Ah August Birthdays!

This has been a week of birthdays. Today is my son Russell H's birthday (I won't give you the number!)

Last Mon. the 12th was my daughter-out-of-law, Kendra B's birthday. She and my son, Tai R.,  have a committed relationship which doesn't include legal things, like being an 'in-law.' But she's like another great daughter that I'm so proud to have.

I wish they didn't all live so far from me!

This year I've decided to write (while I still can) a poem or quotation into blank cards for birthdays.  The cards were a gift to me, and I really don't know what to do with them. They are very nice art, but I don't write letters/notes to anyone anymore.  Stationary has gone the way of telegrams.

But as anyone who reads my blogs might know, I like to save quotes and pass them along.
So that's how the birthday cards are happening - for now.

Next week is my 77th. And just the day before is my newest daughter-in-law, Barbara B's birthday.  She's great and legal too! My son Marty H. and his new wife, Barbara B.

And then the next week is my daughter-in-law-mother Joanne N.'s birthday...you know, the mother of my other daughter-in-law! (That's Joanne's wedding and her daughter (Russ' wife) Michelle.

Is that everyone?

Nope, that doesn't count the ancestors, so I've been preparing to celebrate them as well.  Without them, where would I be?

The Swasey Family tree

Have you noticed I've been posting mainly about this family this month? It was unintentional. But these ancestors left their birth dates recorded more often than many other ancestors, who often might have the years of their birth even in question, let alone the dates.

I will therefore post only about my Rogers ancestors next month.  Ha. That's an intention.

The Swasey family of the shipwright and hatter, Joseph b. 8.12.1714.

Joseph Swasey 

Joseph Swasey was baptised 12 August 1714 in Boston, Middlesex, Massachusetts Colony  

The following quoted information about him has a few problems, which I've noted in [brackets.]

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

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

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

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

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


[* the towns may have been separated in 1790, but that is not the time the Swaseys moved to Salem and then returned in 1749...these dates are not chronological! If he had moved to Salem, it was earlier than 1749. I found that he married in 1740 in Somerset, so perhaps went to Salem when his father died in 1739, or to be there with family who lived there. Nothing I've found indicated he lived there.]
[There's nothing in Mary's past that suggests she was of Spanish descent, unless Nathaniel Sylvester (her grandfather) had perhaps been, but my records indicate he was probably English.]

"His [Joseph's] wife Mary, took in boarders once widowed, and is listed in the 1823 Town Directory for same." [Actually she is listed in Boston Town Directory in 1823. I am still looking to see if another widow of a Joseph Swasey named Mary might have been this Mary...rather than having her be quite so elderly!]

"His son, Lt. Jerathmel Bowers Swasey, was born and died (1752-1826) in Somerset, MA, probably in the house that stood at 323 Main St. [Above, which is not the same as the one pictured from the book originally, so I think this might be a later building.]

Mary Bowers Swasey (1719-1823) was a widow of Joseph who, in  the Census of 1820, owned a boarding house in Boston MA, and was listed as living there still in 1823, when she would have been 104 years old.

They had 6 children. Most generations of Swaseys had a Joseph and a Samuel in the families, since Joseph the immigrant came in 1632 from Sherborne England to Salem Massachusetts.  So when I recently found a picture of a page in a book of 2 homes belonging to Joseph and Samuel Swasey, I had thought this Joseph born in 1714 might have been one of them.

Joseph lived his early years in Salem, then most of his life in Somerset, though he had been baptised in Boston. However, there's almost no possibility he lived in, or even built a home in Newburyport, MA...and that is where these 2 homes belonging to a Joseph and Samuel Swasey were located, according to the book which was published in 1910.  However the town wasn't called Newburyport until 1764, when it was formed out of the town of Old Newbury. So did he and a son or brother named Samuel build these homes in 1710 and 1735?

Ah, Joseph Swasey's father was Samuel Swasey (1682-1739) and his father's brother was also Joseph Swasey (1685-1770) who lived in Old Newbury (to be called Newburyport later) MA.  This Uncle Joseph (times seven greats) probably built the 1710 house, and his son, Samuel Swasey (1712-1800) (first cousin seven times removed) probably built the 1735 house in Old Newbury MA!  Thus the problem of these 2 homes having belonged to Swasey families is probably solved!

Now to connect myself to these Swaseys...

Joseph Swasey's son:

Jerathmel Bowers Swasey 

Birth 10 May 1752 in Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts 

Death 4 Feb 1826 in Somerset, Bristol, Massachusetts

his son:

Alexander G Swasey

Birth 10 Sept 1784 in Swansea, Bristol, Massachusetts 

Death 28 Oct 1861 in Newport, Newport, Rhode Island

his son:

Captain Alexander G. Swasey Jr.

Birth April 14, 1812 in Newburyport, Essex, Massachusetts 

Death March 26, 1866 in Charleston County, South Carolina

his son: 

Alexander John Swasey

Birth May 20, 1853 in South Carolina 

Death OCT 4, 1913 in Galveston, Tex

His daughter:

Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers 

1886 – 1964

Her Son:

George Elmore Rogers Jr

Birth 9 NOV 1914 in Texas 

Death 5 JAN 1985 in Texas

His Daughter:

Barbara Rogers (me)

Capt. Jonathan Bowers (1673-1750)

Some of the Bowers of Somerset, MA 

Happy birthday to my great times six grandfather, Captain Jonathan Bowers. (A repost that's been edited from 2018)

Somerset was where many of my ancestors lived and died, back in the eighteenth century. Captain Jonathan was born Aug. 11, 1673 in Charleston, Middlesex County, MA to Benanuell and Marie (Elizabeth Dunster?) Bowers. (There is some doubt whether his mother was the sister (here) of the first president of Harvard University. See HERE where I talked about his mother and father. I don't know the actual facts, so am still going with what I found on Ancestry)

In 1695 in Boston MA, Capt. Jonathan Bowers posted his intention to wed Ann Sylvester of Shelter Island NY. They apparently settled in Swansea/Somerset sometime before 1705 when their 3rd child was born. (The 2 towns didn't separate until 1790.)

The Bowers family has a cemetery on South St, but there are many unmarked graves.  I'm sure the bones of many of my uncles and aunts and cousins lie there.

A commemorative plaque remembers Jonathan Bowers (1673-1750), and lists 9 children.  

This is the private cemetery. The address is on South St. Somerset.

Son, Jonathan Bowers Jr.'s home on the left facing the river. Another son, Henry Bowers home with a cupola shows between the masts of the whaling vessel Sullivan, (and will be seen in more detail below.) (There's no date for this photo unfortunately.)

Jonathan Bowers, Jr. 1708-1775) home (also shown with the whaling ship)

Capt. Jonathan Bowers (1673-1750) had named an earlier son Jonathan, who died young. They lost several of their children as infants.  Since Capt. Jonathan Bowers built the oldest house (still standing) in Somerset in 1723 it was part of a commemorative quilt made for the bicentenial (1976, I assume.)

This photo even gives each house's address in Somerset.  Captain Jonathan Bower's home is third down in second to the right column, 616 Main St, built in 1723.

Earliest house built in Somerset, MA, the Jonathan Bowers home.

Henry Bowers' (1716-1790) home in 2009 as it was being renovated, (see photo of whaling ship above where this house is viewed between the masts)  This house was also included on the quilt, (247 Main in the exact center of the quilt)  One person on Ancestry commented:

"Burgess House." Captain John A. Burgess was a later occupant of the house. In addition to the Clipper Ship, the Davy Crocket, he was the master of many clipper ships, including the Governor Morton that was built in Somerset."

An article about the Bowers family homes from the Boston Sunday Herald, Oct. 1905, with some interesting stories (probably the kind of things Boston society pages liked to print.)

"Top left to right: David Bowers house, Phillip Bowers house,  Henry Bowers house; second row, Lloyd Bowers house, Benanuel Bowers House, Jerathmiel Bowers House; bottom row, Benjamin Bowers house, Somerset Hotel, formerly a Bowers House."

Well, as you can see, they are not correctly labeled.  Henry Bower's house has a cupola above many windows, and I believe it's the one on the second row attributed to Lloyd (whoever he might be).  The photo attributed wrongly to Henry is the exact same one that we've got for Jonathan Bowers Jr. house posted above.

The google air view shows the Henry Bowers /Burgess home with all its shutters back on again, also a 2009 photo...after the renovation, I'd guess!

Of the 11 children born to Jonathan and Ann Sylvester Bowers,  9 lived to be adults. These adult children all married and had children.  Mary Bowers was the next to youngest child, and she married Joseph Swasey, who's birth anniversary is tomorrow!

Joseph and Mary Bowers Swasey are my great times five grandparents. 

Josiah Beers 1693–1763

Josiah Beers

(reposting from 2018)

Birth 8 AUG 1693 • Stratford, Fairfield, Connecticut

Death 10 MAY 1763 • Stratford, Fairfield, Conn.

Josiah Beers was an Ensign in the town Militia.  Of course Stratford, Fairfield County, Connecticut, had to have some defense.  The "Indians" were somewhat a threat, and the French as well. The French and Indian War 1754-63, was the American segment of the Seven Years War in Europe.

The other thing of mention is that Josiah served on jury duty in Stratford in 1730.
 
His actual military service was noted in 1737.

He and Elizabeth Uffort (1698-1783) (her post here) married in 1717.  They went on to have 11 children, all of whom lived to adulthood.  My great times six grandmother, Elizabeth Beers Booth was their eldest daughter, after 2 sons.  (Her blog post here.)

I like to think about where they lived, and how they must have lived...

Stratford Historical Society

Wikepedia tells us that...
"Stratford was founded in 1639 as "the plantation at Pequonnocke",^[2] by Puritan leader Reverend Adam Blakeman, William Beardsley, and either 16 families—according to legend—or approximately 35 families—suggested by later research—who had recently arrived in Connecticut from England seeking religious freedom. In 1640 the community was known as Cupheag Plantation. By April 13, 1643, the growing town was known as Stratford, changed to honor Stratford-upon-Avon in England.

"Like other Puritan or Pilgrim towns founded during this time, early Stratford was a place where church leadership and town leadership were united under the pastor of the church, in this case Reverend Blakeman. The goal of these communities was to create perfect outposts of religious idealism where the wilderness would separate them from the interference of kings, parliaments, or any other secular authority.

"Blakeman ruled Stratford until his death in 1665, but as the second generation of Stratford grew up, many of the children rejected what they perceived as the exceptional austerity of the town's founders. This and later generations sought to change the religious dictums of their elders, and the utopian nature of Stratford and similar communities was gradually replaced with more standard colonial administration. By the late 17th century, the Connecticut government had assumed political control over Stratford.

"Stratford was one of the two principal settlements in southwestern Connecticut, the other being Fairfield.

Stratford CT Historical Society

Which ancestor was born on this date?

Jacob Granger, 1735-1795, my fifth great grandfather.

I'm glad to find someone who experienced that British calendar change in 1752. It was when England and North America finally changed to the Gregorian calendar (and added leap years.)  The Catholic countries of Europe (and their overseas possessions) had changed from the Julian calendar back in 1582, but England and Greece were not willing to do so.  Greece was the last European country to leave Julian behind in 1923.

A whole 11 days were skipped in Sept. New Year changed from April 5 to January 1.  So the year 1751 had only 282 days, though the months and day of the week remained the same. Wednesday, 2 September 1752, was followed by Thursday, 14 September 1752. 

Anything done, any children born, had strange shortened years of their lives... I find this fascinating.  Think of a woman who was expecting a baby...the dates just sifted around, but her term continued to be the same.  The tax collectors and churches had some interesting times as well.

Jacob Granger was father to Joseph Granger, b Dec 7, 1765 in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts, and who died Mar 21 1847 in Newburyport, Essex Co, MA.  Joseph's son, George Tyler Granger (1804-1870)...was the pioneering spirit who moved to Texas from Newburyport.

Jacob Granger was born Aug 7, 1735 in Andover, Essex, Massachusetts, and died on Feb 4 1795 in the same town. He married Sarah Farnam 4 Jan 1757. They had 8 children that I know of, (all born after 1752). His occupation on his probate document, following his death, is that of Yeoman. (In the United States, yeomen were identified in the 18th and 19th centuries as non-slaveholding, small landowning, family farmers.)

He is listed on the Revolutionary War Rolls of Fort Clinton, Nov. 16, 1778, as having served as a private for one month. He served that month under Capt. Davis Whittier.  I don't know much about the war history, so hope someone else can give me information about his service.

  
His widow Sarah Farnam Granger outlived him, and eventually was buried next to him in 1806.

Like many people in this cemetery, there's a marker attesting to Jacob having served his country during the Revolutionary War.  

His wife was Sarah Farnam Granger, whose stone is next to his.  I found the design on the tombstone interesting and wonder what meaning it might have.  It is great to see a cemetery that is this well cared for.

Happy birthday for my great times seven grandmother

Mrs. Anna Curtiss Booth was born Aug 1, 1697 in Stratford, Fairfield Connecticut, and died 18 May 1733 in the same location. She was my great times 7 grandmother.

Anna Curtiss was the last of her mother's 4 children. Her mother, Abigail Judson Curtiss died the same year, though I don't have the exact date. Someone had entered a Nov. date into Ancestry, but there's no source given. All the records just say 1697 as the year she died.

So Anna's father Josiah Curtiss married again, in 1698 and had 8 or 9 more children.

Anna grew up and married Zachariah Booth June 12, 1718.  Their marriage has at least 2 primary records to substantiate it.

They had three sons, Nathan Booth (1719-1800), Zachariah Booth Jr (1721-1775), and Daniel Booth (Boothe) (Captain) 1723-1801).

Anna lived until May 18, 1733 and has a tombstone in the Old Congregational Burying Ground in Stratford, Fairfield County, CT. She had just had her 36th birthday....so I guess that means she was in her 37th year.

Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Anna Booth wife to Mr. Zechariah Booth who died May 18 1733 in ye 37th year.

Interesting that some of the eager people in Ancestry.com have given Zachariah the second wedding date of Jan 1, 1733...while his first wife was still alive.  Oops!

However, Zachariah may have been eager to have more children, since Anna had 10 years between her last childbirth and her death.  I'm wondering what kind of illness she may have been dealing with, because the norm was to have as many children as they could.

Zachariah and Sarah then had 6 more children.

My ancestor was Anna's second child, Zachariah Booth Jr. my six times great grandfather.