Nutfield Genealogy: April 2013

Tuesday, April 30, 2013

A Plea from the Plimoth Plantation Museum

Mayflower II in drydock in Fairhaven, Massachusetts

(as seen on the Plimoth Plantation Facebook Page, posted 24 April 2013)

“Wood you please help us?

Got a spare White Oak tree you'd like to make history with?

Plimoth Plantation needs it to repair Mayflower II!

Snap a photo and share it to our Facebook wall and help us keep history afloat!

White Oak Needed for Mayflower II
http://www.plimoth.org/sites/default/files/wysiwyg-images/Mayflower%20_II_White%20Oak_Appeal.pdf “

Captain Peter Arenstam, from the Mayflower II, shows a section of white oak
being used to make planking for repairs on the side of the ship

The Mayflower II is in drydock, and she needs some very, very large white oak trees. The search is currently on for trees about two to three feet in diameter and 10 to 20 feet long to make beams and planking for the Mayflower II. Every winter she is inspected by the Coast Guard, but this year they peeked under her copper sheathing and found extensive rot. Lots of rot- and damage done over time due to weather, age and the natural aging of her wooden structure.

Captain Peter Arenstam at the marine workshop at Plimoth Plantation
shows a rotten piece of the Mayflower II removed during repair work this winter

A close up view of the side of Mayflower II
where planking is being replaced with new white oak

The plan is to have the beloved Mayflower II shipshape and back at her berth in Plymouth Harbor by sometime this May. In the meantime, the loss of the ship means an empty harbor and loss of revenue not only for Plimoth Plantation, who manages the Mayflower II, but also for local businesses, hotels and restaurants. Vacations and field trips are being cancelled since the tourists won’t be able to see Mayflower II. The sooner she is back in port, the better!

The Facebook page for Plimoth https://www.facebook.com/PlimothPlantation1620?fref=ts

Plimoth Plantation www.plimoth.org

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Monday, April 29, 2013

The Merry Widow, Elizabeth Porter (1689 - 1789)

It all started out very innocently. I joined a Facebook group to discuss a specific ancestor, and someone asked me about Mark Haskell and his wife Elizabeth Giddings. Mark Haskell (1687 – 1775) is my 7^th great grandfather, but I couldn’t find a wife named Elizabeth Giddings. It turns out his father was also named Mark Haskell, and his wife was Elizabeth Giddings. Mark, Jr. had married my 7^th great grandmother Martha Tuthill in 1710, and then a widow named Elizabeth in 1767. I took another look at this widow… and opened a very large can of worms!

Elizabeth Porter was born in June 1689, the daughter of John Porter and Lydia Herrick of Wenham, Massachusetts. She first married Daniel Gilbert, and the marriage intention was dated 2 December 1710 in Ipswich. Daniel died on 2 November 1723. Then Elizabeth married Joseph Goodhue on 1 November 1727 in Ipswich. Joseph died in 1739. Next she married John Burnham on 9 October 1740 in Ispwich. He died in 1749, leaving her free to marry Mark Haskell as mentioned above. She lived to be about 100 years old (no proof of this age has been found).

What made this discovery odd to me, was that all these men were already in my family tree. I didn’t have to add a single name, just link them together in the database because I already had them there. I didn’t even have to add her parents and grandparents, because they were already relatives, too.

1) Lydia Woodbury, Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother, is the sister to Humphrey Woodbury (1609 – 1686), my 10^th great grandfather. So that means Elizabeth herself is a distant cousin.

2) First husband, Daniel Gilbert (1680 – 1723) is a 2^nd cousin, 8 generations removed. Our common ancestor is his great grandparents, John Black and wife, Susanna, of Beverly, Massachusetts.

3.) Second husband, Joseph Goodhue (1685 – 1773), is the brother of my 7^th great grandmother, Bethiah Goodhue, wife of Benjamin Marshall.

4.) Third husband, John Burnham (1695 – 1749) is my 7^th great grandfather, along with his first wife, Anne Choate (my 7^th great grandmother). So this means Elizabeth Porter was married to two of my 7^th great grandfathers!

5.) Fourth husband, Mark Haskell (1687 – 1775) is my 7^th great grandfather, as stated above.

6.) Elizabeth’s son, Daniel Goodhue, born 1728, married Hannah Giddings, a 2^nd cousin 7 generations removed.

7.) Elizabeth’s grandson, Daniel Goodhue (1759 – 1803) married Hannah Shatswell, a descendant of John Shastswell (1574- 1646), my 11^th great grandfather.

All this tangle because of a simple comment made by someone on Facebook, which caused me to search out all of Elizabeth’s previous marriages! Always check out every clue, for you never know where it will lead you…

For more information see:

The History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann: Including the Town of Rockport, by John James Babson, 1860

Chronicles of the Haskell Family, by Ira J Haskell, 1985 (Chapter 16 has Mark Haskell, my ancestor, it is available online at Ancestry.com and Archives.org )

Vital records of Ipswich and other various towns in Essex County

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Sunday, April 28, 2013

May 2013 Genealogy and Local History Event Calendar

Local Club Meetings

Hudson Genealogy Club, at the Rogers Memorial Library, 194 Derry Road, Hudson, NH http://www.rodgerslibrary.org/ every 2^nd Friday of the Month, at 1:30 PM contact Gayle St. Cyr 603-886-6030 for more information.

Genealogy Roundtable, at the Derry Public Library, 64 East Broadway, Derry, NH http://www.derry.lib.nh.us/ every first Tuesday of the Month, at 1 – 2:30 PM. Contact: 603-432-6140 for more information.

Greater Lowell Genealogy Club, http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~maglgc/ meets at the Pollard Memorial Library, Lowell, MA 10AM to 1PM once a month.

Newton, NH Genealogy Club- Gale Library, Newton, NH, 603-382-4691, 3PM on the third Wednesday of the month.

Chelmsford Genealogy Club, at the Chelmsford, MA Public Library, first Tuesday night of the month at 7PM in the McCarthy Meeting Room, contact Judy Sylvia http://www.chelmsfordlibrary.org/programs/programs/genealogy_club.html 978-256-5521

Rye Genealogy Club, at the Rye Public Library, first Tuesday of the month at 2PM. http://ryepubliclibrary.org/

RISE Genealogy Group at the Nashua Public Library, Hunt Room, on the first Friday of the month at 1pm http://www.nashualibrary.org/ (Rivier College Institute for Senior Education, see http://www.rivier.edu/rise/default.aspx?id=1619 )

May 1, Wednesday, Strawbery Banke Museum reopens for the season. You can find this living history museum at 14 Hancock Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire www.strawberybanke.org

May 2, Thursday, noon – 1pm Lunch & Learn: The First Peopling of this Place We Now Call Plymouth, Free for members, $8 non-members at Plimoth Plantation. Archeologist Ellen Berkland will discuss excavations on the South Shore. Bring a lunch, or buy one at the Patuxet Café. Discussion starts promptly at noon in the Accomack Building. Register online http://www.plimoth.org/learn/programs-adults/lunch-and-learn

May 3, Friday, 10:30am, Abraham and Mary Lincoln: The Long and Short of It, at the Bow High School, 32 White Rock Hill Road, Bow, NH . Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd met in Springfield, Illinois, where they married and began a family. The years that followed their move to the White House were full of personal and national crises. Contact Betsy Mahoney at 603 224-7113 for more information.

May 4, Saturday, 8am – 5pm, 9^th Annual Granite State Story Swap, at the Seacoast Science Center, Odiorne Point State Park, Rye, NH. Concert performances by NH, MA and NY storytellers, all are welcome, $16 fee covers parking, morning coffee, lunch and all story swaps. For more information and advance registration go to http://www.nhstorytelling.org or contact Lauretta Phillips at 603 735-5965

May 4, Saturday, 10am and 1pm Edson Cemetery Tours with Kim Zunino, 1375 Gorham Street, Lowell, Mass. (rain date May 18) Meet at the front gate for a tour of Edson Cemetery, founded in 1845. This 45 minute walking tour is sponsored by the Lowell Historical Society. FREE

May 5, Sunday, 2pm Lizzie Bordon Took an Axe, Or Did She? At the Nashua Public Library, 2 Court Street, Nashua, NH. Annette Holba reviews the facts of the case and explores the evidence that some experts say points to Lizzie’s guilt, and others believe point to Lizzie’s innocence. Her connections to NH are also discussed. Contact Carol Eyman at 603 589-4610 for more information.

May 6, Monday, 2pm Winning the War, Shaping the Peace: Industry, Civil War and the Birth of Consumerism at the Amherst, NH Town Library, 14 Main Street, Amherst, NH Carrie Brown explores the technological triumph that helped save the Union and transformed the nation. While this program tells a broad, national story, it focuses on the critical and somewhat surprising role of Vermont and NH in producing the industrial technology that won the war and changed American life. For more information call Helen Tognetti at 603-682-1952.

May 7, Tuesday, 2pm, Our Town: Discovering Local History at the Archives, National Archives, 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Mass. Reservations suggested, please call 866-406-2379 or email boston.archives@nara.gov

May 7, Tuesday, 7:30pm Petticoat Patriot: A Woman in the Continental Army, at the Exeter Historical Society, 47 Front Street, Exeter, NH, Joan Gatturna present this living history program on Deborah Sampson, who disguised as a young man enlisted in the Continental Army during the American Revolution and served undetected for 17 months. Call Laura Gowing at 603-778-2335 for more information. Free to the public

May 8, Wednesday, 10am, Using AmericanAncestors.org, at the New England Historic Genealogical Society 99 - 101 Newbury Street, Boston, MA Learn all the great features, tools, resources and content at the NEHGS website, with more than 200 million searchable names covering New England, New York and other areas of family research back to 1620. FREE to the public.

May 10, Friday, The Fort at No. 4 re-opens for the season. You can find this living history museum at 267 Springfield Road, Charlestown, New Hampshire www.fortat4.org

May 10, Friday, 7pm, World War Two New Hampshire, at the Deerfield Historic Town Hall, 10 Church Street, Deerfield, NH. A documentary with interviews, historic news films, photos, and radio reports from the battlefields, by John Gfoerer. Call Bernadette Camerson at 603-463-7076 for more information. Free to the public

May 11, Saturday, 11:30am, Braving the Middle Ground: Stories of Pre-Revolutionary Northern New England. At the Kimball Public Library, 5 Academy Avenue, Atkinson, NH. Historian Jo Radner juxtaposes Native American oral traditions and stories to reveal a complex “middle ground” in which English settlers and Native people saw one another as defenders and trespassers, pursuers and refugees, kind neighbors and ruthless destroyers. Call the Kimball Library at 603-362-5234 for more information. Free to the public

May 14, Tuesday, 7:30 pm New Hampshire and the American Clipper Ship Era, at the Riverwoods in Exeter (Boulders Hall), 5 Timber Lane, Exeter, NH. Glen Knoblock explores our maritime past with an exciting look at the fastest sailing ships ever built in America. Call Jeanne Wild at 603-658-3049 for more information. Free to the public

May 16, Thursday, 6pm Finding Our Jewish Ancestors: Jewish history, migration, and genealogy, Genealogist Meredith Hoffman of the Jewish Genealogical Society presents. . National Archives, 380 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Mass. Reservations suggested, please call 866-406-2379 or email boston.archives@nara.gov

May 18, Saturday, 9am to 12:30pm, Family History Mini Conference, at 400 Essex Street, Lynnfield, MA by the Lynnfield LDS church. FREE classes on genealogy.

May 20, Monday, Canterbury Shaker Village re-opens for the summer season until October 31^st. This museum is located at 288 Shaker Road, Canterbury, NH 03224 www.shakers.org

May 22, Wednesday, 7pm Genealogy Apps for Mobile Phones, a lecture by genealogist Dick Eastman at Andover, Massachusetts’ Memorial Hall Library, 2 North Main Street, Andover, MA. Free. Register at www.mhl.org/eventcalendar or call 978-623-8401 x31

May 23, Thursday, 7pm Lizzie Borden Took an Axe, Or Did She? At the Harvey Mitchell Memorial Library, 151 Main Street, Epping, NH. See the same lecture above on May 5^th. Contact Bradley Green at 603-734-4587 for more information. Free to the public.

May 25, Saturday, 10am – 3pm Annual Lilac Festival at the Wentworth Coolidge Mansion, 375 Little Harbor Road, Portsmouth, NH Free to the public, free parking. Come by foot, bike, kayak or canoe. Lilac lectures and sales, art projects, treasure hunts for the kids and an alpaca petting zoo. Sroll the new 1.5 mile waterside walking path. Call 603 -828-3359 for more information.

May 30, Thursday, 1pm, Introduction to REUNION by Richard Doyle at the Amesbury Public Library, . 149 Main St., Amesbury, Mass. Registration required . 978-388-8148 or register online at www.amesburylibrary.org This is a gathering for participants that went to Richard’s first class, it will be a fun afternoon to see everyone and talk about their successes.

June 1^st, Saturday, 10am, Lowell Cemetery Tour with the Chelmsford Genealogy Club and Richard Howe

June 1^st, Saturday, Piscataqua Waterfront Festival, 8am – 11pm, at the Moffatt-Ladd House and Garden, 154 Market Street, Portsmouth, NH. Free family event with music, maritime artisan demonstrations, free museum tours, children’s activities, boats, booths, and a sale of heirloom plants. Call 603 430-7668 for more information.

June 5, Wednesday, 7pm, Dissent among the Puritans at the Merrimack Public Library, 470 Daniel Webster Highway, Merrimack, NH. A living history presentation features Ann Vassall in the year 1637, wife of William Vassall of Essex, England, one of the founders of Massachusetts. Contact the library at 603-424-5021 for more information. Free to the public.

Thursday, June 6, 13, 20, and 27 at 1:00 Richard Doyle’s Introduction to Genealogy. At the Amesbury Public Library, 149 Main St., Amesbury, Mass. Learn basic steps to get started on your genealogy. He will also show you how to use Ancestry.com and Heritage Quest to further your search. When you register for June 6^th you are registered for all of the classes. Registration required . 978-388-8148 ext. 610 or register online at www.amesburylibrary.org

Thursday, June 6, noon – 1pm Lunch & Learn: The History of Jewish People in Plymouth, Free for members, $8 for non-members at Plimoth Plantation. Hear Plimoth Plantation’s curator Dr. Karin Goldstein discuss the “hidden history” of Jewish People in early Plymouth. Bring a lunch or buy one at the Patuxet Café. Discussion starts promptly at noon in the Accomack Building. Register online at http://www.plimoth.org/learn/programs-adults/lunch-and-learn

June 8, Saturday, 10:30am Who won the War of 1812? New Hampshire’s Forgotten Patriot Pirates, at the Millyard Museum, 200 Bedford Street, Manchester, NH, J. Dennis Robinson offers an upbeat, irreverent slideshow on New Hampshire’s reluctant role in Mr. Madison’s War with special emphasis on the bold privateers from Portsmouth. Contact Veronica Mueller at 603-764-9072 for more information.

June 10, Monday, 7pm, Mary Todd Lincoln: An Unconventional Woman, at St. Paul’s United Methodist Church Hall, 335 Smyth Road, Manchester, NH. Sally Mummey re-creates the role of Mary Lincoln and shares stories of her life and love, triumphs and challenges. Potluck at 6pm with Program to follow at 7pm. Free to the public. Contact Elise Hood at 603-668-3472 for more information.

June 11, Tuesday, A Visit with Queen Victoria, at the Salem Historical Museum, 310 Main Street, Salem, NH. Sally Mummey recreates the role of Queen Victoria in proper 19^th century clothing with Royal Orders. Free to the public. Contact Beverly Glynn at 603-893-8882 for more information.

June 19, Wednesday, 7pm A Walk Back in Time: The Secrets of Cellar Holes, at the Wadleigh Memorial Library, 49 Nashua Street, Milford, NH Adair Mulligan explores the rich story in stone walls, old foundations, and abandoned homesites. Free to the public. Contact Susan Amann at 603-673-2408 for more information.

Coming Up:

July 20, 2013, Massachusetts Genealogical Council Annual Seminar at Holy Cross College, Hogan Center, Worcester, Massachusetts featuring Judy G. Russell, CG, CGL “The Legal Genealogist” 8:30am to 4:30pm.

August 4 – 9, 2013, The 33^rd IAJGS International Conference on Jewish Genealogy, Boston Park Plaza Hotel

October 19, 2013, Family History Day, LDS church, Concord, New Hampshire

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Saturday, April 27, 2013

Surname Saturday ~ Chesebrough / Cheeseborough

CHESEBROUGH/CHEESEBOROUGH

WILLIAM CHESEBROUGH

THE FIRST WHITE SETTLER OF

STONINGTON BORN IN ENGLAND

1594 MIGRATED TO AMERICA

IN JOHN WINTHROPS COMPANY

WHICH PLANTED BOSTON IN 1630.

AFTER SPENDING A FEW YEARS

IN REHOBOTH MASS, HE WITH

HIS WIFE AND FOUR SONS IN

1649

FIXED HIS PERMANENT HOME IN

THIS THEN WILDERNESS AND

BUILT HIS DWELLING HOUSE

NOT FAR FROM THIS MONUMENT.

HE TOOK A LEADING PART IN THE

ORGANIZATION OF THE TOWN AND

THE CONDUCT OF ITS EARLY AFFAIRS.

HE DIED JUNE 9, 1667.

A BOLD PIONEER. A WISE ORGANIZER.

A FIRM CHRISTIAN

Chesebrough - - Sounds funny, doesn’t it? Or does it? I’ve never really ever heard anyone pronounce this name, so if someone out there knows please drop me a comment!

I first became especially interested in this family when I saw that William Chesebrough married his wife Ann Stevenson on 15 December 1620 at the St. Botolph’s church in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, where my Pilgrim ancestors first left England for Holland. Also, it is interesting to consider that Reverend John Cotton was their minister at St. Botolph’s and then again their teacher at the First Church in Boston, Massachusetts. I have seen many immigrants coming to New England in this time period to follow their ministers, who left England for being “non-conformists”.

William and his family immigrated to Boston in 1630, and then they removed to the Braintree church on 16 February 1639/40, and were dismissed again to Rehoboth on 9 April 1648. Sometime later they removed to Connecticut and settled at Stonington.

On 23 May 1667 William Chesebrough wrote a will in Stonington, which was proved on 17 September 1667. Anna left a will dated 19 March 1672/3. I was sad to see that the original documents are missing from the probate files, and the only record of them that exists today are transcriptions in the published Chesebrough genealogy Descendants of William Chesebrough, Founder of Stonington, Connecticut, by Anna Chesebrough Widley, 1903. There is a large monument to William Chesebrough at the Wequetequock Burial Ground in Stonington, and his original gravesite is nearby.

For sources on the Chesebrough family please see the sketch about William Chesebrough at The Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume 1, pages 339 to 345. Also see The American Genealogist, Volume 19, page 78, Volume 21, pages 190 – 191, and Volume 22, pages 60 – 61 for Samuel in the second generation. Also see my post about the Ingraham family at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/surname-saturday-ingraham.html

My Chesebrough lineage:

Generation 1: William Chesebrough, born about 1595 probably in Lincolnshire, England, died 9 June 1667 in Wequetequock, Stonington, Connecticut; married on 15 December 1620 at St. Botolph’s Church, Boston, Lincolnshire, England to Ann Stevenson, who was born 23 August 1598 in Boston, England and died 24 August 1673 in Wequetequock, Stonington. They had eleven children.

Generation 2: Samuel Chesebrough, born about 1627 in Boston, England and died 31 July 1673 in Stonington; married on 3 November 1655 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Abigail Ingraham, possible daughter of Richard Ingraham. She died 18 April 1700 in Stonington. Seven children.

Generation 3: Elizabeth Chesebrough, born 6 January 1669 in Stonington, died after 1708 in Stonington; married about 1689 in Stonington to William Ingraham. He was the son of William Ingraham and Mary Bairstow, born 27 January 1658 in Boston, Massachusetts, and died 16 January 1708 in Stonington. Seven children.

Generation 4: Patience Ingraham m. Ebenezer Bill

Generation 5: Asahel Bill m. Mary Rand
Generation 6: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons
Generation 7: Professor Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman
Generation 8: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson
Generation 9: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Friday, April 26, 2013

Follow Friday - New Hampshire Genealogy Blogs

When I started blogging, I was inspired by Jan Brown’s “Cow Hampshire” blog. She was the only genealogy blogger in the Granite State. Now there are many local genealogy bloggers, and you might want to check up on what they are writing. They offer great advice on researching in New Hampshire and New England. You also might make a “cousin connection” when you check out the surnames they are related to in their stories. It’s easy to make a comment or email these bloggers, so you can ask questions, compare family trees and perhaps meet a new cousin.

New Hampshire Blog Roll

"Epsom History" by the Epsom, NH Historical Society has great local history, photos and documents that often spill past the borders of Epsom http://epsomhistory.blogspot.com/

Jan Brown “Cow Hampshire” many stories of New Hampshire families and local history: www.cowhampshireblog.com

June Butka "Dame Gussie" http://damegussie.wordpress.com/ and "Where in the State is Mom" http://home.comcast.net/~mikebutka5a/site/?%2Fhome%2F

J. Dennis Robinson “Seacoast History Blog” Local history from the New Hampshire and Maine Seacoast region, including the Isles of Shoals from one of New Hampshire's favorite local historians http://www.seacoastnh.com/Today/Seacoast_History_Blog/

Marcia Gulesian “North Country Chronicles” families from North of the Notches, great photographs, too

http://north-country-chronicles.blogspot.com/

MarDi “Hoyt Family Genealogy” New England genealogy by a fairly new blogger http://www.la-famille.mardistudio.com/blog/la-famille-blog-3/

Timothy McQuaid “Forgotten Journeys” Scots Irish Families and more http://forgottenjourneys.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Shoer “Scrappy Genealogist” A Portsmouth genealogist with Jewish roots

http://www.scrappygenealogist.com/

Thomas Tufts “Tufts Genealogy” Colonial era New England genealogy from New Hampshire and Massachusetts http://tuftsgenealogy.blogspot.com/

Here are some other helpful genealogy blogs:

Lucie Consentino “Acadian Genealogy” http://acadian-ancestral-home.blogspot.com/

Merrimack Valley “Forgotten New England” http://forgottennewengland.com/

Maine genealogy “Digging Down East” http://diggingdowneast.blogspot.com/

More Maine genealogy "My Maine Ancestry" http://mymaineancestry.blogspot.com/

Tim Firkowski “Genealogy Detective” is a professional New Hampshire genealogist who specializes in Polish genealogy, his blog describes research overseas in Poland http://www.firkowski.com/

To search for the perfect genealogy blog for YOU:

GeneaBloggers search page http://geneabloggers.com/search-geneablogger-member-blogs/

The Genealogy Blog Finder http://blogfinder.genealogue.com/

If you have a favorite New Hampshire genealogy blogger I didn't list here, please add their name and a link to their blog in the comments!

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Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A 1779 Slave Petition finally passes in the New Hampshire Legislature, 233 years late

Prince Whipple, an enslaved officer in the Continental Army, and 19 other enslaved men from New Hampshire drew up a petition in 1779. They wanted to be emancipated. The New Hampshire legislature tabled the petition, saying that it wasn't a good time to vote (it was the middle of the Revolutionary War). They effectively ignored the black men’s document. Five of the men and Prince Whipple were eventually freed, and the other 14 died as slaves.

Thirty years ago historian Valerie Cunningham found the petition on the front page of the New Hampshire Gazette and wrote about it in her book Black Portsmouth. To raise awareness for the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and the fundraising effort to erect a memorial on the site of the African Burying Ground, the committee asked Senator Martha Fuller Clark to revive the petition. She introduced it to the Senate in January 2013.

Now 233 years later, New Hampshire is changing history. In March 2013 the New Hampshire Senate unanimously passed the bill. Today, on 24 April 2013 the New Hampshire House voted on the bill to free the 14 slaves. The vote passed (344 yeas and 2 nays, then after a revote it was unanimous).

Although only about 1% of New Hampshire’s population is of African American descent, this action rights a wrong that has been long overdue. The small number of blacks in New Hampshire makes them less likely to be heard in political matters. This vote freed those 14 enslaved men posthumously. Their fate had languished in limbo for 233 years.

To go along with the celebration, just yesterday, the National Endowment for the Arts gave a $20,000 grant to the African Burying Ground Memorial Park. This brings the total raised to $720,000. The African Burying Ground Committee is looking to raise $1.2 million. This recognition from the NEA helps to bring the project into the national spotlight.

Judy G. Russell, the “Legal Genealogist” asked me to photograph this petition at the New Hampshire State Archives, for one of her lectures at the National Genealogy Society conference. If you are attending the conference in Las Vegas, Nevada 8 – 11 May 2013, you can hear all the details from Judy, an expert lawyer and genealogist (a terrific combination). My photographs were donated to the State Archives, and are on file at the State Archives office for anyone who would like to see a copy of the petition. Here is page one above.

These are the names of the enslaved men who signed the petition. Do you recognize any of these surnames from your New Hampshire family tree?

Nero Brewster

Will Clarkson

Garrett Colton

Peter Frost

Zebulon Gardner

Cesar Gerrish

Seneca Hall

Cipio Hubbard

Winsor Moffat

Cato Newmarch

Jack Odiorne

Romeo Rindge

Pharaoh Rogers

Quam Sherburne

Pharaoh Shores

Kittindge Tuckerman

Cato Warner

Peter Warner

Samuel Wentworth

Prince Whipple (owned by William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence)

For the truly curious:

Click this link to see the 1779 Freedom Petition as published in the New Hampshire Gazette, 15 July 1780: http://www.trinityhistory.org/AmH/SlavesNH1779.pdf

Black Portsmouth by Mark J. Sammons and Valerie Cunningham, University of New Hampshire Prss, Published by University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH, 2004

Seacoastonline announces the vote today at this link:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130424-NEWS-130429868

The Portsmouth African Burying Ground http://www.africanburyinggroundnh.org/

The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail http://pbhtrail.org/web/

The New Hampshire State Archives http://sos.nh.gov/arch_rec_mgmt.aspx

A lesson plan from the New Hampshire Historical Society about the 1779 Slave Petition:

http://www.nhhistory.org/edu/support/nhsources/slavepetitionlesson.pdf

The NGS 2013 Family History Conference http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info

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

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A 1779 Slave Petition finally passes in the New Hampshire Legislature, 233 years late", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 24, 2013, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-1779-slave-petition-finally-passes-in.html: accessed [access date]).

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another two masted ship!

Every Wednesday for almost a year and half I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located). Most are historically interesting or just whimsical and fun weathervanes. Today's weathervane can be seen in Massachusetts. Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #92? Scroll down to see the answer....

Can you see the weathervane?
Look above the peaked gable end of the house
just above the telephone wires.

Today's weather vane is found in historic Plymouth, Massachusetts. It is atop a private residence on North Street, not far from Plymouth Harbor where the Mayflower II is berthed. It is also located a few doors away from the home of the Mayflower Society's Winslow House. I'm pretty sure that this pretty little, three dimensional weather vane represents the Mayflower that brought the Pilgrims to America in 1620! The rigging on this weather vane is amazing, and the pretty painted hull makes it stand out very well, even though it is a very small figure.

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

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Tuesday, April 23, 2013

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Myles Standish Burying Ground

Myles Standish

Old Burying Ground

Grave of

Capt. Myles Standish

1656

America's Oldest

Maintained Cemetery

Myles Standish Burying Ground is the Oldest

maintained cemetery in the United States.

This sacred ground has been cared for

by the town of Duxbury, Massachusetts,

and takes its name from Myles Standish,

military leader of the Plymouth Colony,

who was interred here in October of 1656.

Plaque dedicated in August 1977

As a Bicentennial gift to the nation,

byt the American Cemetery Association.

Click here for the Town of Duxbury website, page for teh Standish Burying Ground:
http://www.town.duxbury.ma.us/Public_Documents/DuxburyMA_Cemetery/standish/standish

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Monday, April 22, 2013

Another Mystery Solved!

Nearly a year ago, on 18 February 2011, I wrote a blog post about my my great great grand uncle, Captain Humphrey Choate Allen (1825 – 1881) of Essex, Massachusetts. You can read that post HERE. His gravestone states that he died on the Isthmus of Panama. My Mom is an Allen, and her parents are buried in the same cemetery in Essex. We have all wondered what happened to Humphrey, and what was he doing in Panama in 1881.

The digging of the Panama Canal was later than 1881, mostly after 1900 under President Theodore Roosevelt’s administration, although there had been attempts to dig a canal earlier. I know that many Americans died during the construction of the canal, mostly due to disease, and we thought perhaps this would be the reason he was in Central America. All the family wondered if he was there perhaps as a mariner, but most of our ancestors were “coasters” and didn't travel far from New England.

Then I found this during a Google Search (note that it does not name “Humphrey Choate Allen” in this news clipping, just “Capt. Allan” [sic]). This was pure luck.

Knowing that Humphrey Choate Allen died of disease in Panama while he was the master of a schooner is an interesting development. Not many of the mariners in my family tree traveled so far away, although I do have a few who went as far as China, Japan, Hawaii and all over the Pacific Ocean as whalers. This news clipping gave me the name of his ship. It was easy to Google a bit of information on the schooner Bonanza, and the next time I am at a maritime archive (Mystic Seaport, Connecticut or the Peabody Essex Museum’s Phillips Library in Salem, Massachusetts) I can find more.

Online, from the Tacoma, Washington Public Library:

“The Bonanza, a two - masted schooner of 135 tons, was built at San Francisco in 1875 by J. S. Nichols as a yacht for William Ralston, the speculator who built the Palace Hotel. After his crash she became a trader, with one losing voyage as a codfisher in 1883; in 1890 she was sold to James McKenna., San Francisco, and fitted out as an Arctic whaler. The Bonanza was crushed in the ice while whaling near Herschel Island in the season of 1905. John Lyman, Pacific Coast Built Sailers, 1850-1905, The Marine Digest. Mar. 1, 1941. p. 2. Mr. Lyman later wrote that the Bonanza was crushed at King Point on August 23, 1905 with the crew of fifteen getting to shore safely. length 102' Bean 27' Tonnage 135 Draft 9' “

From the article in the New York Times, I can see that Humphrey Allen was interred in Panama, and his gravestone in Essex is just a memorial, or a cenotaph. His gravestone states he died 7 July 1881. The article says that the mate F. C. Fullerton died of the same fever on 12 July. A new captain, “Hohlman” sailed the ship on 19 July. I can only wonder how Humphrey’s wife and family were notified. Was there a letter? Did someone visit from Boston to give the bad news? The mystery continues…

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A little genealogy....

Humphrey Choate Allen was the son of Joseph Allen and Orpha Andrews, and the brother of my Great Great Grandfather, Joseph Gilman Allen (1830 - 1908). He was born 23 September 1825 in Essex, Massachusetts, died 7 July 1881 in San Blas Bay on the Isthmus of Panama; married on 16 November 1847 in Essex to Fanny Larcom Burnham, daughter of Richard Burnham and Thankful Andrews, born 8 September 1825 in Essex, and died on 16 November 1900 in Essex. Five children born at Thompson’s Island, Essex, Massachusetts:

1. Edgar Allen, born 25 July 1848; married on 1 January 1871 in Gloucester to Mary F. Smith

2. Humphrey Choate Allen, born on 20 November 1852, died on 26 December 1904 in Minneapolis, Minnesota

3. Erving Willis Allen, born on 11 March 1859; died between 1920 and 1930 in Beverly; married on 14 January 1885 in Beverly to Mabel Griffin.

4. Clarinda Burnham Allen, born 27 January 1865, (she may be a twin to Cora) and died on 20 December 1924; married on 5 January 1884 in Essex to Lewis Rowe.

5. Cora Fanny Allen, born about 1865, died on 15 July 1885; married on 2 Feb 1884 in Essex to Alva Burnton Reed, as his first wife. She died after giving birth to two twins, Cora and Roy, on 14 July 1885.

My blog post from 18 February 2011 “Captain Humphrey Choate Allen, Mystery Man!”

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/02/captain-humphrey-choate-allen-mystery.html

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