Moving around (immigrating!)

  Sepia Saturday 

In thinking of going places for October, I bring back a post from 2013 about an ancestral family which moved quite a bit.

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William T Williams 1824-1898 (originally posted Monday, December 16, 2013)

William T. Williams was born on Dec. 16 1824, in Pulaski County, KY.

His father was Richard Frederick Williams, born in 1792 in Crab Orchard, Lincoln County, KY, who died in 1850 or 1860 in Montgomery County, MO; and his mother was  Nancy Hansford Williams, born in 1796 in KY, who died in 1860 in Montgomery County, MO  (GGG grandfather Richard Frederick Williams had served in the War of 1812.) I'll post more about him soon, going backwards in my ancestry for this family.) Richard F. Williams HERE.

William T. Williams died on 22 Apr 1898 in Weesatche, Goliad, Texas. He was the father of Annie Elizabeth Williams Webb, my great grandmother.

He fought for the US Army in the Civil War, according to war records from Macon County, MO, July 1863-5, when he was 38 years old.  He is listed from the 4th sub-district, "Olio" as residence, and occupation is a merchant.  The original entry was changed later, with a red line through his entry and a remark, "Feb 22, 1865, In US Military Service."  He is not listed as "dead" as is another person on the same page, so it is presumed that he was still in the Army in Feb. 1865.  Everyone on this page is also in 4th Sub-district of Macon County with a name beginning "Wi..."  I can't find any reference to a town called Olio, MO, (though there are rave reviews through Wikipedia of a bar by that name in St. Louis.)

Please note, this post continues below the huge photo, but I wanted you to be able to read it.  (Look in left column for place name Olio.)

He and his wife Dorcas (both born in KY) had settled in Middletown, Montgomery County, MO by 1860 with their children and he listed his occupation as carpenter at that time. His oldest was 12, having been born in MO, putting them there by 1848 at least.  The 6 year old, Margaret, was born in Iowa however.

In the 1850 census 10 years prior to that, he lived in Montgomery County, MO and was a farmer, with 2 children, and now listed as both born in MO.  Their birth dates would place him there by 1845.

Back to the Williams, who both died in Weesatchee, Goliad County, Texas.  How did they get there?  I'd love to know.  The whole family immigrated following the Civil War.  And Annie Elizabeth Williams married there when she was 15, in 1877.

When Annie Elizabeth Williams Webb died in 1942, the death certificate had placed her father, William T. Williams' birth in Iowa.  Isn't it interesting to wonder who gave that information, probably the next of kin, Clara Bell Webb Bruce, her daughter who lived till 1971.

(Note on last placement of his birth in Iowa: 

By the time they all had been living in Texas, it was often difficult to find correct information about grandparents. I checked where Montgomery County MO is located, and it's just west of St. Louis, nowhere near the Iowa border.)

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and also talking about this family in 2012 I said:

I've spent much of this rainy day cleaning things around the house. (Sunday the 23rd Nov.)  Kitty litter (my un-faorite-est) then the 2 aquariums...which is such fun and now my fingers are all wrinkly.  But the chartreuse water is gone and now I have counted the guppies (20 teens, 10 adults) and kept them separated.  The big tank still has my 7 year old angel and some younger but ferocious big fish...oh that's not what I want to write you about.

Today with rain outside, I've happily searched on Ancestry.  Went climbing the tree to my great grandmother's side, the Williams.  She was a relative that my mother probably never knew, because her father had died so young.  The Williams came from Missouri to Texas, and from Kentucky to Missouri.

So I've got all these hints on the Williams tree, all these brothers and sisters about whom I know nothing.

I usually ignore them, but today took the time to look at an interesting name, "Liberty Williams" who was one of the elder brothers to William T. Williams, my great grandmom's dad.  Great times 3 Uncle Liberty.  Liberty and William T were born in Pulaski County, Kentucky.

And their parents were born in the same area as well, both Richard Frederick Williams and his wife Nancy Hansford Williams.  Richard Frederick Williams was born in 1792 in Crab Orchard, Lincoln County, Kentucky,

Richard's father, Frederick Williams probably came from South Carolina, while his mother Cassandra Elizabeth, "Cassiah" Tate Williams came from North Carolina.  They were the pioneers who moved to Kentucky by 1792 when Richard was born.  Their first child had been born in South Carolina in 1787.

And the Frederick and Cassiah Williams family may have moved to Kentucky for a while, but they died in Tennessee, while Richard F. as well as Liberty Williams (and other Williams) moved to Missouri.  And then sometime between the time William T. was 38 and 56 (by 1863) he moved from Missouri to Texas, leaving Liberty in Missouri with all his family!

Farmers all.  They had such a job ahead of them when moving to new territory.

It wasn't just go look at the land, put up a cabin, and sew some seeds right away.  Clear timber.  Find fresh water nearby.  Plow the land.  Bring along some livestock as well, and maybe take a few trips back to sources of seeds, nails, the rest of needed livestock, and hope that everyone stays healthy while each of the people help build whatever buildings were first needed.  Put in a garden, or at least go pick those berries and nuts.  And while waiting for any kind of food to grow, what do you eat?  Not barely enough berries!  (Couldn't resist the pun).  The hunters were out getting deer, squirrel, rabbits, birds and whatever could be shot for food.  Mum would have been taking these carcases and skinning them, or plucking, and cooking over a campfire.

What do you think, campfires were not much different than cooking in a fireplace.  Hauling some iron pots and pans were very important in order to make meals.  Someone was bringing water from a creek or river...every night!  And someone was chopping some logs while the littlest someones just picked up sticks for kindling.

Yes a life that was out in nature.  Sounds idyllic, right?  Not when you think of snakes, cold, rain and many bugs and even heat at other times.

It must have made these very hardy folks, cause William T. lived to be 72.  And his wife, Dorcas White Williams, mother of 8,(6 of whom lived to adulthood) lived to 74 years of age.

I'm so glad I was born when I was.  I get the benefit of medical care and social security rather than an adult child who will care for me in my old age.  AND I get the internet.  I don't know how many of the people in the 1800's could read and write, and certainly it was far fewer in the 1700s.  Those folks were too busy killing their food and cooking it, or growing it and eating and sleeping to bother to write anything, let alone teach the kids how.  Schools were obviously a real boon when towns were formed.  But that's another topic for another day.

Map showing where and when various Williams families settled in Montgomery County, Missouri.

John Basse 1616-1699 immigrant (8G)

John Basse 1616-1699 was my eight times great grandfather. He immigrated to the American colonies from England by 1622, age 5-6.  His siblings may have included 3 sets of twins according to various Ancestry trees (which aren't always exactly right on birthdays.)

I enjoyed sharing much of the following story with my son and his wife over dinner the other night in New Mexico. Being surrounded by many Native Americans in the southwest of our country makes me more aware of how many of them have suffered at the hands of European immigrants and the dominant culture they established. However, I don't in any way claim to be more than related in a minuscule way to the Native cultures by John Bass' marriage to Elizabeth the Nansemond Indian.

Here's the blog I posted first in 2013, and again this spring of 2019.  It has some points that are under contention, especially by the Nansemond Indian tribe.

SOURCE:

https://southernrootsandbranches.wordpress.com/2013/08/03/john-basse-a-story-of-the-new-world/

A cousin who blogged in 2013 about his connection to the Bass Family...very nicely written, so I went back to the original to get the pictures to add here as well! Thanks Billy Pittard. I have no recent posts by him, so perhaps he's moved on to other interests since his last blog in July 2018.

John Basse, a Story of the New World

Posted in Bass, Batey, Henderson on August 3, 2013| 96 Comments »

Pocahontas when visiting England

John’s grandfather, Humphrey Basse and his brothers, William and Thomas were French Huguenots who immigrated to London during the reign of Elizabeth I seeking religious freedom. Humphrey married Mary Bouchier, daughter of Dominick and Genevieve Bouchier, also French Huguenots. Humphrey was an entrepreneurial man, first as a merchant haberdasher, and then as an investor and stockholder in the Virginia Company which financed settlements in Jamestowne, Virginia. Humphrey invested in the Third Charter of the Virginia Company signing as a founder on March 12, 1612.

Arriving in Virginia

In 1619 when John was three years old, his father, thirty-year-old Nathaniel Basse made his first trip to the new colony. On April 27, 1619 Nathaniel arrived at Jamestown on Captain Christopher Lawne’s ship. They brought workmen, supplies and one hundred settlers. Their camp was at the mouth of a creek near Jamestown, still named, Lawne’s Creek, from which they built the first settlement in Isle of Wight County, Virginia.

By mid-summer 1619, there were about a thousand English living in Virginia. In early August, the first legislative assembly in America met in the church at Jamestowne. This meeting established the principle of elected self-rule in America and became a foundation of our Republic. Five months later, the Virginia Company dissolved its subsidiary company which had been formed to exclusively supply the colony. Thereafter, free trade prevailed in the colony and laid the foundation for free enterprise as the form of the American economy.

Nathaniel made frequent trips between Virginia and London over the next few years. On November 21, 1621 he made his move to establish a home in the New World and patented 400 acres on the James River at Pagan Creek in Isle of Wight County. Here he founded Basse’s Choyce Plantation and built a home for himself and his young family.

John’s maternal grandfather, Silas Samuel Jordan was also an early Virginia Adventurer. In 1620 he received a grant of land on the James River at Bailey’s Creek near the present Hopewell, Virginia. Here, at what is still called Jordan’s Point, he and established a home for his family in the New World.

Indians kept a close watch on the English settlers.

Throughout this period, relations with the Indians had been volatile. Early encounters had been hostile, and then the “Peace of Pocahontas” gave the settlers a sense that conditions would remain amenable.

Having established Basse’s Choyce Plantation, John’s father began to move his family to Virginia. In early 1622, six-year-old John Basse along with at least one of his brothers were at Basse’s Choyce when their parents made a return trip to England.

And then disaster struck. Emperor Powhatan (father of Pocahontas) had died four years earlier and had been succeeded by his brother, Opechancanough. He wanted no part of the white men and he patiently organized a surprise attack that was carried out by almost every tribe in the area. On the same day, at the same time, and anywhere there was a white man, he was to be killed.

At midday on Good Friday, March 22, 1622, there were twelve hundred forty English inhabitants in the Colony of Virginia. Of these nearly four hundred were killed by Indians. At the house of Captain John Basse, only six-year-old John Basse survived. John’s oldest brother seven-year-old Humphrey and possibly other siblings were killed in the attack.

Virginia Indians attack the colony, March 22, 1622

John’s parents, Nathaniel and Mary arrived back in Virginia on the ship Furtherance within the next couple of weeks only to find their oldest son (and possibly others) killed in the massacre, and six-year-old John was missing without a trace. They found the woods around the English settlements patrolled by hostile Indians.

Nathaniel and Mary had little time to mourn because Basse’s Choyce had to be immediately repaired for the birth of another child. On May 8, 1622 their sixth child, Edward, arrived. To make matters even more dire, in December an epidemic arrived with the ship Abigail, and killed twice as many people as the Indian attacks. The colony also had a poor harvest that year and experienced another “starving time” throughout the winter of 1622-23. Less than 500 survived to see the spring of 1623.

Amid the carnage that happened that fateful Good Friday, young John Basse managed to slip away from the attackers and into the forest. Fortune smiled on the boy as he was found and taken in by friendly Nansemond Indians who were fleeing from the hostilities. His rescuers managed to reach the Nansemond River with John before their enemies had organized patrols in the woods.

John’s rescuers took him into their tribe and gave him advantages and standing. He absorbed the Nansemond culture. In spite of the danger, missionaries continued to teach the Nansemonds – including young John Basse – and he matured to become literate and a Christian.

By the time he was twenty-two John had fallen in love with a Nansemond girl whom he knew as Keziah Elizabeth Tucker, daughter of Chief Robin the Elder, but to the English she was the Princess Keziah Elizabeth, daughter of the King of the Nansemond Kingdom. On August 14, 1638 John and Keziah Elizabeth, age 14, were married. She was born about 1624 at Kecoughton, an Indian village in Virginia (now part of the city of Newport News). “Keziah” is an old testament name that can mean faithful or female equality.

Writing on the cover of the “Book of John Basse”

At some point during his remarkable lifetime, John acquired an English prayer book which served as his family Bible. In this book he recorded many important facts and events. This book exists today and is in the possession of his Nansemond tribe descendants.

John Bass’ prayer book is a manuscript religious book of about 100 pages. It measures 4 5/8″ by 7 1/4″. The author’s name not known. The earliest date of a sermon entry is March 4, 1660. In ink on the cover is written “Book of John Basse Norfolk Co., Vir. A. D. 1675.”

John recorded the following passage in his prayer book:

“John Basse was born ye 7 day of September in ye year of our Lord 1616 ye son of Nathll Basse and Mary his wife… he married Elizabeth dafter of Robin the Elder, King of ye Nansimuns kingdom, a Baptized xtian, in Holy Matrimonie accdg to ye Canons of ye Church of England, ye 14th day of August in the Year of our Blessed Lord 1638.”

At some point it is believed John reconnected with his birth family because his brother Edward (born immediately after the massacre of 1622) married Keziah Elizabeth Tucker’s cousin.

John and Keziah were living in Nansemond territory when it became Upper Norfolk and then Nansemond County, Virginia. John passed away in 1699 at the age of 82 in Norfolk, Virginia. Keziah Elizabeth passed away in 1676 at the age of 52.

John and Keziah Elizabeth had eight children and today have countless descendants.
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continuing the document being quoted, the voice changes to that of Billy Pittard himself...

My (Billy Pittard) Ancestry from John and Keziah Elizabeth Basse is as follows:

John Basse (1616-1699) + Keziah Elizabeth Tucker (1624-1676)
William Bass (1654-1741) + Catherine Lanier (1650-1692)
John Bass (1673-1732) + Love Harris (ca. 1677-1732)
John Bass (1715-1777) + Elizabeth Winborne
Jacob Bass (1740-1792) + Ann Fuller (1733-1791)
Theophilus Bass (1753-1826) + Rachel Vinson (1755-1824)
Etheldred Bass (1785-1875) + Nancy Brien (b. ca. 1790)
John B. Bass (b. 1813) + Susan Barbee (b. ca. 1819)
Sarah Jane Bass (1840-1876) + John Bond Henderson (1834-1898)

Sarah Jane Bass, first wife of John Bond Henderson

See my (Billy Pittard's) post on the Henderson Family of Middle Tennessee for the continuation of this part of my (Billly Pittard's) ancestry which comes forward through my mother and maternal grandmother.

In the above ancestry, Theophilus Bass forward were residents of Wilson County, Tennessee, particularly around Watertown.

Interestingly, I (Billy Pittaard) also have a connection to John and Keziah Elizabeth Basse through my maternal grandfather, Frank Blackburn Batey as well, but in that case it is a through marriage rather than blood. My ancestor, Captain William Batey, the progenitor of the Batey family of Middle Tennessee married a second time after his first wife, my ancestor died. His second wife, Ann Bass was the great granddaughter of John and Keziah Elizabeth Bass.

It’s safe to say that a great many locals from Middle Tennessee are descended from John and Keziah Elizabeth Bass.

Links:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nansemondhttp://chowanoke.webs.com/bassegenealogy.htm
http://www.geocities.ws/eldavis.geo/jbassebi.html

A special thanks goes to my (Billy Pittard's) distant cousin Mary Frances Andrews Meek of Knoxville, Tennessee who shared this story and much more with me many years ago. Her research was thorough and diligent.

--------------------The above blog was published in 2013 -------

I read several things in this treatise, which lead me to believe that John and Elizabeth lived with the Nansemond Indian tribe...where he was educated as any Native American boy would have been, with the plus of a priest teaching him religion and reading and writing.

But the question in my mine is, when and how did he reconcile with his parents and the rest of his brothers and sisters? The early Virginia racial purity laws said colonials couldn't marry the Native Indians.

I think this account is a bit of conjecture on the part of the author(s.)

One critique (of only minor note) is that the attack on Basse's Choice was said to be at mid-day, and then a painting is given depicting natives attacking at dark.

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. 

An ancestor born July 13, 1600,

Happy birthday to Anna Rosanna White Porter 

 BIRTH 13 JULY 1600 • Shalford, Essex, England 

DEATH 11 MAY 1647 • Windsor, Hartford, Conn

She was the mother of Sarah Porter Judson, grandmother of Sarah Judson Curtiss, and great grandmother of Anna Curtiss Booth, wife of  Zachariah Booth.  So my middle name of Booth, harkens back to the surname of my ancestors.

Anna White Porter was the daughter of Robert & Bridget (Allgar) White, and sister of three other New England immigrants: John White, Elizabeth (White) Goodwin, & Mary (White) Loomis.

She and John Porter had eleven known children. The Parish records of Shalford & Messing, Essex, England list Anne Whighte baptised July 13, 1600 in Shalford, daughter of Robert Wheight. SOURCE: American Genealogical-Biographical Index (AGBI) vol 138, Pg. 460.

And she's one of the few of my ancestors that has a birth date (actually her baptism date) for a great times 10 grandmother!

It's fun to look back at any of the New England ancestors, especially those who were in leadership positions, because there are so many records about them, and if they came from a family in England (which most of them did!) who had church records about birth/baptism, marriage and death, then there are lots of records to check.  However, when all the records say a man was married at 4 years of age, and another record at least lets him get to be 27 before marrying, which one am I to believe?  So at this juncture, I've been looking at John Porter's father, and finding some of the dates of his death are based upon a written text (thank heavens I could find and read it) where it says, "John Porter a boy."  So I doubt that this is our ancestor.  I can only do this research for about a half hour at a time, because it really gives me a headache.

Welcome to the Sherlock side of Genealogy!

And in honor of Anna (Rosanna) White Porter, the records that I have give her birth, her marriage, and a whole list of children's names.

Burke's American Families with British Ancestry (pg. 2869) says her husband,

John Porter of Windsor Conn, born 1590; emigrated to America from Felsted, Essex, England ca. 1637, to the Massachusetts Bay Colony, later moving to Windsor in 1639; married Anna (who d. 1647) dau. of Robert White, and d, 1648, leaving issue, 1. Samuel, 2. Nathaniel, 3. Eleazar Porter, 4, William Porter (physician.)

Her father, Robert White, left a will, which gives a lot of information about the family in England.  I already posted about Robert White, and Lady Bridget Algar White.

Anna Rosanna married John Porter of Windsor Connecticut,  and she was the 6th of 8 children of Robert and his wife Brydgette Algar. Source: Descendants of Joseph Loomis in America, and his antecedents in the Old World, pg 104 in Loomis Genealogy.

Anna and John Porter had their first 9 children born in England.  They are listed in records of their baptisms from 1621 to 1637.  One son, Samuel, died at 2 months of age.  This is interesting because the Burke's publication quoted above has him continuing to live, and being the head of a family.  Yes, having lost the first Samuel in 1632, the Porters named another son Samuel who was born in 1635. Source: English Origins of New England Families, Second Series Vol. III, pg. 736.

In the same source, page 732, Anna White Porter and her sister, Mary White Loomis, are described living in homes next to each other in Windsor, CT.

And on page 731, same source, Anna White of Messing (England) is married to John Porter of Felsted on 18 Oct 1620.  That same page talks of Anna's death (as John Porter's wife, in 1647) and her husband's will, when he died in 1648.

Much of the same information is repeated in Families of Ancient Windsor, under John Porter, Sr.

Though there was a date of death in Windsor CT for Mrs. Porter (her given name wasn't mentioned), her burial is unknown.  Her third child was Sara Porter, who married Joseph Judson, and they were my 9 times great grandparents.  But their story is posted about here.

As a footnote, I must mention the fact that I lived in Windsor Connecticut in the 1960s, where the Porter family had lived and Anna and her husband died.  I admit I didn't walk the same paths that she did, but I probably drove the same roads that were part of her life.  Just 322 years later!  I must mention that my husband had grown up in the Hartford, Connecticut area in the 1950s and attended a "prep school" named Loomis.  I'm sure it was founded by the same family as Anna's sister's husband.

Our Windsor CT home in 1968-69. We painted it a nice colonial blue, but it had been cream when we moved there, and apparently the present owners (2013) liked that color as well.