Running from the Law - 52 Ancestors #41

Henry Jaques, Jr. is my 8th great-uncle. He was born in 1649,  the son of Henry & Anna (Knight) Jaques. In 1666, at the age of 17, Henry got himself into some trouble with the law and fled, possibly with some help from his father. Henry Jr. was found guilty of fornication with Elnor Bryner. 

Elnor was left to face the charges alone and was sentenced to be whipped or pay a fine of £5. Her fine was paid by John Knight. 








The court dealt harshly with Henry Jaques, Jr. He was ordered to appear in court or the penalty would be the forfeiture of 30% of his estate and the loss of the right to vote. Henry ended up with two fines. The first was for £30, six times what Elnor paid! He paid a second fine two months later, but the amount of the second payment is unknown. 



Henry married Anne Trueman, probably about 1673. They had four children.

Sources:
Essex Quarterly Court records
The Ancestry of Phoebe Tilton  by Walter Goodwin Davis

Henry Jaques, Sr. 
Elizabeth (Jaques) Knight
Henry Knight
Eunice (Knight) Sawyer
Hannah (Sawyer) Hilton
Catherine (Hilton) Churchill
Loann (Churchill) Rowe
Anna J. (Rowe) Hayes
Eva D. (Hayes) Yates
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Violating the Sabbath - Elizabeth Eddy

Samuel and Elizabeth (___) Eddy had to put three of their sons out to live and work in other families because they could not afford to bring them up. I wrote about this in 2012: Too Many Mouths To Feed. Here are some other references to the Eddy family.

Samuel Eddy regularly hired one of the cows which were maintained for the town's poor [PTR 1:4, 19, 20, 27, 28]. 

On 7 October 1651 the grand jury presented "Elizabeth Eeddy, Seni[or], of the town of Plym[outh], for laboring, that is to say, for wringing and hanging out clothes, on the Lord's day, in time of public exercise" [PCR2:173]. 

On 1 May 1660, "Elizabeth Eedey was summoned to the Court, and appeared, to make answer for her traveling on the Lord's day from Plymouth to Boston; and affirmed that she was necessitated to go on that day, in regard to Mistris Saffin was very weak and sent for her, with an earnest desire to see her in her weakness, with some other pleas of like nature. The Court considering some circumstances in her answer, although they saw not a sufficient excuse for her fact therein, saw cause to admonish her, and so she was discharged of the Court" [PCR 3:186]. 

Children of Samuel & Elizabeth (___) Eddy include: (There may have been more since both Samuel and Elizabeth are referred to as "senior" but there is no other evidence.)

1. John was born on December 25, 1637. 
2. Zachariah was born about 1639. 
3. Caleb was born about 1643. 
4. Obadiah was born about 1645. 
5. Hannah was born in June 1647. 

Samuel Eddy

John Eddy

Alice Eddy

Giles Leach

Elizabeth Leach

Lucy Shurtleff

Calvin Cole, Sr. 

Calvin Cole, Jr. 

Apphia Cole

George Hayes

Eva D. Hayes

Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Faith Jewett - 52 Ancestors #40

This week's 52 Ancestors optional theme is "October" and it was suggested to choose an ancestor who was born in October.

Faith Jewett was the daughter of Maximillian & Ann (___) Jewett and she was my 8X great-grandmother. She was born in Rowley on October 8, 1652 and died on February 26, 1737. She married Samuel Dowse on March (or January, depending on the source) 7, 1677 in Newbury. She was his second wife. Samuel was the son of Lawrence & Martha (___) Dowse and was a deacon in the Charlestown church. Samuel died on February 26, 1735, and left an estate totalling £347.

Like most women of the time, Faith doesn't show up in many records. She is mentioned in her father's will. He left her £40 that he had already paid her and also half of his ninety-six acres of land in Bradford, about two and a half acres of salt and rough marsh in the place called Cowbridge, and an additional £10 to be paid to her by her brother, Joseph.

Children of Samuel & Faith (Jewett) Dowse - All the children were born in Charlestown.

1. Anna was born on December 19, 1677. 
2. Samuel was born on November 19, 1679. 
3. John was born on November 10, 1681, and died of fever on January 30, 1703. 
4. Martha was born on November 18, 1683.
5. Mary was born on April 17, 1686, and married Thomas Harris. 
6. Maximillian was born on October 12, 1688, and married Sarah Fosdick. 
7. Sarah was born on March 19, 1691, and married William Pinson. 
8. Ebenezer was born on September 10, 1693, and died in 1781. 

Samuel & Faith (Jewett) Dowse
Sarah (Dowse) Pinson
Sarah (Pinson) Capen
Thomas Capen
Thomas Capen, Jr.
Timothy Capen
Edward Abbott Capen
Fannie May Capen
T. Richard Carter - my grandfather

Onesipherous Marsh - 52 Ancestors #39

The optional theme for 52 Ancestors this week is "unusual" and I can't think of a better name to write about than Onesiphorus Marsh. The name Onesiphorus comes from the New Testament and is found in Second Timothy. Onesiphorus was one of seventy disciples chosen to preach and Onesiphorus was a bishop in Asia Minor and later in Corinth. He died a martyr in the city of Parium, near Ephesus. Both the Orthodox and Roman Catholic churches consider him a Saint.

Onesiphorus Marsh was the second son of George & Elizabeth (__) Marsh. The other children had very common names: Mary, Thomas, and Elizabeth. Onesiphorus was born about 1630 and died on May 15, 1713 in Haverhill, Massachusetts. He was married three times. His first marriage was to Hannah Cutler, his second marriage was to Elizabeth Parrott (Parrat), and his third marriage was to Sarah Travers. Elizabeth was the widow of Samuel Worcester and Sarah was the widow of Nicholas Wallingford.

While living in Haverhill, the town came under attack on March 15, 1697. Nine houses were burned, twenty-seven people were killed, and thirteen people were taken prisoner. One of those prisoners was *Hannah (Emerson) Duston. Although she was taken prisoner after her baby was killed, her husband was able to take the other children to safety in the garrison house of Onesiphorus Marsh. Hannah would later kill and scalp her captors and escape. She has been both praised and condemned for her actions. Onesiphorus Marsh's daughter, Hannah (Marsh) Kimball, and young grandson, John Kimball, also lost their lives in the attack.




Children of Onesiphorus & Hannah (Cutler) Marsh

1. Onesiphorus was born on November 5, 1655, and married Sarah Ladd. He died in 1732. 
2. Hannah was born on June 28, 1657, and married Henry Kimball. It is reported that she and her son, John, were killed in the attack on March 15, 1697. John would have been about five and a half years old and Hannah would have been just shy of her 40th birthday. 
3. Mary was born on May 12, 1659, and married Cornelius Page on January 16, 1684. She had five children before she died on November 12, 1697.  
4. John was born on August 19, 1663, and married Lydia Emerson. Lydia died in February 1720. John married second, widow Mary Eaton. 
5. Thomas was born on October 20, 1666, and died in November 1690.
6. Sarah was born on February 26, 1669, and married a man named Pike. She died on July 9, 1738. 
7. Abigail was born on February 21, 1671, and married Abiel Mercer. Abigail was raised by her uncle, John Page. Abiel was the of Richard & Hannah (Shatswell) Mercer, another set of ancestors. 

Onesiphorus & Hannah (Cutler) Marsh

Abigail (Marsh) Messer

Thomas Messer
Daniel Messer
Hannah (Messer) Blake
Micajah Blake
Galen Blake
Charles G. Blake
Harriet May Blake
Clayton Leonard Blake - my grandfather

Richard & Hannah (Shatswell) Mercer
Abiel & Abigail (Marsh) Mercer/Messer - see above

*Hannah (Emerson) Duston - 6th great-aunt of Clayton Blake - my grandfather. Her brother, Joshua Emerson was my grandfather's 6th great-grandfather. Joshua Emerson - Joshua Emerson, Jr., Sarah (Emerson) Messer, Hannah (Messer) Blake - see the rest of this line above.

Prisoner Exchange - Samuel Denning

Samuel Dennen/Denning served on a privateer in the Revolutionary War. He had the misfortune to be taken prisoner and sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia. Unfortunately, my search for additional information has not yielded much. The best information comes from a listing that tells of his return in a prisoner exchange on September 30, 1778.  The Revolutionary War, by Charles Patrick Neimeyer, notes that privateers who were captured by the British posed a real dilemma. Normally, pirates were sent to the gallows, but these enemy combatants were different. Many were pressured to join the British navy and doing so would increase the chance of surviving the war. The British were reluctant to consider them prisoners-of-war because that would be admitting that the United States was an independent nation. However, executing all those captured on the land and at sea was not practical either. It would greatly inflame the passions of the already highly motivated Patriots. In the end, several hundred American sailors were taken to Halifax, Nova Scotia and kept in a sugar house. I have no idea what happened to Samuel from his return until the end of the war. Did he continue his activities? 

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors, Vol. 4

A descendant applied for a veteran's gravestone and seems to have struggled to prove his service. It does appear that both the Sons & Daughters of the American Revolution have awarded membership to his descendants. His grave can be viewed on Findagrave.com here. 

Samuel Dennen married Keziah Bray on March 14, 1754 in Gloucester, Massachusetts and at some point they moved to Maine. Thier children were: 

1. Judith born in 1754
2. Abigail born in 1756
3. Job born in 1760
4. Mary born in 1762
5. George born in 1767
6. Simeon born in 1771

Samuel Dennen

Judith (Dennen) Morgan

Martha (Morgan) Yates

Moses Yates

Gilbert W. Yates

Estes G. Yates

Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

Sources:
DunhamWilcox

An Unhealthy Obsession

Sarah Whipple was fifteen years old when a man named John Hobbs developed an unhealthy obsession with her. Sarah was my 8th great grandaunt, the daughter of my 9th great-grandparents, John & Sarah (Kent) Whipple. Her mother died when she was an infant and her father remarried, Elizabeth Woodman. When this happened, she was living in Newbury with her uncle, Richard Kent and it was Richard who filed the complaint against John Hobbs of Newbury in the Ipswich courts. I believe this is the John Hobbs who was born in 1652 to Thomas & Martha Hobbs. That would make him twenty years old and five-six years older than Sarah. 

Initially, Hobbs was found guilty and sentenced, but he appealed and was released on bond. He failed to appear at his next court appearance on September 24, 1672. He continued to "abuse her by many scandalous defamations and threatened to have the blood of any person that shall come to her under any pretense of love." Her father, John Whipple, then urged the court to bring Hobbs to answer for his behavior.

Sarah's testimony in the matter says that Hobbs had stated to her uncle that he would not allow any man to court her or it "would be the death of him" that tried. Rebecca Long backed up Sarah's testimony. (Rebecca is my 9th great-grandmother.) Beriah Browne testified that Hobbs told him that "he would be the death of any man who sought Sary Whipple in marriage and God's blud I think you are the man." Henry Akers testified that Hobbs also threatened Richard Doell and Beriah Browne because he suspected they were interested in Sarah.

Six months after failing to show up for his appeal, the Court record of March 25, 1673, reads "John Hobbs, for profane swearing the threatening to kill, for railing and shamefully abusing Sarah Whipple, and for not prosecuting his appeal at the last Ipswich court, was bound to good behavior, especially to Richard Kent and Sarah Whipple, and not to come into her company."

John Hobbs does not appear in the court record on this matter again. Sarah Whipple married Henry Short, Jr. on March 30, 1674.  There is no record of what reaction John Hobbs had to this event. What is known is that John Hobbs was one of the men killed during the Bloody Brook massacre on September 18, 1675.

Monument to those killed at Bloody Brook

John & Sarah (Kent) Whipple
Matthew Whipple - brother of Sarah
Dorothy (Whipple) Perkins
Ann (Perkins) Packard
Cynthia (Packard) Dunham
James Dunham, Jr.
Florilla (Dunham) Ellingwood
Nina (Ellingwood) Gibbs
Annie (Gibbs) Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Pigs & Bacon - 52 Ancestors #38

One of my favorite stories about an ancestor because it is so funny to know that someone named Bacon got in trouble for stealing pigs. 

I bought a copy of Diane Rapaport's, New England Court Records, which is primarily a source book detailing repositories of early court records. Near the back of the book she recounts several interesting stories. One she originally wrote as a magazine article caught my eye. She calls this story "The Case of the Purloined Pigs." The story itself was interesting enough but even better to find my ancestor was the one doing the purloining (if that isn't a word, it should be). 

Michael Bacon, (you have to smile at the irony), showed up at the house of William Munro, of Cambridge Farms, after a late November snowstorm looking for his pigs. He was known for letting his pigs wander and this time they had traveled a considerable distance from his home in present-day Bedford. After separating Bacon's pigs from those of the Munro family, the Munros went about their business. Bacon's pigs did not seem to take kindly to being told where to go and soon returned to the Munro's. This time Michael did not take the time to sort them out. He just started herding them all away, toward his home. Martha Munro yelled for him to stop but he ignored her, prompting William to put on some snowshoes and go after him. 

Today this is about 4.5 miles on a nice road ~ 9 minutes by car, but it was over the meadow and through the woods in 1662.

William Munro was a tough Scotsman who had worked his way from Scottish prisoner of war to indentured servant to landowner. His livestock were valuable for food and income and he wasn't about to let even one of them be taken. Bacon's reputation left a lot to be desired. He showed up often in court records for multiple offenses: letting his livestock run free and causing damages to the crops of others, land disputes, slander, forgery, breaches of contract, and a paternity case. 

When Munro caught up with Michael Bacon, he found that one pregnant sow was missing and another was too "tired and spent that shee could not come back" so he had no choice but to leave her with Bacon. He gathered up the other pigs and returned home. The next day he want to the local constable's deputy and told him what happened. They went to Bacon's home and as in the past, Michael denied any of it had happened. When he couldn't convince them that nothing had happened, Bacon admitted that he had Munro's pigs with him the day before but said that he didn't have them anymore. "If Row [Munro] lost them, he must go look for them." Bacon did not offer to help. 


The next day Munro and two of his neighbors searched for his missing pigs and found one stuck in a drift but still alive. They brought her home but were still missing the other pregnant sow. Fed up, he took a trip to the nearest magistrate, Thomas Danforth's house, in Cambridge, and filed a claim against Michael Bacon. Because the amount was small, the matter did not need to go to court and Danforth issued a warrant ordering Michael Bacon to appear at Danforth's home to answer the complaint made by William Munro. Michael Bacon did not show up to answer the warrant but Munro appeared with several other witnesses to testify and Bacon lost the case. The penalty was for the constable's deputy to take a "branded steere" from Michael Bacon to make sure the damages were paid to William Munro. 

However, before Munro could collect on the judgment, his missing sow mysteriously appeared. She was delivered by a man claiming he "found" her and was asked by Bacon to bring her back. The sow was "lamed and went but upon three legs." William Munro was not impressed and demanded the judgment be paid. Michael Bacon asked for a rehearing and ended up owing, not only the original judgment but also the added costs of witness time and constable's fees. 

Still Bacon refused to pay and appealed to the Middlesex County Court. He hired a lawyer to draw up a petition with a number of technical arguments. The April 2, 1672, trial was held at the Blue Anchor Tavern. It appears that Munro also hired an attorney. The result was the same as before, Munro prevailed and more court charges were added to what Michael Bacon now owed. Rapaport says this is where the court records for this case end and based on that she concludes that Michael Bacon paid the judgment. So ends the case of Mr. Bacon and his purloined pigs. 

Illustration from - http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2009/01/from-pig-to-alien.html
http://www.electricscotland.com/familytree/magazine/febmar2005/story35.htm

Michael Bacon - 11th great-grandfather
Mary Bacon - 10th great-grandmother
Mary Lakin - 9th great-grandmother
Joseph Willard - 8th great-grandfather
Sybel Willard - 7th great-grandmother
Samuel Haskell - 6th great-grandfather
Martha Haskell - 5th great-grandmother
Sally Houghton - 4th great-grandmother
Florilla Dunham - 3rd great-grandmother
Nina Ellingwood - 2nd great-grandmother
Annie Florilla Gibbs - great-grandmother
Fern Lyndell Carter - grandmother