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

Surname Saturday - Bernard Capen

Bernard (or Barnard) Capen was a shoemaker who came to America in 1633 from Dorchester, Dorsetshire, England. He took the oath of a freeman on May 25, 1636. In some old records his names is written as Barnard and his surname is recorded as "Gapin." His stated age at his death on November 8, 1638 was 76 which would put his birth about 1562. He married Joan Purchase on May 31, 1596. She was the daughter of Oliver Purchase and one of four Purchase siblings who emigrated to the American colonies.

Photo courtesy of Don Blauvelt - posted at Findagrave

There is an article about the Barnard Capen house on the Dorchester Atheneaum site. It tells the history of the house which was restored in 1909 and seems to have been dismantled and moved twice. I couldn't find anything about the current status of that house. However, the parsonage house of Rev. Joseph Capen, son of John and grandson of Bernard, is located in Topsfield, Massachusetts and is on the National Register of Historic Places. Rev. Joseph was my 8th great-uncle.

Parson Capen House - photo from Wikipedia

Two of Bernard Capen's descendants are President Calvin Coolidge and President Ulysses S. Grant.

President Calvin Coolidge - photo from Wikipedia
He is my 8th cousin, twice removed

President Ulysses S. Grant
He is my 7th cousin, 4 times removed

Children:

1. James was born about 1598 and is called a "scrivener" in his will. 
2. Ruth was born on August 7, 1600 and there is no further record of her.
3. Susanna was born on April 11, 1602 and married twice. On April 14, 1624, she married William Rockwell and on May 29, 1645 she became the second wife of Matthew Grant. 
4. Dorothy was born about 1608 and she married Nicholas Upsall on January 17, 1630 at the Holy Trinity Church in Dorchester, Dorsetshire, England. 
5. Elizabeth was born about 1610 and she married Thomas Swift on October 18, 1630 in the same church as Dorothy. 
6. John was born January 12, 1612. He married twice. On October 20, 1637, he married Redegon Clap and on September 20, 1647, he married Mary Bass. In 1680, John served on the jury for the witchcraft trial of Elizabeth Morse of Newbury. She was found guilty but given a reprieve and released to her husband. She was not allowed to travel more than a few yards from her house unless accompanied by a minister. 
7. Honor was born about 1616 and she married William Hannum. 

Line of Descent

John Capen m. Mary Bass
James Capen 1654-1718 m. Hannah Lawrence
James Capen born 1683 m. Elizabeth Call
James Capen 1709/10-1763 m. Sarah Pinson
Thomas Capen born 1739 m. Mary Wyman
Thomas Capen 1762-1808 m. Mary Abbott
Timothy Capen born 1793 m. Sarah K. Abbott
Edward Abbott Capen 1839-1930 m. Mary Jane Abbott - First cousins, once removed - See below
Fannie May Capen born 1878 m. Edward Mellen Carter
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Sister of Timothy Capen - Deborah Capen born 1796 m. William Ackley
Sarah Ackley born 1820 m. John Abbott
Mary Jane Abbott - same as above

Sources:
The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III. (Online database: American Ancestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2010), (Originally Published as: New England Historic Genealogical Society. Robert Charles Anderson, The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633, Volumes I-III, 3 vols., 1995).
Findagrave
Dorchester Atheneum
Wikipedia

Who's Your Daddy?

I found this story while looking for information on my ancestor, William Pinson. While some online trees have Edward and Sarah (Dexter) Pinson as the parents of William, I have been unable to find any documentation to back up that claim. Still, it's a good story so I thought I would share.

Edward Pinson was a "seafaring man" according to his burial record. He was the son of William and Mary Pinson and from this record it appears that he was buried 17 March 1701 in St. Martin, Ludgate, London.

Sailors have a reputation of being risk-takers of questionable morality and Edward seems to have lived up to that stereotype. Sarah Dexter was engaged or expected to marry Obadiah Bridges when Edward came into her life. It is likely that Sarah was enticed by Edward's money and the promise of a life in London. Sarah's father, Richard Dexter, warned Edward to stay away from her but the determined couple put up marriage banns which were later torn down. Then while her parents were at Sunday meeting, Edward and Sarah eloped. When they returned four days later as a married couple, Richard called Edward a "rogue, bastard dogg and son of a whore" and Sarah's mother, Bridget, beat her out of the house. It was later revealed that the couple used a forged letter of parental consent to convince the magistrate in Lynn to conduct the marriage. All that seems scandalous enough but...

Edward was not Sarah's first sailor lover...she had "lost her virginitie being overcome in Boston by a man who promiseth her marriage but afterwards went off to sea and since she heard he had a wife in England." Sarah, it turns out, was pregnant when she married Edward...with this other man's child....


Sources:
Sex in Middlesex: Popular Mores in a Massachusetts County, 1649-1699 by Roger Thompson, pages 60-61.