52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 27: EDMUND LITTLEFIELD

For this installment of 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, I'm going back up the Upton branch
of my Barker line to the family of Abigail (Frost) Upton's mother, Mary (Wakefield) Frost.
She was the daughter of John Wakefield and Annis(Agnes) Littlefield, my 9x great
grandparents. This post will be about her father, my immigrant ancestor Edmund
Littlefield.   

I have found very little online about either the Littlefields or Wakefields other than a
few entries in family or regional genealogies. Here's what I found for Edmund in William
Richard Cutter's Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4:

(1) The founder of the Maine branch of the family on this side of the Atlantic Ocean. Edmund Littlefield, was born in England. 1591. He was knighted for bravery on the battle field, and given a coat-of-arms. He first appears in Boston, Massachusetts. 1635. He was a churchman and royalist, and on account of his political and religious opinions was refused permission to settle in any of the plantations of the Massachusetts colony, hence went to Maine and located in the colony at Wells, in that then sparsely settled region, where he, with John Wheelright, Edward Rishworth. Henry Boade and others, "entered on the land and began to make it subservient to the uses of man." His relations with Wheelright lead to the inference of a close friendship, and one authority says he was one of Wheelright's church in Exeter, and one of the combination to each of whom twenty-one acres of land was assigned under the Gorges proprietary. This church was founded by those whose theology was denounced by the dominant church in the Massachusetts colony, and as Littlefield's name does not appear in the list of those who were driven from the plantation at Boston, it is assumed that he left there before the actual expulsion took place. He built a saw and grist mill on the Webhannet river in 1641. He was one of the committee to settle boundary between Wells and Cape Porpoise, and a commission to try small causes, elected by the people for the years 1654-55-58-60-61. A family tradition is that he came over in a ship of his own building, bringing machinery for his mills. "The programme of the celebration of the 250th anniversary of the town of Wells reads: Sir Edmund Littlefield, with Rev. John Wheelright, shares the honor of founding the early settlement in Wells." The baptismal name of his wife was Annis, but her family name is not known. She died in 1678, having survived her husband seventeen years, he having died in 1661. The children: Francis, Anthony, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Hannah, Francis. Seventy-six of his descendants were in the revolution.-p 1244

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4  Lewis historical Publishing Company, Boston, Ma. 1908

 
The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 1 gives more information about Edmund's involvement with Wheelwright. The town of Exeter that is mentioned is in New Hampshire:

 (I) Edmund Littlefield, born in Southampton, England, about 1600, married Annis. (The records give no family name.) He came to this country from Tichfield, England, probably at the same time as the Rev.John Wheelright, for he was one of his parishioners at Exeter in 1630, and was one of the combination to whom twenty-one acres of land was assigned. In 1638 he sent to England for his family, and on May 16 of that year his wife Annis and six children took passage for Boston in the "Bevis" of Hampton, Captain Townes. The Rev. John Wheelright, owing to a religious controversy precipitated by the teachings of Anne Hutchinson, left Exeter and later went to Wells, Maine, many of his parishioners going with him, and among them Edmund Littlefield, who in 1641, leaving Exeter, went to Wells, Maine, where he was one of the first settlers. He was supposed to have built the first house, a saw mill and grist mill. He was deeded a lot of land by Sir Ferdinand Gorges in 1643, and was a leading spirit in organizing the town and promoting its development. He was on the grand jury in 1645, and it is said was the richest man in Wells. He and his sons were millmen and farmers. He was of fearless enterprise and sound moral principle. On account of this firm, moral character, he was appointed by the governor of Massachusetts agent for the sale of liquors in Wells, it being then of the utmost importance that great discretion should be used in the distribution to the Indians. He was one of the committee to settle the boundary between Wells and Cape Porpoise, and was elected by the people for the years 1654, 1655, 1658, 1660 and 1661 to try small cases. He died in December, 1661. Children: Francis, born 1619; Anthony, Elizabeth, John, Thomas, Mary, Hannah, Francis Jr., born 1631.-page 101

 Henry Sweetser Burrage & Albert Roscoe Stubbs The Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 1  Lewis Historical Publishing Company,  New York, 1909

My ancestor Edmund Littlefield led quite an impressive life, but I think I'm more impressed by his wife
Annis crossing over with those six children after Edmund had gone before them!

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 13: WILLIAM FROST

When I first started out researching my family tree, I was excited to find that some of
my ancestors had been killed in the New England colonial Indian wars. (They, on the
other hand, probably would have rather skipped the whole experience.) But after awhile,
as I discovered more such deaths, I was struck how some of my ancestral families had
worse luck than others. Such is the case with my Frost ancestors, and in particular my
8x great grandfather William Frost.  Here's what Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole  has
to say about William in Old Kittery and Her Families

William Frost witnessed a deed at Winter Harbor in 1667 and bought land in Saco of William Phillips in 1673. It may have been he who had a grant of land on Crooked Lane, in Kittery, in 1658. The Indian War drove him to Salem, Mass., where he was living, 1675-9. William Frost, cordwainer, of Salem, bought land in Wells, Me., in 1679, and had various grants and mill privileges in Wells till 1690. His estate was administered in 1690 by Israel Harden, and William Frost, Jr., was bondsman. Roger Hill wrote to his wife, 7 May 1690, "The Indians have killed Goodman Frost and James Littlefield and carried away Nathaniel Frost and burnt several houses here in Wells" William Frost married Mary, dau. of John and Elizabeth (Littlefield) Wakefield, granddaugher of Edmund and Annis Littlefield. Children were:

William m. (1) Rachel and had a daughter born in Wells 30  Sept. 1695. (2) 5 April 1706, Elizabeth Searle in Salem, Mass.; d. in Salem 23 Sept. 1721. Ch. recorded in Salem: Benjamin b. 24 June 1707; Elizabeth b. 22 Aug. 1708, m. John Brown; Benjamin b. 24 Sept. 1710; Hannah b. 4 July 1712, m. John Prince; Mary b. 2 Dec. 1714; William b. 4 Oct. 1715; Lydia b. 22 May 1717, m. William Cook.
 
Nathaniel, captured by Indians in 1690.
 
Elizabeth? m. in York, 8 Nov. 1608 Daniel Dill.
 
Mary b. at Salem 31-5-1677.
 
Abigail? m. in Salem, 14 Jan. 1702-3, Samuel Upton.
- pp426-427

Old Kittery and Her Families (Google eBook) Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole
Press of Lewiston journal Company, 1903 - Kittery (Me.)

So William and his brother in law James Wakefield were killed, and William's
son Nathaniel was carried off by the Indians, all in 1690. This was years after the end
of the King Philip's War, during which the Frost family had retreated to Salem, Ma, The
rest of the family seems to have returned again to Salem after William's death, where his daughter
Abigail Frost married my 7x great grandfather Amos Upton.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2015 WEEK 12: GEORGE FROST

For this week's entry in the 2015 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge, I'm looking into
the family of Samuel Upton's wife, the Frosts. The furthest back I can take that line
is to George Frost, Sarah's grandfather and my 9x great grandfather. I know nothing
about where and when he was born, nor do I know the name of his wife, nor the
date of his death. Given that he lived in an area of coastal Maine that suffered several
Indian attacks, it's possible any vital records were destroyed. What I do know is what I
found in this passage from Everett Schermerhorn Stackpole's book Old Kittery and Her Families:

George Frost lived at Winter Harbor, Saco, and was appraiser of the estate of Richard Williams in 1635. He served on the grand jury in 1640. Nothing more is known of him, but the fact that several Frosts appear in his vicinity a generation later, that can not be traced to any other ancestor, warrants the belief that he was the father of the following. Goody Frost was assigned to a pew in the church at Winter Harbor next to the pew of Goody Wakefield, 22 Sept. 1666.

Rebecca m. Simon, son of Robert Booth of Saco, who was born in 1641. They removed to Enfield, Conn., and she d. in 1668.

1 John m. Rose___
 
2. William m. Mary Wakefield.
-p425

Old Kittery and Her Families (Google eBook) 
Press of Lewiston journal Company, 1903 - Kittery (Me.)

Both George's sons, John and William Frost, were killed by Indians. Luckily, William's
daughter Sarah wasn't and eventually married Samuel Upton.