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

52 Ancestors #9 - Thomas Lewis

Thomas Lewis came from Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England to Saco, Maine (then MA) in 1628. He returned to England for a bit and then is back in Saco by June 28, 1631. The date of birth for Thomas Lewis is estimated as about 1590. The Great Migration says he was born in Shrewsbury to Andrew and Mary (Herring) Lewis. In May 1637, we know he was still living as he was sued by his future son-in-law, Richard Gibson for debt. However, he is called "deceased" in court records from April 28, 1640. 

The Council for the Affairs of New England in America granted a patent to Thomas Lewis, gentleman and Captain Richard Bonython on February 12, 1629. This patent extended along the north side of the Saco River for four miles from the mouth of the river and eight miles inland. In return for the patent, the patentees were required to transport fifty people to their colony in the next seven years and pay a small annual rent tot he Council. Thomas Lewis was a vinter and the owner of a tavern in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England called "The Sextry." This tavern was run by his partner, George Cleeve (another Maine immigrant). The web site "Discovering Shropshire's History" has a great deal of information about the tavern which it calls "one of Shrewsbury's best-known and most prestigious taverns." It says Thomas Lewis is of Welsh origin and his parents were Thomas Lewis, a draper and alderman and the daughter of Robert Ireland, Jr. This is in conflict with the information provided by the Great Migration Begins sketch. 



On August 29, 1618, Thomas Lewis married Elizabeth Marshall at St. Chad's, Shrewsbury. Elizabeth was the daughter of Roger and Katherine (Mytton) Marshall. Her will was executed on October 8, 1640 so she likely died shortly before that date. 

St. Chad's Old Church built in the 7th century - a new church was built in 1792

Children: 

1. Mary Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on June 28, 1619. She married Rev. Richard Gibson in late 1638. It would seem this was not a love story from the court testimony as follows "which marriage was thought a fit means of closing the differences and settling an order both for religion and government...some troublous spirits...have cast an aspersion upon her...which tends to her utter infamy...I married the maid upon long demures..."
2. Susanna Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on November 2, 1620 and there are no further records for her. 
3. Margaret Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on April 22, 1622 and there is no further records for her. 
4. Elizabeth Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on April 7, 1623 and married Robert Haywood of Barbados before March 29, 1662. 
5. Andrew Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on February 22, 1624/5 and buried at St. Chad's on November 15, 1625. 
6. Judith Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on October 23, 1626 and married James Gibbons (Gibbins) before 1648 - based on the birth of their first child. 
7. Andrew Lewis was baptized at St. Chad's on March 25, 1628 and there are no further records for him. 

Thomas Lewis
Judith Lewis
Rachel Gibbons
Thomas Edgecomb
Gibbins Edgecomb
Thomas Edgecomb
Mary Edgecomb
Benjamin Perley Philbrick
Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Ancestry.com. The ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800 : wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.

Original data: Davis, Walter Goodwin,. The ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800 : wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine. Boston, Mass.: Stanhope Press, 1916.

Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011.

52 Ancestors #8 - James Gibbons

James Gibbons is my 9th great-grandfather on my father's mother's side. He came from London in 1635 on the Increase and settled at Saco. He later moved to Kittery. He was a yeoman farmer and was made a freeman on July 5, 1653. Based on his listed age of 21 in the ship's passenger list, James Gibbons was born about 1614. He died sometime after July 17, 1690. James Gibbons and Judith Lewis were married about 1648. He was associated with another ancestor, Samuel Andrews. They came on the same ship, both lived in Saco, and both had a notation beside their name that they were "sent away" by Robert Cordell, goldsmith, of Lombard Street. 

Judith Lewis was from a wealthy family and deeds indicate her consent on records regarding the selling lands that James acquired from her inheritance. Since she was the only member of her immediate family to remain in Maine, she inherited all of her father's land in the area. 

Children

1. James Gibbons was born on March 19, 1648/9 in Saco and married Dorcas Seeley (Cilley) in December 1668. 
2. Elizabeth Gibbons was born on April 23, 1652 in Saco and married John Sharp on November 14, 1667 in Saco.
3. Thomas Gibbons was born on November 23, 1654 in Saco and apparently never married. 
4. Rebecca Gibbons was born on January 30, 1656/7 in Saco and died on January 3, 1658/9. 
5. Charity Gibbons was born on January 5, 1658/9 and there are no further records for her. 
6. Rachel Gibbons was born on October 23, 1660 in Saco and married Robert Edgecomb (Edgecome) on May 30, 1682. Robert Edgecomb was the son of Nicholas and Wilmot (Randall) Edgecomb. They lived in Marblehead from 1690 to 1718 after losing a son to Indian attack. However, they returned to Saco after the Second Indian War. Rachel (Gibbons) Edgecomb died on January 13, 1724 and Robert Edgecomb died on June 1, 1730. They are buried in the Rendezvous Point Cemetery, the oldest cemetery in Saco. According to Maine Provincial Court records the couple were presented on May 30, 1682 for "committing fornication." 
   
7. Esther Gibbons was born on August 16, 1664 in Saco and there are no further records for her. 
8. Anthony Gibbons was born on October 14, 1666 in Saco and there are no further records for him. 
9. Hannah Gibbons was born about 1668 and married twice. Her first husband was named ____ Hibbert and her second husband was Robert Mace. She married Robert Mace about 1700. 

James Gibbons
Rachel Gibbons
Thomas Edgecomb
Gibbins Edgecomb
Thomas Edgecomb
Mary Edgecomb
Benjamin Perley Philbrick
Lizzie Philbrick
Ray Everett Cotton
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Ancestry.com. The ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800 : wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine [database on-line]. Provo, UT: The Generations Network, Inc., 2005.

Original data: Davis, Walter Goodwin,. The ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755-1800 : wife of Major Nicholas Davis of Limington, Maine. Boston, Mass.: Stanhope Press, 1916.

Ancestry.com. New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635[database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Anderson, Robert Charles. The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620-1633, Volumes 1-3; The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 1-6. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011.