THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT4: CONCLUSIONS

I haven't been able to find any  a marriage record as yet for Jonathan Phelps and
Beulah Parker, but I am convinced that Jonathan was the son of Samuel Phelps and
Elizabeth Andrews and that Beulah Parker was the daughter of John Parker and
Joanna Ames.

 The reasons I've come to this conclusion:

Discrepancies in "Aunt Betsey"(Ames)Putnam's story about her parents.

1. Her statement that when Lydia Phelps met and married John Ames it
was his second marriage. There is quite a bit of information on John Ames
but there is no mention of a first marriage in any of it.

2.Her story that Lydia's parents were of Scottish descent:  I mentioned in my
last post that I recognized the names of Beulah's mother Joanna Ames in what
William Richard Cutter had written about the family. This is because I already had
Joanna Ames in my database. She was the daughter of my 8x great grandparents
John Ames and Priscilla Kimball, and she married John Parker. The Parker, Ames,
and Kimball families had been living in Massachusetts for over a century by the
time of Lydia Phelps' birth.

The probate file and Phelps genealogy information :

The match of the names of the children of Jonathan and Beulah in the probate file
with the names in Charlotte Helen Abbott's genealogy of the Phelps family. 
This gives credence to me of her identification of Jonathan as the son of
John Phelps and Elizabeth Andrews, members of two more long established
colonial Massachusetts families. I've used her genealogy of the Barker family as
a reference while working on my grandmother's family and found her to be
very reliable as I've been able to find records to verify her Barker genealogy.
 
Name Patterns:

Once again, the names of the children of Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker were:
Joanna
Lydia
Jonathan
Francis.
  
Joanna is also the name of Beulah Parker's grandmother in Cutter's genealogy of
the family.

Lydia is the name of  Jonathan Phelps' sister in Abbott's Phelps family genealogy.

Jonathan could be named for his father or a number of other men with that name in the
Phelps and Ames families.

Francis was a Phelps family name because of the marriage of Rev Francis Dane's daughter Hannah to Samuel Phelps in 1684. (Ironic considering the events of the Salem Witch trials between the two families.) They are my 7x great grandparents through my Abbott line.


I still need to find a marriage record for Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker,
but for the reasons I've given here, I believe they are my 6x great grandparents.

"THE MURDEROUS TOMAHAWK": THE PETITION OF MARY KIMBALL 1676

In my previous post about the death of John Ames, I mentioned that his wife
Priscilla Kimball's father, Thomas Kimball, had been killed by Indians and that
she, her mother, and four sibings had been taken captive. The incident had
occurred during King Philip's War on 3May 1676 and is recounted in George
Wingate Chase's History of Haverhill Massachusetts:

"Haverhill was not long permitted to escape the murderous tomahawk. On the
2d of May , one of its own people, Ephraim Kingsbury, was killed by the Indians.
He is believed to have been the first person slain in this town by the savages,
but the incidents connected with his death have been lost . The next day,
(May 3d,) the house of Thomas Kimball, of Bradford, was attacked, and he was
killed ; and his wife and five children,— Joanna, Thomas, Joseph, Priscilla, and
John,—taken captive. Phillip Eastman. of Haverhill, was captured at the
same time

This outrage was committed by three well known "converted Indians," named
Symon, Andrew, and Peter. There is a tradition, that they set out with the intention
of killing some one in Rowley, whom they supposed had injured them, but finding
the night too far spent, they did not dare proceed further, and so avenged
themeelves on Mr. Kimball. It is quite probable that Symon intended to wreak his
vengeance on some one who was concerned in securing his punishment for the
theft before mentioned. He was a cruel and blood-thirsty villain, as the following
facts will abundantly show.

Soon after her return from captivity, Mrs. Kimball addressed the following
petition to the Governor and Council:

"To the Hon. Governor and Councell.
The humble petition of Mary Kimball sheweth that Simon, the Indian who
killed my husband, Thomas Kimball, hath threatened to kill me and my children
if ever I goe to my own house, so that I dare not goe to looke after what little I
have there left, for fear of my life being taken away by him; and therefore, doe
humbly entreate the Hon. Governor and Councell that some course may be taken,
as God shall direct, and your wisdom, shall think best, to secure him; for I am in
continual fear of my life by him; and if any course may be taken for the recovery
of what is yet left in their hands of my goods that they have not destroyed, (as
there was two kittens and two or three bags of linnen when I came from them)
that I might have it restored, leaving myself and my concernes under God, to
your wisdoms. Remaine your humble suppliant. 'Mary Kimball." (pp124-125)"
Mary Kimball was born Mary Smith in 1637 9n Ipswich, Ma, the daughter of
John Smith and Isabella Drake. She was my 9x great grandmother.

Symon the Indian was involved in an attack on another town where one of
my ancestors lived, and I'll tell that story next.

A FAMILY REUNION OF SORTS 22

 I already knew I had a cousin connection with Joseph Kimball's
family, but I didn't realize just how much that connection was at
first!

Because of earlier encounters with Dunham cousin grave sites in the
Mt Vernon Cemetery, I was able to determine that  Joseph Edward
Kimball's wife was Susan Ford Dunham, the daughter of Brigadier
General Henry Dunham, whom I've posted about here. I was also
able to find out the Kimball's had two other children besides John
Hermann Kimball but very little about their childrens' lives:

Anna Dunham Kimball b1Apr 1873, married Edwin Brown

John Hermann Kimball b 18Feb 1875, d.28Jul 1896, m.14Aug 1895
Blanche Lousie Wilber from Rockland Ma. They had one daughter
who apparently did not survive infancy because I can find no record
of her  as part of Blanches's family after she remarried a Frederick
Loud in 1899.

Josephine M Kimball b. 28Apr 1876


I found out more about Joseph Kimball's post Civil War career and as
is the case with much of the Dunham history in Abington, it revolves
around the shoe industry. This is from History of Essex County, 
Massachusetts: with biographical sketches ...Volume 1 edited by\
Duane Hamilton Hurd  (1888) p 645-646:


"Mr. Kimball was in the rudiments of his trade when the war broke out,
and When he returned from the conflict he returned to his trade, and
associated himself with his brother in Abington, in the manufacture of
tack and nail machinery for boot and shoe manufacturing, and they
were enabled so to improve them that they gained an enviable reputation
at home and in foreign countries. Their reputation was such that a 
powerful combination of tack manufacturers to control these goods in
the United States paid them a considerable sum in cash, with the sole 
right to manufacture their machines and no others.


In 1876 and 1877 Mr. Kimball perfected and patented a nailing machine.
This aroused a powerful antagonist,—the McKay Metalic Fastening 
Company. A hard struggle ensued. His brother retired from the firm. At
last the McKay Company offered, on the score of economy, to purchase
the surrender of his patents rather than expend more money in litigation. 
Just then, very opportunely, Mr. James E. Maynadier, a patent lawyer, 
took the case, cleared the patents, and was instrumental in establishing 
a company with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars to utilize them. 
The capital was soon increased to fifty thousand dollars, then to one 
hundred thousand dollars, and then to one hundred and fifty thousand 
dollars, which is now paying good dividends. Mr. Kimball received 
twenty thousand dollars for his invention and held stock in the company.

Ere long appeared a fastening called the " Estabrook and Wire-clinching 
screw," which was cheap and possessed other merits, but had to be 
worked by hand. Mr. Kimball invented machinery to make it a success. 

He then removed to Milford.

Within the last two years he has invented an improved metalic fastening
and all the new machinery for its manufacture. This is now his main product.

Lastly he has invented a machine for sole-fastening, upon which is placed 
a simple coil of threaded wire from which at each revolution of the machine
a clinching screw is completed, automatically governed in length to conform 
exactly to the thickness of the material to be fastened together at the exact
point necessary to be fastened, inserted in the material and securely riveted. 
By this machine, within a period of about fifteen seconds every fastening is
made, inserted and riveted, necessary to fasten the sole to a boot or shoe. 
The machine is on trial, with apparent prospect of success."

The reason there was such a long entry for a Plymouth County resident in
an Essex County history is that Joseph Edward Kimball was the son of
David Tenney Kimball, a prominent Ipswich clergyman. And it was in the
entry for the Rev. Kimball that I found a surprising bit of information:
his wife was named Dolly Varnum Coburn.

I have Coburn ancestry. Could there be a connection there?

There is. Like myself, Dolly Coburn was descended from Edward 
Colborne and his wife Hannah. And to add even further to the common
ancestry, Joseph and I share another common ancestor, Richard Kimball
of Ipswich, Ma.

So not only had I found a Dunham cousin's final resting place, I had
discovered I was a cousin twice over to her husband!