52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#48: JOSEPH BAILEY

Continuing on with my Bailey ancestors:

My 7x great grandfather Joseph Bailey was about thirteen years old when
his father died in 1648. His mother Edna married her second husband,Ezekiel
Northend in 1649 and arrangements had to be made concerning young Joseph's
inheritance:

For explanation of the order given by the court Oct. 27, 1648, in answer to a petition received of Edney Bayly, widow, of Rowley, and final determination of the case, it is ordered May 3, 1649, that the 46li. given by Wm. Halsteed to her son, Joseph Bayly, by Richard Bayly, deceased, remain in the hands of Ezekiell Northin, her present husband, until he shall be twenty one, and then so much be paid him as the will of Wm. Halsteed appoints; that Joseph's portion out of his father's estate shall be 41li., which is two thirds of the estate, and shall also remain in the hands of Ezekiel Northin until he is fourteen years. Ezekiel Northin to give security to the next Ipswich court Mass. Bay Colony Records, vol. 3, page 148.

Joseph Bayly of Rowley acknowledges the receipt from Ezekiell Northend of Rowley, his father-in-law, of "all my whole portion given me by the will of my ffather Richard Bayly which portion was ordered by the Generall Court & apoynted to be forty one pound or there abouts, which was two thirds of the estate, and also of a legasie of nyne pounds foure shillings, given by my unckle william Halsted, also all rents of my whole portion and of the aforesayd legasie since I was of the age of forteene years." Dated Nov. 14, 1667. Witness: Phillip Nelson, Elizabeth Nelson, ffrancis Tildisleg. Ipswich Deeds, vol. 3, page 78.
p93

The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1635-1664 Vol1 (Google eBook)
Essex Institute, 1916  Salem, Ma.

So besides the two thirds of his father's estate, Joseph had an inheritance of 46 pounds
from his uncle William Halstead. Considering that amount was nearly was larger
than his paternal inheritance, it's possible he was William Halstead's only living
male relative.  With that amount of money and property, he was able to take a
leading part in the town of Bradford, Ma.:

 (II) Deacon Joseph, only child of Richard Bailey, was born about 1635. settling on the Merrimack, in the north part of Rowley, near the Newbury line, in what is now Groveland. He was a leading man of Bradford, where he was selectman twenty-three years between 1625 and 1710, and was deacon of the church there in 1682 until his death, October 11, 1712. He married Abigail Trumbull, who survived him and died in Bradford, November 17, 1735- He died October II, 1712. Their children were: Abigail, Richard, Anne, Elizabeth, Joseph, Edna, Deacon John and Sarah.-p1310

Ezra S. Stearns, ‎William Frederick Whitcher, ‎Edward Everett Parker 
Genealogical and Family History of the State of New Hampshire: A Record of the Achievements of Her People in the Making of a Commonwealth and the Founding of a Nation, Volume 3 (Google eBook)

Lewis Publishing Company, 1908 - New Hampshire

 
 There is a discrepancy in that description. Since Joseph was born in 1635, he
couldn't have been a selectman in 1625. I think it's more likely the date was around
1685.  His daughter Edna married John Hastings and they were my 6x great grandparents,

ADVENT CALENDAR OF CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: OH APPLE TREE, OH APPLE TREE! 2014

My family was fortunate in that we never lived in the sort of place
where Christmas outdoor decorations becomes a blood sport.
Yes, people strung lights in their shrubbery or along their house
gutters but there was never anyone determined to turn their
front yard into the North Pole’s Southern Branch Office.

Now for light shows back then you went to someplace religious,
like Our Lady of La Sallette Shrine in North Attleboro or the local
cemetery with it’s entrance lit up, or even just cruised a stretch
of highway to look at the neighborhood lights that might be seen
from a distance as you drove by.


We didn’t really have outside lights ourselves until we left Boston
for Abington. Up until then the only lights other than on our
Christmas tree were the electric candles we put on windowsills.
But at the house Dad did the obligatory shrubbery and gutter
displays as well as one other spot: the apple tree in the front yard.


Dad had experience both with wiring and tree climbing so putting
a string of lights up in a small apple tree was a piece of cake. It
was the taking down part that didn’t seem to work at least for
the tree. One year, long after the other outside lights were down
and packed away, the lights still were hanging in the apple tree.
I’m not sure exactly when he took them down but I do know it
was well after Spring had sprung. I think they were even plugged
in one or two nights. I don’t know the reasons why they were
still there: my Dad’s sense of humor, perhaps? Or maybe an
instance where Dad’s Maine stubbornness and the Irish
stubbornness of my Mom brought about some impasse on the issue?


On my way home the other night from work I noticed at least
three of those large hot air snow globe scenes on front lawns.

Those families must have big electricity bills!



2010 Update: As I discovered in 2008, the apple tree  in
the front yard of the house is long gone. But a news report
the other night made me think of Dad. The holiday
lighting ceremony at Braintree has been postponed a week
because squirrels had eaten through the wires.

The lights had been left up all year since last Christmas!


2011 Update: The big snowstorms last winter had one
interesting effect. Some of the homes with heavily
decorated outside yards remained that way until
the snow melted. One home in particular had an inflatable
Santa and other decorations buried under snow drifts
and you could  just see the tops of them as you drove by
the house. I think they were there until mid-March!


2013 Update: It's a bit early yet apparently for the lights
to go up for Christmas around here. I don't work anymore
and haven't driven around much after dark so I haven't
seen any houses lit up yet. I did, however, spot two of
those big inflatable figures on someone's front lawn yesterday
afternoon.


2014 Update
 I'm not sure there be many houses lit up this year, or that they
will be many elaborate displays. The electric companies in the
New England area have raised their rates over 30% and that
may be too much for many people to afford to put up Christmas
lights.

 
(originally published in Dec. 2007)

 “The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

ADVENT CALENDAR OF CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: IT'S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR 2014

Every Christmas Mom would break out the Andy Williams
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:

 
     

 ((originally posted in 2007))

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#47: RICHARD BAILEY

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. I've
been tracing the ancestral lines of my grandmother Cora Barker. In this post I'll
start looking at her Bailey ancestors.

My 6x great grandfather John Hastings married Edna Bailey, granddaughter of my
immigrant ancestor Richard Bailey:

 ...Edna, daughter of Joseph Bailey, and granddaughter of Richard Bailey, of Rowley, who is said to have come from Yorkshire, England, some time from 1630 to 1638; he is represented then as a lad of some fifteen years, a very pious person, called on to pray for the safety of the ship during a storm encountered on the passage; the ship was the "Bevis," one hundred and fifty tons. Richard Bailey was one of a company to inaugurate at Rowley the first cloth mill in America; his death occurred between 1647 aml 1650, aged thirty-three to thirty-five years perhaps, just in the young flush of middle life. p1752

Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 4 (Google eBook)
Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs Lewis historical publishing Company,  New York 1909

I searched online for more information and found Richard's will  in a collection of Essex
County, Ma. probate files. (There are three volumes that I've found so far and they are free
on Google ebooks. Check them out if you haven't already!): 

Estate or Richard Bailey of Rowley.

"Rowley 15 of the last 1647. I Richard Baly sick in body but of perfect memory praised be God doe ordeine and make this my last will and Testament first I comende my soule into the hands of God in faith of a ioyfull resurrection throw our Lord Jesus Christ And as concerning my outward estate first my minde and  will is that all my  lawfull debts be paid and discharged. Ite my will is that fforty and tow pounds I giue vnto my sonn Joseph Baly but in case my wife should be with Child then my will is that the said sum of tow and forty pounds be deuided, and one third part thereof my other child shall haue it Item my will is that my Child shall haue a fether bedd in part of the said portion also one Great Bible and Practicall Catachisme Ite my will and minde is that if my wife Edna Baly marry againe and hir husbande proue vnlouing to the Child or Children or wastefull then l giue power to my Brother James Baly aud Micael Hobkinson with my wife hir Consent to take the Child with his portion from him and so to dispose of it for the Best behoofe of the children with my wifes consent Ite I giue my house and lott vnto my son Joseph Baly after my wife hir dissease Ite I giue to my Son tow stuffe Sutes of Cloaths and my best Coate, and a Cloath sute and my best hatt, and I giue to my Brother James Baly a great Coate one paire of buck lether Breches and a paire of Bootes one little Booke I giue to my nephew John Baly I giue vnto Thomas Palmer one Gray hatt one Cloath dublit and an old Jackie and a paire of Gray Breeches Ite I make my wife Edna Baly executrix of this my last will and Testament Memoradad and I giue eleuen shillings which is owing to me from Mr Rogers Ipswich and mr Johnson vnto the poore of the Towne." Rich baly.
Witness: Humfrey Reyner, willem Cavis.
Proved 28: 1: 1648, by Humphry Reynor, and 29: 1: 1648, by Jeames Bayley.

Inventory taken 23: 6: 1648, by Joseph Jewitt, Maxemillean Jowett and Mathew Boyes, allowed 27: 7: 1648: In monyes, 2li. 12s.; one Box and small things in it, 1li.; two stuffe sutes of Cloathes, 1li. 10s.; one Gray hatt, 10s.; one Cloath Suite, 1li. 10s.; one peece of fustian, 6s.; one Cloath Coate, 1li. 6s.; two Childes Mantles, 15s.; ticking for two boulsters, 10s.; one paire of Brasse Scales and weights, 6s. 6d.; two Couerletts & two Ruggs, 2li. 15s.; fiue Blanketts, 1li. lIs.; fiue Pillowes, 11s. ; one feather bed tick, 7s.; one Brasse Putt & a Still, 1li. 19s.; a Parcell of old Cloathes, 1Li.; a Bagg wt some Gotten woole, 12s. ; a Bagg wt. Inke stuffe, 7s.; foure Cushings & a leather girdle, 5s.; an old Coate, 3s.; two Basketts wth six pounds of Cotton yarne, 15s.; in little stone potts, 4s.; two Bed Coords, 2s.; one Barrell, Is.; one trough wt. Leather satchels & baggs, 14s.; one sword, 5s.; one Muskett wt. bandiliers, 1Li.; one Brasse Morter & Pestill, 3s. 4d.; one Lanterne, Is.; in Brasse, 3li. 12s.; one Iron Pott, 12s.; one Fouleing peece, 15s.; in Puter, 1Li. 18s.; one Case of Bottles, 5s.; a Parcell of Bookes, 2li. 12s. 6d.; two Chests, 11s. ; flue Cushings, 7s.; in Iron tooles, 1li. 14s.; in milke vessell, 9s. 6d.; a paire of Bellowes, 6d.; a stoole, a Box and a Dreaping Pan, 10s.; one dwelling house, l0li.; one Barne, 5li.; broken up land, meadows & Comons, 14li.; in Come and hay, 8li.; in Cattle, 22li. 10s.; in Swine, 1Li. 10s.; in Linen, 3li. 15s.; three Temses, 3s.; one feather bed wt. boulsters & other bedding, 4li. a. ; a Churne and Iron Pott wt. some Puter, and two wheeles, 17s.; total, 106H. 8s. l0d.

Essex County Quarterly Court Files, vol. 1, leaf 98.
-p92-93

The Probate Records of Essex County, Massachusetts: 1635-1664 Vol1 (Google eBook)
Essex Institute, 1916  Salem, Ma.

I wish I knew what those "Temses" were!

When Richard Bailey died, his son Joseph Bailey was around fourteen years old. He'll
be the subject of my next post in the 52 Weeks series.

ADVENT CALENDAR OF CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: DEALING WITH CARDS 2014

I don’t get a lot of Christmas cards, mostly because I don’t send
out a lot myself to begin with. I get some from the family and a
few from friends but since I’m not much of a social animal there’s
no more than perhaps a half dozen each year sitting atop my tv.



In years past the amount of umm…cardage…fluctuated. When I
was a kid there were a lot of cards, usually taped to the
door frames or sitting atop the end tables in the living room.


When we moved to Abington they were displayed across the
mantel piece or taped around the edges of the mirror above it.
The years when my folks were actively involved in the VFW
brought the highest number of season’s greetings. Mom would
spend a few hours herself signing and addressing cards to be
sent out. But as she and her generation of family and friends
grew older the flood of Christmas cards dwindled. Several years
Mom even had some unused cards left over when she finished.


I tend not to like sending “mushy” cards so I usually try to find
something funny. Although this year I may be giving people a
look at a certain dancing elf via e-mail!

2010 Update: I'm going to see what sort of selection we have at
the store tomorrow and hopefully find something funny, although
last year I sent out cards that were more... umm ...
"New England-y"

 2011 Update Since Borders has closed I'm going to have to take
a long walk over to Target soon to get some boxed cards!

2012 Update I'm waiting for my box card order from B&N
to arrive.

2013 Update I haven't bought any Christmas cards yet. I'm also
trying to figure out what to do with the leftover cards from the
last few years.

2014 Update:
I'll probably buy my cards this weekend. I don't really start thinking
about Christmas cards until right about now, although I've already
received one this holiday season. 

The past few years I've taken to displaying the incoming cards on my
bookcase, as in this photo from a  few years ago:

((Originally posted in 2007)) 

 “The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

ADVENT CALENDAR OF CHRISTMAS MEMORIES: OH CHRISTMAS TREE, OH CHRISTMAS TREE 2014

You know that part of the movie A Christmas Story where
the family goes out to buy the tree and the parents have a little
argument over it? Well, I laugh every time I see it because
like so much in that film it echoes my childhood.

Every Christmas when I was younger either we’d go shopping
for a tree or Dad would buy one on his way home from work.
Now as regular readers of this blog know by now, my Dad was
from Maine. But even more than that, he had experience in trees.
He’d helped his father cutting down trees, and he’d worked for a
landscaper in the Boston area when he’d first come home from
the war. Mom would remind Dad of his experience every year
when the tree was fixed into the tree stand, the rope cut from
the branches and the inevitable big empty space was discovered.
Usually the problem was solved by rotating the tree so the empty
spot was in the back facing the wall. The lights were strung(and
here we differed from the film. We never blew out the fuses.),
then the garlands, the ornaments, and the icicles. Finally the
angel went up on top of the tree and we were all set. With
judicious watering the tree would last us until around “Little
Christmas” at which time it would be undecorated and deposited
curbside to await the dump truck.

Of course our tree paled in comparison to the giant my Mom’s
Uncle Tommy and Aunt Francis had in their home down in
Milton. It was so big they cut the top off and the branches didn’t
taper at the top. They were all the same size: large. I could
never believe they'd gotten that big a tree into the house in the
first place!


Then the first artificial Christmas trees hit the market and Mom
began vowing she was going to get one as she vacuumed up pine
needles from the rug. Eventually we did but that provided us
with new challenges, such as assembling the tree.


As we all grew older the prospect of trying to get the tree
together became less enchanting and so it too was replaced, this
time by a small ceramic musical tree that was lit from within by
a light bulb. I used that tree myself for several years after Mom
died although I felt no great urge to wind it up for the music. It
lasted until a few years back when I dropped it and the base
cracked. It sits now in a box in a shelf in my living room closet.

Its replacement is a small artificial tree that I bought at work with
my employee discount along with a garland. Last year some
friends sent me some snowmen ornaments for it. I haven’t put it
up yet but think I will this weekend. It fits on top of the tv.


And at some point over the holidays I’ll see that scene from A
Christmas Story again and grin.

2009 update: I bought a small string of battery powered lights
to add to my tree last week!

2010 update: I lost my Christmas stuff in my move last April so
I'll be picking it up another one at work soon.

2011 update
I bought another teeny Christmas tree with lights and ornaments
at Borders. Since the company closed, it will remind me of my
store when I set it out each year.


2012 update
I haven't put up my teeny Christmas tree yet but plan to do it this weekend.


2013 Update
I'll be putting the tree out tomorrow. I may have to buy a new string of
lights this year since some of the teeny weeny bulbs may have died last year.

2014 Update
I haven't put the teeny Christmas tree up yet again. I think I will do
it tomorrow, though.
 
  

Originally posted in 2007.

“The Advent Calendar of Christmas Memories (ACCM) allows you to share your family’s holiday history twenty-four different ways during December! Learn more at http://adventcalendar.geneabloggers.com.”

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#46: JOHN HASTINGS SR. & JOHN HASTINGS JR.

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. I've
been tracing the ancestral lines of my grandmother Cora Barker, which include
the Barnes, Colby, Davis, Hoyt and Kelley familes, and now turn to my Hastings
ancestors.


I finally found something in Google ebooks about my 6x and 5x great grandfathers
John Hastings Sr. and John Hastings Jr. It was in a collection of family histories
for families in Maine, which I now realize is someplace I should have looked
at earlier, given my branch of the Hastings had moved there in the late 18th
century. Even so, most of the information on John Sr is about his wife's grandfather
Richard Bailey:
 
(IV) John, youngest son of Robert and Elizabeth (Davis) Hastings, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, September 3, 1691. He married, May 2, 1717, Edna, daughter of Joseph Bailey, and granddaughter of Richard Bailey, of Rowley, who is said to have come from Yorkshire, England, some time from 1630 to 1638; he is represented then as a lad of some fifteen years, a very pious person, called on to pray for the safety of the ship during a storm encountered on the passage; the ship was the "Bevis," one hundred and fifty tons. Richard Bailey was one of a company to inaugurate at Rowley the first cloth mill in America; his death occurred between 1647 aml 1650, aged thirty-three to thirty-five years perhaps, just in the young flush of middle life. Richard Bailey left one son, Joseph, who was a leading man in state, church and army; a selectman in Bradford and a deacon from the formation of the church there till his death: he in turn left eight sons and daughters, among whom were Elizabeth and Edna, who married Robert and John Hastings, respectively, as aforementioned. Children of John and Edna (Bailey) Hastings: 1. John, born January 23, 1718. 2. James, May 4, 1720. 3. Abigail, August 12, 1722. 4. Jonas, January 12, 1727.

(V) John, eldest son and child of John and Edna (Bailey) Hastings, was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts, January 23, 1718. He married (first) Rebecca Bailey, and (second) Mary Amy. Children of first wife: 1. John, born April 11, 1744. 2. Richard, October 12, 1745. 3. Rebecca, 1746. 4. Jonas, November 9, 1747. 6. Timothy, April 12, 1750, died young. 7. Amos, February 3, 1757. Children of second wife: 8. Levi, June 6, 1762. 9. Evan, July 12, 1764, died unmarried. 10. Mollie, September 12, 1766, died young. 11. Joshua, June 7, 1768. 12. Abigail, August 2, 1770. 13. Ann, March 3, 1772. 14. David, June 17, 1774. p1752

Genealogical and Family History of the State of Maine, Volume 4 (Google eBook)
Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs Lewis historical publishing Company,  New York 1909


One problem surfaced in all this information: the book lists John Hastings Jr.'s first
wife as Rebecca Bailey while I'd previously found it in other places as Rebecca
Kelley. Here are images from the   New Hampshire, Birth Records, Early to 1900
collection at FamilySearch. These are for the births of four of the children of John
and Rebecca Hastings. If you compare the birthdates in the images with those in
the passage from the book, they match up. In all four, the name of the mother is
given as Rebecca Kelley.

I have a possible explanation for the discrepancy. Here is the image for the
marriage record of John Hastings and a Rebecca Kaley, The date here matches
with what I had in my database:

Could it be someone misread Kaley for Baley?

THE SIXTH ANNUAL GREAT GENEALOGY POETRY CHALLENGE POSTS

Welcome to the Sixth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge!
Here are rules for the Challenge:
 
 1. Find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region 
your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a
legend, a person, or even about some place (like a river)or a local
animal. It can even be a poem you or one of your ancestors have written!
0r if you prefer, post the lyrics of a song or a link to a video of someone
performing the song. 

2. Post the poem or song to your blog (remembering to cite the source
where you found it.).  If you wish to enter an older post, you may as long
as long as it has not appeared here in an earlier Poetry Challenge.
 
3.Tell us how the subject of the poem or song relates to your ancestor's
home or life, or the area of the country where they lived.

There are some really unique submissions this year with some great poetry
and even some songs. I think you'll enjoy these blogposts, so let's get started! 



Ellingwood cousin Pam Carter's submission is the lyrics of a song Pam's grandmother
used to sing to her. It's one I often used to hear myself as a child from my own
grandmother (along with another song, Pony Boy). Pam supplies a link to a
performance of the song and post the lyrics in Billy Boy- Traditional Folk Song at
My Maine Ancestry.

Barker cousin  Vickie Everhart of BeNotForgot has sent three submissions this year:
-In 1850 :: The Census Taker, she uses Darlene Stevens' poem The Census Taker
to help tell the story of her relative T.J.Allen who was a census taker in Texas.

-Vickie's 10x great grandfather was Job Tyler of Andover, Ma., and in 1896 a
family reunion was held there. Someone wrote a poem in praise of Job and
Vickie shares it with us in Ode to Job.

-Lastly, Vickie weaves the poetic epitaph on an ancestor's grave with her family
history and a bit of the history of Georgia in 1834 :: Howl Fir Tree for the Cedar is Fallen


Heather Wilkinson Rojo has shared some wonderful poems by her grandmother Bertha Wilkinson in previous Poetry Challenges. This time the subject is a trip to a place many
of my genealogy friends have taken themselves. The poem is entitled Our Trip to Utah,
posted in The Sixth Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge at Nutfield Genealogy

Over at TransylvanianDutch, John Newmark celebrates his wife's Scottish heritage with
a well known poem by Robert Burns. He also gives links to a poem by Carolina Oliphant, Lady Nairne, and to a performance of song made from it. His post is Sixth Annual Genealogy Poetry Challenge - Scotland


One of my favorite poets is fellow New Englander Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, so I was very interested (and a wee bit envious) when Diane MacLean Boumenot sent me
the link to her post Buckley Parmenter and The Wayside Inn. Her ancestor worked at
the inn that was the inspiration for Longfellow's "Tales of a Wayside Inn" poetry collection. Diane tells us about the history of the establishment and shares some stories about Buckley at her One Rhode Island Family blog.


I'm also envious of Barbara Poole of Life From The Roots, who also has a connection
to a Longfellow poem. While researching an ancestor she discovered he may have been
aboard a sailing vessel that vanished.  The incident is commemorated in Longfellow's
poem The Phantom Ship. Barbara's post is Poem for Bill West's Sixth Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge.

My contribution stems from my search for New England legends and folklore to write about at Halloween. This year I was lucky to find a poem written about distant cousin Jonathan Moulton being haunted by the ghost of a dead wife. Even better, the poem The New Wife And The Old, was written by another of my distant relatives, John Greenleaf Whittier. I wrote two posts about the story and poem in HALLOWEEN TALES: "THE NEW WIFE AND THE OLD" PT1  and PT2.


And that concludes this year's Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge. My thanks to all
the participants for their great blogposts!

MY ALLERTON AND WARREN MAYFLOWER ANCESTRY

((First posted November 2011))


Whenever I am talking or writing about my Mayflower descent, for some
ironic reason I always forget about Remember Allerton. The reason for the
irony is that both my Dad's parents were Allerton descendants: Pop from
Remember Allerton and Grandma Bertha from Mary Allerton.:



Allerton through Ellingwood Line

Isaac Allerton & Mary Norris
Remember Allerton & Moses Maverick
Abigail Maverick & Samuel Ward
Martha Ward & John Tuthill(Tuttle)
Martha Tuthill(Tuttle) & Mark Haskell
Martha Haskell & John Safford
Ruth Safford & Samuel Haskell
Martha Haskell & Moses Houghton
Sally Houghton & James Thomas Dunham
Florilla Dunham & Asa Freeman Ellingwood
Clara Ellingwood & Phillip Jonathan West
Floyd Earl West Sr  & Cora B Barker
Floyd Earl West Jr &  Anne Marie White



Allerton through Barker Line


Isaac Allerton & Mary Norris
Mary Allerton & Thomas Cushman
Sarah Cushman & Adam Hawkes
John Hawkes & Mary(Margery)Whitford
Eva Hawkes & John Bancroft         Eunice Hawkes & Jacob Walton
John Bancroft & Mary Walton
Sally(Sarah)Bancroft & Francis Upton
Hannah Upton & Cyrus Moore
Betsey Jane Moore & Amos Hastings Barker
Charlotte Lovenia Barker & Frank W Barker
Cora B, Barker & Floyd Earl Wesrt Sr
Floyd Earl West Jr and Anne Marie White.

My Warren ancestry comes through my Ames line

Warren Through Ames Line

Richard Warren  &  Elizabeth (?)
Mary Warren & Robert Bartlett
Mary Bartlett & Jonathan Mowrey(Morey)
Hannah Mowrey(Morey) & John Bumpas
Mary Bumpas & Seth Ellis
Mary Ellis & Ephraim Griffith
John Griffith & Mary Boyden
Polly Griffith & Jonathan Phelps Ames
Arvilla S. Ames & John Cutter West
John Cutter West & Louisa Richardson
Phillip Jonathan West & Clara Ellingwood
Floyd Earl West Sr & Cora B Barker
Floyd Earl West Jr and Anne Marie White.

52 ANCESTORS IN 52 WEEKS#45: ROBERT HASTINGS

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. I've
been tracing the ancestral lines of my grandmother Cora Barker, which include
the Barnes, Colby, Davis, Hoyt and Kelley familes, and now turn to my Hastings
ancestors.

I recently did two posts about my 7x great grandfather Robert Hastings and his
parentage. It turns out there is not too much information about Robert available
on Google ebooks. I did find some in a genealogy of the Peaslee family written
by Emma Adeline Kimball:

On the same page of the history is the record of a house built by Robert Hastings
in 1676. This was not far from the home of the Peaslees. It may have been a log
house, and a larger one have been erected £ few years later; but, the house of
Robert Hastings was, in 1696, licensed as a tavern. There was no Hastings among
the Proprietors of the town of Haverhill. Being a mason or bricklayer, it' is easy to
conjecture that he came to the place to work on the house of Joseph Peaslee. It
is certain that he married Elizabelh Davis, born March 11, 1653-4; that her father
gave to Robert Hastings the land on which he built his house, and a few years later
added to the former gift of land one cow-common right and pasturage.
Robert Hastings, Sen., in a deed recorded April 21, 1710, gave to his son Robert thirty
acres of land on the "back side of ye said land I now live upon"; also a piece of meadow, half the orchard, and the east end of the house, to be his at the signing of the deed. For himself and wife, during life, he reserved the other half of the house and orchard; after their decease, Robert, the son, was to have the whole house and all of the orchard.

Elizabeth, the daughter of Robert Hastings, Jr., married Joseph Kelly, Jr., and lived on the homestead. It has never passed out of the family, the present owner being a descendant
of the Kelly and Hastings families under a different name.
pp10-11
The Peaslees and Others of Haverhill and Vicinity (Google eBook) Press of Chase Brothers, Haverhill, Ma. 1899

There was also this:
Katharine, eldest daughter of Robert and Elizabeth (Davis) Hastings, married Samuel Davis, Jr. Elizabeth Hastings married the third Joseph Peaslee. Robert Hastings, Jr., married Elizabeth Bailey, daughter of Deacon Joseph Bailey of Bradford, March 18, 1706. John, brother of Robert, Jr., married May 2, 1717, Ednah "Bealy," sister of Elizabeth. George Hastings, born April 24, 1688, and his brother John built their houses at the foot of the hill beyond the homestead, the home of Robert Hastings, Sen., and his son Robert. The house of one was near the-highway, in later years known as the J. H. Morse place, which was destroyed by -fire many years since. The other brother built his house on the edge of the intervale, now the home of Mrs. Elizabeth Swain, the daughter of Oliver Morse, in whose family it has been for more than a century, having been purchased of Robert Hastings of the third generation, son of the builder.p44

I was struck by the fact that Robert was a bricklayer. That's the third ancestor that
had that occupation, and all from different branches of my family. Besides Robert
Hastings on the maternal side of my Dad's family, there is 5x great grandfather
Joseph Ellingwood on his paternal side. And my Mom's side, her great grandfather
John McFarland from Ireland had worked as a bricklayer in Edinburgh, Scotland!     

MY ELLINGWOOD MAYFLOWER ANCESTRY

(( I first posted two articles about my Mayflower family descents back in
 November 2011 and decided to repost them every year as a Thanksgiving 
tradition.))

Back when I first started researching the family genealogy online I was
thrilled to discover we were descended from several Mayflower passengers.
At one point I even carried around a small folded up piece of paper
in my wallet with the lines of descent to show when discussing genealogy
with some customer at the bookstore. But I lost that some time ago, so I
thought I'd post them here for other family members.

The first three lines come down through my Ellingwood ancestry from
Stephen Hopkins, Thomas Rogers, and James Chilton.

Hopkins Line
Stephen Hopkins and Mary____
Constance Hopkins & Nicholas Snow
Elizabeth Snow & Thomas Rogers
Eleazer Rogers & Ruhamah Willis
Experience Rogers & Stephen Totman
Deborah Totman & Moses Barrows Jr.
Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood Jr
Asa F. Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Clara Ellingwood & Philip West
Floyd West Sr & Clara Barker
Floyd West Jr & Anne M White

Rogers Line
Thomas Rogers & Alice Cosford
Joseph Rogers & Hannah___
Thomas Rogers & Elizabeth Snow
Eleazer Rogers & Ruhamah Willis
Experience Rogers & Stephen Totman
Deborah Totman & Moses Barrows Jr.
Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood Jr
Asa F. Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Clara Ellingwood & Philip West
Floyd West Sr & Clara Barker
Floyd West Jr & Anne M White

Chilton Line
James Chilton & ?
Isabella Chilton & Roger Chandler
Sarah Chandler & Moses Simmons
Moses Simmons Jr & Patience Barstow
Patience Simmons & George Barrows
Moses Barrows & Mary Carver
Deborah Totman & Moses Barrows Jr.
Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood Jr
Asa F. Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Clara Ellingwood & Philip West
Floyd West Sr & Clara Barker
Floyd West Jr & Anne M White

KISSING COUSINS

I mentioned in a previous post how many of my ancestors were already
related before their marriages. These were my paternal ancestors, whose
families had been among the early settlers of New England, when the
population was small, and travel between different areas was harder.
After three or four generations many of the people in a town were
related to each other, but by the 19th century many of those blood ties
were probably unknown. In my Dad's family, his ancestors had moved
from Massachusetts up to western Maine, away from the towns like
Andover and Groton where their families had first met and mingled.
  
Here's just two instances on my Dad's side of the family, his parents and
paternal grandparents, using the relationship calculator function on RootsMagic 6:

Floyd Earl West and Cora Bertha Barker
1. Fifth cousin twice removed (common ancestor: John Spaulding & Mary Barrett)
2. Eighth cousin (common ancestor: William Sargent & Elizabeth Perkins)
3. Eighth cousin (common ancestor: Henry Herrick & Editha Laskin)
4. Seventh cousin once removed (common ancestor: Richard Barker & Joanna Unk)
6. Tenth cousin (common ancestor: Hugh Sargent & Margaret Gifford)
7. Ninth cousin once removed (common ancestor: John Maverick & Mary Gye)
8. Eighth cousin 3 times removed (common ancestor: Nathan Halstead & Isabel Denton)

Philip Jonathan West and Clara J. Ellingwood
1. Sixth cousin (common ancestor: Samuel Phelps & Sarah Chandler)
2. Seventh cousin once removed (common ancestor: John Emery & Alice Grantham)
3. Seventh cousin once removed (common ancestor: John Prescott & Mary Gawkroger (Platts))
4. Eighth cousin (common ancestor: William Chandler & Annis Agnes Bayford)
5. Eighth cousin (common ancestor: Michael Bacon & Mary Jobo)
6. Eighth cousin (common ancestor: Joan Blessing)
7. Eighth cousin once removed (common ancestor: Willam Lakin & Mary Laudin)
8. Ninth cousin (common ancestor: Henry Chandler)
9. Ninth cousin (common ancestor: Richard Towne & Anne Denton)
10. Tenth cousin (common ancestor: Richard Bayford & Joan Searle)
11. Eleventh cousin once removed (common ancestor: John Adams & Margery Squier)


You can see how distant the relationships are. Their common ancestors lived one
and two centuries before them. Unless there was someone around who'd been
researching their family trees, there was no way they could have know they were
related.   

MY PHELPS LINES

I mentioned in my previous post that  my ancestors Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker
were both descended from John Ames and Priscilla Kimball.  Here's a chart showing their
lines:

I now also have a double descent from Samuel Phelps and Sara Chandler through
my great grandparents Philip J West and Clara Ellingwood, which goes like this:

Another example of how the small population in colonial New England led to many
entangled family lines!

THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT4: CONCLUSIONS

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

 The reasons I've come to this conclusion:

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

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

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

The probate file and Phelps genealogy information :

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

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

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

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

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


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

THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT3

Continuing the story of my search to confirm the identities of the parents of
Lydia Phelps, my 5x great grandmother:

Having looked at the probate file of Jonathan Phelps at the American Ancestors
website, I next decided to see what I could find in Charlotte Helen Abbott's EarlyRecords Of The Phelps Family Of Andover on the Memorial Hall Library of Andover,
Ma. website. Since Beulah is a distinctive name I used that in the Find function of my
Firefox browser. I found two mentions of Beulah Parker. The first is on page 5 in the
list of the children of Samuel Phelps and Elizabeth Andrews.

It says their son Jonathan Phelps was born in 1726, that he married Beulah Parker
(but no date is given) .that he died in Groton, Ma in 1758, and that Beulah's second
husband was Peter Gilson. Notice the name of Jonathan's sister above his name.

The next mention of Jonathan and Beulah is the list of their children on page 9:

They match the names of the children in the probate file for Jonathan Phelps.

I decided to Google search next using the words Beulan, Parker, and Groton to
see if I could find more on Beulah. Old reliable William Richard Cutter came through for me again:

(III) John Parker, son of Samuel Parker (2), was born at Groton, in 1694. He married in that town, May 22, 1719, Joanna Ames. Children, born in Groton: 1. John, December 12, 1719. 2. Robert, January 20, 1720. 3. Jerusha, June 20, 1725. 4. Sarah, June 8, 1727. 5. Beulah, October 10, 1729. 6. Jonathan, December 1, 1732 (twin). 7. Relief (twin), December 1, 1732. 8. Deborah, June 4, 1736. 9. Oliver, mentioned below...-p1865

William Richard Cutter, Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts, Volume 4(Google eBook) Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1910 Boston (Mass.)

When I saw the name of Beulah's mother, I recognized it immediately.

To be continued.

THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT2

Continuing the story of my search to confirm the identities of the parents of
Lydia Phelps, my 5x great grandmother:

I originally had Lydia's parents and Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker of
Groton, Ma. and then Hollis, New Hampshire. Sampson Read had cast doubt
on that in his genealogy of his family because of an interview with Betsey
(Ames)Putnam, my 4x great grandaunt, Betsey claimed that Jonathan Phelps
was a Scotsman because of stories Lydia had told her as a child.

The death date I had for Lydia's father Jonathan was 25Nov 1758.  Looking in the
Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871 on the American Ancestors
website, I found this file:

((Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. 

AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014. 

(From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.)

I opened the file and looking at the first image I knew it was the right Jonathan
Phelps:

((Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871.Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2014.
(From records supplied by the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives.) ))



The document reads:
To the Honourable Saml Danforth,  Esq, Judge of
Probate for the County of Middlesex
These are to inform your Honour that it is my Desire
that you would appoint Capt Abel Lawrance of Groton
Administrator to ye estate of my husband Jonathan
Phelps Late of Groton Deceased & in so doing you oblige
your Humble Servt.
Groton March 12th 1759 Bulah Phelps
P:S: It is my desire my Brother Robert Parker
should be Gardian for my children Viz Joanna
Lydia Jonathan and Francis.
The rest of the file consists of images of the inventory of the estate, most of which
went to Beulah (Parker) Phelps.

Next I went to  website for the Memorial Hall Library of Andover, Ma. , specifically to
the page for the Abbott Genealogies. These are collected genealogies written by my
distant cousin Charlotte Helen Abbott . She was a well known genealogist who wrote
a series of columns on the histories of Andover families for the local town newspaper.
One of those families was the Phelps family.

I'll discuss what she wrote about Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker in my next post.

To be continued...

THE QUESTION OF LYDIA PHELPS' PARENTS PT1

A few years back I posted about the question of the identities of the parents of
Lydia (Phelps) West, my 5x great grandmother. The original information I had
was that she was the daughter of Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Parker of Groton,
Massachusetts. Then seven years ago I found this:

"My father was John Ames, who was born in Groton, Mass., and
mother was Lydia Phelps, who was born in Hollis, Mass... When
father married second wife, the widow of Sampson Read, she had
three children, Sampson, Lydia and Amy, then children by John
Ames were: John, Jonathan, Zekiel, Polly, Betsey, and Ralph;
all born in Groton, Mass., except Ralph, who was in Merrimac,
Mass., and myself in Hollis." --Aunt Betsey Putnam, as told to Axel
H. Reed, Genealogy, p. 17.

"Lydia Phelps, my mother, was of Scottish decent [sic], whose
parents were born in Scotland, and from whom the Reads got
their light eyes, so father Ames used to say."
--Aunt Betsey Putnam, as told to Axel H. Reed, Genealogy, p. 17.

((The source for the quotes is: "Genealogical Record of The Reads,
Reeds, the Bisbees, the Bradfords of the United States of America"
in the line of Esdras Read of Boston and England, 1635 to 1915.
Thomas Besbedge or Bisbee of Scituate, Mass. and England, 1634
to 1915. Governor William Bradford, of Plymouth, Mass., and
England, 1620 to 1915." By Axel Hayford Reed, Glencoe, MN,
1915. I found them here at “The Ancestry of Overmire, Tifft, Richardson,
Bradford, Reed,” by Larry Overmire, RootsWeb World Connect Project,
2000-2007))

On the strength of that I unlinked Jonathan Phelps and Beulah Paker as Lydia's
parents because their families had been in Massachusetts for nearly a century
before Lydia's birth. But I didn't remove them or their families from my database
until I found more definite proof one way or the other . Then a few months back
the NEHGS added the Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers, 1648-1871 
images to their American Ancestors and I started searching there for for the probate
files belonging  to my Middlesex County ancestors. One of the names I searched
for was Jonathan Phelps.

What I found there and one other place has I think settled the question of who
Lydia Phelps' parents were for me.

To be continued

THE SIXTH ANNUAL GREAT GENEALOGY POETRY CHALLENGE DEADLINE IS NEARLY HERE!

There's now less than a week to go for blogpost submissions to the Sixth
Annual Great Genealogy Poetry Challenge. The deadline is Thursday,
November 20th and I'll be posting the list of links here on Thanksgiving
Day, Thursday, November 27th.

Once again the Challenge rules are:

1. Find a poem by a local poet, famous or obscure, from the region 
your ancestors lived in. It can be about an historical event, a
legend, a person, or even about some place (like a river)or a local
animal. It can even be a poem you or one of your ancestors have written!
0r if you prefer, post the lyrics of a song or a link to a video of someone
performing the song. 

2. Post the poem or song to your blog (remembering to cite the source
where you found it.).  If you wish to enter an older post, you may as long
as long as it has not appeared here in an earlier Poetry Challenge.
 
3.Tell us how the subject of the poem or song relates to your ancestor's
home or life, or the area of the country where they lived.

4.Submit your post's link here in a comment to me by midnight Thursday,
November 20th and I'll publish all links to the entries on Thanksgiving Day, 
November 27th.

If  you submit a humorous poem or song that will be entered under the
"Willy Puckerbrush" division. Willy was the late geneablogger Terry
Thornton's alias for some humorous posts and comments.

I've already received several blogpost links, and I hope there will be more
before the deadline falls.

THE QUESTION OF ROBERT HASTINGS PT2

My next stop in trying to find a clue to the identities of Robert Hastings' parents
was at FamilySearch.org Historical Records Collections, specifically the Massachusetts, Land Records, 1620-1986 for Essex County. Robert Hastings had married his wife there in 1676 and died there in the town of Haverhill so I looked for transactions that might
have been made between him and whoever his father may have been.

I found these entries under Hastings in the Deed index (grantee) 1640-1799 Had-Pix

Among them were transactions where Robert received or bought land from his father
in law James Davis.Some, like the following one, call him Robert Hastings Jr.

Others just refer to him as Robert Hastings. And to complicate matters further, my
ancestor had a son named Robert, and in later transactions the son is called Jr and
my ancestor Sr.

It's possible my 7x great grandfather Robert Hastings' father was likewise named
Robert Hastings. It's also possible there could have been another older relative, such
as an uncle or cousin in the area with the same name and my ancestor was called
Robert Hastings Jr to differentiate him from the other. But I think I can say with
some certainty that his father was not Walter Hastings of Cambridge, Ma.

THE QUESTION OF ROBERT HASTINGS PT1

One of the reasons I've enjoyed the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks challenge is that
it has inspired me to do research on the older lines in my ancestry that I hadn't
spent much time on as yet.  It's helped me understand some of the ways the
different lines came together, and in some cases helped me push some of those
lines back a generation or two further.The past few months I've been exploring
the ancestors of my paternal grandmother Clara Barker,  which will continue
next with the Hastings family. 

But in doing some preparation for the first post I stumbled across a problem
with the parents of my 7x great grandfather Robert Hastings. I had them as
Walter Hastings and Sarah Meane but I had no record in my database for their
births, marriage, and deaths, nor did I have anything for Robert's birth other than
a birth year of 1653. I'd probably gotten the information that Robert was the son
of Walter and Sarah from a Google search years ago when I was a beginner but I
hadn't known enough to cite sources back then, so I set out now to see if I could
find something to confirm that.

What I found on Google didn't help:

-In an entry about John Meane of Cambridge on p 153 of An Historic Guide to Cambridge, it says Walter Hastings married Sarah Meane in 1655, two years after the supposed
birth year of Robert Hastings.


 -On page 216 of Biographical Sketches of Graduates of Harvard University Volume 3,
an entry for John Hastings, Class of 1681, it says he was the eldest son of Walter and
Sarah Meane, and that he was born on 2 Dec 1660



- I found the will of Walter Hastings in the Middlesex County, MA: Probate File Papers,
1648-1871. There was no son named Robert named among his children.

There was one more place I decided to look at for answers.

To be continued.