THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION FILE OF MOSES COBURN PT3

Before going any further , let's see what the entry for Moses is in Genealogy of The Descendants of Edward Colburn/Coburn; came from England, 1635; purchased land in "Dracut on Merrimack," 1668; occupied his purchase, 1669 (1913) :

238. Moses Coburn {Caleb4, Moses3, Joseph2, Edward1) was
born Nov. 24, 1765, and died May, 1845; married, July 17, 1794,
Esther Spaulding, dau. of Lot and Esther (Butterfield) Spaulding
of Pelham, N. H., where she was born Sept. 16, 1769, and died
Feb. 13, 1849; they dwelt in Tyngsboro, Mass., Pelham, N. H.,
and Newry, Me.
Children :
i. Esther, b. Nov. 30, 1794; m. John Miller, Tyngsboro.
ii. Moses, b. Aug. 15, 1796; m. Hannah Barker.
iii. Sarah, b. Oct. 30, 1798; m. John Buck.
iv. Martha, b. Sept. 29, 1800; m. Edward Riley.
V. Wesley, b. Sept. 27, 1802; m. Lucy Stowe.
vi. Dorcas, b. April 9, 1805; m. James Marshall.
vii. Caleb, b. Oct. 30, 1807.
viii. Louisa, b. Aug. 5, 1810; m. Rev. Benjamin Foster.
ix. Lot Spaulding, b. March, 1813; m. Mary Bishop.
p99

So when Moses filed for his pension he'd had nine children, the first five of whom were
probably already out on their own.

One of the images in the Pension File is of a Schedule Submitted by Moses to the Circuit
Court of Middlesex, Massachusetts. It says Moses was residing in Tyngsborough and gives an inventory of his possessions:

1 cow                              $20
Hog                                      8
Sheep and lamb                   2
Table                                      .50
Crockery Ware                     1.50
Glass Ware                             .50
Pots & kettle                        1.50
Chairs                                  1.00
4 dung hill Fowls                   .80
                                          _______
                                          $35.80
                                          _______
Moses Coburn

And the said Moses Coburn further states that he served in the Revolutionary war
as put forth in the original declaration now in the Secretary of Wars office to wit
he entered the service in August 1781 for three years, entered Capt. Benjamin Pike
company in Lieut Col Calvin Smith's Regt and continued in that Regt about nineteen
months then was transferred to the second Regt in the Mass line and continued there
until discharged having served about two and half years.

That he is fifty-five years old his occupation is that of a common day labourer, that he
is not able to do more than half as much as an able bodied man having been worn out
with fatigue in the last and other war that his family residing with him consists of a wife aged fifty one years, weakly and not able to support herself and three children Dorcas Coburn aged fourteen, Louisa Coburn aged seven years, Lot S Coburn five years neither of them able to support themselves.

Moses Coburn

The interesting thing about this inventory and statement is that it's dated June 9, 1820.
It includes the information that Moses' application had been approved in 1818 and he was
receiving $8.00 a month. Also, it shows that the five older children were indeed no longer
part of the household, and one of the three younger, Caleb, apparently had died young.

To be come  

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION FILE OF MOSES COBURN PT2

Included with Moses Coburn's pension request is the following document: 

This may certify that Moses Coburn of Tyngsborough was agreed with by us in 1781 to
go into The Revolutionary War and did go and stay until the war ended.
April 4th 1818                                                                    Isaac Pike
                                                                                           Asa Underwood
                                                                                           ?)Committee for the Clas(?)
                                                                                           who hiered him

I've wondered about the circumstances that led to the 16 year old Moses Coburn being
"hired" by the townsman to enlist in the Continental Army. His father Caleb was 37
years old when the Revolution began and according to a family genealogy had fought in
the Revolution in 1776 "In Capt. Ford's Co., Col. Robinson's Regt.. Also, in 1779, in Capt. Solomon Pollard's Co., Col. Samuel Denny's Regt. Was Caleb still in Capt. Solomon Pollard's company or was he home in 1781, and if so, had he been wounded or taken ill? Did Moses Coburn join the Army to help support his parents? How much was he paid for enlisting? 

So far, I have no answer for those questions.

To be continued

THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR PENSION FILE OF MOSES COBURN PT1

As mentioned in my previous post, my 4x great grandfather Moses Coburn was a
veteran of the American Revolution. He was one of the generation of children
that grew up during the Revolution, being only ten years old when the war began.
When he enlisted in 1781, he was sixteen years. By that time the action had shifted
to the southern colonies and from I read in his pension file documents Moses served
his enlistment out in New York, so he wouldn't have seen much action  Nor had Moses
enlisted solely because of patriotic fervor: he was paid by some of the citizens of
Dunstable, Ma. to join the Continental Army, possibly so the town could meet a quota of enlistees.

At  any rate, thirty years later Moses Coburn was in dire financial straits and applied for
a pension. Here's his statement about his service , and my transcription:

 Commonwealth of Massachusetts
Be it remembered that on the eighth day of April in the year of our Lord  one
thousand eight hundred and eighteen before me Samuel Dana Chief Justice
of the Circuit Court of Common Pleas for the middle Circuit, comprehending
the counties of Essex and Middlesex in the Commonwealth aforesaid, comes
Moses Coburn of Tyngsborough in the said county of Middlesex and on oath
did aver that he served in the war of the Revolution against the common
enemy two years and six months, that he was hired by a Class of men in the
the then town of Dunstable to go into the continental army in the summer of
the year 1781- that he was mustered at Chelmsford by Oliver Barron Esq,
proceeded to Boston and was there received by Major Pettingil of the army,
from there he proceeded with a party to join the army at Phillipsburgh in New
York where he was placed in the company commanded by Capt Benjamin Pike,
in the sixth regiment of the Massachusetts line commanded by Leut Col Calvin
Smith- that he served under Capt Pike eighteen or nineteen months- then
under Capt Frost about five months- when said regiment was brokenup, and he
was transferred to the second Massachusetts regiment commanded by Col
Sprout and was placed in the company commanded by Capt Judah Alden, in this
company he continued to serve as a private till the last of December 1783, when
he received a discharge at West Point which discharge he is not able to find and
which is not to his knowledge in existence, that he is destitute of property and
by reason of his reduced circumstances in life stands in need of assistance from
his country for his support, being fifty three years of age.
Moses Coburn
Thus made, taken, subscribed and sworn to at Chelmsford in said County of
Middlesex, the day and year aforesaid-
Saml.Dana

To be continued

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT THE COBURNS

This is another in a series of posts in which I list what I've already learned about one of my family lines and then a "To Do" list of things I need to do to learn more.

-My Coburn ancestry comes to me through my paternal grandmother Cora B.Barker  whose own paternal grandmother was Lucy Coburn  of Albany, Oxford, Me. 

- My Coburn immigrant ancetor was Edward Colburn who came to Massachusetts in 1635 on the ship Defence at age 28and settled at Ipswich, Ma.  The family later moved to other towns in Middlesex County, such as Dracut and Tyngsborough.

-The family name has been spelled a number of different ways:Colbourne, Colburne, Colborne, Colbern, Colburn and Coburn. My branch of the family eventually settled on the
using Coburn.

- Some siblings of my ancestors were among those who resettled what became the
Canadian province of New Brunswick after the Acadians were exiled by the British.

.My 4x great grandfather Moses Coburn fought in the Revolutionary War

-Documents I have found so far include:
   -Moses Coburn's Revolutionary War Pension file which I found on Fold3

  -Moses Coburn's Probate file and Will which I found on FamilySearch.

 -Land sale transactions by 5x great grandfather Caleb Coburn from FamilySearch

-The death record of 2x great grandmother Lucy(Coburn)Barker from FamilySearch  

-A copy of The Genealogy of the Descendants of Edward Colburn from Google Books.

To Do List:
-Find  the name of the wife of Caleb Coburn, my 5x great grandmother.
-Transcribe Moses Coburn's Revolutionary War Pension file.
-Transcribe Moses Coburn's  Will and Probate file.
- Add the names of more of my Coburn ancestors' siblings to my database and online trees.

And I'd like to take a drive up to Dracut and Tyngsborough to see what else I can find out
about my Coburn ancestors.

This is how my grandmother Cora Barker descends from Edward Colburn:

EGGS IN ONE BASKET: THE DDOS ATTACK ON ANCESTRY.COM

During the last few days there was a problem at the Ancestry.com websites
as a DDOS (Denial of Service) attack crashed the main Ancestry site, Find A Grave
and Rootsweb. I'm not a techie so I'm not going to waste time trying to explain the
specifics of DDOS. Thomas MacEntee has a good explanation here. All you need to
know was that no one was able to access the three sites until Ancestry's IT people
were able to fix the problem. (As of tonight, all three sites are once more up and
accessible.)

 By the reaction of some of the posters on Ancestry.com's Facebook page you would
have thought the sky was falling. They ranged from demands for refunds to just plain
downright nastiness. It was ridiculous. People could not grasp the concept that this was
not something caused by a problem with ancestry's programming, it was an attack on
Ancestry's websites but hackers.

 I wrote about it on my own Facebook page:
"And lo, the servers of Ancestry were beset by the Plague of DDOS, and then were the genealogists locked out from the Realms of Ancestry. Neither could they work on their family trees, nor add photos nor memorials to Find A Grave. Then great were the lamentations of the genealogists, and many were beset with frustration, weeping and gnashing their teeth in the outer darkness as they waited for the servers of Ancestry to once more open unto them.

Meanwhile, others turned to worshiping the false idol, Television...."

Now, I wasn't worried about not being able to use the Ancestry sites for two reasons:

One was I'd seen these DDOS attacks  before when I was active on mIRC. Once i heard
that this was what was happening with Ancestry, I knew it would probably be fixed within
a day or two. Yes, I was mildly annoyed that I couldn't fulfill a photo request on Find A
Grave until the site came back online, but I could wait.

The second reason was that I'd dropped my Ancestry subscription a few months ago and
my research doesn't depend on access to the records on Ancestry. I use FamilySearch,
Google ebooks, printed books and other online resources. I don't have all my eggs in one basket. I couldn't post to my Ancestry.com tree so I did some research for upcoming blog
posts instead.Most of the experienced genealogists I know through blogging or Facebook were able to carry on their work using similar means.

I think Ancestry.com is a victim of its own advertising. People see or hear their ads every
day and many of them think the best way to search for their ancestors is to go to Ancestry.com. So they put "put all their eggs" in the Ancestry basket. Then when there's
a service problem  for some reason they get cranky about it.  But what website doesn't have trouble now and then? How many times has Facebook or Gmail had trouble over
the years?

I can see having issues with certain  aspects on how a website is run; I dropped Ancestry
because I was dissatisfied with the New Search engine. But to whine and complain over
an event Ancestry had no control over is just plain dumb.

Here's an easy way to not be frustrated the next time something like this happens(and it probably will): instead of depending mostly on Ancestry, learn to use the other tools
available to you for research, both on and off the internet.

Spread those eggs around.

It will be easier on you, and the poor folks at Ancestry will get less abuse,.

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.

FATHERS DAY

In honor of Father's Day I'm posting pictures of some of the fathers on my family tree. From the Wests:

My Dad, Floyd E West, Jr.

 

Great grandfather Philip J. West, Cousin Stanley & Grandfather Floyd E West, Sr.

2x Great Grandfather Jonathan P West & family

3x Great grandfather John Cutter West

Some of the maternal grandfather's from Dad's family:

2x great grandfather Asa F Ellingwood & wife Florilla Dunham.

2x Great grandfather Amos Hastings Barker & wife Betsy Jane Moore.

3x Great grandfather Philip Richardson

And the only picture I have from Mom's side of the family:

Great grandfather John McFarland & wife Annie Kelley.

Happy Fathers' Day!

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#23: JOHN UPTON

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 8x great
John Upton and one of those "family traditions" common in some genealogies.

I recently found this in an edition of the Historical Collections of the Essex Institute:

UPTON FAMILY.
COMMUNICATED BY MATTHEW A. STICKNEY

The following traditions relating to the Upton* family of Danvers and Reading, were obtained by me, Jan. 18, 1849, from Eli Upton, who was born Oct. 7, 1759, and died Feb. 24, 1849; and, as some of the items here given are not recorded anywhere to my knowledge, they are offered for publication in the Collections.

"John Upton was born in Scotland, and, it is supposed, was one of the prisoners taken by Oliver Cromwell at the battle of Dunbar, in 1651, and sent by him to New England, as he was sold on his arrival here. He was bought by a woman, whose name is not remembered, but who lived in that part of Salem now called Danvers. She came from England. Some of the fruit trees on the place were brought out by her. She had been living there some time. 

The place above mentioned has been in the hands of the Uptons from the death of John to the present time (1849); and it is now owned by Mr. Eli Upton. Two houses have been built there.

John Upton aforesaid bought a large lot of land in Reading for a "piece-of eight" and a colt. On this land one of his sons settled, and there John himself died in 1699. P247
Historical Collections of the Essex Institute (Google eBook) Vol7 Number 6 Essex Institute.,  Salem Ma 1865

A nice story there about how John came to Massachusetts, but probably untrue. There's no
mention of a John Upton on the list of names of the Scottish prisoners sent to the colony. In
his Upton Memorial, John Adams Vinton discredits that story and another that claims the
lady was Upton's wife who somehow got to Massachusetts before the prison ship had
arrived so she could purchase her husband. He also questions the tradition that the wife
was named Elenor Stuart.

There's also this, which concerns some land purchased by John Upton:

1668. Feb. 1.—Jeremiah Swain of Reading, for 22s. 6d.. sells to John Upton half an acre and seven poles of meadow, lying on the north side of Ipseage River, also a quarter of an acre and twenty-eight poles of meadow on the north side of said river, all in Reading -p13
The Upton Memorial: A Genealogical Record of the Descendants of John Upton, of North Reading, Mass. ... Together with Short Genealogies of the Putnam, Stone and Bruce Families (Google eBook)  private use at the office of E. Upton & son,  Bath, Me 1874

It's significant to me because Jeremiah Swain is my 9x great grandfather and John Upton my 8x great grandfather. I always get a kick out of finding these sort of things involving ancestors from two different branches of my family tree!

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#22: REVEREND SAMUEL SKELTON PT2

Back in my early days of my genealogy research when I was working on my Benson line,
I found information online that my 7x great grandfather John Benson had married Elizabeth Marsh,  and that her parents were John Marsh and Susannah Skelton. That descent supposedly came down through the Bensons to the Barrows and then the Ellingwoods and then to the Wests when my great grandparents Philip J West and Clara Ellingwood were married.

So when I was working on the previous post abut Rev. Samuel Skelton I took another
look on what I had on the Benson descent and found I had no sources for the birth and marriage of Elizabeth Marsh. That set off my genea-sense. It's like Spiderman's
"Spidey sense" and it's something genealogists develop eventually after a few years if
they pay attention to things like records and sources.  John Benson had lived south of
Boston at Hull. Elizabeth Marsh had lived north of Boston at Salem. It was possible they
could have met somehow since there was traffic between the two seacoast towns by
water. But a check of two online databases of early Massachusetts vital records for both
Salem and Hull turned up no marriage records.   


Then I googled Elizabeth's parents John Marsh and Susannah Skelton, reasoning that a
list of their children might include information on their daughter's marriage. No luck
there, either. 

This is from one of Ellery Bicknell Crane's many regional genealogy books:
The children of John Marsh (I), all born in Salem, Massachusetts, were: Zachary, baptized April 30, 1637; John, baptized May 9, 1639, died 1669, married Sarah ;Ruth, baptized or born May 5, 1641; Elizabeth, born July 8, 1646; Ezekiel, born or baptized October 29, 1048; Bethiah, born or baptized September 1. 1650; Samuel, born or baptized October 2, 1652; Susanna, born or baptized May 7, 1654; Mary, born or baptized September 14, 1056; Jacob, born August 6, 1658; Jacob, baptized April 10, 1659; a daughter, born or baptized June 12, 1604; Benjamin, born about 1661.
  .p355

Historic Homes and Institutions and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs of Worcester County, Massachusetts: With a History of Worcester Society of Antiquity, Volume 3 (Google eBook)

Further searching online failed to produce any confirmation that the Elizabeth Marsh married by  John Benson was the granddaughter of Samuel Skelton. In fact, I found a reference on a Wikitree page that an entry in The Great Migration 1634-1635 mentions there's no record for such a marriage. I'll need to check the local library and see if
it has a copy of that volume.

Meanwhile I'm removing from my databases John Marsh and Susannah Skelton as the parents of the Elizabeth Marsh who married John Benson.

But I still have a Skelton connection through my Barker line!

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#22: REVEREND SAMUEL SKELTON

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.This week my subject is my 10x great grandfather
Samuel Skelton.

I thought I had a double descent from Rev. Skelton. One of them is through my great
grandmother Clara Ellingwood but something I've discovered had caused me to reassess
that line of descent. I'll discuss that in a later post. For this post, I found this on Samuel
Skelton in a Marsh family genealogy by Lucius Marsh:

"A sketch of the father of John Marsh's first and only wife will help us to understand the social position of John Marsh Rev. Samuel Skelton is supposed to have been bom in Yorkshire, England about 1584. He entered Clair Hall, Cambridge, about 1599. He graduated about 1G06. He received College degree 1611. He became minister to the regular English established church in Lincolnshire about 1608, married about 1612. Mrs. Skelton died in Salem, Mch. 15, 1631. He died in Salem Aug. 2, 1634. His history is very interesting. At the earnest solicitation of John Endicott, who had just been appointed Governor of the New Colony, called The London Plantation in the Massachusetts bay in New England, Rev. Samuel Skelton while in England accepted the position on Governor Endicott's staff, of Minister to the Colony. There was very near and dear relationship existing between the two, as Governor Endicott said that he was converted under the preaching and teaching of Rev. Samuel Skelton. whom he regarded as his spiritual father. As soon as the charter for the new Colony was promised, Gov. Endicott with his wife and not more than fifty others sailed, the last of June, 1628, and arrived in Salem Sept. 6, 1628. Mr. Skelton and family, "3 daughters and 1 son," waited in England to receive a copy of the charter, and full instructions in regard to all matters appertaining to the administration of the Colony. Mr. Skelton with his family sailed in the George May 4, and arrived in Salem June 23, 1629. He organized the first church of the Puritans July 30, 1629. Then he, Rev. Samuel Skelton, was installed Pastor, and Mr. Higginson was instilled as teacher, Aug. 6, 1629, they having been ordained in England, and Mr. Skelton having been a Minister for many years of the Established English Church in Lincolnshire. This Salem church was organized as one of the Established English churches and continued so up to Jan.1, 1630. The Prayer Book was then dispensed with and the church became the 2d Independent Congregational Church in New England. This change was one of the first In make it possible for the Pilgrims and the Puritans to unite as one colony. Gov. Endicott saw full well the importance of this union. It cost him his office, for Gov. Winthrop was appointed, in the spring of 1630 to succeed him. Mr. Skelton greatly assisted to bring about the union of the two colonies. Of him it is said "He was of gracious speech." Gov. Bradford, who had sent Doctor Fuller to take care of some sick ones in Gov. Endicott's family in the winter of 1628, was greatly pleased with'the straightforward and manly character, and integrity of Gov. Endicott who reciprocated by writing to Gov. Bradford, June 10, 1629, expressing warm and cordial feelings in regard to the simple mode of public worship by the Pilgrims. Mr. Skelton arriving a few days later, June 23, 1629, the way seemed to be opened for a mutual conference, which finally resulted very happily for the two colonies."-pp16-17

Genealogy of John Marsh and his descendants, 1633-1888 (Google eBook)  J.E. Williams, pub., Amherst, Ma 1888

I thought this gives a good backround of the relationship between the Endicotts and Skeltons which resulted in the marriage of their grandchildren Hannah Felton and
Samuel Endicott, my 8x great grandparents.

I'll discuss that question of the other line of descent in my next post.

To be continued.

THE GENEABLOGGER WORLD WAR ONE CHALLENGE

One hundred years ago, on June 28, 1914, Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria was
assassinated in the Serbian city of Sarajevo. One month later, on July 29th World War 1
began. It was the first "global conflict" and it affected many families in Europe and the
Americas. So to commemorate the start of World War 1 I thought I'd ask my fellow
geneabloggers:

Where your ancestors were in 1914, and what effect the war would have
on their families?

Did any of them see military action? Were any family members killed? Do you have any
photographs of them in uniform?

Did the War force your ancestors to leave their homes? Was it the reason they emigrated
to another country? Where did they go?

Write a blogpost on any of the above, or something else about  World War 1 and your family. When it's posted, send me the link. If you have already written a blogpost that you'd like to use, then send me the link to that post. 

 The deadline for submissions will be July29th, 2014. I'll publish the list of links here a week later on August 5th.


 

OF WITCHES AND ANCESTORS

While researching Samuel Endicott last week I discovered this from Cyrus Felton's
family genealogy:

"At the pretended trial of John Proctor, who was executed in the year of the witchcraft delusion, 1692, Nathaniel Felton and the neighbors living near the bounds of Salem Village presented the following paper, written by Nathaniel Felton the first signer. "We, whose names are underwritten, having several years known John Proctor and his wife, do testify that we never heard or understood that they were ever suspected to be guilty of the crime now charged upon them: and several of us, being their near neighbors, do testify that, to our apprehension, they lived Christian-like in their family, and were ever ready to help such as stood in need of their help."

In the original paper, there were some, perhaps many names cut oft' by scissors, says C. W. Upham's History of Witchcraft. Below are the twenty names found on the paper.
Nathaniel Felton Sen., and Mary Felton, his wife.
Samuel Marsh, and Priscilla Marsh, his wife.
James Houlton, and Ruth Houlton, his wife.
John Felton, and Nathaniel Felton Jr.
Samuel Frayll, and Ann Frayll, his wife.
Zachariah Marsh, and Mary Marsh, his wife.
Samuel Endicott, and Hannah Endicott, his wife.
Samuel Stone, and George Locker.
Samuel Gaskill, and Revidal Gaskill, his wife.
George Smith, and Edward Gaskill.
-P5
 A Genealogical History of the Felton Family: Descendants of Lieutenant Nathaniel Felton, who Came to Salem, Mass., in 1633; with Few Supplements and Appendices of the Names of Some of the Ancestors of the Families that Have Intermarried with Them. An Index Alphabetically Arranged, of the Felton Families ... (Google eBook) Pratt Brothers, printers and publishers, 1886

Many of the same group of people signed a similar letter of support for Rebecca Nurse. Unfortunately, neither letter swayed the judges; both John Proctor and Rebecca Nurse were executed.

I have ancestors among both the accusers and the accused in the witchcraft trial hysteria. It's  nice to see My ancestors Nathaniel Felton, Mary (Skelton)Felton, Samuel Endicott and Hannah (Felton) Endicott trying to do the brave thing in these two cases.

I need to make a list of who in my family did what to whom during this dark period.
When I have it done, I'll post it here.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#21: NATHANIEL FELTON

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. I'm following up on my previous posts about
Ruth Endicott and her father Samuel Endicott. with this one about her grandfather
Nathaniel Felton. Nathaniel is my 9x great grandfather

Once again I've found a bunch of information on Googlebooks, mostly from this
Felton family genealogy by descendant Cyrus Felton:

FELTON FAMILY
Nathaniel Felton was the venerable patriarch of the family in Massachusetts, whose descendants are compiled in this genealogy.

Nathaniel Felton came to Salem in 1633, when 17 years of age; he made a voyage to England in 1634, and returned to Salem in 1635; the next year, 1636, had 20 acres given
to him.In 1643, he sold to William Brown Sen., "the Lott southeast of Rev. Mr. Skelton's Lott, with an old house upon it." About 1645, he settled near Felton Hill, Salem, the part afterwards called Danvers,—now Peabody. He said in 1700, he had lived there 55 years. Nathaniel Felton was a juryman in 1655, grand juryman in 1676, 1679 and 1683; a constable in 1657. He was chosen Ensign in 1679, and Lieut. 1681. He became a member of the church in 1648, and his oldest two children were baptized that year.

He was a witness to many wills, deeds, agreements, etc. Rev. Dr. Felt, author of annals ot Salem, says, "He was a man of good faith- and jndgment. He was frequently called to give his testimony about litigated estates." In 1674, he was overseer of the estate of his deceased brother-in-law, John Marsh. In 1676, he was overseer and appraiser ot the estate of his brother-in-law, Christopher Waller. In 1684, he was overseer and appraiser of Dr. Zerubbabel Endicott's estate, son of the then Gov. John Endicott.

Nathaniel Felton was overseer of several other estates. Beside those named above, he was an appraiser of the following estates: Rebecca Bacon in 1655; Ann Fuller in 1662; Wm. Cantlebury in 1663; Henry Bullock in 1664; Thos. James in 1666; Ralph Tompkins in 1666; Richard Bishop in 1675; Henry Coleborne in 1676; Isaac Goodale in 1679; Isaac Gould in 1679; John Tompkins Sen. in 1681; Edward Bridges in 1682; Thomas Goldthwaite in 1683; John Bowden in 1683; Edward Beacham in 1684; Thomas Rix in 1685; Wm. Babb in 1691; probably this list is not complete.-P4

A Genealogical History of the Felton Family: Descendants of Lieutenant Nathaniel Felton, who Came to Salem, Mass., in 1633; with Few Supplements and Appendices of the Names of Some of the Ancestors of the Families that Have Intermarried with Them. An Index Alphabetically Arranged, of the Felton Families ... (Google eBook) Pratt Brothers, printers and publishers, 1886

His  family information is given as:

FIRST GENERATION.

(1.) i. NATHANIEL FELTON, b. about 1615, came from England to Salem, Maws., 
in 1633,  where he lived about 72 years, He married Mary Skelton, daughter ot Rev. Samuel Skelton, the first minister of Salem. Mrs. Mary Felton died May 8, 1701, aged about 75 years. He died about 4 years afterwards, July 30,1705, aged 90 years. His will dated October, 1703, proved May, 1706, mentions sons Johu and Nathaniel, daughters, Elizabeth, a widow, Ruth and Hannah. Their children were:
2f. i. John, b. about 1645 ; m. in 1670 Mary Tompkins.
3f. ii. Ruth, bapt, Oct. 29, 1648; m. James Houlton, of Salem.
4. iii. Mary, bapt. April 6, 1651; died young.
5f. iv. Elizabeth, b. Mar. 18,1652 ; m. Thomas Watkins.
6. v. Nathaniel, bapt. Oct. 28,1654; died young.
7f. vi. Nathaniel2, b. Aug. 15, 1655; m. Anne Horn.
8. vii. Mary, b. Jan. 15, 1657; bapt. May 30, 1658.
9f. viii. Hannah, bapt. June 20, 1663; m. in 1684, Samuel Endicott.
10. ix. Susanna, bapt. Mar. 29, 1665.
-p11

Now I already have a Skelton family connection through my Ellingwood line. This
one from from Nathaniel Felton and his wife Mary Skelton comes through my Barker
line. This means my grandparents Floyd E West Sr and Cora B Barker were Skelton cousins, albeit very distant.

So I suppose my next entrance in this 53 Weeks series should be on Reverend Samuel
Skelton.   

FLYBOYS 2014

((I'm reposting this today in hopes that perhaps the relatives of the men
in the photograph might one day find this picture of their veterans. First posted
June, 2008))




I think I may have posted this photo once before. It's from
when my Dad was training for the Air Corps during World
War II before he washed out due to inner ear problems.


On the back is a partial list of names of his fellow trainees,
and I'm posting that image now and my attempt at
transcribing it here in the hopes that the children and
grandchildren of these men might find it someday and see
how they looked in their uniforms before they went off to
war.


Because of the way the men are grouped it's hard for me to
assign names to specific faces. The only two I can are Michael
D. Piper Jr. and Lonnie (or Lennie?) L. Parker (?) standing to
either side of my father Floyd E. West Jr. at the far right end
of the back row. I think the first name is actually Lee Mill
Sanders and that he just signed the list "last name first."


I also noticed that Daniel M. Jeffrey's name appears twice.
The first entry is crossed over so I've assumed that either
someone else had posted the name in the wrong place or he
had done so himself and then corrected his mistake. I've
changed the first entry to "unknown".


So here they are. I wonder how many of them made it
home after the war, and I thank them for their service
to our country.


Sanders Lee Mill Artesia N.M.

Palmer E. Severson Wanooka (?) Minn,

Jerald L. Swan, Beatrice, Nebraska

Helmut Paul Zimmerman, Buffalo, N.Y.

Robert L. Rugg Pueblo, Colorado

Unknown

Charles H. Parman, Skidmore, Mo.

Unknown

Unknown

Bill C. Hays, San Angelo, Texas

Unknown

Ward L. Warnock, Camden, Ark.

Michael C. Sanborn (?) Port Arthur, Tex.

Bob Moffet, St. Joseph, Mo.

Unknown

Ross Powill, Ellisville Miss

Daniel M. Jeffrey, Jeanette, La.

Allen D. Bailey, Mpls Minnesota

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Unknown

Jack Sessions Colton, California

Jack Wendt, Pecos, Texas

Unknown

Burton L. Steele, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Bob E Wick,  Denver, Colorado

James H. Trask, Kansas City, Kansas

William E. Green,  Eden, Texas

Unknown

Unknown

Michael D. Piper Jr., Queen City, Mo.

Floyd E. West

Lonnie (or Lennie?) L. Parker (?), Roswell, New Mex.

GENEALOGY: AM I DOING IT THE WRONG WAY?

Warning: this is going to be one of my semi-coherent rambles:

I was working on the post on Samuel Endicott when I stumbled across a document online
from the Salem Witchcraft trial era that had been signed by several ancestors. I'll be
dong a post about that later. But as I was looking at I was once again struck by the thought
that maybe I've been going about my genealogy research the wrong way. Let me explain.

When I began researching I put everything I had already from my Aunt Dorothy's research
on my PAF file and then fell into the name gathering trap at FamilySearch. After awhile,
I decided to concentrate on my Ellingwood family line and spent about two and a half
years mainly adding information from two Ellingwood genealogy books to my database.
In between those sessions I would find stories about other ancestral families online and
I'd blog about those here and add what I found to my database. Now when the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge started, I wanted to use that to focus on those ancestors
I hadn't done much work on before. In some cases I've found quite a bit, in others, not
so much at all.

The discovery that I'd had entered John Endecott on my family tree and not recognized his
historical significance was when I first had the thought that maybe I'm doing this the wrong
way somehow. I spent a lot of time on the Ellingwoods, which I do not regret, and when I found those stories about other ancestors I got lost in them and wrote long blogpost series
about them, such as the one about the Newbury Church struggle. Should I have just done a
few short general posts on them and moved on up the family tree? Do I spend too much time researching some families at the expense of others? I suppose my interest in history is to blame. If I find one of my ancestors was involved in something I want to know more about it.

Does this make me a family historian instead of a genealogist, or is there really no difference between the two labels?

Ah well. Too late to turn back now. I'm well and truly hooked on stories that fill in the years between births, marriages, and deaths.

And I still can't believe I didn't make the Endecott connection the first time.

   

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#20: SAMUEL ENDICOTT

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. I'm following up on my previous post about
Ruth Endicott with this one about her father, my 8x great grandfather Samuel
Endicott.


There's a lot of information out there on Samuel's father Zerubbabel and his
grandfather Gov. John Endecott but not as much for Samuel. I did find this from
William Richard Cutter on Googlebooks:

(III) Samuel Endecott, second son and child of Dr. Zerubbabel and Mary (Smith) Endecott, born in Salem, 1659, died 1694. He lived on the Orchard farm. In 1684 he married Hannah Felton, who was baptized June 20. 1663. She was a daughter of Nathaniel Felton, senior. of Salem, who was born in England about 1615, came to Salem 1633, and died July 30. 1705. His wife was Mary Skelton, daughter of Rev. Samuel Skelton, the first minister of Salem. She died May 8,1701. After the death of Samuel Endecott his widow Hannah married, second, Thorndike Procter, youngest child of John Procter by his first wife. John Procter was executed for witchcraft in Salem, August 19, 1692. Samuel and Hannah (Felton) Endecott had children: 1. John, born October 18, 1685, died before his father. 2. Samuel, born August 30, 1687. (See post). 3. Ruth, born 1689; married July 17, 1710, Martin Herrick, son of Joseph and Mary Herrick, and grandson of Henry Herrick, the immigrant. 4. Hannah, born 1691 ; married April 3, 1712, Benjamin Porter, son of Israel Porter. and grandson of John Porter, who bought “Skelton’s neck” from the children of Rev. Samuel Skelton, first minister of Salem.
- pp136-137 Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 1 (Google eBook) William Richard Cutter  Lewis historical Publishing Company, 1908 Boston, Ma.

And I found this by Cyrus Felton:
(9.) viii. SAMUEL ENDICOTT, b. about 1659, son of Dr. Zerubbabel Endicott, and grandson of Gov. John Endicott, who was Governor of Massachusetts Colony' 16 years. Samuel Endicott m. in 1684, Hannah Felton, bapt. June 20, 1663, dau. of Nathaniel Felton, sen., of Salem. The Endicott Farm was on Cowhouse River, sometimes called Ipswich River, Endicott River, now Waters River. The farm on the north side now in Danvers. Samuel Endicott d. in 1694, aged 35 years. In September, 1697, Mrs. Endicott was appointed guardian to the three children.
29. i. John, b. Oct. 18, 1685; died before his father.
30f. ii. Samuel, Jr., b. Aug. 30, 1687; m. Anne Endicott, his cousin.
31f. iii. Ruth, b. 1689; m. 1710, Martin Herrick.
32f. iv. Hannah, b. 1691; m. 1712, Benjamin Porter.

Mrs. Hannah (Felton) Endicott, m. 2d, December, 1697, Thorndike Proctor, b. July 15, 1672, the youngest child by the first wife of John Proctor who was executed for witchcraft in Salem, Aug. 19,1692.

- p13  A Genealogical History of the Felton Family: Descendants of Lieutenant Nathaniel Felton, who Came to Salem, Mass., in 1633; with Few Supplements and Appendices of the Names of Some of the Ancestors of the Families that Have Intermarried with Them. An Index Alphabetically Arranged, of the Felton Families ... (Google eBook) Cyrus Felton, Pratt Brothers, printers and publishers, 1886

And that was a surprise: another connection to the Salem witchcraft trials, albeit an
indirect one. I'll discuss that more in a future post.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #19: RUTH ENDICOTT PT2

I'm still investigating Ruth Endicott and her parents but I thought
I'd show how my Dad's parents were Herrick cousins and which side has
the Endicott connection  Their ancestors in that line were two sons
of immigrants Henry Herrick and Edith(Editha)Laskin: my grandfather
Floyd E West Sr was descended from Henry Herrick, while my grandmother
Cora B. Barker's ancestor was Joseph Herrick.

Here's my grandfather's descent:

And here's my grandmother's:

The Endicott connection is through my Grandmother.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #19: RUTH ENDICOTT

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. This post will be about my 7x great grandmother
Ruth Endicott's ancestry.

This comes under the heading of one of those things that surprise me when I get
around to examining them closer. Somewhere along the way I'd found  a record that
my 7x great grandfather Martin Herrick's wife was named Ruth Endicott. They were
married in Salem, Ma. on 17 Jul 1710. Around seven years later their daughter, my
6x great grandmother, Edith(Edde) Herrick was born. I can't find a record of her birth
but in looking online for it I found this on Google Ebooks in an entry on the Herrick
family:

Martyn, fifth son of Joseph Herrick and second child of his second wife, Mary (Endicott) Herrick, was baptized January 26, 1680, in Beverly, died in 1739 in Salem. He settled in that part of Lynn now known as Lynnfield on a farm given him by his father. He married, July 17, 1710, Ruth Endicott, of Salem, born 1689, daughter of Samuel and Hannah (Felton) Endicott, granddaughter of Governor John Endicott. Children: Benjamin, Samuel, mentioned below; Ruth, Edith. 

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 2 (Google eBook) p902

Further searching gave me the names of Samuel Endicott's parents, the wonderfully named
Zerubbabel Endicott and his wife Mary Smith.  I also found that Hannah Felton was the
daughter of  Nathaniel Felton and  Mary Skelton. 

Now for some reason after whenever I discovered the connection to Governor John Endicott I filed it away and never got back to it. I suspect it was while I was still busy working on my Ellingwood branch of my family tree. I have a degree in History and
you'd think that some sort of bells and whistles would have gone off in my brain when I first found the information, but nope.

I still need to find out more about these people, especially any records for births, marriages and deaths. I'll save John Endicott for later and concentrate on the others first.

To be continued.

MOTHERS DAY PART 2

In honor of Mother's day, here are pictures of some 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. 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 Mother's Day! 

MOTHERS DAY PART 1

 Once again for Mothers Day I'm posting photos of our family's mothers.

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.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #18: EDWARD HOLYOKE PT3

I found an abstract of my ancestor Edward Holyoke's will online in Googlebooks in an ebook edition of an NEHGS publication from 1855,  The New England Historical & Genealogical Register, Volume 9. It is part of an article, ABSTRACTS FROM THE EARLIEST WILLS ON RECORD IN THE COUNTY OF SUFFOLK, MASS. by William B Trask.  What struck me right off the bat is that Edward must have really been proud of his book, as he gives a copy of it to each of his five sons in law and calls it his "best legacy."

Edward Holyoke. Will made 25 Dec. 1658. As for the holy faith of the holy one, God in trinitie, and of the holy faith of our glorious Lord, the son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the second Adam, I haue composed A booke and doe bestowell [?] vpon each of my sonns in law as their best legacy, &-c. (Being instructed chiefly by an understanding of the Scriptures) I doubt not to say my booke will giue him A hart of all sound doctrine.

Touching my worldly estate, I dispose the yoke of Oxen and my mare, to my sonn in law, George Keysar, and my mare foale and A Cow, to my sonn Prenam; tow kine to my sonn Andrewes; A Cow to my dau. Marten^ These Oxen and kine are in the hands of Goodman Wilkins, of Linn; the mare and foale is at Rumney Marsh. 1 giue to my sonn Tuttle, that £4 that yearely hee should haue giuen mee since I put ouer the house at Boston to him. I neuer yet had [a] penney of it; 40* I gaue him of that, soe theare is yet £6 beehind and theare is £5 mentioned in Goodman Wilkins Case that hee oweth mee, I giue to my dau. Marten, and 20*. to my kindswoman, Mary Mansfeild, and 10". of it to John DoUtile, and 10". of it to my kindsman Thomas Morris, of Newham, and 10". of it to Hannah Keasur. I giue my best Cloake of that Cloth that cam from England to my sonn Holyoke, as allsoe my Coate of the same cloth. I giue my other Cloke to my sonn Keaser, my best Dublet and breeches to my sonn Tuttle, my stuff dublet and my best hat to my sonn Holyoke; all the rest of my weareing apparell to my sonn Keasar. As touching the whol yeares rent of this yeare 1658, that is Dew mee from Goodman Wilkins, of Linn, I owe Theodore Atkins 49".; pay him in what I owe; John Hull Aboute 22"., pay him in wheate; pay M' Russell, treasurer, 3 bushells of wheate; for John Andrewes, 8 bushells of wheate to Mr Wilson, Paster at Boston, and 8 bushell of Indian. As for my Linell, let all my dau" part alike. The 20" Goodman Page oweth mee, as my sonn Tuttle cann witness, I giue my dau. Martin. There is aboute 15". Cap*. Sauige oweth mee, intreate him to satisfie my Cosan Dauis, and the rest giue to my dau. Marten. As for my books and wrightings, I giue my sonn Hulyoke all the books that are at Linn, as allsoe the Iron Chest, and the bookes I haue in my study that are Mr Beanghans works I giue him, hee onely cann make vse of them, and likewise I giue all my maniscripts what soeauer, and I giue him that large new testament in folio, with wast papers between eucry leafe, allso Mr Answorlh on the 5 books of Moses and the psalmes, and my dixinary and Temellius bible in Latten, and my latten Concent and daniell bound together, and A part of the New testament in Folio, with wast paper betwin euery leafe, and the greate mapps of geneolagy, and that old maniscript called a Synas sight; the rest, for A muskett I gaue of olde to my sonn Holyoke: All my land in Linn, and that land and Medow in the Cuntry neere Reding, all was giuen to my sonn Holyoke., when hee maried Mr Pynchons Daughter. Pr me. Edword Holyoke.

25 June 1660. Power of Administration to the estate of the late Mr Edward Holyoke is Graunted to Mr Elizur Holyoke, his only sonn, to performe this Imperfect will of his father as neere as may be.

Inventory of the Estate of Mr Edward Hollyoke, of Lynne, who dyed at Rumney Marsh, the 4th May 1660, taken the 19 June 1660. Prised by John Tultle, John Dowlettell. Amt. ,£681. "A farme at Lynne, .£400; 3 acres at Nahant, £6; a farme at Bever dame, neare Reading, £150," &c. &c. -p345-346

I'm bemused by the part about " I giue to my sonn Tuttle, that £4 that yearely hee should haue giuen mee since I put ouer the house at Boston to him. I neuer yet had [a] penney of it;". That would be my 9x great grandfather John Tuttle who had married  Edward's
daughter Mary. It sounds like a bit of Puritan criticism there to me. Also, for someone
who was not actually a clergyman, Edward had an impressive collection of religious
books to pass on to his son Elizur. Combined with the amount of property Edward
owned, it fits the Puritan ideal of a godly, industrious man.

GPS GENEALOGY ROADTRIP

Now that mud season is over and the weather is turning warmer, I'm trying to get out
more. One of my problems is that I am not really comfortable driving long distances
on the highways. I've had no reason to for the last twenty five years or so since I could drive the secondary roads back and forth to work. I'm trying to reacclimate myself so
I can visit some places further away like the cemeteries where my Middlesex, Worcester, and Essex counties ancestors are buried. I've loaded the street addresses into my GPS, and on a whim today I set out for North Andover and Methuen, Ma.

After about an hour or so of whiteknuckle driving I reached the Old North Burial Ground in North Andover. My Dad's maternal line, the Barkers, came from the area and I was hoping to find some of them buried there, but the first headstone I saw belonged to an ancestor from a different family line, 9x great grandfather John Stevens. He was born in England in 1605 and died on 11Apr 1662. I didn't see a stone for his wife Elizabeth (Parker)Stevens but she outlived him by thirty years so she probably remarried. Also, the stone is in excellent condition so I'm wondering if it is a replacement for an earlier one.

I did find plenty of Barkers, mostly collateral line cousins, but I also found two direct Barker ancestors: my 7x great grandparents Benjamin Barker and Hannah (Marston) Barker.

Nearby I found the headstones of two of their children, my6x great grandaunt Alice Barker
and 6x great granduncle Benjamin Barker Jr.

The cemetery was in good shape for the most part, although there was sad evidence of
worse times in the past.

After taking 62 photos I got back into my car and followed the GPS directions to the Meeting House Hill Cemetery in Methuen where 6x great grandfather Jonathan Barker is buried, I should have checked before I left my house because if I had, I would have known the cemetery was closed to the public. I drove around it outside the stone walls and chainlink fence, then got directions home from the GPS and left. Roughly an hour and a half later I was home after dealing with the start of rush hour traffic on the highway.
I'd left my apartment around 11:30am  and was home a little after 3:30pm. 

I'll have to find some more cemetery locations to enter into the GPS!

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #18: EDWARD HOLYOKE PT2

My ancestor Edward Holyoke is overshadowed  the accomplishments of his son Elizur. But I discovered recently that Edward had written  a book. It first has, without a doubt,
the longest title for a book I've ever seen:

The doctrine of life, or, Of mans redemption, by the seed of Eve, the seed of Abraham, the seed of David, &c. as it was taught in severall periods of time, from Gen. 3. 15. till Christ came in the flesh, to fulfill all typicall prefigurations of him by his death : wherein also sundry other fundamentall points are discussed and cleared from some common mistakes : as Daniels chronologie of seventy sevens, which is cleared from the uncertainty which too many expositors have unadvisedly cast upon it : and about the Jewes calling, that it must not be understood of any return to Canaan, or of their restauration to a perspicuous common wealth any more, but of the calling of a remnant of them to the faith, in the countries where they live dispersed : and with the true nature of our Lords sufferings, with sundry other such like points, as may be seen in the table : propounded by way of question and answer, with annotations thereunto annexed : divided into three parts / by Edward Holyoke of New-England.   

Try saying all that five times fast!

The book included a story about King Solomon entitled:

HOW TIRZANA BEGUILED THE KING.
A Prosopopeia on Solomon's fall, by the Temptations of his idolatrous wives to the ruin of his Kingdome and posterity, in granting them the liberty of conscience for the practice of their idolatrous Rites, framed by way of Dialogue between King Solomon, and Tirzana 
the Queen.

The story was even included in some 19th century anthologies of American literature. If you are curious, you can read it here. By modern standards it is misogynist but it probably is a good representation of how the Puritans looked upon the wiles of women in 1658 when it was published.

Edward Holyoke was himself an example of a certain type of Puritan colonist, a prosperous well educated layman with an interest in scholarship and religion.

In the next part, I'll discuss his will.  

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #18: EDWARD HOLYOKE

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. Usually I'm running late with these posts, but
I'm actually up to date now. My subject this week is my 10x great grandfather
Edward Holyoke Jr.

The Holyoke family is a prominent one in Massachusetts history. The family
name is carried by a city, a mountain, and a college in the state, and a Holyoke
was one of the presidents of Harvard University. (Mount Holyoke is named after
my 9x great granduncle, Elizur Holyoke, and the college is names after the mountain.
There is some disagreement whether the city of Holyoke was named after the
nearby mountain or the man. I would think if it were named after the mountain, the
city would be called Mount Holyoke instead. But I digress). I'm descended from
Mary Holyoke, one of Edward's five daughters.

As usual, my first stop looking for information was Google ebooks, where I
found this:

Edward Holyoke emigrated from Tamworth, England, to Massachusetts, and was
residing in Lynn in 1636-37. In 1638 he was made a freeman, and in the same year
the town of Lynn granted him five hundred acres of land, both upland and meadow.
He subsequently settled in Rumney Marsh, now Chelsea. “He was a member of the
Quarterly Court from 1639 to 1643, also in 1647-48, and was a representative in ten
sessions of the General Court.” His death occurred May,4, 1660. In June, 1612, he
married Prudence, daughter of the Rev. John Stockton, of Kinhalt, England. Edward
Holyoke left one son, Elizur, and five daughters.(pp103-104) Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens of the State of Maine (Google eBook)New England Historical Publishing Company, 1903 - Maine

I've already mentioned that some of Edward's descendants were famous. What I
didn't realize was that Edward himself was well known. I'll discuss that in the next
part.

To be continued

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS #17: JOHN CHENEY PT2

Still looking for more on ancestor John Cheney of Newbury, I found this in another
Google Book ebook edition tonight:

"At Newbury John Cheney prospered. His allotments of land were large. He had a good stand in the "old town," and on shore and stream elsewhere. He had three acres granted, June 19, 1638, at the westerly end of the great swamp behind the great hill; August 25, same year, six acres of salt marsh; then a parcel of marsh with little islands of upland in it, about twenty acres. Little River on the northwest, formerly part of the calf common, assigned to him, July 5, 1639. Lot No. 50 in the "New Towne" on Field street was granted him, January 10. 1643. He was a member of the grand jury, April 27, 1648; selectman often; member of a committee to lay out the way to the neck and through the neck to the marshes on the east side of the old town, November 29, 1654. He was interested in public affairs and was one of the famous ten men of Newbury who took such interest in the campaign of Governor Winthrop against Sir Harry Vane that they made a journey of forty miles afoot from Newbury to Cambridge to take the freeman's oath. They were admitted May 17, 1637. It was by such earnest action on the part of his supporters that Winthrop was elected again and the conservative party triumphed. He died July 28, 1666, leaving a will, dated June 5, 1666, written in his own hand".p619
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 2 (Google eBook) Lewis historical publishing Company, New York, New York, 1913

From what I've been able to gather so far, Sir Henry Vane was a Royalist which would not
have endeared him to the Puritans and to add to that mark against him, he'd also been a
supporter of Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson. I need to find out more about his
short time in New England.

My descent from John Cheney is
John Cheney & Martha (Parrat?)
Daniel Cheney & Sarah Bailey
Eleanor Cheney & Thomas Safford
John Safford & Martha Haskell
Ruth Safford & Samuel Haskell
Martha Haskell & Moses Houghton
Sally Houghton & James T Dunham
Florilla Dunham & Asa F Ellingwood
Clara Ellingwood & Philip J West
Floyd E West Sr & Cora B Barker (my grandparents)