Nutfield Genealogy

How the Women Went From Dover

2012-02-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

Three Quaker women from England appeared in Dover,New Hampshire in 1662 to preach against the established church. These women spoke out against the customs ofthe established minister John Reynor. MajorRichard Waldron, a local magistrate, issued this decree:

“Tothe constables of Dover, Hampton, Salisbury, Newbury, Rowley, Ispwich, Wenham,Lynn, Boston, Roxbury, Dedham, and until these vagabond Quakers are carried outof this jurisdiction.

You,and every one of you, are required, in the King’s Majesty’s name, to take thesevagabond Quakers, Anne Colman, Mary Tomkins and Alice Ambrose, and make themfast to the cart’s tail, and driving the cart through your several towns, towhip them upon their naked backs not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each ofthem, in each town; and so to convey them from constable to constable till theyare out of this jurisdiction, as you will answer it at your peril; and thisshall be your warrant.”

Richard Waldron

Dated at Dover, December 22, 1662

Accordingto Sewall’s History of the Quakers:

"Thewomen thus being whipped at Dover, were carried to Hampton and there deliveredto the constable . . . The constable the next morning would have whipped thembefore day, but they refused, saying they were not ashamed of their sufferings.Then he would have whipped them with their clothes on, when he had tied them tothe cart. But they said, 'set us free, or do according to thine order.' He thenspoke to a woman to take off their clothes. But she said she would not for allthe world. 'Why,' said he, then I'll do it myself.' So he stripped them, andthen stood trembling whip in hand, and so he did the execution. Then he carriedthem to Salisbury through the dirt and the snow half the leg deep; and here theywere whipped again. Indeed their bodies were so torn, that if Providence hadnot watched over them, they might have been in danger of their lives."

Theorder was carried out in Dover and at Hampton, (both now in New Hampshire) withthe idea of running the women all the way to Rhode Island. In the town of Salisbury, which is now onthe Massachusetts side of the border) the constable, Robert Pike, refused tofollow the order. A man named Dr.Walter Barefoot convinced the constable to name him as a deputy, and he tookthem to safety in Kittery, Maine.

Strangely,the women eventually returned to Dover, where over one third of the peopleconverted to the Quaker religion. Thetowns people prophesized that Waldron’s victims would be avenged. Prophetically, he was killed in an Indianraid a few years later.

JohnGreenleaf Whittier, a Quaker poet, wrote this poem for the Atlantic Monthly,Volume 51, issue 308, page 805 -6 in June 1883. He was an ardent progressive, and the Atlantic Monthly was a liberalBoston journal. Whittier lived in nearbyHaverhill, Massachusetts, on the New Hampshire border. Manyof Whittier’s poems are based on New Hampshire legends, or Quaker history, suchas the Ballad of Cassandra Southwick, which I blogged about at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/ballad-of-cassandra-southwick.html

Justlike Cassandra Southwick, I am related to one of the characters in his poem aboutthe three Quaker women from Dover, New Hampshire. Unfortunately this time it is the villain,Richard Waldron. Waldron married AnnScammon, sister to my 9x great grandmother, Elizabeth Scammons who marriedThomas Atkins. Richard Waldron was born6 January 1615 in Warwickshire, England, and died on 17 June 1689 in Dover, NewHampshire during the Cochecho Massacre. His cruelty was not just a figment of Whittier’s rich imagination. Even the Penacook Indians were so angry withhis reign over them that:

“The Indians rushed into Major Walderne's garrison.He attempted to defend himself with a sword but was quickly overpowered andtied to a chair. The furious Penacooks each slashed the 74 year old man acrossthe chest with his own sword, crying out " I cross out my account!"They hacked off his nose and ears then thrust them into his mouth. Finally,they forced him to fall upon his sword. Even in death, the Indians were notdone with vengeance: they cut off the hand that had cheated them by holdingdown down the scales during trading. The final act of revenge was to burn thehouse to the ground, and murder or take captive the rest of Walderne's family.”

Fromthe 1909 Heritage Walk Tour Booklet at the Dover, New Hampshire Public Library,http://www.dover.lib.nh.us/DoverHistory/cocheco.htm

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How the Women Went From Dover
by John Greenleaf Whittier

The tossing spray of Cocheco's fall
Hardened to ice on its rocky wall,
As through Dover town, in the chill, gray dawn,
Three women passed, at the cart-tail drawn!
Bared to the waist, for the north wind's grip
And keener sting of the constable's whip,
The blood that followed each hissing blow
Froze as it sprinkled the winter snow.
Priest and ruler, boy and maid
Followed the dismal cavalcade;
And from door and window, open thrown,
Looked and wondered gaffer and crone.
"God is our witness," the victims cried,
"We suffer for Him who for all men died;
The wrong ye do has been done before,
We bear the stripes that the Master bore!
"And thou, O Richard Waldron, for whom
We hear the feet of a coming doom,
On thy cruel heart and thy hand of wrong
Vengeance is sure, though it tarry long.
"In the light of the Lord, a flame we see
Climb and kindle a proud roof-tree;
And beneath it an old man lying dead,
With stains of blood on his hoary head."
"Smite, Goodman Hate-Evil!--harder still!"
The magistrate cried, "lay on with a will!
Drive out of their bodies the Father of Lies,
Who through them preaches and prophesies!"
So into the forest they held their way,
By winding river and frost-rimmed bay,
Over wind-swept hills that felt the beat
Of the winter sea at their icy feet.
The Indian hunter, searching his traps,
Peered stealthily through the forest gaps;
And the outlying settler shook his head,--
"They're witches going to jail," he said.
At last a meeting-house came to view;
A blast on his horn the constable blew;
And the boys of Hampton cried up and down,
"The Quakers have come!" to the wondering town.
From barn and woodpile the goodman came;
The goodwife quitted her quilting frame,
With her child at her breast; and, hobbling slow,
The grandam followed to see the show,
Once more the torturing whip was swung,
Once more keen lashes the bare flesh stung.
"Oh, spare! they are bleeding!" a little maid cried,
And covered her face the sight to hide.
A murmur ran round the crowd: "Good folks,"
Quoth the constable, busy counting the strokes.
"No pity to wretches like these is due,
They have beaten the gospel black and blue!"
Then a pallid woman, in wild-eyed fear,
With her wooden noggin of milk drew near.
"Drink, poor hearts!" A rude hand smote
Her draught away from a parching throat.
"Take heed," one whispered, "they'll take your cow
For fines, as they took your horse and plow.
And the bed from under you." "Even so,"
She said. "They are cruel as death I know."
Then on they passed, in the waning day,
Through Seabrook woods, a weariful way;
By great salt meadows and sand-hills bare,
And glimpses of blue sea here and there.
By the meeting-house in Salisbury town,
The sufferers stood, in the red sun-down,
Bare for the lash! O pitying Night,
Drop swift thy curtain and hide the sight!
With shame in his eye and wrath on his lip
The Salisbury constable dropped his whip.
"This warrant means murder foul and red;
Cursed is he who serves it," he said.
"Show me the order, and meanwhile strike
A blow at your peril!" said Justice Pike.
Of all the rulers the land possessed,
Wisest and boldest was he, and best.
He scoffed at witchcraft; the priest he met
As man meets man; his feet he set
Beyond his dark age, standing upright,
Soul-free, with his face to the morning light.
He read the warrant: "These convey
From our precincts; at every town on the way
Give each ten lashes." "God judge the brute!
I tread his order under my foot!
"Cut loose these poor ones and let them go;
Come what will of it, all men shall know
No warrant is good, though backed by the Crown,
For whipping women in Salisbury town!"
The hearts of the villagers, half released
From creed of terror and rule of priest,
By a primal instinct owned the right
Of human pity in law's despite.
For ruth and chivalry only slept,
His Saxon manhood the yeoman kept;
Quicker or slower, the same blood ran
In the Cavalier and the Puritan.
The Quakers sank on their knees in praise
And thanks. A last, low sunset blaze
Flashed out from under a cloud, and shed
A golden glory on each bowed head.
The tale is one of an evil time,
When souls were fettered and thought was crime,
And heresy's whisper above its breath
Meant shameful scourging and bonds and death!
What marvel, that hunted and sorely tried,
Even woman rebuked and prophesied,
And soft words rarely answered back
The grim persuasion of whip and rack!
If her cry from the whipping-post and jail
Pierced sharp as the Kenite's driven nail,
O woman, at ease in these happier days,
Forbear to judge of thy sister's ways!
How much thy beautiful life may owe
To her faith and courage thou canst not know,
Nor how from the paths of thy calm retreat
She smoothed the thorns with her bleeding feet.

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Pinterest for Genealogy

2012-02-09T07:34:00.000-08:00

Here is a great new use for the Pinterest.Com website for genealogists. Did you know you can pin images from Ancestry.com onto your Pinterest boards? Just click the "pin it" tab and collect images on a board. Then you can repin them to family group boards, biographies, or any other boards you set up. Imagine the possiblities!

This idea came from fellow genealogy blogger and Londonderry resident, Timothy McQuaid (click here for a link to his blog Forgotten Journeys http://forgottenjourneys.blogspot.com ). He contacted me just half an hour ago to ask for an invite to Pinterest. He was wondering if he could capture the Ancestry source images. I checked, and it was certainly possible. I've been playing around with this idea ever since his message!

Here is a screenshot of one board with three census images:

What ideas do you have for these images from Ancestry? What kinds of boards could you create for sharing genealogy information with friends and extended family?

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Black History Month ~ Frederick Douglass in New Hampshire, 1842

2012-02-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

The historic Old Meeting House in Pittsfield,
now the town Senior Center

In the 1840s not all of New England espousedAbolitionist beliefs, or embraced the idea that the African slaves were theirbrothers. Most of New Hampshire did notfollow the liberal beliefs found in Salem or Boston. It was rural. Most residents had never seen a black person. Remember, at this time theonly president from New Hampshire was in office, and Franklin Pierce wasinfamous for signing the Fugitive Slave Act, and for being a copperhead.

In 1842 Frederick Douglass was sent by theMassachusetts Anti Slavery Society to speak at the church in tiny Pittsfield,New Hampshire. He was only 25 years old, recently freed from slavery. He had to ride on the roof of the stage coachbecause “no colored person could be allowed inside” as he stated in his autobiography. He was not met with open arms. The Hilles family, who was asked to board him,subscribed to the Liberator. They feltobliged to put him up but not to treat him well. Douglass wrote that Mr. Hilles suffered from“colorphobia”.

One year earlier in Northfield, New Hampshire apastor named George Storrs prayed at his pulpit for abolition. He was arrested on a complaint of disturbingthe peace! This made nationalheadlines. He was arrested a second timein Pittsfield by the authority of a writ signed by the Democratic USRepresentative who lived in town. TheReverend Storrs was sentenced to three months hard labor. Frederick Douglassknew he was facing a tough audience.

During Frederick Douglass’s lecture, the audiencewas polite, but did not applaud. During the lunch break no one invited himhome, and the only tavern in town asked him to leave. Douglass sat on a stone wall by the church inthe rain to wait until the evening session of his lecture. Finally, a gentleman passing by took pity andinvited him to his home. This was the USRepresentative Moses Norris, well known pro-slavery advocate who had signed thewrit for Reverend George Storrs arrest!

Frederick Douglas sat on the wall or on one
of the tombstones here at the Meeting House cemetery

At the Norris home, the children ran screaming fromthe house when they saw a black man enter the door. Mrs. Norris first acted cold, but then openedher heart when she saw Douglass was shivering and hungry. By the end of the meal, Douglass quoted “fromthat moment I could see that her prejudices were more than half gone, and thatI more than half welcome at the fireside of this Democratic Senator. I spoke again in the evening and at the closeof the meeting there was quite a contest between Mrs. Norris and Mrs. Hilles,as to which I should go home with.”

Hearts were turned in little Pittsfield, NewHampshire. His evening lecture was ahuge success and Douglass went on to become a famous speaker all over thenorth. Moses Norris went on to become aUS senator, succeeding Franklin Pierce. In this part of New England there arestill few black residents, and few black tourists. But Pittsfield has honored the stone wall, where a discouraged Frederick Douglas sat shivering, as part of their heritagetrail with this a marker:

Transcription of the historical marker atPittsfield, New Hampshire

1842 - FrederickDouglass' Visit
On one of these gravestones sat the black abolitionist Frederick Douglass in acold, drizzling rain after giving an anti-slavery speech in the Old MeetingHouse. Having been refused service at a nearby hotel, he was hungry and withoutshelter. Pro-slavery Senator Moses Norris, Jr., in an act of humanitariankindness, invited the disconsolate stranger into his house for the evening.Thereafter, Mr. Douglass was treated with great respect.

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From The Nation’s Problem by Frederick Douglass,1889

“There is still a greatdeal of prejudice, even in the North, against colored people; but he has foundout that the only way to cure it, is to treat them kindly. This he proved bythe fact that at Pittsfield, New Hampshire, forty-eight years before, Mrs.Norris had been helped, by doing him a kindness, to shake off her prejudiceagainst his color and his views so thoroughly as to be the first to shake handswith him after his lecture.”

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At Hampton, New Hampshire John Greenleaf Whittierwrote this tongue-in-cheek poem in honor of the election of 1846, as a codedletter from Franklin Pierce to Moses Norris. It mentions the anti-slavery Free Will Baptists of New Hampshire, andabolitionist John P. Hale, who was elected senator as a dissident Democrat.

“ ‘Tis over, Moses! All is lost!

I hear the bells-a-ringing;

Of Pharoah and his Red Sea host

I hear the Free Wills singing.

We’re routed, Moses, horse andfoot,

If there be truth in figures,

With Federal Whigs in hot pursuit,

And Hale and all the ‘niggers’…

The ides of June! Woe the day

When, turning all things over,

The traitor Hale shall make his hay

From Democratic clover!

Let Hale exult and Wilson scoff,

To see us southward scamper;

The slave, we know, are “better off

Than laborers in New Hampshire!”

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For more information:

TheLife and Times of Frederick Douglass, by FrederickDouglass, Kessinger Publishing, 2004, see pages 530 – 534 for the description of his days in Pittsfield, NewHampshire.

A post at SeacoastNH.com by historian J. DennisRobinson, his primary source was the PortsmouthBlack Heritage Trail Resource Book by Valerie Cunningham and Mark Sammons, http://seacoastnh.com/arts/please021001.html

ThePittsfield, New Hampshire Heritage Trail website, and this link takes you tothe page describing Douglass’s lecture at the Old Meeting House

http://www.pittsfield-nh.com/publicinfo/parkstrails/historical_walking_trail_2.htm

Themap and trail brochure can be printed out for visitors.

JacksonianAntislavery and the Politics of Freedom, by Jonathan H.Earle, University of North CarolinaPress, 2003, pages 98 -99 for Whittier’s poem about Norris and Storrs.

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RootsTech 2012 Tweets

2012-02-08T12:18:00.000-08:00

I was not at RootsTech 2012, which was a conference held in Salt Lake City last week for genealogists and also a trade show for genealogical technology. But I had a lot of fun following along through the magic of technology. The live streaming videos at www.rootstech.org were wonderful, especially when I had two windows open right along with the tweets and Facebook comments.

Leave me a comment with some of your favorite RootsTech tweets...

Here is a smattering of some tweets, just for fun!

@footnoteMavenfootnoteMaven

@moultriecreek so good so far! 4000people here who know how to operate their iPhones and iPads.#rootstech

@cballdredgeCindy

#genealogy Great presentation at#rootstech by Ron Tanner. He's my favorite kind of speaker - reallysmart/intelligent AND a little crazy!

@geneapleauChristine McCloud

First tweet. Dippingmy toes in, thanks to Thomas MacEntee's#rootstech presentation, seen via live stream. Hello!

@ACoffinACoffin

Jay Verkler lost hisglasses. Please return if found. @JayVerklersHairinconsolable. #rootstech

@geniausJill Ball

Excited to being goingto a real American home for a party with other @geneabloggers #rootstech

There were many tweets in other languages, too!

@Red_AntepasadosRed de Antepasados

La App que estabasesperando para iPhone y iPad bit.ly/zucyb3Indexing de FamilySearch#rootstech #genealogía

Tweeter Brand Nieman, who gave this website in his Twitter profile http://semanticommunity.info/, also provided an analysis of the RootsTech tweets at this link http://archivist.visitmix.com/9b21a536/2. This is a screen shot of that page...

(Click on the image to enlarge this chart)

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Weathervane Wednesday - A weathercock

2012-02-08T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm nearing the end of this series. There are only so many weather vanes in the Nutfield area (Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire). This is one of the last I will be posting in the next two months on Wednesdays.

As a challenge, I publish the locations at the bottom of the post so you can see the photo first. After you guess you can scroll down to the bottom to see the location.

Do you know the location of weather vane #29?

The rooster is a popular weathervane motif, and is so common that in England weathervanes are known as "weathercocks". This one is located in a very public and well known spot, and I'll bet that many Londonderry people have never noticed it at all. It is on top of the cupola above the BP gas station at the crossroads of Mammoth Road and Nashua Road (Route 102). This gas station is more commonly known as "Chuck's", and is the site of many fundraisers, community car washes and the annual Knights of Columbus Christmas Tree sale.

Click here to see the other weather vanes I have featured in this series.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Jane and Robert McMurphy

2012-02-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

This gravestone was photographed at Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire. There are a great number of colonial era double headstones like this one at Forest Hill, especially near "Settler's Row" where the early Scots Irish pioneers are buried.

In memory of In memory of
MRS JANE ROBERT
McMURPHY McMURPHY
wife of Robert ESQR
McMURPHY Who died
Esqr. who died Jan. 20, 1814
Dec. 31, 1764 Aged 91
aged 84 Years Years

This gravestone appears to have cracked, but was repaired with iron braces long ago.

closeup of the double urns carved above the epitaph

Robert McMurphy was the son of John McMurphy and Mary Cargill, immigrants from Northern Ireland. He was born on 30 January 1724/5 and married Jane Shirley on 10 March 1747/8. She was the daughter of John Shirley, born in Northern Ireland in 1688, died 1764 in Chester, New Hampshire.

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Millie, the Mill Girl of Manchester, New Hampshire

2012-02-06T04:00:00.000-08:00

Recently the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists,Merrimack Valley Chapter heard a great talk by Lorre Fritchy, the writer anddirector of a new movie called “Millies” about the millworkers in Lawrence, Massachusettsduring the 1912 Bread and Roses Strike. I was inspired to post a photo ofManchester, New Hampshire’s mill girl statue, “Millie”. It is located at the staircase on Commercial Street.

A nearby plaque reads:

“The Mill Girl

She stands here, for thousands of 19^th centuryworking women: Industrialrevolutionaries who broke with the past to earn their living making history andcreating the future. In 1880 one thirdof Manchester’s population, 3385 women, worked in the textile mills of theAmoskeag Manufacturing Company, situated below along the banks of the MerrimackRiver.

Sculptress: Antoinette Schultze

Funding for this public art project was made possible bygifts from:

Norwin S. and Elizabeth N. Bean Foundation and Samuel P.Hunt Foundation

Dedicated September 9, 1988

Presented by the city of Manchester Parks and RecreationCommission

and Manchester Art Commission”

I originally believed this to be a unique statuecommemorating women’s history and Manchester’s role in the American IndustrialRevolution. There are other statues of factory workers,including a group of female mill workers in Lowell, Massachusetts named “Homageto Women” http://sculpturesbymico.com/homagetowomen.htm. And then I discovered there were threesimilar statues, all named “Millie” in England:

1.) In 2000 the city of Bradford on Avon, England dedicateda statue named “Millie” for the new millennium, but it depicts a female millworker. It was created by Dr. JohnWillats, a local sculptor in Bradford on Avon. http://www.bradfordonavon.co.uk/WhatToDo/milliesculptureb.html

2. ) A stainless steel sculpture was dedicated in 2007 at ColneRailway Station in England, and nicknamed “Millie”. It has an information board telling about thelife of the typical mill workers. It wassculpted by Clare Biggar, an artist from Clitheroe. http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/1272643.the_statue_arriving_on_platform_is_our_mill_girl_millie/

3.) The Millie statue also in Belfast Northern Ireland tocommemorate the Millies or “Shawlies” who labored in the textile millsthere. It was created by sculptor RossWilson and unveiled in 2010. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/northern_ireland/8700695.stm

It appears that the Manchester, New Hampshire Millie wasfirst, followed by three British Millies. Do any of you know of any other Millie statues?

For more information:

Millies movie information . http://milliesmovie.com/

Lorre Fritchy’s video and film production company http://masterpeaceproductions.com/

Manchester Historic Association Millyard Museum http://www.manchesterhistoric.org/mill.htm

Massachusetts Society of Genealogists http://www.massog.org/

NOTE - The 2013 New England Regional Genealogical Conference will be held a few blocks away from "Millie," the textile mill girl statue, at the Radisson Hotel, on 17 -21 April 2013 in Manchester, New Hampshire. The theme will be "Woven in History - The fabric of New England".
http://nergc.org/

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Upcoming Genealogy Events

2012-02-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

There are some fantastic upcoming genealogy events in this part of New England. Don't miss them!

AfricanAmerican History and Genealogy Open House Day, Wednesday, February 8, 9AM – 9PM, at the New England HistoricGenealogical Society at 99 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts

NEHGS Online Genealogist David Allen Lambert will help you learn how totrace African American ancestors, author and historian Alex R. Goldfeld willpresent stories of Boston’s earliest African American community, and formerExecutive Director of the Springfield Museums and author Joseph Carvalho III willshare his revised edition of Black Families in Hampden County,Massachusetts 1650-1865, recently published by NEHGS. The lecture will befollowed by a book signing and reception. All participants will receive freeaccess to the NEHGS research library for the day, with ample time for research.
FREE; registration required. Please call 617-226-1226 to register

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They came from Canada, Thursday, February 16, National Archives, 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, 6PM. Dr. Andrew Holman, Bridgewater State University will be the guest speaker. FREE but please pre-register by emailing boston.archives@nara.gov

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Gravestone Art and Preservation, Saturday, 10 March, Taunton Old Colony Historical Society, 1PM FREE to the public by the Lydia Cobb - Quequechan Chapter of the DAR and the Old Colony Historical Society. The Gravestone Girls are three Massachusetts women who have made it their mission to "entertain and educate on the historical perspective of old cemeteries by documenting and preserving the beautiful art they contain". Refreshments to follow.

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A House on the Bay: Life on 17th Century New Hampshire's Coastal Frontier Sunday, February 12, Blaisdell Library, Nottingham, New Hampshire. 2PM. Illustrated talk by Neill DePaoli on the home of Thomas Wiggins, recently discovered by a team of archaeologists. Contact 679-8484 FREE

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A Visit with Abraham Lincoln, Tuesday, February 21, Merrimack Library, Merrimack, New Hampshire, 7PM. Hear a reading of the "Gettysburg" address by re-enactor Steve Wood as Abraham Lincoln, and then he will comment on his run for the presidency, and the Civil War. Contact 424-5084

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Finding Your New England YankeeAncestors, Thursday, February 23^rd, Worcester Public Library,9:30 – 11:30 AM, for more information contact Joy Hennig 508-799-1670 or jhennig@worcpublib.org

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GenealogyLecture Series, Saturday, March 3, 2012, Pollard MemorialLibrary, Lowell, Massachusetts, 10AM – 3PM,

Schedule: 10AM Michael Brophy: “Paddy on the Net” explore what’s new in Irishresearch online, 11:15 AM- Marian Pierre-Louis “Researching House History” howto research your own home using deeds, census records, probate and tax records,historical maps and other sources, 1PMWalter Hickey: “The 1940 census” Get a jump on the 2 April 2012 release of the1940 census from a speaker from the National Archives.

978-979-4121 or email sfougstedt@mvlc.org for moreinformation www.pollardml.org

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AmericanJourney, March 4, 2:30 – 4:30 PM, Watertown,Massachusetts Arsenal Center for the Arts

NEHGS is a proud sponsor of An American Journey, produced andperformed by the Revels Repertory Company. This original musical theaterproduction brings the story of American immigration to life in partnership withWatertown’s Arsenal Center for the Arts. The 90-minute production findsItalian, Irish, and Eastern European Jewish immigrants on a passenger shipbound for America circa 1907. Sharing their music and songs, their dances andtheir dreams, the diverse group of travelers become one, as they leave theirhardships behind and steam toward America, the land of hope and promise.
Rhonda McClure, NEHGS Senior Researcher and an expert on Americanimmigration, will give a pre-conference talk at 2:30 p.m. Learn more aboutfinding your family in records, which can bring you closer to understanding howthey lived and why they chose to immigrate.
Revels Repertory Co. is the touring ensemble of Revels, Inc., the nationalperforming arts company that presents the Christmas Revels in ten cities acrossthe U.S. The show is appropriate for adults and children ages six and up andincludes audience participation.
Tickets: $20 adults ($18 for NEHGS members), $12 students/children 12 andunder. Visit revels.org for tickets. NEHGS members may enter thediscount code NEHGS2012.

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New York Family History Day, Saturday, March 17^th, Tarrytown, NewYork
Sponsored by the New England Historic Genealogical Society and Ancestry.comat the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown, NY. Twelve classes offered to help you get started or to hone your researchskills. Full day registration $44, freeparking. Space is limited. Please pre register at www.FamilyHistoryDay.com

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New England Family History Conference,Saturday, March 24^th, Franklin,Massachusetts at the Franklin LDS Chapel 91 Jordan Road. An all day programwith 28 different classes. See the website to pre-register http://www.nefamilyhistory.com/

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Worcester Library Genealogicalconference, Friday April 27^th and April 28^th,Worcester Public Library, Saxe and Banx Rooms, for more information contact JoyHennig 508-799-1670 or jhennig@worcpublib.org

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Buxton of Salem, Massachusetts

2012-02-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

BUXTON

Anthony Buxton owned 30 acres near the Ipswich River
in what is now Danvers, Massachusetts*

Anthony Buxton was born in England about 1610, andcan be found in Salem, Massachusetts by around 1637 when he was given five acres. It is believed that he came to Massachusettswith his relative, William Vincent and William’s mother. Governor Roger Conant wrote that “AnthonyBucstone” was William’s kinsman. William Vincent/Vinson is my 9x GreatGrandfather who eventually settled in Gloucester, Massachusetts.

In 1644 Anthony Buxton was given 30 acres near theIpswich River, which was eventually willed to his son John Buxton.

Anthony’s brother Thomas Buxton was in Salem by1648. In the Town Records of Salem, I:59,221 Anthony had toadminister the estate of his brother Thomas, who died in 1654, and he wasdirected by the court to pay his children who lived in England, see the TownRecords of Salem, I: 59, 221 and I:357, 373.

Anthony Buxton appears in the town records as memberof grand juries and as witness against Quakers. He was tythingman in 1678, and member of various committees to mendroads and bridges. He appears in recordswitnessing wills and administering estates. In the vital records of 1662 helost two children in six days and in 1676 three more children.

Anthony died in 1684 and his will was proved on 29July 1684. His wife Elizabeth wasadministrix of the estate, and received his land and dwelling house. He left his daughter Elizabeth Cooke the part of the land herhusband Isaac had worked. The will namesall his living children. The finalinventory of his estate was 238 pounds. Seethe Probate Records of Essex County, 1:288, 390, II:422. Anthony Buxton’s will was witnessed by NathanielFelton (my 9x Great Grandfather), Robert Fuller and William Osborn (my 9x GreatGrand Uncle).

An Elizabeth Buxton signed a testimonial approvingof Rebecca Nurse’s character during the witch trials in 1692, and she wasprobably the widow of Anthony Buxton.

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My Buxton genealogy:

Generation 1: Anthony Buxton, born about 1610 in England and died 1684 in Salem,Massachusetts; married Elizabeth Unknown. Twelve children:

1.Lydia Buxton

2.Mary Buxton

3.Sarah Buxton

4.John Buxton, born about 1645

5.Anthony Buxton, born 6 September 1653, died May 1676

6. Samuel Buxton, born 14 August 1655, died 24Feb 1675

7.James, born 8 August 1659, died 15 October 1662

8.Thomas, born 24 February 1662, died 20 October 1662

9.Joseph, born 17 July 1663, married Hester Southwick

10.Hannah, born 27 January 1666; married David Foster

11.Rachel, born 27 January 1666, died 24 February 1675

12.Elizabeth (see below)

Generation2: Elizabeth Buxton, born about 1641; marriedon 3 May 1664 in Salem to Isaac Cook, son of Henry Cooke and Judith Birdsall.

Generation3. Elizabeth Cook m. Robert Wilson

Generation4. Isaac Wilson m. Mary Stone

Generation5. Robert Wilson m. Elizabeth Southwick

Generation6. Robert Wilson m. Sarah Felton

Generation7. Robert Wilson m. Mary Southwick

Generation8. Mercy F. Southwick m. Aaron Wilkinson

Generation9. Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation10. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation11. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Sources:

New England Historical and Genealogical Register. New England Historic Genealogical Society. Vol. 103, p. 223

NewEngland Marriages Prior to 1700. by Charles Almon Torrey, Genealogical Publishing Co.,Baltimore, 1990.

History of Salem by Sidney Perley, Volume I, pages 450 - 451

EssexProbate, 302:74-75

See also The Descendantsof Anthony Buxton by John Osborn Buxton, Salem, Mass: 1936, manuscriptat the New England Historic Genealogical Society Mss C 3070 and Volume II, The Buxton Family: Descendants of AnthonyBuxton and Elizabeth of Salem, Massachusetts Bay Colony, New England, 1637compiled by Beatrice F. Buxton, Madison, WI, 1985 (a revision of the genealogyby John O. Buxton).

*The photo above of the Ipswich River is from Wikimedia Commons, by Fletcher6, 2007-10-21, "The Ipswich River from Bradley Palmer State Park, Massachusetts"

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Follow Friday ~ “Always More Pilgrim Books”

2012-02-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

As editor of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society newsletter, "The Shallop" I recently received a notice that there was a transcript ofJeremy Dupertuis Bangs keynote lecture from the banquet of the 2011 TriennielMeeting of the General Society of Mayflower Desecendants held at Taunton,Massachusetts at the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society website www.sail1620.org. I believe that it is important we share this information, and the opportunity to read Dr. Bangs's lecture, with genealogists, historians and interested folks outside of the Mayflower Society.

Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs addresses the
General Society of Mayflower Descendants
12 September 2011 in Taunton, Massachusetts

I was fortunate tohave been at this banquet, and thoroughly enjoyed hearing Dr. Bangs speak. I had last heard him speak many years ago atthe New England Historic Genealogical Society. He is a world renowned expert on the Pilgrims, especially on their yearsin Leiden in the Netherlands. He alsospoke earlier in that same week on some research about the “Women of the Mayflower”project, along with genealogists Caleb Johnson and Simon Neale. https://sites.google.com/site/womenofthemayflower/home/announcing-a-presentation-of-new-research He is the author of the 2009 book Stranger and Pilgrims, Travelers and Sojourners: Leiden and the Foundations of Plymouth Plantation as well as other books and articles. He is the director of the Leiden American Pilgrim Museum in the Netherlands.

Please visit this page at the website http://www.sail1620.org/history/articles/226-always-more-pilgrim-books.htmlfor Dr. Bangs 2011 lecture “Always More Pilgrim Books”. I remember that at this lecture he had aslide show of all the books mentioned in his lecture, as well as a pile of someof them on his lecturn. He often had tomove the books about as he spoke, so he could reference his notes. In my opinion, no matter how many history and genealogy books havebeen written on the subject of the Pilgrims, there will always be room for moreon my bookshelf!

For more information:

Dr. Jeremy Dupertuis Bangs http://www.pointloma.edu/sites/default/files/filemanager/Wesleyan_Center/Jeremy_Bangs_CV.pdf

The Leiden American Pilgrim Museum http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~netlapm/Page01.htm

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants http://www.themayflowersociety.com/

The Pennyslvania Society of Mayflower Descendants http://www.sail1620.org/

The New Hampshire Society of Mayflower Descendants www.nhmayflower.org

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Who was Julius Palmer?

2012-02-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

image from the New York Public Library
http://digitalgallery.nypl.org
Image ID: 1806746

I found many mentions of a Captain Julius A. Palmerin the newspaper articles I saw at GenealogyBank.com when I was researchingQueen Liliuokalani’s trips to Boston, Massachusetts. It appeared that he was her personal secretary,and was also described as a “chamberlain” in several newspapers. When I saw that he was from Boston, Iwondered how hard it would be to research him and his genealogy? Was there a family connection to the Boston Dominisor Jones families? What would I findonline?

First, a simple Google search brought up a book hehad written in 1894, Memories of Hawaii and Hawaiian Correspondence, publishedby the Boston firm Lee & Shepard. This was good clue, since WilliamLee was the nephew to Mary (Jones) Dominis. Lee also published the Queen’s autobiography in 1898, and was mentionedseveral times in the same news paper articles about the Queen’s Boston visit in1897. This book was available to read online, and I saw that it describedPalmer’s visit to Hawaii immediately following the coup d’etat in 1893, but was several years before the 1897 Boston visit.

In her autobiography the Queen states “: “I have found CaptainPalmer to be well informed on all matters relating to Hawaii, whether in thoseearlier days when he visited the Islands under the monarch, or since 1893 underthe rule of the Provisional Government. Like many others I might mention, hewent there soon after the overthrow, and was petted and flattered by the partyin power. But all the time he was quietly investigating the situation forhimself. The result of his observations was a conclusion that the right of theHawaiian people to choose their own form of government should be affirmed, andthat they should be protected in this choice by the power of the United States,in which event he was fully assured that their queen would be overwhelminglyrestored to her constitutional rights.” [Hawaii’sStory by Hawaii’s Queen, by Liliuokalani,Honolulu, Hawaii: Mutual Publishing Company, 1990, pages 322 – 323. Also available to read online throughdigital.library.upenn.edu/women/Liliuokalani/Hawaii/Hawaii.html]

Atthe NEHGS website americanancestors.org I found this marriage:

BoxfordVital Records

Marriages

Page180

“PEABODY,Lucy Manning, and Julious Aboyno Palmer of Boston, Nov. ----, 1827”

Intentionalso recorded

AtFindAGrave I found Julius Auboyneau Palmer http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66968702and Lucy Manning Peabody http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=66970998 were buried in Boxford, Massachusets ata sketch complete with photos, biography and genealogy. Surprisingly, there was no mention of his tripto Hawaii nor his relationship with Queen Lili’uokalani.

Iwent back to the Google Book search with the names of his parents and foundthis on page 389 History of Boxford, Essex County, Massachusetts by SidneyPerley

“1869Julius Aboyneau Palmer (1803-1872) b. in Little Compton, RI, son of Thomas andSusanna (Palmer) Palmer.

Hon.Julius A. Palmer, son of Thomas and Susanna (Palmer) Palmer, was born in LittleCompton, RI, June 14, 1803. His parentswere both descendants of William Palmer- who came over in the ship “Fortune”and landed at Plymouth, Mass. In 1621, - though distantly related to eachother. He went to Boston in 1819, andwas, at the time of his death, the senior member of the firm of Palmer,Batchelder & Co, jewelers, in that city. He was an uncle of Rev. Charles R. Palmer of the Tabernacle Church, Salem;and he delivered the address at the dedication of the new Tabernacle chapel, in1870. He was an ardent temperance man,and was several times selected as the temperance candidate for mayor of Boston. He was a representative to the Legislaturefrom Boston in 1843 and 1851. Retiringto Boxford on account of his age and health, he was elected to the Senate fromEssex County in 1869. This was his lastpublic office. Mr. Palmer was connectedwith many charitable, religious, and reformatory organizations, where he exercisedmarked influence on account of his intelligence and high personalcharacter. He was an active member anddeacon of the Mount Vernon Church, Boston. Deacon Palmer, though living much of the time and doing business inBoston, was nevertheless closely connected with this town, where he held,occupied and improved a valuable estate, and where he gave encouragement to allgood local undertakings. He died inBoston on Thursday, Feb. 15, 1872, and was buried from the Mount Vernon Church,the following Saturday. Mr. Palmermarried Lucy Manning Peabody, daughter of Major Jacob Peabody, a descendant ofCapt. John Peabody, one of the early settlers, who resided in the old mansionthat was razed to the ground by Deacon Palmer.”

Nowthat I know the correct spelling of his whole name I was able to find muchinformation on Julius Palmer, even trees on Ancestry that appeared to have allthe correct birth and death information on the entire family when I checkedwith the Massachusetts vital records. Itwas obvious to me that there was no connection between the Palmer family and tomy Jones ancestors in Boston.

Iwas surprised to find Lucy Manning Peabody, the wife of Julius A. Palmer,already in my family tree. I knew I had Peabodycousins, but there is a closer relationship through her grandmother, LucyManning (1780 – 1813). Her great grandfatheris my 8x great grandfather, Thomas Giddings (1638 – 1681). But this was not a close enough relationshipto warrant some type of cousin relationship between Julius A. Palmer and theQueen. In my opinion, she found him tobe a true kindred spirit in wanting to resolve the annexation of Hawaii in herfavor. And since he was from Boston shealso must have had found something in common with him to strike up a goodfriendship.

Even though I didn't find a "cousin connection" I'm amazed at how much research I can do online. With a newspaper article from GenealogyBank.com in one window, I can open up a second window and quickly find genealogy information on people mentioned in that article. This is great since a lot of this information is vital records and other primary sources. It is also amazing how these Boston and Hawaii families have so many connections. There are several more people I'll be tracing since I found their names in the Queen's autobiography and in these newspaper articles. If you look back, it was from a name in Lili'uokalani's book that started this whole blog back in July 2009 with my very first post!

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Weathervane Wednesday - Yet another Running Horse...

2012-02-01T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm nearing the end of this series. There are only so many weathervanes in the Nutfield area (Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire). This is one of the last I will be posting in the next two months on Wednesdays.

As a challenge, I publish the locations at the bottom of the post so you can see the photo first. After you guess you can scroll down to the bottom to see the location.

Do you know the location of weather vane #28?

This running horse weathervane is located on a cupola on top of a house on Parmenter Road, north of Rt. 102, in Londonderry, New Hampshire. The running horse theme is the most popular weathervane in Londonderry, and I think I have posted at least a half dozen photos of them in this Weathervane Wednesday series.

Click here to see the other weather vanes I have featured in this series.
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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday - Two John Karrs

2012-01-31T04:00:00.000-08:00

These gravestones were photographed at Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire

JOHN KARR
DIED
July 11, 1846
Aged 71 yrs
- - -

According to FindAGrave.com there are five John Karr's buried at Forest Hill Cemetery, but in this section I found only these two stones. This stone was damaged when a tree fell on it during a storm on 4 July 2008, but has been repaired. You can see the original damage at this photo link at FindAGrave.com

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=23546054&PIpi=14553149

JOHN KARR
died Oct. 2, 1784
AEt. 52
MARY
relict of John Karr
died Feb. 2, 1834
AEt. 95
Agnes, Dau. of
John, Mary Karr,
died Aug 10, 1800
AET. 28
Agness, sister of
John Karr,
died Feb. 2, 1817
AEt. 92

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That little Notch on the Massachusetts Border?

2012-01-30T04:00:00.000-08:00

See that little Notch on the Massachusetts/Connecticut border?

You know the one I mean? When you look at the top and bottom (northernand southern) borders on the map of Massachusetts they are mostly straightlines. However, on the southern border thereis a strange little square sticking out that locals call “The Granby Notch” after the Connecticut town witha hole. On the Connecticut side theycall it the “Southwick Jog” after the Massachusetts town that eats into theirterritory. How did it get there? Why is it there?

It appears that my 9x Great Grandfather is to blamefor this strange border notch between Massachusetts and Connecticut. Nathaniel Woodward was born about 1590 inEngland, and he lived in Boston, Massachusetts. It appears that he was a mathematician and a surveyor. In 1638 he ran the boundary line between thePlymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and Connecticut. He surveyed land north of the Merrimack Riverand helped to establish the boundary between Charlestown and Lynn.

When I found a mention of Nathaniel Woodward in a2001 New York Times article, I never suspected to find a controversy, but thisnews story explained the puzzle. In 1642 Nathaniel Woodward and his companionSolomon Saffery were hired by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to find the southernborder that ran straight to the Pacific Ocean from three miles south of theCharles River. According to the New York Times:

“Normally, surveyors would simply begintacking westward, marking the state line as they went. But Woodward and Safferywere afraid of being slaughtered by Indian tribes in the untamed New Englandinterior (now known as metropolitan Springfield, Mass.), so the two insteadchose to sail around Cape Cod, down into Long Island Sound and up theConnecticut River, until they reached what they believed was the properlatitude.

In fact, they were about seven milestoo far south. So they fudged the mistake, added a large dip in Massachusetts'southern boundary that took in 108,000 acres of what had been Connecticut, andkept moving west. Down in Hartford, officials quickly learned of the maneuverand demanded a new survey. Massachusetts ignored them. Thus began decades ofNotch-related feuding…

Incredibly, 162 years passed before both statesfinally agreed on a compromise in 1804 that cemented the Notch's currentsmaller size and ended its role in the longest interstate boundary dispute inUnited States history.”

The Woodward Genealogy:

Generation 1: Nathaniel Woodward,born about 1590 in England, died 11 May 1685 probably in Boston, Massachusetts;married first to Unknown, second about 1638 to Margaret Jackson. Five children with first wife, three morewith Margaret. Nathaniel Woodward is my10 x Great Grandfather.

1. Nathaniel Woodward, born about1613, married 1.) Mary Jackson, 2.) Katherine Unknown

2. John Woodward, born about1615, married Sarah Crossman

3. Robert Woodward, born about1618, married Rachel Smith

4. Sarah Woodward, born about 1620

5. Ezekiel Woodward, born about 8 May 1624, diedJanuary 1699 in Wenham, Massachusetts; married 1) Anne Beamsley and had eightchildren, 2) Elizabeth Unknown, widow of John Solart, and had two morechildren, 3) Sarah Edward, widow of Nathaniel Piper. Ezekiel is my 9x GreatGrandfather. I descend from two of hisdaughters with Anne Beamsley (Margaret, born 24 February 1655 who marriedWilliam Andrews; and from Prudence, born 4 April 1660 who married BenjaminMarshall)

Source:

New York Times, “A Blunder in1642 Creates Headaches for Homeowners who Straddle a Border” by Paul Zielbauer,26 January 2001.

The “Southwick Jog” explained bythe Connecticut State Library http://www.cslib.org/jog.htm

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward,Mathematician,compiled by Percy Emmons Woodward, Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Press, 1940

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodwardwho came from England to Boston about 1630, by HaroldEdward Woodward, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984

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Surname Saturday ~ Cooke of Salem, Massachusetts

2012-01-28T04:00:00.000-08:00

COOKE

House of Seven Gables
Salem, Massachusetts

Henry Cooke lived in Plymouth for a short time, and settledat Salem, Massachusetts around 1638 as a butcher. He appears many times in the court records ofEssex County for various reasons like defamation, or not returning an axe to aneighbor, or for being fined for “abusing the watch” [see the Recordsand Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Volume 1, (1636 –1656), pages 115, 152, 183, 244, etc].

Henry Cooke’s estate was administered on 26 June 1662.

Salem Quarterly CourtRecords, Volume 4, page 100 “Upon furtherconsideration about ordering the estate of Henry Cooke, deceased, it wasordered July 7, 1662, that Isaack, the eldest son, have 24 pounds., and theother children, John, Henry, Judith, Rachell, Mary and Hanna, 12 pounds each,payable at age or time of marriage, and the widow was appointed administratrix”

The Cooke Genealogy:

Generation 1: HenryCooke, born 2 June 1615 in England, died 25 December 1661 in Salem,Massachusetts; married on 29 June 1639 in Salem to Judith Birdsall, daughter ofHenry Birdsall and Judith Kempe, born 2 June 1611 in Norwich, England, and died11 September 1689 in Salem. Ten childrenborn in Salem:

1. Isaac,(see below)

2. Samuel,born 30 July 1641; married Hope Parker

3. Judith,born 15 September 1643; married John Pudney/Putney

4. John,born 6 July 1647; married Mary Buxton

5. Martha,born 15 September 1649

6. Mary,born 15 September 1649; married Robert Moulton

7. Henry,born 30 December 1652; married Mary Hall

8.Elizabeth, born September 1654, died September 1654

9. Rachel,born 25 September 1654, married Elisha Kibbe

10, Hannah,born 9 September 1658; married Daniel Cannady

Generation2: Isaac Cook, born 3 April 1640, diedabout 1692; married on 3 May 1664 in Salem to Elizabeth Buxton, daughter ofAnthony Buxton and Elizabeth Unknown. Twelvechildren born in Salem:

1. Samuel, married Mary Small

2.Elizabeth, (see below)

3.Isaac, born 9 February 1666, died young?

4.Mary, born 12 November 1668; marriedWilliam Johnson

5. Abigail,born 12 July 1670

6. Hannah, born 15 October 1671; married William King

7.John, born 12 March 1674

8. Sarah,born about 1676; married Jonathan King

9. Rachel,born 20 Feb 1676

10.Ebenezer, born 24 December 1677

11.Samuel, born 1 October 1679; marriedElizabeth Wilson

12. Isaac, born 16April 1689

Generation3: Elizabeth Cook married Robert Wilson

Generation4: Isaac Wilson married Mary Stone

Generation5: Robert Wilson married Elizabeth Southwick

Generation6: Robert Wilson married Sarah Felton

Generation7: Robert Wilson married Mary Southwick

Generation8: Mercy F. Wilson married AaronWilkinson

Generation9: Robert Wilson Wilkinson married PhebeCross Munroe

Generation10: Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more Cooke information:

There are very few references to Henry Cooke of Salem inbooks or articles. What I have learnedhas been gleaned from primary source material such as vital records and courtrecords.

There is a good genealogical sketch of Henry Cooke and hisdescendants in The History of Salem, by Sidney Perley, Salem, Mass., 1926,Volume II, pages 43-45, with other references to Henry Cooke throughout allthree volumes.

An Emerson Benson Saga: The Ancestry of Charles F. Emerson and BessieBenson and the Struggle to Settle the United States Including 194 Allied Lines,by Edmund K. Swigart, Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1994, pages 167-8.

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Bucket List Genea Meme

2012-01-27T04:00:00.000-08:00

Jill Ball,at the Australian genealogy blogger at Geniaus www.Geniaus.blogspot.comhas started a new blogging meme ….

The Bucket List GeneaMeme

The list should beannotated in the following manner:
Things you would like todo or find: Bold Type
Things you haven’tdone or found and don’t care to: plain type
You are encouraged toadd extra comments after each item.

1. The genealogy conference I would most like toattend is- RootsTech 2013

2. The genealogy speaker I would most like to hearand see is – Skip Gates

3. The geneablogger I would most like to meet inperson is – Kathleen Brandt from http://a3genealogy.blogspot.com/

4. The genealogy writer I would most like to havedinner with is - Elizabeth Shown Mills

5. The genealogy lecture Iwould most like to present is- (gulp! Ihave to talk?)

6. I would like to go on a genealogy cruise thatvisits the Netherlands

7. The photo I would most like to find is - mygreat grandmother Isabella Bill

8. The repository in a foreign land I would mostlike to visit is British National Archives

9. The place of worship I would most like to visitis – St. Pieter’s Kirk, Leyden, Holland (I'm descended of Rev. John Robinson on both the maternal and paternal side of my family tree, and there are several ancestors buried there as well)

10. The cemetery I would most like to visit is-Westminster Memorial Park, California (my grandparents are buried there, and I've never been)

11. The ancestral town or village I would most liketo visit is -Leyden, Holland (where the Pilgrims lived before coming toMassachusetts)

12. The brick wall I most want to smash is - ElizabethLambert’s (1775 – 1834) ancestry (my 5x great grandmother).

13. The piece of software Imost want to buy - has not been invented yet, the perfect genealogy data basethat produces all the reports and charts I want…

14. The tech toy I want to purchase next is - aniPad

15. The expensive book I would most like to buy is -the Great Migration Series by Robert Charles Anderson - all the volumes!

16. The library I would most like to visit is - SaltLake City, Family History Library

17. The genealogy related book I would most like towrite is - the Descendants of Thomas Wilkinson

18. The genealogy blog Iwould most like to start would be about -(I don’t want to start another blog!)

19. The journal article I would most like to writewould be about - my Hawaii/Boston ancestral connections.

20. The ancestor I most want to meet in theafterlife is - Peter Hoogerzeil (1803- 1889) my 3x great grandfather who was astowaway to America in the 1820s (NOT a myth!).

I invite you to list your genealogy "Bucket List" items in the comments, or go to the Geniaus blog and add your list to Jill's comments. If you have your own blog, please join the meme and pass it on!

Bucket photo courtesy of the Mary Rose Trust [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

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Queen Liliuokalani in the Headlines, 1894

2012-01-26T04:00:00.000-08:00

Another genealogy blogger, Kim Von Aspern, author ofthe blog “Le Maison Duchamp” at http://lemaisonduchamp.blogspot.com/recentlywrote to me that she had seen an unusual news headline about “Queen Lila Kalei”in a South Carolina newspaper in 1894. Ihad seen similar accounts in many other newspapers, with varying degrees ofaccuracy about the incident concerning Queen Liliuokalani after she was forced from the throne of the Kingdom of Hawaii. I’llreprint them here, along with the Queen’s own words about that time in herlife, and a timeline about her monarchy and her losing the throne, with Hawaii’seventual annexation. You can draw yourown conclusions.

From Google Book Search

OurPaper, Volume 10, by the Massachusetts Reformatory,Concord, Mass. 20 October 1894, Page 667“Before the steamer Araw left Honolulu a rumor was in circulation that QueenLiliuokalani had gone crazy. The reportwas not credited, although for several days she had not left the house she wasoccupying”

The same article was also found in the Worcester Daily Spy, Worcester,Massachusetts, 15 October 1894, page 7, and also in the Patriot, Pennsylvania, 16 October 1894, page 8 “Queen Lil ReportedCrazy”, and many other newspapers on GenealogyBank.com.

Boston Journal,Boston, Massachusetts, 16 October 1894, page 5

“LiliuokalaniInsane

TheReport to that effect in Circulation in Honolulu

Victoria,BC, October 15, Before the steamer Arawa left Honolulu a rumor was in circulationthat Queen Liliuokalani had gone crazy. For several days she had not left the house she was occupying.

Washington,October 15- No information has been received in Washington confirmatory of thereport that Queen Liliuokalani has become insane. It is not believed. For some days after the receipt of theintelligence that the republic had been recognized, the queen remained in herroom, refusing to see anyone except intimate friends. More recent advices state that she sufferedsubsequently from slight illness, but the latest reports show her to haverecovered. She is living quietly at herresidence on the street in the rear of the national palace. It is believed that the new rulers of therepublic will make the deposed Queen a suitable provision as soon as shemanifests a disposition to cultivate good relations between herself andPresident Dole’s ministry.”

The same article was also found in the Boston Daily Advertiser, Boston,Massachusetts, 16 October 1894, page 5.

A different article from the Oregonian, 16 October 1894, page 2

“TheEx-Island Queen

Thereis no Disposition to treat Liliuokalani Harshly

Washington,October 15 – No information has been received in Washington confirmatory of thereport that Liliuokalani has become insane. In well-informed circles it is not believed. The fact is known here that the queen isgreatly chagrined at the action of this government in recognizing the newrepublic. Up to the very moment theofficial announcement of the recognition was received, she believed that itwould be denied, and that President Cleveland either would assist her to thethrone again or at least mediate in such a way between herself and therepublican leaders as would leave her virtually mistress of the situation. For some days after the receipt of theintelligence that the republic had been recognized the ex-queen remainedsecluded in her rooms, refusing to see anyone except her intimate friends. More recent advices state that she sufferedquite recently from slight illness, but the intent reports show her to haverecovered. She is living quietly at herresidence on the street immediately in the rear of the national palace. It is believed that the new rulers of therepublic will make the deposed queen a suitable provision, and this willprobably be done as soon s she manifests a disposition to cultivate goodrelations between herself and President Dole’s ministry. It is said that not only is there no dispositionto treat her harshly, but, on the contrary, to accord to her every properconsideration.”

Queen Liliuokalani, in her own words:

"I found to my horror, when the newspaperscame to Honolulu from the United States, that the President and the Americanpeople had been told that I was about to behead them all! There is an oldproverb which says that "a lie can travel around the world while the truthis putting on its boots." That offensive charge was repeated to my hurt asoften as possible; although I immediately send my protest that I had not usedthe words attributed to me by Mr. Willis in our informal conversation, and thatat my first official interview with him I had modified (so far as my influencewould go) the law of all countries regarding treason.” page248
And...

“Weary withwaiting, impatient under the wrongs they were suffering, preparations wereundoubtedly made amongst some in sympathy with the monarchy to overthrow theoligarachy. How and where these were carried on, I will not say. I have noright to disclose any secrets given in trust to me. To the time of which I nowwrite their actions had been peaceful, out of respect and obedience to theirqueen. If, goaded by their wrongs, I could no longer hold them in check withreason; if they were now, by one accord, determined to break away, andendeavor, by a bold stroke, to win back their nationality, why should Iprohibit the outburst of patriotism? I told them that if the mass of the nativepeople chose to rise, and try to throw off the yoke, I would say nothingagainst it, but I could not approve of mere rioting.
On Jan. 6,1895, came the beginning of a revolt. For three months prior to that date myphysician, Dr. Donald McLelan, had been in attendance on me, and, as I wassuffering very severely from nervous prostration, prescribed electricity. Fortwo years I had borne the long agony of suspense, a terrible strain, which atlast made great inroads on my strength.” pages 263 – 264

--------------------------

Timeline:

14 January 1893 Queen Liliuokalani announced shewould draft a new constitution to replace the “Bayonet Constitution” forced onher brother, the previous monarch of the Kingdom of Hawaii.

15 January 1893 Marines from the cruiser Bostoninvade Honolulu and the “Committee of Safety” forces Queen Liliuokalani fromthe throne by 17 January.

31 January 1893 President Benjamin Harrison attemptsto deny the Provisional Government from taking Hawaii, but the House and Senatedeny his bill. The new president, GroverCleveland sends James Blount to investigate.

18 December 1893 Blount’s report against thetakeover is submitted to Congress. Heagrees that Liliuokalaniis the constitutional ruler of Hawaii. Nothing happens. A counter revolution fails. Dole is now president of the Republic ofHawaii.

On 24 January 1895 Queen Liliuokalani signed herabdication. In October of that year shewas tried for treason and sentenced to confinement in her room at IolaniPalace. During her confinement she composedthe “Queen’s Prayer” and stitched the famous quilt on display today in theimprisonment room.

In 1896 she was freed but remained under duress ather nearby home, Washington Place.

12 August 1898 the US flag was raised in Honolulusignaling annexation. Liliuokalaniremained secluded at Washington Place. Later that year she traveled to the UnitedStates to petition the president, and to visit her husband’s family in Boston.

1916 marked the year of Prince Kuhio’s lawsuit to unsuccessfully declare Liliuokalani incompetent and takeover her Waikiki land that she willed to her Hawaiian Children's Trust.

Queen Liliuokalani died on 11 November 1917.

Queen Lili'uokalani with her grandchildren
photo taken about 1917

Obviously the stress of the overthrow did not prevent the Queen from taking the reins as the strongest supporter of her people's rights after annexation. She was an elegant and well spoken advocate for Hawaiians in Washington. After all this, her autobiography is still considered one of the best books describing this time period. She even remained a quiet force throughout Prince Kuhio's attempt to discredit her in her last years. Whatever she experienced in 1894, it was just a small setback that she overcame with true Queenly dignity.

-------------------------

Sources:

Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole v. Liliuokalani, SupremeCourt of Hawaii, 23 Haw. 457: 1916 http://www.angelfire.com/big09a/KuhioVLiliuokalani1916.html

Hawaii’sStory by Hawaii’s Queen, by Liliuokalani, Honolulu,Hawaii: Mutual Publishing Company, 1990.

A blog post I wrote about Yellow Journalism and Queen Lili'uokalani
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/world-newspaper-and-yellow-press.html

Another blog post I wrote about Queen Lili'uokalani and her Boston relatives, and their reaction to rumors in the press during her visit to Boston:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/amanuensis-monday-boston-press-reports.html

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Weathervane Wednesday - Is a Wind Sock a Weathervane?

2012-01-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm nearing the end of this weathervane series. There are only so many weathervanes in the Nutfield area (Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire). This is one of the last weathervanes I will be posting in the next two months on Wednesdays.

As a challenge, I publish the locations at the bottom of the post so you can see the photo first. After you guess you can scroll down to the bottom to see the location.

Do you know the location of weather vane #27?

A windsock is a type of weathervane used at airports. This one was photographed at the Manchester Airport, just on the Londonderry side of the border by the runway. Windsocks indicate wind direction, just like a weathervane, and also indicate the wind speed by the angle of the fabric cone. They are used at airports, yacht clubs, and even at chemical plants. Decorative windsocks are popular in Japan.

The first airfield was built in Manchester in 1927. In the 1930s a neighborhood kid, Alan Shepard, ran errands here! During World War II the airport was expanded as Grenier Field. In 1961 the art-deco style terminal was replaced with a "modern" building, that was replace again in 1992 with an even more modern terminal and runway expansion. In 2004 the small art-deco style terminal was moved across the runway and converted into the New Hampshire Aviation Museum.

Click here for a post about the New Hampshire Aviation Museum

Manchester Airport historical information http://www.flymanchester.com/about/history.php

Click here to see the other weather vanes I have featured in this series.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Two William Karrs

2012-01-24T04:00:00.000-08:00

These grave stones were photographed at the Forest Hill Cemetery in Derry, New Hampshire. They are side by side in a plot full of other Karrs, so I assume they are relatives.

HERE LYES THE BODY OF MR.
WILLIAM KARR HE DIED
MARCH 23d 1754 AGED 62

MY BODYS TURNED INTO DUST
THIS DUST SHALL YET ARISE
AT RESURRECTION OF THE JUST
TO SOUND JEHOVAH'S PRAISE

According to the Granite State Monthly, Volume 5, page 117 in an article labeled "Some Old New Hampshire Burial Places" by Anabel C. Andrews, there is a list of epitaphs at the burial ground in Thornton's Ferry, Litchfield, New Hampshire (right next door to Londonderry), and a very similar epitaph is found on the gravestone of a Mrs. Margaret White, in the same time period. If it wasn't winter, and if the ground wasn't covered with snow, I might have gone over to photograph this stone for comparison!

In memory of
WILLIAM KARR
Who died
Aug. 31, 1837
Aged 69
- o -
My father wills me in his arms
And willingly I go
With cheerfulness I bid farewell
To everything below.

The inscription on the second gravestone is from an old hymn:

Readiness for Death. C. M.

My Father calls me to his arms,

And willingly I go ;

With cheerfulness I bid farewell To everything below.

My tender parents, kind and dear,

I bid farewell to you

Though nature feels tis sad and hard

to speak the word "adieu".

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Genealogy Lectures at Lowell 3 March 2012

2012-01-23T14:48:00.000-08:00

Pollard Memorial Library
Lowell, Massachusetts
March 3, 2012
for info sfougstedt@mvlc.org
http://www.pollardml.org/

The JFK Birthplace, Brookline, Massachusetts

2012-01-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

The JFK birthplace is a National Park Service museum at 83 Beals Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. Since it is part of the National Park system, tours are completely free. It is self guided with an audio device narrated by his mother, Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy. The Kennedy House is a very modest house for today's standards, and is furnished closely to how it would appear in 1917 when the Kennedy family lived here, with many of the original furnishings and personal objects.

According to the narration by Rose, baby John was born in the bed closest to the window so the Doctor would have good light during the procedure. He was born about 3 PM on 29 May 1917, as the second son. The future president baptized in the little church down the street, St. Aidan's on 158 Pleasant Street (This building closed as a church in 1999, and is now mixed income housing). He lived in Brookline for the first ten years of his life.

This white bassinet held three senators and a president!

When the family lived here in this house, little John and his older brother Joseph, Jr. would sit in the child's table set up by the window during meals. One of the little silver cups is engraved with Joseph, Jr.'s monogram. The table is set with the family's original china and silver, donated to the museum.

The John F. Kennedy Birthplace website is http://www.nps.gov/jofi/index.htm The house is closed in the winter, and will reopen to the public for tours on May 20, 2012. It is located only 13 miles from the John F. Kennedy Library in Dorchester, Massachusetts http://www.jfklibrary.org/ where you can learn about the rest of the president's life, and use the archives.

This is a great trip for genealogists! The JFK library is located next to the Massachusetts State Archives in Dorchester, and is near the Vital Records. It is also not far from other Boston repositories of information, such as NEHGS, the Massachusetts Historical Society, The Boston Public Library and the North Eastern Regional NARA facility in Waltham, Massachusetts.

New England Historic Genealogical Society www.americanancestors.org

Massachusetts Historical Society www.masshist.org

The Boston Public Library www.bpl.org

North Eastern Regional National Archives http://www.archives.gov/northeast/boston/

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Buffum of Salem, Massachusetts

2012-01-21T04:00:00.000-08:00

BUFFUM

Robert Buffum was born about 1590 at Buffum,Yorkshire and was married twice in England before coming to Salem,Massachusetts. In October 1649 he was granted 40 acres inwhat is now known as “Buffum’s Corner” (near Boston and Essex Streets in Salem). The Buffums were early Quakers. His family was fined regularly for notattending the preferred meetings of worship (they skipped Puritan services), and so they show up in court records.

Robert Buffum’s will was witnessed by his Quakerfriends and neighbors who would not “swear on the book” and so the document wasrefused by the court. His wife Tamosinwas administrix of his estate. Theinventory was made on 15 November 1669 and this named his children.

“OnNov 25 1668, Mary Neale testified that when her father, Robert Buffum was sick,she tended to him until he died, and heard her mother, Tamosin asked her fatherseveral times to make a will: of which he seemed to take little notice till alittle before his death when he said that he would have his son Joshua have adouble portion, and for the rest of the children, he would make no differencebetwixt them, for, he said, that they are yours as well as mine. About the sametime other testimony was taken, Gertrude Pope, widow, testified that being atthe house of Robert Buffum, while he lay at his death bed, he would have me andElizabeth Kitchen take notice of what he has said, as to his estate, he wouldleave to his wife, for she had helped him to get it and the children were hers.Testimony of Elizabeth Kitchen to the same effect. Petition of john Wilson,William Beanes and Jeremiah Neale, children and heirs of Robert Buffum humbly showththat 'whereas our father Robert Buffum died intestate and an inventory of hisestate was brought in by relict Tomosin and she appointed administratrix, etc,who since that time has disposed of the same according to her fancy oraffection led her, or else keepeth the same still in her hands; we yourpetitioners, being children of the deceased, humbly conceive that as children,we ought to according to the law of God and this jurisdiction each of us tohave a share or portion which is our right, and therefore humbly do supplicatethis honored Court as fathers of this country to our causes into your pious andChristian consideration and be fathers to us in helping us to that we who arethe children may not be deprived of which we humbly conceive according to lawof God and this jurisdiction is ours. We subscribe yours in all service tocommand.” From One Hundred and Sixty Allied Familiesby John O. Austin, Salem Press, 1893.

Robert Buffum was buried in the Old Burying Groundin Peabody, but his remains were removed to Harmony Grove Cemetery near thewestern entrance. In 1991 the Buffum Family Association erecteda memorial stone which you can see at this link to his sketch at FindAGrave.comhttp://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=7885479

The Buffum genealogy, showing my lineagefrom Robert Buffum:

Generation1: Robert Buffum, born about 1590, sonof James Bougham and Margery Raylton, died before 2 December 1669 in Salem,Massachusetts; married first to Margaret Blessing on 23 August 1613 at St.Nicholas Church, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England (no surviving children);married second to Tamoson Ward on 11 August 1634 at the Church of St.Lawrence, South Walasham, Norfolk,England. She was the daughter of GeorgeWard and Dionis Burrow, born about 1606 and died 23 March 1688 in Salem,Massachusetts. She married first to JohnThompson on 29 November 1632 at the St. Nicolas Church, Great Yarmouth, and hadone child, Margaret, born about 1632.

Children byTamosen, born in Salem:

1. Joshua Buffum, born 22 February 1635, marriedDamaris Pope

2. Mary Buffum, born about 1637, marriedJeremiah Neal

3. Deborah Buffum, born 1639 (see below)

4. DamarisBuffum, born 30 January 1641

5. Robert Buffum, born 30 November 1643, diedJune 1645

6. LydiaBuffum, born 19 February 1644, died 1718

7. Sarah Buffum, born about 1648, marriedWilliam Bean

8. Caleb Buffum, born 29 July 1650, marriedHannah Pope, sister to Damaris above.

Generation2: Deborah Buffum, born 1639, died about 1668; married on 12August 1658 in Marblehead, Massachusetts to Robert Wilson, born about 1630 anddied on 18 September 1675 in Deerfield, Massachusetts at the Bloody BrookMassacre. Two children. You can read about the tragic story ofDeborah Buffum, persecuted for showing up naked to the Salem village Puritanmeeting and for being a professed Quaker, at this link:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/love-story-too-sad-for-valentines-day.html

Generation3: Robert Wilson married Elizabeth Cook

Generation4: Isaac Wilson married Mary Stone

Generation5: Robert Wilson married Elizabeth Southwick

Generation6: Robert Wilson married Sarah Felton

Generation7: Robert Wilson married Mary Southwick

Generation8: Mercy F. Wilson married Aaron Wilkinson

Generation9: Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation10: Albert Munroe Wilkinson marriedIsabella Lyons Bill

Generation11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson marriedBertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For moreinformation:

Buffum Family History, compiled by Owen A. Perkins, Fort Worth,TX, 1975 (two volumes)

BuffumFamily Association

2945Peppertree Drive

Lexington,KY 40513

859-219-8632

http://buffumfamilyassociation.com/ email buffumfamily@yahoo.com

Buffum FamilyMuseum

8335 BostonColden Road

Colden, NY114033

There is a sketch in Massachusetts and Maine Families in the Ancestry of Walter Goodwin Davis, by Walter Goodwin Davis, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co, 1996, Volume III, pages 405-8.

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Mysterious Mrs. Munroe Grout

2012-01-19T04:00:00.000-08:00

On Monday I posted some GenealogyBank.com news clippings I found about my Great Grandfather Albert Munroe Wilkinson (1860 - 1908). In one, a mysterious aunt named "Mrs. Munroe Grout" in the article, had given him a gift of seven silver table spoons for his wedding gift. The news story mentioned that there were "many costly and elegant gifts" but it made special mention of Mrs. Grout. As a clue to finding her identity, I noted that although my Great Grandfather was married in Salem, Massachusetts, this was written up in the Boston Herald newspaper.

Why would a Salem wedding be written up in the social pages of the Boston newspaper? At first I considered that Great Grandfather had married the daughter of a prominent music professor, which was also mentioned in the paper. Then I wondered if Mrs. Grout was herself a socially prominent Bostonian?

The next clue was the name Munroe. The spoons mentioned in the article were engraved with names of Munroe ancestors. Albert's mother was Phebe Cross Munroe (1830 - 1895) daughter of Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint, who resided in South Danvers, now Peabody, Massachusetts. When I looked through all the siblings of Phebe, none married a Grout. In fact, none of the Munroe's in my database had married a Grout. I was stumped.

So, I did what most people do when it is late at night and the local library is closed. I turned to the internet, and tried to find vital records for marriages and deaths with the Grout name. I also used Google, and found this interesting excerpt in Google Books from Genealogicaland Personal Memoirs relating to the families of Boston and EasternMassachusetts , by William RichardCutter, 1908, Volume 1, page 264, “OliveAdeline, born Salem, [daughter of Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint] January 18, 1836, died Charlestown,Massachusetts, November 29, 1905; married John H. Grout."

This stumped me again because I already had a marriage for Olivia Adeline Munroe in the 1851 Danvers Vital Records, listing her as marrying someone named Corydon B. Green, as a first marriage at age 16. Then I found this:

Mass VR, Volume88, page 171

Town ofBrookline, Mass. Marriages

April 22,1855, groom -John H. Grout, res. Beverly, teamster, b. Danvers, parents John and Sally, firstmarriage; bride - Ada Munroe, age 19, res.Beverly, b. Danvers, parents, Luther S. andOlive, first marriage

Well, Auntie Grout claimed both were first marriages. And they are both obviously Olivia Adeline Munroe, who was born in Salem on 18 January 1836 to parents Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint. There must be a good story here, but I haven't found the answer to this one yet. But back at GenealogyBank.com I did find some interesting news clippings...

BostonJournal

22 December1896

Page 10

MortuaryNotice

“Mrs.Grout’s Funeral

The funeralof Mrs. John H. Grout, Jr. was held at the Little Church Around the Corner onBullfinch Place yesterday at noon. Rev.C. Elliott conducted the exercises.

The casketin which reposed the remains was literally buried beneath a wealth of floraltributes from members of the family, newspaper men and intimate friends of thefamily. The pall bearers were E. S.Anderson, Dr. F. F. Roby, W. M. and J. F. Nickerson and Albert Wilkinson.

Theinterment was in the family lot at Danvers.”

The LittleChurch around the corner was “The Bullfinch Place Chapel” , a UnitarianUniversalist church in the West End of Boston. Thepapers for this now gone church are at the Harvard Divinity School Call numberbMS 2, Bullfinch Place Church Records 1826 – 1957. The Rev. Christopher Rhodes Elliot (1856 – 1945) was pastor from1894 – 1927 and his papers are also at the Harvard Divinity School, call numberbMS75.

At Ancestry.com:

1870 FederalCensus, Boston, MA, Ward 4,

Grout, John, H, age 38, stable keeper, b. Mass.

Addie M, age 32, keeping house, b.Mass.

Jr. John H, age 12, attendsschool, b. Mass.

Frank B., age 10, attends school, b. Mass.

And at the Massachusetts Vital Records available online at NEHGS

Mass VR Volume 1905/23 page 96

deaths

Olive A MGrout

Boston, 17Mouton St.

Nov. 29,1905, age 69 y 10m 11d

Maiden name-Munroe

Husband’sname John H. Grout

BirthplaceDanvers

Father-Luther S. Munroe

Father’sbirthplace- Danvers

Mother-Olive Flint

Mother’sbirthplace – Danvers

Occupationat home

BurialDanvers

Undertaker-John Bryant’s sons

Cause –Fibroid Tumor- at least a year

Contributory– exhaustion- 3 weeks

Signed –John Duff, MD

Back at GenealogyBank.com:

BostonJournal

June 29 1899

“Obituary

John H.Grout

At theresidence of his son, Frank B. Grout in Andover, John H. Grout of Boston diedyesterday. He was born in Danvers in1832. Early in life he was engaged in theexpress business, and later as a hotel manager in Boston. At the time of the great Boston fire he was amanager of the Winthrop House, and for the past 22 years of the Windsor Hotel.

For manyyears he was a familiar figure among the horsemen of this city, and nearlyevery day could be seen behind a good “goer” on the road. He had been the owner of many fasthorses. While a faithful attendant athorse races about Boston for more than a generation, he always made it a rulenever to bet.

Mr. Groutwas a cousin of Congressman Grout and ex- Governor Grout of Vermont, and his son,John H. Grout, Jr., is now United States Consul at Malta.”

which led to finding this at Google Books:

Who’s Who inNew England, by Albert Nelson Marquis, 1909

Page 437

“Grout, JohnHenry, consul, b. Beverly, Mass, 4 Dec. 1857, son of John H. and Olive Adeline(Munroe) G, descendant of Munroes of Lexington fame; ed. Pub. Schs., St.Johnsbury (Vt) Acad., Chauncy Hall Sch., Cambridge, Mass., and Boston LatinSch., m. 1^st Boston , Josephine Bussell (now deceased); m 2d,Ventnor, Isle of Wight, June 11, 1904, Kitty Emily Austin. Served in editorial dept., Boston Herald 11yrs, and later on other Boston papers; for a time in employ Mex. Central R. R.,and paymaster La. Lighterage and Jetty Co. in const’n of jetties at Tampico,Mex.; apptd. Am. Consul, Bermuda, Jan. 14, 1893, retired, Oct. 1893; apptd. Consulat Malta, Jan. 10, 1898; promoted to Odessa, Russia, Jan. 9, 1908. Mem. Mass. Militia 7 yrs. Mason (18 degrees).Home: Boston, Mass. Adress: AmericanConsulate, Odessa, Russia.

No wonder Auntie Munroe Grout could afford to give her nephew such a fine wedding gift! But there is still the lingering mystery of her first husband, Mr. Corydon B. Green... why is it that one mystery always leads to another in genealogy?

Click this link to read about the original Boston Herald news article from 1894 that mentioned Mrs. Munroe Grout: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/amanuensis-monday-great-finds-at.html

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Weathervane Wednesday - A Giant Grasshopper!

2012-01-18T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm nearing the end of this series. There are only so many weathervanes in the Nutfield area (Londonderry and Derry, New Hampshire). This is one of the last I will be posting in the next two months on Wednesdays.

As a challenge, I publish the locations at the bottom of the post so you can see the photo first. After you guess you can scroll down to the bottom to see the location.

Do you know the location of weather vane #26?

This giant grasshopper is located on a garage cupola on High Range Road in Londonderry. It is well set back from the road, only visible when the leaves are off the trees in the winter time. I photographed this last week. This grasshopper weather vane reminds me of the gilded grasshopper on top of Boston's Faneuil Hall building, which is one of the most famous weather vanes in the USA. It was created by Shem Drowne in 1742, and is four feet long and weighs eighty pounds!

Shem Drowne is one of my first cousins, 8 generations removed. His grandparents were Walter Abbott (about 1602 - 1667) and Katherine Clarke, my 8x Great Grandparents. He was a colonial coppersmith in Boston, and was the first documented American weathervane maker. He was the third son of Leonard Drowne, a ship builder in Kittery, Maine. His mother, Elizabeth Abbott (1652 - 1704) was sister to my 7x Great Grandmother, Mary Abbott who married William Caverly.

The weathervane atop Faneuil Hall in Boston, MA
A Wikimedia Commons photo by Sesmith

Click here to see the other weather vanes I have featured in this series.

---------------
Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

18 January 1893 ~ The Kingdom of Hawaii is overthrown

2012-01-17T07:19:00.000-08:00

On this day in history, 18 January 1893, the Kingdom of Hawaii was overthrown by the Committee of Safety, a group of American businessmen, and Queen Lili'uokalani was deposed. Although many nations condemned their actions, including the United States, the Republic of Hawaii was in control of the islands for many years, until annexed by the United States in 1898.

This image is from the book The Passing of Liliuokalani by William C. Hodges,
published by the Honolulu Star Bulletin, 1913, page 26

This photo was taken in 1897 when she was in Boston, Massachusetts to visit her husband's family on her way to Washington, DC to petition the president. Queen Lili'uokalani did not spend her years after the Kingdom of Hawaii in seclusion, but she continued to work tirelessly for her people to restore their rights.

The Queen's Imprisonment and her famous quilt

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/treasure-chest-thursday-imprisonment.html

The Boston Connection to the Kingdom of Hawaii

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/07/hawaii-boston-connection-to-royal.html

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Tombstone Tuesday ~ McDuffee

2012-01-17T04:00:00.000-08:00

This ledger stone is located at Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire. All the inscription is crowded in the top of this gravestone, and the rest of the stone is blank! It is a very large stone, with plenty of room for the rest of the family, but apparently they were buried elsewhere?

The path of the just is as the shining light
ERECTED IN MEMORY OF
DANIEL McDUFFEE
and Mrs. RUTH his wife
HE departed this Life Apr
the 2d 1767 In the 76th Year
of his age.
Likewise the departed wife
Novr ye 9 1778. In the 86th Year
of her age.

a detail of the carving

This style of gravestone
is called a ledger stone

Daniel McDuffee was born in County Antrim, Northern Ireland about 1692. He married Ruth Britton about 1717 in Northern Ireland, and had nine children. He was a blacksmith and locksmith in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and died on 2 April 1767. His parents, John and Martha McFee/McDuffee came to Northern Ireland from Argyleshire, Scotland.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Amanuensis Monday ~ Great finds at GenealogyBank.com

2012-01-16T04:00:00.000-08:00

Albert Munroe Wilkinson
born 7 November 1860, Danvers, Massachusetts
died 12 May 1908, Brookline, Massachusetts
I wonder if this is how he dressed up at weddings?
He's very dapper in his white tie!

I recently renewed my subscription to GenealogyBank.com and have been looking up ancestors in the Historical Newspapers collection. To my surprise there were several news articles about my great grandfather Albert Munroe Wilkinson I hadn't seen before.

Boston Herald, 3 June1892

page 5

"Munroe- Mansfield

Mr. William F.Munroe of Peabody and Miss Clara B. Mansfield of Salem were wedded in the FirstChurch at Salem last evening. The youngcouple stood beneath a handsome floral arch, and Rev. George C. Cresseyperformed the ceremony.

The Bride was given awayby her uncle, Mr. Hubbard Breed. MissAlice Hubbard Breed was the maid of honor, and Mr. Albert Wilkinson was thebest man.

There was a reception atthe home of the bride's uncle on Federal Street, and the couple left on a latetrain for a wedding trip. Returning,they will reside in Peabody."

In this news clipping Albert served as best man at his cousin's wedding. In the next, I found an announcement of his own engagement to my great grandmother... followed by a little article about their wedding reception.

BostonJournal

27 September1894

Page 4

“Personal

Theengagement of Miss Isabella Bill, daughter of Prof. C. R. Bill of Salem, andAlbert M. Wilkinson of Peabody is announced. The marriage will take place on October 18 next.”

BostonHerald

21 October1894

Page 27

“At thewedding of Mr. Albert Munroe Wilkinson and Miss Isabell Lyons Bill, daughter ofProf. Bill of Salem, which took place on Thursday evening last in that city,among the many costly and elegant gifts, was one that was simple, elegant anddecidedly unique. It was present by theaunt of the groom, Mrs. Munroe Grout of Boston. It consisted of a set of table spoons, seven in number, in a handsomecase, marked on the inside “Genealogical.” Following back from the name of the bridegroom, each spoon was engravedwith the name, date and place of birth of an ancestor in direct line to the olddays of Scotland, in the history of which the Wilkinson family claims a proudplace."

The "Genealogical Spoons" mentioned above are still in my family, and my uncle in California has them in his possession. We have often wondered where they came from, and who had them engraved. Now, because of this little article in the social pages of the Boston Herald we now the story. By the way, the spoons trace the Munroe family names back to William Munroe, who came to Massachusetts from Scotland as a prisoner of war in 1651, and was sold into servitude [they do not have the name WILKINSON]. Each of the seven spoons names a Munroe ancestor. I spent several hours on GenealogyBank and other websites trying to figure out who was this aunt "Mrs. Munroe Grout". It is an interesting story I will post on Thursday.

click here for Part 2:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/mysterious-mrs-munroe-grout.html

for more information about Genealogy Bank see the website

http://www.genealogybank.com/

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Surname Saturday - Wilson of Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts

2012-01-14T04:00:00.000-08:00

WILSON

Robert Wilson was born about 1630, and lived inSalem, Massachusetts. It is unknownwhere he came from before he arrived in New England, and it is unknown when hearrived. However, he left some veryinteresting, yet sad and sorrowful, records during his life.

His first wife was Deborah Buffum, daughter ofRobert Buffum and Tamosen Ward. In 1662,as the mother of two infant children she professed to being a Quaker, which wasdangerous in Puritan Salem, Massachusetts. Not only that, she went naked to the Puritan meetinghouse to protest the“spiritual nakedness”. She was sentencedto be tied to a cart and whipped until she came to her own house. Daniel Rumball, the constable “was loathe todo it, but was ordered to do his duty. RobertWilson (it may be presumed in collusion with Rumball, though neither was aQuaker) followed after, clapping his hat sometimes between the whip and hiswife’s back.” (from the book ThePeabody Story by John A. Wells, 1973, Essex Institute, Salem, MA, pages136 -7)

Although kindhearted Robert Wilson helped his wife,she died soon after in 1668. Robertremarried to Anna Trask, the widow of Joseph Perry Foster, in 1674. They hadone child together before he was called to join the Essex County militia withCaptain Thomas Lothrop to protect Deerfield, Massachusetts. Seventy men, along with Robert Wilson, werekilled at in a massacre at a brook near Deerfield on 18 September 1675. Only seven or eight men escaped thismassacre. The brook was renamed “BloodyBrook”.

From the Essex Quarterly Court Records, volume 6,leaf 19

Administrationupon the estate of Robert Wilson, intestate, was granted 28, 4m, 1681 unto Ann,the relict, who brought in an inventory amounting to about 150 pounds, andwhereas there is some legacy or something of an estate of Tamosen Buffum'swhich of right is to belong to Robert and Deborah, children of the deceased,the court ordered that Ann should pay out of this estate into the inventory, toRobert the eldest son 14 pounds, and to Deborah aforesaid, children by hisfirst wife, and to Anna, John, Mary and Elizabeth children by Ann, 7 poundseach, at age or marriage, the house and land to stand bound by security.

If you look at the genealogy below, youwill notice a lot of Robert Wilsons, and the Essex County records are full ofeven more Robert Wilsons. How did Imanage to figure out which Roberts belonged to what lines? Not without help! I was at the New EnglandHistoric Genealogical Society library one day, and when I had trouble finding abook on the shelves the librarian, David Dearborn, asked me which surname I wasresearching. When he heard I was lookingfor Salem, Massachusetts Wilsons he introduced me to a series of books writtenby researcher Ken Stevens of Walpole, New Hampshire. Ken Stevens wrote all his books about Wilsons from all over New England. I wrote to Mr. Stevens (it was before email)and he sent me all his research notes on the Salem Wilsons. He had not included these particular Wilsons in a book yet. Heconfirmed my line, too! The NEHGSlibrary has his papers on Wilson research in their manuscript collection. Kenneth C. Stevens passed away in 2010.

My Wilson lineage (note the five RobertWilsons and one Robert Wilson Wilkinson in the first eight generations!):

Generation 1: Robert Wilson, born about 1630, died on 18September 1675 in Deerfield, Massachusetts at the Bloody Brook Massacre; married first to Deborah Buffum,daughter of Robert Buffum and Tamosen Ward, on 12 August 1658 in Marblehead,Massachusetts. She was born about 1639and died about 1668 and had two children including Robert Wilson, Jr. (seebelow). He married second to Anna Trask,daughter of Henry Trask and Mary Southwick, widow of Joseph Perry Foster, andhad one child.

Generation 2: Robert Wilson, born about1662, and died before 17 January 1717; married about 1685 to Elizabeth Cook,daughter of Isaac Cook and Elizabeth Buxton. Four children. He is listed in his grandmother’s will(Tamosine Buffum, Essex County Probate #30139). He was the first Wilson to own property near the Wilson Square area ofwhat is now Peabody, Massachusetts.

Generation 3: Isaac Wilson, born about1691; married Mary Stone, daughter of Samuel Stone and Mary Treadwell, on 9January 1718 in Salem, Massachusetts. Six children. He was a carpenter.

Generation 4: Robert Wilson, born about1724, died before 10 July 1782 in Danvers, Massachusetts (now Peabody); marriedto Elizabeth Southwick, daughter of John Southwick and Mary Trask on 26 May1744 in Salem, Massachusetts. Four children. He was a prominent potter who lived where Route 114 now crosses Route128 in Peabody. The Wilson family burialground still exists there behind the Kappy’s Liquor Store. The Wilsons were known for black pottery thatcan be seen on exhibit at the Peabody Historical Society.

Generation 5: Robert Wilson born about1746 and died 4 June 1797 in Danvers (now Peabody); married on 23 March 1775 inDanvers to Sarah Felton, daughter of Malachi Felton and Abigail Jacobs. Nine children. He is buried at the Wilson burial ground, andSarah was buried in 1836, forty years later, across the street at the Feltonburial ground.

Generation 6: Robert Wilson, born 5 September1776 in Danvers, died on 9 November 1803 in Danvers; married on 8 May 1800 toMary Southwick, daughter of George Southwick and Sarah Platts. Two children. Robert and Mary Wilson are buriedat the Wilson burial ground.

Generation 7: Mercy F. Wilson, born 17June 1803 in Peabody, died on 9 October 1883 in Peabody; married on 23 June1829 in Danvers to Aaron Wilkinson, son of William Wilkinson and Mercy Nason,born in South Berwick, Maine on 22 February 1802, and died on 25 November 1879in Peabody, Massachusetts. Eleven children.

Generation 8: Robert Wilson Wilkinson m.Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m.Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha LouiseRoberts (my grandparents)

--------------------

This Wilson family has not been writtenup in any compiled genealogy or articles in any genealogical journals. Ken Stevens had notes on this lineage, buthad not finished his research on the other lines of the Salem/Danvers/PeabodyWilsons for a book or article. Most ofwhat I put together here was gleaned from vital records and probate. There is a bit of information on the Wilsonpotters to be found in books on the subject, such as this excerpt fromEarly New England Potters and Their Wares by Lura Woodside Watkins,Harvard University Press, 1950, pages 65-66.

"TheWilsons were a prominent family of artisans. Their homestead included the land near 141 Andover Street and eastwardwhere 128 now crosses it. The first twopotting Wilsons were sons of Robert, a farmer. They were Robert, known as Robert, Jr. who remained in Danvers, andJoseph, who went to Dedham and thence to Providence, Rhode Island. When Robert, Jr., died in 1782, he leftproperty worth 627 pounds, including six lots of land, his house, barn,potter's shop, and cornhouse, a riding chair, and a large personal estate. He seems to have done well in his trade. His son Robert, known as Robert 2d, and ayounger son Job were potters. By anorder of the court, Robert 3d, as administrator of his father's estate, wasobliged to sell a large part of the elder Robert's property to pay certaindebts. This was not done until April 9,1793, when two thirds of the land and buildings, and an interest in thebusiness was aquired by Isaac Wilson 3d. He, too, was a craftsman in clay. The three Wilsons ran the shop together for a time, but Robert 3d, andJob both passed away before 1800, while Robert's son Robert, who had worked buta short time as a potter, died three years later at the age oftwenty-seven. Upon Isaac's decease in1809, this early pottery must have come to an end."

For more information on Robert Wilson’swife, Deborah, and her “Naked Protest” see my blog post about this story atthis link:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/love-story-too-sad-for-valentines-day.html

Formore information on the Wilson Burial Ground in Peabody, see this link:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/buried-at-mall.html

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Deadline Approaching for the 2012 New Hampshire Mayflower Memorial Scholarship

2012-01-12T04:00:00.000-08:00

The 2012 New Hampshire Mayflower Society Memorial Scholarships are available to any college student (undergraduate or graduate) or high school senior. You don’t need to be a member of the Mayflower Society, but members and relatives of members will receive preference (defined as members, junior members, siblings, children, grandchildren, great grandchildren). Applicants with no affiliation to the NH Mayflower Society are also invited to apply.

This is one of the few Mayflower scholarships in the USA awarded to non-members. Applicants MUST be able to attend the award ceremony, in person, in May 2012, in New Hampshire. It is expected that at least two to four scholarships of $500 to $1000 will be awarded in May 2012.

Applications and instructions are available at the website http://www.nhmayflower.org/ and applications and all required paperwork are due strictly before February 15, 2012. They may be mailed to:

Heather Rojo
NH Mayflower Scholarship Committee Chair
71 Old Nashua Road, Apt. 45
Londonderry, NH 03053

Or you may email Heather Rojo at scholarship@nhmayflower.org for more information and further instructions. The New Hampshire Mayflower Society may also be found on Facebook.

The 2011 NH Mayflower Memorial Scholarship recipients

The requirement to attend the spring meeting of the NH Mayflower Society may be waived at the discretion of the NH Mayflower Governor due to such issues as travel distance, illness, or death in the family. Should the recipient receive a waiver from the Governor due to a hardship, a letter from the recipient to the Society must be submitted to be read at the meeting, as well as a photograph of the recipient for display. In such cases, parents or relatives may attend the award ceremony to accept the award on the recipient's behalf.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday - Another Eagle

2012-01-11T04:00:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting photographs of the many, many weather vanes in the Nutfield area (near Derry and Londonderry, New Hampshire). If you want a challenge, I'll post the locations at the bottom of the page so you can scroll down far enough to see the photo, but not the location, and try to guess where you may have seen these lovely weathervanes.

Do you know the location of weather vane #25?

This weather vane can be found on Smith Lane in Londonderry, New Hampshire, between Mammoth Road and Rockingham Road, behind the Mobil gas station. This is the only house on Smith Lane. Although eagles are usually found on large civic buildings and city halls, this one is on top of a tiny one story house!

Click here to see the other 24 weather vanes in this series

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday - Grizel Holmes

2012-01-10T04:00:00.000-08:00

These head and foot stones are located at Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire.

Memento Mori
ERECTED
In Memory of
Mrs. GRIZEL HOLMES
wife of
Eldr. JOHN HOLMES
who departed this life
Febr. ye 25th 1788
Aged 78 years

Retire my friends dry up your tears
I shall arise when Christ appears

Mrs. Grizel
Holmes

Grizel Givean was the wife of Elder John Holmes of Londonderry, New Hampshire. She was born about 1712 in Northern Ireland. John Holmes was born in Aghadowey, Londonderry, Northern Ireland about 1709 and he died on 7 December 1777. He signed the Association Test in Londonderry, New Hampshire in 1776. This was written by the New Hampshire Committee of Safety, and required that all adult males take up arms against the British, and to collect the names of those who refused to sign.

On page 277 of Rev. E. L. Parker's History of Londonderry, 1851 (in the genealogy section of the book there is a chapter on Abraham Holmes, father of John Holmes).

"His son, John, who was ten years old when he came to this county, was also an elder in the same church, during the long ministry of the Rev. Mr. Davidson. He settled on the farm now owned and occupied by William M. Holmes, in Londonderry. He married Grizel Givean. They had nine children, three sons and six daughters; namely, Sarah, Margaret, Abraham, Eleanor, Robert, Mary, Thomas, Mary Ann, and Martha..."

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

American Canadian Genealogical Society ~…and why you shouldn’t jump to conclusions…

2012-01-09T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is the tale of another "new to me" library...

American Canadian Genealogical Society
Manchester, New Hampshire

I've lived in Londonderry, New Hampshire for 28years. My town borders Manchester, NewHampshire, which is a much larger city. For years I have known about the American Canadian Genealogical Societyon Elm Street. Out of curiosity, I oftenask about the library, but I’ve always been told that it was for “FrenchCanadians”. So I never visited. Not even once.

And so for all this time I travel all the way toBoston to use the library at the New England Historic Genealogical Society, andpay $30 to park downtown. Or I travel upto Concord, New Hampshire (not too far, maybe 20 minutes further thanManchester) to use the New Hampshire Historical Society Library or the NewHampshire State Library. All are goodgenealogical libraries, with differing collections and specializations.

Finally, I saw genealogy blogger, Lucie Consentino,post on Facebook that she was going to visit the ACGS library, and she asked “Anyoneelse I know going?” I wrote back that I’dlike to join her. Lucie is the author ofthree blogs, all specializing in Acadian genealogy. Then, genealogy blogger Cynthia Shenetteasked to join us, and I was beginning to think about passing on the visitbecause Cynthia also has French Canadian ancestry. Was this going to be a bust? Well, maybe I’d join them for an hour just tosee the library. After all, it was only$5 for a day pass.

Well, to make a long story short, I went to ACGS toresearch a Mayflower line. And I wasthere from before 10 AM until 4PM, and I have to go back because I have a listof books I haven’t finished looking at , and another shelf full of stuff (I saw on the way out the door) toperuse. I was amazed at what I found,and humbly admit that from now I will not pre-judge any repository ofgenealogical information. Nor anywebsite. You never know what you willfind.

As well as being a well stocked library (you can seetheir card catalog online), it is also a society which means that as well as Lucie,I now know half a dozen members and they have all given me good information,hints, clues and ideas for my family research. Eight of us went to lunch together, which mean more schmoozing,genealogy chat and laughter. We had agood time, and that is worth its weight in gold.

By the way, both Cynthia and I joined ACGS asmembers. It is a small fee, as far asgenealogy societies charge, and I have well made up for it without payingdowntown Boston parking fees. Parking atACGS is FREE!

Cynthia stated on Facebook “had a great day at the American-Canadian Genealogical Societyin Manchester, NH with Lucie LeBlanc Consentino and Heather Wilkinson Rojo. I found records for my grandfather and my great grandfather, as well as my great grandfather's four wives and for some of his 25 children! Sixty four records in all! Wow!"

My new Facebook friend,lunch companion and ACGS president of ACGS, Gerry Savard stated “I enjoyedmeeting everyone. I’m glad it was aproductive day. Societies offer one onone guidance that is hard to get hanging over a keyboard. Also, since we encourage conversation in thelibrary, many connections have been made by individuals hearing someone talkingabout a common ancestor. It’s a greatplace for sharing, socializing and researching.”

Comparison chart:

Library Day Fee Membership/ 1 year

New England Hist. Gen $15 $79.95

American Canadian Gen. Soc $5 $35

NH Historical Society $7 $40

NH State Library FREE FREE

Portsmouth Athenaeum FREE $225

UNH Dimond Library- Special Collections FREE FREE

Manchester Historic Association $8 $30

Center for Lowell History- ULowell FREE FREE

Don’t forget your own local library! (and don't forget that each archive/library/society has its own special collections, its own strengths on the shelves and on line)

For more information:

AmericanCanadian Genealogical Society

4Elm Street, Manchester, New Hampshire (603) 622-1554

websitehttp://acgs.org/

Facebookpage https://www.facebook.com/ACGS.Society

map of Manchester with a star on ACGS
from Mapquest.com

LucieLeBlanc Consentino’s websites:

Lucie’sLegacy http://lucieslegacy.blogspot.com/

AdacianAncestral Home http://acadian-ancestral-home.blogspot.com/

WhispersThrough the Willows http://whispersthroughthewillows.blogspot.com/

Acadian& French-Canadian Genealogy and History Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/224797574204625/

CynthiaShenette’s blog:

HeritageZen http://heritagezen.blogspot.com/

-----------------------

Surname Saturday - Worcester

2012-01-07T04:00:00.000-08:00

WORCESTER

William Worcester's signature
in the 1635 Olney Parish Register

The Reverend William Worcester attended St. John’sCollege at Cambridge University in England in 1620. He was ordained as a deacon on 21 December1622 at Peterborough Cathedral, and was vicar of Olney from 1624 to 1636 until he was suspended for refusing to read an edict from the King which allowedsports and games on the Sabbath. His beliefs had begun to mirror the Puritans. He cameto America after this and was settled as the pastor of the first church gathered at Salisbury,Massachusetts about 1638.

The place in Salisbury's Colonial Burial Ground, believed to be his burial spot, was marked with a bronze tablet which reads “Herelies buried the body of Rev. William Worcester, the first minister ofSalisbury, who came from England about 1639 and died 1662. This stone was laidon his grave to prevent disinterment by wolves. This tablet is affixed by hisdescendants, 1913."

As I mentioned in my sketch of Reverend Joseph Hull http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/surname-saturday-hull.html, it is a blessing to have a minister as an ancestor because they left so many interesting records.

The Worcester Genealogy:

Generation 1: William Worcester, probably the son of Joseph Worcester of Rugby,Warwickshire, England, married first Sarah Unknown. She died in Salisbury, Massachusetts 23 April1650, married second on 23 July 1650, Rebecca Swaine, who died in Ipswich,Massachusetts on 21 February 1695. Shehad been previously married first to Henry Bylie, second to John Hall. Her fourth husband was Samuel Symonds. Thirteen children:

1.Mary, buried about 1630 in Olney

2.Patience, buried 19 November 1630

3.Samuel, born in England, died 1681 Lynn, Massachusetts, married ElizabethParrott

4.Susannah (see below)

5.John, baptized at Olney on 26 March 1636 and buried at Olney on 26 March 1637

6.William, baptized at Olney 15 January 1638, died at Boston 1683; marriedConstant Unknown

7.Sarah, died at Salisbury 1 April 1641

8.Sarah, born at Salisbury 4 April 1641

9.Timothy, born at Salisbury, 14 May 1642, died 1672, married Susannah Unknown

10.Moses, born at Salisbury 10 November 1643; married first Elizabeth Stuart, secondSarah Remick Soper

11.Sarah, born at Salisbury 22 April 1646, died 9 January 1649/50

12.Elizabeth, born at Salisbury 9 April 1648, died 1649

13.Elizabeth, born at Salisbury 9 November 1649, died before 1662

Generation 2: Susannah Worcester, baptized at Olney on 5May 1634; married on 4 October 1653 to Thomas Stacy. He was born about 1620 in England and died 23July 1690 in Ipswich. Five children:

Generation 3: William Stacy married Mehitable Weymouth

Generation 4: Mary Stacy married John Thompson

Generation 5: Mary Thompson married Richard Nason

Generation 6: Mercy Nason married William Wilkinson

Generation 7: Aaron Wilkinson married Mercy F.Wilson

Generation 8: Robert Wilson Wilkinson married PhebeCross Munroe

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson marriedIsabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

William Worcester’s will was proved in the Norfolk countycourt, Massachusetts. A copy made fromthe original is on file in the probate office at Salem, and can be read in TheEssex Antiquarian, Volume XI, #2, pages 60 -61. There is a book The Worcester Family in America byJohn P. Worcester, 2005, available to view online at familysearch.org. An article in The American Genealogist Volume 71, pages 50- 51 discusses hispossible English origins.

There is also a good website http://www.worcesterfamily.com/first.htm

----------------------

Swamp Yankees

2012-01-05T04:00:00.000-08:00

I'm from a family of Swamp Yankees, and I have proof.

If you're wondering what the heck I'm referring to, you must not be a New Englander. Here, a Swamp Yankee is the equivalent of a Southern Redneck, or as close to it as I can imagine. While looking for an "official definition" I turned to Wikipedia, and found this: "The term "Yankee" connotes urbane industriousness, while the term "Swamp Yankee" signifies a more countrified, stubborn, independent and less refined subtype." That definition seems to be a bit of a euphemism. Everyone knows that Swamp Yankees are not of Mayflower ancestry nor of good Puritan stock, but descended of the less desirable immigrants who left England, and retreated to the swamps of New England to live as they pleased, unencumbered by society in general. The term "Yankee" seems to be positive, while "Swamp Yankee" is definitely a more pejorative term.

My proof is the Wilkinson Swamp in Effingham, New Hampshire. There is even a Wilkinson Brook and a Wilkinson Swamp Road in Effingham. Descendants of Thomas Wilkinson of Portsmouth lived there, and still live in the area. We even summered at Lake Balch without even knowing we had cousins nearby. It was in carefully reconstructing the family tree, with local vital records, that I recently found this branch of the family. This is an interesting part of New Hampshire, where Route 153 winds into Maine, and then back into New Hampshire, and back in to Maine. Lake Balch straddles both states. In 2000 Effingham had a total population of 1,200 people.

Carroll County, New Hampshire
Effingham is located on the Maine border

In my book, the Swamp Yankees are salt of earth types. They may seem laconic, but are willing to share and befriend anyone, regardless of status or origin. They may not be the wealthy branch of the family, but they are the most interesting! No pretentions here. They'll pull up a rocking chair on the front porch and watch the out of staters bid on junk from the barn, and make a profit off of it. You've seen them, with the bathtubs being recycled as watering troughs for the cow in the pasture, and every car they've ever owned parked in the dooryard just in case scrap parts are needed in the future...

My Dad would have loved to have met this branch of the family. During summer vacations he used to scour the area around Lake Balch for junk yards, antiques and oddities. We even ate breakfast regularly in a hardware store, which was of endless fascination to me as a little girl. It was fun to eat pancakes and look around at bait, tools and toilet plungers. (Mom wasn't so sure it was fun.) Every week we visited an old barn in Parsonsfield, Maine that was stuffed with things for sale such as musty books, stuffed moose heads and strange farm implements. My Dad would spend the afternoon wrangling the price down on something odd to bring home. Maybe the guy who owned the barn was a distant cousin?

The Little Red Convertible in 2008, near Lake Balch,
at the old barn full of "antiques" in Parsonsfield, Maine

Through the power of Google I found the following excerpt about a Wilkinson who lived in Effingham. It is amazing to me how this one little scrap of a story brought the family alive in my imagination:

"The following pages tell of good neighbors and bad, community pillars and local characters, well-to-do folks, and those not so, hard work and memorable fun times; all of these are seen through the eyes of a city boy [Allen Crabtree] transplanted with his family to the wilds of a small New Hampshire town....

There used to be a fella by the name of Henry Wilkinson. Henry had a Model T Ford truck chassis that he'd built a house on. He used to come up over to Clough City and stay in the yard where Charles Edwards lived, spend his summers fishing, and go trapping in the fall. They used the house, but they had their motor home there. Henry was 75 years old and had worked in the Haverhill hospital tool shop. He was born on the Wilkinson Road, and he taught me how to set traps for mink and also showed me how to catch trout in Wilkinson Brook. You could see trout 8, 10, 12 inches long laying in the pools there, and you couldn't get them to bite, but Henry showed me how to fish those holes and catch those fish.

My brother John and I used to walk out there three, four nights a Week to play cards with him and Mrs. Green. Sometimes it'd be ten o'clock before we'd leave, and we used to walk back home. When we came by that big rock where the headless man is supposed to be on moonlit nights, we used to kind of shy through there. We never happened to see that guy, and haven't seen him yet, but we were sure he was there somewhere just waiting to jump us!"

The William Henry Wilkinson from the story was born on 3 January 1850 in Effingham, and died 12 January 1934 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He is my second cousin 4 generations removed. William was the son of Rufus Wilkinson and Catherine Bunker, who had 10 children and at least eight were born in Effingham. Rufus Wilkinson was the grandson of James Wilkinson (about 1730 - about 1800) and Hannah Mead (1730 - 1759), my 5x Great Grandparents.

William Henry Wilkinson was married three times, in 1870 to Emma Hayden, in 1888 to Estelle V. Saunders, and last in 1922 to Alice F. Tilton. William had three children with Estelle, all born in New Hampshire or Maine. He was a machinist at the Haverhill Water Works and is buried at the Linwood Cemetery. I previously blogged about a news clipping of William Henry Wilkinson, describing how he owned the first automobile in Haverhill. This Stanley Steamer as probably also the first car to have an accident in Haverhill, too! You can read about it at this link:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/06/amanuensis-monday-first-automobile-in.html

---------------

"Uncle Charlie's Tapeworm and other Effingham Yarns" as told by Allen F. Crabtree, Jr. to Allen F. Crabtree III, http://www.crabcoll.com/journal/charlie.html accessed on March 18, 2004

Wilkipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp_Yankee

Click here to see the descendants of Thomas Wilkinson, or see the link at the top of the page

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Weathervane Wednesday - Prancing Horse

2012-01-04T04:00:00.000-08:00

Do you know the location of weather vane #24?

This prancing horse can be seen on Litchfield Road in Londonderry, New Hampshire. The horse theme is the most common type of weather vane in Londonderry. It can be found in all sorts of forms- running, standing, and pulling all sorts of wagons.

Click here to see the other 23 weather vanes in this series

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Upcoming events at NEHGS

2012-01-03T07:26:00.000-08:00

The New England Historic Genealogical Society in Boston, Massachusetts is ringing in the new year with some fantastic education programs for the months of January and February!

January 2012 New Visitor and Welcome Tour

When: January 4, 2012 10:00AM - 11:00AM

Where: NEHGS

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116

Description: Starting your family genealogy can seem a little daunting at first. There is so much information found in a variety of locations. Let NEHGS help you make sense of it all by attending this FREE lecture for both members and non-members. This talk introduces you to the NEHGS research library, located at 99-101 Newbury Street in Boston.

Founded in 1845, NEHGS is the country’s oldest and largest non-profit genealogy library and archive. With more than 15 million artifacts, books, manuscripts, microfilms, journals, photographs, records, and other items, NEHGS can provide researchers of every level some of the most important sources of information.

You will also have an opportunity to describe your research interests to one of our expert genealogists on staff, who can offer some advice on how to proceed. The program starts with a thirty-minute introductory lecture and will be followed by a tour of the library and its vast holdings. Make plans to start your genealogy with this great tour.

Using AmericanAncestors.org - January

When: January 11, 2012 10:00AM - 11:00AM

Where: NEHGS

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116

Description: The NEHGS website, AmericanAncestors.org, is full of great features, tools, resources, and content that highlights NEHGS’ national expertise in genealogy and family history. We now have more than 200 million searchable names covering New England, New York, and other areas of family research dating back to 1620. We invite you to attend this free lecture to learn more about this incredible online resource.

February 2012 New Visitor Welcome Tour

When: February 4, 2012 10:00AM - 11:00AM

Where: NEHGS

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116

Description: Starting your family genealogy can seem a little daunting. There is so much information to be found in a variety of locations. Let NEHGS help you make sense of it all by attending this FREE lecture for members and non-members. This orientation and tour introduces you to the NEHGS research facility, located at 99-101 Newbury Street in Boston.

Founded in 1845, NEHGS is the country’s oldest and largest non-profit genealogy library and archive. With more than 15 million artifacts, books, manuscripts, microfilms, journals, photographs, records, and expert staff to help you navigate it all, NEHGS provides the access you need to research your family history.

You will also have an opportunity to describe your research interests to one of our expert genealogists on staff, who can offer advice on how to proceed. The program starts with a thirty-minute introductory lecture and will be followed by a tour of the library and its vast holdings.

Black Families in Hampden County - Lecture and Book Signing

When: February 8, 2012 6:00PM - 7:00PM

Where: NEHGS

99-101 Newbury Street

Boston, MA 02116

Description: Join us for an evening with former Executive Director of the Springfield Museums and author Joseph Carvalho III, as he shares his revised edition of Black Families in Hampden County, Massachusetts 1650-1865, recently published by NEHGS. The book presents genealogical, biographical, and historical information about African American individuals and families who lived in the area now known as Hampden County in western Massachusetts. For this event Carvalho will discuss the genesis of the book project and the development of the African American community in western Massachusetts from its earliest colonial origins to the end of the Civil War. The lecture will be followed by a book signing.

Getting Started in Genealogy

When: Wednesdays, February 15, 22, 29 6 –8 p.m.

Description: How does one go about getting started in genealogy? There are plenty of websites, libraries, and printed sources available, but access to all that information can leave a beginner feeling overwhelmed. Let an NEHGS expert help navigate the first steps in tracing family history. Senior Researcher Rhonda R. McClure will share her knowledge and helpful strategies for beginning a family history journey in this three-part course. Pass this information on to that friend or family member who has been looking for the right place to start their own research! Tuition: $30. Registration required; register online or by phone at 617-226-1226. More information is available on AmericanAncestors.org.

Tombstone Tuesday - Gregg Family

2012-01-03T04:00:00.000-08:00

These gravestones were found at Forest Hill Cemetery, East Derry, New Hampshire. Two of the stones are newer than most of the stones around them, but they are in terrible condition. Both are broken, and the stone of Mrs. Martha Gregg is missing the top. The other stones are in good condition.

HON.
DAVID A. GREGG
DIED
May 16, 1866
AEt. 78 yrs
--------
Faith, Hope and Charity
Loved to the Better Land
When the Spirit, whispers
"All is well."

[missing]
Wife of
DAVID A. GREGG
Born at Northfield, NH
Died at Exeter, NH
Feb. 9, 1843
AEt. 45 yrs

SACRED
To the memory of
LYDIA SULLIVAN
wife of
DAVID A. GREGG,
Born at Exeter, NH
Oct. 4, 1806
Died in this Town
June 2, 1849
AEt 42 yrs & 8 Mos.

CHARLOTTE E.
dau. of
D.A. and C. B. Gregg
died
Feb. 16 1859
Aged 4 yrs

Affectionately
to the memory of
GEORGE SULLIVAN
EDWARD IRVING
Twin children of
DAVID A. AND LYDIA S.
GREGG
who died the 28th and 19th
of September 1854

David A. Gregg had three wives, Martha Hunt Allen, Charlotte Butler and Lydia Sullivan. From the death date, the broken wife's stone must be Martha Hunt (Allen) Gregg. The twin boys were six years old and died within 9 days of each other.

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

The Long History of New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Presidential Primary

2012-01-02T04:00:00.000-08:00

We have a secret ballot in the United States. But wouldn’t it be fun to know how yourancestors voted? In today’s post I’m just rambling on about history, nothing inparticular about genealogy today…

A NH "expert". We're all experts every four years!

We removed to New Hampshire from Massachusetts in 1984. It was apparent to me right from thebeginning that it was a very political state. New Hampshire’s General Court is one of the biggest political bodies inthe free world, with 400 members. Eachlegislator represents about 3,300 residents. If this were the case in California, their house would have over 11,000 legislators. If this were the case for the United StatesHouse of Representatives, there would be almost 100,000 representatives. New Hampshire holds elections every two yearsfor senators, legislators, and the governor. New Hampshire, like the other New England states, still holds townmeetings every year. Most people aretalking politics all the time, or campaigning for local or statewide positions.

The "Ballot Room" at the Balsams

New Hampshire has only three delegates selected in theprimary, due to its small population, but the first primary gives it enormousmedia coverage, as well as a tradition of being a proving ground forcandidates. The world descends on thetiny town of Dixville Notch, where the two dozen or so voters file ballotsright after the stroke of midnight in the Ballot Room of the BalsamsHotel. The media frenzy to report thefirst election results is almost comical. Until 1992 the candidate who won New Hampshire won the federal election(in 1922 Bill Clinton lost to candidate Paul Tsongas).

NH Secretary of State William Gardner
addressed the NH Mayflower Society on the NH Presidential Primary

This past November, the New Hampshire Society of MayflowerDescendants invited the New Hampshire Secretary of State William Gardner to bethe luncheon speaker at the Compact Day meeting. You have all seen him on TV due to thecontroversy this year on setting the date of the New Hampshire PresidentialPrimary election. Mr. Gardner battled severalstates who challenged New Hampshire’s “First in the Nation” status for thepresidential primary election. He cameto the rescue by reminding everyone that by our state constitution NewHampshire is entitled to this special status, and so the date was set forJanuary 10, 2012.

At this luncheon Mr. Gardner gave an interesting history ofNew Hampshire’s “First in the Nation” status, which I will attempt to summarizehere. When the states ratified theconstitution, New Hampshire was the seventh state to sign, thus the 2/3majority passed it as law. Since thenNew Hampshire was given special status to vote first. The idea for the first political partyconvention was proposed in Concord, New Hampshire in1832. When the convention was held in Baltimore InJuly 1832, the newspapers credited New Hampshire with the idea.

New Hampshire has held a political party primary for thepresident elect since 1916. You can seememorabilia, news clippings pamphlets and political pins from all the primaryelections at the New Hampshire Historical Society Museum and in the displaycases of the Balsam’s Ballot room. Several more populous states have attempted towrestle the “First in the Nation” status from New Hampshire, but New Hampshirehas stood its ground, usually by moving the date up from March town meeting tokeep the election first. The earliest New Hampshire primary was moved all the way up to January 8^th in 2008.

Yours Truly perusing the memorabilia
at the Balsams Ballot Room

....and, just in time for the New Hampshire primary, Ancestry.com has come out with its usual presidential genealogy connections between candidates. See this link:
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/ANCESTRYCOM-Reveals-Mitt-Romneys-Presidential-Genes-2012-GOP-Hopeful-Is-Related-Six-NASDAQ-ACOM-1600492.htm

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Links for those who are truly curious about the “First inthe Nation” Presidential Primary:

The officialstate of New Hampshire webpage on the First-in-the-Nation Primary election

http://www.nh.gov/nhinfo/highlights.html

TheSecretary of the State of New Hampshire website for the 2012 PresidentialPrimary (where you go to fill out the paperwork if you want to be on theballot, see a sample ballot, etc.)

http://www.sos.nh.gov/presprim2012/index.htm

Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Hampshire_primary

The Balsams Hotel Ballot Room history webpage http://thebalsams.com/history

Live Free or Die Alliance http://www.livefreeordiealliance.orga non-partisan, non-profit providing objective information about issues and candidatesto New Hampshire citizens

A “Why NH?”sort of article from seacoastonline.com

http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20111222-NEWS-111229914

Occupy Dixville Notch Primary at Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/events/277870278929224/

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Surname Saturday - Stacy

2011-12-31T04:16:00.000-08:00

STACY

There is a record for the marriage of SimonStacy and Elizabeth Clark in Chester’s “LondonMarriages” that reads: "SimonStacy of Bocking, Essex County, Clothier, and Elizabeth Clerke of Theydon Garnon,said county, spinster, daughter of Stephen Clerke of same, Yeoman, married atTheydon Mount, Essex County, November 6, 1620." Simon Stacyarrived in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1637 with his family. He left no will, and there is no deathrecord. His wife left a will in 1669naming many items for her children, which showed she was living well as awidow, even after her husband’s death.

The StacyGenealogy:

Generation 1: Simon Stacy, son of Thomas Stacy, born about 1602, Bocking, Essex,England, and died in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married 6 November 1620 at TheydonMount, Essex, England to Elizabeth Clark, daughter ofStephen Clark and Elizabeth Reynolds. Seven children:

1. Susannah, born about 1629, married Joseph French

2. Thomas (see below)

3. Simon, born about 1637, married Sarah Wallis

4. Ann, born about 1641,married

5. Mary, born about 1645, married Samuel Mears

6. Sarah, married William Buswell

7. Elizabeth, married William Adams

Generation 2: Thomas Stacy, born about 1630 in Bocking, England,and died 23 July 1690 in Salem, Massachusetts; married 4 October 1653 inSalisbury, Massachusetts to Susannah Worcester, daughter of the Reverend William Worcester and Sarah Brown. She was born about 1630 in England, died in 1688. He was about 16 years old when he arrived in the New World. He removed to Salem, where he was a miller. Five children:

1. Thomas, born 6 July 1654, married Hannah Hicks

2. William, (see below)

3. Rebecca, born 7 Dec 1657, married James Burleigh

4. John, born 16 March 1666, married Mary Clarke

5. Susanna, born 16 January 1667, married John Marston

Generation 3: WilliamStacy, born 21 April 1656, died 5 March 1706 in Kittery, Maine; married on 25May 1685 in Kittery to Mehitable Weymouth, daughter of Edward Weymouth andEsther Hodson. She was born in 1669, anddied 13 January 1753 in Berwick, Maine. William inherited the mill from his father. He was a witness in the trial of BridgetBishop for witchcraft in 1692. Seven children:

1. Mary (see below)

2. Hester, born 22 November 1693, probably died young

3. William, born 12 January 1696

4. Samuel, born 19 April 1698, married Mary Pray

5. Elizabeth, born 10 August 1701, probably died young

6. Benjamin, born 17 November 1704, married Lydia Libby

7. Mehitable, born 4 April 1706, married Joseph Emery

Generation 4: Mary Stacy,born 6 April 1690 in South Berwick, Maine, and died 12 January 1753; married on22 June 1709 to John Thompson, son of John Thompson and Sarah Emery. He was born about 1684 in Kittery, and diedin 1753. Three children

Generation 5. Mary Thompson married Richard Nason

Generation 6. Mercy Nason married William Wilkinson

Generation 7. Aaron Wilkinson married Mercy F. Wilson

Generation 8. Robert WilsonWilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10. Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha LouiseRoberts (my grandparents)

There is a sketch of the Stacys inGenealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire by Charles T. Libby andWalter G. Davis. There are also sketchesof Simon, Thomas and William in the Genealogical Dictionary of New England,Volume IV, pages 159 – 160. The name is spelled STACY, STACIE, STACE, or evenSTASY in records. There is a book SimonStacy and his Descendants by Virginia McCann, Ukiah, California, 1978.

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The Nutfield Genealogy Top 10 for 2011

2011-12-30T04:00:00.000-08:00

This is the time of the year that David Letterman and Time magazine and other media outlets publish their "Top 10" lists for the year. So, thank you to everyone who read Nutfield Genealogy this year. These are the top 10 stories at Nutfield Genealogy according to statistics provided by Blogger

1. Hezekiah Wyman and the Legend of the WhiteHorseman (over 1200 page views andcounting since I wrote this story for Patriot's Day in April 2011!)

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/hezekiah-wyman-and-legend-of-white.html

This storytook place on the day of the Battles of Lexington and Concord, when HezekiahWyman taunted the British regulars who were retreating back to Boston. They called him “Death on the Pale Horse” andprobably a lot worse names, too!

2. TreasureChest Thursday – Publishing a Book for my Blog (almost as many hits as #1)

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/treasure-chest-thursday-publishing-book.html

This post shows how I usedBlurb.com to produce a hardcover book version of my blog, and why I preferredBlurb over other self publishing book companies.

3. CanobieLake Park, Salem, New Hampshire

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/canobie-lake-park-salem-new-hampshire.html

Canobie LakePark opened in 1902 as a trolley park to attract folks to use the trolleysystem on weekends, and it is still open! I think many of the page views on this post are due to folks Googlingfor information for a visit to this amusement park, more than actually wantingthe history.

4. The Carole Brinkman Unsolved Murder Mystery

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/04/carole-brinkman-unsolved-murder-mystery.html

This storywas inspired by a bit of research I did for my cousin, who had bought a 1960s camerawith a roll of undeveloped film. Heasked me to research the owner so he could return the film, and I was shockedto find out it belonged to a young lady who had been murdered! Many of the comments I received are fromtownspeople who remembered the murder.

5. TheMidnight Ride of William Dawes

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/midnight-ride-of-william-dawes.html

Did you knowthat Paul Revere did not set out alone on the night of 19 April 1775? There were actually almost 100 riders outthat night, but William Dawes accompanied Paul Revere for a large part of hisride. I’m glad to see the name “WilliamDawes” showing up through Google searches.

6. MyMayflower Passenger Ancestors

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/my-mayflower-passenger-ancestors.html

This is acompendium of lists written by other Geneabloggers of their Mayflowerancestors, published the week of Thanksgiving 2011. I hope to make this an annual post, so watchfor it again in 2012.

7. TheFace of Genealogy

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/face-of-genealogy.html

This isanother compendium of blogger posts of thosewho participated in providing lovely family photos, old and new, in response toan offensive article published by the website LA Weekly about the SouthernCalifornia Genealogical Society Jamboree in June 2011. I love how the blogging community respondedwith this lovely tribute. Thank youeveryone!

8. ThanksgivingProclamation 2010

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/11/thanksgiving-proclamation-2010.html

In 2009 and2010 I posted a photo of New Hampshire’s Governor Lynch on the event of hissigning the annual Thanksgiving Proclamation. The New Hampshire Mayflower Society requested a proclamation for 2011,but it was left off the docket in the rush of changing the date for the NewHampshire Presidential Primary date in November. This must be the reason why so many folkssearched out another proclamation post this year, but it never appeared! We’ll try again next year!

9. TheNew England Geneablogger Bash

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/08/new-england-geneablogger-bash.html

This was mypost with photos for the first ever New England Geneablogger Bash, which washeld by a small group of brave bloggers on the eve of Hurricane Irene.

10. AVisit to Plimoth Plantation

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/visit-to-plimoth-plantation.html

A post withmany photos of the living history museum at Plymouth, Massachusetts. It’s difficult to NOT get good photos here,and I’m sure it was popular with internet searches and kids.

Stay tunedto see what ends up being the most popular posts next year! I’m always surprised by the posts that end upbeing hits with my readers. If you didn’tsee your favorite story here, please leave me comment! I’d love to know what you enjoyed reading atNutfield Genealogy in 2011.

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My Favorite Posts for Nutfield Genealogy 2011

2011-12-29T04:00:00.000-08:00

These weremy favorite posts for 2011. Most of myfavorites are on this list because they turned out to be such fun to research,but some of them were my favorites because they generated so manycomments. I love getting comments andmaking contact with readers, especially if we end up having “cousin connections”or similar research interests.

If you don’tsee your favorite story on this list, leave me a comment! I’d love to know what you enjoyed readingthis past year at Nutfield Genealogy.

Heather’s 2011Favorites

1. – 4. My Dad’sCollege Paper on the Massachusetts Underground Railroad

Part 1 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-dads-college-paper-on-underground.html

Part 2 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-dads-college-paper-part-2.html

Part 3 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/dads-college-paper-part-3.html

Part 4 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/my-dads-college-paper-part-4.html

This almostwasn’t even a post. It started as asimple comment on Facebook when I said that I had found my Dad’s 1954 collegereport. I had more than a dozen peopleask me to post it online. I thought thatwas an interesting idea, and took on the challenge of transcribing the report and alsodoing some of my own research on the people Dad had contacted in 1954. I posteda bit of genealogical serendipity in Part 4.

5. Five Kernels of Corn for Thanksgiving

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/five-kernels-of-corn-for-thanksgiving.html

AND 6. FiveKernels of Corn- An Update

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/five-kernel-of-corn-update.html

I had funresearching the origins of this little story passed on to Mayflowerdescendants, and then I had even more fun researching why it was only a myththanks to comments left to me by my Mayflower cousin, Ginny Mucciaccio, formerGovernor of the Massachusetts Mayflower Society (she is also my cousin throughthe Wyman Family of Woburn, Massachusetts).

7. Veteran’sDay Transcription Project

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/veterans-day-transcription-project.html

In 2010 and2011 I started transcribing the veteran’s memorials and honor rolls inLondonderry for Memorial Day and Veteran’s Day. Here I invited other genealogy bloggers tojoin me, and I had a great compendium of participants from six states and theUnited Kingdom. By transcribing thehonor rolls, we make the name available to search engines on the internet, andthus descendants and family members can find their veterans’ names. This is a project I hope to continue in 2012.

8. RebrandingHistory

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/rebranding-history.html

This storywas inspired by a visit to the grand re-opening of my ancestor’s house inLexington, Massachusetts, which turned out to be a “rebranding” of the museumwith a completely different focus, not on the family who lived there, but onthe British Regulars who attacked their town and tried to burn down the home. It received several good comments, lots ofemail, and inspired two blog posts by Bill West and J. L. Bell. It wasall good commentary, for and against, representing different points of view ona controversial subject. Thank you tothose who participated!

9. Draperand Maynard Sports Equipment

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/08/draper-and-maynard-sports-equipment.html

This was somuch fun to research. I took a simplelittle story told by my uncle, about his visit to a relative’s factory when hewas a little boy. There was a lot ofhistory behind his little memory!

10. The NationalArchives – They read my Blog?

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/national-archives-they-read-my-blog.html

This was afollow up to a post I wrote about going to Washington DC to visitthe National Archives to see a specific document first hand- only to be turnedaway. Surprise, surprise! They liked the first post enough to writeback to me, and to send me a fine hi-res photograph of the document inquestion. It was a win-win situation foreveryone! The link to the first post ishttp://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/national-archives-good-news-bad-news.html This was the post that I spoke about on the GeneaBlogger Talk Radio Show. Thanks, Thomas MacEntee!

Stay tunedtomorrow to see the posts that were actually the most popular stories with myreaders on my blog this year, according to the statistics provided byBlogger.

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Weathervane Wednesday - I'd rather be Sailing!

2011-12-28T04:04:00.000-08:00

I've been collecting photographs of the many, many weather vanes in the Nutfield area (near Derry and Londonderry, New Hampshire). Today's weather vane is nearby, but not in Derry or Londonderry. If you want a challenge, I'll post the locations at the bottom of the page so you can scroll down far enough to see the photo, but not the location, and try to guess where you may have seen these lovely weathervanes.

Do you know the location of weather vane #23?

This beautiful copper sailboat is located on the cupola atop of the Fred Fuller Oil and Propane building in Hudson, New Hampshire, at 12 Tracy Lane. It is visible from Route 102 (Ferry Road and the corner of West Road). This business has been operating in New Hampshire for over 40 years at several locations. We can only guess that perhaps Mr. Fuller is a weekend sailor? The business website is http://www.fullers.com/

Click here to see the other weather vanes in this series

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday - Captain James Gregg

2011-12-27T03:42:00.000-08:00

IN
Memory Of
Capt. James Gragg
who died
March 10th 1758
In ye 85th year
of his age

Captain James Gregg was one of the original charter settlers of Nutfield, then Londonerry, now Derry, New Hampshire. He was born in Ayrshire, Scotland and was in Northern Ireland with his parents before coming to New England. He married Janat Cargill, daughter of Captain James Cargill. He built the first grist mill in Londonderry. For more information on the Greggs see http://www.colonialgreggs.gfhp.co.uk/

For more genealogical information on some Gregg descendants see this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/colonel-william-gregg-of-londonderry.html

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Merry Christmas from our house!

2011-12-25T04:00:00.000-08:00

from all of us to all of you!

Surname Saturday - Emery

2011-12-24T04:12:00.000-08:00

EMERY

Anthony Emery arrived in Boston aboard theship “James” on 3 April 1635 with his wife, children and his brother John. They all settled in Newbury, Massachusettsuntil about 1640, when Anthony removed his family to Dover, New Hampshire. He was one of the signers of the “DoverCombination” on 22 October 1640. He rana tavern, which burned down in 1643, and this petition allowed him to stay inbusiness:

"Right worp com of theMassachusetts

The humble peticon of Anthony Emryof Dover

Humbly showeth

Unto your good worp that yourpoore peticonr was licenced by the towne abousd to keept an ordinary wh shdgive Dyet & to sell beere & wine as was accustomed & sithence therewas an order that none but one should sell wine upon which there hath beenecomplaint made to your worp as Mr. Smyths saith & hee hath in a mannerdischarged your petr weh wilbe to your petr great damage haueing a wife & 3children to maintain & not a house fitted for present to liue in haueinghad his house & goods burnt downe to the ground "Humbly beseeching yorworp to bee pleased to grant to your petr that he may sell wine & that Mr.Smyth may be certified thereof hee keeping good order in his house & heshall as hee is in Duty bound pray for your worps health & happyness."

On 7 March 1643/4, "AnthonyEmery of Dover, his petition is refered to the next Cort at Dover, & hee isalowed liberty to draw out his wine in the meane time."

By 1649 he had removed again, this time to Kittery,Maine near Sturgeon’s Creek, where he was fined in October 1650 for sellingalcohol without a license, but at the same time granted an order to keep an “ordinary”(tavern) and also a ferry. Later, therewere several people from Kittery and Dover rounded up for entertaining Quakers,including Anthony Emery. He was finedthe heaviest, ten pounds and ten shillings for lying to the court. He tried to deed his land to his son, James,so he could leave Kittery for Rhode Island, but his wife changed her mind andsued him for her portion and returned to Kittery. Apparently they never lived togetheragain. He was a freeman and shoemaker inPortsmouth, Rhode Island by 1660 and apparently died there sometime before 8June 1681 when his will leaves his land to his daughter, Rebecca.

The Emery Genealogy:

Generation 1. Anthony Emery, baptized on 29 August 1601 in Romsey,Hampshire, England as the son of John Emery and Agnes Northend, and diedperhaps on 30 March 1680 in Portsmouth, Rhode Island; married Frances Unknown.Three children.

1. Rebecca Emery, married first Robert Weymouth, second ThomasSadler, third to Daniel Eaton of Little Compton, Rhode Island.

2. Unknown Emery

3. James Emery (see below)

Generation 2: James Emery, baptized at Romsey, Hampshire, England on 18 September 1631,married first to Elizabeth Unknown mother of his children, married second toElizabeth (Newcomb) Pidge, widow of John Pidge. Seven children:

1. Elizabeth Emery, born about 1657, married Sylvanus Nock

2. James Emery, born about 1658, married Margaret Hitchcock

3. Sarah Emery (see below)

4. Zachariah Emery, bornabout 1662, married Elizabeth Goodwin

5. Noah Emery, born about 1663, married Elizabeth Unknown

6. Daniel Emery, born 13September 1667 married Margaret Gowen

7. Job Emery, born 1670 married Charity Nason

Generation 3. Sarah Emery married John Thompson

Generation 4. John Thompson married Mary Stacy

Generation 5. Mary Thompson married Richard Nason

Generation 6. Mercy Nasonmarried William Wilkinson

Generation 7. Aaron Wilkinson married Mercy F. Wilson

Generation 8. Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10. Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha LouiseRoberts (my grandparents)

There is a sketch of Anthony Emery in TheGreat Migration: Immigrants to America, by Robert Charles Anderson,George F. Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, Volume II, pages 441 – 446. There is a book Genealogical Records ofDescendants of John and Anthony Emery of Newbury, Mass., 1590 – 1890,by Reverend Rufus Emery, 1890.

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Follow Friday – some favorite websites

2011-12-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

Here is a list of blogs I have enjoyed this past year. I tried to list ones that are not genealogy websites, butstill of interest to genealogists or historians.

http://boatbuildingwithburnham.blogspot.com/ Harold Burnham, wooden ship builder inEssex, Massachusetts. If you have ancestry from Essex, someone in your family tree probably built ships!

http://boston1775.blogspot.com/ J. L. Bell, author and historian, writes about Boston on the eve of the American Revolutionary War.

http://www.earlyamericancrime.com/ Anthony Vaver, author and blogger writes about crime and punishment in Colonial and Early America.

http://heritagepaperdolls.blogspot.com/ Melinda Bowers, this one is just for fun!

http://newenglandfolklore.blogspot.com/ Peter M, writes about the weird and interesting folklore from New England.

A blog from the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester,Massachusetts http://pastispresent.org/ Very interesting stories based on "stuff" from their collections. This is the archive where I first discovered genealogy research when I was a teenager, because it was within bike riding distance from my house!

http://rockynook.blogspot.com/ Every summer there is an archeological digat the homestead of the Howland family (of the Mayflower) in Duxbury,Massachusetts. Follow the dig, or readpast posts about what they have discovered.

http://www.womenhistoryblog.com/ each post is a full biography of a woman inhistory, including wives of Founding Fathers, wives of Patriots, and women whowere famous on their own (inventors, writers, spies, etc.)

an assortment of New England genealogy websites new to me:

Bloodlines of Salem,a collection of information and links pertaining to Salem, Massachusetts circa1692, the year of the witchcraft hysteria http://bloodlinesofsalem.org/index.htm

Digital Commonwealth a collection of links to materials held by Massachusettslibraries, museums, historical societies and archives http://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/

The ItalianGenealogical Society of America http://www.italianroots.org/

My Kennebunks,the history of the Kennebunks, Maine by Sharon Cummins http://www.mykennebunks.com/

Nashua, NH History 1900 – 1950 http://www.nashuahistory.com/site/nashuahistory_1900.htm

Seacoast NewHampshire history, news, arts,tourist information and even a blog- allhosted by Portsmouth, NH historian J. Dennis Robinson http://www.seacoastnh.com/

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