APOLOGIES TO THOSE WHO HAVE LEFT COMMENTS

Once again I need to apologize to my readers. I recently realized I hadn't seen any comments on the few blogposts I've made since my recent illness.

Then it dawned on  me I hadn't checked the Comments waiting to be authorized here on the Blogger dashboard. When I did, I saw there were comments going back o January. I immediately posted them to the posts they belonged with.

So my apologies to those readers. I hope to do better as I  (hopefully) get back into the swing of things.

53 ANCESTORS #4:THOMAS:SAFFORD JR.OF IPSWICH, MA.

i haven't found much online about Thomas Safford the son of John Safford. He was named after his grandfather the immigrant Thomas Safford.

Here's all that William Richard Cutter has to say about him:

Thomas, son of John Safford , was born October 16, 1672. He married (first) Elanor Shatswell or Satchwell, widow of Richard Shatswell, or Satchwell, qnd daughter of Daniel Cheney. He married (secnd) at Rowley, Massachusetts, June 29, 1725, Sarah Scott.-p1524

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 3 (Google eBook) Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908 - Boston (Mass.)
 
Thomas and Eleanor had ten children.  I am descended from their son John Safford. 

MOTHERS DAY PT2

In honor of Mother's Day, here are pictures of our Dad's female ancestors.

First, on his mother's side:

Amos H Barker & Betsey J (Moore) Barker

Our 2x great grandmother Betsey Jane Moore was born on 16 Aug 1842 at Waterford,
Oxford, Me. She married Amos Hastings Barker in 1856 and they raised a family of
12 children, 11 of whom survived to adulthood. Betsey died 12Mar 1924 at age 82.

My great grandmother Charlotte Lovenia Barker is the lady on the right.

 Our great grandmother Charlotte Lovenia Barker was youngest of  Amos & Betsey's
12 children. She was born on 3 Aug 1879 in Albany, Oxford, Maine and was known as
":Lottie". She married her first cousin Frank W. Barker on 16Oct 1898 and they had
4 children before Frank died in 1905 from pneumonia caused by "La Grippe" (the flu).
She was married three more times before her death on 3Jan 1944 at Bangor, Maine.   

Cora Berthella (Barker) West & her great granddaughter Mindy Sue West

Our grandmother Cora Berthella (Barker) West was born 27Oct 1899 and was the eldest
child of Frank and Charlotte. She preferred the name Bertha, although it was given as
Cora on her marriage certificate. Bertha married Floyd E.West Sr on 24Mar 1919 and
had 5 children, one of whom was our Dad.

 On his Dad's side of the family:

Arvilla (Ames)West

Our 3x great grandmother Arvilla Ames was born in Livermore, Androscoggin, Maine
on 25Jan 1810, one of 10 children. She married John Cutter West on 23Sep 1827
at Sumner, Maine, and five years later they moved to Letter B Plantation (later renamed
Upton), Oxford, Maine. She had 10 children, 3 of whom died in a diphtheria outbreak
in 1862. She died at age 97 at Hermon, Maine.

Louisa A.(Richardson) West

Louisa Richardson, our 2x great grandmother was born in Wilton, Maine on
23Jun 1837 at Wilton, Maine.  She was the second wife of Jonathan Phelps West,
whose first wife had died in the 1862 diphtheria outbreak. Louisa and Jonathan
married on 31Jan 1865 and had 4 sons. She died 4Oct 1925 at age 88.

Florilla (Dunham) Ellingwood & Asa F Ellingwood

Our other paternal 2x great grandmother was Florilla Dunham who was born 29Aug
1832 at North Paris, Oxford, Maine. She married Asa F. Ellingwood on 10Aug 1850
at Woodstock, Oxford, Maine and 11 children.(She was one of 11 children herself.)
She died in Paris, Oxford, Maine on 21Feb 1917.

Clara (Ellingwood) West

Finally, our great grandmother  Clara Ellingwood was the 8th child and youngest
daughter of Florilla and Asa Ellingwood. She was born 6Mar 1865 in Dummer, Coos,
NH. Her first marriage with Charles Tidswell ended in divorce and she married our
great grandfather Philip J West on 25May 1894 at Shelburne, Coos, NH. She had
three children by her first marriage and two by her second, including our grandfather
Floyd E West, Sr. Sadly, Clara died young after an illness in Augusta, Maine on 10Apr
1901. She was only 36 years old.

And those are the pictures we have of the mothers in our family.

Happy Mothers Day! 

MOTHERS DAY

Once again for Mothers Day I'm posting photos of our family's mothers, starting with the maternal line of my family..

For our Mom's side we don't have very many since her grandparents immigrated
here from Ireland and Germany in the 19th century.

 

John McFarland & Annie (Kelley) McFarland

First there's Anna Kelley, born 1Oct 1858 in Kiltrustan, Roscommon, Ireland. She married
my great grandfather in Edinburgh Scotland on 16May1879 and shortly after they came
to America and settled in Boston. She had 17 children, 10 of whom survived to adulthood.
Anna died 15Feb 1945 at Boston, Ma. at age 86.

Pauline (Offinger) White

Our other maternal great grandmother was Pauline Offinger, born 17Dec 1873
in Cambridge, Massachusetts to German immigrant parents. She married Edward J.
White on 27Nov 1895 in Boston, Ma. and had 9 children.          

Agnes (McFarland) White

Our grandmother Agnes (McFarland) White was born 7Oct 1898 in Boston, Ma, the
14th of John & Annie's 17 children. She was known as "Aggie" in the family.
She married Edward F.White, Sr. and had two children, our Uncle Ed and our Mom
Anne Marie. She died 12Feb 1957 in Malden Ma.

Anne M. (White) West

Finally, our Mom, Anne M. (White) West. She was born 7Jul 1927 at Boston, Ma and
married our Dad on 29Jun 1947, also at Boston. To her McFarland cousins she was
known as "Red White". She died on 28Jul 1999 at Weymouth, Ma and she is missed by
my brother, my sister, myself and the rest of the family.

53 ANCESTORS #3: JOHN SAFFORD OF IPSWICH, MA.

John Safford is my 8x great grandfather. Here is what Ellery Bicknell Crane wrote about him.

"John Safford, son of Thomas Safford,, was born about 1633, probably in England. He settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts. He had a share of Plum Island. He gave land to his son Thomas for the maintenance of his wife  and daughter by deed dated September 5, 1698. The children of John and Sarah Safford were: John Jr., of whom later; Sarah, born July 14, 1664, died July 21, 1712; Margaret, February 26, 1665-6;  Rebecca, August, August 30, 1667; Mercy or Mary, born February 26,  1669-70; Elizabeth, February 27, 1670-1; Thomas, October  7 1672, married Eleanor Shatswell or Setchwell, widow of Richard Setchwell and daughter of Daniel Cheney; married (second) at Rowley June 29, 1725, Sara Scott"-p93
Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity · Volume 1 Lewis Publishing 1907

I have hia wife as Sarah Low. Their son Thomas is my 7x great grandfather.

THE SHOT HEARD `ROUND THE WORLD

Today is the 245th Anniversary of the Battles of Lexington & Concord which
started the American Revolution on 19Apr 1775.

These are our colonial ancestors from our Dad's family lines for whom I have
so far been able to discover records that they took part in those battles and served in the
Revolution:



Jonathan Barker Jr. My 5x great grandfather
Was a Minuteman from Methuen Ma with rank of Sergeant.
He responded to Lexington and Concord with his sons
Served in Captain Samuel Johnson's Company in
Colonel Titcomb's Regiment for 2 months in 1777 in Rhode
Island and then with Nathaniel Gage's Company in Colonel
Jacob Gerrish's guards from Dec 1777 to l Apr 1778 guarding
the captured troops of General Burgoyne.


Jonathan Barker 3rd  My 4x great grandfather
Enlisted on 19 Apr 1775 in Continental Army, Capt. John
Davis' Company, Col. James Frye's Regiment, in the
Massachusetts line for 8 months in Cambridge, Ma. At the
conclusion of the term, he reenlisted for another 3 months in
Capt John Allen's Company, Colonel John Waldron's Regiment,
General Sullivan's Brigade in the New Hampshire Brigade at
Charlestown, Ma. He then enlisted a third time in June 1778
at Methuen, Ma., joining Captain Samuel Carr's Company, Col.
James Weston's Regiment, in General Lerned's Brigade at
White Plains, N.Y. and serving for another 9 months.

John Ames   My 5x great grandfather
Was a Minuteman under Capt. Asa Parker on April 19th,
1775. He then enlisted in the Continental Army under Captain
Oliver Parker, Col. William Prescott's Regiment and
in the Brigade that was commanded in turn by Generals
Putnam, Lee, and Washington and served for 8 1/2 months.

 

Asa Barrows    My 4x great grandfather
A member of the militia from Middleborough , Ma. (south of
Boston) in the Company of Captain Joshua Benson, in Colonel
Cotton's Regiment, and General William Heath's Brigade for
8 months during the siege of Boston. In December 1776 he
joined a militia Company commanded by Captain Joshua
Perkins and marched to Barrington, R.I. and was stationed
there for 6 weeks. In July 1780 he again enlisted, this time
in a militia company commanded by Captain Perez Churchill
that marched to Tiverton, R.I. .

Moses Coburn  My 4x great grandfather
Moses Coburn got into the War late and by reason of being
"hired by a certain class of men in the then town of Dunstable
to go into the Continental Army in the summer of 1781."
When he reached Phillipsburgh in New York he was placed in
Captain Benjamin Pike's Company, in the Regiment of the
Massachusetts line commanded by Lt. Colonel Calvin Smith in
which he served for nearly two years until it was broken up.
He then transferred to the Company of Judah Alden in the
Regiment commanded by Colonel Sprouts until his discharge
in 1783.

Samuel Haskell   My 5x great grandfather
Samuel served in Captain Joseph Elliott's Company in Colonel
William Turner's Regiment and then under Captain Hezekiah
Whitney in Colonel Josiah Whitney's Regiment.


Amos Hastings   My 5x great grandfather
Amos  responded to the Lexington Alarm as part of
Captain Richard Ayer's Company and Colonel William
Johnson's Regiment. He later served in Captain Timothy
Eaton's Company in Colonel Edward Wigglesworth's Regiment
and was at the taking of the British General Burgoyne at
Ticonderoga.

Elisha Houghton   5x great grandfather
Enlisted at Harvard Ma as a Private in May of 1777 in the
Massachusetts militia and was at the Battles of Bunker Hill
and Stillwater. He then enlisted for three years in the infantry
company commanded by Captain Joshua Brown in Colonel
Timothy Bigelow's 15th Regiment of the Massachusetts line.
and took part in the Battles of Monmouth and Newport and
was at Valley Forge. He twice was promoted to Sergeant and
twice was busted back down to the ranks.

Amos Upton    My 5x great grandfather
Responded to the Lexington Alarm and marched there from
his home in Reading. He later joined the militia company
commanded by Captain Asa Prince as an orderly sergeant
and then enlisted for eight months in the Continental Army
under Colonel Mansfield. He was at the Battle of Bunker Hill.
He was discharged in October of 1775.

John Griffith  My 5x great grandfather
Enlisted in 1781 as a Matross (he swabbed out the barrel of
the cannons after they fired, or so I've been told) in Captain
William Treadwell's Company in Colonel John Crane's
Artillery Regiment.


Reuben Packard   My 5x great grandfather
A Sergeant in Captain Josiah Hayden's Company in Colonel
Bailey's militia. They marched to Lexington at news of the
Alarm. He also responded several more times as a Minuteman
for a total of nearly 8 months duty.


Jonathan Abbott   My 5x great grandfather
Served as a Sergeant in the Militia under Captain Henry
Abbott and responded to the Lexington Alarm


Samuel Stowe  My 5x great grandfather
Minuteman from Sherborn, Ma. Served in Capt. Benjamin Bullard's
Company in Col. Asa Whitcomb's 5th Massachusetts Bay
Provincial Regiment.


Besides those direct ancestors, these other relatives fought
in the Revolution:

Moses Barrows, brother to Asa Barrows.

Samuel, Jesse, and Benjamin Barker, sons of Jonathan
Barker, Jr. and brothers to Jonathan Barker 3rd.

James Swan, brother in law to Jonathan Barker.

MY VERY LATE BELATED HAPPY 13TH BLOGIVERSARY POST

I usually celebrate my blogiversary at the end of January. But this year a medical problem  prevented that. So this is a very belated and brief 13th  blogiversary post, No stats analysis this year.

But I'm still here!

53 ANCESTORS IN 53 WEEKS WEEK #2: THOMAS SAFFORD OF IPSWICH, MA.

My 4x great grandfather Moses Houghton married Martha Haskell. Her parents, Samuel Haskell and Ruth Safford, were Haskell 3rd cousins, and Ruth's family tree includes members of the Cheney, Bailey and Emery famiies whom I'v posted about previously.  I've also already posted about several Haskell ancestors in Samuel's side of the family.

I've also posted about Ruth's immigrant ancestor Thomas Safford, but that was five years ago, so I'll repost some of that here.

William Richard Cutter doesn't have much information on Thomas Safford:

Thomas Safford, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England and settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, before 1641. He was on the list of proprietors of the town, April 6, 1641, and was admitted a freeman, December 19, 1648. He bought a farm at Ipswich, thirty-two acres, February 8, 1648. He was a subscriber to Denison's allowance in 1640, and had a share and a half in Plum Island. He died in February, 1666-67. His will was dated February 20, 1666-67, and approved March 26. 1667. He gave his farm to his son Joseph on condition of care of father and mother and paying certain amounts to daughters Elizabeth, Mary and Abigail. He married Elizabeth, who died March 4, 1667, at Ipswich.

Children: Joseph, born 1631-32; John, mentioned below; Elizabeth; Mary; Abigail. One daughter married Kilum.- pp1523-1524

Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 3 (Google eBook) Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908 - Boston (Mass.)
 

2019 BY THE NUMBERS

For the most part 2019 was a productive research year, except for posts on the poor old Old Colony  Genealogy Rabbit 

Database:
My research numbers as shown by RootsMagic7:
2019-33,949 people, 134,430 citations, 744 sources
2018-32,385 people, 122,535 citations, 635 sources
So I added 1564 people, 11895 citations and 109 sources.

Find a Grave
I transferred 5 memorials to relatives of the deceased, but added  26 more photos and took 17 volunteer photos.
2019-609 memorials, 1031 photos, 205 volunteer photos taken
2018-614 memorials, 1005 photos, 188 volunteer photos taken

Blogging
On this blog I passed 2018 by23 posts.
2019 (166)

2018 (143)

On my Old Colony Graveyard Rabbit blog, I only posted 2 times this year. Sigh.

DNA
Ancestry.com changed how their results are displayed near the end of 2019. So I've had to change spme information here and added one new category, All Matches. Starred Matches are those that have Shared Ancestors that I am fairly confident are correct.
2019-56,357 All Matches

2019- 602 Starred Matches
2018-240 Starred matches

2019-1218 4th cousins or closer
2018- 919 4th cousins or closer

I also sent my DNA to MyHeritage where I have 7,699 matches.

53 ANCESTORS IN 53 WEEKS 2019 WEEK 1 :SAMUEL WOODS OF GROTON, MA.

My 9x great grandparents Samuel Woods and Alice Rushton were also among the origimal settlers of Groton, Ma. and as such were witnesses to events in the Indian Wars. William Richard Cutter gives some information on this in his New England Families, Genealogical and Memorial...volume 3:

(I) Samuel Woods, the progenitor of this family, was in Watertown, Massachusetts, as early as 1653, and afterward lived in Cambridge, where he married, September 28, 1659, Alice Rushton. In 1662 he came to Groton, Massachusetts, of which he was one of the original proprietors, owning an eleven acre right, and there resided until the destruction of the town in King Philip's war, 1675-76, when he returned to Watertown. In 1677 he signed the agreement made at Concord to resettle Groton, and in the following year returned thither. He died at Groton about January, 1718, and his wife died April 17, 1712. Both he and his wife were born in 1636, according to their deposition. Children: Samuel, born at Cambridge, January 3, 1660-61; Thomas, at Groton, March 9, 1663; Elizabeth, September 17, 1665; Nathaniel, mentioned below; Mary, August 2, 1670; Abigail, August 19, 1672; Hannah, September 18, 1674; John, at Watertown, March 4, 1676-77. pp1348-1349 

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  Lewis Historical Publishing Company, New York, 1914 -

And I found this record of Samuel and Alice testifying about an incident during King Phillip's War
in Samuel Abbott Green's An Account of the Early Land-grants of Groton, Massachusetts:

Alse Woods aged forty years testifieth and saith that at Grooton upon the day that the most of the town was burnt by Indians: she heard severall say, that Daniell Adams had killed an Indian: and she went presently into Mr. Willards Garrit and saw two Indians stand over a dead Indian, about halfe an hour, and then they carried him away, and further saith not.
The mark O of Alsk Woods. -p80

Samuell Woodes of Grotten aged about forty years of age witnis that he saw tooe indens standing upon Captine parker*s iland at grotten and danill adams shot at tham, and one of them falle doune and the other ran away.
17 day of 2, month 1676, the mark [~ of Samuel Woodes.-p81

An Account of the Early Land-grants of Groton, Massachusetts ,  University Press, John Wilson & Sons, Cambridge, Ma 1879

While Thomas and Alice Woods seem to have escaped the wars physically unscathed, the emotional toll of the deaths of their Longley relatives and the kidnapping of their Tarbell grandchildren must have been great.

THE TARBELL FAMILY AND THE INDIAN WARS PT4

Samuel Abbott Green devoted quite a bit of research for his book to the Tarbell incident. He dicussed the various versions of what happened. He also found documents detailing the efforts made by Thomas Tarbell IV to find his siblings and bring them home. Green even made a trip to Montreal where he discovered what became of Sarah Tarbell :

During my visit to Montreal in the summer of 1877 I saw, at the Congregation of Notre Dame, the French record, of which the following is a translation: —
On Monday, July 23, 1708, the ceremony of baptism was performed on Sarah Tarbell, who was born at Groton in New England, October 9, 1693. Her parents were Thomas Tarbell and Elizabeth Wood, both Protestants, and she was baptized by the minister shortly after her birth. Having been taken by the savages on Monday, June 20, 1707, she was brought to Canada; she has since been sold, and has lived with the Sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame, established at Lachine, where she abjured her religion on May 1. Her godfather was M. Jacques Urbain Robert de Lamorandiere, Secretary of M. l'lntendant; and her godmother was Madame Marguerite Bonat, wife of M. Etienne Pascaud, the deputy treasurer of the King in this country.
Her name Sarah has been changed to Marguerite.
[Signed] Mgte Bonat,
Pascaud,
Lamorandiere,
Meriel, Pretre.
 
The boys remained for many years with their captors at Caughnawaga, an Indian village on the right bank of the St. Lawrence River, directly opposite to Lachine.

 p110
  Groton During the Indian Wars  : J. Wilson and Sons, Cambridge , Ma. 1883

When John and Zachariah Tarbell finally returned to Groton, it was as grown men and strangers to their family:

 We find no further trace of these boys, now grown up to manhood, during the twenty-five years following this attempt to release the New England prisoners. In the winter of 1739 John and Zechariah Tarbell came back to Groton in order to visit their kinsfolk and see their native town. They were so young when carried away that their recollections of the place were of course very indistinct. It is not known now under what circumstances or influences they returned. An itemized bill of the expense incurred in bringing them back from Canada was made out against their brothers, Thomas and Samuel, and perhaps paid by them. Shortly afterward Thomas Tarbell petitioned the General Court for means to enable him to meet the necessary charges of the journey, besides the expenses of an interpreter; and a conditional loan was granted. The record does not say whether it was ever paid back by him.  ibid,p111

The Tarbell brothers were now more Native American than English, and returned to the families they had made for themselves in upstate New York,  Green traces the Indian side of the family right down to the time of the publication  of his book in 1877 .

It's quite possible I may have Tarbell cousins living there today,

MY 2020 GENEAPLANS

So it's another year and another list of geneaplans. A lot of them are the same as every year but a few have been modified out of necessity  and there's one new plan for 2020:

1.Continue adding more of my ancestors siblings and their lines to my database.

2. If and when my car is back on the road, visit the places my ancstors lived and are buried here in Massachusetts

3 Again.this year I'm  going to set a goal for my blogging: to try to reach 200 posts in this blog and to post anything, anything at all, in my Graveyard Rabbits  blog.

4. Post more photos for Find A Grave from the many I still have sitting in folders on my computer..

5. Continue to stay organized:  Keep putting images  I download into  the folder they belong in immediately,

6. Transcribe more of the wills and probate files I've downloaded already.

7. Find and download the wills and probate files of female ancestors.

8.  Keep working  on  the timeline for my ancestors who were involved in the Colonial New England Indian wars, including those who were captured.

9. Go back and finish the series about the "Hot Mess" probate file of ancestor Nathaniel Stowe which I forgot to finish in May 2015. (Probably because it's such a "hot mess").

10. Write more  about my ancestor Gov. John Endecott. I keep pushing it aside, I think, because he did somethings that were nasty.

11. Make more use of the MyTreeTags feature to make lists of things my anestors were involved in .

12. Keep having fun with genealogy!

We'll see if I do better this year!

MY 2019 GENEAPLANS: HOW WELL DID I DO?

While 2019 was not as bad a year as 2018 for meeting my genealogy goals, it wasn't entirely successful. I didn't make any of the road trips I'd wanted to take, and there's a few projects I wanted to work on that I never got around to doing. On the other hand, I made some discoveries about my Mom's German ancestors and about my Dad's Cape Cod families, so 2019 was not a total failure.

Here are my 2019 geneaplans, with the results in red: 
1.Continue adding more of my ancestors siblings and their lines to my database.
This is one of the things I manage to get accomplished every year.

2. Get off my butt and actually visit the places my ancstors lived and are buried here in Massachusetts. I didn't do any road trips in 2017. Getting out of my apartment oncethe weather turns warm is better for my health, too.
Failed again, even though the car was running most of the yer.

3.This year I'm  going to set a more practical goal for my blogging: to reach at least 200 posts in this blog and to post anything, anything at all, in my Graveyard Rabbits  blog.
Semi successful. I did post a few times on Graveyard Rabbits. And although I didn't make 200 posts on this blog I did pass last year's total so I'm satisfied.


4. Take and post more photos for Find A Grave. Another way toi get me off my butt and out of the apartment.
Although it wasn't a lot I did manage to find a few requests.

5. Continue to stay organized:  Keep putting images  I download into  the folder they belong in immediately,
Another good year organizational wise.

6. Transcribe more of the wills and probate files I've downloaded already.
I did some but I am waaaay behind on this.

7. Find and download the wills and probate files of female ancestors.
Only did a few but it's a start.

8.  Keep working  on  the timeline for my ancestors who were involved in the Colonial New England Indian wars, including those who were captured.
I made some progress on this lately, and have posted the story of my Tarbell relatives who were captives. I will be posting about the Longley's next.

9. Go back and finish the series about the "Hot Mess" probate file of ancestor Nathaniel Stowe which I forgot to finish in May 2015. (Probably because it's such a "hot mess").
Big fail again . Didn't even look at the file for a second year..

10. Write more  about my ancestor Gov. John Endecott. I keep pushing it aside, I think, because he did somethings that were nasty.
 Nope. Not yet.

11.Keep having fun with genealogy!
I always do!

And  as I say every year, I hope to do better this coming year.

THE TARBELL FAMILY AND THE INDIAN WARS PT3

The story of the capture of the Tarbell children and their susequent fate was written about in books and magazine articles right up into the early 20th century.  Samuel Abbott Green wrote quite a bit about them in his book Groton in the Indian Wars, starting with this:

In a list of prisoners held by the French and Indians in Canada, March 5, 1710-11, are the names of "Zech: Tarbal, John Tarbal, Sarah Tarbal, Matt. Farnsworth [and] Lydia Longley" (Archives, LXXI. 765), all of Groton, though no date of capture is given. Lydia Longley was taken by the Indians on July 27, 1694, and the particulars of her case have already been told. The Tarbell children were carried off on June 20, 1707; but it is unknown when Matthias Farnsworth was captured, and this entry appears to be the only record of the fact. Sarah, John, and Zechariah were children of Thomas and Elizabeth (Wood) Tarbell, who, with a large family, lived on Farmers' Row, near where James Lawrence's house now stands. Sarah was a girl nearly fourteen years of age, John a lad of twelve years, and Zechariah only seven, at the time when they were taken. They were near kindred of the Longley family, who had been massacred thirteen years before. The father was unquestionably the Corporal Tarbell who commanded, in the autumn of 1711, one of the eighteen garrisons in the town.

The story of their capture and captivity is a singular one, and sounds like a romance. They were picking cherries early one evening, — so tradition relates, — and were taken before they had time to get down from the tree. It should be borne in mind that the date of capture, according to the new style of reckoning, was July I, when cherries would be ripe enough to tempt the appetite of climbing youngsters. These children were carried to Canada, where, it would seem, they were treated kindly, as no inducement afterward was strong enough to make them return permanently to their old home. The girl, Sarah, was sold to the French, and placed in a convent at Lachine, near Montreal; but what became of her subsequently I am unable to say.

Thomas Tarbell, the father of these children, made his will September 26, 1715, which was admitted to probate six weeks later, and is now on file at the Middlesex Probate Office in East Cambridge. After making certain bequests to different members of his family, he says: —

all the rest & residue of my Reall Estate I give to be Equally divided between my three children, John, Zachary, & Sarah Tarbell, upon their return from Captivity, or In Proportion unto any of them that shall return, & the rest, or the parts belonging to them that do not return, shall be Equally divided among the rest of my children.

pp109-110

 Groton During the Indian Wars  : J. Wilson and Sons, Cambridge , Ma. 1883

Even after eleven years since their capture, my 8x great grandfather held out hope for their eventual return


His sons would come back to Groton after his death, but not as he had hoped they would.


To be continued.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS 2019 WEEK 52:WILLIAM LONGLEY. OF GROTON, MA.

My 10x great grandfather was another immigrant ancestor and prominent citizen of Groton, Ma.  From Ellery Bicknell Crane's Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts Volume 1:

(II) William Longley, son of John Longley (1), was born in Frisbie, Lincoln county, England, in 1614. He came to Lynn as early as 1638, and was admitted a freeman March 4, 1639. He resided in Lynn twenty-two years, and was a prominent citizen and office holder there. He removed to Groton about 1659. His name appears first on the Groton records in 1663, and in 1665 he was elected selectman. William Longley had to go to the courts to correct the title to his lands at Lynn which he drew in 1638, and on which he had lived over twenty years. It seems that through a clerical error William's name was entered as Richard Longley on the proprietors' book, and the court records give ample proof that no Richard Longley existed, so the title was cured and doubtless William was able to deed his land to the purchaser when he went to Groton to live. He had to leave Groton, of course, in 1675, on account of King Philip's war, and he went to Charlestown to live during the hostilities. He served at one time as clerk of writs, indicating that he was well educated. He died November 29, 1680. His will, made November 3, 1680, was recorded April 10, 1681; bequeathing to wife Joanna, sons John and William, daughters, Mary Lemmond, Hannah Tarbell, Lydia Nutting, and Sarah Rand, and their children specified.

He married, in England, Joanna Goffe, sister of Thomas Goffe, who was deputy governor of the Massachusetts Bay Company that received a grant from the Crown, March 19, 1628. Goffe was a member of both Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay companies; was a merchant of London; lost money on the business of chartering ships for the colonists of Governor Winthrop and others. His widow married (second), Benjamin Crispe, and she died in 1698. The children of William and Joanna (Goffe) Longley were: 1. John. 2. Mary, married, 1666, Samuel M. Lemont. 3. Sarah, born October 15, 1660; married June 17, 1679, Thomas Rand, father of Robert Rand, to whom a grant of a thousand acres of land was given by the general court in what is now New Hampshire, on account of the losses suffered by Governor Goffe, his great-uncle. 4. Lydia, married James Blood.-p538

Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts Voume 1  The Lewis Publishing Compny, New York, N.Y. 1907

I've found the probate file and will of William at AmericanAncestors.org. I am descended from his daughter Hannah who married Thomas Tarbell Jr.

Thankfully, he wasn't alive when catastrophe befell his son William Jr.'s family.

THE TARBELL FAMILY AND THE INDIAN WARS PT2: "A TERRIBLE FATALITY"

I've mentioned before how the Indian wars in colonial Massachusetts had an effec on my family history. I recently found this in Samuel Abbott Green's book Groton During the Indian Wars. I've added how I am related to the people mentioned in it. Keep in mind this all happened in slightly over thirty years.:

A remarkable fatality seems to have followed Mrs. Shattuck's kindred. Her husband and eldest son were killed by the Indians, as has just been mentioned. Her father, James Blood, was likewise killed, September 13, 1692. So also were her uncle, William Longley, his wife and five children, July 27, 1694; and three others of their children were carried away into captivity at the same time. A relative, James Parker, Jr., and his wife were killed in this assault, and their children taken prisoners. Her step-father, Enoch Lawrence, received a wound in an engagement with the Indians, probably in the same attack of July 27, 1694, which almost wholly prevented him from earning a livelihood for himself and family. The three Tarbell children, who were carried off to Canada by the Indians, June 20, 1707, were cousins of Mrs. Shattuck. John Ames, who was shot by the savages at the gate of his own garrison, July 9, 1724, was the father of Jacob, who married her niece, Ruth Shattuck. And lastly, her son-in-law, Isaac Lakin, the husband of her daughter Elizabeth, was wounded in Lovewell's Fight at Pequawket, May 8, 1725. These calamities covered a period of only one generation, extending from the year 1692 to 1725.-p107


 Groton During the Indian Wars  : J. Wilson and Sons, Cambridge , Ma. 1883


Elizabeth (Blood)Shattuck is a distant cousin.
Her uncle William Longley, is my 9x great granduncle.
James Parker Jr is my 8x great granduncle.
John Ames is my 8x great grandfather
Issac Lakin is another of my distant cousins.

And the three Tarbell children were my 7x great grandaunt and two 7x great granduncles.

THE TARBELL FAMILY AND THE INDIAN WARS PT1

I was researching the tragedy of Thomas Tarbell  III's family when I came across this account of an incident that took place before King Philip's War. It involves the murder of a colonist by an Indian and includes testimony from Thomas Tarbell Jr. as to what he heard about it.

It's from Samuel Abbott Green's book Groton During the Indian Wars. He starts with a brief summary of the events:

The earliest documents at the State House, relating to Groton and the savages, give an account of a drunken brawl which ended in murder. The affair took place in the Merrimack Valley, and several men of this town were summoned to appear as witnesses at the investigation before the General Court in Boston. In the spring of 1668 Captain Richard Waldron built a trucking or trading house at Penacook, now Concord, New Hampshire, where a few weeks later one Thomas Dickinson was murdered by an Indian while under the influence of liquor. The homicide created great excitement, and it has been supposed to have delayed the permanent settlement of the place for many years. A warrant was issued directing the constable of Groton to summon John Page, Thomas Tarbell, Jr., Joseph Blood, and Robert Parish, all of this town, before the General Court in order to give their testimony, which they did under oath. It appeared by the evidence that there had been a drunken row, and that Dickinson was killed by an Indian, who acknowledged the crime and expressed great sorrow for it, but pleaded drunkenness in extenuation of the deed. The culprit was tried at once by a council of the Indians, who sentenced him to be shot, which was done the next day. It is interesting now to note the high temperance stand taken, more than two hundred years ago, by the Chief Tohaunto, which places him abreast of the most earnest opposers of the rum traffic at the present time. p-9

Groton During the Indian Wars  : J. Wilson and Sons, Cambridge , Ma. 1883

A few pages later he quotes the testimony of three men, including my ancestor Thomas Tarbell, Jr., who were given two different versions of the death, one from a colonist and the other from the Indians.

Wee whose names are herevnto subscribed doe testifye that in or aboute y* Month of June last past goeing to Pennycooke to enquire after Cattle yt were lost, rideing to ye ffort at the sayd Pennicooke, 'meeteing wth some of the Indians belonging thereto told us, yt an Englishman was Killed by an Indian, and that all our Englishman; Laws they had Killed the Indian, wee farther enquireing of them how and whether the Indians were drunck when the Englishman was Killed, and they answered all Indians were then drunck or else they had noe Kild Englishman; And farther wee Evidence Tohaunto a Sagamore being afrayd that wee had brought Liquors to sell desired us if wee had any, that wee would power it vppon the ground for it would make ye Indians all one Divill, And farther wee meeteing wth Thomas Payne, who told us he was Capt. Waldern's servt, asking him whether the Indians were druncke when the Englishman was Killed, and he answered not drunck; and after farther discourse wth ye sd Payne he sayd that ye pson that was Killed was Peter Coffins man and farther sayd that if the Killing of the Man did not prevent it his the sayd Paynes Master Capt Walderne and Peter Coffin did intend to send Carpenters to build there and also to have ground broake vpp to be improved, and wee farther affirme that wee saw a Rundlett which would hold at least six Gallons in the Trucking House near the sayd ffort; after wch wee meeteing wth the Indians then there, and telling them yt Thomas Payne told us that they were not drunck when The Englishman was Killed the Indians then sayd yt Payne much Lyed, for wee had Divers Quarts of Liquors the same day that the sayd Englishman was Killed upon and one of the Indians Comaunded his Squagh to wash a Bladder, wherein the Indian sayd there was a Quart of Liquors and wee doe adiudge it to be as much; or using words to the same effect
October 27th 1668  
John Page
Robb Parris
Thomas Tarball
Joseph Bloud
Sworne in Court, 27, October 1668
Edw: Rawson Secrety
[Massachusetts Archives, XXX. 161.]
-p11

And there were darker days ahead for the settlers along the Massachusetts frontier.

CHRISTMAS: IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR 2019

 ((originally posted in 2007))

Christmas Album to play on the stereo. There was also a Nat
King Cole album and a Mitch Miller “Sing Along With Mitch”
Christmas edition. But for me, even rock and roll dinosaur
that I am, it’s the Andy Williams album that “feels” like
Christmas to me. I need to hear that "It's the Most
Wonderful Time of the Year."


As I’ve gotten older and my musical tastes expanded, I find
myself listening to New Age and Celtic Christmas music. And
Josh Groban just put out a holiday album that we’ve played at
the bookstore since Thanksgiving and it’s easy on the ears.

As for caroling, well, there are some things that one should
never do in public and in my case, singing is one of them!

2010 Update: I splurged this year for the "Now That;s What
I Call Christmas Essentials Collection." It has the Andy Williams
song and Nat King Cole's version of "Christmas Song" on it,
and I plan to play it Thursday afternoon on my day off!

2011 Update Now that Borders has gone out of business and
I avoid the radio stations doing the "All Christmas, All the Time"
since mid-November, I haven't burned out on Christmas music
as early as previous years. But unfortunately, I am now tired of
"It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". Staples use of it
in the back to school ads was funny. But this year, the song has
been overused by retail stores and car dealerships so much
that it's like beating a dead reindeer! Bah, humbug!

2012 Update: My favorite piece of Christmas music this year
is this performance by Jimmy Fallon, The Roots, and Mariah
Carey. It makes me smile.

2013 Update: One of the things I've noticed since I no longer
work at Borders is I don't find Christmas music as grating as
I did for all those years when I heard it all day long at work. I
have some Celtic Christmas music collections Cds I will start
playing soon here at home, I think. There's also a local PBS
radio show "Celtic Sojourn" that puts on an annual live stage
and this year there is a tv special of it I want to see. 

2014 Update:
WGBH is showing a taping of "A Christmas Celtic Sojourn"
from a few years ago this year on tv. If you can find it, I think
you'll enjoy it:
  

2015 Update

 I've been listening to Christmas music on Pandora this year while working on my genealogy research. I haven't any new favorite this year so far, but if I find one I'll blog about it here.


  
2016 Update

This year my favorite piece of Christmas music is Loreena McKennit's :In Praise of Christmas"

2017 Update:
Things have come full circle. I have a Kindle Fire tablet and I'm listening to the
Andy Williams and Nat King Cole Christmas albums. I even found some Sing Aong
with Mitch Christmas songs!

2019 Update:
I have an Amazon Echo Dot no and I've been listening to a  A Celtic Christmas music playlist put together by Brian O'Donovan of WGBH Radio's A Celtic Sojourn program. You can find it here:

Brian O'Donovan's Christmas Playlist

DEAR GENEA-SANTA 2019

9ear Genea-Santa,
It's been another good year research wise, but I do have a few wishes for 2020.-

I've gone further back on my Mom's German ancestors but I could use some help finding some documents, and oh, yes, help in translating them.

I still haven't had much contact with DNA matches on Ancestry. I think if you could sort of nudge them into being more willing to share information that would be a big help!

Speaking of DNA sites, could you give me a hand in figuring out my new  MyHeritage DNA results?

I have a few wishes on behalf of the whole genealogy community,too. Could you bounce a lump of coal off the head of whoever is behind the proposed crazy hike in fees for Immigration records? Maybe that will knock some sense into them.

And please let those companies helping solve cold case crimes using DNA test results have continued success in bringing closure to the families who need answers.

That's all for this year, Santa. Thanks and safe travels Christmas Eve!
Bill

BLOGCAROL 2019: O CHRISTMAS TREE!

Blog caroling is a tradition started by geneablogger footnoteMaven

In past years the Christmas carols I've chosed to share here  have some times reflected my interest in medieval history or my English and Irish  roots. This year, in view of having pushed my German roots back a few more generations, I thought I'd pick one with German origins..

There are many versions of "O Christmas Tree" which is based on the German "O Tannebaum", a folk song that originally was not about a Christmas tree. I chose this one:

O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Your leaves are so unchanging
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Your leaves are so unchanging

Not only green when
Summer’s here
But also when it’s cold and drear
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Your leaves are so unchanging

O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Much pleasure you do give me
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Much pleasure you do give me

How often has the Christmas tree
Given me the greatest glee
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Much pleasure you do give me

From top to bottom
You’re so bright
There’s only splendor for the sight
O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Your lights are shining brightly

O Christmas tree,
O Christmas tree
Your lights are shining brightly