Law & Order in Plymouth Colony

This is a reposting of something I wrote in 2012. 
There is nothing more horrifying than the violent death of child. On July 22, 1648, the bloody body of a four year old child was discovered in her Plymouth home...

Alice Martin was married to her second husband, Richard Bishop and had three small children in her home. Abigail & Martha Clark were daughters from her first marriage and she had a daughter, Damaris, with Richard. 



A neighbor, Rachel (Eaton) Ramsden, came by the Bishop home on the morning and saw

Martha sleeping in the loft with no apparent injury. Alice Bishop sent Rachel to fetch some buttermilk from the Winslow home and when Rachel returned she noticed blood at the foot of the ladder and asked Alice about it. Alice pointed to the loft and "bid [Rachel to] look." Frightened that Martha was dead, Rachel ran to tell her parents. When the Plymouth Coroners entered the Bishop home, they saw the blood at the bottom of the ladder and found Martha dressed in her shift and lying on her left side. Her throat has been slashed multiple times, severing her windpipe. There was a knife lying beside the dead child. Alice confessed to the murder of her daughter. She would repeat her confession on August 1st. 

The trial was held in October 1648 and Alice was found guilty of willful murder and sentenced to be hanged. Unfortunately, the records leave many unanswered questions. The obvious question is what motive did Alice have to kill her daughter but I also wonder where the rest of the family was when the murder occurred. Check out this blog for a more thorough treatment of this case. The author has graciously allowed me to base this post off her extensive research. 


Given the relatively small population of Plymouth at the time, estimated between 1500-2000, it is not surprising to find a number of connections between my family and this case. Both the Cotton and the Yates lines have multiple connections to the early Plymouth settlers. 

Cotton: 
Rachel Eaton Ramsden - the neighbor who reported the murder - 10th Great Grandaunt

Members of the Petit Jury
John Howland - 12th Great Grandfather
Giles Rickard - husband of 11th Great Grandaunt
Thomas Pope - husband of another 11th Great Grandaunt 
Francis Billington - 2nd husband of 11th Great Grandmother & Rachel's step-father

Members of the Grand Jury
John Dunham - 10th Great Grandfather
Daniel Cole - 11th Great Grandfather

Yates:
Members of the Petit Jury
James Cole - 10th Great Grandfather
James Hurst - 10th Great Grandfather
John Shaw - 10th Great Grandfather

Members of the Grand Jury
Ephraim Hicks - 10th Great Granduncle
Love Brewster - husband of 10th Great Grandaunt

Sources:
http://alicemartinbishop.com/

Cold & Confused - A Deadly Combination

On December 8, 1661, a coroner's jury was impanelled to "view the dead body of Thirston Clarke, Senior, of Duxburrow." Thirston (Thurston) had come to an unfortunate end. According to the court record, he was found on a place called the "Longe Point" that belonged to Joseph Andrews. His body was ice-covered and the cause of death was determined to be exposure to the elements. The facts seem to be that he was returning home from Plymouth to Duxbury and was close to home when his tracks in the snow indicate he became confused and wandered about aimlessly before succumbing to the effects of the cold temperatures and icy waters. His belongings were scattered a over a short distance and before discovering his body, searchers found his basket, his cap, staff, and one mitten, each one closer to the body than the previous object. Mr. Clark was approximately 71 years old.

Thurston Clark was from Ipswich, England and emigrated in 1634 on the Francis. He settled first in Plymouth and in 1652, moved to Duxbury. He was survived by his wife, Faith, and three children.
His daughter, Faith, married Mayflower passenger, Edward Doty on January 6, 1634/5. After his death, she married John Phillips on March 14, 1666/7. He was predeceased by three daughters who died in England, Frances, Mary, and Abigail. He and Faith had two sons, Thurston, and Henry, who were not mentally capable of caring for themselves. These two sons were reliant on others in the town to care of them after the parents died.

Thurston (Tristan) Clark was my 11th great-grandfather
Faith Clark & Edward Doty
Mary Doty
Mary Churchill
Mary Stevens
Eleazer Cole
Calvin Cole
Calvin Cole
Apphia Cole
George Hayes
Eva Hayes
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Surname Saturday - Rand

I am going to make an attempt to post about one surname each Saturday as part of the geneabloggers.com prompt series. I've been having trouble finding/making time to work on and write about my genealogy and maybe having a goal will help.

Francis Rand came to New Hampshire with Capt. John Mason, who had been given a land grant by King James I of England. This would be the King James who commissioned the popular King James Bible. Captain Mason sent several shiploads of settlers and supplies but never came to New Hampshire himself. 

Today's story comes in part from the Hampton Memorial Library page and involves the Brackett's Lane Massacre that occurred on the 29th of September 1691. An estimated 20-40 Indians landed at Sandy Beach and attacked some families who were not protected by the garrison. Some of the men were out cutting hay. After an alarm was sounded and word sent to the nearest militia, a group of men was dispatched the next day. By then, the attack was over. Overall, about twenty people were lost including two old men and some women and children. Ten bodies were found and three were found burned in their houses. Seven were missing and presumed carried into captivity. Children who were too young to be taken to Canada were "dashed against a large rock that stood on what is now Wallis Road, near Brackett Road." The account on the library page says this rock was removed to make way for a new road. One of my favorite genealogy bloggers, Heather Wilkinson Rojo, also wrote an account of this event and has pictures of the memorial markers that commemorate this event.

Francis Rand's wife, Christina/Christian, was also killed by Indians prior to this event. She was old and nearly bind and one day she had a premonition. She begged her husband not to go to the mill because she sensed Indians around and was scared to be alone. He didn't take her seriously because he didn't believe there were any Indians in the area. He took his corn to the mill and upon returning, he found his wife had been killed and scalped. The death of Francis wasn't the end of the family members being killed by Indians.  The History of Durham states that their son, John Rand and his wife, Rembrance Ault, were probably killed by Indians in 1694.

The other family that lost their patriarch that September day was Anthony Brackett and the attack is called the Brackett's Lane massacre because it was concentrated near his house. He is my 9th great-grandfather on my mother's side. Brackett's Lane is now known as Brackett's Road. But I'll save the Bracketts for another day.

Picture from ancestry.com submitted by arch0945

Francis Rand & Christina/Christian

John Rand & Remembrance Ault

Nathaniel Rand & Elizabeth Marden

Joshua Rand & Ruth Philbrick

Philemon Rand & Sarah Rand - Yes, they are first cousins according to my research but I'm still checking sources to verify it.

Lazarus Rand & Elizabeth "Betsey" Clark

Eunice Rand & Timothy Cox

Christiana Cox & John H. Cotton

Francis Llewellyn Cotton & Nina K. Ellingwood

Ray Everett Cotton & Annie Florilla Gibbs

Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother


Sources:
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/history/military/brackettslanemassacre.htm
http://archive.org/details/historyoftownofd02stac

A Wall of Fire

I'm sure you've heard the term "brick wall" in genealogy. Well, I have a  "fire wall." I am trying to find the parents of Elizabeth "Betsy" Clark born 9 Oct 1758 in Falmouth (Portland) and died 23 Feb 1839 in Minot (Auburn), according to records in Woodstock, Maine. Betsy married Lazarus Rand just about time that the Revolutionary War broke out. She was recovering from the very difficult birth of their first child, James, when Lazarus sailed on the Bagaduce Expedition (more on that in another post).

I have scoured my usual places for records pertaining to Betsy and then while reading the pension file of Lazarus, I find the following affidavit from the town clerk in Falmouth.

From Pension File of Lazarus Rand

For those who would like some help with the handwriting, it reads, "I further state that in the month of October 1849 the Records of this town were destroyed by fire, and there are now no records of marriages intentions of marriages or Births for said town from 1700 to 1849 as all the town Records refer to the time above named were destroyed as above stated in 1849. John Noyes Town Clerk of Falmouth." 

And that folks is my Wall of Fire - Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" has been running through my head ever since I found this. 

I fell in to a burning ring of fire I went down, down ,down and the flames went higher. And it burns, burns, burns the ring of fire the ring of fire.

Lazarus Rand & Elizabeth Clark
Eunice Rand & Timothy Cox
Christiana Cox & John H. Cotton
Francis Llewellyn Cotton & Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Everett Cotton & Annie Florilla Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Literary Connections

Thomas Philbrick testified against his neighbor, Eunice "Goody" Cole (age 36) when she was accused of witchcraft in 1656. The court solicited testimony from two dozen witnesses. Evidence of the occult included strange scrapings on houses, fierce cats appearing and disappearing, and a private conversation that was somehow known to the accused. The charges against her included the death of an infant girl, illness of a man and the destruction of domestic animals. Thomas Philbrick's testimony revolved around a statement by Goody Cole that if his calves ate any of her grass "she wished it might poysen them or choke them." He continued to say that he never saw one of his calves again and "the other calfe came home and died aboute a weeke after." (Dow, History of Hampton)


The year after Thomas Philbrick testified against Goody Cole, his son John, John's wife Ann (Knapp), their daughter Sarah and five others drowned when their sloop sank just outside the harbor as they headed to Boston. The town records state, "The sad hand of God upon eight psons goeing in a vessell by sea from Hampton to boston, who were all swallowed up in the ocean soon after they were out of the Harbour."  Given the superstitious nature of the community, the blame was placed on Goody Cole. This event became the inspiration John Greenleaf Whittier's poem, "The Wreck of the Rivermouth."

In 1680 when she was buried, the men of the town were frightened by her witchcraft conviction so they put a stake through her heart with a horseshoe hanging on the end. This was supposed to prevent the Devil from releasing her spirit to bewitch the community. 

The Rock in the Foreground Marks the Spot Where Poor Old "Goody" Was Reputed to Be Buried,
Impaled With a Stake. The Shack She Lived and Died in Stood About Where the Log Cabin Is.
The Historic Town Hall is Shown in Center Background 

Thomas Philbrick & Elizabeth Knapp
James Philbrick & Anna Roberts
James Philbrick & Hannah Perkins
Ebenezer Philbrick & Bethia Marston
Ruth Philbrick & Joshua Rand
Philemon Rand & Sarah Rand
Lazarus Rand & Elizabeth "Betsy" Clark  
Eunice Rand & Timothy Cox
Christiana Cox & John Cotton
Francis Llewellyn Cotton & Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Cotton & Annie Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton


Second Line:
Lydia Rand (d. of Philemon) & John Lunt
Tryphenia Lunt & William Cotton 
John Cotton & Christiana Cox 


Sources:
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/pooroldgoodycole.htm 
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/goodydemos.htm