son John ; one of 4,096 in this generation of the Shaw line and Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather through his daughter Elizabeth; another of 4,096 in this generation of the Shaw line.

Perkins – Coat of Arms

John Perkins was born in Newent, Gloucestershire, England and was baptized on 23 Dec 1583 in Hillmorton, Warwick, England.  His parents were Henry PERKINS  and  Elizabeth SAWBRIDGE.    He married Judith GATER on 9 Oct 1608 in Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England.  He sailed with his wife and five children from Bristol on 5 Feb 1631 and arrived in Boston in May 1631  on the first trip of the Lyon after a “very tempestuous voyage.” where one seaman was lost. Roger Williams [religious dissenter and founder of Rhode Island, if you fell asleep during the Puritans unit in 2nd grade] was one of their fellow passengers.  The provisions with which the ship was loaded saved the colony from an approaching famine.  John died in 1654 in Ipwich, Essex, Mass. ( between 28 Mar 1654, when he wrote his will, and 26 Sep 1654, when his will was probated; he was 71)

John Perkins Signature

Judith Gater was born 19 Mar 1588, Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England.  Her parents were Michael GATER and Isabel BAYLIE. Judith died in 1684 in Ipswch, Essex, Mass.

Children of John and Judith:

Name Born Married Departed
1. Quarter master John PERKINS 14 Sep 1609
Hillmorton, Warwick, England
Eliazabeth EVELETH
c.  1635 Ipswich or Amesbury, Mass.
14 Dec 1686
Ipswich, Mass
2. Elizabeth PERKINS 25 Mar 1611
Hillmorton, Warwick, England
William SARGENT
18 Sep 1640
Amesbury, Mass.
18 Sep 1670
Salisbury, Mass
3. Mary Perkins
(Wikipedia – Salem Witch Trials)
3 Sep 1615
Hillmorton, Warwick, England
Thomas Bradbery
c. 1636 Ipswich, Mass
1700
Amesbury, Mass
4. Anne Perkins 5 Sep 1617
Hillmorton, Warwick, England
 [__?__] Bradley 1635 in Mass, Suffolk, Mass. 28 Mar 1654
Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England
5. Thomas Perkins 28 Apr 1622
Hillmorton, Warwick, England
Phebe Gould
c. 1643 Topsfield, Mass.
7 May 1686
Topsfield, Mass
6. Sgt. Jacob Perkins 12 July 1624
Hillmorton, Warwick, England
Elizabeth Whipple Lovell
1648
.
Damaris Robinson
12 Feb 1685 in Salisbury,
29 Jan 1699/00
Ipswich, Mass
7. Lydia Perkins 3 Jun 1632
Boston Mass
Henry Bennett  I
1651
c. 1672
Ipswich, Essex, MA

Perkins Passengers on the Lyon 1631

John Perkins, of Hilmorton, Warwick, bound for Boston
Mrs. Judith Perkins
John Perkins
Elizabeth Perkins
Mary Perkins
Thomas Perkins
Jacob Perkins

Voyage of the Lyon 1630 –  From The family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Mass: Complete in three parts By George Augustus Perkins

The Lyon 2

The Lyon 3

The Perkins family remained in Boston for over two years before joining the settlers who under the leadership of John Winthrop Jr. went up the coast in 1633 to found the town of Agawam, soon to be renamed Ipswich.  Having joined the Boston church, John was sworn freeman on 18 May 1631 and in 1632 served on a committee to fix the boundary between Roxbury and Dorchester.

John owned the large island at the mouth of Ipswich River, which was then, and nearly to the 1850’s, called Perkin’s Island.  His house stood near Manning’s Neck and close to the river. His will is dated March 28th, 1654, and he probably died not long after, as he then says he was “sick and weak in body.” It was proved Sept 1654, and his estate was valued at £250:05s

Today, Perkins Island is part of the Ipswich River Wildlife Sanctuary operated by the Massachusetts Audubon Society.  Their offices and the park headquarters are on Perkins Row. The park offers more than 10 miles of interconnecting trails that invite you to explore the forests, meadows, and wetlands.  The Sanctuary isn’t at the Ipswich River mouth, but a few miles inland in Topsfield.

Ipswich River Watershed

Members canoe along eight miles of the Ipswich River that run through the sanctuary and camp on Perkins Island, located a half-mile up the river. Members can also rent a cabin that is conveniently located close to the sanctuary’s office and program facilities and sleeps four.

Ipswich River and Salt Marsh

Early 1631 – “John Perkins and Judith his wife” were admitted to the Boston church as members #107 and #108.

18 May 1631 – John made Freeman in Boston, Suffolk co., MA

He first settled in Boston, Suffolk co., MA. John soon moved his family to moved to Ipswich, Essex, Mass. in 1633, where they were amongst the founders of the town. Robert Anderson notes: “…In the 1 April 1633 list of men authorized by the court to begin the settlement of Ipswich, the eighth name is ‘William Perkins’, which must be an error for this John Perkins, inasmuch as William Perkins was at Roxbury at this time and would not move to Essex County for nearly two decades more…”

His property is recorded in Ipswich’s records.

“Given and granted [in 1634] unto John Perkins the elder 40 acres of land, more or less, bounded on the east by Mr. Robert Coles his land, on the south by a small creek, on the west unto yet town side.  1635.  1635 Granted Jno. Perkins Sr. 3 acres of upland and 10 of meadow lying toward the head of Chebacco creek, also a little island called More’s point about 50 acres on the south side of ye town river.  In 1636 Also 10 acres on part whereof he hath built an house, having Wm Perkins on S.W. – Also  in 1639 6 acres of meadow and 6 upland joining to the former 10 acres, all 3 lying at east end of town having Wm White’s land on N.E. and a highway to Jeffries neck on N.W.  1636.  John Perkins Sr. was granted 40 acs of meadow and upland at Chebacco, which he sold to Tomas Howlet 1636.  1639.  Granted to John Perkins 6 acres planting ground on South side river.”. On 10 December 1644, “John Perkins of Ipswich in America” and Thomas Perkins exchanged land in Ipswich.

John Perkin’s Cane

The word, lot, for a piece of land was derived from the Puritan practice of assigning land by lot to insure fairness.  Meadow, in England, meant grassland annually cut for hay, the colonists called this mowing ground and called fertile land for crops, meadows.  His home on the corner of East Street was on the way to Jeffrey’s Neck.  Today it is located today at 80 East Street, Ipswich and is only partially intact.  The floor and cellar are all that remains after the fire of 1668 when Jacob Perkins, his son  owned the home.  However, John Perkins’s silver-headed walking cane is displayed in the Whipple House in Ipswich.  Among his other possessions, John owned a Geneva (or Breeches) Bible, printed in London in 1599.

John Perkin’s Cane Detail

John fulfilled his duties to the fledgling town of Ipswich. He was appointed Deputy to the General Court for Ipswich on 25 May 1636.  In addition, he served on the Essex Grand Jury on 28 Dec 1641, 26 Sep 1648 and 28 Sep 1652. John apparently served in the local militia until 26 Mar 1650, when “John Perkins Sr., being above sixty years old, is freed from ordinary training.”

On 3 April 1632 a Court of Assistants ordered “that no person whatsoever shall shoot at fowl upon Pullen Poynte or Noddle’s Ileland, but that the said places shall be reserved for John Perkins to take fowl with nets”.    This is curious since Noddle’s Island at that time had been granted to Samuel Maverick.  Noddle’s Island is in East Boston.

“John Perkines”, John Tuttell, John Crosse, Thomas Howlett and Robert Mottley took inventory on the estate of Sarah Dillingham of Ipswich, Essex co., MA in 1636. It was a well-documented and contested case with many Brahmin ancestors involved…

Will of John Perkins, senior, of Ipswich.

28th of yee first mo called March, 1654. I John Perkins the elder of Ipswich being at this tyme sick and weake in body yet through the mercy and goodness of the Lord retaining my understanding and memory: doe thus dispose of and bequeath my temporall estate as Followeth.
First. I do give and bequeath unto my eldest sonn John Perkins a foale of my young mare being now with foale if it please the Lord she foale it well also I give and bequeath to my sonn John’s two sonnes John and Abraham to each of them one of my yearling heyfers: also I give and bequeath to my son Thomas Perkins one cow and one heyfer also I give and bequeath to his son John Perkins one ewe & to be delivered for his use at the next shearing time also I doe give and bequeath to my daughter Elizabeth Sargent one cow and an heyfer to be to her and her children after her decease as it may please ye Lord they may increase, the proffits or increase to be equally devided amongst the sayde children: also I do give to my daughter Mary Bradbury one cow and one heyfer or a young steere to remain to her and to her children in theyr increase or proffits as it shall please the Lord to bless them and to be equaly devided to ye children: also I doe give and bequeath to my daughter Lidia Bennitt one cow and one heyfer or steere to be equaly devided to her children in theyr increase or proffits after her decease; I doe also give unto my grandchilde Thomas Bradbury one ewe to be sett apart for his use at ye next shearing tyme: also I do give and bequeathe unto my sonn Jacob Perkins my dwelling house together with all the out-howseing and all my landes of one kinde and other together with all improvements thereupon to be his in full possession according to a former covenant after the decease of my wyfe and nott before and so to remaine to him and to his heires forever; all the rest of my estate of one kinde and other I do wholy leave my deare wife Judith Perkins apointing and ordaining my sade wyfe the sole Executrix of this my last will and Testament Desiring my sayde wife to dispose of the cattell above mentioned according to her discresion as they shall prove steeres or heyfers, also to dispose of some of the increase of the sheep to ye children of my sonn Thomas and of my three daughters at the Discresion of my sayde wife and this I doe ordaine as my Last will and Testament subscribed with my own hand this twenty eight day of ye first month 1654.

Signed in presence of John Perkins.
William Bartholmew
Thomas Harris
Proved in court held at Ipswich 27 (7) 1654 by the oath of William Bartholmew and  Thomas  Harris per me  Robert Lord,  cleric

John Perkin;s inventory taken by William Bartholomew and John Annable

the dwelling howse and barne wth out howseing, £40 60s.;
Land about the hoswe about eight acres, £12;
more Land unbroade up about fourteen acres, £21;
a pcell of marsh about six acres at 40s. p acres, £12;
a pcell of vpland and marsh being much broken about xx acres at 20s. p acre, £20;
12 acres of improved Land at 50s. p acres, £24;
one mare with a mare foale, £25;
six milch cowes, £30;
four yearling heyfers & a steere, £11 10s.;
six ewes at 35s. p, £10 10s.;
5 yewe Lambes, £5;
one yearling weather and two weather Lambs, £2;
one young calfe, 15s.;
one cow at the pasture, a sow & 3 piggs, all £8;
one feather bed with besteed & furniture, £4;
one coverlid with other small thinges being Linen most, £2 10s.;
Left in mony at his decease £10;
a cart, plowes, a harow with severall goodes of Lumber as caske, tubbes, cheares, axes, hoes, etc., £5;
severall ketles, pottes & dishes in the kitchen, £2;
his wearing aparell, £5;
total, £250 5s.

Children:

1. Quarter master John PERKINS (See his page)

3. Elizabeth PERKINS (See William SARGENT‘s page)

4. Mary Perkins

Mary’s husband Thomas Bradbery was born 28 Feb 1610 in Wicken Bonant, Essex, England. His parents were Wymond Bradbury and Elizabeth Whitgift. Thomas died 16 Mar 1695 in Salisbury, Essex, Massachusetts

 Mary Perkins Bradbury (baptized 3 Sep 1615 – 20 Dec  1700) was tried, convicted and sentenced to hang as a witch in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692.

Mary Perkins Bradbury – Over a hundred of her neighbors and townspeople testified on her behalf, but to no avail and she was found guilty of practicing magic and sentenced to be executed

In 1636 Mary married Thomas Bradbury of Salisbury, Massachusetts, considered one of its most distinguished citizens.

When she was in her late 70s Mary was accused of witchcraft at the Salem witch trials. Her accusers made some fascinating claims, such as, she would turn into a blue boar and chase around the yard and, she sold a ship’s captain 2 tubs of butter, but one of the tubs was bewitched.  In the notorious witch trials of 1692, Mary Bradbury was indicted for (among other charges):

Certaine Detestable arts called Witchcraft & Sorceries Wickedly Mallitiously and felloniously hath used practiced and Exercised At and in the Township of Andivor in the County of Essex aforesaid in upon & against one Timothy Swann of Andivor In the County aforesaid Husbandman — by which said Wicked Acts the said Timothy Swann upon the 26th day of July Aforesaid and divers other days & times both before and after was and is Tortured Afflicted Consumed Pined Wasted and Tormented…

Witnesses testified that she assumed animal forms; her most unusual metamorphosis was said to have been that of a blue boar.

Another allegation was that she cast spells upon ships.

Here is her testimony, transcribed from the original court records.

“The answer of Mary Bradbury to the charge of witchcraft or familiarity with the Devil.

“I do plead not guilty. – I am wholly innocent of such wickedness through the goodness of God that hath kept me hitherto. I am the servant of Jesus Christ and have given myself up to him as my only Lord and Saviour, and to the diligent attendance upon him in al holy ordinances, in utter contempt and defiance of the Devil & all his works as horrid and detestable; and have endeavored accordingly to frame my life & conversation according to the rules of his holy word, and in faith and practice resolve, by the help and assistance of God, to continue to my life’s end. For the truth of what I say as to matter of practice, I humbly refer myself to my brethren and neighbors that know me, and to the searcher of all hearts for the truth & uprightness of my heart therein, human frailties & unavoidable infirmaties expected, of which I bitterly complain every day.Mary Bradbury.”

Over a hundred of her neighbors and townspeople testified on her behalf, but to no avail and she was found guilty of practicing magic and sentenced to be executed.

Through the ongoing efforts of her friends, her execution was delayed. After the witch frenzy had passed, she was released. By some accounts she was allowed to escape. Others claim she bribed her jailer.

Another account claims that her husband bribed the jailer and took her away to Maine in a horse and cart. They returned to Massachusetts after the witch hysteria had died down.

Mary Bradbury died of natural causes in her own bed in 1700.

In 1711, the governor and council of Massachusetts authorized payment of £578.12s to the claimants representing twenty-three persons condemned at Salem, and the heirs of Mary Bradbury received £20. A petition to reverse the attainder of twenty-two of the thirty-one citizens convicted and condemned as a result of the trials was passed by the Massachusetts General Court in 1711, and in 1957 The Commonwealth of Massachusetts reversed the stigma placed on all those not covered by earlier orders.

5. Anne Perkins

Anne returned to England and died 28 Mar 1654 Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England.

6. Deacon Thomas Perkins

Thomas’ wife Phebe Gould was born 27 Sep 1620 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Her parents were Zaccheus Gould and Phebe Deacon.  Her grandparents were Richard GOULD and Mary COLDER.  Phebe died 7 May 1686 in Topsfield, Essex, Mass.

At Ipswich, Thomas owned Sagamore Hill, a tract of land 170 feet high surrounded by salt marsh and having Fox Creek on the east.  The hill was probably granted to him by the town.  He exchanged this property with his brother John for a lot and a house in town.

Thomas Perkins Bio

Thomas Perkins Bio 2

Thomas Perkins Bio 3

Thomas Perkins Bio 4

Thomas was made a Freeman in 1664 and was a grand juror in 1666 and 1667 and a selectman in  1668, 1676 and 1682.  He became a deacon in 1677 and was a tythingman that year and in 1678 he hauled Thomas Baker into court for laughing in church!

He served on several committees to deal with the men of Rowley Village (Boxford) as to their privileges and responsiblities in the Topsfield church wich they attended before organizing a church of their own.  In 1680 he was a member of a committee seeking to secur Mr. Danforth as minister, but apparently they were unsuccessful for in 1681 Perkins and the others were ordered to “discourse” with Mr,. Capen who came to an agreement with them and was a much loved and respected Topsfield person for many years.

Thomas and Phebe Perkins were among the guests at a Sunday dinne at the house of an earlier parson, Mr. Gilbert, in 1670.  Mr. Gilbert was a sick man, as good old Joanna Towne charitably realized,  But others believed him to have drunk too much wine.  The matter was aired in court and Phebe Perkins testified as follows: there was a cup with wine in it which was offered to Mr. Gilbert. He refused to take it at first, but afterward put the cup to his mouth.” but she did not know wheter he drank or not.  Three more had the cup beside himself and after he had dined he drank what was left in the cup.  Immediately after dinner he sang a psalm and in reading it she thought his voice was lower than it used to be.  As evidence of drunkenness this would seem to be negligible.

Phebe Perkin’s sister-in-law Sarah Gould, wife of Capt. John Gould, went farther, however.  She testified that she and Phebe went into another room after dinner, where Phebe said “I wonder my Husban would ask him to drinke for I think hee had noe need of it.  The first time hee toke the Cope I saw him drinke a good draft.”  In spite of his wife’s testimony that Mr. Gilbert was a sick man, the court admonished him.

Sarah Gould continued to gossip and Mr. Gilbert eventually sued her for slander.  In court he asked the judges to “compare her [Sarah’s] Oath with the Oath of Goodie Perkins taken at the same tym, and if they do not clash with one another, I am much mistaken. ”

Deacon Thomas’ son Zacheus must have been the cause of much sorrow.  To his credit he was a soldier under Captain Joseph Gardner of Salem in King Philip’s War and was at the Great Swamp Fight when the fortified village of the Narragansetts was destroyed in 1676.

In 1680 he was in serious trouble indeed.  According to his own confession, on an election day at Wenham he fell in with a Frenchman, one Nicholas Jennings (surely a much distorted version of a French name) whom he had known at Narragansett.  Jennings invited him to go to Salem to drink and they rode over in the evening and tied their horses to a tree in an orchard.  Jennings told Zacheus to remain there to look after the animals and went away, returning after two hours when they went to the shop of Mr. Thomas Maule.  The door was open and Jennings went in and brought out a bundle of goods which he gave to Zecheus , then going in again, he came out with a sak of goods which he laid on his horse.  “Soon they parted as they heard the watch coming.”  Zacheus reading to Topsfield and Jennings to Marblehead.

This was not Zacheus’ only offense.  He had stolen a silver cup from Mr. Joseph Whitting, a gold ring from Goodman Robinson of Topsfield, and goods and money from Mr. Batten.  Found guilty at his trial on May 4, 1680 he was sentenced to be branded on the forehead with the letter “B” and publically whipped which was carried out on May 6 “immediately after lecture.”  He was to pay Mr. Maule £250 and Mr. Batten £24 which presumably his father had to assume.

7. Sgt. Jacob Perkins

Jacob’s first wife Elizabeth Whipple Lovell 1629 in Bocking, Essex, England. Her parents were Matthew Whipple and Anne Hawkins. Elizabeth died 12 Feb 1685 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass.

Jacob’s second wife Damaris Robinson was born 1636 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass.  Her parents were Nathaniel Robinson and [__?__]. Damaris died in 1716 in Boston, Suffolk, Mass.

Jacob Perkins

Jacob was sworn Freeman in 1668.  He was a sergeant in the Ipswich train-band and a very frequent choice as juryman.

Jacob bought his father’s house built on the south side of Jabaque (Ipswich) river near the falls, half of his farm called the Island (half of Sagamore Hill).  Jacob not only worked as a farmer, but made income from buying and selling land. Sometime around 1648, Jacob married Elizabeth Lovell Whipple.  Elizabeth died on 12 Feb 1685.  Soon thereafter, he married the widow Damaris Robinson.  At the time of his marriage, he made a promise to support her during her life.  On 20 Mar 1693, Jacob gave all his property in his possession to his sons.

Extract from deed given to sons Matthew and Jacob.

“ I, Sargt. Jacob Perkins, sen. Having grown old & decrepid and not able to manage my farm, I give the other portions of my land to my two sons, Jacob and Mathew, provided they support me & my now wife, with whom I made an agreement when we were married,”

After his father’s and mother’s death, Jacob came into possession of the family homestead.  The family home was occupied until August 7, 1668 when it was destroyed through the carelessness of a servant girl, Mehetable Brooks.

Early in an August afternoon Mehitable Brabrook, the sixteen-year old servant of Elizabeth Perkins, her master and mistress having gone to town, was alone in the house and was smoking a pipe.  Going outside she climbed to the top of the oven which projected from the back of the house “to looke if there were any hogs in the corn,” and knocked out her pipe on the thatch of the eaves.   When she looked back, she saw smoke and gave the alarm to Abraham Perkins wife.”   This was the end of the house build by old John Perkins and left by him to his son Jacob.  The efforts of the neighbors to save it were futile and it burned to the ground.  Mehitable was convicted of extreme carelessness, “if not willfully burning the house,” was severely whipped and ordered to pay £40 to her master.

The foundation and cellar survived the fire and Jacob built another house on its foundation.   By October a new house was being built.  The new house was struck by lightning on a Sunday, 18 May 1671 while many people were gathered there to repeat the sermon.  Jacob and the house survived, however.

“while many people were gathered there to repeat the sermon, when he and many others were struck down, and had his waistcoat pierced with many small holes, like goose‑shot, and was beaten down as if he had been dead for the present.”

Children of Jacob and Elizabeth

i. Elizabeth Perkins
ii. Sgt. John Perkins
iii. Judith Perkins
iv. Mary Perkins
v. Jacob Perkins
vi. Matthew Perkins
vii. Hannah Perkins
viii. Joseph Perkins
ix. Jabez Perkins b. 15 May 1677, Ipswich, Mass.; d. 15 Jan 1742 Norwich, CT; m. Hannah Lathrop b. 6 JAN 1676/77 Norwich, CT; d. 14 APR 1721 Norwich, CT; Her parents were Samuel Lathrop and Hannah Adgate. Her grandparents were Samuel LATHROP and Elizabeth SCUDDER.

8. Lydia Perkins (See Henry Bennett I‘s page)

Sources:

perkins-7b

From Dudley Wildes, 1959 by Walter Goodwin Davis

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=2593635&st=1

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_p.htm

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cbrennan/Bosworth/d0001/g0000031.html#I5675

http://kristinhall.org/fambly/Perkins/JohnPerkins.html – Includes Estate of John Perkins, Sr. of Ipswich and Inventory taken by William Bartholomew and John Annable

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/cooke/d33.htm#P2283

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=2593635&st=1

http://www.one-barton-family.us/genealogy/getperson.php?personID=I6256&tree=db

http://kristinhall.org/fambly/Perkins/JohnPerkins.html

Posted in 13th Generation, 14th Generation, Double Ancestors, Immigrant - England, Line - Miner, Pioneer, Place Names, Public Office, Storied, Veteran, Wikipedia Famous, Witch Trials | Tagged , , , , | 42 Comments

Henry Bennett I

I previously thought Henry BENNETT (1629 – 1707) was Alex’s 11th Great Grandfather; one of 4,096 in this generation of the Miner line.  However, it turns out that Henry BENNETT II who married Sarah CHAMPION in Connecticut, was not his son after all.

Henry was born in 1629 in England.   He married his first wife Lydia PERKINS in 1651 in Ipswich Mass.  After Lydia died, he married (our ancestor with her first husband) Mary SMITH.   Henry died in  1707 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Immigrant Ancestor

Lydia Perkins was born 3 Jun 1632 in Boston Mass.  Her parents were John PERKINS and Judith GATES. Lydia died 12 Jan 1707 in Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts.

Elizabeth Smith was born 1630 in Shropham, Norfolk, England..  Her father was Richard Smith of Shropham, Norfolk England and .  She first married our ancestor Philip CALL.  After Philip died, she married Frances Burr.  Finally, she married Henry BENNETT.  Elizabeth died  12 Jan 1707/08.

Children of Henry and Lydia:

Name Born Married Departed
1. Jacob Bennett 1651
Ipswich, Mass.
Sarah
1676
5 MAR 1685/86
2. John Bennett 1655
Ipswich, Mass
18 SEP 1675
Killed at Bloody Brook
3. William Bennett 1657
Ipswich, Mass.
Abigail Bixby
20 APR 1720
Ipswich, Mass.
4. Henry Bennett 1664
Ipswich, Mass
Francis Burr
20 May 1685 Ipswich, Mass
1739
Ipswich, Essex, Mass.
5. Thomas Bennett 1667
Ipswich, Mass.
Elizabeth [__?__]
1692 in Mass
1700
Ipswich, Essex, Mass
6. Stephen Bennett 1668
Ipswich, Mass.
Jul 1680
Ipswich, Essex, Mass
7. Benjamin Bennett 1670
Ipswich, Mass.
Abigail
1695
31 May 1722
Ipswich, Mass

Henry was usually styled “Farmer Bennet”.   He bought a 200-acre farm in Ipswich in 1654 from Jonathan Wade.  In 1698 Henry sold his farm to John Wainwright.

In 1666 Henry was a signatory to the Ipswich petition to the General Court disapproving of the action of the Massachusetts authorities in opposing the King’s commissioners.  He was on an 18 Feb 1678 list of commoners in Ipswich.  He appears to have had little interest in public life and never appears to have held office. He was on the trial juries at the 29 Sep 1663, 26 Sep 1665 and 29 Sep 1674 courts at Ipswich.

At the Sep 1659 court, Richard Saltonstall’s tenant William Fellowes won his boundary dispute case against Henry, whom he claimed had taken hay off of the land that he rented. Henry appealed to the Court of Assistants.

When the Sep 1662 court ruled that James Sanders should be whipped or pay a fine for striking John Lynde in the meeting house on Sunday, Henry paid his fine.

Elizabeth Gater, an apparent relative of Henry’s mother-in-law Judith Gater, was the subject of a 28 Apr 1669 court case. Henry paid her fine.

Henry apparently employed the troublesome Laurence Clinton. Henry’s brother-in-law, Quartermaster John Perkins, sued John Andrews, Jr. for not paying Henry Bennett £10 for Laurence Clinton, according to agreement and Henry sued John Perkins for not paying him for Laurence Clinton.

Henry was friends with the prominant Symonds family. Henry Bennett and Mr. Samuel Symonds, Jr. acted as attorneys to to Samuel Symonds, gentleman, at the Mar 1666 court.  Henry and William Bennett appraised the estate of Samuel Symonds, Jr., gentleman, on 29 Nov 1669. Henry Bennett and Mr. Samuel Symonds, Jr. acted as attorneys to Samuel Symonds, gentleman, at the Mar 1666 court.

Mr. Harlackendine Symonds, gentleman, learned from Henry’s son Jacob that Henry had a rich uncle in London. While on a trip to London, he made inquiries and met Mr. Henry Jennings, a vintner of Bishopsgate, who was the son-in-law of Henry’s brother. Mr. Jennings told Harlackendine that Henry’s brother William Bennett had died and left a legacy to Henry. Upon his return, Harlackendine, who had additional business in London, suggested to Henry that he would be willing to go London again to retrieve the inheritance, which amounted to £100, in return for half of it. In Harlackendine’s version of events, he went to London and waited a year for a letter of attorney, which Henry did not send and without which he could not retrieve the money. He later discovered that John Fenton had collected the money on behalf of Henry and been paid £7; only 40 shillings was to go to Harlackendine. In Henry’s version of events — attested to by his son John — Henry had turned down Harlackendine’s proposal. Harlackendine then suggested that since Henry had been a good friend to him, he would collect the money for £10. Henry told him that if he decided to employ him, it would be for £10. But, that if he decided not to employ him, then it would be up to Henry to decide how much Harlackendine would be paid. Henry would have been willing to employ Harlackendine to receive the money, but only if Harlackendine’s father had been willing to post a bond. Furthermore, Harlackendine — while clearly not pleased with the outcome — had said that since Henry had always been a good friend, he considered the matter settled. This latter statement was attested to by Hannah Lord. William Quarles deposed that Harlackenden’s father had warned him not to go to England because Henry would not employ him without a bond from him and that he was unwilling to provide him with one. Harlackendine’s attempt to sue Henry at the Nov 1675 court was unsuccessful; he successfully sued at the Nov 1676 court and Henry appealed to the Court of Assistants.

12 May 1675 – Quartermaster John Perkins, Sargent Belchar, Henry BENNETT  I with several others petition the general court for liberty to lay out a new plantation which the court allow will be six miles square and not more than 10 miles long ….

Henry began a long legal altercation when he successfully sued his nephew John Stanion for debt in Nov 1677.

At the Mar 1678 court, Daniel Epps successfully sued Henry Bennett, Sr. of Ipswich. He claimed that Henry’s son Jacob had cut trees on his land.  An unsuccessful suit was brought against Henry in 1684 by Daniel Epps, who accused him of harboring Daniel’s Indian boy Lyonel.

A group of Henry’s descendants are conducting a DNA project: see their webpage IpswichBennett.com.

Children

1. Jacob Bennett

Jacob’s wife Sarah

2. John Bennett

John was killed at the Battle of Bloody Brook.  At the Battle of Bloody Brook on September, 18, 1675, the dispossessed Indians destroyed a small force under the command of Captain Thomas Lathrop before being driven off by reinforcements.  Originally intended to be a uneventful delivery of wheat by oxcarts to Hadley, the men apparently took few precautions and were confident that their numbers belied attack.  It would have disastrous consequences.  Colonial casualties numbered about sixty. In retaliation, at dawn on May 19, 1676, Captain William Turner led an army of settlers in a surprise attack on Peskeompskut, in present-day Montague, then a traditional native gathering place. They killed 200 natives, mostly women and children. When the men of the tribe returned, they routed Turner, who died of a mortal wound at Green River.

3. William Bennett

William’s wife Abigail Bixby was born 1667 in Rowley, Mass. Her parents were Joseph Bixby and Sarah Wyatt. Abigail died 7 Nov 1758 in Topsfield, Essex, Mass.

4. Henry Bennett

Henry married his step-sister. Henry’s wife Frances Burr was born c. 1669
Ipswich, Essex, Mass. Her parents were John Burr and Mary SMITH. Frances died 12 Jan 1708in Ipswich, Mass

Frances was 10 years old and Henry 15 when their parents married  on 18 Feb 1679 in Ipswich, Mass.  Frances and Henry married six years 20 May 1685 when Frances was only 16 years old.

Only one child is recorded for Henry and Frances; Mary Bennett born 3 Mar 1685 Ipswich, Mass. It is interesting to note that Mary was born two months before her parents marriage date.  Given Frances young age, the questionable marriage of step-children and the conflicting birth and marriage dates, I can only conclude that Henry got Frances pregnant.  (Greg and Marcia Brady?)  Mary went on to marry 29 Apr 1703 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass to Nathaniel Knowlton and died 1716 in Ipswich, Mass.

I had previously that that Frances’ husband was our ancestor Henry BENNETT II who married Sarah CHAMPION 9 Dec 1673 in Lyme CT, but that turns out to be an unrelated Henry Bennett.

5. Thomas Bennett

Thomas’ wife Elizabeth [__?__] was born 1671 in Mass.

7. Benjamin Bennett

Benjamin’s wife Abigail was born 1674 in Mass. Abigail died 17 Feb 1754 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass

Sources:

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_b.htm

http://www.treetreetree.org.uk/Bennett.htm

http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/cooke/d34.htm#P2272

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=17790994

Posted in 13th Generation, Immigrant - England, Line - Miner, Violent Death | Tagged , | 9 Comments

Henry Bennett II

Henry BENNETT (1647 – 1726) was Alex’s 10th Great Grandfather; one of 2,048 in this generation of the Miner line.

Henry Bennett in 1647 in Lyme, Saybrook Colony, now New London County, Connecticut.  Alternatively, he was born 15 Apr 1654 in Boston Mass.

His parents were NOT  Henry BENNETT and Lydia PERKINS.  Their Henry Bennett was born in 1664 in Ipswich, Mass  Their Henry married Frances Burr 20 May 1685 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass.  Henry and Frances had one daughter Mary Bennett born 3 Mar 1685 Ipswich, Mass. It is interesting to note that Mary was born two months before her parents marriage date.  Mary went on to marry 29 Apr 1703 in Ipswich, Essex, Mass to Nathaniel Knowlton and died 1716 in Ipswich, Mass.  Their Henry died 1739 in Ipswich, Mass.

This Henry’s father was also named Henry BENNETT, born about 1621 in England.  This Henry Bennett married  Sarah CHAMPION 9 Dec 1673.  Henry died 17 Jan 1725/26 in Lyme CT.

Sarah Champion was born 1649 in Saybrook, CT.  Her parents were Henry CHAMPION and Sarah [__?__]. Sarah died 31 Mar 1727 in Lyme CT.

Children of Henry and Sarah

Name Born Married Departed
1. Caleb Bennett 11 OCT 1675
Lyme, CT
Rebecca Mack
.
Isabel Willey
(Isaac’s sister and daughter of John WILLEY )
1701
Lyme, CT
12 NOV 1732
Lyme, CT
2. Rose BENNETT 15 Nov 1677
Lyme CT
Isaac WILLEY II
14 DEC 1697
Lyme, CT
31 Mar 1727
Lyme CT
3. John Bennett 20 DEC 1680
Lyme, CT
Mary Huntley
2 JAN 1706/07
Lyme, CT
15 DEC
1730 Lyme, CT.
4. Love Bennett 19 MAR 1684/85
Lyme, CT
John Mack
13 JAN 1703/04
Lyme, CT
25 JAN 1731/32
Lyme, CT.
5. Dorothy Bennett 19 MAY 1688
Lyme, CT
Jeremiah Wood
29 MAR 1708
Lyme, CT
17 JUL 1752
Littleton, Mass
6. Henry Bennett 29 JUL
1691 Lyme, CT
Abigail Pike
15 APR 1713
Lyme, New London, CT
.
Mary Moss
13 Nov 1718 in Lyme, CT
c. 1726

xxx

Children

1. Caleb Bennett

Caleb’s first wife Rebecca Mack was born

Caleb’s second wife Isabel Willey was born 21 Oct 1673 in New London, New London, CT. She was Isaac’s brother and her parents were John WILLEY and Merriam MOORE She first married 1690 in New London, CT to John Griffee (1666 CT – 1697 in Haddam, CT) Isabel died 1730 in Connecticut

2. Rose BENNETT (See Isaac WILLEY II‘s page)

3. John Bennett

John’s wife Mary Huntley was born 26 Dec 1683 in Lyme, New London, CT. Her parents were Moses Huntley and Abigail Chappell. Mary died 27 Oct 1788 in Lyme, CT.

4. Love Bennett

Love’s husband John Mack was born 29 Apr 1682 in Salisbury, Essex, Mass. His parents were John Mack and Sarah Bagley. His maternal grandparents were Orlando BAGLEY Sr. and Sarah COLBY. After Love died, he married 4 May 1733 in Lyme, CT to Abigail Fox. John died 29 May 1734 in Lyme, New London, CT.

5. Dorothy Bennett

Dorothy’s husband Jeremiah Wood was born 7 May 1675 in Lyme, New London, CT. Jeremiah died 15 Jul 1730 in Littleton, Middlesex, Mass.

6. Henry Bennett

Henry’s first wife Abigail Pike was born 1693 in Lyme, CT. Her parents were William Pike and Abigail [__?__]. Abigail died 24 Dec 1717 in Lyme, New London, CT.

Henry’s second wife Mary Moss was born 4 Mar 1697 in Salisbury, Mass. Her parents were John Moss and Sarah [__?__]. Mary died 30 Dec 1732 in Lyme, New London, CT.

Sources:

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/f_6e.htm#38

http://www.gulbangi.com/5families-o/p16.htm#i398

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=17790993

Posted in 12th Generation, Line - Miner, Missing Parents | Tagged | 4 Comments

Isaac Willey II

Isaac WILLEY II (1670 – 1751) was Alex’s 9th Great Grandfather; one of 1,024 in this generation of the Miner line.

Isaac Willey was born 18 Jan 1669/70 in New London CT. His parents were John WILLEY and Merriam MOORE . He married Rose BENNETT 14 DEC 1697 Lyme, CT.  After Rose died, he married Sarah Ashfall 1727 in York, Maine.  Isaac died in 1751  in Lyme CT.

Rose Bennett was born 15 Nov 1677 in Lyme CT.  Her parents were Henry BENNETT and Sarah CHAMPION. Rose died 31 Mar 1727 in Lyme CT.

Sarah Ashfall was born 1707 in North Yarmouth, Mass.  Her parents were William Ashfall and [__?__].

Children of Issac and Rose:

Name Born Married Departed
1. Isaac Willey 15 Sep 1699
Lyme, CT
Deliverance Tallman
12 MAY 1727 Lyme, CT
2 Jun 1767
Lyme, CT
2. Sarah Willey 20 Dec 1700
Lyme CT
3 Aug 1750 East Haddam, CT
3. John WILLEY?See discussion on his page 14 Sep 1702
East Haddam CT
Sarah SAUNDERS
5 Apr 1722
East Haddam, CT
6 Sep 1728
Middlesex, CT
or
13 Nov 1743
East Haddam
4. Hannah Willey 11 MAY 1704
Lyme, CT
Aft 1751
5. Rachel Willey 22 MAR 1707/08
Lyme, CT
Nathaniel Darrow
19 Mar 1736
Norwalk, Fairfield, CT
Sep 1786 Canaan, Columbia, NY
6. Abel Willey 28 AUG 1709
Lyme, CT
Patience Beckwith
1 FEB 1739/40
East Haddam, CT
2 OCT 1752
East Haddam, CT
7. Merriam Willey 20 MAR 1710/11
New London, CT
John William Collins
4 NOV 1734
Lebanon, New London, CT
Aft. 1751
8. Ephraim Willey 23 AUG 1713
Lyme, CT
1770
9. Dorothy Willey 23 AUG 1713
Lyme, CT
10. Deborah Willey 28 AUG 1715
Lyme, CT
11. Zachariah Willey 24 Nov 1716
Lyme, CT
Rachel Willey (Daughter of John WILLEY II)
c. 1744
Connecticut
3 Dec 1751
East Haddam, CT

x

Children

1. Isaac Willey

Isaac’s wife Deliverance Tallman was born 1706 in Newport, Rhode Island. Her parents were Nathaniel Tallman and Rachel Sherman. Her grandparents were Peter TALLMAN and Joane Briggs. Deliverance died 13 Nov 1783 in Lyme, New London, CT.

He probably lived and died in Lyme, as the settlement of the estate does not appear in East Haddam probate records. If in Lyme, the record was probably destroyed by the fire of the British in 1781.

11 Sep 1753 – Isaac  was admitted a freeman at Lyme,

9 Feb 1749/50 – He had 44 acres of land laid out in the 9th division of Èast Haddam

21 Apr 1769 – Darius Willey, of Lyme, as executor of his will, sold land in Lyme, to Jonathan Warner, and by authority of an Act of the Assembly, to Abel Willey of E. H.,

17 Aug 1771 – Widow Deliverance Willey exchanged Land in Lyme, with her daughter Deliverance Allen, and sold land there to her daughter Abigail Willey, Ap. 9,1783; and to her ” loueing and dutyfull Daughter ” Miriam Atwood of Lyme, wife of Daniel Atwood of Lyme.

23 Mar 1773 – Sold to Jonathan Warner, land at Warner’s Wharf, (probably now Comstock’s Ferry.) bounded E. and S. by land of widow Deliverance Allen.

3. John WILLEY (John may have been the son of Isaac’s brother and sister-in-law  John WILLEY II and Elizabeth HARVEY., see the discussion on his page)

5. Rachel Willey

Rachel’s husband Nathaniel Darrow was born 1707 in New London, New London, CT. His parents were Nicholas Darrow and Millicent Beebe. Nathaniel died Sep 1787 in Canaan, Columbia, New York.

6. Abel Willey

Abel’s wife Patience Beckwith was born 1 Jun 1718 in East Haddam, Middlesex, CT. Her parents were Nathaniel Beckwith and Sarah Brockway. Our ancestor Capt. Matthew BECKWITH was her great grandfather. Patience died 9 Dec 1800 in Peacham, Caledonia, Vermont.

Abel died in 1757 aged 46 when, Oct 20, administration of his estate was granted to Samuel Willey. The inventory amounted to only £30 50 10 with a subsequent addition and the estate was represented as insolvent.  Among his creditors were Allen, John, Joseph and David Willey.  All the household goods and one-third of the real property were set off to his widow Patience Willey, who was appointed guardian to his younger children.

7. Merriam Willey

Merriam’s husband John William Collins was born about 1711, perhaps in Boston.

11. Zachariah Willey

Zachariah’s wife Rachel Willey was born 1728 in East Haddam, CT. Her parents were John WILLEY II and Elizabeth HARVEY.  Rachel died in 1751.

Zachariah died before Dec 3, 1751 aged about 35 when administration of his estate was granted to Joseph Willey and his widow Rachel.  The inventory amounted to £1526 4s. and the estate was distributed among his children, Zachariah Jr. having a double share as the eldest.  His widow Rachel had married again to [__?__] Waters before Feb 5, 1755 when she presented accounts of debts, etc.

Sources:

http://www.genealogyofnewengland.com/b_w.htm

Isaac Willey of New London, Conn., and his descendants  By Henry Willey 1888

http://trees.ancestry.com/owt/person.aspx?pid=32982351&st=1

Posted in 11th Generation, Line - Miner, Twins | Tagged | 5 Comments