The Giddings Family Register Chest

It’s amazing where you can find family history.  We were touring the Shelburne Museum in Vermont.  I don’t have any ancestors in Vermont.  We were there to see the folk art, which includes many weather vanes.  Of course, everything there is interesting and historical, so we were poking around in every building.  Inside one of the museum buildings, the Stone House, there was this chest.

The top of the chest looked like this.

So of course, we took a lot of photos because it was GENEALOGY.  The docent there said it was one of a kind, and I believe her.  I’ve seen family bibles, and family tree samplers, and other such household items with genealogy on them, but I’ve never seen a chest with a marble top carved with a family register. 

Then on second look I said to my husband, “Look, this is a Giddings family.  I have Giddings from Essex County, Massachusetts.  Do you think this family of Connecticut Giddings is related?”  We laughed, but I encouraged him to take a few more photos.  As soon as we arrived home I checked my files. 

Sure enough!  Deacon Thomas Giddings of Hartland, Connecticut was my first cousin 7 generations removed!  His father, Thomas Giddings (1683 – 1754) is the brother to my 8^th great grandmother, Elizabeth Giddings (1666 – 1725) who married Mark Haskell (b. 1685).  And, to make it even more interesting… his mother, Sarah Andrews (1685 – 1749) is the sister to John Andrews (1691 – 1762), my 6^th great grandfather in another lineage!

And so, yes, the Connecticut Giddings are related to the Chebacco Parish, Essex County, Massachusetts Giddings.  And this chest probably ended up in Vermont because Deacon Thomas Giddings’s wife, Mary Colt, died in Rutland, Vermont in 1812.

Small world indeed….

Genealogy of the Giddings Family:

Generation 1: George Giddings,  son of John Gidding and Joan Purrier, born 24 September 1609 in Clapham, Bedfordshire, England; died 1 June 1676 in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts; married on 20 February 1634 in St. Albans, Herfordshire, England to Jane Lawrence, daughter of Thomas Lawrence and John Antrobus. Eight children. (I descend from Thomas and John)

Generation 2: John Giddings, born about 1639, died 3 March 1691 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts (now the town of Essex); married about 1660 to Sarah Alcock, daughter of John Alcock.  She was born about 1642 in Kittery, Maine, and died 29 December 1711 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  Ten children.

Generation 3. Thomas Giddings, born 19 May 1683 in Chebacco Parish, died 3 September 1754 in Lyme, Connecticut; married on 1 June 1708 in Ipswich, Massachusetts to Sarah Andrews, daughter of Joseph Andrews and Sarah Ring.  She was born 16 July 1685 in Chebacco Parish, and died 1 February 1749 in Lyme.

Generation 4: Thomas Giddings m. Mary Colt/Coult

                                                George Giddings m. Jane Lawrence

                                                                        I

                                                John Giddings m. Sarah Alcock

                                                                        I

Thomas Giddings m. Sarah Andrews                         Elizabeth Giddings m. Mark Haskell 

                        I                                                                                   I

Thomas Giddings m. Mary Colt/Coult                       Mark Haskell m. Martha Tuthill

                                                                                                            I

                                                                                    Lucy Haskell m. Jabez Treadwell

                                                                                                            I

                                                                                    Nathaniel Treadwell m. Mary Hovey

                                                                                                            I

                                                                                    Jabez Treadwell m. Betsey Jillings Homan

                                                                                                            I

                                                                                    Eliza Ann Treadwell m. Abijah Hitchings

                                                                                                            I

                                                                        Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

                                                                                                            I

                                                            Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

                                                                                                            I

                                                            Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen

                                                                                                (my grandparents)

Also the Andrews Family Chart:

                                                John Andrews m. Sarah Conant

                                                                        I

                                                John Andrews m. Jane Jordan

                                                                        I

                                                Joseph Andrews m. Sarah Ring

                        I                                                                                   I

Sarah Andrews m. Thomas Giddings                         John Andrews m. Elizabeth Wallis

                        I                                                                                   I

Thomas Giddings m. Mary Colt/Coult                       John Andrews m. Martha Cogswell

                                                                                                            I

                                                                                    James Andrews m. Lucy Presson/Preston

                                                                                                            I

                                                                                    Orpha Andrews m. Joseph Allen

                                                                                                            I

                                                                        Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears

                                                                                                            I

                                                                        Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

                                                                                                            I

                                                                        Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings

                                                                                                (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo