Birth anniversaries compiled to today...

Aug 25.
Ralph Farnum II (1601-1642)
My nine times great grandfather on Ada Swasey Rogers tree.
I NEED TO DO RESEARCH ON HIM, AN IMMIGRANT FROM ENGLAND TO ANDOVER MA)

Aug 24.
Cyntha Cannon Rogers (1800-Nov 24 1855)
My 3 times great grandmother on George Rogers family tree.
(SEE THIS BLOG HERE)

Aug 20.
George Tyler Granger (1804-after 1870)
Lumber merchant and surveyor
My 3 times great grandfather on Ada Swasey Rogers tree.
(SEE BLOG FOR A LETTER HE WROTE HERE.)

Aug 12.
Joseph Swasey (baptized on Aug 12, 1714 - 1801
my 5 times great grandfather on Ada Swasey Rogers tree.
(SEE BLOG HERE)

Aug 11.
Jonathan Bowers, Captain (1673-1750)
my 6 times great grandfather on Ada Swasey Rogers tree.
(SEE BLOG HERE, AND HERE.)

Aug 8.
Josiah Beers 1693-1763)
My 7 times great grandfather on Eugenia Booth tree.
(SEE BLOG HERE)

Aug. 7.
Jacob Granger (1735-4 Feb, 1795)
5 times great grandfather on Swasey tree
(SEE BLOG HERE)

Aug. 1.
Anna Curtiss Booth (1697- 18 May 1733)
My 7 times great grandmother
(SEE BLOG HERE)
In Booth family tree.

See, I did do some research this month on my ancestors.  Then I took a break.  I'll be back soon!

What if Martha Clack married A. Hightower?

Sometimes I find that plugging in information which isn't substantiated by facts/documents, will bring me to something that either a. proves it full of hogwash, or b. proves it to be true, or c. leaves me with egg on my face for even supposing such a thing!

So today I'm going to suppose Martha Kennon Clack could have married Austin Hightower.  And when I look at how many different dates are given for the siblings of Spencer Clack, she has some Ancestry trees giving her date of birth as 1741 to 1745 and as late as 1751.  The only catch to these earlier dates is that her mother, Mary Kennon Clack, was born 1n 1728, and got married in 1743.  That would put Martha's birth until her mother was at least 15 years old.

One set of trees uses Richmond, Wise County VA as her birth place, while another set says Brunswick County, VA.  Since all the other Clacks of her generation were born in Brunswick, that would be my first preference.

There is one record which lists Austin Hightower as marrying Martha (no maiden name) in 1861.  Austin was born in 1698 on this one record that a exists for Martha.

Austin has records of a marriage to Jane Oldham, in 1744. And they had 3 children.

So I'm fortunately visiting the Chatham County seat in Pittsboro NC, and today (the 23rd) will go to the library and talk to a genealogist.  Since Martha Hightower, as well as Auston, has been listed as dying in Chatham County NC, maybe I can find out where their graves would have been located.

And I did find a bit more information about the son of Auston Hightower, named Henry.  He was part of the American Revolution, but on the Tory side, and was hung for having "murdered" a patriot.

I saw the original will of Auston Hightower (and he signed his name spelling it that way.  So I've changed my records to reflect that spelling (though of course nobody else will probably.)

And since my guess is that Martha is a sister of Spencer Clack, then she's only my aunt six times great.

Yes, more of Spencer Clack's siblings

Looking at Spencer Clack's siblings (part 3)... (See this link for the start of this series)

Ann Clack Robinson 1745-1800
Spencer Clack 1746-1832
Martha (Patty) Kennon Clack (between 1748-60) - (around 1793-1818,) unknown if she married Hightower, d. maybe in NC
James Clack (1750 or 56) -1834
John Sterling Clack 1758-1798
Richard Clack 1763-1806
Agnes Bolling Clack 1771-1803


Richard Clack 1763-12 Jan 1806. He was born in what is now Loudon County, VA.

In 1786 in Brunswick County VA, he married Anne Hardaway who had been born in Prince George County VA in 1759 but their marriage, 14, Sept of 1786 was in Brunswick County VA.  She died sometime before 1794.  They had no children (at least recorded through Ancestry.)

Richard married again in 1794 to Amy Maclin or McLain or Mclain. They had at least 4 and maybe 6 children.  The tree gets a bit fuzzy at this point, without birth or death dates, so it's hard to see if the names that are listed really belong to these parents.   Richard died in 1806, and Amy in 1808.  Richard's death was in Brunswick County VA, and we don't know where Amy died.  Richard apparently left a will, naming at least 2 children, and mentioning there were others who weren't named.

The last of the Clack siblings is Agnes Bolling Clack Jones, born in 1771 in Brunswick County, VA.
She married William Jones on 14 Feb. 1792 in Brunswick VA.  But ancestry has listed another William Jones, one who married Elizabeth somebody else and died in Georgia.  I couldn't find out much about Agnes and her family.  The other William Jones came from Prince George County, VA (same birth and death dates) and had parents listed.  One from Mecklenburg County VA didn't have parents listed, but same dates.  And being married in Brunswick County VA may just mean that that is where Agnes lived.  There are 2 listings for their marriage, but none for their children (if any) nor even definite death places or dates.

So today's pursuit of cousins has ended.

More of Spencer Clack's siblings...John Sterling Clack

John Sterling Clack 1758-1798

Well, there appears to be some hanky panky going on. He's got 3 wives listed, and the first one was still alive when he married the third.  She also is mother to a whole lot of children that were born where he never lived that I know of.  One John Sterling who served in the Revolutionary War had a wife (or maybe daughter) named Mary who applied for his pension in Connecticut.  I don't think I'll consider her married to my John Sterling of VA and TN.

He was in the Revolutionary War.  That much is known.  Maybe he went by Sterling as well as John Clack.

There were probably 2 men, both of whom had families of Clack children.  Only one was brother to Spencer Clack of Sevierville.

One of them lived until 1831.
One of them died in 1798

One of them married Sarah Sally Standifer, and died in Pulaski, Giles County, TN.

One of them married Ann Eppes Walker and remained in VA where he died in 1798.

I can't keep them separate yet.  So many Ancestry Trees name one or the other wife, one or the other date and place of death.

Here are some interesting notes from a Family Chronicle, probably written in 1928 by a 84 year old grandson of the John Sterling Clack of Pulaski, Giles County, TN.  It was entered into Ancestry trees by "jgbg2016, Trophy Club, Denton TX in Jan 2017.  I don't know when or where it was published.

But based on this information, I'm going to remove Anne Eppes Walker as being married to our John Sterling.  It's not likely that our John had a wife and children in VA while being in Giles County TN.  It's a long ways away.

...this is the largest that the photos will enlarge.  I am saving here pages 649-652, and combined 655-56.

The author interviewed Col Spencer D. Clack (not Hon Lt. Spencer Clack) but a grandson of John Sterling Clack.

The above information includes why he has been so hard to flesh out. Pulaski, Giles County, TN is the home of the original Klu Klux Klan.  And John's son and grandson apparently were active members.

I'm so sorry, but every family has this kind of branch.  It has been cut off apparently by some of my relatives...perhaps cousins who just took the information out, left me wondering what ever happened to those children.  Now I know why.  These poor befuddled and racist men had fought for the Confederacy in the Civil War, and for them the war was continuing.  I do not feel sorry for them.  They have been misled and committed atrocities against black people too numerous to list.  Indeed, I dare say they haven't ever been written down.  The KKK knows how it is a evil monster, and so hides from public view.

James Clack, another sibling of Spencer Clack

Looking at Spencer Clack's siblings, part 2... (See this link for the start of this series)

Ann Clack Robinson 1745-1800
Spencer Clack 1746-1832
Martha (Patty) Kennon Clack (between 1748-60) - (around 1793-1818,) unknown if she married Hightower, d. maybe in NC *
James Clack (1750 or 56) -1837
John Sterling Clack 1758-1798
Richard Clack 1763-1806
Agnes Bolling Clack 1771-1803

James Clack died in 1837, but could have been born in 1750 or 1756, according to those Ancestry trees.

But I just found out there's a memorial marker to him in Dance Cemetery in Lynchburg, Moore County, TN.  And that gives me more firm dates to go on for his life.  Cha-ching, I can now change my questioning dates.   It says 1756-1837.  I'm going with that.  (However, often headstones have incorrect dates, so I'll be open to finding any written documents about his dates of birth and death.)  But it also says he was a Revolutionary Soldier.

"In Memory of James Clack born Jun 1756 - died Oct 1837, "A Revolutionary Soldier"

I looked at the list of people buried in the Dance cemetery, hoping to find some relatives.  You never know.  And of the 41 listed graves, it says 80% have been photographed.  I love when families name their children with old family names, and this research has proved this out.

There's a 1 year old James Clack Smith. Died in 1839.

A Mary Kennon Brown Smith died in 1840 when she was 35 (unknown if she was James' mother.)   Her children listed at "Find a Grave" for this site are: Mary Ann Clack Smith Martin 1826-1909, Martha Elizabeth Fisher Smith Harris 1829-1851, and Agness Bolling Smith Fuller 1832-1898.

Dance Cemetery, Moore County, TN

There are 2 family names I recognize...first daughter has Clack as a middle name, and last daughter is named after Agnes Bolling, a Virginia ancestor.  Not to mention Mary Kennon Brown Smith has the other ancestral name Kennon as well.

Mary Kennon Brown Smith...a.k.a. Mary Kennon Browne Clack Smith.

There be some relations in here, I'm thinking.  And the fact that the markers look so similar is also suggestive that one family had them made for their relatives.

I clicked on Mary Clack Smith's husband's link, and he was buried in Arkansas.  But it also gives this information (which notably isn't an original source, but might be considered first person account of those who knew her.)

"Dr. William Flournoy Smith, husband of Mary Kennon Browne Clack (daughter of James Clack & Sally Dickens), married October 29, 1823, Granville County, NC."

This may not be an original source, but here's the rest of the posting at "Find a Grave" for Dr. Smith.  It would have been nice if it had been included under Mary Kennon Brown Smith's listing (where I've now added it with her name.)

Notes for MARY KENNON BROWNE CLACK: 

"Mary Wilson Brown Dickens Hicks wrote this about her cousin & uncle. Her parents, William & Nancy Dickens reared Mary Clack to womanhood & was looked upon as an elder sister amongst my fathers children. Uncle Clack, Mary's father, was a constant visitor at my fathers house & he was a gentleman of the old school--one of the most refined, pious men I ever remember to have seen. His daughter Mary was the sole object of his deepest affection. I have often, in after years, thought how self sacrificing he was, doting on her as he did; surrounded with wealth and comfort at home; yet he allowed her to reside with my parents, fifteen miles from him, in order that she might have the benefit of my mother's care, in whose ability to raise daughters he had the utmost confidence. My cousin was married in my father's house."

From The Village Messenger, Fayetteville, Tennessee, Vol. 4, No. 27, December 7, 1827 

So James' daughter was Mary Clack who was cared for by her father fostering her with a nearby family, the Dickens.  Unfortunately for us, no Dickens were buried in the Dance cemetery (according to the list). There may be a connection to the Dance family through a Sarah Smith Dance (1793-1863) but that's just a bit too far removed from my Clack search for me to go further with her family ties.  There are no other Clacks that I've found, and the rest of the Smiths don't seem to be connected to Clacks.  I wish the Dickens were somehow part of the information.

There are still some questions to be answered. If she was a Clack, why does her grave leave that name off, just saying Mary Kennon Brown Smith?  And the 1827 article doesn't include any information about her husband, Dr. Smith.  This would have been a rather important marriage name, so is there some explanation?

So I've added a new wife to James Clack, that of Sally Dickens.  Let's see what that turns up.  There was one wife that had no substantiating data, named Jane McClin...so I was never sure if she'd married James, had the daughter, or was a later marriage.  Still looking...

OK, I've found the bond listed in Granville, NC for the marriage of Sally Dickens to James Clack on Nov. 26, 1804.  Original written document!  Whoo-hoo!

Their only child, Mary Kennon Brown Smith Clack lived from 27 Aug 1805 till 20 Dec. 1840.  Since her first daughter has Clack in her name, I checked her "Find a Grave Site" and it lists her parents as Mary Clack Smith and William Smith.

It's beginning to sound like Mary Kennon Brown Smith was the same woman as Mary Kennon Clack Smith.  But if she didn't want to carry the Clack name, she still used it in her children's names!  And she never let go of the Kennon either.  This is pure conjecture, but it sure is beyond coincidence.

Back to Mrs. James (Sally Dickens) Clack.  I want to see if she wasn't a deceased sister of the Dickens family who raised James and Sally's daughter, Mary K.

When I finally found Sally's parents, I found where the Brown in Mary Kennon Brown's name came from, it was her grandmother's maiden name!  Mary's mother, Sally died in 1808, when Mary was just 3.  There were many siblings of her mothers...now to find the ones who lived down the road from James Clack. Unfortunately none of Sally's brothers was named William.  So maybe a cousin?

That will mean going back a generation into Col. Robert Dickens (or Dickins) family.  Do I want to spend the time? Yes, because I want to connect the cousins.

So yes, Col. Robert Dickins did have a son William Dickins, (17732-1845).  And the next step is to see who he married. YES, a Nancy Pullian, who he married in 1810, in Granville Co., NC.

So that ties up the beginning of the life of Uncle James Clack.  I have to quit for tonight, because twice I tried to add all the children of William and Nancy Dickins to my ancestry tree, and they didn't come up.  When Ancestry starts mis-behaving like this, I won't waste my time.

* I've changed my mind and decided to go with the Martha Kennon Clack Hightower approximate facts for now.  So now I will update the information given above on a later date!

Spencer Clack's siblings' families

Lt. Spencer Clack has been given a lot of my blog time...Try these subjects if you want some background:
In honor of Spencer Clack's Death July 9
Spencer Clack Memorials by the Little Pigeon River, Sevierville TN
Mary Beavers Clack and her children
Spencer Clack, founding father, Sevierville TN and Revolutionary War soldier

Today I will be looking at his younger siblings, since he was the first son born into the John Clack family. I already gave you a post on  Col. John Clack which mentioned how the children were born in different Virginia counties.  But the dates of their births are pretty wishy washy.

Ann Clack Robinson 1745-1800
Spencer Clack 1746-1832
Martha (Patty) Kennon Clack (between 1748-60) - (around 1793-1818,) unknown if she married Hightower, d. either in NC or GA?
James Clack (1750 or 56) -1834
John Sterling Clack 1758-1798
Richard Clack 1763-1806
Agnes Bolling Clack 1771-1803

I spent a good couple of hours looking at how many Ancestry trees combined Martha Clack (whether she had Patty or Polly as a nick-name or not) and another couple of Marthas who were named in wills.  I thought she might have been the Martha married to Austin (Augustino) Hightower (his second wife.)  It is too bad that his first wife was named Jane Oldham, and someone decided that her name must have been Martha Jane.  I'm going with the guess that there were 2 different women.  But there's no evidence.  And since someone thinks his last 3 children were born to the second wife, our Martha might have only been 13 when she married a man who had 3 children already and was (ahem) 63.  (But her birth date also might be in question, so maybe she was older) So as of now, I'm skeptical of her being THAT Martha, who died in Chatham County, NC in 1793.

The other Martha was definitely Martha Rivers, not Clack, so that whole family isn't related to me.  I may never find out, but Martha Rivers Broadnax did have a daughter who's given a K. as middle initial, which could have stood for Kennon, but the Rivers Martha is the one who was her mom, not my Martha Clack (whose mom had been a Kennon.)

And now let's hope the rest of the siblings have easy to follow notes on their lives.

Ann Clack Robinson, born to Col. John (1721-1784) and Mary Kennon Clack (1728-1794) on 12 April, 1745.  But her birth could have been as late as 1748.  In Brunswick County, VA...which is where she married Burwell Robinson on 9 Feb 1766.  They had 8 children.  They moved around 1783 to Warren County NC, where one daughter was born, but their last 2 children were born back in VA.   However Ann returned to Warren County NC by the time she died 12 March 1800.  Burwell outlived her  until 1816, and there's a hand written will of his desires, including leaving a ferry and an acre of land at the landing in Warren County NC to his son Clack.

The Robinson's other children were
Elizabeth, Mary Polly, Lucy, John, Nancy Anna Robinson Claiborne, James, and Henry.

I dare say the other daughters also married, but I haven't gone off in that direction to find out.  The Claiborne name is already in my Rogers Family tree, so I'm glad to see that marriage, though not to the other Claibornes that I've got already. Nancy Anna's husband was George Ravenscoft Claiborne, (1782-1833) and I haven't ever heard of him.

More on other siblings tomorrow...

Amy Cowell Sherburne Ferber Ayers

NOTE: a repost from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

I want to look a bit further into the ancestry of the Ayers family.

Amy Cowell's mother was written about a few years ago, when I was tracing the oldest matriarchs I could find.  Look HERE for that post including Agnes Harvey Cowell Snell (1617-1681). I can't find any real records that tie her to the Thomas Harvey who also lived in Portsmouth NH, apparently in the same neighborhood, which is recorded in The descendants of Charles Glidden of Portsmouth and Exeter, New Hampshire. This is apparently a publication from 2005 by Ancestry.com. (And the source of it was - Original data: Chamberlain, George Walter,. The descendants of Charles Glidden of Portsmouth and Exeter, New Hampshire. Boston: unknown, 1925.)  It says on page 44, under Gliddens, that...

Mr. Thomas Harvey was settled at Portsmouth as early as 1664 having married a daughter of David Kelley of Boston. Mrs. Agnes Cowell was the widow of Edward Cowell whose home on the water front stood about thirty feet from Charles Gliddens "shop." ...the neighborhood in which Charles Glidden resided in Portsmouth from about 1662 to 1668, contained the most prominent men in New Hampshire..."

Since Agnes Harvey had married Edward Cowell in 1640, (or possibly 1645) probably in Suffolk MA, and they raised their 4 children in Portsmouth, this quote above only substantiates a bit of their life that took place on the waterfront until Edward's death in 1677. So though Mr. Gliddens left around 1668, Agnes wasn't a widow until 1677....thus whoever wrote the information given above wasn't very particular about her married status at the time he described, but relied upon his knowledge that she became widowed.

These dates are based on probate records.  The people in Portsmouth apparently wanted to keep track of the property of the Cowells, which then went to Amy Cowell Sherburne Ferber Ayers.  Incidentally I just read the original record of an inventory of Agnes Snell's estate which was taken in Dec. of 1681, and in May of 1682 was witnessed by Jethro Ferber (the son-in-law of Agnes Snell.)

Don't you wonder if the property might have had some influence in how widow Agnes Cowell married at age 64 just before she died that year, in 1681, and then her new husband apparently died that year as well?  We'll never know probably, but I'm pretty sure a widow could keep her own property if it was willed to her by her husband.

And now I'm very curious about this Charles Gliddens and what was his "shop?" Time to go searching... (blacksmith, it says in the below document.) Don't miss the footnote which speaks of
Thomas Harvey.

Ah, I've found the original edition of that source which confused Mrs. Edward (Agnes) Cowell as being a widow in 1640.  It seems that citation came first from Brewster's Rambles about Portsmouth, 1859. 

So I'm including these 2 pages of this wonderful find.  At least to me it's wonderful to see how people were interested in these documents, and thus preserved that information over the centuries...it was also again published in 1925.  Pg. 44 (below) is where he speaks of Agnes Cowell.

I haven't got much to connect Agnes to Thomas Harvey, who at least was a neighbor in Portsmouth.  So until I find who her parents REALLY were, I'm going to see if there's anything to suggest that she was really Agnes Harvey before marrying Edward Cowell.

However, my Ancestry chart information says her father. Thomas Harvey was born before 1595 in England and died after 1650.  The Glidden document says he married a daughter of David Kelly of Boston, and settled in Portsmouth in 1664.  This would put him closer to Agnes' age than that of her father.

Since Agnes had died before her husband's (Cowell) estate was probated, in 1682, her daughter Amy and then husband Jethro Ferber were to care for her youngest son, by order of the court.  The inventory of the estate had been provided at Edward Cowell's death in 1677, but upon Agnes' death in 1681, the courts did a probate, though she also had left a will. They said Amy and Jethro Ferber were to care for and educate Amy's youngest brother, Samuel Cowell until he was 14. This was decided in April of 1682.

Why didn't Edward Cowell, Jr. the oldest son have this responsibility? He had married and moved to the Boston area by the time his youngest brother Samuel was born.  The court had no jurisdiction in Boston, is my guess...but there are numerous reasons possible. One might have been that Amy and Jethro Furber/Ferber were there and wanted to raise her brother.  They also had their own baby in 1682.  And then Jethro died that year.  Or maybe not.  One source gives that as his death year.

Another source doesn't have a year, and is questionable.  But I don't think I'll go into it now.  It gave him different parents' names and was written in 1905 by a clerk of the same name as the supposed mother of Jethro.  Only 200 some years later.

Amy remarried within a couple of years and had 2 more children, one of which became my great times 6 grandmother.

One document explains it all

NOTE: a repost from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

My great times five uncle was Raleigh (Rolly) Robert Clack (1772-1842). His sister Catharine (Aunt Katy) Beulah Clack Rogers  (1778-1850) married Rev. Elijah Rogers, (1774-1841) who were my great times four grandparents, and they all lived in Sevier County, TN in its early settlement stages.

This week was the first time I looked at Great Uncle Rolly's family at all.  Maybe because it was so extensive!  He had 16 children, with two different wives at different times.  His first wife Mary Genieve Randles Clack (1770-1816) gave birth to 9 children.  He remarried within the year of her death to Martha Kerr Clack (1787-1858) who then gave birth to 7 more children of his.

Someone* wrote a book about his family, and most of those children spread out moving west to Missouri and Texas. The book is  Clack and Kindred Souls.  It has some good genealogical research including this one page which clarifies the marriages of Clack and Kerr family members in Sevier County in the early 19th century.  Without reading this page where the 4 Kerr/Clack marriages are laid out in simplicity, I would have just given up on understanding who was married to whom.

It is written with a bit of humor, which includes the various relationships of in-laws by having sisters and brothers of Great Uncle Rolly's wife marrying his older children.

I do wish I could find a document like this for many of the other families which married brothers/sisters etc.!! (That's a brother married a sister of the spouse of one person, not a brother married his sister!)

* Thanks to the authors of this book, Edna Clack Sacks and Joyce Kerr!

Robert White (1560-1617)

NOTE: a repost from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

Robert White (1560-1617)  My 11 times great grandfather.

He was the 7th birth of 10 of which at least 3 siblings didn't live past a year of age.  Robert may have been part of the heritage which said youngest sons should go to the clergy.  His parents were well off, Lady Helen (Ellen) Kirton (Girton) of White of Hill Farrance, Somerset, England and Sir Richard White of Minot, Somerset, England.

Robert married in 1685 to Lady Brygette Allgar (1562-1605).  The youngest of her 8 children was Anna (Rosanna) White Porter, my ancestress (See blog HERE).  Though Robert and Lady Brygette White both died in England, they had a son and 3 daughters immigrate to Windsor Connecticut in the American Colonies.

from http://ancestor.homestead.com/files/Robert_White.htm
"Robert White was born in Essex, England, on Tuesday, June 24, 1561, and died in Essex in 1617.  His name was also spelled Robert Whighte. He was buried in Shalford, Essex, on June 17, 1617.    Bridget Allgar was baptized in Shalford, Essex, England, on Wednesday, March 11, 1562, and died in Shalford after June 24, 1605. They were married in Shalford on Thursday, June 24, 1585. She took the name Bridget White. She is the daughter of William and Margaret (Parye) Allgar.   William Allgar of Shalford, Essex, England died in County Essex, England, in 1575. He was buried in Shalford on August 2, 1575.. His wife was Margaret Parye of England."

" Robert White was a yeoman; that is, he was not a member of the nobility but did own a small amount of land (small compared to a typical nobleman's estate). He was wealthy and appears to have lived in Shalford from his marriage until a few months before his death. Shalford is about two miles south of Wethersfield."

"In his will, Robert White bequeathes 40 shillings to Mr. Richard Rogers, preacher of God's word at Withersfield in Essex. Therefore, it is likely that he was friendly to the non-conformists and attended some of their services. A like bequest to Bartholomew Scrivener, minister of the Church of God in Messing, implies that he was also interested in the established church (or was covering all of the bases). His bequest of 40s to the poor people of Messing and nothing to the poor of Shalford where he is supposed to have lived most of his life, opens the possibility that he was born in Messing."

Sources: 

·        Jacobus, Donald Lines, History and Genealogy of the Families of Old Fairfield (reprinted with corrections), Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1991 (1930); vol. 1, p. 487. 

·        English Origins of New England Families, Series 2, vol. 3: The Children of Robert White of Messing, Co. Essex, England, Who Settled in Hartford and Windsor (Family Tree Maker CD181).

He is listed on a Find A Grave site as a

 "Common Ancestor for US Presidents:

Millard Fillmore 

US Grant

Stephen Grover Cleveland

Gerald Ford" 

His grave site is unknown however.

Who did Amy Ayers marry?

NOTE: a repost (with editing) from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

Well, Amy (Annie) Cowell had a sister, Mary Cowell, according to my Ancestry Tree.  But there's a bit of a problem.
They both have the birthday of 22 January 1657.  So maybe they were twins.  But they aren't both listed as born the same time from same parents where their birthdays are listed.  They just have the Ancestry trees in a confusion.
AND -  they both have the same death day,  31 March 1736.

So I started looking around.
Especially since they both married a man named Sherburne, one to Joseph, one to John.

Annie (Amy) married a Joseph Sherburne (1656-1669) on 19 Oct 1678.  It's understandable that she married again, (since Joseph apparently died the next year)...to Jethro Ferber (1648-1682) on 19 Oct 1678.  Same marriage date to two different men?

And before I'm completely bald from pulling my hair out, her sister Mary married a man named John Sherburn.  BUT...

he was listed as married to another Mary, with surname of Jackson.  And the John Sherburne on my tree with all the other Sherburnes had been born in 1647, while the one on this new family tree (hear Twilight Zone music here) was supposedly born in 1650.  Same town of Portsmouth NH, but of course different parents so listed as 2 different men.

So this post is going out now, and I have no resolution on the conundrum, and it just keeps getting worse.  My poor little computer screen is just a mixed up as me.

The bottom line is that someone who made those lists of marriages (and births) got the Sherburnes mixed up.  There were so many it's possible that 2 Captain John Sherburnes were walking around town, both married to a different woman named Mary Sherburne.  And then there were all the children of John and Mary Jackson Sherburne...the first of which was born when she was 3 years old!!!  That does seem a bit of a problem.

Yep, never say genealogy is a dull subject.  But oh, it doth try one's patience!

Anyway, I do know the Ferber marriage of Amy (Annie) Cowell Sherburne Ferber produced just one son, who was included in some documents so there's record of that marriage beyond that list.  And I've already posted about how her next husband (my ancestor) Nathaniel Ayers, helped with the Ferber estate.  HERE.

The further back I go with these families of New England, the more I distrust the records that are listed.  If I can see a photocopy of the originals, I'll take that as fact. But not when there's duplication of birth or death dates for 2 people, or marriage dates for two husbands.

In the meantime, I pull my hair out bit by bit, because I can  NOT be showing this mixed up mess of data to other Tree searchers, as if it is fact.  So to solve that problem (and whatever reputation I might have) I'm going to delete the relationships which are most "iffy".  Nah, I just wish I could.  There's obviously a sister, who may have confused as to dates of birth, death, and marriage.  Not to mention who her husband might have been...or the children.

So Mary will not have the same birth and death date.  And Amy (Annie) will not marry 2 different men on the same day.  Whoever wrote those records must have had a headache...because I refuse to get one on this business.  And I didn't continue to say that Mary Cowell was married to John Sherborne who married Mary Jackson.

Now I can sleep tonight.  But tomorrow is another pursuit!

William Lewis Booth and Abigail's children mix up

William Lewis Booth and wife, Abigail had at least 2 children who lived to adulthood.  I may have found records of other children.

The Sixth St. Presbyterian Church of New York baptism records (see below) indicate a couple of possible errors in transcription...where maybe a child was listed with the wrong parents.  And since this is the only link I've found (so far) to perhaps give this child these parents...it's pretty staggering.

The first blast of error is when the original was typed into the index...where the Booth name came out BOOTS.  It is clear enough penmanship in the original, so the typist really goofed.  But then I look at the names of the children, and whoa! One who is substantiated elsewhere has been given another parent's name next to it.  Charles Henry was definitely the child of William Lewis and Abigail Booth...but this entry has as his parent someone named something like Saul Bruton.  Now that name is almost illegible so how is it that the very next entry is a child belonging to the Boots, who were really William and Abigail Booth.

Charles Henry's baptism was July 1841.
The entry written above his was for July 9, 1840, for a Lewis Frederic with William and Abigail Booth listed as his parents.
The entry below Charles Henry's baptism was for Deforest Mannis (also translated as Maurice) and the parents are listed as William and Abigail Booth.  His baptism date was given as Nov. 9, 1841.

So how likely is it that the Booths would have one child born in July and then one born in Nov. of the same year?  But perhaps they had just joined the church and wanted their sons baptized, though not in the same year...since other records indicate Charles had not been born in 1841, but in 1828. And Lewis Frederic Booth was born in 1839, though not baptized until 1840.

These children were all listed by the same scribe, and not in the years that the entries represent, but I'm pretty sure were all written at the same time.

There was a Y. E. Benton as a parent, who sometimes is listed with a wife as Mary.  The parents could have been mixed up in the transcription from the original notes, perhaps by the minister, or maybe the clerk of the congregation.

But the question remains, was the last name of these children Booth, or Benton, or Bruton, or something else?  Since they appear here in Ancestry, they also appear as children of Booths (the ones I'm interested in.  So did they grow up and marry someone and have children of their own?  If I can find them with the mistaken names, what does that mean?  Charles Henry was a Booth, at least by lots of records and children he had.  The only strange thing I've found about him so far was a record that he was born in Petersburg VA.  It is almost impossible to believe the family went to VA for his birth, rather than western NY.

At the courthouse in Sevierville

 "Oh yes," the Information Volunteer told me, "don't miss seeing Dolly's statue at the courthouse."

 Sevier County Courthouse entrance

Dolly Parton, country singer, actress...who started Dollywood and has contributed a great deal to the community....this statue didn't look that much like her, except for the guitar.

 The kinds of photos I usually see of Dolly Parton

A historic marker on the grounds of the courthouse, dedicated by the Spencer Clack chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

The plaque (enlarged below) was dedicated in 1931.

My great times 5 grandfather, Lt. Spencer Clack.


Another marker at the courthouse.

Other markers at the court house were...

Heym Family Tree

NOTE: a repost from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

A belated posting of this blog, which I wrote a few years ago...
Well this 75 year old me (Barbara Rogers Heym, divorced all of 48 years from Doug Heym) remembered someone was named Faxon, (about 3 years ago now) and wasn't he/she on the family tree which I've been putting together for my Heym sons...over on Ancestry.

So I did some playing, and Gertrude E. Shultz Hillyer didn't have a maiden name, so I put in Faxon for a trial, and sure enough, that's who she was from early census reports.  AND that gave her Faxon parents into the tree as well.

Today's search (3 years ago) was only 15 min. but I added about 6-7 facts, changing a birth year when I got a complete birth date here, and adding a lot of cousins there...but it would have gone on and on, so I know it's time to quit.

I wish I had the Heym Family photos with Rick's comments together, but somehow I've got original sheets from the photo albums, and I wanted to use one that has a tractor from the Faxon farm in Clinton MI...which is why I started today's search.  Got it.

"A Bit of History and The Heym Family Photo Album (by Rick Heym, 2012)
"This album collects the photos kept by our grandmother, Gertrude (Gammie - gah-mee) Faxon Hillyer and those maintained by our mother, Mary Margaret Edtha Hillyer Heym, and father, Norman Francis Heym: the first relates to early history of the family farm and their friends and also includes images of the Heym family as it grew;
the second chronicles the Heym family and our lives, first in the midwest up until 1945 and then in Connecticut.

"The Hillyer farm was purchased by Francis Faxon in 1831 according to a deed authorized by President Martin Van Buren and was passed from Francis to his son John and thus to his daughter. Gertrude Faxon was raised in nearby Owosso, MI where she studied art and music. This lead her to Boston, MA to study at the New England Conservatory of Music. At some point she met Louis Schultz and toured in vaudeville for a number of years. The name Schultz did not play well in theater, so Louis chose to use his mother’s maiden name, Hillyer, which seemed more acceptable. They were married in 1906. Our mother, Mary, was born in New York City, NY in 1907; it was
not until at least two years later that the couple left the theater to relocate to the family farm.

"Our mother was first educated in a one-room schoolhouse near the farm (see map next page, corner of Ohlson farm) [not included] and then in Owosso where she also studied dance, then for two years at Michigan State University where she studied Interior Design and taught dance before heading to NYC for work in the theatre and to dance professionally. After some time she returned to Michigan and took a job at the Hudson department store where she was working when she met our father, Norman. They married in 1932 and moved after my birth in 1934 to Cleveland, OH, where my sister was born in 1936; they moved to Owosso shortly afterward. Our brother, Doug, was born there in 1939.

"The farm was sold upon the death of Louis in 1954, after which Gertrude returned to Owosso, where she died in 1959. We have had a recent photo of the house at 6494 East Colony Road in Elsie, so the family homestead, ‘The Maples’ still exists although much modernized and without the outbuildings. See inside back cover for photo. [not included here] Our father had four brothers who appear in the album on various pages - Earle, Hal, Ray and Carl - and I will try to give bits of their history as I move through the album.I am sending a CD of this album to the broader family in case anyone wants to make a copy of their own."

The photos of album pages look like this before I spend a while cropping and saving each individual photo digitally.  I haven't don't many yet.

2018 June: Since I wrote the earlier part of this blog a couple of years ago, I've updated my Ancestry family tree which I've made for my Heym sons.  It is visible to other Ancestry members, and Doug asked to have the background for their connection to the Mayflower from it.  I was pleased to include him as an editor of the tree, after all it's his family.  So he's been doing a little with it.  And I only am doing my other families research at this time.  Thus I'll go ahead and share this to my blog, rather than keeping it in draft form like I have for all this time.

It's wonderful that these photos and comments have been saved.  Thanks to those who care enough to take time to comment while it's in their memory, in order to share with generations to come.  Most of them may not care at all, but some of them probably will!

Joseph Swasey baptism Aug 12, 1714

A repost of an earlier blog last March, (A repost from 2013)

Joseph Swasey, Sr. 1714-1801

My five times great grandfather on the Ada Swasey Rogers family tree.

He's the Great-Great Grandfather of Alexander G. Swasey, Sr, my great grandfather who I blogged about Here

Joseph Swasey, Sr. was baptised 12 August 1714 in Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts, United States,

"Death  before (Aug) 1801 in Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts, United States, Joseph Swasey, shipwright, Bapt. in Boston, Mass. Aug. 12, 1714; died in Somerset, Suffolk County, Mass; [died] bef. 1801; married, daughter of Jonathan & Ann Sylvester Bowers, of Swansea, Mass. She was of Spanish descent.  Feb. 20, 1790, Shewamit (or Somerset) was set off from Swansea & formed a separate town.  Joseph, removed with his family to Salem, where he lived until 1749.  He followed there the trade of hatter.  In that year he bought Swansea of John Palmer, 10 acres of land on Taunton River for which he paid ~1300 O.T.

"He put up a set of buildings, including a hat shop, built a wharf & engaged in shipbuilding, floating his craft down to Fall River.  The dwelling house occupied by the family for 3 generations was taken down several years ago.  The old cellar & the broad stone step still remain to mark the site.  The "Swasey burying ground" occupied about an acre of the original lot, upon which are many tombstones that mark the resting place of his descendants.

"In 1758-9, he was a private in his Majesty's service from the Province of Massachusetts, in Capt. Stephen Whipple's Co;  Col. Jonathan Bagley's Regt; for the reduction of Canada. 

In 1801, his estate was divided among his heirs which included the widow, sons Jerathmel & Joseph heirs of his son Samuel, & daughter Hannah.

(Source, including photo: Genealogy of the Swasey Family, 1910 by Benjamin Swasey an ebook that is available on line)

His wife Mary, took in boarders once widowed, and is listed in the 1823 Town Directory for same.

His son, Lt. Jerathmel Bowers Swasey, was born and died (1752-1826) in Somerset, MA, probably in the house that stood at 323 Main St. (Above)

Lt. Jerathmel Bowers Swasey is my 4th great grandfather, father of Alexander G. Swasey, father of Captain Alexander G. Swasey, Sr, father of Alexander John Swasey, father of my grandmother Ada Swasey Rogers.

The next generation of Booths after Zachariah Jr. and Elizabeth Beers Booth

My 4th great grandparents were Isaac and Elizabeth Moss Booth...who I posted about a few months ago...HERE.  Isaac Booth Sr. married Elizabeth Moss in 1776, and in 1777 he was receiving pay for being in the Connecticut Militia, Robinson's Regiment as a soldier in the American Revolution.

Isaac's parents Zachariah Jr. and Elizabeth Beers Booth were introduced in a post HERE.  Isaac Booth was the 6th of their 8 children (according to Ancestry tree information.)

Corporal Isaac Booth's signature on 1777 Revolutionary War document of Robinson's Company of Connecticut Regiment...arrow points to his signature.

I've added the Sr. and Jr. designations to keep track of them. Corporal is the designated rank given to Isaac Sr when he fought in the American Revolution so I'll try to remember to use it when referring to him.

Elizabeth Moss Booth gave birth to Corp. Isaac Sr.'s first son, Legrand in 1782 at age 26.  Her next son, my 4 times great grandfather, Isaac Jr. wasn't born until 1795 when she was 39 years old.  And then she had her last son, William Lewis Booth sometime in 1797 when she was 40.

They may have been farming people,  so it is possible the Revolutionary War used up all the crops for soldiers, and the women and children were not well fed, and possibly sickly, which might be the reason Isaac Jr. and Elizabeth Moss Booth only had 3 children between 1782 and 1797.  Or did they?  I'm beginning to wonder about a girl that came up on their census records twice (but there were still the 3 sons, so to have that girl counted, they left off one of the boys maybe.)

The census of 1800 in Stratford, Fairfield County, CT shows the Isaac Jr. family having one son and one daughter under 16 years, and one male between 16 and 25 (which would be Legrand at 18 years old), and one female between 26 and 44 (Elizabeth was 44 that year).  The 2 children under 10 would have been Isaac Jr. and William though why one was counted as female is strange.  I wonder where Corp. Isaac Sr. was.  It's possible he already was scouting out places to move in western New York state.

Before the 1810 census Corp. Isaac Sr.'s family moved to Cayuga County in western New York state. Their oldest son, Legrand was an adult living on his own by that time, and had married in CT (maybe.) Legran's first son (of 12 children with 2 successive wives) was born in Cayuga County, NY in 1806.

 But again the 1810 Corp. Isaac Booth Sr. census gives a female household member (now between 16-25) as well as a male between 10-15. Both Isaac (55) and Elizabeth (54) are listed simply as "over 45."  If Isaac Jr. and his younger brother William Lewis were being counted, Isaac was 15, and William would have been 13 (give or take a year depending on when the census was taken, before or after their birthdays that year.)

Entrance to Stratford CT cemetery, in honor of early settlers, and Revolutionary soldiers.  The early Booth and the Moss families are among those buried here.

I just noticed another date glitch over on Ancestry... Namely Legrand's first wife was Elizabeth, and she is confirmed to be married to him, as they were both listed with their full names Elizabeth and Legrand Booth, as parents of one of their daughters on the daughter's death certificate.  No document says her name was Betsey.  I think someone assumed Betsey Peck was Elizabeth Booth.  I can't find any documentation that says that is true.  What I can find is a Betsey Peck who died much later than Elizabeth Booth, and Betsey remained in CT, while Elizabeth moved to NY state.

The reason I started looking for source documents was the glitch in Legrand's first wife Elizabeth's date of death as Oct. 1819, while her last son Eli Lacy Booth was born on Oct. 1, 1820....according to his grave marker when he died in 1901.  There is no documentation of the 1819 date, so I'm changing it on my tree to 1820.

Legrand married his second wife, Mary May about 1821.  I'm not using the Peck family as Elizabeth's family at this point.

So once again I got sidetracked. Sorry about that.

Isaac Jr. (a shoemaker) and Jane McElhaney Booth had 7 children. Their 4th child died just after his first birthday, and when the next son was born, he was given the same name, thus a Daniel Matthew Booth I, and a Daniel Matthew Booth II.  The first died in Aug. 1826, and the second wasn't born until Sept. 1827.

Daniel II served the Union Army in the Civil War, from Chenango, NY.

I also just found that Daniel II got married.  And his military pension request from serving the Union Army in the Civil War says he was an invalid in 1883...and his wife filed for widow's pension Nov. 22, 1892.  But I'll refrain from learning all about his family until another time.  This has gotten quite long enough for now.

More of the Ayers next generation - 7 children of Susanna and Mark

NOTE: a repost from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

Here's a re-quote of the determination that Captain John Ayers (killed by Indians in 1675) wasn't related to the person of the same name from Haverhill:

Captain John Ayres of Ipswich and Brookfield was not the son of John Ayres of Haverhill. I have carefully examined the deeds of Salem, and have careful copies  of the town records of Ipswich and Haverhill, and these show that the mistake had been made by confounding two persons of the same name”. And so we are left without any definite leads as to the place of origin of the family prior to the immigration to New England. The first concrete fact we were able to associate with the family, is the appearance of the name of John Ayres in the early records of Ipswich. This appears in the year 1643, which indicates the approximate date of coming to Ipswich, but not necessarily exactly, since grants were frequently recorded sometime after they had been made. He was also listed as an inhabitant of Ipswich in 1648, and married Susanna, daughter of Mark Symonds of who’s (Mark Symonds) estate he was appointed administrator. In such capacity, on November 24, 1659, he sold a house and a three acre lot to another son-in-law of the deceased, Edward Chapman (Ipswich Deed 3:351). He was allowed the privilege of commonage in February 1667, and admitted a commoner at Ipswich in March of the same year. Captain John, as he was known at Ipswich, came to Quaboag Plantation before May 1667.

Source:West Brookfield Historical Commission: Meet the Planters - AYRES http://westbrookfield.org/historical-sites/quaboag-plantation/qp-ayres-john-12-49-37-am-2/ Researcher: Terry Owens

Continuing to look at the Susanna and Captain John Ayers children:
1) John Ayers III
2) Thomas Ayers,
3) Joseph
4) Susanna
5) Edward
6) Samuel
7) Mark
9) Nathaniel, my 7 times great grandfather (blacksmith)

Modern day photo of site of Captain John Ayers' tavern, Quaboag (Brookfield) MA where the Indians burned the town

1.) John Ayers III (1648-1711) was listed as farmer on one record. I just tore my hair out (figuratively) because this John and his young wife were listed as parents of John's 3 younger siblings, making his wife give birth at age 3...and the other thing on Ancestry trees was that they married 20 years after she died!  That's another 20 minutes of my life I won't get back!

OK, he did remarry and have children of his own, at appropriate ages!
First wife was Abigail Hovey Ayers, who died at 27 years and is buried in Boston, in the Ayers family plot.  John and Abigail Ayers may have sheltered his younger siblings after fleeing the burned town of Quaboag, but who knows why they are still listed as his own!

His second wife was Mary Woodham Ayers (1648-1711) and they had 2 sons and 2 daughters.  One daughter died the same year as her birth.  Again there are records that confuse my genealogy, because there were other John Ayers in the line from Haverhill as well, where the one I  am descended from didn't have clear lineage beyond his arrival at Ipswich, MA.

2.) Thomas Ayers (1652-1722)  He married Hannah Errington in 1677, and they had 7 children of the records I've checked quickly, 5 girls and 2 boys.  When I say I checked records quickly, I mean I noticed two were born in the same year, and only one of those had an exact date, so at this point I've not included the other one.  I also see that most of them only have a birth date, and no death date given.

3.) Joseph John Ayers (1655-1740) He died in Brookfield (formerly Quaboag) MA, which tells us that he must have succeeded in reclaiming his father's land.  He married Sarah Caldwell Ayers in 1677, she was one of 9 children.  They had 6 children. When his wife died in 1710 he remarried to Hannah Lovell Ayers.

4) Susanna Ayers Waite (1656-1683) born and died in Ipswich.  The only daughter of Captain John and Susanna, she died in her 20s, close to the same time her mother died.  Actually one record gives her marriage the year after she died.  (Here goes my hair again, tear tear tear) At least I found a hand written record of her marriage  "Thomas Waite in 1677 to Susan Ayers in Ipswich."  I do note that Susan isn't the same as Susanna, but so many women's names got garbled by scribes.  Her husband pre-deceased her.  We have no information about him, and there don't appear to have been any children, at least no records of any.

5.) Edward Ayers (1657- 1717 [or after 1720 and before 1723]) He also died in Portsmouth, NH, where his older brother, Thomas had died as well. The probate documents in 1723 indicate he was also a blacksmith (same as my ancestor, his youngest brother, Nathaniel). Edward's sons, John Ayers and John Cutt provided the inventory of his estate for the probate.  However, the date of his death might have been closer to the probate documents.  There's also a marriage in 1720 that might indicate  he was still alive!

His first wife was Alice Elise Shapleigh Ayers.  They may have had 8 children (as listed among duplicates on Ancestry). Alice may have been just 15 to his 20 years when they married.  This is rather different than his older brothers who waited until they were in their mid 20s to marry.  But the times may have been such that 1677 was a good year to marry.  Alice did die in 1717, and there is a headstone in Point of Graves, Portsmouth, NH, and a broken one beside hers that is assumed to be Edward's. His second wife was Margaret Williams Ayers, who lived till 1734 and died in Ipswich.

6.) Samuel Ayers (1658-1713)  I've noticed as I do this research that the birthdates seem pretty flexible for many of these cousins.  So I'm not sure who was older than whom.  When I originally started, both Edward and Samuel were listed as being born in 1658, but nothing indicated they were twins. And since then, a source gave me a birthdate for Edward in 1657. But I also now have Samuel noted as being born in 1657.  Oh dear.  (There are at least 15 more "hints" on Ancestry about this man, so I may be giving wrong information.  However, I am not going to read through all the documents at this time.  Sorry about that.)

Samuel married also in 1677, to Abigail Fellows Ayers (1644-1714) who was quite a bit older than Samuel, if her birthdate is correct. One record gives her death date as 1723 rather than 1714. No one has been able to locate a grave for Samuel.

How many children they had is really debatable, and not something I'm willing to invest my time in today.  It looks as if the first birth was twins, which included the only girl.  Then there were 8 more possible births, according to Ancestry.    Samuel's death was in Rowley, Essex County, MA, and his probate was in Nov. of 1713, so his death was sometime just before that.

7.) Mark Ayers (1661-1727 Mark married either in 1684 or 86 to Sarah Williams Ayers (1666-1728).  They had a son named Mark Jr. born in 1682, then 3 more sons.  No information came up on the first son, but the other 3 were born in Portsmouth, Rockingham County, New Hampshire.  In 1689 Mark Sr. was listed as a Petitioner for Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  I'm not really sure what that meant, but Ancestry lists it as a census data.  Sarah lived a year after Mark, both of them also dying in Portsmouth.  At least 2 of their sons were living beyond them.

8). Nathaniel Ayers (1664-1731) I already posted about Nathaniel and his wife, Amy Cowell Ferber Ayers (1657-1736)  HERE.

Inscription: Here lyes buried ye body of Mr Nathaniel Ayres aged 67 years & 6 mo dec'd December ye 4th 1731 Burial: Copps Hill Burying Ground Boston Suffolk County Massachusetts, USA Edit Virtual Cemetery info [?] Created by: Thomas A Hawkins Record added: Feb 24, 2004 Find A Grave Memorial# 8434381

 There are quite a few Ayers graves here.
,
Again there was a son born (Capt. Edward Ayers, 1685-1745) before the record of the marriage in 1686.  Their second child (no others are listed at Ancestry) was Ami (Annie) Ayers Swasey born in 1687 (or perhaps 1683 or 1685)..who married Samuel Swasey.

 This family also resided in Portsmouth NH, but Nathaniel was buried in Boston as the headstone attests, in Copp's Hill Burying Ground.

Susanna Symonds Ayers family

NOTE: a repost from my other blog...gathering the more recent blog posts into one place for access and organization!

"A Puritan Maiden" - Painting by Thomas Hicks (1823-1890)

Susanna Symonds Ayers, (1617-1683) daughter of Mark Symonds (1584-1659) and Susan Edgar Symonds (1588-16179.  I spoke earlier about her father and mother, Susan Edgar Symonds. (HERE)

Actually most of what I wrote referred to her step mother Joanna Symonds.  And I did mention that over on Ancestry, Susan Edgar Symonds had been merged with her husband's other wife, Joanna Symonds, to be Susan Joanna Edgar Symonds.  No such person! One commentator/researcher is quoted who thought that there was only one wife, but his comments referred to another generation completely.

I admit I copied information glibly from Ancestry...and used the unknown combined names at least once here on my blog.  Shame on me.  But here's a bit of an edited version of one of the old posts.

And here's a good link for Susanna Symonds Ayers husband Captain John Ayers, and Here to learn about the battle of Quaboag MA where he died.

Back to mother Susan Edgar.  She had been born in 1588 in Birch, Essex, England to Joseph Edgar (1565-1694) and his wife (maybe named Ann).  There is also a record of a Joanna Edgar, whose father was Joseph Edgar, but I'm waiting for more to say that she was Susan's sister. Apparently Susan married Mark Symonds in either 1609 in England, or 1612 in New England.  Her first child, Susan was born and died in 1610 in France or England.  Their next daughter Mary Symonds was born in Ipswich, Essex County, MA.  And their third one, Susanna was born in 1617 in Hull Yorkshire, England.  OK, there are some probable impossibilities here.

There were ships going back and forth to New England from old England regularly.  But why would Susan Edgar Symonds go back to England in 1617 when her last daughter was born?  Are the records (as few as there are) incorrect, or refer to another person entirely?

And how long did mother Susan live after the birth of my great times 8 grandmother?  We're pretty sure she died in 1619.  Her husband married his second wife, Joanna in 1620.  That meant the little girls were Mary 5 and Susanna 2 at the most when their mother died.

King Phillips War (colonials retreat after Indians burn Brookfield (Quaboag) MA (with support from French)

My great times 8 grandparents, Susanna and Captain John Ayers had 8 or 9 children before he was killed by Indians in 1675.  In her petition to courts to receive the property which had been abandoned at Quaboag, she said she had 7 sons and 1 daughter.  But other sources said she had 6 children.

Looking on my Ancestry tree, I've got John III, Thomas, Joseph, Susanna, Richard, Edward, Samuel, Mark and Nathaniel.  Richard wasn't on the list that Susanna gave the Massachusetts courts to reclaim her rightful land.  So I figure she must have known who her children were! And since Richard was listed as born the same year as her son Edward, and in New London CT, rather than Ipswich, I'm pretty sure this Richard wasn't part of this Ipswich family.  Remember how John Ayers Sr. wasn't related to the Ayers family from Haverhill.

So I can change my tree on Ancestry.  It's pretty heady, taking an ancestor off.  He still exists, and is on my list of people, just doesn't show any more as child of my Ayers ancestors.

How about the other 6 children of Susanna and John? I didn't look in depth yet at their lives.  They also retreated from Quabog, and grew up in Ipswich, and were parties to the petitions their mother posed to reclaim her properties.

Oh geese, I just found a record of probate for Captain John Ayers, of Quaboag, listing an inventory of his possessions in 1676. Well, I can't read it, it's just "listed" at Ancestry.  I'm a bit surprised, and wish I could read it, because his tavern had been burned down by the Indians in 1675 when he was killed, and everyone in the town had fled. Perhaps it's related to how Susanna made her petition.

Print of Brookfield (Quaboag) MA being burned by Indians 1675