Immigrant Ancestor - Rev. Thomas Carter

I have already written a bit about my immigrant Carter ancestor, Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn. He was the first minister of Woburn. Under his ministry the church grew and flourished. In Johnson's "Wonder-working Providence" (published in 1654), he is described as a "reverend godly man, apt to teach the sound and wholesome truths of Christ" and "much encreased with the encreasings of Christ Jesus, of whose labours in the Lord as followeth."

The Ordination of Rev. Thomas Carter

Carter, Christ hath his wayes thee taught, an them [thou]
Hast not with-held his Word, but unto all
With's word of power dost cause stout souls to bow, 
And meek as Lambs before thy Christ to fall:
The antient truths, plain paths, they fit thee best, 
The lowly heart, Christ learns his lovely hest, 
Thy meekness shews thy Christ to thee is nigh; 
Yet must thou shew Christ makes his bold to be
As Lions, that none may his truths tread down, 
Pastoral power he hath invested thee
With, it maintain, least he on thee do frown:
Thy youth thou hast in this New-England spent, 
Full sixteen years to water, plant, and prune
Trees taken up, and for that end here sent; 
Thy end's with Christ, with Saints his praises tune.

When he died, the town paid for his funeral expenses. Among the charges is one for fourteen gallons of wine. According to The History of Woburn, the custom of the day was to bury their paupers with rum and their wealthy men and ministers with wine.

Rev. Thomas Carter and his wife, Mary Parkhurst had eight children.
1. Samuel was born August 8, 1640 and graduated from Harvard College in 1660. He held a number of   town offices and married Eunice Brooks. They had eight children.
2. Judith married first Dea. Edward Converse and second Giles Fifield.
3. Mary was born July 24, 1648 and married John Wyman, Jr. He was killed by the Indians at the Swamp Fight, December 19, 1675. She married as her second husband, Nathaniel Bachiler (Batchelder) of Hampton, N.H. She had eight children with her second husband. Mary & Nathaniel are the 7th great-grandparents of Clayton Blake who married Linona Yates, my mother's mother. 
4. Abigail was born January 10, 1649/50 and married John Smith.
5. Timothy was born June 12, 1653 and married Anna Fiske, daughter of David Fiske of Cambridge (Lexington) on May 3, 1680. They had thirteen children, three of whom died before their parents. Timothy and his brother, Thomas, were husbandmen and proprietors of "several considerable tracts of land."
6. Thomas was born June 8, 1655 and married Margery Whitmore (Whittemore).

Timothy, son of Rev. Thomas and Mary (Parkhurst) Carter and wife Anna had:
1. David born October 17, 1681 and died May 22, 1736.
2. Timothy born July 12, 1683 and died the same year.
3. Anna born July 17, 1684.
4. Timothy born October 17, 1686.
5. Theophilus born October 20, 1688.
6. Thomas born August 14, 1690.
7. Abigail born March 18, 1692.
8. Sarah born November 24, 1694.
9. Elizabeth born August 27, 1696 and died June 26, 1709.
10. Benjamin born March 22, 1699 and died soon after.
11. Mary born June 23, 1700.
12. Martha born July 22, 1702.
13. Benjamin born November 8, 1704. Benjamin married Sarah Stone.

Timothy, son of Benjamin & Sarah (Stone) Carter, married Sarah Walker. Their son, Dr. Timothy Carter married Frances Freeland and moved to Bethel, Maine. Elias Mellen Carter, son of Dr. Timothy & Frances (Freeland) Carter married Irish immigrant, Rebecca Williamson and their son, Augustus Mellen Carter fought in the Civil War. Augustus married Mary Frances Stanley and had Edward Mellen Carter. Edward Mellen Carter married Fannie May Capen and they are the parents of my grandfather, Thomas Richard Carter.

Descendants: Thomas Richard "Dick" Carter & sons, Timothy and Thomas on the right and Edward Augustus "Gus" Carter and children, Edward and Ann on the left. 

Another Carter Post

Sources
The History of Woburn
Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, 1628-1651 ed. by J. Franklin Jameson

Third Time's A Charm

 Beginning in 1663, the town of Topsfield, Massachusetts had a bit of difficulty with its ministers. Following the retirement of William Perkins, the town hired Thomas Gilbert. Gilbert seemed to have good qualifications and had recently arrived from England. However, his grandiose words and dramatic style of preaching shook up the stoic Puritans.

The town officials reported him to the Essex County Court which ordered him to appear at the General Court in Boston. In May 1666, he was given only a reprimand and had to pay a small fine. Gilbert appeared unrepentant and prayed that "the necks of all who opposed the ministers of the Gospel should be broken."

In 1670, Thomas Gilbert was back in court with quite a few townsfolk complaining about his drinking. The charges included witnesses to slurred speech, stumbling about after consuming too much communion wine, and fleeing his church when parishioners started to giggle because his singing was so garbled. Sarah Gould testified:
"I did [see]his eyes grow very dim and he did sink down in his chair leaning back...and presently we heard him vomit." 

Mimicking Martin Luther's protest, the minister nailed his defense to the meetinghouse door. He and his wife claimed that he suffered from
"chronic distemper" caused by fasting, rainyweather, and overwork. He would not let go of his grudge against Sarah for her testimony. He sued her for slander and her husband countersued the minister on her behalf. John Gould went so far as to say that he would like to cut out Gilbert's tongue. Thomas Gilbert responded by suing John Gould for assault. The judges seem to have been sick and tired of all the antics and suggested that Gilbert leave public life and called for him to behave "more soberly and Christianlike." By 1672, he had either resigned or been fired.
"chronic distemper" brought on by fasting, rainy

Jeremiah Hobart (also spelled Hubbard) was the next minister hired in Topsfield. His background included preaching at Wells, Maine, and Lynn and Beverly, Massachusetts. By 1678, Hobart began to come into conflict with town officials.

Thomas Baker was in court for "unseemly carriage and laughing in time of public worship." Evidently he took umbrage at Hobart's assertion that good Christians did not care about acquiring "lands and great farms." Hobart came into conflict with town officials over his compensation and soon harsh words were flying between Hobart and Baker over this issue. Baker sued for slander and Hobart was forced to make a public apology in the court. The disputes with the town were compounded by the reports of several women, who were caring for Hobart's wife, claiming Hobart made sexual advances towards them.

When the town refused to accede to Hobart's compensation demands, he threatened that the town "would never have a quiet town meeting until they gave him half the parsonage." He railed against the selectmen and said "I wish the parsonage were afire and some of them in it." This led to the dismissal of Hobart in September 1680.


This brings us to the third minister, Rev. Joseph Capen. He was a Harvard graduate, was ordained in 1684, and stayed on the job for the next forty-four years!



Rev. Joseph Capen was the son of John & Mary (Bass) Capen. He married Priscilla Appleton in 1684. He is my 8th great granduncle and his parents are my 9th great grandparents.

John & Mary (Bass) Capen
James & Hannah (Lawrence) Capen
James & Elizabeth (Call) Capen
James & Sarah (Pinson) Capen - yes, three James in a row
Thomas & Mary (Wyman) Capen
Thomas & Mary (Abbott) Capen - yes, two Thomas & Mary couples
Timothy & Sarah K. (Abbott) Capen
Edward Abbott & Mary Jane (Abbott) Capen - a bit of Abbott intermarriage in this line...
Edward Mellen & Fannie May (Capen) Carter
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Adapted from Diane Rapaport's column: Turbulent Topsfield: A Tale of Two Ministers, published in American Ancestors Magazine, Winter 2010.

Not Far Enough - 52 Ancestors #6

I'm going to stretch the meaning of the prompt again this week to tell the tale of a bad man who tried to outrun his past but it caught up with him anyway! 

The bad man in this case was the Rev. John Lyford and he wasn't my ancestor but connected to my ancestor's family (I'll explain later). 

On the surface, Rev. John Lyford appeared to be a Godly man who traveled to the Plymouth Colony to minister to the Pilgrims in that community. However, the colonial leaders soon discovered that he was allied with the Church of England and maligning the Separatists in his letters to England. Once Governor Bradford found out, Rev. Lyford apologized. A little while later, it became evident that he hadn't changed his ways and he was banished. 

But that was just the start of Lyford's secrets. His wife, Sarah, came forward to tell of his infidelity, even fathering a child out of wedlock with another woman before she married him. She couldn't keep any maids because of his sexual harassment and molestation of them. 




Eventually, the BIG secret was revealed. The reason Rev. John Lyford had to leave his previous ministry in Ireland and come to the colony was that he had raped a girl in the parish while she attended pre-marital counseling with him! The woman's husband "tooke some godly friends with him, to deale with Liford for this evill" (Bradford's Journal). He had to leave in fear of even greater punishment. 

After leaving Plymouth, Lyford bounced around from Nantasket (Hull, MA) and Cape Ann to Virginia, where he died in 1638. He was a truly evil and despicable man! He could run but he could not go far enough to outrun his bad behavior! 

So what's my connection to this scoundrel? His wife, Sarah, married as his second wife, my 11th great-grandfather, Edmund Hobart. 

Edmund Hobart & Margery Dewey (first wife)

Line 1:
Nazareth Hobart - daughter of Edmund & Margaret (Dewey) Hobart
Martha Beals
Samuel Dunham
Ebenezer Dunham
John Dunham
James Dunham
James Dunham 
Florilla Dunham
Nina King Ellingwood
Annie Florilla Gibbs
Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother

Line 2:
Rev. Peter Hobart - son of Edmund & Margaret (Dewey) Hobart
Elizabeth Hobart
Joshua Ripley
Hezediah Ripley
Joshua Ripley
Joshua Ripley
Nancy Ripley
Galen Blake
Charles Galen Blake
Harriet May Blake
Clayton Leonard Blake - my grandfather

NEHGR 1848
Wikipedia
http://minerdescent.com/2012/01/19/17th-century-premarital-sex/

52 Ancestors #49 - Even The Drunkards Thank Us

Rev. Freeman Yates was my first cousin, 4 times removed. He was the son of William & Dorcas (Hall) Yates, and the grandson of William & Martha (Morgan) Yates, my fourth great-grandparents. The 19th century featured many reform movements but one of the strongest and longest lasting was the temperance movement, a precursor to the era of Prohibition of the 1920s. Maine was the first state to ban alcohol thanks to temperance reformer, Neal Dow. While researching my Yates ancestors I came upon the following article about a speech that Freeman Yates gave on the subject. 

Wisconsin Free Democrat (Milwaukee, WI), Wednesday, January 28, 1952, Vol. 8, Issue 8, Page 2. The Maine Liquor Law – No. 5 - Accessed on GenealogyBank, June 19, 2013

Remarks from the National Temperance Convention held at Saratoga Springs on the 20th of August, 1851. The Rev. Freeman Yates, editor of the Gardiner Fountain, spoke as follows:
“Under the old law, we could not get evidence. Men who drank would perjure themselves. The whole system of grog-selling was one of deceit and fraud. We formed a law to meet the enemy in every quarter. Mr. Dow received suggestions in his work from all parts of the State. But our Governor vetoed the bill on its first passage. The veto was his winding-sheet. This year it was passed by a two-third vote, and Governor Hubbard gave it his assent. I will show you its operation in Augusta, which has been called the great rum-hole of the State. (Here Mr. Yates read an extract from the Augusta Age which declared that every hotel and liquor shop had voluntarily cleared itself of the forbidden article.) In Bangor, said Mr. Yates, they have met with a most serious difficulty in carrying out the law. The director of the almshouse has usually employed sixty men, the victims of strong drink, to get in the hay. This year, these have been so scarce that he had to hire a set of sober men, at the city’s charge, or not have the hay gathered. (He then read from a Bath paper to show the operation of the law there.)…We hear nothing in Maine now, for mere moral suasion. All good men are for protection by law. Even the drunkards are with us; and they thank us, for removing the temptation, and that they now live and die sober men.”

I'm not convinced that the drunkards were thankful for removing the temptation. It also makes me chuckle that the almshouse now had to find sober men to get in the hay because drunk men were so scarce. 

Thank Goodness for the Maine Law!

William & Martha (Morgan) Yates
Moses & Martha (Whittle) Yates - brother of William Yates, Jr. - father of Freeman
Gilbert W. & Laura (Emmons) Yates
Estes G. & Eva D. (Hayes) Yates
Linona Alice Yates - my grandmother

52 Ancestors #30 - Rev. Thomas Wilson

This is a reposting of my first blog entry. 

Thomas Wilson, author of A Christian Dictionarie

Thomas Wilson was the minister at St. George the Martyr Church in Canterbury from 1586 to 1622.  He was also a prebendary* of Canterbury Cathedral. He was buried in his parish on the 25th of January 1621-22. He was the first to attempt to compile a dictionary of the Bible in English. The first edition appeared in 1612 and a second in 1616. Other editions were published after his death. He also published other works including Commentarie upon the most divine Epistle to the Romans  and Christ's Farewell to Jerusalem. 

In attempting to find information about the church, I discovered an interesting but sad story. The church was destroyed during a bombing raid that devastated much of downtown Canterbury in World War II. All that remains is one tower. On the night of May 31st/June 1st, 1942 Canterbury was targeted as part of the so-called "Baedeker Raids."** This attack was likely a reprisal for an R.A.F. bomber raid on Cologne the night of May 30th. About one fifth of the City of Canterbury was destroyed that night as about 100 bombs and 6,000 incendiaries were dropped in two and a half hours. Fire damaged many properties because the majority of buildings were made of timber. Forty-three people died, forty were seriously injured and forty-one had less serious injuries. Follow-up attacks came on June 3rd and June 7th but these were not as destructive as the June 1st attack. 

The church had a long history. There is evidence of a church on the site from 1100 A.D. It had been enlarged, most recently in 1879 when another local church was closed and the two congregations merged. 

Quotes about Thomas Wilson:

Robert Cushman (a member of the Pilgrim group in Leiden) - "a very excellent preacher in Canterbury, who was both a lover of goodnesse and good men." 

Historian Peter Clark - "probably the most distinguished preacher in early Jacobean Kent [who preached] themes from middle-of-the-road Calvinism." 

*prebendary - an honor granted to senior priest in the Anglican Church usually awarded for long and dedicated service to the diocese. 

** Baedeker was the publisher of an English travel guide book reportedly used by the Germans to choose their non-military targets. They looked for cities with at least three stars for historical significance. 

10th Great-Grandfather

Rev. Thomas Wilson & Christian Ower

Theophilus Wilson & Elizabeth

Seaborn Wilson & David Fiske

Anna Fiske & Timothy Carter

Benjamin Carter & Sarah Stone

Timothy Carter & Sarah Walker

Timothy Carter & Frances Freeland

Elias M. Carter & Rebecca Williamson

Augustus M. Carter & Mary Frances Stanley

Edward M. Carter & Fannie May Capen

T. Richard Carter & F. Lyndell Cotton

52 Ancestors - #25 Religion in School & Spanking Other People's Kids

This is a reposting of something I wrote in 2012. 
William Yates was the immigrant ancestor of the Yates line in my ancestry. He moved to Maine from Portsmouth, NH. He is credited with founding the town of Greenwood in 1802. He settled on Patch Mountain where he built a rudimentary log cabin until a frame house was completed a few years later. He was a farmer and a Methodist preacher. Some sources have William coming to the U.S. from Scotland and others from England. His first residence in Maine was New Gloucester where he met and married his wife Martha Morgan. William and Martha had 13 children - 9 sons and 4 daughters. 

Picture of Patch Mountain 

Things were very different in those days. There were clear rules of right and wrong and none of this "kids will be kids" mentality or "my perfect little Johnny wouldn't do that." 

A biographical sketch of his grandson, Octavius K. Yates in the Biographical Review gives the following story as an example of the character of William Yates. One time while he was preaching in the local school house, some boys put burrs beneath his saddle causing his normally calm horse to rear and throw him to the ground. The horse ran home, leaving William to walk. The next Sunday he delivered his usual sermon. He had figured out the identity of the culprits, kept them after the service, and "administered a sound flogging; then took them into the meeting-house and prayed for them." 

William Yates & Martha Morgan
Moses Yates & Martha Whittle
Gilbert Yates & Laura Emmons
Estes Yates & Eva Hayes
Linona Yates & Clayton Blake

Sources: 

http://www.megalink.net/~caronfam/mosesdunham/registers/greenwood_history_1906.pdf
Biogaphical Review: This Volume Contains Biographical Sketches of Leading Citizens of Franklin and Oxford Counties Maine - Boston 1897. Accessed on ancestry.com March 7, 2012. 

52 Ancestors #24 - Rev. Joshua Moody

Rev. Joshua Moody was the son of immigrant, William Moody and his wife, Sarah. His family came from England to Newbury, Massachusetts when he was about a year old. He is my ninth great-grandfather on two different lines. He was educated at Harvard College and graduated in 1653. He married twice - first to Martha Collins, sister of Rev. John Collins of London, and second to widow, Ann (Wall) Jacobs of Ipswich. 



In 1658, he went to Portsmouth, New Hampshire and started the First Congregational Church. His time in Portsmouth came to an end when he came into conflict with the Lt. Governor, Mr. Cranfield in 1684. After refusing to administer the sacrament (in the manner of the Church of England rather than in the manner of the Puritans) to Lt. Gov. Cranfield, Rev. Moody was indicted on February 5, 1684 and spent thirteen weeks in jail. His sentence was for six months but his supporters appealed and gained his freedom but if he started preaching again, he would be put back in jail. He moved to Boston and preached under Rev. Cotton Mather at the Old Church (First Church) in Boston until 1692. Rev. Josiah Moody was elected President of Harvard College on July 2, 1684. He declined, however, in favor of continuing his post as assistant minister of the First Church. 



During the witchcraft hysteria in 1692, Rev. Joshua Moody did not support the measures being taken to identify, try, and execute the alleged witches. He did all he could to support and free Philip & Mary (Hollingsworth) English - both accused witches. He helped them flee to New York in defiance of the popular sentiment. He was very lucky that he was not arrested for his actions and in the end, he also chose to leave Massachusetts and return to Portsmouth. He had remained in contact with his congregation there and the contentious Lt. Gov. Cranfield was gone. Rev. Josiah Moody died on July 4, 1697 at the age of 65 after a brief illness. Dr. Cotton Mather preached at his funeral. Two of his daughters married ministers and his son, Samuel was for several years a preacher at New Castle (Great Island), New Hampshire. 

Published works: 
" A Practical Discourse concerning the Choice Benefit of Communion with God in his house, witnessed unto by the experience of saints as the best improvement of time, being the sum of several sermons on Psalms 84:10, preached at Boston, on Lecture Days." Printed in Boston by Richard Pierce in 1685. 
"Sin of Formality in God's Worship, or the Formal Worshipper proved a liar and deceiver, preached on the weekly lecture in Boston, from Hos. 2:12." Published in 1691. 

The library of the Massachusetts Historical Society has 93 volumes of his sermons. The last is numbered 4070 and dated 30th September 1688. That is an average of two and a half sermons a week for thirty years! He had more sermons after that in Portsmouth. 

Rev. Joshua Moody
Rev. Samuel Moody
Joshua Moody
William Moody
Elizabeth Moody
William Ackley
Sarah Ackley
Mary Jane Abbott
Fannie May Capen
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

Rev. Joshua Moody
Rev. Samuel Moody
Joshua Moody
Houchin Moody
Josiah Moody
Hezekiah Moody
Dolly Estes Moody
Charles Galen Blake
Harriet May Blake
Clayton L. Blake - my grandfather

Surname Saturday - Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn

I have already written a bit about my immigrant Carter ancestor, Rev. Thomas Carter of Woburn. He was the first minister of Woburn. Under his ministry the church grew and flourished. In Johnson's "Wonder-working Providence" (published in 1654), he is described as a "reverend godly man, apt to teach the sound and wholesome truths of Christ" and "much encreased with the encreasings of Christ Jesus, of whose labours in the Lord as followeth."

The Ordination of Rev. Thomas Carter

Carter, Christ hath his wayes thee taught, an them [thou]
Hast not with-held his Word, but unto all
With's word of power dost cause stout souls to bow, 
And meek as Lambs before thy Christ to fall:
The antient truths, plain paths, they fit thee best, 
The lowly heart, Christ learns his lovely hest, 
Thy meekness shews thy Christ to thee is nigh; 
Yet must thou shew Christ makes his bold to be
As Lions, that none may his truths tread down, 
Pastoral power he hath invested thee
With, it maintain, least he on thee do frown:
Thy youth thou hast in this New-England spent, 
Full sixteen years to water, plant, and prune
Trees taken up, and for that end here sent; 
Thy end's with Christ, with Saints his praises tune.

When he died, the town paid for his funeral expenses. Among the charges is one for fourteen gallons of wine. According to The History of Woburn, the custom of the day was to bury their paupers with rum and their wealthy men and ministers with wine.

Rev. Thomas Carter and his wife, Mary Parkhurst had eight children.
1. Samuel was born August 8, 1640 and graduated from Harvard College in 1660. He held a number of   town offices and married Eunice Brooks. They had eight children.
2. Judith married first Dea. Edward Converse and second Giles Fifield.
3. Mary was born July 24, 1648 and married John Wyman, Jr. He was killed by the Indians at the Swamp Fight, December 19, 1675. She married as her second husband, Nathaniel Bachiler (Batchelder) of Hampton, N.H. She had eight children with her second husband. Mary & Nathaniel are the 7th great-grandparents of Clayton Blake who married Linona Yates, my mother's mother. 
4. Abigail was born January 10, 1649/50 and married John Smith.
5. Timothy was born June 12, 1653 and married Anna Fiske, daughter of David Fiske of Cambridge (Lexington) on May 3, 1680. They had thirteen children, three of whom died before their parents. Timothy and his brother, Thomas, were husbandmen and proprietors of "several considerable tracts of land."
6. Thomas was born June 8, 1655 and married Margery Whitmore (Whittemore).

Timothy, son of Rev. Thomas and Mary (Parkhurst) Carter and wife Anna had:
1. David born October 17, 1681 and died May 22, 1736.
2. Timothy born July 12, 1683 and died the same year.
3. Anna born July 17, 1684.
4. Timothy born October 17, 1686.
5. Theophilus born October 20, 1688.
6. Thomas born August 14, 1690.
7. Abigail born March 18, 1692.
8. Sarah born November 24, 1694.
9. Elizabeth born August 27, 1696 and died June 26, 1709.
10. Benjamin born March 22, 1699 and died soon after.
11. Mary born June 23, 1700.
12. Martha born July 22, 1702.
13. Benjamin born November 8, 1704. Benjamin married Sarah Stone.

Timothy, son of Benjamin & Sarah (Stone) Carter, married Sarah Walker. Their son, Dr. Timothy Carter married Frances Freeland and moved to Bethel, Maine. Elias Mellen Carter, son of Dr. Timothy & Frances (Freeland) Carter married Irish immigrant, Rebecca Williamson and their son, Augustus Mellen Carter fought in the Civil War. Augustus married Mary Frances Stanley and had Edward Mellen Carter. Edward Mellen Carter married Fannie May Capen and they are the parents of my grandfather, Thomas Richard Carter.

Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass., from the grant of its territory to Charlestown, in 1640, to the year 1680. by Rev. Charles C. Sewall.
Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, 1628-1651 ed. by J. Franklin Jameson

Battle of Britain

Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of my genealogy blog! I am celebrating by reposting my first story. 

Thomas Wilson, author of A Christian Dictionarie

Thomas Wilson was the minister at St. George the Martyr Church in Canterbury from 1586 to 1622.  He was also a prebendary* of Canterbury Cathedral. He was buried in his parish on the 25th of January 1621-22. He was the first to attempt to compile a dictionary of the Bible in English. The first edition appeared in 1612 and a second in 1616. Other editions were published after his death. He also published other works including Commentarie upon the most divine Epistle to the Romans  and Christ's Farewell to Jerusalem. 

In attempting to find information about the church, I discovered an interesting but sad story. The church was destroyed during a bombing raid that devastated much of downtown Canterbury in World War II. All that remains is one tower. On the night of May 31st/June 1st, 1942 Canterbury was targeted as part of the so-called "Baedeker Raids."** This attack was likely a reprisal for an R.A.F. bomber raid on Cologne the night of May 30th. About one fifth of the City of Canterbury was destroyed that night as about 100 bombs and 6,000 incendiaries were dropped in two and a half hours. Fire damaged many properties because the majority of buildings were made of timber. Forty-three people died, forty were seriously injured and forty-one had less serious injuries. Follow-up attacks came on June 3rd and June 7th but these were not as destructive as the June 1st attack. 

The church had a long history. There is evidence of a church on the site from 1100 A.D. It had been enlarged, most recently in 1879 when another local church was closed and the two congregations merged. 

Quotes about Thomas Wilson:

Robert Cushman (a member of the Pilgrim group in Leiden) - "a very excellent preacher in Canterbury, who was both a lover of goodnesse and good men." 

Historian Peter Clark - "probably the most distinguished preacher in early Jacobean Kent [who preached] themes from middle-of-the-road Calvinism." 

*prebendary - an honor granted to senior priest in the Anglican Church usually awarded for long and dedicated service to the diocese. 

** Baedeker was the publisher of an English travel guide book reportedly used by the Germans to choose their non-military targets. They looked for cities with at least three stars for historical significance. 

10th Great-Grandfather

Rev. Thomas Wilson & Christian Ower

Theophilus Wilson & Elizabeth

Seaborn Wilson & David Fiske

Anna Fiske & Timothy Carter

Benjamin Carter & Sarah Stone

Timothy Carter & Sarah Walker

Timothy Carter & Frances Freeland

Elias M. Carter & Rebecca Williamson

Augustus M. Carter & Mary Frances Stanley

Edward M. Carter & Fannie May Capen

T. Richard Carter & F. Lyndell Cotton

"Let...Thanksgiving Bee Made For All Men"

"Let supplication and Prayer and Thanksgiving bee made for all men...Remembrance of the good done to us...Confessing God to be the Author and giver of it...Cheerfulnesse, being glad of an occasion to praise him, and doing it gladly, with joy"  ~ Thomas Wilson

Thomas Wilson, minister at St. George of the Martyr Church in Canterbury never came to the colonies but his ideas reflected the ideals of the early New England immigrants. 

Wilson was the author of A Christian Dictionarie. The dictionary has been used to provide clues regarding the Pilgrim's religious motives and it allows scholars to have some idea of how Pilgrims interpreted the Bible and used its words.The dictionary is listed in inventories of the estates of famous Pilgrims - William Bradford, Samuel Fuller and Myles Standish. Thomas Shingleton, John Kemble, and Robert Cushman were members of Wilson's congregation in Canterbury and later moved to Leiden and joined the Pilgrim Leiden Church. The Pilgrims were serious about studying the Bible and used a variety of books to help them in their studies. Wilson's dictionary was a best-seller and Dr. Ian Green called it the most popular Bible study aid. Given the importance of Bible study in the daily lives of the Pilgrims, this dictionary must have been highly regarded. 

So what does all of this have to do with Thanksgiving? Well, Wilson used his own definitions of everyday words and included quotes from the Scriptures to provide examples. Wilson's dictionary offered a religious definition of thanksgiving that included “An acknowledgement and confessing with gladnesse of the benefits and deliverances of God…to the praise of his Name" along with the quote that starts this post. The Pilgrims make repeated references to thanksgiving and it's pretty cool that one of my ancestors had such influence on their worship and daily lives. 

Robert Cushman (a member of the Pilgrim group in Leiden) called him "a very excellent preacher in Canterbury, who was both a lover of goodnesse and good men." 

Historian Peter Clark wrote the Thomas Wilson was "probably the most distinguished preacher in early Jacobean Kent [who preached] themes from middle-of-the-road Calvinism." 

10th Great-Grandfather

Rev. Thomas Wilson & Christian Ower

Theophilus Wilson & Elizabeth

Seaborn Wilson & David Fiske

Anna Fiske & Timothy Carter

Benjamin Carter & Sarah Stone

Timothy Carter & Sarah Walker

Timothy Carter & Frances Freeland

Elias M. Carter & Rebecca Williamson

Augustus M. Carter & Mary Frances Stanley

Edward M. Carter & Fannie May Capen

T. Richard Carter & F. Lyndell Cotton

Surname Saturday - Carter

Reverend Thomas Carter

According to The History of Woburn, Middlesex County, Mass.: From the Grant of Its Territory to Charlestown in 1640, to the year 1860 by Samuel Sewall, M.A., Reverend Thomas Carter was the first pastor of the church in Woburn. He was born in England and earned two degrees from St. John's College at the University of Cambridge - a Bachelor of Arts in 1629 and a Master of Arts in 1633.  It is interesting to note that he was at Cambridge at the same time as Reverend John Harvard, founder of Harvard College. They became ministers in neighboring communities. 

Main gate of St. John's College - Source: Wikipedia

He was ordained as the minister in Woburn in 1642. Capt. Edward Johnson in Wonder-Working Providence describes the ordination: "After he (Thomas Carter) had exercised in preaching and prayer he greater part of the day, two persons in the name of the Church laid their hands upon his head and said, We ordain thee Thomas Carter to be Pastor of this Church of Christ, then one of the elders present, desired of the Church, continued in prayer unto the Lord for his especial assistance, of this his servant in his work, being a charge of such weighty importance as is the glory of God and the salvation of souls, that the very thought would make a man to tremble in the sense of his own inability to the work." 

Painting by Albert Thompson - Hangs in Winn Memorial Library, Woburn, MA - Source: Wikipedia

 The town of Woburn gave Thomas Carter a house and a starting salary of 80 pounds annually. He got one quarter of it in silver and the rest in the necessities of life (goods). In 1674 it was added that he receive twenty cords of wood annually delivered to his door. Reverend Carter died in 1684 and left a verbal will which was recorded by his assistant pastor, Jabez Fox and attested to by this wife, Mary and sons, Samuel, Thomas, and Timothy. His inventory shows his estate was valued over £403 with £50 due from the town and about £21 worth of debts. 

Thomas Carter
Timothy Carter
Benjamin Carter
Timothy Carter
Dr. Timothy Carter
Elias Mellen Carter
Augustus Mellen Carter
Edward Mellen Carter
Thomas Richard Carter - my grandfather

"A Keen Sense of Justice & a Sharp Tongue"

Martha Carrier is one of the most well-known of those executed for witchcraft in Salem. She was born Martha Allen - my first cousin 11 times removed. 

An outspoken old woman makes an easy target for accusations

In 1674, Martha became pregnant by a young Welsh servant, Thomas Carrier and they married. They left Andover, Massachusetts and moved to Billerica, probably to get away from the gossip. In the 1680s, they returned to Andover, still poor and with more mouths to feed. Martha was disliked for freely speaking her mind and not knowing her place. She is described in Historical Sketches of Andover, "Martha Carrier was, too, a woman of a disposition not unlikely to make enemies; plain and outspoken in speech, of remarkable strength of mind, a keen sense of justice and a sharp tongue." 

The second major misfortune came in 1690 when a smallpox epidemic erupted and although her own family suffered greatly, the community blamed Martha for the outbreak. Her family accounted for 7 of the 13 deaths in town...apparently no one considered that it would be unlikely that she would afflict her own family. 

When the Salem girls accused her of witchcraft, her neighbors were quick to come forward with tales of wounds that would not heal and sick or dead livestock. These included Benjamin & Sarah (Farnum) Abbott, my 9th great-grandparents. Martha's response was "it is a shamefull thing that you should mind these folks that are out of their wits."

New accusations were aimed at her children. Sons Richard, 18, and Andrew, 15, were tied "neck to heels until blood was ready to come out of their noses." Daughter, Sarah, age 7, and son, Thomas, Jr., age 10 testified against their mother and admitted to being witches themselves. 

Martha never confessed despite all that was done to her and her family. This was very unusual among those accused. Martha was hanged on August 19, 1692. 

Enders Robinson, in his book Salem Witchcraft, proposed that there was a conspiracy by assistant minister, Thomas Barnard to discredit the senior minister, Rev. Francis Dane. Robinson's evidence is the number of accused who were either related to Dane or to the powerful founding families in the town. Rev. Francis Dane is my 10th great-grandfather and Thomas Barnard was married to Abigail Bull, my 9th great-aunt. 

Historical Sketches of Andover describes how she never gave in to the pressure, even when she was taken to the gallows.

"In the examinations of the accused which preceded the regular trial, most made confession and thus averted the extreme penalty. Martha Carrier was the only one of all, male or female, who did not at some time or other make an admission or confession. From the first moment to the last, under all the persuasions and exhortations of friends, under denunciations and threats of the magistrates and examiners, she held firm, denying all charges, and neither overborne in mind nor shaken in nerve, met death with heroic courage...The prisoner [Martha Carrier] was hanged August 19, 1692, along with four men, among them the Rev. George Burroughs. they were carried in a cart through the streets of Salem, crowds thronging to see the sight. Even from the scaffold, Martha Carrier's voice was heard asseverating her innocence. Her dead body was rudely treated, then thrust into the ground in the same hole or grave with the bodies of Mr. Burroughs and John Willard...in the year 1711, her [Martha's] name occurs on a list of sufferers, whose legal representatives received money for losses sustained by the imprisonment and death of their relations. Seven pounds six shillings was allowed to the representatives of Martha Carrier." 

Given what we know today about the psychology behind false confessions, it is remarkable that Martha refused to be broken. 

I have connections through three of my grandparents - though the Yates connection is only a half-cousin. 

Martha (Allen) Carrier - First cousin 11 times removed - granddaughter of Edmund Ingalls - my 11th great-grandfather through Fern Lyndell Cotton
Abigail Bull - daughter of Thomas Bull - my 10th great-grandfather through T. Richard Carter. 
Benjamin & Sarah (Farnum) Abbott - my 9th great-grandparents through Fern Lyndell Cotton, Benjamin is also my 7th great-uncle through T. Richard Carter. Sarah is also my 2nd cousin 8 times removed through Fern Lyndell Cotton and my half-2nd cousin 10 times removed through Linona Alica Yates
Rev. Francis Dane - my 10th great-grandfather through Fern Lyndell Cotton and one of his wives, Hannah Chandler, is my 8th great-grandmother through T. Richard Carter

http://archive.org/details/historicalsketc01bailgoog
http://www2.iath.virginia.edu/saxon-salem/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=salem/texts/bios.xml&style=salem/xsl/dynaxml.xsl&chunk.id=b4&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes

Black Sheep Sunday - I Did It My Way!

Bachiler Monument - Founder's Park, Hampton, NH

Stephen Bachiler (variously spelled Batchellor, Batchelder etc) was a minister in Wherwell, Hampshire, England and then in the nearby village of Newton Stacy. He married and began a family and settled into life. His six children, by his first wife, were all born in Wherwell - a nice balance of three sons and three daughters. His first wife was a close relative of Rev. John Bate and many sources give her name as Ann Bate, but the documentation is lacking. His ministry spans a time of ecclesiastical strife as Puritans challenged the Church of England and leveled accusations of corruption and abuse. Despite the optimism among the Puritans that accompanied the ascension of King James I to the English throne, he proved no friend of the Puritan point of view and instead sided with the established church. King James I declared that he would "make them conform or harry them out of the land."  Rev. Stephen Bachiler was one of those who was removed from his pulpit for nonconformity. His son, Stephen Jr., was expelled from Magdalen College, Oxford University in 1610 and in 1613 father and son were sued by a clergyman for slander because they had allegedly written ""some scandalous verse" and were "singing them in diverse places." At the age of 44, he began a nomadic life that would take him to the colonies and eventually back to England. 

The Great Migration profile for Stephen Bachiler states that he came to the colonies in 1632 on the William and Francis. Before he immigrated, he was twice widowed and when he crossed the ocean he was married to his third wife, Helena, age 49. He was unusually old for an immigrant at age 71. Based on records, it is believed that Helena died sometime before May 1647. He moved frequently starting in Lynn, then possibly to Ipswich, was in Yarmouth in 1637/8, Newbury in 1638, Hampton, NH in 1639 and Portsmouth, NH in 1644. He left Lynn because he and some of his loyal followers were at odds with the rest of the congregation. In Yarmouth at age 76, he began his ministry yet again. An entry in John Winthrop's journal states that the group was very poor and taken over by others. Wherever he went dissension seemed to follow. In 1644, Winthrop remarked that  "Mr. Bachellor had been in three places before, and through his means, as was supposed, the churches fell to such division, as no peace could be till he was removed." In 1639, Bachiler moved to the new settlement at Hampton, NH. The Rev. Timothy Dalton was to share the pulpit with him - presumably because of his advanced age. 

 The final conflict with his congregation is reported in Winthrop's journal: Bachiler despite  "being about 80 years of age and having a lusty comely woman to his wife, did solicit the chastity of his neighbor's wife." This "lusty comely" wife would be Helena at age 58. She must have been a pretty sexy 58 as most women I know would not fit that description although they might aspire to it. There is no record of how this situation was resolved but in 1643-4, the town of Exeter invited Rev. Bachiler to be their minister and he hit the road again.

In 1648, he married for the fourth time, Mary, the widow of Robert Beedle. She had been living with him as his housekeeper and the community seems to have suspected that it was more than a working relationship prior to their marriage. Apparently, Rev. Bachiler at the advanced age of 87, was no longer quite able to keep up his end of the bargain and his wife left and went to live in Kittery with George Rogers. In April 1650 the court "ordered that Mr. Bachelor and Mary his wife shall live together, as they publicly agreed to do, and if either desert the other, the Marshall to take them to Boston to be kept until the next quarter Court of Assistants, to consider a divorce."  They did not live together or divorce. Sometime in the early 1650s, he returned to England. Mary became pregnant by George Rogers and was sentenced to receive 39 lashes at Kittery's town meeting and be branded with the letter "A." Some believe this story was the inspiration for the novel, The Scarlet Letter. 

Rev. Stephen Bachiler died in London at nearly 100 years old! Whether you find him an inspiration or an idiot, he lived the sentiment expressed by Frank Sinatra:

And now, the end is here 

And so I face the final curtain 

My friend, I'll say it clear 

I'll state my case, of which I'm certain 

I've lived a life that's full 

I traveled each and ev'ry highway 

And more, much more than this, I did it my way

This blogger has provided an even more detailed account of his life

Other sources of information:
http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/bachilerunforgiven.htm
http://o.mfcreative.com/f1/exports/7/76c42563-6769-4cc3-a652-f834df871431/Stephen%20-%20adulterous%20wife1.pdf
The Great Migration Begins by Robert Charles Anderson accessed at www.newenglandancestors.org

Connections to my family:
9th great-grandfather of Clayton Leonard Blake - my grandfather
9th great-grandfather of Linona Alice Blake - my grandmother
9th great-grandfather of Fern Lyndell Cotton - my grandmother
AND grandson Nathaniel married my 7th great aunt, Mary Carter - completing a connection to all 4 of my grandparents!

A Tough Childhood

William Yates' life as a boy is only documented through oral tradition. Unfortunately, his children and grandchildren do not recall the exact same information.

His youngest son, Sylvester, said, "I have heard my father say his father bound him out to a farmer who lived near Portsmouth, NH. This man treated him so that finally father ran away. He was caught and brought back but told the farmer that the next time he ran away, they wouldn't catch him. Afterwards, he ran away again and that time they didn't catch him." Martha Yates Littlefield, William's youngest daughter, said " I have heard father tell of how he was bound out to an Irishman when he was very small and how the Irishman abused him so that he ran away."

Two of his grandsons, Judge Edward M. Yates and Gilbert W. Yates, agreed in saying that they never heard William speak of his parents at all, any more than as if he knew not who they were. Both did recall he worked for a NH farmer for wages rather than being bound out. They remember him saying he had to work very hard and got very little schooling compared to other boys. Judge Yates spent much of his childhood in the home of his grandparents and stated "I always had the impression that he was some sort of castaway, a homeless boy, who in some way drifted to this country and got work in Portsmouth."

William told the following story to Gilbert. "The farmer was slack about having firewood on hand for the kitchen fireplace. His wife stood it as long as she could and then one noon when they were called for dinner, they found on the table was raw meat, potatoes, and unbaked biscuit. The farmer put in the next few days getting up wood."

Regardless of where he came from or what he did as a young boy, William left Portsmouth when he was fifteen and went to work at a brickyard in Saccarappa, near Portland, Maine. He also drove a stagecoach somewhere in the Portland area. When he was 18 or 19, he moved to Minot, Maine.

William Yates & Martha Morgan
Moses Yates & Martha Whittle
Gilbert W. Yates & Laura Emmons
Estes Gilbert Yates & Eva Delphinia Hayes
Linona Alice Yates

Sources:
William B. Lapham & Silas P. Maxim (1884 & 1983), History of Paris, Oxford Co., Maine (New England History Press, Spmersworth, NH (1983).


Yates, Edgar Allan Poe, The Yates Book: William Yates and His Descendants; the History and Genealogy of William Yates (1772-1868) of Greenwood, Maine, and His Wife, Who was Martha Morgan, together with the line of Her Descent from Robert Morgan of Beverly (Old Orchard, Maine, 1906).