52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#25: JOHN BEAMAN

Fellow geneablogger Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued the
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. Basically, we have to post something every
week on a different ancestor, whether a story, picture, or research problem. For
this prompt I've tried to concentrate on ancestors I haven't researched as much
as I have others in my family tree. For this post, I'm continuing with my Beaman
ancestors, with 8x great grandfather John Beaman, son of Gamaliel Beaman.

Once more I turned to William Richard Cutter's entry on the family in his New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial:

(II) John, son of Gamaliel Beaman, was born in 1649-50. After the death of his father, he returned to Lancaster, when the town was resettled, and took up his father's old farmat Wataquadock, now Bolton. About 1682 he moved to Taunton, Massachusets, but returned to Lancaster after a few years. He was a probationer at Dorchester, and in August,1681, took out a letter for Taunton; he could not have stayed long at Taunton this time, as his daughter Sarah was born in Lancaster the following February. The second time, 1682, he remained longer in Taunton. On his return to Lancaster he was received into the church as Father Beaman from Taunton; this must have been between 1708 and 1716. In 1704 he was a member of a garrison in his father's house, and there was a garrison in his house in 1711. On January 30, 1729, there was a church meeting at his house to elect deacons. He was buried in the Old Burial Ground at Lancaster, and the following inscription is on the slate stone marking the grave: "Here lies buried ye body of Mr. John Beaman, who departed this life Jan. 15, 1739-40, in Ye 90th Year of his age." He married, about 1674, Priscilla, born in Boston, in 1656, daughter of Robert Thornton. Robert Thornton came from London in the "Elizabeth" in 1635, aged eleven years; he was a carpenter and owned much land. Priscilla (Thornton) Beaman, died August 6, 1729, aged seventy-two years, and was buried in the Old Burial Ground at Lancaster. Children: Mary, born about 1675, died in Dorchester, May 3, 1676; John, February 21, 1677; Zippora, March 4, 1679; Sarah, January 25, 1682; Gamaliel, mentioned below; Ebenezer, 1690; Jonathan, 1697; Priscilla; Judith; Eunice; Jabez, born 1704. p1187

New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 3 (Google eBook) Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, New York  1914

I'm descended from John's daughter Sarah, who married Joseph Sawyer.

A few things about this entry: this is another case where an ancestor had a connection with
a place I lived or worked that I hadn't known about before this. I worked at a bookstore in
Taunton for several years.

The other matter is something I discovered when I looked into John Beaman's father-in-law, Robert Thornton,my 9x great grandfather. Robert's wife Mary Dowling's first husband was Walter Merry.

Yes my ancestor married a Merry widow.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#24: GAMALIEL BEAMAN

 Fellow geneablogger Amy Johnson Crow of No Story Too Small has issued the
52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge. Basically, we have to post something every
week on a different ancestor, whether a story, picture, or research problem. For
this prompt I've tried to concentrate on ancestors I haven't researched as much
as I have others in my family tree. For this post, I'm writing about my 9x great
grandfather Gamaliel Beaman.


Gamaliel is one of those ancestors whose name I am not sure how to pronounce.
For me, it's a tongue twister. Leaving that aside I decided to see what Google
Books might have about him, and once again discovered William Richard Cutter
had written about one of my ancestors:

"Gamaliel Beaman, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England, in 1623, and
came to America when he was twelve years old, in the ship "Elizabeth and Ann."
At first he lived with relatives in Dorchester, Massachusetts, and became a proprietor
there in 1649. In 1658 he was one of the incorporators of Lancaster, Massachusetts,
and on May 23, 1659, settled there. On May 31, 1659, he signed the covenant there
as one of the fifty-five original proprietors of the town, and he received Lot 38. He
owned more than two hundred and sixty-six acres of land there. In 1676 the settlers
at Lancaster were obliged to leave their homes because of King Philip's war. The
Indians burnt the town, including the church, and the place was not built up again
until 1680. Gamaliel Beaman returned to Dorchester, and his losses had been so great
that he was unable to pay even his taxes. His new house in Dorchester was situated
on the east slope of Bolton Hills, near a place called the Cold Spring. He died at Dorchester, March 23, 1678.

He married, about 1648, Sarah, daughter of William Clark. She was admitted to the
Dorchester church, February 1, 1656, and was dismissed to Lancaster, May 24, 1668.
Children, the first four baptized together, June 14, 1657: John, mentioned below;
Gamaliel, born 1653; Thomas, 1654; Mary, 1656; Sarah, born at Dorchester, January
19, 1658; Noah, April 3, 1660; Thankful, April 18, 1663; Mehitable, May 26, 1667."
-pp1186-1187  New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of Commonwealths and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 3 (Google eBook) Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York,
New York  1914

Because Gamaliel removed back to Dorchester and never returned after the end of
the war, there is not much information about him. It's possible there might have
been some records lost for him when the town was burned. His sons, however, did
return to Lancaster, and one, John Beaman, is my 8x great grandfather.