Wordless Wednesday - Nina K. Ellingwood's Dolls

Nina King Ellingwood was the daughter of Asa Freeman and Florilla (Dunham) Ellingwood. The pictures come from a cousin. Nina was known for her dolls, especially the animals she made with a wooden frame covered in a variety of fabrics to achieve a realistic look.

Surname Saturday - William Cotton of Portsmouth

William Cotton, immigrant, settled in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. In 1673, he said he was 60 years old, so he was born about 1613. About 1650, he married Elizabeth Ham, daughter of William Ham. About that time, he settled at Strawberry Bank and was constable in 1651, and selectman in 1654 and 1671. In 1674, he bought a tavern from Walter Abbott, one of my ancestors from my mother's side and he ran it until he died in 1678. 

Children of William & Elizabeth (Ham) Cotton:
1. John was born about 1652 and died in 1714. He married Sarah Hearle/Earl, daughter of William Hearle of Portsmouth. His will names his wife and twelve children. He was a farmer in Portsmouth. 
2. William was an innkeeper and farmer who married Abigail Pickering and had eight children. 
3. Solomon was granted lands by his grandfather, William Ham but apparently died before his father and without leaving any children. 
4. Sarah married Edward Beale of New Castle. 
5. Thomas was a minor in 1678 when his father died and Anthony Nutter was apointed his guardian. Thomas died before September 27, 1706. 
6. Benjamin was also a minor in 1678 when his father died. Administration fohis estate was handled in 1724 by four sons-in-law. His wife was named Elizabeth and she married John Golden of Kittery as her second husband. 

Solomon Cotton, son of John & Sarah (Hearle) Cotton, was a shipwright. He kept an ordinary at Greenland until 1727 when he moved to Stratham and was an innkeeper there until the end of his life. He married Margaret Fernald, daughter of William & Elizabeth (Langdon) Fernald of Kittery. She was born March 27, 1681 and died January 12, 1719/20. He married his second wife, Judith Cutt, on December 3, 1721. The final few years of his life Solomon spent back in Portsmouth. His will was proved March 27, 1755. 

The next generations:
Benjamin Cotton married Elizabeth Leavitt
William Cotton married Ruth Cram
William Cotton married Margaret Green
William Cotton married Tryphenia Lunt
John Henry Cotton married Christiana Cox
Francis Llewellyn Cotton married Lizzie Philbrick. In an interesting twist, his third wife was Nina (Ellingwood) Gibbs, the mother of Annie Florilla Gibbs. 
Ray Everett Cotton married Annie Florilla Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother


NEHGR Vol. 58 p. 294-299. 
The Cotton Family of Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Piscataqua Pioneers: Selected Biographies of Early Settlers in Northern New England

Surname Saturday - Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn

I have already written a bit about my immigrant Carter ancestor, Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn. He was the first minister of Woburn. Under his ministry the church grew and flourished. In Johnson's "Wonder-working Providence" (published in 1654), he is described as a "reverend godly man, apt to teach the sound and wholesome truths of Christ" and "much encreased with the encreasings of Christ Jesus, of whose labours in the Lord as followeth."

The Ordination of Rev. Thomas Carter

Carter, Christ hath his wayes thee taught, an them [thou]
Hast not with-held his Word, but unto all
With's word of power dost cause stout souls to bow, 
And meek as Lambs before thy Christ to fall:
The antient truths, plain paths, they fit thee best, 
The lowly heart, Christ learns his lovely hest, 
Thy meekness shews thy Christ to thee is nigh; 
Yet must thou shew Christ makes his bold to be
As Lions, that none may his truths tread down, 
Pastoral power he hath invested thee
With, it maintain, least he on thee do frown:
Thy youth thou hast in this New-England spent, 
Full sixteen years to water, plant, and prune
Trees taken up, and for that end here sent; 
Thy end's with Christ, with Saints his praises tune.

When he died, the town paid for his funeral expenses. Among the charges is one for fourteen gallons of wine. According to The History of Woburn, the custom of the day was to bury their paupers with rum and their wealthy men and ministers with wine.

Rev. Thomas Carter and his wife, Mary Parkhurst had eight children.
1. Samuel was born August 8, 1640 and graduated from Harvard College in 1660. He held a number of   town offices and married Eunice Brooks. They had eight children.
2. Judith married first Dea. Edward Converse and second Giles Fifield.
3. Mary was born July 24, 1648 and married John Wyman, Jr. He was killed by the Indians at the Swamp Fight, December 19, 1675. She married as her second husband, Nathaniel Bachiler (Batchelder) of Hampton, N.H. She had eight children with her second husband. Mary & Nathaniel are the 7th great-grandparents of Clayton Blake who married Linona Yates, my mother's mother. 
4. Abigail was born January 10, 1649/50 and married John Smith.
5. Timothy was born June 12, 1653 and married Anna Fiske, daughter of David Fiske of Cambridge (Lexington) on May 3, 1680. They had thirteen children, three of whom died before their parents. Timothy and his brother, Thomas, were husbandmen and proprietors of "several considerable tracts of land."
6. Thomas was born June 8, 1655 and married Margery Whitmore (Whittemore).

Timothy, son of Rev. Thomas and Mary (Parkhurst) Carter and wife Anna had:
1. David born October 17, 1681 and died May 22, 1736.
2. Timothy born July 12, 1683 and died the same year.
3. Anna born July 17, 1684.
4. Timothy born October 17, 1686.
5. Theophilus born October 20, 1688.
6. Thomas born August 14, 1690.
7. Abigail born March 18, 1692.
8. Sarah born November 24, 1694.
9. Elizabeth born August 27, 1696 and died June 26, 1709.
10. Benjamin born March 22, 1699 and died soon after.
11. Mary born June 23, 1700.
12. Martha born July 22, 1702.
13. Benjamin born November 8, 1704. Benjamin married Sarah Stone.

Timothy, son of Benjamin & Sarah (Stone) Carter, married Sarah Walker. Their son, Dr. Timothy Carter married Frances Freeland and moved to Bethel, Maine. Elias Mellen Carter, son of Dr. Timothy & Frances (Freeland) Carter married Irish immigrant, Rebecca Williamson and their son, Augustus Mellen Carter fought in the Civil War. Augustus married Mary Frances Stanley and had Edward Mellen Carter. Edward Mellen Carter married Fannie May Capen and they are the parents of my grandfather, Thomas Richard Carter.

Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass., from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680. by Rev. Charles C. Sewall.
Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, 1628-1651 ed. by J. Franklin Jameson

The Eccentric Moulton Twins

From The History of Hampton, New Hampshire (p. 862) by Joseph Dow, comes the following story about the twin daughters of John Moulton. They were the sisters of my 10th great-grandmother, Mary Moulton. They never married, were inseparable, and died on the same day, March 19, 1698/9.

"The twins, Jane and Bridget, for many years lived in a small house built for them by the roadside, near the site of Mr. Joseph Johnson's barn. Anecdotes illustrative of some peculiarities in their temperament and character have been handed down by tradition. There is also preserved (N.H. Hist. Soc. Col. III:122) a letter of Rev. Cotton Mather, to a gentleman of London, in 1716, wherein he says of them:
'At Hampton, a Town about Fifty miles from this place (Boston), there were Twin sisters, whose names were Bridget and Jane Moulton. The perpetual Harmony and Sympathy between the sisters was the observation of the neighborhood. They were never contented except they were together. If the one were desirous to go abroad, the other would be impatient of staying at home. If the one were merry, the other would be airy. If the one were troubled, the other would be chagrin [ed]. When one was for carding, the other was for spinning. For their Dispositions and Satisfaction there was a strange Agreement betwixt them. The particulars wherein every body with pleasure and wonder saw how they were agreed, and how like your famous Twins of Hippocrates, which you tell us would Fiere et Ridere simul (weep and laugh at the same time), were numberless. They lived a Virgin life, and in this good accord, reached about three-score years. Then Death after a short sickness arrested the one of them. The other grew full of pain, and bid her friends not be in a hurry about her sister's funeral for her's mus accompany it. By dying within a few hours after her sister, she answered their expectations. Mr. John Cotton, the worthy minister of the place, preached a Funeral sermon for this occasion on those words, 2 Samuel 1:23 'In their Death they were not divided.'"

Society Saturday - Piscataqua Pioneers

While attending NERGC, I stopped by a table showcasing the Piscataqua Pioneers Historical and Genealogical Society. I knew I had a fairly large number of ancestors from this region so the name caught my eye. They were offering a discount on their book: Piscataqua Pioneers: Selected Biographies of Early Settlers in Northern New England. It is regularly $40 and I got it for $30 - either way it is a bargain! It includes a cd of  the entire book in a searchable pdf! The maps and history of the area are very interesting and then the book goes on to provide short biographies of the early families. I've been neglecting my blog because I'm spending every minute I can with the book. I've found some great stories for future blog posts. I am in LOVE! 

As with any of the early colonial settlements, the families intermarried frequently making an complex web of relationships. I have ancestors on all four of my grandparents' lines in the book and I've been adding large amounts of information to my tree! I think I will be applying for membership in the society this year. The big question is which of the many families will I use for the basis of my membership...

Here are just the A and B surnames in the book that are direct ancestors. 

Dad's Side: 
John Alcock
William Berry
Nathaniel Boulter

Mom's Side:
Walter Abbott 
John Bean - Scottish prisoner - I wondered if I had one of these in my tree! 
Ralph Blaisdell
Anthony Brackett

Both: 
Rev. Stephen Bachiler/Batchelder
Jasper Blake


The web site: http://www.piscataquapioneers.org/index.html
To purchase the book: http://www.piscataquapioneers.org/bookPP.html