The Long & Short Of It - 52 Ancestors #5

I've deviated from the blog theme suggested for this week because I couldn't come up with a good story for "plowing through."

Robert Long, my 10th great-grandfather, was born about 1621 and died at the age of 68 in Newbury, Massachusetts on December 27, 1690 of small pox.
This seems to be the beginning of an outbreak because the History of Newbury, states that "on March 10, 1691, the selectmen were ordered to see that all persons infected with small-pox were removed to some isolated place, and provided with nurses and attended. They were also ordered to supply food and clothing to persons so removed, and to the families of those who were unable to take care of themselves." Robert's wife, Alice died during this time period also but I haven't found any notation on her cause of death. She died on January 17, 1691.



There is really very little information that I have found about this ancestor. However, his marriage is interesting because...

In 1647, Robert Long married Alice Short!

 

Children of Robert & Alice (Short) Long:

1. Mary b. 24 Feb 1648
2. Abiel b. 19 Feb 1649
3. Rebecca (uncertain birthdate) m. Nicholas Rawlins
4. Susanna b. 14 Nov 1656
5. A daughter b. 26 Mar 1659 and d. 4 April 1659
6. Shubael b. 14 April 1661
7. A son b. 16 April 1664; may have died young
8. John (uncertain birthdate); living in 1691
9. Martha b. 20 May 1669

My Line:
Robert Long
Rebecca Long
Rebecca Rawlins
Rebecca Rogers
Stephen Blaisdell
Susannah Blaisdell
Stephen Blaisdell Rowe
Charles H. N. Rowe
Anna J. Rowe
Eva Delphinia Hayes
Linona Alice Yates

Sources
Old Families of Amesbury & Salisbury

Closest To My Birthday, John Whiting - 52 Ancestors #4

This week's theme in the 52 Ancestors Challenge is to blog about the ancestor who has his or her birthday closest to your own (month, day). 

Birth Record of John Whiting

John Whiting is my 7th great-grandfather and he was born in 19 July 1665 in Wrentham or Dedham, Massachusetts to Nathaniel and Hannah (Dwight) Whiting and died in 1732 in the same area. He was married twice, first to Mary Billings, daughter of William and Mary ( ? ) Billings, on Christmas Eve in 1688, and second to Sarah (possibly Pond) Holbrook. 

John served as a a selectman in 1708, 1707, 1711, 1712, 1713, 1714, and 1715. His will names his wife Sarah, sons Nathaniel, John, and Eliphalet, daughters Mary Mann, Jerusha Slack, Jemima Wight, Zabiah Ware, Hannah Fisher, and Phebe Whiting and a grandson, Lewis Sweeting. 

He came from a family of millers, including his father and several brothers. In fact, Whiting descendants ran a mill in the area until 1823 when Hezekiah Whiting sold the right to Jabez Chickering (Whiting Genealogy). 

 



Children of John & Mary (Billings) Whiting:

1. Nathaniel b. 2 Feb 1691
2. Mary b. 14 Oct 1692
3. John b. 16 Jan 1695
4. Jerusha b. 2 Nov 1697
5. Jemima b. 5 Dec 1699
6. Zabiah b. 29 Dec 1701
7. Eliphalet b. 16 Sep 1705
8. Hannah b. 13 Feb 1707
9. Abigail b. 2 Oct 1708
10. Phebe b. 18 Jun 1710

My line: 
John Whiting
Jemima Whiting - 5th child of John & Mary (Billings) Whiting
Joseph Wight
Abigail Wight
Roxanna Spurr
Mary Frances Stanley
Edward Mellen Carter 
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Whiting Genealogy

Martha Glenn - One Tough Woman - 52 Ancestors #3

Martha Glenn was married on June 11, 1730 to David McClure, an immigrant from Scotland, possibly Edinburgh. They married in Boston and then moved to the frontier of Candia, New Hampshire. The History of Candia, Once Known as Charmingfare, says that Martha came from a family of Scottish Covenanters who fled from Papal persecution. The same book gives a vivid description of Martha's bravery, although I can't help but wonder how the author came by the information about the comment of the Indian spy...

About the year 1740, Mr. McClure and his wife moved to Chester, N.H., at a time when fear of Indians compelled the inhabitants to seek the security of a garrison. It so happened, on a certain occasion, that the men were obliged to be absent, leaving the women and children alone. No one among them, but the courageous Martha Glenn, dared to act as sentry. With the confidence which inspired her, when she offered up her prayer to God, among the misty mountain caves of Scotland, she kept the dangerous watch with a loaded musket. It turned out that the place was actually being reconnoitered for an attack. The spy is said to have reported, "Me see nothing but de one white squaw." A superstitious fear, or the hand of Providence kept the Indians from their design.














Martha Glenn - 8th great-grandmother
Jane McClure - 7th great-grandmother
Elizabeth Simpson - 6th great-grandmother
David Philbrick - 5th great-grandfather
Oliver Smith Philbrick - 4th great-grandfather
Benjamin Philbrick - 3rd great-grandfather
Lizzie Philbrick - 2nd great-grandmother
Ray Everett Cotton - great-grandfather
Fern Lyndell Cotton - grandmothe

History of Candia, once known as Charmingfare, accessed on Archive.org
The McClure Family, accessed on Google Books
History of Candia, accessed on Archive.org
History of the Town of Antrim, New Hampshire, accessed on Google Books

Tombstone Tuesday - Galen & Dolly (Moody) Blake

Galen Blake - son of Micajah & Nancy (Ripley) Blake. He married Dolly Estes Moody. He was born February 5, 1824 and died on July 4, 1906. 

Dolly Estes Moody - daughter of Hezekiah & Hannah (Estes) Moody. She was born on January 14, 1826 and died May 9, 1914. 

They are buried in the East Bethel Cemetery on Intervale Rd in Bethel, Maine. 

Galen & Dolly (Moody) Blake
Charles Galen Blake
Harriet May Blake
Clayton Leonard Blake - my grandfather

What's Your Ancestor Score?

This week's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun topic is your ancestor score. I created my table and determined my score the same way, Randy Seaver did in his post. I created an ahnentafel and counted the number of names to create a table. 
My ancestor score for 10 generations is:

• Number of known ancestral names = 500
• Number of possible ancestral names = 1023
• 10 generation ancestral number is 500/1023 = 48.8%

For extra credit - My 15 generation score is 3256 known ancestors out of 32767  for 9.9%

That means I'm a little under halfway for 10 generations and still have 90% for 15 generations to find. Yikes! I have thousands of names - how can I still have so much to do? 

I saw that someone had done this for two years in a row and could see her progress on her tree. I think I'll try to do that for next year. 

Standing Up to Persecution - 52 Ancestors #2 Thomas Spencer

The theme of the second week of the 52 Ancestors Challenge is "King." This can be interpreted in a couple of ways, including an ancestor who reminds you of Martin Luther King, Jr. I decided to write about a Quaker (or at least a Quaker sympathizer) ancestor who stood up in the face of persecution and lost a basic civil right (the right to vote) for holding firm to his beliefs. African Americans were also disenfranchised and the victims of violence, intimidation, and even lynching for standing up for their rights. There is a difference in that the persecution was based on skin color in one case and based on religion in the other but both groups faced intense hatred and persecution by certain elements of society. 

Thomas Spencer was my 10th great-grandfather and an early immigrant to the Piscataqua region. He was married to Patience Chadbourne, daughter of William, before 1629. Thomas was born in England about 1596 and died in York County, Maine (probably Berwick) in 1681. Thomas first came to Piscataqua in July of 1630 but he returned the England three years later and came back to settle in 1634. He was on the ship, the Pied Cow in 1634. It is unclear whether Patience came with him in 1630 or came later in 1634. Like many immigrants, he had a variety of occupations, from planter to lumberman to tavernkeeper. 

Thomas and Patience lived in Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), Piscataqua (Kittery Point), and finally in Newichawannock (South Berwick). They also lived for awhile in Saco but ended their lives in Berwick. Patience died on November 7, 1683. 

The Quaker religion, or the Society of Friends, was established around 1647 by a man named George Fox. Quakers did not practice baptism, formal prayer, and had no ordained ministry. This quickly put the Quakers in conflict with the Puritan clergy in New England. Quakers were put in stocks and lashed with whips, some even had their ears cut off. In 1658, a law was passed in Massachusetts (which had authority over the province of Maine), that banished Quakers from the colony and instituted death by hanging for those who were found in violation of the law. In 1659, three Quakers were arrested and sentenced to hang. They were William Robinson, Marmaduke Stephenson, and Mary Dyer. The two men were hanged first and Mary was given a reprieve. Mary Dyer refused to be deterred from her evangelism and returned to Massachusetts the next year and she too was then hanged. I wrote about her death and my ancestor, Humphrey Atherton in this post. 

In 1659, Thomas lost his right to vote for entertaining Quakers. He was part of a larger group of Quakers and Quaker sympathizers who lived in the Berwick area. At one time, they gave shelter to three Quaker women who were driven out of Dover, New Hampshire after being stripped to the waist and whipped until bloody. 

The couple was frequently in trouble with the courts regarding their religious practices. In 1663, they were presented for "neglecting to come to the publique meeteing on the Lords day to heare the word preached for about the space of 3 Moenths." In July 1675, they were presented for the same offense. Thomas and Patience are not listed as being Quakers but they lived in an area with a large Quaker population, were obviously not interested in the local church, and were willing to sacrifice their own rights and comforts for the Quakers. 

Children of Thomas & Patience (Chadbourne) Spencer:

1. William b. abt 1630
2. Margaret b. abt 1632
3. Susanna b. abt 1636
4. Humphrey b. abt. 1638
5. Elizabeth b. abt 1640
6. Moses b. abt 1642

My Line: 
Thomas Spencer
Margaret Spencer
Elizabeth Goodwin
Elizabeth Emery
Benjamin Tarbox
Jedidiah Tarbox
Patience Smith
Sarah Shepard
Laura E. Emmons
Estes Gilbert Yates
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Sources: 
Chadbourne.org

Tombstone Tuesday - Simeon Brown

The stories of the death of Simeon in the Civil War can be found here and here.

A Fresh Start - 52 Ancestors #1

Amy Johnson Crow is restarting her 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge for the New Year. This time she will provide some prompts for blog ideas. I will start off trying to use the prompts but if it becomes too burdensome to find an ancestor who fits, I'll venture off on my own tangent. I know the 52 in 52 aspect got me really back into blogging when I was flagging a bit last year. I finished with the same number of posts as the previous two years.

So prompt #1 is called "Fresh Start" and it took me a bit to find my inspiration. I actually had the next three prompts all written before this one...

"Three studies of fishermen" by William Henry Pyne,
Royal Museums Greenwich is licensed under CC BY 2.0

I settled on Nicholas Edgecomb, an early Maine settler and my 9th great-grandfather. Nicholas came to about 1638 to Richmond Island as a fisherman in the employ of Mr. Robert Trelawney. Mr. Trelawney was a merchant from Plymouth, England. Nicholas appears on the books of Mr. Trelawney off and on for the next several years. In 1640 he is found living at Blue Point on the patent of Mr. Thomas Lewis and Capt. Richard Bonython in the area now known as Scarborough, and by 1660  he had moved to Saco. Later his son, Robert, would marry the granddaughter of the patent holder, Thomas Lewis.


Nicholas Edgecomb's wife, Wilmot Randall, also had a fresh start in a new country. She came from England to work as a maid for Mistress Trelawney. In fact, she was in Maine less than a year before she married Nicholas and he had to repay her contract to the Trelawneys. According to records summarized by Walter Goodwin Davis, he paid a little over 6 pounds to the Trelawneys on her behalf.

Although they lived very modestly, Nicholas & Wilmot (Randall) Edgecomb made a fresh start and secured a life for themselves and their children on the Maine frontier. During King Philip's War all of his sons served in the garrison at Black Point (later combined with Blue Point to become Scarborough). His great-grandson, Gibbins Edgecomb served in three campaigns in the Revolutionary War at Falmouth, Maine (1776), Fishkill (1778) & West Point, New York (1778-1779).

Nicholas Edgecomb
Robert Edgecomb
Thomas Edgecomb
Gibbins Edgecomb
Thomas Edgecomb
Mary Edgecomb
Benjamin Perley Philbrick
Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

2014 Accentuate the Positive

Jill Ball who writes the blog, GeniAus, has issued her annual reminder to genealogy researchers to focus on all you have accomplished in the past year. I didn't write a post for last year but I decided I should do one for this year. Those who participate in this challenge delete or modify the prompts depending on their personal circumstances so check out all her original ideas of things to celebrate! 

An elusive ancestor I found was Ellen Pell who turned out to be connected to my tree in three different ways. 

A precious family photo I found was a picture of my grandparents that my cousin, Justine, sent to me. Later my mother went through her pictures and gave me a bunch to scan during the coming year. 

Clayton & Linona "Peggy" Blake

An ancestor's grave I found was that of Harriet May Blake, my grandfather's mother. 

An important record I found was my 5th great-grandfather's name on a list of Revolutionary War participants. He was a Revolutionary War surgeon and trained his son-in-law, my 4th great-grandfather. 

A newly found family member shared some DNA. Okay, maybe that is stretching the meaning of this one abit but I am thrilled to actually be getting some genuine matches on my Ancestry DNA. I also uploaded my results to Family Tree DNA and Gedmatch but I'm still trying to figure it all out. 

A geneasurprise I received was my Christmas present from my sons, daughter-in-law, daughter-in-law-to-be, and grandson. They paid for 2 nights in the Providence Biltmore with parking and my registration to the New England Regional Genealogical Conference! I am so excited because I didn't think I would be able to go but they thought of and arranged everything. 

My 2014 blog post that I was particularly proud of was The Importance of Family because it was so difficult to write about losing my uncle and little did I know that I would lose his younger brother, my favorite uncle, just a few weeks later. I still haven't been able to write about him but maybe this year. 

My 2014 blog post that received a large number of hits or comments was Humphrey Atherton's Quaker Curse?

A new piece of software I mastered was RootsMagic. I'm not sure I've mastered it but I was looking for a program that was similar to Legacy but would run on a Mac. RootsMagic came out with a "bridge" version so I can run it on my computer. I still really love Legacy Family Tree but they need a Mac version. 

A social media tool I enjoyed using for genealogy was Facebook because I get lots of comments there on the blog posts that I share, the groups for various genealogy topics, and it helps me find new connections to others researching the same areas or ancestors. 

 I am proud of the presentation  (direction) I gave to my students who chose to research their families for their end-of-the-year project in my U.S. History class. You can read some of their accomplishments in research in my post, Family History Project 2014. 

A genealogy book that taught me something new was A Storm of Witchcraft by Emerson W. Baker. I'm not finished reading it yet but many of my ancestors are part of the history of this time.  

A new genealogy/history book I enjoyed was A Knock At The Door: A Mother's Survival of the Armenian Genocide by Margaret Anhert. It was painful to read at times but it was an important reminder of listening to the stories of our parents and grandparents and trying to understand them before it's too late. 

It was exciting (for my grandson) to finally meet my grandmother and to get a five- generation picture taken. 

Five Generations

Linona "Peggy" Blake, seated
Cameron Stephen Taylor, Pamela Carter, holding Samuel Owen Taylor, and Myrna White

A geneadventure I enjoyed was revisiting the Pemaquid Museum. I know now that John Cogswell, whose trunk survived the wreck of the Angel Gabriel at Pemaquid in 1635, is my 11th great-grandfather. 

2014 Visit

2012 Post

Another positive I would like to share is that I love the interactions with other geneabloggers! They are such a friendly bunch and so helpful. I really enjoy the inspiration they give me to continue to tell my ancestors' stories. 

Jill Ball's blog, GeniAus Accentuate the Positive Challenge

2014 Blog Recap - Happy New Year!

These stories received the most views: 
#1 - 09/14/14 - 470 Views - Humphrey Atherton's Quaker Curse

#2 - 05/10/14 - 361 Views - James Cole & the Horse in the Parlor

#3 - 11/30/14 - 235 Views - Happy St. Andrew's Day

#4 - 09/21/14 - 210 Views - Revolutionary War Surgeon

#5 - 03/29/14 - 154 Views - James Gibbons

#6 - 06/18/14 - 153 Views - Religion in Schools & Spanking Other People's Kids

#7 - 06/10/14 - 145 Views - Family History Project 2014

#8 - 03/29/14 - 118 Views - Thomas Lewis

#9 - 03/29/14 - 111 Views - Samuel Andrews

#10 - 02/21/14 - 102 Views - Christopher Grant

The three stories that were the most memorable or meaningful to me 

#1 - Five Generations Times Two!
#2 - The Importance of Family
#3 - Family History Project 2014








The stories that were the most interesting for me to research and write

#1 - Butcher Pirate and Ghost or Respected Fisherman?
#2 - The Original Bachelor
#3 - The Interesting Deaths of Thomas & Mary (Parker) Totman
#4 - She Wore the Pants in the Family
#5 - Squire of the Little Village
#6 - Love Letter to a Future Wife
#7 - The Homefront
#8 - Even the Drunkards Thank Us!
#9 - Two Murderers, One Gallows
#10 - A Pirate's Life and Ironic Death