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.

Happy birthday Great-grandmother Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey

A repost of blog from last year's birthday with additions!

On July 30, 1858, Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey was born.  Her mother Mary Phillips, had been a Granger before marriage.  Her father, William Phillips, was raised by a stepfather, Samuel Gainer in Georgia.  Her mother went from Texas back to Georgia to give birth, and I'm not clear whether she was with her own mother or her mother-in-law.

Baby Zulie was given a slave girl at her birth, with the papers written by hand by her paternal grandmother, Mary Phillips Gainer.  I wonder if any of them knew that the Civil War would be starting in just a few years.

She returned with her parents (Mary and Willian Phillips) to Sabine Pass, Texas or Beaumont, Texas, at a time when there were cotton plantations where now oil wells drill, and cities stand.

Front and back of Zulie G. Swasey portrait, mother of Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers

GG Zulieka was know to the family as "Dear Nan."  Her mother, Mary, had another child two years later, and Mary died within a year of that birth.  Julie's father William Phillips may have been sick, may have been grieving, or some other reason had him leaving the homestead, and sending his daughters to relatives in Galveston.  Within 6 months of his wife's death, he joined the Confederate forces, fighting early in the war with other Texans in a company from Alabama, and dying.

GG Zulieka and her younger sister, Ada Phillips, were raised by Granger and Gainer relatives who were the sisters of either their father or their mother.

When Zulieka married at age 24 to Alexander John Swasey, also of Galveston, she then had her own two girls, naming her first Ada Phillips Swasey, and her second Stella Zulieka Swasey.  Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers became my grandmother on my father's side.

Zulieka Swasey (Dear Nan) and her granddaughter Ada Mary Rogers. (Ada Mary Rogers died as a child)

And how do I know more than is available by census and city directory documents?  My relatives somehow kept copies of letters written by Zulieka's mother, her father, her grandmother Gainer, her grandfather Granger, and her uncle Marion Granger.  I've transcribed them into records for these people on Ancestry.com, which kind of makes these people more real.

The letters just before and during the Civil War are the most precious, because of the lack of true information that was available to people, and the privations they endured.  Letters were written on both sides of folded paper, then across the original writing at a 90 degree angle, as well as in the margins.  See HERE for some of the letters.

I've never known why GG-Grandmom Mary Phillips traveled to San Marcos, Hays County, TX from Galveston to give birth to my G-grandmother, Zulieka Granger Phillips Swasey on July 30, 1858.  Then she had her second daughter, Ada Pulsifer Phillips in Beaumont (or more likely Town Bluff) on Sept. 15, 1860. The second daughter, Great Aunt Ada, went by Auntie to the Swasey and Granger relatives, while Zulieka became Dear Nan.

The story my grandmother Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers told was that Dear Nan had been a 10 month pregnancy by her mother. I later learned that midwives were familiar with a second pregnancy actually starting within the first month of the earlier one, where a woman would lose the first pregnancy but keep the second one, and thus think she was pregnant 10 months.

Since GG Zulieka and her sister had been orphaned during the civil war, I don't know of any relations that might have lived in San Marcos.  Her Aunt Lizzie Granger Sweet who helped raise the 2 Phillips orphans, continued living in Galveston for many more years. As a matter of fact, when Zulieka was listed as living with her brother-in-law, Chauncey Sweet, Zulieka's 2 daughters were counted on the census as living with the Sweets, though they were also listed in Galveston living with their parents at another address.

So San Marcos remains a mystery.  I only know that her own mother, Mary Granger Phillips had traveled from Texas back to Georgia to give birth to Zulieka with her in-laws, but not with the second child.

Great grandmother Zulieka (aka Dear Nan) was a Christian Science practitioner, as was my grandmother Ada Swasey Rogers.  G-Gran Zulieka worked out of her apartment home in Houston and was listed in the city directory, as was her accountant husband, Alexander John Swasey, who may have gone by "A.J."

A.J. Swasey died in 1913.  GG Zulieka continued her practice until that year (1913.) In the 1920 census she was living with Chauncey Sweet in Galveston, but in 1930 she was back in Houston. She died in an automobile accident near Rosenburg, TX on April 21. 1935, and is buried in Galveston.

Happy birthday Grandpa Bud!

Granddad "Bud" Webb

Albert "Bud" James (Joe?) Webb

born July 30, 1891, died Sept. 15, 1919.

From my mother's photo album, showing a couple of portrait photos that may have been inside lockets.  She had been only 2 when he died.

In the 1900 census of Goliad, Texas, he was 8 years old, living with parents Annie E. (age 37) and Larry F. Webb (age 42), who had been married for 22 years.  Others in the household included a 16 year old sister, Maggie, a 13 year old brother, Thomas, and an 11 year old sister Clara.  The census said his father had been born in Texas, and his father's father was from Maryland and his mother from Ohio.  His mother, Annie E. Williams had been born in Missouri, and her father was born was born in Kentucky.  Larry F. Webb has as his occupation " head" of (inscription is slightly hard to read) "General Merch" which I think would be a general store. There was also a "lodger" in the home, 25 year old Katy Ayers, whose occupation was house servant.

I always look at the original census data, because otherwise I would have missed seeing the next household listed was headed by James E. Webb, age 21, living with his brother, John L. Webb, age 20.  Since their parents were born in the same places as Annie and Larry Webb, I believe these were elder brothers of Albert.  James was a bookkeeper at the time, and John as salesman.  They were born in DeWitt County, Weesatche, Texas.  

Bud Webb at 18 (in the Census of 1910) was working in a real estate office in San Antonio.  His father owned and operated a "confectionery."  The family still had a servant who lived with them.  Incidentally, my records show Bud having been born in "Huisache, Texas" which is a Hispanic way to spell Weesatche.  Apparently this was difficult for the Anglos to sound out, so they phonetically altered the spelling.

When something happened in 1894, this photo of Bud's father's Store in Weesatche commemorates it with  the friends and employees.  Larry F. Webb himself outlived his son by many years, dying in 1921. So perhaps this was when the family moved to San Antonio since it says "In Memory of..."



The San Antonio City Directory in 1910 listed the Webbs who lived at the same address, 130 Lewis, and the first alphabetically was Albert (Bud).  He was a solicitor for Conness Realty.  The other Webbs were his sister, Miss Clara Webb, and his parents Leary F. and Anna Webb (he running the Confectionery on San Pedro Av. SW) 

Albert and my grandmother, Mozelle Miller, married Aug 7, 1915, in San Antonio.  He was 24, and she was a month shy of her 17th birthday.

Albert's draft card for World War I, dated June 15, 1917, lists his birthday but a year younger in 1892. And maybe the typist had some problems, because he's listed as Albert Joe not James.  (He may have prefered that name, since he had an older brother named James.) He was living now at 95 Lewis St. and proclaims he has a wife and child.  The registration just says he's "tall" and medium build, blue eyes, light colored hair, slightly bald. He just signed the card A. J. Webb.  He never went to the war.

So what killed him?  Apparently not the Influenza epidemic.  My mother's story as I grew up, was that a bad extension cord on Christmas lights electrocuted him.  What's wrong with this picture?  He died Sept. 15, 1919, not in December.  Maybe there was a bad electrical cord, and my mother was reminded of it when we strung lights at Christmas, and I've blended the time she shared about it into my own rendition.  Early electric wiring was certainly not that good.  Whatever took this young man's life, my mother had to be told about him by her mother and her aunts and grandmother.  I don't think the Webbs had much contact with her throughout her life. His death certificate does say "electrical, not at business."

I also remember her saying that her grandmother, Annie Elizabeth Williams Webb, had been an heiress to the Woolworth fortune.  And there was some connection with the Little Church Around the Corner in New York City.  My sister may have found out more about these stories, and I never heard what they were.

For many years my genealogy records gave Joe as his middle name, but his death certificate says Albert James Webb.  Perhaps either one could be right.

Here's a picture of his brother, another salesman (according to his 1938 death certificate), John Leroy Webb.  (Apparently Larry was spelled that way, or Leary by these Webb gentlemen.)

John Leroy Webb

Webb plot San Antonio TX.

"He Is Not Dead, He Is Just Away," Inscription on grave marker (Albert J. Webb 1891-1919) 

(David William Carroll was buried next to him, his sister Mattie Webb Carroll's husband.)

Marker is in Mission Burial Park South, San Antonio, Bexar County, Texas, Plot: Block 2, Masonic Garden 

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Yes

I'll be back.
Have taken on a new editing job for newsletter...and it's gotten a bit more difficult.