November: Though Death Divides…

• Robert Burdick & Ruth Hubbard: 2 November 1655
• Ian Bosch & Wilhelmina Voight: 3 November 1624
• Diderick Bosch & Marie Schubring: 8 November 1574
• Gerard Spencer & Alice Whitebread: 10 November 1600
• Joseph Clarke & Bethiah Hubbard: 16 November 1664
• David Winchell & Elizabeth Filley: 18 November 1669
• Israel Porter & Elizabeth Hathorne: 20 November 1672
• Ebenezer Porter & Sarah Raymond: 20 November 1760
• Thomas Hatfield & Alice Ebel: 27 November 1671
• James Henry Beyea & Phoebe Sophia Smith: 29 November 1875
• John Marshall Fisher & Barbara Ann Brice: 29 November 1969

Today ( November 29th) is my parent’s 39th wedding anniversary… a beautiful sunshiny November day. It is also my great great grandparent’s 133rd wedding anniversary. They were married 94 years apart. Here is what I know of Phoebe Sophia (Smith) & James Henry Beyea.

James was born on November 19th, 1952, in Smithtown NB.  His parents were Lydia (Mosher) and John Beyea.  He was became a carpenter, like his father and grandfather (also James Beyea) before him. He was the oldest son of six siblings: two older sisters, Annie Eliza and Mary Elizabeth and 3 younger siblings, John Edwin, Martha Matilda and William Allan.

James married Phoebe Sophia Smith, the local midwife, daughter of deacon James Smith (deacon of the Smithtown United Baptist Church) and his late wife Dorcas Manzer (Dykeman).

James & Phoebe had three children: Mary Florence (known as Mayme or Mae), Elizabeth Mosher (known as Libby) and William Henry (known as Harry).  It seems that James and Phoebe liked nicknames.

When Harry, my great grandfather, was born in 1888, his eldest sister was 11 years old and second born sister was 5. There is a good chance that there were more than three pregnancies throughout those 11 years but none are recorded as lost, or born and died young. Phoebe, herself, was the local midwife and would have experienced the many joys and trajedies of birth and death, her own included.  Only 4 years before her marriage to James, Phoebe’s own mother died in childbirth at the age of 39. There is a good chance that Phoebe might have been the midwife to her mother and certainly would have helped raise her new little sister after the loss of her Mom. This new little sister to Phoebe was named Dorcas, after her mother, and she went on to survive adulthood and have four children of her own.

James and Phoebe, sometime in the early years of the new century, ventured to Boston MA to find carpentry work. Their daughter May and her husband George went with them. Harry, who was single at the time also went. It is uncertain if Libby and her husband came along as well.  They returned to the Lakeside area of New Brunswick in 1913 along with my great grandfather and his new wife, Annie Elizabeth Barr, whom he met and married in Boston. Annie was a Nova Scotia girl, living in Boston, about to raise a New Brunswick family. My grandmother was their second youngest daughter.

In 1927, only days before her 71st birthday Phoebe Sophia died. She had gone almost entirely blind in her later years. Her oldest daughter had adopted 2 children: Phyllis and Frank, and her youngest daughter was pregnant with what would be her only child: Barbara Jane (Nichols). Harry had 6 surviving children. Their youngest, at the time of Phoebe Sophia’s death, was 5 year old Ewilda Elizabeth, my grandmother.

James passed way 3 1/2 years after his wife, on February 1st, 1931, with complications from pneumonia. They are both buried at the Baptist Churchyard in Smithtown NB.  Their stone was purchased from a catalogue company (possibly Eatons). Today it broken in 3 parts and lists only the name Beyea, (now hidden on the base stone).  It leaves us with the parting words: “Though Death Divides, Fond Memory Clings”.

James Henry Beyea & Phoebe Sophia (Smith)

October

I returned, this month, from the heart of my ancestral homeland: New Brunswick.

Thank you to Clara Wanamaker and her daughter Beth for sharing the research that they have done and the fabulous pictures they have inherited. It was so very wonderful to see a picture of my great great grandmother, Bethelda Hannah Gavel Barr, that wasn’t the size of a locket shot.

Thank you to Ron Dykeman who toured us around the early Dykeman settlement… showed us the original land where Loyalist Garrett Dykeman and his wife Eunice Hatfield settled. We stood on the shore of Dykeman Lake and enjoyed the feeling of historic family tranquility, surrounded by autumn splendour. Ron’s aunt also shared, with us, many family stories and much of her family research.

The maritime generosity and friendliness of these people made me proud to have a New Brunswick heritage!

I have decided, because I have so much time (I hope you hear the sarcasm dripping), that I will be writing a novelized history of my New Brunswick Loyalists grandparents… specifically, James Beyea & Martha Curry Sherwood, Richard Bull & Jemima Budd Bull, Isaiah James Smith & Joanna Davis, Garrett Dykeman & Eunice Hatfield. I will fill you in on my progress as the months continue. My aim is to have it complete by my parent’s 40th Anniversary (which will be November 29th, 2009).

Speaking of anniversaries, here’s the October list:

• William Doty & Elinor Sauchee: 1 October 1761
• Edward Waldene & Mary Hunt: 3 October 1574
• Nathaniel Raymond & Martha Balch: 3 October 1735
• Timothy Hurlburt & Sarah Clark: 5 October 1757 
• John Clarke & Catherine Cooke: 12 October 1567
• (Deacon) John Gavel & Phoebe Hatfield: 16 October 1799
• William Brooks & Mary Burt: 18 October 1654
• Henry Best & Grace Boithes: 23 October 1577
• James Smith & Dorcas Manzer Dykeman: 25 October 1853
• Henry Best & Margarita Maud: 26 October 1552
• Samuel Balch & Martha Newmarch: 27 October 1675
• John Nason & Elizabeth Rogers: 28 October 1600
• Richard Sabin & Mary Elizabeth Busche: 29 October 1608
• Mark Batchelder & Mary Fantinge: 30 October 1598

I had the priviledge this month of visiting the gravesite of James Smith & Dorcas Manzer Dykeman, who were married on the 25th of October 1853. They were married in the Cambridge Parish, quite possibly in St.James Anglican Church, Lower Jemseg, where Dorcas was born. The lived in Smithtown, where James was born and raised, and had 8 children: James, Phoebe Sophia (my great great grandmother, Clara Amelia, Rachel Susanna (died as an infant), Barnet, Albert, Herbert, and Dorcas Rebecca.  James & Dorcas were married for 17 1/2 years until the early death of Dorcas at age 39. She died 7 days after the birth of their daughter, Dorcas Rebecca Smith. This little baby survied to adulthood, married and had 4 children of her own. Her youngest was named Wilda Helen, born 15 January 1906. My grandmother was named Ewilda… I’m curious about that connection, but I digress…

Dorcas and James were buried in the picturesque Smithtown Baptist Church cemetery. I will leave you with the picture of their stone. It’s abit hard to read, so here’s what it says:

In memory of

James Smith

1827-1892

his wife

Dorcas M.

1832-1871

thier daughter

Rachel S.

1860-1861

September… just under the wire.

 September anniversaries:

• Baltus Berentsen Van Kleek & (Ca)Tryntje Jans Buys: September 1676
• Edmund Lockwood & Alice Cowper: 3 September 1591
• Daniel de Tourneur & Jacqueline Parisis: 5 September 1650
• William Henry Beyea & Annie Elizabeth Beyea: 6 September 1911
• Johannes Bosch & Rossina Niemeyer: 8 September 1490
• Robert Barr & Hepzibeth Doty: 10 September 1807
• Sgt. Thomas Spencer & Sarah Bearding: 11 September 1645
• Richard Odell & Elizabeth Pierce: 15 September 1565
• Cornelis Hendricks Buys & Hendrickje Jansdr Damen: 16 September 1628
• Edward Camp & Grace Mott: 21 September 1615
• Jeremiah Sabin & Mary Abbot: 23 September 1724
• William Sherwood & Margaret Spalding: 25 September 1545

Well I’m squeaking this one in, just under the wire! It’s been a month of illness, house renovations, appliance breakdowns, and numerous other “hiccups” that I can use as excuses for my last minute posting… Good new is, I have one week until I take the girls with me to the ancestral homeland of New Brunswick (lots of packing yet to do!) and I just spent this past weekend at a dear friend’s wedding (a lovely water’s edge ceremony!).  Speaking of weddings, this months ‘celebrity’ couple are Edward Camp & Grace Mott.

An older Edward and twenty-two year old Grace Mott were married on the 21st of September 1615 at St. Margaret’s, Hunsdon, Essex Co., UK.

Edward was born and christened 7.7 miles away the All Saints Church in Nazeing UK.  In 1610 he purchased a house in St. Margaret’s, 2 miles south of Hunsdon, which he named “The Gate House” and five years later he married Grace in St. Margaret’s.

Their marriage and life didn’t slow down from there. Edward was a hard working blacksmith. It is rumoured they had the smithy right in their house. I can envision Grace doing a lot of dusting and laundry, trying to keep the blacksmith effects off their clothes and furniture.

In Edward’s senior years (in the 1650’s) he became a Quaker and held secret meetings in his barn. Perhaps he was influence by his eldest son, Edward Jr.,  who is rumoured to have left England to escape religious persecution. America was a much more  Quaker friendly destination and many Camp’s found there today come from the line of Edward Jr (the son that I am also a descendant of).

Edward Sr.’s clandestine Quaker meetings did not go unnoticed. He was caught in 1661 (possibly at the age of 86) and was imprisioned, in Hertford Gaol, with 7 other Quakers.

If I have the dates right (and there is some question about this) Edward lived to be 107 years old. Grace died sometime after 1633… perhaps as young as forty… likely long before her husband became a Quaker, had hidden barn meetings, and was arrested as a religious dissenter.

Next month I will talk a little bit about the NB trip. I plan on a full day of cemetary hoping with some gravestone photography… always a good time! And I have a date with my grandmother’s cousin to talk about family history! I can’t wait!

August and the Melyn family through the eyes of Susanna.

• Lambrecht Melyn & Perynken Van Hernitem: 6 August 1553
• Edmund Cooper & Mary Wyne: 14 August 1564
• John Batchelder & Mary Herrick: 14 August 1673
• Gov. John Endecott & Elizabeth Cogan: 17 August 1630
• Resolved Waldron & Rebecca Hendricks Koch: 20 August 1645
• Titus Hurlburt & Catherine Gavel: 21August 1813
• William Bull & Sarah Wells: 25 August 1718
• Jan Winans & Susannah Melyn: 25 August 1664
• Capt. Johannes Vermilje & Aeltje Waldron: 27 August 1670

This month we celebrate the anniversary of Jan Winans & Susannah Melyn, a couple who lived during the early years of New Amsterdam.  Susannah, sometimes referred to as Sanna, came from an influential family with a turbulent history.  When Susannah was only 4 years old her father was banished from New Netherlands and sent back to the Old World aboard the ship, “The Princess”. Why was Melyn  banished?  He initiated a protest against the prevailing Director-General of New Netherlands regarding treatment of the native Indians.

Director-General Kieft, in his paranoia, had the local natives slaughtered for little cause and, as a result, they retaliated in full.  It became a two year war (1643-1645) known as Kieft’s War or Wappinger War (named after the prevalent opposing tribe). According to S. Beck’s book, “New Netherlands and Stuyvesant”, 1600 natives perished during Kiefts war. The European population of New Netherlands, at the time, was 250. Cornelis Melyn’s property was attacked in 1643 and he had to abandon his land, home, cattle and, in fact, his entire estate because of this war singlehandedly started by Kieft. This was the same year that Susannah was born.

Cornelis Melyn wanted justice. In early 1647 he spearheaded a group of eight men to write up a complaint against Kieft, (by this time his reign as leader was over), and presented it to the Old World powers that be.

On 25 July 1647, Peter Stuyvesant, the new Director-General, feared that this group of eight would eventually turn on him, so he passed judgement on the case with a 300 guilder fine and a seven year banishment for Cornelis Melyn.  Melyn’s collegue, Jochem Pietersen Kuyter, was fined 150 guilders and three years banishment.  They were to return to the Netherlands aboard the ”Princess” and their prision “guard” was Kieft, himself, dominating over them on the trip.

How frustrating it must have been for Melyn and Kuyter to be prisioners under the man they accused.  I’m certain there was no kindness spared on them.  However, fate dramatically stepped in.  The ”Princess”  went off course and crashed into rocks near Swansea UK. Only 20 people survived (out of 101), including the two prisioners Melyn and Kuyter.  Willem Kieft went down with the ship.  There is speculation that one of Cornelis’s sons, either Joannes (age 18) or Abraham (age 12) may have died on the ship as well.

Melyn returned to New Netherland in March 1649 when Susannah was almost 6 years old. Two years had passed since Susannah had last seen her father and although one could imagine a memorable reunion the truth was that her father was hardly ever home, even before he was forced to leave.

Susannah was the third youngest of 11 children (two died young) and the first to be born in the New World. Her father, also a Patroon of Staten Island, travelled at least 11 times back and forth across the Atlantic to secure the settlement of the new colony. It was Sanna’s mother, Jannetje,  who was left in charge of the family.

It was an uneasy time to live in the new world, especially without the constant help of a marriage partner. In 1655 their son was killed in an attack known as the “Peach War”.  A Dutch farmer shot and killed a Wappinger woman he caught stealing a peach from a tree in his garden.  Her relatives were enraged and formed a search party to find and destroy the farmer.  In their path they burned farms, killed 50 Dutch lives, and took another 50 hostage.  Susannah’s parents lost their 22 year old son Cornelis and a son-in-law, Claes allertsen Paradys.  Another son-in-law, Jacob Schellinger, was one of the 50 hostages. Their 15 year old son, Jacob, “was much wounded, but recovered, not without great difficulty”.  Sanna was only 12 when this massacre tore her family appart. (As a note, her first brother named Cornelis did not live past his third birthday.  The two sons named after their father both had short lives).

When Susannah married Jan Winans she must have been prepared for a life of motherhood, uncertainty, and hard work, but the celebration of their marriage must have been a joyous family event because they shared their wedding day with Sanna’s sister Maria and her new husband Matthias Hatfield. (It was Maria’s first husband, Claes allertsen Paradys, who died in the 1655 massacre).

Together Jan and Sanna had at least 9 children.  Jan was a founding father of Elizabethtown New Jersey and is one of the “80 Associates” connected to the town.  He was a substantial landowner. At his death he owned around 200 acres of property.  He owned many books (a rare commodity), a Gold and Silver Plate and a Coat of Arms.

Susannah’s great grandparents, Lambrecht Melyn & Perynken Van Hernitem, were also married in August (6 August 1553) at the very famous 14th Century, Church of Our Lady, Cathedral in Anterp Belgium.

July… reflecting on family almost lost.

So big scare this month… a virus almost wiped my family out. Nothing like waking up to find your technical nose all runny and the chance that years of work might have suddenly disappeared. And it’s not just regular old work, but your complete family history! Okay, a tad over exaggeration… I did have a 5 month old back up… but there was a lot of familial discovery over the past 5 months. Five months of todays history is a few generations of research!

But big sigh of relief everyone, because the family is not lost! It is found… at least as far as I have found it. I safely have the July anniversaries for you to view:

• Maria Underwood & Thomas Ormsby: 1 July 1602
• Lydia Batchelder & William Porter: 5 July 1733
• Joane Clark & John Bull: 7 July 1672
• Dorcas Manzer & Gilbert Hatfield Dykeman: 10 July 1794
• Sarah Brooks & Jonathan Taylor: 11 July 1678
• Mary Odell & Benjamin Turney: 12 July 1630
• Christian Penn & Francis Billington: 16 July 1634
• Marie Berger & Etienne de Tourneur: 18 July 1605

Mary Odell and Benjamin Turney married in England and came over to North America together. In 1631 they settled in Concord, MA and began a life of early American settlers. They were active members in the Concord Church led by Rev John Jones and Rev. Peter Bulkeley. Originally a rector in All Saints Church, Odell UK, Rev. Bulkeley left for more religiously tolerant shores of North America aboard the Susan and Ellen.  The town of Odell UK is in Bedfordshire, the same ’shire where Mary Odell was born and the marriage location of Mary & Benjamin (Salford Bedfordshire). Is it just coincidence that Mary Odell lived so close to the town of Odell in England? Is it possible that Mary & Benjamin also came across the Atlantic Ocean with Peter on the Susan and Ellen in search of religious tolerance?

After a few years in Concord they moved to Fairfield CT in September 1644 along with 17 Concord families including Rev. John Jones, who left the congregation due to theological disputes. Rev John Jones was a Cambridge University graduate and had sailed to Concord on the ship The Defence (another possible Mary & Benjamin vessel to investigate?).

For a picture and history of Rev. John Jones and Rev. Peter Bulkeley see: http://www.firstparish.org/ministers/index.html

Within 3 1/2 years of moving to Fairfield it is rumoured that Benjamin was killed by Natives, leaving 6 daughters and 2 sons, between the ages of 3-17, without a father. Mary remarried another Concord-to-Fairfield resident, John Middlebrook. It is uncertain when shed died… although she had no children with her new husband, leaving some to believe that she died early in her re-marriage. I am descended from Mary & Benjamin’s daughter Rebecca who was 8 years old when her father died.

I have not been able to find any record of Benjamin’s death at the hand of the local Native people. It would not be uncommon for death to occur in such manner.  But here is what interests me the most: while Benjamin might have had his life ended prematurely by Natives, his great grandson married a Native. (Her name’s unknown, but genealogy refers to her as: Mohawk Indian maiden). It’s amazing the political and social steps forward only a few generations can make.

Had I lost this family history to the jaws of the mighty computer virus, I could not share this with you today. It’s amazing the technical steps only a few generations can make… Now off I go to back up my files!

A special June Anniversary…

I would like to share with you a special gift… but first of all, the anniversary list:

• Isabella Swift & John Boithes - 3 June 1548
• Abigail Aikin & Murray Lester – 3 June 1743
• Mary Grant & John A. Mullen – 6 June 1805
• Elizabeth Salter & Richard Martin - 9 June 1631
• Madeleine de Tourneur & Jan Dyckman – 15 June 1673
• Ewilda Elizabeth Beyea & Bruce Marshall Fisher - 19 June 1945
• Mercy Campe & Josiah Baldwin - 25 June 1667
• Grace Turner & John Field - 27 June 1575
• Ann Gale & Reginald Jenkins - 29 June 1635

John A. Mullen and Mary Grant were married in their early twenties in Weymouth, Digby, NS. It is likely that they were married by the somewhat famous rebel preacher Enoch Towner. Enoch was of the Baptist persuasion (before the Baptist faith was given credibility) and fought against the self appointed supremacy of the Anglican Church. His main issue was the standard acceptance of marriage only being preformed by Anglican officials. Enoch chose to preform this exclusive sacrament on a young couple, Jacob Cornwell and Sarah Titus. The townspeople were horrified at the Baptist preachers presumption and pelted him with eggs and fish inards until he retreated to the outskirts of town. In 1800 an official complaint was made against him, with the Court of Marriage and Divorce, regarding his continual practise of marrying couples in love.  According to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online:

At length the court decided in Towner’s favour and, what was even more important, it categorically denied that the Church of England had been made the established church by an act of the Nova Scotia legislature. This decision was a significant landmark in the weakening of Church of England authority in Nova Scotia.

With all the controversy over Towner’s legitimacy regarding marriage, John and Mary must have had strong convictions and an adventurous heart to put their wedding vows in the hands of someone that some people thought was unworthy to represent the sacrament. It seems John and Mary held Enoch in great regard, for their youngest son is honoured with his name.

One hundred and fourty years and thirteen days after John married Mary, my grandparents Ewilda Elizabeth Beyea and Bruce Marshall Fisher were married (19 June 1945). Today, in honour of their 63rd anniversary I carefully, and with great reverence, unrolled a sheet that holds the wedding dress of my Gramma. It is a gift that my Dad and his four sisters have given to me… a gift of unmeasureable wealth and generosity. A gift that I will treasure, and aim to preserve, forever.

Love in May

Well , I feel like a completley delinquent blogger here. I am so very late in my May posting and I have a thousand and one excuses for you all, but I’ll spare you the list so I can spend the time getting this done! There is something to be said for love in the springtime because historically it’s a hopping time for weddings! Here’s this month’s (or what’s left of this month’s) list:

• Thomas Hatfield & Anna Hampton Cox – 1 May 1621
• Richard Hurlburt & Ann Bower – 3 May 1606
• Johannes (Jan) ter Bosch & Rachel Vermilye- 4 May 1663
• Sir William Herrick & Joan May – 6 May 1596
• John (Cook) Carewe & Alice Carter – 8 May 1540
• Hendrick Aertson van Amburgh & Aeltje Claes – 11 May 1664
• Thomas Clarke & Rose Kerrich – 13 May 1599
• Israel Sabin & Mary Ormsby – 20 May 1696
• Robert Taylor & Joan Call – 24 May 1563
• Thomas Ensign & Constance Pilcher – 27 May 1594
• (Robert) Henry Barr & Bethelda Hannah Gavel- 28 May 1884

Israel Sabin & Mary Ormsby were 22 & 19 when they got married. Their first child, Sarah, was born 10 months later, followed by: Elizabeth, Samuel, Israel Jr., Jeremiah, Josiah, Margaret, William, Eleazer (died young), Mary, Eleazer, Martha.

Martha, the youngest, was born on the 30th of November 1715 and died the same day. Eighteen days later, on the 18th of December, Mary died, leaving behind possibly ten children. She would have been 38 years old. She shares a birthday with my oldest daughter Grace: April 4th, (1677 vs 2003), which I discussed in the April ‘07 archives.

According to the book, Descendants of Jeremiah Sabean of Nova Scotia”, Israel moved around MA a lot during his life.  In the last record found with Israel Sabin’s name attached, it claims that Israel ”was of Barrington 26 Mar 1718 when he sold his right of commonage in Rehoboth”. I am assuming this is Barrington Rhode Island as it is the closest Barrington to Rehoboth (there is also a Barrington NH and a Great Barrington MA). It seems that Israel died only a few short years after Mary for there is no mention of his exsistance after March 1718 and it is said that his children were “scattered at an early age”.

Mary & Israel had only 19 years of marriage together and Mary was pregnant for most of that time. It is heart-wrenching to think of as many as 10 children suddenly without parents and split up to be scattered amongst distant relatives and local sympathetic families.

Their son Jeremiah, my ancestor, was 12 when his mother died and likely only a young teen when he was orphaned. He, himself, died when he was in his early 30’s. His son, another Jeremiah, brought our family to Nova Scotia in 1762.

 

April Wedding Showers

Well there’s no shortages of weddings this month. It seems the ancestors loved the month of April for their nuptuals! Here’s the list:

• Mary Lyon & Jacob Hatfield were married on April 1st, 1753 in Essex Co., NJ.
• Elizabeth Bull & James Smith were married on April 1st, 1793, in Kings Co., NB.
• Susanna Hanners & David Grant were married on April 6th, 1748, in Kings Chappel, Boston, MA.
• Gertrude Schultz & Hinrich Bosch were married on April 11th, 1596, in Holland.
• Elizabeth Green & Thomas Abbot were married on April 18th, abt.1662, in Kittery, ME.
• Mary Dodge & Zacharie Herrick were married on April 19th, 1653, in Beverly, MA.
• Agnetta Budder & Richard Wright were married on April 28th, 1572, in Enfield, Middlesex, UK.
• Alice ? & Hugh Laskin were married on April 30th, 1630, in the UK (probably Dorset).

With so many couples to choose from, it was a challenge to choose just one as this months focus. However, I’ve decided that David Grant and Susanna Hanners, regardless of minimal information, is worth investigating . Actually all I have that indicates their exsistence is the Nova Scotia census records of 1769.

“David Grant, one man, one boy, one woman, all protestants, one a Scot and 2 Americans, 2 cows, and a calf, one pig” [Bk1/37, Annapolis County, 12 Nov 1752-21 Jan 1769].

It is not certain which person in the family is an original Scot. My guess, based on the structure of the sentence, is that the Scot is David Grant. If Susanna Hanners was, indeed, the Scot, I believe the sentence would change to “2 Americans and one Scot“, indicating the male dominated society of the times. It also just makes sence that the “one Scot” indicates the first person mentioned (“one man”), and the 2 Americans are the following two people (“one boy” and “one woman”).

More clarifying is the fact that Grant is a common Scottish surname, whereas Hanners is more English (although the name concentration seems to be in Northern England, just across the Scottish border).

Clan history of the Grant name shows a family that strongly supported the Scottish royal family and that settled in the Highlands, mostly around Loch Ness. For a more complete history of the Grant family check out this site: http://www.clangrant.org/history.php

I have not been able to locate the names of David or Susanna’s parents. The marriage records from the 1898 Record Commissioners Report, 150, lists the April 6th, 1748, wedding date of David and Susanna and lets us know that they were married in the Anglican Kings Chappel of Boston MA. Three other Grant marriages are listed. Christopher Grant married Mercy Stratton in 1739 and Sarah Grant married John Dwight in 1746. That would make three Grant marriages in 9 years. It could be that David, Christopher, and Sarah were siblings and were married in their family church. With this hypothesis I could be one step closer to finding “their” parents!

The history of the Kings Chappel Church (http://www.kings-chapel.org/history.html) indicates that the small wooden structure, dedicated in 1689, was in bad need of renovation by the mid 1700’s. In 1749 construction began on a new stone building in the same location. David and Susanna were married in 1748, the last year standing for the old wooden church.

The Marriage of March…

Well, surprisingly there’s only one March wedding (that I have the dates for):

Hinrick Bosch & Pauline Boeck were married on 18 March 1520/21 somewhere in Germany (possibly Meissenheim). They had four children:

• Diderick born 7 January 1521/22
• Henrich born 17 January 1523/24
• Paulina born 11 October 1524
• Rosina born 10 July 1525

I am descended from Diderick, whose descendants, a few generations later, settled in Harlem NY. What a different world that has become now! I imagine I would look a little out of place if I tried to make a claim there now!

Love in February…

So, this month I have a proper Anniversary list for you to see.  I was somewhat surprised to see so many February weddings.  Weddings today seem to concentrate around the summer months, with the warm sun and good driving weather. Perhaps in an era where the population was more farm-centric, spring, summer and autumn had other priorities. It will be intersting to see what kind of annual pattern is produced by looking at anniversaries. But I’m getting off topic here. So, without delay, I bring you to this months Anniversary list:

• ? February 1528/29: John Turney & Alice Sheppard in Hollingdon, UK
• 2 February 1641/42: William Filley & Margaret ? in Windsor, CT
• 2 February 1830: Barnet Manzer Dykeman & Sophia Beyea in NB
• 3 February1590/91: Anthony Maria Browne & Jane Sackville in Wiltshire UK
• 4 February 1816: James Beyea & Mary Smith in Lakeside NB
• 20 February 1649/50: Jacob Jans Schermerhoorn & Jannetje Egmont in NY
• 25 February 1701/02: Jonathan Batchelder & Ruth Raymond in Salem/Beverly MA

The final couple, Jonathan Batchelder and Ruth Raymond, lived during a turbulent time in MA… a time of witch trials, Indian raids, and battles with French of Quebec.

Jonathan’s father, John, was a juror during the Salem witch trials and ended up sending innocent people to their death. He lived with that guilt and eventually signed the Declaration of Regret, for the part he played in the trial, and recanted his judgement/decision as juror.  Jonathan would have been 14 when his father served as a Juror during the witch trials.

Ruth’s father, William Raymond, was an active military man during King Philip’s War and fought in the infamous Great Swamp Fight on the 19th of December 1675 (322 years later, to the day, I married Kevin). The Great Swamp fight was against the Narragansett Indians. It is estimated that 600 Natives died that day and about 70-80 Colonists died. Ten years later, in 1685, William became the Deputy of Beverly MA and 5 years after that, in October 1690, he took up his military duty once again and commanded a company in William Phip’s Expedition to Canada. It was more than an unsuccessful attempt to take over Quebec. The Expedition  was a complete failure. Frontenac held the Quebec fort and about 1000 of Phip’s men died. Only a small amount died during battle. The rest died from a fleet epidemic of smallpox and ship accidents. William, however, survived and returned home to his family.

Ruth was possibly born the same year her father fought in the Expedition to Canada.  I can imagine William thinking of his small infant daughter, and his numerous other children, as he face the daunting fort at Quebec. 

In 1700 Ruth’s older sister, Mary, was wed to Josiah Batchelder. Josiah’s older brother was Jonathan.  Ruth and Jonathan may have met throught their siblings, but it is more likely that they were well known neighbours and perhaps grew up together. Looking at some old town planning records for Beverly and Salem might support this hypothesis… I’ll add it to my to-do list.

It seems to be popular theory that Ruth was born in 1690. I suspect that this birthdate isn’t accurate and is really a few years earlier. If she was born in 1690 then she married and became a mother very young and died early at the age of 57.  If the date of 1690 is correct, Ruth would have been 12 years younger than Jonathan (aged 24) and only about 12 years old at the time of their marriage. Their first child together, Ruth “Jr.”, was born in December 1703 when Ruth would have been around 13 years of age.

Jonathan and Ruth would go on to have four children: Ruth, Abigail, Lydia and Jonathan. I am a descendant of their youngest daughter Lydia, born about 1713.