WHAT I KNOW ABOUT THE AMES FAMILY

This is the start of a new series of posts in which I'll list what I've already
learned about one of my family lines. I'll also include a "To Do" list of
things I need to do to learn more. I'll do this alphabetically. This post will
be about my Ames family ancestors. The name was originally spelled Eames
and was spelled a variety of ways, but became Ames in my family.

There were two different well known Ames families in colonial Massachusetts.
One flourished south of Boston, while my Ames ancestors lived in Essex and
Middlesex counties north and west of the city. Not much is known about the
early life of Robert Eames, my immigrant ancestor except that he was born in
England and came to Massachusetts where he married Rebecca Blake around
1660. They settled in Boxford Ma. where they were living in 1692 when the
Witch Hysteria began and Rebecca was accused of witchcraft along with their
son Daniel. Eventually they were both acquitted.

Together Robert and Rebecca had eight children, of whom one was my 8x great
grandfather John. He was the first of four consecutive generations of John Ames'
in my ancestry:

John (1670=1724) married Priscilla Kimball. He was killed by Indians at Groton, Ma.
John(1693-1743) married Elizabeth Green
John(1725-?) married Susannah Nutting
John (1756-1833) was a Revolutionary War veteran. He married Lydia Phelps, a widow,
and moved their combined family to Hartford Me. Their son Jonathan Phelps Ames
married Polly Griffith and had a daughter, Arvilla Ames, who married my 3x great grandfather John Cutter West.

Besides my West family cousins, I share my descent from Robert Ames and
Rebecca Blake with fellow geneablogger Vicki Everhart of the Be Not Forgot
blog, and Peni Renner, author of Puritan Witch: The Redemption of  Rebecca
Eames.

To Do List: I know more about John Ames(1756-1833)than I do about most of the rest of
the family because of his Revolutionary War Pension file and his Probate File. I need to
fill in the gaps for the other generations between him and his ancestor Robert.

There are images for Ames family land transactions available on FamilySearch that I need
to download and analyze.

And I will try to visit Groton sometime this summer to see what material might be avaialble
there at the local historical society and library.