The Marstons, Martha Marston Granger's family

Earlier I posted (Here) about Samuel Granger. His wife was Martha Marston Granger, b. 23 Jan 1694, d. 19 or 9 Mar 1753...she lived all her life in Andover, Essex County, MA, (which I gave some history about on Samuel's post)

The old Abbot homestead, built in the 1600s and pictured here in the 19th century, was still standing in 2016.  

She was the 4th of 7 children born to her parents, Jacob Marston (1658-1727) and Elizabeth Poor Marston 1662-1700).

In 1700, the year her youngest brother was born and died in 3 days, her mother also died, though there's no specific date of her death,. That meant Martha was 6 years old, and her oldest sister was 13, with a 4 year old brother and 2 year old sister, and perhaps 9 year old twins as well.  But there were many aunts and uncles around, both in her mother's and her father's families, so I'm sure someone helped with the children's care.

Great Boar's Head, Hampton NH 1920

Though Martha's mother was born (and died) in Andover, MA, her father, Jacob Marston (1658-1727) had been born in Hampton, Rockingham County, New Hampshire, which is not far north along the Atlantic from the northernmost coast of Essex County MA (see below) .  The marriage of her parents has been listed as both in Andover MA and Hampton, New Hampshire.  It's possible that they may have had 2 ceremonies, to satisfy her strict church dictates in Andover MA. Or it's possible that the records just reflect the documentation for that particular church. But remember, Massachusetts was the colony name.

Jacob Marston (1658-1727) born in...

Hampton (Rockingham County) New Hampshire  

First called the "Plantation of Winnacunnet", Hampton was one of four original New Hampshire townships chartered by the General Court of Massachusetts, which then held authority over the colony. 

In March 1635, Richard Dummer and John Spencer of the Byfield section of Newbury, came round in their shallop, coming ashore at the landing, and were much impressed by the location. Dummer, who was a member of the General Court, got that body to lay its claim to the section and plan a plantation here. The Massachusetts General Court of March 3, 1636, ordered that Dummer and Spencer be given power to "To presse men to build there a Bound house."^[3]

The town was settled in 1638 by a group of parishioners led by Oxford University graduate Reverend Stephen Bachiler, who had formerly preached at the settlement's namesake: Hampton, England.^[4] The town, incorporated in 1639, once included Seabrook, Kensington, Danville, Kingston, East Kingston, Sandown, North Hampton and Hampton Falls. On the 18th of September 1679, the Acts of Privy Council records that Stephen Bachiler's son-in-law, "Christopher Hussey of Hampton, Esquire", was appointed by King Charles II to "govern the provence of New Hampshire" as a member of the newly established council of seven men.

Source: Wikipedia:
footnotes:

1.  Sawyer, Roland D. (August 31, 1950). "The Pre-Bachiler Days of the White Men at Hampton. Some Account of the History of Earlier Hampton and its Daughter and Neighbor Towns. Hampton Union. Retrieved December 18,2009.
2. Jump up ^ Boyd, M. "Stephen Bachiler". © 2004 by Michelle Boyd, All rights reserved. Retrieved 7 November 2017.

Now I've checked the Historic Society of Hampton NH and even found a 1882 book History of Rockingham New Hampshire, here's the link.  So I looked through it to see if it told me more about the Marstons, but unfortunately it did little except say that they were early settlers there.  It focuses on lists of people mainly in the 19th century. But it's a great resource for that!

Marshes of Hampton, Rockingham County NH 1905

New Hampshire only has about 17 miles of coast along the Atlantic, and Hampton is one of the towns on that shore. John Marston moved from Hampton NH to Andover, MA, which is about 25-30 miles away by land, but it's more likely that a water journey would have been the easiest way to travel in the 17th century.

Hampton NH beach 1910

Early American Immigrant, Benedictus Pulsifer

Remembering ancestors:

Benedictus Pulsifer, 1635–1710

Birth 1635 • Whitehall, England

Death 1710 • Ipswich, Essex, Mass (Ipswich was incorporated as a town in 1634.)

Ship to designate an immigrant to America

(Note by BR, editor) I quote a published source below (with slightly different dates of birth and death, and some other facts are a bit 'flexible' perhaps. 

HISTORY OF BENEDICT PULSIPHER

abt. 1630 – 1695

"Benedict Pulsipher had settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, according to his own statement, by 1659. He was probably married a year or two before coming to this country. He very likely brought his wife and infant son, Benedict II or Junior. We have no record of the birth of the son or of another son, John, but Elizabeth’s birth in 1609 is recorded in the town records of Ipswich. His first wife, of whose maiden name we are ignorant, died at Ipswich 16 July 1673. His son, Mr. William Henry Pulsipher says, "We’re of little help or comfort to his family." Evidently John moved to Gloucester, where he became a respected member of the family. There he probably supplemented his income as a farmer by occasionally building or helping to build houses for his neighbors. He is styled in one document "Yeoman" and in another "mason". In the History of Gloucester", J. J. Babson – 1860, page 130, appears the following:

"John Pulsipher, settled about 1680, according to tradition near a spot still occupied by one if his descendants on the old road leading to Coffin’s Beach (Gloucester). In 1688 he had a piece of land "given to the house where he then lived." Benedict Jr., proved to be a "roving blade", according to Mr. William Henry Pulsipher. "We hear," says Mr. Pulsipher, "of a Benedict Pulsipher engaged in an Indian fight in Maine in 1688. This was probably Benedict Jr. Cotton Mather refers to the incident in his ‘Magnalia Christi Americana’ London 1702. VII, page 63. Benedict, Jr., probably never married. In 1690 he engaged in Sir William Philip’s expedition to Quebec as a member of Captain Abraham Titton’s Company, and it is quite possible that he was killed or taken prisoner in the unfortunate attempt to capture the Canadian stronghold.

"A Compendious History of New England" by Morse and Parrish, page 146, makes a confirmatory reference to this episode. 

After the death of his first wife on 16 July 1673, Benedict, Sr. married in the succeeding February, Susan A. Waters of Salem, Massachusetts, who was the fifth daughter of Richard and Joyce Waters. She was born at Salem, Massachusetts 01 Feb 1649. "Benedict Pulsipher, Sr. brought his young wife to Ipswich immediately after his marriage and entered upon what might be termed the second period of his career." The records show that his young wife was rather vain. She liked to adorn herself. "She,  among others, braved the laws in 1675 by appearing in the meeting house with a silk hood and scarf. She and the others were arrested, tried, and fined ten shillings each for yielding to their vanity."

Benedict Pulsipher was a man of some means. He was also "a man of considerable education" in a period when educated Englishmen were rare.

Late in 1663 or early 1664 he bought a dwelling house with outhouse, orchard, gardens, etc. of Moses Pingry of Ipswich, Massachusetts, which property Pingry had acquired in 1652 of Richard Scofield who came to New England in 1635. This estate was situated on the north of the "Tom River". Its site is now occupied by a factory. The original deed to this property was either lost or "casually" burned, and on 7 Feb 1667, Pingry made a supplementary deed of the property which he gave Benedict Pulsipher. Benedict was then styled a "planter."

He added to his estate in 1664. In the same year, 1664, the town of Ipswich granted him a share (No. 55) in the town lands on Plumb Island, Castle Neck, and Hogg Island. He continued to reside at Ipswich, pursuing his occupation as planter or farmer for many years.

 ----------------------

Ipswich MA area

I'm including this as a Sepia Saturday post this week...go over to this site to see more interesting posts.  Did I mention Ipswich is known for its clams?

(editors note) I think it's interesting to find that this ancestor is also an ancestor of Joseph Smith of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons.) We're all related, aren't we?

He's my 8th great grandfather on my grandmother Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers' tree.

Ipswich river front 1909

Thanks for the entry quoted above from Ancestry by Carol Easterbrook Wolf, but still without knowing if she was the author...

This post is a repost from Nov 2017 Three Family Trees...here.

Honoring a Granger on his birthday 1701 Sam

Today is Samuel Granger's birth anniversary - 1701. He lived until around 27 Sept 1739, not very long, but had 6 children.  The probate for his estate was in Andover, MA on 29 Sept 1739. His death is listed as the 27th in a hand written record for Andover MA, Births and Deaths, 1649- 1839.  He was my 6th great grandfather on my father's mother's tree, Ada Swasey Rogers tree.

A typed transcription of his birth record lists his birth date as son of John Granger.  (Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, Andover, Vital Records Transcrips, pg. 179.)

On the same page at the bottom half, I just noticed that a "Graunger" name list includes his own 5 siblings, in reverse order, but not himself, those born before and including 1695.  

His birth is confirmed in an Andover Massachusetts birth record, 1649-1801, hand written, as son of John Granger.

Benjamin Abbott Farmhouse 1909 Andover, MA

He and Martha Marston published their intention to marry in the record book of Andover MA Births, Marriages and Intentions, Deaths 1701-1803 on Nov 2, 1728.

He married on 18 Dec, 1728 to Martha Marston, as recorded in Andover MA transcript of Marriages 1650-1844, with Mr. John Bernard presiding.

Having a mother named Martha, a sister named Martha, and a wife of the same name, it's important for searching all his records to look at the dates and use the primary sources as I've listed today!

Since Samuel seemed to be the youngest son of his seafaring father, John...I want to check more into the lives of his siblings, there are 7 on my tree at this point.  I'll be back to add more to these great aunts and uncles, if they're interesting anyway!

There are no records about two of the three older brothers, who have birth and death dates given only and no sources besides (you guessed it) other Ancestry trees.  I am going to take them off my tree.  That way there are just 6 siblings listed, which agrees with the Massachusetts records I've cited above.  If they come back with any other source information, I can always add them back.

I posted earlier this year about Capt. John Granger, his father HERE.  Capt. John had been born in Newbury, Essex County, MA, but about the time he married Martha Poor he moved to Andover, and lived next to his in-laws, around 1679.

Wikipedia says this about Andover 

It is a town in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It was settled in 1642 and later incorporated in 1646.

 In order to encourage settlement, early colonists were offered three years' immunity from taxes, levies, and services (except military service). The first permanent settlement in the Andover area was established in 1642 by John Woodbridge and a group of settlers from Newbury and Ipswich.

Shortly after they arrived, they purchased a piece of land from the local Pennacook tribal chief Cutshamache for "six pounds of currency and a coat" and on the condition that Roger, a local Pennacook man, would be allowed to plant his corn and take alewives from a local water source. Roger's Brook, a small stream which cuts through the eastern part of town, is named in his honor. In May 1646 the settlement was incorporated as a town and was named Andover. 

 The first recorded town meeting was held in 1656 in the home of settler John Osgood in what is now North Andover.

The old burying ground in what is now North Andover marks the center of the early town. Contrary to popular belief, the towns split due to the location of the Old North Church, also located in what is now North Andover. The villagers from the southwestern part of the town were tired of walking all the way to the extreme north of what was then Andover and decided to build their own church central to what is now Andover. Early on the general populace was concentrated together around the Old Center (North Andover) for protection from feared Indian attacks, but the Indians were fairly peaceful until the outbreak of King Philip's War. King Philip Six Indian raids occurred between 1676 and with the last in 1698 led by Chief Escumbuit.

^{By 1705, Andover's population had begun to move southward and the idea of a new meeting house in the south end of town was proposed. This was strongly opposed by the people living near the original meeting house in the north, but the dispute was finally settled in 1709 when the Great and General Court divided Andover into two parishes, North and South. After the division of the two parishes, South Andover established the South Parish "Burying-Yard," as it was called, with early Andover settler Robert Russell the first to be interred at age 80 in December 1710. But despite this split, the town remained politically one unit.}

---------------

1.  "Andover" in The New Encyclopædia Britannica. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th edn., 1992, Vol. 1, p. 387.

Mooresville AL

Mooresville is one of the oldest incorporated towns in Alabama, having been incorporated on November 16, 1818, when Alabama was still a Territory.

Limestone County, AL - used to be cotton raising area.  Huntsville and Athens are cities in Limestone County.  My ancestor, James Witty, may have lived in an area like this, where Carroll Witty his son also was born.

The entire town of Mooresville, described as a picturesque early 19th century village, is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Many of the older public buildings, including the Stagecoach Inn and Tavern, the Brick Church, the Post Office, and the Church of Christ, are owned and maintained by the town's residents.

Old Post Offece in Mooresville, AL  Photo by Brian Stansberry

Mooresville Post Office (1840) – located at the corner of Lauderdale and High streets, this post office is the oldest in operation in Alabama and has call boxes dating before the American Civil War. The call boxes and some of the office furnishings actually predate the building, having been used in the nearby Stagecoach Inn and Tavern.

Photo: Robbie Caponetto

Small Town We Love: Mooresville, Alabama

In Southern Living magazine...

A real-life living museum. 

by Lacy Morris

Population: 53

Why We’d Move There
History reigns supreme in this postcard-size town. As a matter of fact, the entire town, all 0.1 mile and six streets of it, is included on the National Register of Historic Places. White picket fences frame tree-shaded streets and buildings where Presidents have slept. Visiting here is like stepping back into a time of gracious plenty, where city noise is the rustling of oaks and congestion is the growth of moss on clapboard cottages.

The Community
Though there’s a larger city on either side of this Tennessee River town (Huntsville to the east, Decatur to the west), no one seems eager to leave. In fact, the mayor, Margaret-Anne Crumlish, is the third generation of her family to take the seat and the seventh consecutive generation to live in Mooresville.

The Perfect Day
Start at JaVa.Mooresville on North Street, where Jack McReynolds, the unofficial town record keeper, serves lattes, lemonades, and apple pies. Then lace up your walking shoes for a guided tour (256/355-2683) with a resident. Stops include the Stagecoach Inn and Tavern, where town council meetings are still held, and the post office, the oldest one in continuous use in Alabama. Stop over at 1818 Farms (1818farms.com) to buy organic eggs, lavender linen spray, and goat’s milk bath bubbles. And don’t even think about leaving town without visiting Lyla’s Little House (lylaslittlehouseal.com), where Mrs. Lyla Peebles sells her candies, cheese straws, and homemade ice cream along with vintage dishware. On Fridays in summer, join Bonnie Richardson as she hosts margarita nights on the porch of her home, Cedar Lane.

Local To Know
Sixth-generation resident Woody Peebles has lived on the same street for 64 years. You’ll find him in the Peebles House on North Street, where he lives with wife Lyla. The two went on their first date 30 years ago on a Tuesday, and by supper on Friday, Woody had proposed. Now they act as the town’s party planners, hosting events at The Dance Hall (256/353-8723).

Don’t Miss
The 1839 brick church on Lauderdale Street has a wooden hand pointing toward heaven atop the steeple. It was carved by Bonnie Richardson’s “Pa,” who worried that people wouldn’t know which way to heaven.  

Old Brick Church (1839) photo by M. Kauffman

 

James Witty, my 4 times great grandfather

first posted: Monday, July 14, 2014

The Witty pioneers in Alabama

James Witty, 1745-1840,  Quaker from North Carolina, moved to Alabama.

In the 1830 census for Limestone Alabama, he is listed with this household.

Name:	James Willy (Witty)
Home in 1830 (City, County, State):	Limestone, Alabama
Free White Persons - Males - 10 thru 14:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 15 thru 19:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 20 thru 29:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 30 thru 39:	1
Free White Persons - Males - 60 thru 69:	1
Free White Persons - Females - Under 5:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 15 thru 19:	1
Free White Persons - Females - 20 thru 29:	2
Free White Persons - Females - 50 thru 59:	1
Free White Persons - Under 20:	4
Free White Persons - 20 thru 49:	4
Total Free White Persons:	10
Total - All Persons (Free White, Slaves, Free Colored):	10

I have looked at the Quaker Meeting Records which are intact from monthly Men's Meeting called The New Garden Monthly meeting of Guilford, NC.  James Witty is noted as a birth (date unclear by the page I've saved).  He also is noted to leave the meeting with his family to move to a meeting called Miami Meeting.  There are two notes to this effect, the first sort of a notice that it's happening, and sending a couple of the members to see if it's true in May, 1806.  The second is their report saying yes, it's true in June, 1806.

Introduction comments for Guildford, NC monthly meeting of Quakers

I found a very interesting survey map with James Witty owning land in N. Alabama.  I don't understand it all.

His name is written across 4 squares that have a creek running through the middle, in the upper part of the map, centrally located.  And then one more square has J. Witty written in it.  I think it is from 1830 also.  The notes regarding it say: "Earliest Township and Range Public Land Survey State: Alabama Principal Meridian: Huntsville Meridian (Northern Part of Alabama)"

He was married first to Mary Witty. Her maiden name is unknown.  They had 5 children before she died sometime between 1792 and 1800, and 3 of her children died between 1793-94. I don't know the dates of the other 2 children deaths, so perhaps they lived to adulthood.

James' second wife is named Elizabeth Wells Witty.  There's a Lucrettia Witty mentioned in a will for James Wells, in Surry County, NC 25 Jan 1810.  I have to check what her relationship to Elizabeth Wells might have been....more in a future post!

The first 2 of the 5 Witty children are listed as having been born in Tennessee according to Ancestry, and the later ones born in Limestone, AL, starting with my ancestor Carrol Witty.

I have no idea how they were also living in Tennessee.  More to research...

The area of northern Alabama was very close to the Tennessee line, especially before the states were actually formed.  Land was offered to veterans of various American wars.  The Tennessee River ran through Limestone County.

James Witty's family may also have been living in Athens AL, or what was to become Huntsville...I'm sorry to not be very familiar with Limestone County AL.

But tomorrow I'll post an interesting article about a rural Alabama town, Mooresville.
It has some historic buildings, which were standing at the time James was growing his cotton.

A man named Carroll

Carroll Witty, that is, my 3 times great grandfather on my mother's maternal side, the Booth Family Tree.

We reviewed the lives of most of his children in the last week.  I'd deleted the new one added in Ancestry, born in 1858, named Permella Witty, born in Marshall TX - died in Fort Worth, TX.  No other information is given on her, and so I'll not add her to the tree, making an 11th child.  It's one of those circular source kind of references, each tree lists another one as the source of the name and information, giving nothing new, and listing each other back again.  Actually sounds a bit fishy to me. And if I put her on my tree, then someone can look at it and think I believe she belonged as a child of Carroll and Susie Hoke Witty.

I have already covered much of the patriarch of the family's life.  But let's see if there's anything that isn't in the stories and photos, the background from one place to another where he traveled.  My old blog Here speaks of Carroll and his daughter Eugenia, and others in my family.

I just logged into Ancestry and found an Alabama agricultural census for 1850 had been added, with Carroll Witty having no land, either improved or unimproved, and no value of a farm, but $100 value for farm implements.  For the same year the federal census said he had a household of 8 persons.  He was 31, his wife Susan Hoke Witty was 32, and he had children; John C. 6. James 5, Martha E. 3, Mary 2, Thomas 0, and Joseph Hoke, 57 (his father-in-law).

The population census for the same year includes his brother (Andrew) Jackson Witty living next listing to his.  Jackson did own land.  And his household was very interesting.  Jackson was 35 and his wife Emily was 26, and his mother Elizabeth Wells (Witty) lived with them, age 75 and not using her married name, and perhaps a cousin Sarah Wills 35 and unknown relationship Carlin Wills 26, and a mis-transcribed person Matilda Collins, 9 (listed as Marilda Colling).

I must salute Carroll Witty for taking his family to Texas, for being a entrepreneur and starting a new community (with partners) and for being a man with a mission.  He may have been a farmer in 1850, but by 1852 he was in Marshall TX, and by 1860 all the way in Hill County, Subdivision, TX.

This is a man who traveled far, as well as had a big family.  Though his 2 oldest sons took part in the Civil War, (and one died in it) there's no record that he did.  His family grew up, and daughters and sons married and moved away, and he continued to be a farmer.  In the 1870 census he had property valued at $1000 and his youngest 3 as teenagers were living at home as well as his oldest son James who was a stock raiser (perhaps cattle.)

He and his wife Susan appear in the 1880 census, with just their daughter Susan at 20 living with them, as well as a niece, Freby Moore, age 21.  This is another census taker's error in that he is listed a "Terrell Witty" clearly in the handwritten form.  And their daughter Susan Witty had married in 1877 to James Moore...but for some reason was living with her parents and using her maiden name.  And whoever Freby Moore was, she was born in Alabama.  Perhaps James' sister?   Susan and James didn't have a child until 1885.

But this Uncle James Moore (b. 1856 Marshall TX) was interesting in that he lived after his wife Susie died in 1902, and remarried to have more children.  He also lived until 1932, and here's a great photo of him in his corn field in 1930.

James Joseph Moore 1854-1932

And I haven't found the connection yet, but his mother was Mary Grace Hoke Moore, while his wife, Susie's mother had been Susan Elizabeth Hoke Witty, none other than Carroll's wife.

Fanny (Frances Malone) Witty Gee, and Mary Elizabeth Witty Hughes

More about the Witty family...Eugenia Almeda's siblings...

Originally published: Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Fanny Witty, next oldest sister of Eugenia Witty Booth

She was a Valentine baby, Fanny (Frances Malone) Witty Gee born on Feb. 14, 1850 in Limestone, Alabama.

Her first census listing was when she was 4 months old, and the penmanship is so illegible the transcriber calls her Thomas, though a female child.  At least by 1860, when her family had moved to Texas, she was listed as Fanny. 

She married at 17, to Richard A. Gee who had been born in 1833 in Tennessee (17 years older than she was). Some of his records say he was born in Virginia, where his parents were born.  They raised 7 children, who all lived to be adults, and had 19 grandchildren.  Some of her children and grandchidlren lived into their 90s, and one, Ethel M. Stingily, lived to 100, dying in 2013.

Many of the death certificates in the early 1900s show how hypertension was a killer in my family.  I've seen this on many Booth records.  I'm so glad there is medication now (which I can take.)

Fanny herself was 73 when she died in 1923.

One of these men is Richard Albert Gee...I don't know the other, nor which one he is.

Her husband, Richard Albert Gee (Rag, which are his initials) was a Sergeant in the Confederacy, and thus had a veterans grave marker when he died in 1930 at age 96.

Originally posted: Sunday, February 22, 2015

Another Sister of Eugenia Witty Booth

Mary Elizabeth Witty Hughes was 6 years older than my great great grandmother, Eugenia Witty Booth.

Great Aunt Mary Beth (I'm guessing that that was her name because my own sister went by that nickname as a young girl) was born in 1848, also in Alabama, the 4th child of Susan Hoke Witty and Carroll Witty.  

In Limestone County, Alabama in 1850, the Wittys were farmers, and grandfather Joseph Hoke, age 57 was living with them as well.  At that time the next family listed in the census were Jackson Witty, a brother of Carroll Witty's, actually named Andrew Jackson Witty.  When Carroll went to Texas around 1850-52, Andrew Jackson Witty stayed in Alabama.

 But let's look at Great Aunt Mary Beth a bit more.  By 1860 she was 12 and living in Hill County, Texas.  Then when she was 19 she married Isaac Butler Hughes, who apparently went by his middle name on most records.

They had 2 children: James M. Hughes who lived just from 1867-1876, and Alice Dovie Hughes Felts, 1869-1893.

But the same year that their son died, so did Aunt Mary Beth, on July 2, 1876.  She is buried with her husband, who had died just the year before, on 10 August 1875.

His headstone is broken, but her's has been somewhat repaired. It's interesting to note that her initial is wrong "M".  They are in the same cemetery as her parents and other family members, The Old Woodbury Cemetery, Hill County, Texas.

I was trying to find out if Alice had any children, who would be my cousins of course...but there wasn't much information on her, besides a name J. B. Felts for her husband, but no information on him.