Alexander G. Swasey Sr.

 Repost from When I Was 69 -  9/10/14

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In honor of Alexander G. Swasey Sr, whose birthday is today, I continue to research his roots in New England.

Benjamin Swasey's book, Genealogy of the Swasey Family, (1910) is offered where it mentioned my ancestors...photos of the ebook.

 

Entry 84 is Jerathmel Swasey...listed as Seventh Generation, a son of Jerathmel, Joseph, Samuel, Joseph, Joseph and John

Each of those fathers names represent a generation.

Thus:

1. John Swasey

2. Joseph

3. Joseph

4. Samuel

5. Joseph

6. Jerathmel

7. "Jarathmel, sea captain," (the number 84 with details given above) b. unknown date, "Swansea, MA, d. bef 1847, m. Eliza B. Davis, b. May 11, 1798, d. in New York City, 1873, dau of Benjamin and Sarah (Bowers) Davis.  She was app. adm. of his estate Oct 5, 1847. He commanded sailing vessels in the East Indies trade."

How was he related to my ancestors, since he wasn't a direct grandfather apparently?

Before working with his children (8th generation) I chose to continue the 7th generation since Swaseys arrived in America.  At the bottom of the same page will be found number 85, and "Alexander G. Swasey, sea captain."  The same parentage is given so he is brother to 84 Jarathmel who died around 1847.

"B. in Swansea Mass, Sept 10, 1784, d. in Newport, RI, Oct 28, 1861; m. Ruth Woodward, b. Sept 6, 1788, d. Mar 4, 1842. 

"He was a wood carver by trade but engaged for many years in command of ship to the coast of China."

Here's the next page in the book:

Children of Alexander G. Swasey and Ruth Woodward Swasey

 I again am going to offer the pages of the children, but skip their details and keep looking at AG Swasey's seventh generation.  (You'll notice a different numbering system is used for each generation in B.Swasey's book.)

Children continued, of AG and Ruth Woodward Swasey

Last listing of children of AG and Ruth Woodward Swasey

Seventh generation Stephen Swasey, not a son of Jerathmel Swasey but of Samuel Swasey, who must have been his brother.

So 86 Stephen Simmons Swasey was a cousin to AG Swasey Sr. since their fathers were brothers.  Again I chose to not follow that line, since my focus is to figure out the first 7 generations.

I also found it interesting in Mr. B. Swasey's book that he had a source who was still alive when he interviewed her, in 1903, the granddaughter of 84 Jerathmel.  Another cousin.  But a great primary resource.

Happy birthday Martha Poor Granger Nov 4, 1654

Yesterday was also her birthday.

She was part of a post a couple of years ago, HERE. 

-------------A repost from...Monday, January 22, 2018

Distracted but back to Grangers, Poors, and Farnums

I admit, I've been happily following those green leaves (hints) over on Ancestry, and also have succumbed to their sending me emails of new additions to the people on my trees.  Oh my goodness, I'd never heard of some of them, but then there were others...and so I've gotten distracted. Remember I've got around 3000 people on my three trees. Sorry.

Now back to the Swasey family roots.  

Martha Poor Granger  1654–1723

Birth 4 NOVEMBER 1654 • Andover, Essex, MA

Death 4 DECEMBER 1723 • Andover, Essex, MA

Martha Poor's father Daniel, has 30 hints that I have to weed through before I can tell you about him. He was one of those early immigrants to Essex County MA.

Martha's mother was Mary Farnum Poor (we've heard of the Farnum (Farnham) name before in the Andover area.  Mary Farnum Poor only got 5 hints on her name, so let's see what we can find about... 

Mary Farnum Poor  1628–1713

Birth 13 JULY 1628 • St Nicholas, Rochester, Kent, Eng

Death 3 FEB 1713-1714 • Andover, Essex, Mass

Mary Farnum was born in England, the eldest of the Farnum children who came with their parents on the ship "James" to Boston in 1635.  Her parents were Ralph and Alice Farnum.  (On checking with Wikipedia, there were several ships named "James" during the reign of King James.)

Martha Poor Granger's father was:

Daniel Poor Jr  1624–1689

Birth 1624 • Marlborough, England

Death 8 JUN 1689 • Andover, Essex, Mass

Mary Farnam and Daniel Poor married Oct. 20, 1650.  He also had been born in England, and they married in Andover, MA. 

He was a "youth, aged fourteen years, whose name is on the list of passengers in the ship "Bevis," from Southhampton, England, in 1638, and his name is there written Dayell Poore, that he came with his sister Alee, or Alice, aged twenty years, and his brothers, Samuel, aged eighteen years, and John, all under the designation of servants of Richard Dummer." 

From: 

GENEALOGICAL AND PERSONAL MEMOIRS - Relating to the Families of Boston and Eastern Massachusetts. PREPARED UNDER THE EDITORIAL SUPERVISION Of WILLL\M RICHARD CUTTER, A.M, VOLUME I.NEW YORK, LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1908

To continue:

" In 1644 he became one of the original settlers of Andover and spent the greater part of his life in that town, where he acquired a large estate in lands and other property, which at his death in 1713 was appraised at eight hundred pounds. He also became prominent in town afifairs, held several important offices and served as selectman eight years. His farm and home in Andover were on the east side of Shawshin river, near where now stands the station at the junction of the Boston & Maine and Essex railroads. Daniel Poore married Mary Farnum, who bore him eleven children."

"One of their sons, Daniel Poore, III, born in Andover, Massachusetts. 1656, lived on the old homestead in that town. He married Mehitable Osgood, and by her had nineteen children."

Daniel Poore Jr (the father) left a will giving land to his eldest son.  But his will also mentions daughter Martha, "to whom he gave 20 acres of land."  As several of his other daughters are specifically mentioned as unmarried, it must be assumed that Martha was married when he wrote his will in 1689.  And this is substantiated in other records, that she married Captain John Granger in 1679.

Martha, it seems, was listed in the Andover Births Record as Matthew, a daughter, (sic) on her birthdate of Nov. 4, 1654. and as "d. of Daniell Pore, Jr and Mary."  

But Matthew isn't mentioned in the will of his father though all the other children are.   

(So now I'm checking the 18 hints on Matthew Poor's name at Ancestry.  He has no records apparently, besides those which Ancestry has devised, no death date on Find a Grave, no marriage, no children, and the unfortunate copying of non-information over and over again, as a result of being listed as a daughter at this birthdate.  Half of the listings for his name are actually for his sister Martha, or mother, Mary.

So I am thinking at this point that Martha was the only one born on that date (since there are many records with her birthdate corroborated, like marriage, death, etc.) and perhaps she would have been named Matthew if she had been a boy.  Or perhaps there was a twin who died at birth.  Who knows.  For now I'm marking Matthew as just listed as "d" under his name.  If you do count a Matthew as a real person, then there were 11 children born to Daniel and Mary Poor.  Otherwise it comes to just 10. 

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Who was Martha Poor's husband?

She married (Feb 7, 1679) to Capt. John Granger when she was 24 years old, and he was 25.

They had 8 children, one of which became my ancestor...Samuel, born 1701...when she was 46 years old.

Samuel's great great grandson, George Granger, married Lucy E. Pulsifer (Pulsipher) the great granddaughter of Ebenezer Pulsipher (whose birthday was also Nov 4 and I mentioned yesterday!

Martha lived her whole life in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts. She didn't live long enough to see her son, Samuel marry Martha Marston in 1728, and their first child was also named Martha Granger (born 1730).

Great great Aunt Mariann (Mamie) Swasey Gresham (1849-aft.1883)

I look through my more immediate family members on my Ancestry trees about once a month. There are sometimes new documents which have been added, and Ancestry gives me a little "hint" of a green leaf on their name in the tree. Sometimes the hints are way off base (actually most of them.) But this last week I found a couple of documents that made me sit up and take notice.

My great grandfather Alexander John Swasey (1853-1913) had 4 sisters born before he was. They were born when his parents lived in St. Augustine FL during the times it became the state of Florida. But just before G-Grandpa Alex was born, they apparently moved back to Charleston SC.  His mother had been born in Charleston, and there were other Zylstras living there (looking at census reports before and after the Civil War.)

So the new information last week was that his older sister Mariann (Mamie) Swasey Gresham (1849-aft.1883) had married, and had children.  I haven't been able to find any indication that his other 3 older sisters even lived past childhood.

Mamie Swasey was 17 when her father Captain Alexander Swasey (1812-1866) died in Charleston SC. He had spent virtually the whole of the Civil War in prison in Fort Warren in Boston Harbor, only to return home in 1865 and die of consumption in 1866.  His grave is somewhere with another family, unmarked. My cousin visited Charleston and tried to find it a few years ago.

Now I've recently learned of Great Great Aunt Mamie married in June of 1869 to Joseph Gresham (1844-1895).  But before she married, another document shows that she returned to the US from Panama on 15 Jun 1868 when she was 18. The manifest show another female listed just before her name, and I would think it unlikely that she would travel alone to Panama and back. I think her friend's name was Teresa J S Lindsey (27) and there was another female named Mary Lindsey (19) as well.  The ship Rising Star brought these passengers into New York. Perhaps there was some missionary work they were involved with...I'm open to suggestions.

GG Aunt Mamie married Joseph Gresham in Charleston SC.  But he was from Pontotoc, Mississippi, and they set up their home in State Line, George County (or Green County) MS. His family included at least one member who fought in the American Revolution, so there are DAR documents about them. The Daughters of the American Revolution are good at keeping records. 

State Line MS is on a railroad line, and GG Uncle Joseph Gresham in the 1870 census is listed as a clerk in a sawmill, which was probably owned by his father.  Joseph and Mary (Mamie) Gresham were living with his father, John Gresham at that census, and Mary must have been expecting their first son (Joseph Jr.) who was born in June 1870.

They had 7 children, one of whom died in infancy. There were 5 sons and 2 daughters in their family. And their son, George Leon, who became a physician, lived until 1962.

Joseph Gresham, Mobile AL (no date given)

In 1885 Joseph Gresham received forty acres of land from Pres. Grover Cleveland, in Washington County AL. I wonder what service he had provided to the US government. He was a CSA veteran, having enlisted in Company K, Mississippi 1st Cavalry Regiment as a private.

The 1880 Census for Washington County AL has his occupation listed as a merchant. At that census Mary Gresham was 30 years old, with her father having been born in Rhode Island. (Capt. Alexander G. Swasey.)

Mamie gave birth to her last son, Nov. 9, 1883. He lived till 1935, but we have no further records of Great Great Aunt Mamie Swasey Gresham. So we can only say she died after 1883.

Her husband, Joseph, died in 1895 in Pascagoula, Jackson County, Mississippi, and he was buried in State Line, MS. 

I am a big fan of another Grisham, namely the novelist John Grisham. A lot of his books are centered around Mississippi and Alabama, so I was thinking we might have distant cousin status. But it really doesn't matter, even though he grew up in that area. The Firm, and Pelican Brief are 2 of my favorites which were made into movies. 

Sharing on Sepia Saturday this week.

Finding a new great aunt...but first the back-story.

Originally posted Tuesday, May 20, 2014 - edited May 14 2020

Looking at my ancestors on my father's side of the tree.

Alexander John Swasey

Writing says "Alexander John Swasey, the father of Ada and Stella Swasey" Possibly photographed around 1890.

Born in 1853 in Charleston, South Carolina. His mother had Dutch roots, Anna J. (Fanny) Zylstra Swasey.  

His father, Captain Alexander Swasey was a Confederate Blockaid Runner.  His birthday link is HERE.

My father's mother's father, Alexander John Swasey (I'm calling him G-grandpa Alex) had 3 older sisters, born in 1840, 41, and 43, all born in Florida.  There isn't much information about any of them.

EDITORIAL NOTE: there's now another sister that I just discovered, and I'll be talking about soon.

He married Zulieka Granger Phillips in 1882 when he was 29.  She had been an orphan raised in the homes of her mother's sister's families in Galveston, Texas during the Civil War and following.  I don't know how G-Grandpa Aex got to Galveston, TX from Charleston, SC where he lived as an adult.  That's where his father died in 1866, following imprisonment during the war.  But the first verifiable record of G-Grandpa Alex being in Galveston is in 1884.

G-Grandpa Alex had various clerical and bookkeeping and sales jobs.  In 1884 he is listed as a Collector in the Rosenberg Bank in Galveston Texas city directory.  His wife's cousin Chauncey G. Sweet is listed with the same occupation, and their residence is listed as the same address at that time.  Many of my Swasey and Phillips and Sweet families apparently lived together around the corner from each other.

My grandmother, Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers (1886-1964) lived with her parents until her marriage to George Rogers in Galveston in 1905, a ceremony which was held in the Swasey home. She just had one sibling, a sister named Stella Zulieka Swasey Winslow (Aunt Jim) (1887-1960).

In 1907, G-Grandpa Alex and his wife, Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey, (Dear Nan) moved to Houston TX  and he was a bookkeeper for Kirby Lumber. By 1910 he was listed as an accountant at that lumber company, with their home on Main Street.

They lived in an apartment called The Savoy in Houston in 1911, and he was a clerk for an oil company. They are listed in the Houston Directory at the same address until his death from heart failure in 1913.  His wife's cousin Chauncey Sweet took his remains back to Galveston to be buried.  Chauncey signed the death certificate Oct. 4, 1913, which lists his occupation as a salesman, to be buried on Oct. 5.

Unfortunately G-Uncle Chauncey was wrong about G-Grandpa Alex's mother. She was not named Tylstra, nor was she born in Tallahassee FL. The Florida part was true, but it was St. Augustine where she lived. And her name was misread when a "Z" looked like a "T" on a document.

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Another repost about G-Grandpa Alex and the Swasey family.

Friday, March 2, 2018 EDITED

Alexander John Swasey

Was he known as Alex or John? I don't know for sure.

1853–1913

Birth MAY 20, 1853 • Charleston, Charleston, South Carolina, 

Death OCT 4, 1913 • Galveston, Texas

He was married to Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey.  He was my grandmother Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers' father. 

He was a bookkeeper, and so was my grandfather, George Rogers. 

Alexander Swasey's mother was Anna J (Fanny Tylstra) Zylstra Swasey.  There was difficulty reading the census, and apparently even the family believed her name had been Fanny Tylstra.  But I saw the "Z" in longhand on a census report, and changed my Ancestry notation for her name, and found more of her family.  Unfortunately I've never found when or where she died.

She had lived in St. Augustine FL where her brother was the postmaster. (See this old post about them!) Alexander's father was Captain Alexander G. Swasey, a nautical man who spent most of the Civil War in prison in a fort in Boston Harbor.  He had been a blockade runner for a short time for the Confederacy.  He died shortly after the end of the war, when Alex John was just 12.

G-Grandpa Alex and G-Grandma "Dear Nan" lived in Houston until Alexander died in 1913.  His wife lived until 1935.  They are both buried in Lakeview Cemetery in Galveston TX

Tomorrow I'll introduce you to his sister, Marianne (Mamie) Swasey (1849-1883)

Ralph Farnum II (1601-1642)

According to New England, The Great Migration, 1620-1635, there's this information about Ralph Farnum (Varneham) coming to America...at bottom of page.

This information states he was probably born in 1603 and died by 1648 when his widow remarried.  

His wife, Alice Harris Farnum Martin, had been born in England around 1607 and died in America in 1652. She and Ralph II had 5 children, the last 2 born in America. She remarried in 1648, and had no more children.

The North America, Family Hitories, 1500-2000 states he was born Aug. 25, 1601.  He is known as the town bell ringer, custodian of the meeting house (a combination of religious and civil gathering and distribution of law). He was also known as a barber/surgeon. Because he had a son named Ralph (the third of that name on my tree) there are some family trees that have him living until 1691.  But his wife remarrying is good enough for me, for a Puritan wife would have only married again if she were a widow. 

On my family tree he is my 9 times great grandfather!  

And I have his daughter Mary as my 8 times great grandmother.

Mary Mehitable Farnum Poor  1628–1713

Birth 13 JULY 1628 • St Nicholas, Rochester, Kent, Eng

Death 3 FEB 1713-1714 • Andover, Essex, Mass

Mary was born in England, the eldest of the Farnum children who came with their parents on the ship "James" to Boston in 1635.  Her parents were Ralph and Alice Farnum. 

Uncle Henry Dunster Sr., First President of Harvard University

Another anniversary left over from April...the birth of Henry Dunster Sr, April 30, 1580. He died in 1646.  I'll give a bit of my own thoughts, and how I believe I'm related to him through his sister.

My 7 times great grandparents were Elizabeth Dunster Bowers and Benanuel Bowers.

UPDATE May 10, 2019 - EDITOR's NOTE: President (of Harvard College) Henry Dunster may still be an Uncle, or maybe a cousin. I've discovered more in-depth work on early parish records that suggest Elizabeth Dunster was maybe someone else, and perhaps that Marie Dunster was Mrs. Benanuel Bowers

Here's my repost from Sept 17, 2014...

The births of the Benanuel Bowers' children of Charlestown, MA were recorded (all eight of them) in detail, by a clerk.  On that page he gives credit that the usual person who kept these records had died.

The clerk who was gracious enough to record these names made one very big mistake.

At least that's the best I can figure out at this time.  I'll gladly write different results if and when I find them.

Benanuell and Marie Bowers are given as the parents.
But Benanuell was married to Elizabeth Dunster.  Records attest to that fact.  They married Dec. 9, 1653.  

So who's this Marie?  I think clerk Edward Burtt made up a name.

From 1653-1673 there are 8 children listed, and at the bottom of the handwritten sheet (all the same handwriting) it says

"Record of all births, deaths, and marriages, that have been in Charlestown since the death of Mr. Thomas Harre (first letter is unclear) who departed this life the twentisixth day of the eighth month, 1658.  Per mee: Edward Burtt, Clerk

So apparently since 1658, good records hadn't been kept...and since the last entry is 1673, it's likely that records were not kept for those 15 years, and were being attempted to be reconstructed.  Remember there are not complete records, but just a few scraps available.

What difference does it make whether Benanuell's wife was named Marie or Elizabeth Dunster?

A big difference to her.  And probably to my descendents.

I'll tell you more about who she was, in relation to a rather important person, tomorrow.  For now I've added a middle name of "Marie" to Elizabeth Dunster Bowers.

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Repost from: Thursday, September 18, 2014

Elizabeth Dunster Bowers

Her husband, "Benanuel Bowers was a militant Quaker sympathizer and suffered much for his religion by fine, whip and prison. Some letters and doggerel lines of his are yet preserved in the Middlesex County Court, one addressed to Thomas Danforth the magistrate, date March 3, 1677. (not yet transcribed)

"The following excerpts from "The Letters of Mrs. Robert Clay" are not completely accurate.

"My Grandfather, Benanuel Bowers was born in England of honest Parents, but his father, being a man of stern temper, and a rigid Oliverian, obliged my Grandfather (who out of a pious zeal, turned to the religion of the Quakers) to flee for succour into New England." The Letters of Mrs. Robert Clay.(Ann Curtis Clay Bolton)

"He purchased a farm near Boston and then married. Both were Quakers. The Zealots of the (Presbyterian party) sic. ousted them. They escaped with their lives, though not without whippings, and imprisonments, and the loss of a great part of their worldly substance.

"History of Cambridge, MA 1630-1877, preface, p 37. Baxter, Joseph, H. C. 1693, witness to will of Benanuel Bowers.

The above quote is an attachment to Benanuell Bowers on Ancestry DOT com. I have no way to verify it.  But I know that Cambridge and Harvard in the 1600's were not ruled by Presbyterians, but by Puritans.

Benanuel married Elizabeth Dunster on Dec 9, 1653.

He had been born in  1627 in Cambridge, Middlesex, Massachusetts.  His father George Bowers had been born in1590 in Manly, Lincolnshire, England.  Ancestry (members) haven't bothered to check that this place even exists, or ever did.  But some place like Manby, Manley, or some other such spelling must have at one time.

Elizabeth Dunster was born however, on 15 Jul 1632 in Bury, Lancashire, England, which isn't near Lincolnshire.  So it was a good thing that she immigrated to America also.

Elizabeth Dunster had a much older brother, Henry Dunster, born 16 Nov, 1609.  He not only studied at Cambridge, England, but when he immigrated to Charlestown, MA, he became the first President of the newly formed Harvard College.

 

Dunster House, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

 

 The Harvard Charter which he developed, says:

Transcription of text in document

WHEREAS, through the good hand of God, many well devoted persons have been, and daily are moved, and stirred up, to give and bestow, sundry gifts, legacies, lands, and revenues for the advancement of all good literature, arts, and sciences in Harvard College, in Cambridge in the County of Middlesex, and to the maintenance of the President and Fellows, and for all accommodations of buildings, and all other necessary provisions, that may conduce to the education of the English and Indian youth of this country, in knowledge and godliness: It is therefore ordered, and enacted by this Court, and the authority thereof, that for the furthering of so good a work and for the purposes aforesaid, from henceforth that the said College, in Cambridge in Middlesex, in New England, shall be a Corporation, consisting of seven persons, to wit, a President, five Fellows, and a Treasurer or Bursar: and that Henry Dunster shall be the first President, Samuel Mather, Samuel Danforth, Masters of Arts, Jonathan Mitchell, Comfort Starr, and Samuel Eaton, Bachelors of Arts, shall be the five Fellows, and Thomas Danforth to be present Treasurer, all of them being inhabitants in the Bay, and shall be the first seven persons of which the said Corporation shall consist: and that the said seven persons, or the greater number of them, procuring the presence of the Overseers of the College, and by their counsel and consent, shall have power, and are hereby authorized, at any time or times, to elect a new President, Fellows, or Treasurer, so oft, and from time to time, as any of the said person or persons shall die, or be removed, which said President and Fellows, for the time being, shall for ever hereafter, in name and fact, be one body politic and corporate in law, to all intents and purposes; and shall have perpetual succession; and shall be called by the name of President and Fellows of Harvard College, and shall, from time to time, be eligible as aforesaid. And by that name they, and their successors, shall and may purchase and acquire t...

The above quote doesn't have a source, but Ancestry does give a photo of this book on Henry Dunster..

 

 This is Henry Dunster's gravesite in the Old Burying Yard ("God's Acre") just a stone's throw from Harvard Yard. After his voluntary exile in Scituate, Plymouth Colony, it was Dunster's express wish in his will that he be buried close to the College he loved after his death.

So Harvard changed the original covenant which Henry Dunster began, and he had some difficulties with other members of the administration. (See Editor's note below)

But I am glad great Uncle Henry (time many greats) had a younger sister who is my direct ancestress.

(Editor's note: One source refers to Henry Dunster having decided against baptisms, thus not in accord with the Harvard leader's beliefs.)

Samuel Granger 1701-1739

Happy Birthday great times 6 grandfather!

BIRTH 12 APRIL 1701 • Andover, Essex, Massachusetts Colony 

DEATH 27 SEPT 1739 • Andover, Essex, Massachusetts Colony 

A modern warf with fishing boats

Samuel was the youngest of eight children of Captain John Granger and his wife, Martha Poor Granger.   The eldest sister had died before he was born, so he never knew her.  Several brothers never married, but most of his siblings married while he was a child.  His mother and a brother died when he was 22, and his father died when he was 23.

He didn't marry until he was 27, to Martha Marston Granger (1694-1753 or 1759). They had 6 children,  only one of whom (Martha II, the oldest) was a girl and who died at 16 years. The others all lived to be adults, but they didn't all marry.  My ancestor was Jacob Granger (1735-1895).

Samuel may have also been on ships, like his father and probably his brothers.  He didn't live a very long life, and his wife who was actually 7 years his senior, lived 14 years as a widow after he died. All his children were still alive when he died in 1739...the youngest just 2 years old.  My ancestor, Jacob, was just 4 years old.  Mother Martha's parents were gone by 1739 as well as her siblings except one brother who died the year after Mother Martha...1754.  I am just trying to guess who helped these children with their widowed mother.  Her oldest daughter Martha II, was still a young girl of  9, so she could only do so much to help with the other 5 chidren.

I probably will never know who helped with raising these children.  Perhaps there were a lot of people in the community who didn't live very long lives.  And we must remember these communities were founded around a church.

So I just googled (actually using Duck Duck Go) churches in Andover MA, and found another blogger from that area, so someone else to follow who knows genealogy! Not to mention the 1645 parish church is now The North Parish Unitarian Universalist Church!  I love these things (being a UU personally).  So here's some pics from Barbara Poole.

 Founded 1645 in Andover, MA

And somewhere in my ancestry, there's mention of how some people living in south Andover wanted a church closer to their homes, and thus formed the South Parish Church in 1711.

South Parish Church, Andover, MA

Ann Sylvester Bowers 1669-1745 Great times 6 grandmother

(Note, my grandchildren are generation 1) in the numbering system in this post, so higher numbers are further back in history. Thanks to the comment below, I need to clarify that the Great times 6 is not using my children or grandchildren's generations at all. It is starting with me and not having any "great" until we go up to the 4th generation before mine.)

Ann Sylvester Bowers was a link between two well-to-do families, the Sylvesters of Shelter Island (at the tip of Long Island NY), and her husband, Jonathan Bowers, whose father became a Quaker in Cambridge MA.

Jonathan and Ann Bowers settled in Swansea, Bristol County, MA.  They also lived in Somerset, MA - probably the same area which changed names as they lived there.

I've honored her life before on blogs. I"ll patch some of them here for a summary. First, going back as far as I can, to a pinnacle person who I know no more about.  (Sometimes known as a brick wall, but sometimes more information can come along, and bing bang, there's someone from further back in history.)

While these women were pinnacles on my tree, they also appear as brick walls, and so I'm adding them to my 52 Ancestors, 52 weeks post for this week, sharing them at Generations Cafe on FaceBook, with this week's topic "The Brick Wall".  (This is a closed group, so check with Amy Johnson Crow.)

Two more matriarchs from 16th Century (edited repost from March 16, 2015) 

10) Ann Sylvester Bowers is daughter of 11) Grissell Brinley Sylvester and 11) Nathaniel Gascoigne Sylvester Capt.

11) Grissell Brinley Sylvester's parents were 12) Thomas Reeves Brinley, (born 1591 in Exeter, Devon, England died 15 Oct 1661 in Datchett, Buckinghamshire, England) and 12) Anna Wase Brinley (b. 1606 in Petworth, Sussex, England, d. 13 Jun 1687 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England).  

12) Thomas Reeves Brinley is well documented as the "Auditor General of the Revenues of King Charles I and II."  He left England during the English Civil War by Cromwell, and returned to his post for King Charles II but died a year later.

12) Anna Wase Brinley had 8 children, and also went with her husband when the revolution of Cromwell made Royalists unpopular, and lived into her 80s probably back in her home of Datchet.

Her parents were 13) William Wase (b. May 1580 in Petworth, Sussex, England, d. 19 September 1642 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire, England) and 13) Ann Cole Wase (b. 1582 as recorded in St. Leonard, Heston, London, Middlesex, England, death unknown.)  Apparently she married 13) William Wase when she was 16 in Petworth, Sussex, England.  There is no other information on her at Ancestry at this time.  But she is one of  the earliest matriarchs that I'll be mentioning today (a pinnacle ancestor.)

12) Thomas Reeves Brinley's mother was 13) Joanne Reeves (his middle name from her) (b. 1567 in Exeter, Devon, England, Death in (?) Exeter, Devon, England.) She's my other pinnacle ancestor.

An illustration of Exeter in 1563, entitled Civitas Exoniae (vulgo Excester) urbs primaria in comitatu Devoniae

Exeter has a wonderful history, dating from Roman times and before...and I can't begin to explore all that is in this town.  The map above would have been how it looked during Joanne Reeves lifetime.   

Exeter Cathedral, completed 1400

Looking back to the Sylvesters of Shelter Island, I just want to show their connection to my family.  Their daughter 10) Ann Sylvester married 10) Capt. Jonathan Bowers in 1695.

Their daughter, 9) Mary Bowers married 9) Joseph Swasey, my grandmother's great great something grandparent. (Grandmother was Ada Swasey Rogers.)

And...

The Family Bowers (repost from 2018):

to be posted tomorrow...

An early Barbara - Smyth Bowers 1596-1644

Barbarie (Barbara) Smyth (Smithe) Bowers

1596–1644

Birth 25 MAR 1596 • Braithwell, Yorkshire, England

Death 25 MAR 1644 • Cambridge, Middlesex, Mass

8 times great grandparent
She married George Bowers in 1614/15 in Braithwell, Yorkshire, England. They immigrated to the American Colonies by 1620.  I'm in awe of a family who came to America with hopes of opportunity.

The following 3 pages are exerpts from a book which includes some information about the George and Barbara Bowers family.  Though George remarried after Barbara's death in 1644, his first 6 children were hers.  And my ancestor was Benanuell Bowers.

Source: Ancestry and Descendants of Amaziah Hall and Betsey Baldwin,compiled by EdithBartlett Sumner, Los Angeles, CA 1954

8g -Barbara Smith Bowers (1596-1644)

7g -mother of Benanuel Bowers (1627-1698)

6g -father of Capt. Jonathan Bowers (1673-1750)

5g -father of Mary Bowers Swasey (1719-1823)

4g -mother of Lt. Jerathmel Bowers Swasey (1752-1826)

3g -father of Capt. Alexander G. Swasey Sr (1784-1861)

2g -father of Capt. Alexander G. Swasey Jr. (1812-1866)

1g -father of Alexander John Swasey (1853-1913)

father of Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers (1886-1964)

mother of George Elmore Rogers Jr. (1914-1985)

MY FATHER