The Possessions of Lt. John Ellis - 52 Ancestors #48

What did people own in the 17th century? I know from looking over inventories that possessions varied greatly from family to family, much like today.

Here is the inventory of one of my ancestors, Lt. John Ellis, my 9th great-grandfather. He lived in Sandwich, Massachusetts from the 1640s until his death. His inventory was presented to the court by his widow, Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis on March 23, 1677. The fact that he was a soldier, the date of his death, and some other evidence led the authors of a 1965 article in the New England Historic Genealogical Register to hypothesize that he may have been a casualty of King Philip's War.

Clothing: £5
Furniture: £10 13s.
Household Items £6 23s. & Books 12s.
Powder, bullets, etc.:  £1 10s.
Livestock: £20 10s.
Corn & iron: 5 s.
Timber for a 30'X18' home: £3


I'm not sure what a cobber is or why it would be at Mr. Freeman's house.

Lt. John Ellis

Elizabeth Ellis

Elizabeth Briggs

Caleb Benson

Content Benson

Rachel Barrows

Asa Freeman Ellingwood

Nina K. Ellingwood

Annie F. Gibbs

F. Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

For more information, see NEHGR volume 119.

The Crime of Fornication

John Ellis first shows up in Sandwich, Massachusetts in 1643 on a list of those between the ages of 16 and 60 and able to bear arms.

The next time he shows up in the records is on August 20, 1644, when he is charged with fornication with his then wife, Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis. They are my 9th great-grandparents. It would be great to know what the witnesses said in their testimony. It is interesting that part of the sentence was that his wife had "to stand by" while the whipping was carried out.

"A warrant [was] set forth to bring in the bodies of Jonathan ffish & Mary his wife; Nathaniel ffish; Jane the wife of William Wood; Rose the wife of Joseph Holly; the wife of Richard Kerby; the wife of Michael Turner & Joanna Swyft, widdow, to give evidence in John Ellis and his wife's case..." 

Then on June 4, 1645:
"John Ellis of Sandwich...and his now wife...is censured to be whipt at publicke post and Elizabeth his wife to stand by whilst execucon of the sentence is pformed; which was accordingly done. And the said John Ellis for his long and tedious delayes occasioning much trouble and charge to the countrey, for that he would not confess the truth untill the present, is fyned 5 li." 

The first child of Elizabeth Freeman was born around August 20, 1644, and it was about this time that John Ellis married Elizabeth. However, no record has been found that names that child. The first Ellis child recorded would seem to be "Benet Elles " (no parents listed) in 1648-49. So what happened to that first child of Elizabeth? It appears that the first child was Elizabeth, my 8th great-grandmother. She married Samuel Briggs. John and Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis went on to have nine more children together.

Children of John & Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis

1. Elizabeth
2. Bennett
3. Mordecai
4. Deborah
5. Joel
6. Matthias
7. Manoah
8. Freeman
9. Gideon
10. William

John & Elizabeth (Freeman) Ellis
Elizabeth (Ellis) Briggs
Elizabeth (Briggs) Benson
Caleb Benson
Content (Benson) Barrows
Rachel (Barrows) Ellingwood
Asa Freeman Ellingwood - nice tribute with his middle name
Nina K. (Ellingwood) Gibbs
Annie F. (Gibbs) Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

See the New England Historical Genealogical Register Vol. 119 for more information.

52 Ancestors - #1 George Allen

I'm coming late to the party on this challenge but needed to take a brief respite from blogging as life got in the way. I decided that documenting some of my Great Migration ancestors would be a great motivator for this challenge.

George Allen is my 10th great-grandfather in the line of my great-grandmother, Annie Florilla (Gibbs) Cotton. It is not known where George and his family were in England before they sailed for America but it is believed that he arrived in Weymouth, Massachusetts in 1635. He later moved to Sandwich, Massachusetts. George had his name put forward for freeman of Plymouth Colony on March 5, 1638/9 and was admitted on September 3, 1639. He held a few offices including constable of Sandwich, surveyor of highways and served as deputy for Sandwich to the General Court in Plymouth in the years 1640, 1641, 1642, and 1644.

George Allen married twice and had five children with each wife for a total of nine sons and 1 daughter. The name of his first wife is unknown and the name of his second wife was Katherine.

1. John Allen b. abt. 1610, married Christian. My line descends from this couple. 
2. Robert Allen b. abt. 1614 and d. bef. 1661, does not appear to have married.
3. Ralph Allen b. abt. 1617, married possibly Susanna.
4. George Allen b. abt. 1619, married Hannah.
5. Rose Allen b. abt. 1621, married twice - Joseph Holway (Holloway, Holley), and William Newland.
6. William Allen b. abt. 1627, married Priscilla Browne.
7. Mathew Allen b. abt. 1629, married Sarah Kirby.
8. Henry Allen b. abt. 1631, married Sarah Hill.
9. Samuel Allen b. abt 1633, nfr.
10. Gideon Allen b. abt 1635, m. Sarah Prudden, daughter of Rev. Peter Prudden.

George Allen
John Allen
Deborah Allen
Lydia Bucklin
Deborah Barrows
Content Benson
Rachel Barrows
Asa Freeman Ellingwood
Nina King Ellingwood
Annie Florilla Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Great Migration 1634-1635, A-B. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org. New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008.) Originally published as: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume 1, A-B, by Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn, Jr., and Melinde Lutz Sanborn. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1999.

The Shot Heard 'Round the World

Asa Alden Barrows was born 28 July 1751 to Moses Barrows and Deborah Totman. He married Content Benson 19 November 1774.  He was a private in Capt. William Shaw's Company which responded to the alarm of April 19, 1775. He only served three days in that capacity but would re-enlist for eight months during the siege of Boston and in December 1776 he joined a militia company commanded by Joshua Perkins and marched to Barrington, R.I. where he remained for six weeks. In July 1780 he enlisted for a fourth time and served in the militia company commanded by Perez Churchill that marched to Tiverton, R.I. 

In 1832 at age 81, he submitted a pension form. He was awarded a pension of $33.33 per annum and received $66.66 in back pension pay. According to an inflation calculator, the pension would be $921.90 per year in 2012 dollars. His last pension payment was in 1850, meaning he was 99 years old (if he died after July 28). 

Asa's Signature on his application

Pension calculation sheet

Asa Alden Barrows - 5th great-grandfather

Rachel Barrows - 4th great-grandfather

Asa Freeman Ellingwood - 3rd great-grandfather

Nina King Ellingwood - 2nd great-grandmother

Annie Florilla Gibbs - great-grandmother

Fern Lyndell Cotton - grandmother

Blacksheep Sunday - Frequent & Abominable Drunkenness!

John Barnes is my 10th great-grandfather. He came to Plymouth in 1632 and was a yeoman and merchant. John Barnes shows up frequently in the court records; often engaged in some practices which the General Court deemed illegal or at least unfair. He was also in court a few times for slandering his neighbors and also for his drunkenness. It got so bad that he was disenfranchised (his right to vote was revoked) for "frequent and abominable drunkenness." Finally in 1661 the court ordered that "ordinary keepers of the town of Plymouth are hereby prohibited to let John Barnes have any liquors, wine, or strong drink at any time" under penalty of 50s. fine. An ordinary is a tavern. 

Plymouth court records show that on 5 March 1671/2 a coroner's jury viewed "the corpes of Mr. John Barnes" and stated that "being before his barn door, in the street, standing stroking or feeling of his bull, the said bull suddenly turned upon him and give him a great wound with his horn on his right thigh, near eight inches long, in which his flesh was torn both broad and deep, as we judge, of which would together with his wrench of his neck or pain thereof (of which he complained) he immediately languished, after about 32 hours he died."

I have to wonder if he was drunk when he was gored by the bull.

DO NOT PET THE BULL!

In 2007, cousin Bill West put his spin on the story and adds some details.

John Barnes & Mary Plummer
Jonathan Barnes & Elizabeth Hedge
Mary Barnes & John Carver
Mary Carver & Moses Barrows
Moses Barrows & Deborah Totman
Asa Alden Barrows & Content Benson
Rachel Barrows & John Ellingwood, Jr.
Asa Freeman Ellingwood & Florilla Dunham
Nina King Ellingwood & George Gibbs
Annie Florilla Gibbs & Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton

Sources:
http://www.histarch.uiuc.edu/plymouth/BARNES2.htm
http://www.plimoth.org/media/pdf/barnes_john.pdf

A Truelove Connection

Two of my immigrant ancestors on my father's side came on the ship, Truelove, in 1635. I didn't realize this until today. The ship, captained by John Gibbs, left London in September 1635. Ralph Ellwood, whose last name morphed over time to Ellingwood, was 28 years old. William Barstow, who is listed as "Beeresto", was 23 and he was traveling with his brother, George, who was 21. William started out in Watertown and moved to Dedham in 1637, Hingham in 1645 and Scituate by 1650. George was in Scituate around the same time and then moved on to Cambridge by 1652. The Barstows came from Halifax, Yorkshire, England. The Barstow and the Ellingwood families intermarried a few generations down the line. William lived an interesting life and I hope to write a bit more about him in the future but for now I will start with the story of his brother's death and the ensuing slander case against William.

William accused Rev. Chauncy of Scituate of blocking the admission of his brother, George, to the church in Cambridge. He alleged that this act, which denied communion to his brother, hastened his death by causing excessive grief. 

George died in 1653. On 9 June 1653, "William Barstow of Scituate" acknowledged that whereas "a suit hath been commenced against me the said Will[i]am Barstow, by Mr. Charles Chauncy, pastor of the church of Christ at Scittuate, for slandering him, the said Mr. Chauncy, in saying that he was the  cause of the death of my brother, G[e]orge Barstow, late deceased; also in saying that he, the said Mr. Chauncy, sent his bulls abroad to the church at Cambridge, whereby my said brother was hindered from communion with the said church, which was the cause of my brother's death, through excessive grief; in all which expressions and sayings I do humbly and freely acknowledge that I have done the said Mr. Chauncy manifest wrong." Within a year, George's wife, Susanna, was also dead; leaving their children orphaned.

Ralph Ellwood & Eleanor Lynn - William Barstow & Anna Hubbard
Ralph Ellingwood & Martha Rowlandson - Patience Barstow & Moses Simmons
Ebenezer Ellingwood & Sarah Tuck - Patience Simmons & Moses Barrows
Joseph Ellingwood & Sarah Herrick - Moses Barrows & Mary Carver
John Ellingwood & Zerviah Abbott - Asa Barrows & Content Benson
Asa Freeman Ellingwood & Rachel Barrows
Nina Ellingwood & George Gibbs
Annie F. Gibbs & Ray E. Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton