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.)

"Aunts" Alice and Gertie Attaway

A repost of an interesting blog! I discovered, by accident of course, that I had posted a lot of blogs about my ancestors under my now-defined "pottery and art blog."  At that time I was adding all kinds of posts under Alchemy of Clay.  Since then I've divided my interests into 4 blogs.  It kind of works, as a sorting device.  I'm not sure if the same people read all of them. This blog includes the comments made by 4 readers...a couple of whom would read and contribute to Sepia Saturday.  The most interesting story is in a comment by Gail, about how she got in touch with her husband-to-be in a town in California, and she noticed the town's name in the obituary of my cousin! Good reading there Gail!  And did I find out more about these cousins?  More will be revealed in future posts!Original posting:Friday, September 23, 2016

Cousins called Aunt Alice and Gertie

Another Sepia Saturday meme, which for September is suggested to be "work and play".  As I often do, I spent some research time on family ancestors (who were alive when I was younger...I'm turning into an ancestor!)

On Sept 20 I posted about some of the homes I lived in with my parents HERE. 

I'm going to take a hint from the following picture in front of our home in Houston.  I mentioned our blouses had been hand embroidered by the first woman dentist in El Paso, TX, who I never met, and her sister.


I'm now going to do some ancestry searching and figure out how we were really related to Aunt Alice and Gertie Attaway.

OK,  my maternal grandmother was Mozelle Booth Miller Webb Munhall. (1897-1960)

Her mother was Eugenia Almeda Booth Miller (1873-1936), and her mother was ...
Eugenia Almeda Whitty Booth (1852-1875) She married Richard R. Booth.

Richard's sister was Annie Booth, who married H.F. Attaway.  And with my searching today I found out H. F. stood for Henry Franklin.  So Annie and H. F. had three children, all girls, same generation as my great-grandmother Eugenia A. Booth Miller, or perhaps closer in age to my grandmother, within 10 years)

These girls were
Alice Fredonia Attaway, (1881-1964)
Ethel Booth Attaway (1885-1966)
Gertrude Attaway (1891-1979)

So they were some level of cousins of my grandmother. Did she know them as a young lady? I think she must. How else would she and they do our beautiful clothes? We were the ages their grandchildren might have been.  But Alice and Gertie didn't have children.  Though Ethel did have children, she had married and moved to California, so we had no contact with them.

But was Aunt Alice really the first female dentist in Texas?  Oh yes!

I guess she didn't make much of a splash, like most dentists don't.

She had the same office in downtown El Paso from 1913 till 1948.
It was in the famous Mills Building.  Suite 212.

Mills Building Directory (Alice Attaway, suite 212)

The Anson Mills Building today

The caption says,
"Most Significant Achievement of El Paso's pioneering architectural firm, Trost and Trost, was the 12- story 138,000 square foot Anson Mills Building that dominated the downtown landscape for many years following its construction in 1911-1912.

"At the time of its completion, the Mills building was the largest "monolithic" concrete structure in the world.  Every part -columns, walls,  ceilings, floors -  was made from poured concrete reinforced with steel rods, a more economical approach than importing steel beams from Pennsylvania. The original cost was $1.80 a square foot, and General Anson Mills was pleased that the building would have no need for repairs and no deterioration.  El Paso was a town of 15,000 at that time, with no paved streets when the building was completed."

So Dr. Alice Attaway was one of the original occupants of the famous building.

Inside the entrance to the Mills Building.

I have another distant cousin, of about my generation, who had the same ggg grandfather with a different mother.  She posted in Ancestry back in 2010, a copy of the Booth Family Bible.

Alice and Gertrude Attaway are on the right column

Both Aunts Alice and Gertie were listed in the El Paso business directory in the years 1935, 38, 45 and 48. They lived at the same home address throughout their lives, first with their mother Anna Booth Attaway, with her listed as head of the household, then after she turned 70, Gertrude became the head of the household.  I wrote my thank you notes to this address as they sent us pretty hand embroidered clothing. (probably from when I first could write in 1948 till 1958 or so)

Recent photo of the Attaway home in El Paso

The 1900 census has an intact family with father H.F. as a painter, wife and 3 daughters, living in Hillsboro, Texas (where the two younger daughters were born, and even where the Booth families were headquartered.)  Oldest daughter, Alice was born in Waco.

H. F.  moved with the family to Houston, where he died in 1906.

 In 1910 mother Anna Booth Attaway and the three daughters lived in Houston, where they took in 6  boarders and Anna  called herself a masseur.  Youngest sister Gertrude (19) was still a student, but Ethel said she was an artist, and Alice had no occupation at that census.

Gertrude Attaway may have married after she retired from being a draftsman for the Bureau of Reclamation, and before she died in 1979.  Someone added Ellis to her name on her death certificate. She died of cerebral hemmorrhage and deep thrombosis with gangrene in her left leg, according to that record. Who was this fellow Ellis? He was not the informer for the certificate, who was a man named Philip Jacobs.  I'm guessing the informant was someone in a nursing home or hospital, since Gertie had outlived her other relatives that I know of in El Paso. The later census data isn't available on Ancestry after 1940.

I have enough questions to continue to search for more days and weeks.
How did the Attaway girls come in contact with the Miller girls (4 sisters, daughters of their cousins who lived in San Antonio?
 What is/was the Bureau of Reclamation anyway?

They all had roots back in Hillsboro, TX, but most of the original Booth family died before the 1900s.
A lot of similarities are the women raising daughters...perhaps without a man in the house.
My mother was raised by her single mother, and her grandmother, Eugenia Booth Miller.

I don't even have a record as to how they lived between the census of 1940 and the directory of 1948 until their deaths in 1964 and 79.

It's been an interesting day of finding photos and sources.  But now I've got to go back to my real life.

More on Mark Symonds

I spent more time (last post as a repost) talking about his wives, than about him.  Well, there is speculation about him. Mark Symonds is known as an early settler in New England colonies.  What is certain?

His birth is given as 1584 in Birch, Essex, England. His father was probably William Symonds, and his mother has a variety of names...Alice Moone/Moore, perhaps Roseblade.   I have difficulty looking at all the various spellings, when they don't even sound the same...so we can just leave his parents in England, since they didn't immigrate to the colonies.

The following is quoted from an entry in 2012 by another Ancestry member, Frank Treanor.

Information of Mark Symonds

2 May 1638 – Made freeman in Ipswich

26: 7: 1648: – Court Held at Ipswich found Marke Symonds being sixty four years of age, discharged from ordinary training (source of date of birth)

1641 – Robert Andrews, George Giddings, Mark Symonds and Thomas Treadwell are chosen surveyors for this year.

2 Feb 1641 – On  the Jury in Court held at Salem. He was also on the Jury of Trials 4 Nov 1645, and 30 Mar 1647.

1647 – Appointed admr. of the Estate of George Abott, late of Rowley.

24 Sep 1650 – On  Grand Jury

His house and twelve acres of land lay on ye common fields on ye north side ye river, and a planting lot at Reedy Marsh.

16 Sep 1658 – (Ipswich Deed IV : 340) . . . Marke Symonds of Ipswich . . . for . . . fifty pounds . . . Have Granted . . . unto John PICKARD of Rowley … his pcell of ground . . . lyeing on the North Syd of the North River … at the end of his farme formarly sold to John Crose containeing seaven acres . . . with about halfe an acre bought of Robert Lord . . . having the land of Twyford WEST toward the Southwest …  . . . Rec. June 9, 1680.

Ipswich Deed 16 Sep 1658

28 Apr 1659 – Marke’s will proved in Ipswich Court.  After the death of Mary Chapman, his daughter, he left by will certain pieces of land for the benefit of his grandchildren, which caused their father, Edward Chapman, a great deal of trouble in his efforts to keep it and divide it equally among them in connection with his own property.

The last will & testam* of Marke Symons … I doe appoynt my beloved wieffe Johannah Symons to be sole executrix … I bequethe to my Daughter Susannah Ayres a fether bed & bo ulster w”* was her mothers wth y8 worst rugg. I bequeathe to Abigaill Pierce a fether bed … I bequeathe to John Warner junior one ewe lamb . . . after ye decease of my said wieffe my estate to be equally devided amongst our three daughters & y* children of my daughter Mary Chapman deceased . . . Also I apoynt my lo* bretheren Moses Pengrie & Edward Browne to be overseers of this my last will & testament. Dated 25 (2) 1659. Signed in ye prsence of George Smith, Aaron Pengry.

16 May 1659 – Inventory taken by Robert Lord and Robert Day. Mentions ” his dwelling house & bame with the ground about it. 18 acres of Land, 2 acres of meddow at Mr wintrips farme & 1 acre of salt marsh.”
Amount of estate £257.6.9.

9 May 1666 – Joanna’s will proven in Ipswich Court

I Joana Symonds of Ipswich . . . doe make and ordaine this my last will and Testament . . . And for my outward estate I . . . dispose God haueing given me two daughters which are maryed both and have children my will is equally to dispose of what estate I leave behind . . . unto my said two daughters and there children, i. e., namely unto my daughter Prisilla the wife of John Warner and to her children after her decease the one halfe of my estate And to my daughter Abigaill the wife of Robert Pearce the other halfe equally devided … I doe apoynt my loueing Sons in law John warner & Robert Pearce to be my executors . . . and doe declare this to be my last will and testament this sixt day of Aprill 1666. In presents of us William Goodhue, Robert Lord. Joana Symonds.

24 Nov 1659 – Ipswich Deed

wheras ther was an estate left by Marke Symonds unto his children after the death of his wife. And by agreem* mutually betweene the widdow & them to alow the widdow a certeine Sum yearly dureing her life and for to devyde the estate presently, and by agreement betweene themselves, the lands with some other small things fell to Edward Chapman (who maryed one of Marke Symonds his daughters) for his part of the estate, And the house being by the consent of all hands put into the hands of John Ayres to make sale of . . . This therfore wittnesseth that I John Ayres for . . . four score pounds . . . sell vnto my Brother Edward Chapman of Ipswich the dwelling house, barne & land about it . . . three acres be it more or less . . . wch was lately Marke Symonds … In wittness whereof … 24 November 1659 . . . John Ayers and John Baker
Recorded 1st of Aprill 1673. by Robert Lord

Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony … By Thomas Franklin Waters, Sarah Goodhue, John Wise, Ipswich Historical Society 1927

Mark Symonds' Ipswich Lot

The remainder of the land in this square was owned originally by Mark Symonds. Hisexecutor, John Aires, sold a house and three acres, to Edward Chapman, son in law of Symonds, Nov. 24, 1659 (Ips. Deeds 3: 351). Chapman sold his son, John, a house and 10 rods on the corner, bounded by his land on two sides, Sept. 1677 (Ips. Deeds 4: 153). Samuel Chapman acquired the balance of the estate. Samuel sold an acre on the northeast side to his neighbor, Abraham Perkins, to enlarge his property, June 23, 1687 (7:152); an acre and house, fronting on the Street, to Samuel Wood, Dec. 2, 1687 (12: 119); and an acre and a quarter of land in the rear, to Thomas Lull Jr., Dec. 6, 1687 (8: 100). John Chapman sold his corner and house,his land increased now to 40 rods,to Caleb and John Kimball, April 6, 1719 (36: 22) and they sold the same to John Wood, on April 8, 1719 (35: 156). By this purchase John became next neighborto his father, Samuel Wood, and inherited his property (50: 253). John Wood’s widow, Martha, was allotted the northeast part of his estate, bounded by the Capt. Stephen Perkins’ land, and measuring 4} rods on High St., Nov. 19, 1752 (Pro. Rec. 331:126). Retire Bacon and his wife Margaret acquired possession, and sold a house and one and a half acres, the whole of the John Wood estate probably,to Isaac Martin,Aug. 7,1765(117:29). Martin sold to John Lakeman,Oct. 31, 1765(126: 43),the northeast corner of the property abutting on Nathaniel Foster, and another piece on April 19, 1773 (160: 159). It was owned by Nathaniel Lord, and by his son, Abraham, and the northwest part is still in possession of his heirs.

_____________________________

The source of this material is a compilation of several generations of people researching this ancestor, I believe.  And most of it rings true.  Mark did live in Ipswich, Essex, MA, and had the children of whom I am a descendent.  He would be my nine times great grandfather, on my father's mother's tree.

His daughter Susanna Symonds Ayers (1617-1682) married Captain John Ayers (1620-1675)
Their son Nathaniel Ayers (1664-1731) married Amy (Annie) Cowell Sherburne Ferber Ayers (1657-1736)
Their daughter Ammi Ayers Swasey (1687-1783) married Samuel Swasey (1682-1739)
Their son Joseph Swasey (1714-1801) married Mary Bowers Swasey (1719-1823)
Their son Lt. Jarathmel Bowers Swasey (1752-1826) married Sarah Hellon Swasey (1757-1836)
Their son Alexander G. Swasey, Sr., Capt. (1784-1861) married Ruth Woodward (1788-1842) and she apparently didn't change her name when she married, as this is how it appears on her headstone.
Their son Alexander G. Swasey, Jr., Capt. (1812-1866) married Anna (Fanny) T. Zylstra Swasey (1815-?)
Their son, Alexander John Swasey (1853-1913) married Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey (1858-1935)
Their daughter Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers (1886-1964) married George Elmore Rogers, Sr. (1877-1960)
Their son, George Elmore Rogers, Jr. (1914-1985) married Mataley Mozelle Webb Munhall Rogers (1917-2003)
And they were my parents.

Ancestor's anniversary of his death, April 28, 1659

Mark Symonds

1584–1659

BIRTH 1584 • Birch, Essex, England

DEATH 28 APR 1659 • Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts Colony

Here's a repost of my earlier blog about him and his 2 wives (not at the same time!) and daughters. I've tried to clarify by using his and his second wife's wills to show how their daughters belonged to the Mrs. Symonds.

Monday, August 6, 2018

Mark Symonds' and wife Joanna of Ipswich, MA

Joanna Symonds is my choice for today. She is second wife of my 9 times great grandfather, Mark Symonds.  My line goes through her predecessor, Susan Edgar Symonds.  Their daughter Susanna Symonds Ayers was my 8 times great grandmother.  For some reason the folks over at Ancestry decided (why?) to merge the two wives into one, Joanna Susanna!  Never mind the data that proves they were two separate people. I spoke about the 2 wives HERE.

Joanna's parents are unknown.  She did marry Mark Symonds in Ipswich, Essex County MA (or perhaps in Essex England) in 1620.  The same listing of New England Marriages before 1700 states Mark Symonds married his first wife in either 1609 or 1612.  It doesn't name his first wife, but it does give the name of Joanna as his last wife. 

The Preston-Foster house on Water St. in Ipswich MA 1790 (not an ancestor, just one of the early homes still standing in Ipswich)

Mark's will written on 25 April of 1659 gives Joanna as his wife's name, and assigns her the job of executrix. (He died on the 28th April.)  He also names his daughters, Susannah Ayers (my ancestress) and Abigail Pierce.  John Warner Jr. (husband of daughter Priscilla) is given a bequest, as well as his estate divided among the 3 daughters, (Susanna, Abigail, Priscilla) and the children of his deceased daughter, Mary Chapman.

"Joanna, the last wife of Mark Symonds stated in her will “God having given me two daughters,” Priscilla and Abigail. This indicates Joanna was not the mother of the older children, and that there was at least one earlier wife of Mark Symonds."

The Ipswich written record of deaths in 1659 lists Mark Symonds, but not that he's the husband of any surviving wife, though Joanna was definitely still alive.

She provided a written record of her inventory of Mark's possessions.

"debts __ from the estate ... delivered in court __ the _2th of June 1659 by Joanah Symonds relict of Marke Symonds as attest Robert Lord clerk"

All of Mark Symonds surviving children had married by the time he died.

Joanna lived another 7 years herself.  She wrote a will giving her 2 daughters bequests.

9 May 1666 – Joanna’s will proven in Ipswich Court:

I Joana Symonds of Ipswich . . . doe make and ordaine this my last will and Testament . . . And for my outward estate I . . . dispose God haueing given me two daughters which are maryed both and have children my will is equally to dispose of what estate I leave behind . . . unto my said two daughters and there children, i. e., namely unto my daughter Prisilla the wife of John Warner and to her children after her decease the one halfe of my estate And to my daughter Abigaill the wife of Robert Pearce the other halfe equally devided … I doe apoynt my loueing Sons in law John warner & Robert Pearce to be my executors . . . and doe declare this to be my last will and testament this sixt day of Aprill 1666. In presents of us William Goodhue, Robert Lord. Joana Symonds.

And an earlier document in Nov. 1659 following her husband's death, had showed that the sons in law (Chapman and Ayers) sold the house and lands, with agreement of the widow.

24 Nov 1659 – Ipswich Deed:

wheras ther was an estate left by Marke Symonds unto his children after the death of his wife. And by agreem* mutually betweene the widdow & them to alow the widdow a certeine Sum yearly dureing her life and for to devyde the estate presently, and by agreement betweene themselves, the lands with some other small things fell to Edward Chapman (who maryed one of Marke Symonds his daughters) for his part of the estate, And the house being by the consent of all hands put into the hands of John Ayres to make sale of . . . This therfore wittnesseth that I John Ayres for . . . four score pounds . . . sell vnto my Brother Edward Chapman of Ipswich the dwelling house, barne & land about it . . . three acres be it more or less . . . wch was lately Marke Symonds … In wittness whereof … 24 November 1659 . . . John Ayers and John Baker

Recorded 1st of Aprill 1673. by Robert Lord

Late April birthdays of ancstors

Reposting for Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green...

Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green (Julian?) was born on April 24 in 1785 in Wayne County, North Carolina, the mother of Col. Richard Bass. Death March 11, 1861 in Morehouse Parish, Louisiana,

What of Julia Ann's Holloman family?

Her father was Thomas Holloman (Holliman) - born in 1740 in Surry, Surry, Virginia, died in 1790 in Raleigh, Wake, North Carolina.  Records on Ancestry.com show he lived in Johnston County, NC in 1784.  These counties (Wayne, Johnston and Wake) are all in close proximity, and several were formed with shifting boundaries of neighboring counties.

Her mother is only known as Emaline, born in 1746.  

Julia Ann is the youngest of 5 children in the family.   

Julia Ann married John Bass on Oct. 8, 1805.  John was born in 1784 in Wayne County, North Carolina, and died in 1822 in Perry, Alabama  

His Bass family were early settlers in VA, with at least one marriage with a Nansemond Indian woman.  I spoke of some of her Bass relations HERE.    Of note is Dr. Andrew Bass (1698-1770) born in Norfolk Independent City, Nansemond County, Virginia, who donated the land for the court house of Waynesborough, Wayne County, NC.  He was the great uncle of Julia Ann's husband, just as a note of interest as to the family's status in the community.  However, history fluctuates a lot in a few generations, so perhaps that's a premature assumption of high standing of the Bass family.

Julia Ann had 8 children.  The family moved to Perry County, Alabama between the births of Elizabeth on 9 Oct 1810 in Wayne County, NC and Molly Ann Moseley Bass on 18 Jun 1811 in Perry, Alabama.  Julia Ann's youngest 4 children were born in Alabama.  

My grandfather's mother's father was Richard Bass, Julia Ann and John Bass's youngest son.
I posted about Richard Bass earlier HERE.  To quote myself:

 His father's estate had a petition against it which gives Richard's birth as 1814.  This date is not corroborated by his census data as well as his grave marker which all reflect an 1819 birth.  So the legal petition in Alabama might have been wrong.  Another source has him born in NC rather than AL.  Wherever he was born, he was the youngest of 8 children of his parents, and his father died when he was very young, and he was raised by a step-father. His mother was Julia Ann Holloman Bass Green.  Father was John Bass, both from Wayne County, NC, which is near where I currently live.  His step-father was Jetson Green, who raised him from when he was around 6 years old.

When John died in 1822 (or maybe earlier) the widow remarried to Jetson Green who petitioned the courts to settle the debts.  The estate was inventoried at which time apparently there were slaves, household goods, land and 7 children. Jetson Green says he'd been married to 'Julian' since 1821.  This is an interesting collection of documents to have survived, dated 1823 to 1830, regarding the debts on John's estate, how the widow needed guardianships for the young children, and another person (last name Holloman) signed Julian's name spelled that way, to one petition or letter.   Julia Ann had two brothers and 2 sisters, and I cannot make out the first name of the signature.

Julia Ann was now Mrs. Green, and she didn't stay in Alabama.  There was another westward move to Caldwell Parish, Louisiana where the Jetson Green family lived for the 1840 Census.

By 1850 she lived in Union Parish, LA as head of her own household with an overseer, L. Freeman and his family, but no Green family members listed. However, also noted is that on the 1850 Slave census, Mrs. Julia A. Green is listed as owner of  8 slaves, of whom 2 were females over 55 years old.

At a stated 70 years of age in the 1860 Census, Julia Ann lived with the Barton family (her daughter Elizabeth, known as Lizzie?) in Morehouse Parish, LA.  She died there March 11, 1861.
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More Late April birthdays like Mark Symonds' death date on Apri 28, 1659.  I'll share my earlier post about him tomorrow.

Mark Symonds

1584–1659

BIRTH 1584 • Birch, Essex, England

DEATH 28 APR 1659 • Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts Colony

Catching up with known birth anniversaries of ancestors

No posts for the last 10 days!
Which ancestors had their birth anniversaries since my last post?

Apri 18, 1853 was the birthday of Alice Luella Rogers Ross. A great aunt who helped raise her nephew's children, including my grandfather, George E. Rogers Sr.  Aunt Alice Luella also gave birth to 12 children of her own.  When her brother (and George Rogers' father) W. Sam Rogers died, she was only 26 years old, and just had her first 2 children, who were about the same age a my 2 year old grandfather and his 1 year old sister.

There was no mention in any of the records I've found, as to what happened to my great grandmother, Betty Bass, who was just 19 years old at the death of W. Sam Rogers, her husband (who was 29 years old.) She apparently moved to Galveston and later on had her 2 children living with her.  But the Ross family had guardianship of the 2 Rogers children for much of their childhood.  Aunt Alice Luella was never talked about by my grandfather. But he carried the middle name, Elmore, the same as his guardian, Alice Luella's husband, John Elmore Ross.  Uncle John Elmore Ross went by his middle name, much as Aunt Luella went by her middle name. And my own father carried the middle name of Elmore as a junior also, but went by George.

But from all those children (most of whom lived to adulthood) I've never tried to contact any of these cousins!  So that's an interesting proposition.  Here's an early list of their families. 

April 23 was the birthday of Marion J. Philips, 1823-1907.  He was my grandmother, Ada Philips Swasey Rogers' great uncle.   I've written about him before (Here) with a copy of his letter to my grandmother...and HERE about my discovering more about his life and death.

Now to go back another hundred years, April 23 was also the birth anniversary of Elizabeth Lewis Kennon, 1724-1799. I focused on her life in this post HERE.  She was my 6 times great grandmother, who lived in Virginia during the American Revolution, and was buried in an unmarked grave in North Carolina.  She had 7 children, at least 6 of whom lived to adulthood.  The cemetery she was buried in is part of a historic site known as Machpelah, in Townsville, Granville County, NC, which has some buildings dating back to the 1850s, but not as far back as her own life.  This county is just over the line from Virginia, where the Kennon family had lived. The different counties names on records of the Kennon/Cannon sons in NC are probably based on how these counties were formed as the area became settled.  They are all along the northern border of NC with Virginia...Caswell County, Vance County and Orange County, NC.    I have looked a bit more at her children (mainly the sons) to see more about their lives, and found one John Cannon that probaby wasn't my great times 5 grandfather.  This man wrote a will, and called himself a mariner, married to Elizabeth, and no mention of children, but lived in New Bern NC...which is not near the area the other Cannons lived, nor near Knoxville TN where I believe my ancestor died. Some of my research about the early Kennon/Cannon families is minimal, and deserves more in-depth looks. This was last year's start of this pursuit HERE.

There were 2 more (at least) birthdays of ancestors which I missed sharing here.  So I'll have something to post about tomorrow!