This is the one of the first surnames I seriously tackled as a
beginning genealogist back in the 1970s.
I was about fifteen years old, and I used to ride my bike from Holden to
Worcester to use the genealogical resources at the American Antiquarian
Society. I didn’t know how lucky I was
to be able to use one of the best libraries in the USA. To me it was just the nearest place to work
on my new hobby.
I had carefully traced my family back using the “tan
books” at AAS. These are sets of
hardcover books containing the vital records up to 1850 of most of the
Massachusetts towns where my ancestors lived, but the series does not cover all
the towns in the commonwealth.
Fortunately, the Woburn, Massachusetts book was included in this series. I worked my family back to Edward Convers,
who was born in 1590 in England. Along the way, using some of the old compiled
genealogy books and “brag books” on the shelves, I carefully copied in my first
false lineage. Many genealogies in the
1970s attributed the Convers/Converse family of Massachusetts to a medieval English
noble line going back one thousand years to the knight Roger de Coigneries. It was a good lesson for me to learn and to
untangle. Untangling was much more
difficult in the days of pencil and paper records than it is now with computer
genealogy data bases.
The truth is that Edward Convers’s English origins
have been well documented by several major genealogists since I was a teenaged
genealogist. You can read about his
ancestors in the New England Historic Genealogical Society’s Register volume 146, pages 130 – 132 and
his wife’s English origins in the Register,
volume 153, pages 81 – 96. There is a sketch about Edward Convers in
Volume 1 of the Great Migration Begins on pages 459 – 463. There is much exciting information on his
life, and I no longer regret not being related to an English Knight!
Edward Convers arrived with his wife Sarah and three
of his children with the Winthrop Fleet. The family lived first at Charlestown,
Massachusetts. He ran a ferry between
Charlestown and Boston. In the journal
of Governor Winthrop it spells out the agreement between Edward Convers and the
Colony. He could charge two pence per
person, six for a man and a horse. By
1640 he lost the ferry business when the right to operate the ferry was granted
to Harvard College as a fund raiser.
About this time he removed with Sarah to the new settlement of
Woburn.
His Epitaph in the First Burial
Ground, Woburn [note the birthplace, which is incorrect]:
In Memoriam, Deacon Edward
Convers, Born: Wakerly, County of Northampton, England, January 30, 1590
Landed: Salem, Mass. June 12,
1630, In Company of Governor Winthop, Died: Woburn, Mass. August 10, 1663.
Founder: City of Woburn, Mass.
and First Church, Woburn. Forefather of
The Converse Family in America.
Erected In His Memory By His
descendants - The Converse Family In America - 1961.
My Converse genealogy:
Generation 1: Edward Convers, son of Anthony Convers and
Clemence Spady, born 30 January 1590 in Stanford Rivers, Essex, England, died
10 August 1663 in Woburn, Massachusetts; married first on 29 June 1614 in Great
Burstead, Essex, England to Sarah Parker, daughter of John Parker, died on 14
January 1662; married second in 1663 to Joanna Warren, daughter of Richard
Warren, widow of Ralph Sprague. Five children with each wife.
 |
| At the First Burial Ground, Woburn HERE LYES THE BODY OF LIEUT. JAMES CONVERS WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE MAY THE 10TH 1715 IN THE 59TH YEAR OF HIS AGE |
Generation 2: James Convers, baptized
on 29 November 1620 in South Weald, Essex, England, died on 10 May 1715 in
Woburn; married on 1 January 1669 to Hannah Carter, daughter of John Carter and
Elizabeth Kendall. She was born 19 January 1651 in Woburn, died 10 August 1691
in Woburn. Nine children.
Generation 3: Robert Convers,
born 29 December 1677 in Woburn, died 20 July 1736; married on 19 December 1698 in Woburn to Mary
Sawyer, daughter of Joshua Sawyer and Sarah Wright. She was born about 1681 and died 1766. Twelve
children.
Generation 4: Susanna Converse,
born 18 June 1724 in Woburn, died 29 October 1771 in Woburn; married on 26
March 1746 in Woburn to Caleb Simonds, son of James Simonds and Mary
Fowle. He was born 27 August 1720 in
Woburn and died 4 January 1811 in Woburn.
Generation 5: Ruth Simonds
married Andrew Munroe
Generation 6: Luther Simonds
Munroe married Olive Flint
Generaiton 7: Phebe Cross Munroe married Robert Wilson
Wilkinson
Generation 8: Albert Munroe
Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation 9: Donald Munroe
Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)
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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson
Rojo
It is wonderful that you have been doing genealogy since you were 15. You certainly have a rich lot of details! I am very jealous of the "Tan Books." I'm not sure we have anything like those in SC. I think New Englanders must have been a sturdy bunch who kept lots of records and survived well in the bracingly cold weather. Seriously, I'm finding many children who died young in the hot climates of SC and Barbados in my family tree. You chronicle large families.
ReplyDeleteMy family had traced us to an infamous "Lord Lovat" of the Fraser clan. But we are actually descended from a "cadet" (illegitimate) line from somewhere in the MIddle Ages. Funny how so many want to use genealogy for status.
How funny! I used to ride my bike between Worcester and Holden all the time when I was in high school. I actually lived close to the Antiquarian Society, but did not appreciate it until I had moved away. One of my high school friends had an internship there one summer during college.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if we ever passed each other on Salisbury Street? Isn't that a funny thing to think about?
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