Hail To The Chief

Many presidents have connections to New England colonists and if your tree includes New England colonial families, it is not unusual to find that you are distantly related to those presidents. The following information about the lineage of Presidents Grant and Coolidge comes from NEHGS Nexus Volume 14, page 29. Happy Presidents' Day

"Ulysses Grant 1870-1880"
by Brady-Handy Photograph Collection
(Library of Congress)
Licensed under Public Domain 

"Calvin Coolidge cph.3g10777"
by Notman Studio, Boston. Restoration by User:Adam Cuerden
 Licensed under Public Domain via Commons 

Oliver & Thomasine Purchase are my 11th great-grandparents. Bernard & Joan (Purchase) Capen are my 10th great-grandparents. John & Mary (Bass) Capen are my 9th great-grandparents. Ulysses S. Grant is my 7th cousin, 4 times removed. He is a descendant of Bernard & Joan Capen's daughter, Susanna. Susanna Capen married William Rockwell. Calvin Coolidge is my 8th cousin, twice removed. He is a descendant of John & Mary (Bass) Capen's son, Joseph. Joseph Capen married Priscilla Appleton.

           My Line -
           Oliver & Thomasine Purchase
           Bernard & Joan (Purchase) Capen
           John & Mary (Bass) Capen
           James & Hannah (Lawrence) Capen
           James & Elizabeth (Call) Capen
           James & Sarah (Pinson) Capen
           Thomas & Mary (Wyman) Capen
           Thomas & Mary (Abbott) Capen
           Timothy & Sarah (Abbott) Capen
           Edward & Mary Jane (Abbott) Capen
           Edward & Fanny (Capen) Carter
          T. Richard Carter - my grandfather

Falmouth (Portland) Maine Church Baptisms & Admissions

In honor of the February birthdays of Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass, here are some records from the First Church of Falmouth, Maine. Falmouth is now Portland. You probably don't think of slaves being part of life in New England, but a little research reveals its existence was much more common than one might believe.

page 5
Traphena, negro child belonging to Maj. Moodey and born in his house.

page 15
1745
Coffee, a negro man servant to Mr. Bucknam, a.

page 19
Adults baptised
Phillis, a negro servant belonging to Mrs. Frost, b.
Rose, a negro servant belonging to Moses Pearson, Esq., b.

page 29
1784
Portsmouth, negro, c. Sept. 26.

page 49 - The following persons were married by the Rev. Thomas Smith. These records are in the handwriting of Mr. Smith, all upon one page, but as the ink has at least three shades it is not probably that all were recorded at one sitting. Why he omitted to enter upon the church book his earlier and later marriages is not explained.

1753
Negro Prince and Indian

page 73
Hager, a negro child belonging to Jeremy Riggs, August 13, 1727.
Hager, a negro child belonging to myself, 1739.

page 103
Triphena, a negro child belonging to Maj. Moody, and born in his house, 1726.
Triphosa, a negro child belonging to Samuel Moody, who came under particular engagements for its religious education, June 10, 1733.

Source
King, Marquis Fayette. ... Baptisms and Admission from the Records of First Church in Falmouth, Now Portland, Maine. Portland, Me.: Maine Genealogical Society, 1898. Internet Archive. MSN, 8 Sept. 2008. Web. 11 Apr. 2015.

Reynor - The Whipping of the Quaker Women

The Dover Public Library has a nice section of historical information on their website.  In the essay, The Whipping of the Quaker Women, I found a few genealogical connections. This incident took place in 1662.

My first connection is to "Dover's powerful Congregational minister John Reynor." The three Quaker women who had come from England to minister to the people of Dover, NH were in frequent conflict with Rev. Reynor and challenged his authority.

After petitioning the local magistrate, Capt. Richard Walderne (Waldron), local constables were ordered to remove "these vagabond Quakers, Ann Coleman, Mary Tompkins, and Alice Ambrose" from their towns. The punishment was to be painful and humiliating: "make them fast to the cart's tail, and driving the cart through your several towns, to whip their naked backs, not exceeding ten stripes apiece on each of them, in each town; and so to convey them from constable to constable, till they are out of this jurisdiction." This trip was made in winter and over a distance of eighty miles.

My next connection is to John and Thomas Roberts, constables of Dover, who were responsible for arresting the women.

After they were whipped and tied to the cart in Dover, the women were delivered to Hampton and the constable there carried out the order, next it was on to Salisbury, where Sergeant Major Robert Pike refused to carry out the order.

Dr. Walter Barefoot treated the women's torn backs and the women were then taken to the Maine side of the Piscataqua River and stayed at the home of Major Nicholas Shapleigh of Kittery.

Rev. John Reynor (9th great-grandfather), Anna Reynor, Anna Lane, Jemima Foster, Joseph Spurr, Enoch Spurr, Roxanna Spurr, Mary Frances Stanley, Edward M. Carter, T. Richard Carter - my grandfather.

Thomas Roberts (11th great-grandfather), constable, Anna Roberts, James Philbrick, Ebenezer Philbrick, Ruth Philbrick, Philemon Rand, Lydia Rand, Tryphenia Lunt, John Henry Cotton, Francis Llewellyn Cotton, Ray Everett Cotton, F. Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother.

John Roberts (11th great-granduncle), constable

Phebe Ann Jacobs Remembered

Uncle Tom's Cabin, 
Boston Edition

Is it possible that a former slave living in Brunswick, Maine, inspired Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin? For more on Phebe Ann Jacobs, click on the link below. This research was inspired by a tribute I found when looking at old newspapers. Here is a transcription of the news article.






The Portland Weekly Advertiser, Portland, ME, Vol. LII, Issue 15, page 2.

April 16, 1850

Honor to Black Phebe. - Black Phebe, an old negro woman, born a slave, died in Brunswick on the 5th and was buried the 7th of last month.  - When carried to the grave, her pall was borne by no less noted characters than Ex-Gov. R.P. Dunlap, Prof. A.S. Packard of Bowdoin College, Dr. Isaac Lincoln, a most distinguished physician and surgeon of Brunswick, and John McKeen, Esq., Treasurer of Bowdoin College. The principle mourners that followed the corpse were Rev. Dr. Allen, late President of the College, and his two daughters, who repaired from Northampton, Mass., where they now live, to attend the funeral. She was buried in a grave dug by the side of President Allen's wife, and a daughter, who died whilst he resided in Brunswick. The funeral services were held in the Congregational Church, near the Colleges, and an effecting sermon was preached by Rev. Dr. Adams, Pastor of that Church. What called forth all these distinguished honors over the remains of a negro woman? It was her Christian character, which is to be honored as much in a black as in a white. The following is a brief account of her life: - 

'She was born a slave on the famous Beverwyck estate in Hanover, Morris county, near Newark, N.J. In early life she entered as a servant in the family of President Wheelock, of Dartmouth College, and living in his family and that of his daughters, Maria Malleville Allen the wife of President Allen of Bowdoin College, forty years. For the last eighteen years she lived alone in her house and she died alone and suddenly. In the same night and probably in the same hour, died her friend the wife of Rev. Dr. Adams. 

This circumstance added peculiar interest and pathos to his discourse. He said, that if his beloved companion (then lying dead, to be buried the next day) could have been permitted to choose an attendant spirit, as she passed through the dark valley, and in her upward flight to the paradise of God, doubtless she would have chosen Phebe. Black Phebe!, he exclaimed, she has sometimes been called; but her soul is whiter and purer than the light, and her heavenly garments more resplendent than the sun shining in his brightness.'
(Augusta Banner.)    

More About Phebe Ann Jacobs
Bowdoin College
Biography of Rev. Dr. William Allen