Surname Saturday ~ LAWRENCE of Ipswich, Massachusetts

LAWRENCE

The Lawrence family has deep roots in England and has been researched and written about by many genealogists.  I am descended of two children of Thomas Lawrence (1589 – 1625) who never came to the New World, but his wife, Joan Antrobus, remarried to John Tuttle (1596 – 1656) and brought her six Lawrence children and Tuttle children (of whom I descend from one- Simon Tuttle (1637 – 1691) ), to Massachusetts.

And so, although Thomas Lawrence never came to the New World, his children were here and left Lawrence descendants.  He died intestate and on 21 March 1624/25, his widow, Joan, was made administratrix of his property.  Her accounting, in 1627, names his children, John, Thomas, William, Jane and Marye.  He was the son of John Lawrence (1561 – 1609) and Elizabeth Bull, and he was mentioned  in his father’s estate documents in St. Albans, Herfordshire, England.

Joan Antrobus (about 1592 – 1661) was the daughter of Walter Anterbus and Joan Arnold of St. Albans.  Joan was 65 years old when she immigrated with her daughter, Joan Antrobus Tuttle, in 1635 onboard the Planter with her son-in-law John Tuttle, and her Lawrence and Tuttle grandchildren.  I have deep admiration for these two Joans, who came aboard this ship to the New World and cared for all these children on the passage across the Atlantic Ocean.

The Planter, with this big extended family of Lawrences and Tuttles, arrived at Boston, Massachusetts on 7 June 1635.  They settled at Ipswich, Massachusetts.  John Tuttle returned to England and later died at Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland on 30 December 1656.  Joan (Antrobus) (Lawrence) Tuttle was in Northern Ireland in 1659 and is believed to have died there after 29 January 1661. 

For more information on this extended family of Lawrences, Antrobuses and Tuttles:

The American Genealogist, “John Tuttle of Ipswich, Massachusetts” by David L. Greene, Volume 54 (1978), pages 167 to 175.

The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635 by Anderson, Sanborn and Sanborn, Volume 1 A-B, page 66 -69, “Joan Antrobus”

Also see Volume IV I-L, pages 254 - 258, “John Lawrence”

Also see Volume IV I-L, pages 258 - 259, “Mary Lawrence”

Also see Volume IV I-L, pages 259 - 263, “Thomas Lawrence”

Also see Volume IV I-L, pages 263 - 268, “William Lawrence”

For the Royal Descents of Thomas Lawrence see The Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants to the American Colonies of the United States, Who Were Themselves Notable or Left Descendants Notable in American History, by Gary Boyd Roberts, Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., 2008, pages 562-564.

Not only am I descended of three of Joan’s children, but my two lineages from her two Lawrence children are quite complicated, with much intermarriage.  I hope you can follow along!

My LAWRENCE genealogy:

Generation 1: Thomas Lawrence, son of John Lawrence and Elizabeth Bull, was baptized at St. Albans, Herfordshire, England on 2 February 1589, and died there on 20 March 1625;  he married on 23 October 1609 in St. Albans to Joan Antrobus, daughter of Walter Anterbus and Joan Arnold.  She was born about 1592 and died after 29 January 1661 probably in Northern Ireland.   Joan married second to John Tuttle, in 1627 in St. Albans.  Six Lawrence children, and I descend from two of them (and one Tuttle child).

Lineage A:

Generation 2:  Jane Lawrence, born 18 December 1614 in St. Albans, died 2 March 1680 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married on 20 February 1634 in St. Albans to George Giddings, son of John Giddings and Joan Purrier.  He was born 24 September 1609 in Clapham, Bedfordshire, and died 1 June 1676 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.  Eight children and I descend from two of them.

Lineage A1:

Generation 3: Thomas Giddings m. Mary Goodhue

Generation 4: William Giddings m. Sarah Hitchings

Generation 5: Thomas Giddings m. Martha Smith

Generation 6: Sarah Giddings m. Amos Burnham

Generation 7: Judith Burnham m. Joseph Allen

Generation 8: Joseph Allen m. Orpha Andrews

Generation 9: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears

Generation 10:  Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

Generation 11: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

Lineage A2:

Generation 3:  John Giddings m. Sarah Alcock

Generation 4: Elizabeth Giddings m. Mark Haskell

Generation 5: Mark Haskell m. Martha Tuthill

Generation 6: Lucy Haskell m. Jabez Treadwell

Generation 7: Nathaniel Treadwell m. Mary Hovey

Generation 8: Jabez Treadwell m. Betsey Jillings Homan

Generation 9: Eliza Ann Treadwell m. Abijah Hitchings

Generation 10: Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 11: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 12: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents, see above)

Lineage B:

Generation 2: Mary Lawrence, baptized on 10 April 1625 in St. Albans, died 27 March 1715 in Ipswich; married about 1643 in Ipswich, Massachusetts to Thomas Burnham.  He was born about 1623 in Norwich, Norfolk, England and died 19 June 1694 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich.  Twelve children.

Generation 3:  John Burnham m. Elizabeth Wells.  I descend from three of their children.

Lineage B1:

Generation 4: John Burnham m. Sarah Choate

Generation 5: John Burnham m. Rachel Smith

Generation 6: Dorothy Burnham m. Abner Poland

Generation 7: Abner Poland m. Sarah Burnham

Generation 8: Sally Poland m. Henry Burnham

Generation 9: Sarah Ann Burnham m. Samuel Mears

Generation 10: Sarah Burnham Mears m. Joseph Gilman Allen (see above)

Lineage B2:

Generation 4: Thomas Burnham m. Susannah Boardman

Generation 5: Stephen Burnham m. Mary Andrews

Generation 6: Joshua Burnham m. Jemima Wyman

Generation 7: Jemima Burnham m. Romanus Emerson

Generation 8: George Emerson m. Mary Esther Younger

Generation 9: Mary Katharine Emerson m. George E. Batchelder

Generation 10: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen (see above)

Lineage B3:

Generation 4: David Burnham m. Elizabeth Perkins

Lineage B3a:

Generation 5: David Burnham m. Elizabeth Marshall

Generation 6: Amos Burnham m. Sarah Giddings (see above)

Lineage B3b:

Generation 6: Westley Burnham m. Deborah Story

Lineage B3bi

Generation 7: Westley Burnham m. Molly Woodbury

Generation 8: Henry Burnham m. Sally Poland (see above)

Lineage B3bii:

Generation 7: Sarah Burnham m. Abner Poland (see above)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/09/surname-saturday-lawrence-of-ipswich.html
If you are reading this blog post at any other URL you are reading stolen content

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Copyright 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Tuttle/Tootill/Tuthill

My ancestor Symon Tootill/Tuttle/Tuthill never lived in the New World.  His wife, Isabell Wells, came with her sons, William, John and Richard, on the Planter in 1635.  There is no further record of her in New England, so she probably did not live long after the voyage.  In genealogy we often laugh about the “myth of the three brothers who arrived in America”, but this is the third time I’ve written about three brothers arriving in the New World.  I descend from The brother John, and also from their sister, Dorothy, who married John Bill in England and also came to New England.

Symon Tootill was born about 1560 in Ringstead, Northamptonshire, England.  He was mentioned in his father’s and also in his father-in-law’s wills.  Simon’s will mentions his sons Richard, Thomas, John, Simon and William.  He was buried at Ringstead on 15 June 1630.  Simon’s will was dated 19 December 1627 and proved at Northampton:

In the Name of God Amen The nyneteeneth Day of December in the yeare of our Lord god one thousand six hundred twentie seaven I Symon Tuttell of Ringsted in the Countie of Northton yeoman strong in minde and of good and pfect memory thanks and praise be to allmighty god and weighing and considering the frailety of mans life and the uncertainty of this world doe make and ordayne this my psent Testamt contayning therein my last will in mann[er] and forme as followeth that ys to say ffirst I [c]om[m]end and com[m]itt my soule into the hands of Allmighty god Creator assuredly believing through the onely meritte of Jesus Christe my saviour to be made ptaker of Everlasting life And my body I comitt to the earth from whence it came to be buried [torn] Christon burialls at the discrecion of my Executrix hereafter named, hopeing assuredly to receive the same again at the gene[ral] resurreccion not a mortall but an immortall and glorious body.

And now as concerning those lands and goodes wch god of his goodness hath lent me I give and bequeath unto Isabell my wife All that moytie or prcell of land meadows and com[m]ons wth theire and each of theire appurtenances wch ys due to me out of the land formerly [?] conveyed to my Edlest sonne Richard and the house messuages or ten[emen]ts wherein I now dwell together with all the houses yards lands meadows pastures com[m]ons comodities and appurtenances whatsoever thereunto belonging or in any wise appurteyning and also All those landes meadows and comons wth thappurtances wch I lately had an purchased of Thomas Holding Edward Asin [?] al[ia]s James, and of Will[ia]m Sillyman and of each of them To ahve and to hold the same for and during the terme of her naturall life and after the naturall death of decease of y saide wyfe I give and bequeath all and singular the said mentioned lands and premisses wth their and each of their appurtenances unto Will[ia]m Tuttell my youngest sonne to have and to holde the same unto the saide Will[ia]m Tuttell and to the heirs of his Body Lawfully to be begotten, and for want of such yssue to the second sonne of my sonne Richard and to his heirs for ever

Itm I give and bequeath unto John Tuttle my second sonne all that dwelling house wherein Mr Wrothfall now dwelleth wth all the houses thereunto belonging and the yarde and orchard thereunto adjoyning, and sometyme in the tenure or occupason of John White to have and to hold the same unto the saide John Tuttell and to his heirs and assignes for ever Itm I give and bequeath unto Isabel my said wyfe the one halfe [torn] that meadow wch I lately purchased of Joane Bateman wydow to have And to hold the same for and during her naturall life, And I give and bequeath the other Mytie or half of the same meadowe to my sonne Will[ia]m to enter [there] upon ymmediately after my decease, and I likewise give and bequeath unto my said sonne Will[ia]m the other Moytie of the same meadow to enter thereuppon after the naturall decease of my said wyfe to have and to hold the same unto him the said Will[ia]m and to the heires of his bodye lawfully to be begotten, so as he my said sonne [re]linquishes the twentie poundes given to him by his grandfather John Welles in and by his last will and testamet and the fyve pounds wch fell to him by the death of his brother Thomas Tuttell and for want of such issue of the body of the said Will[ia]m I give and bequeath the same meadowe unto the eldest sonne of my said sonne Richard and to his heirs for ever and I doe gie to my sonne Richard [illegible] halfe [illegible] the lord mordant [?] on both sides of it.

Itm I give to my sone John and his heirs for ever one dole of meadow [of?] forty foote in same which I purchased of Eusache Morton Thomas Ekins [?]. Itm I give to my sunn John his Daugher Abigaill fiue pounds at the age of fifteene years: Itm I give and bequeath unto the poore of Ringsted aforesaid xxs. to be distributed amongst the poorest sorte at the discreson of the minister and churchwardens. Itm I give to my godchildren xxs. apeece. Itm I give to my sonne Will[ia]m my best bedsted wth the bedding and furniture thereunto belonging, or therewith usd, the table in the hall wth the frame, halfe a duzzen of framd stooles, the yron barres on the chimneys wth the hookes and hangings the bed whereon he lyeth my best brasse pan my best brasse pott, my mault mill as now yt standeth, my bolting [twine and yeelding?] fatt, the barr of yron and the package [?], and I will that all my sheepe be equally devided betweene my said wife and my said sonne Will[ia]m wth the increase thereof so long as he keepeth himselfe unmarried. Itm I give and bequeath unto my said sonne Richard and to his heirs for ever one acre of leyes wch I purchased of Mr Carier, and half a dusson sheep. Itm I forgive [missing] my said sonne John thirtie pounds. Itm I give more unto my said sonne Will[ia]m my great cubbord in the [missing] the greater chest, two of the biggest chaires, and the chest that standeth by the bedsted. Itm I give untomy grand [childre]n xxs. a peece Divided allwaies And I will that all the said Movable goods herein given to my sonne Will[ia]m carefully to apply and husband his mothers business to the best of his power in [missing] of the person herein bequeathed pformed and my funeral expenses discharged. I give & bequeath unto Isabel my said wife [missing] and to be executrix of this my psent testamt and for the better execuson thereof I order [missing] them supervisores thereof and [missing]s. apeece [missing] and seal the day and year above written.

There is an additional line written in different penmanship (Abigail was born in 1628)

"to my sunn John, his daughter Abigail, five pounds at the age of fifteene years."

The will was signed by Simon T.... (the paper of this will is described as fragile and broken)

Simon’s son John Tuttle came to America on board the Planter with his wife and her three children by a first marriage (two of the Lawrence daughters are my 9x great grandmothers), and his brothers William and Richard and their families.  He settled in the town of Ipswich, Massachusetts. In 1651 he returned to England and then to Carrickfergus in Northern Ireland.   On 6 April 1657 his wife, Joan, wrote that he had died there on 30 December 1656.  She probably died there, too. I descend from their son, Simon Tuthill, my 9x great grandmother, who settled in Ipswich and Lynn, Massachusetts.

My lineage from the Tuttles:

Lineage A:

Generation 1:  Symon Tootill, born about 1560 in Ringstead, Northampton, England, died before 15 June 1630; married about 1592 to Isabel Wells, daughter of John Wells.  She was born about 1565 and died about 1635 probably in New Haven, Connecticut. Six children.

Generation 2: Dorothy Tuttle, born about 1592 in England and died about December 1638 in Boston, Massachusetts; married about 1612 in England to John Bill, son of John Bill and Ann Mountford. Five children.

Generation 3: Philip Bill, born April 1629 in Ringstead, died 8 July 1689 in New London, Connecticut; married 8 July 1689 in Groton, Connecticut to Hannah Waite, daughter of Samuel Waite and Mary Ward.  She was born about 1625 probably in Finchingfield, Essex, England, and died about 1709 in Groton, Connecticut.  Eight children.

Generation 4: Samuel Bill m. Mercy Houghton

Generation 5: Ebenezer Bill m. Patience Ingraham

Generation 6: Asahel Bill m. Mary Rand

Generation 7: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons

Generation 8: Professor Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons Bill m.  Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 10: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Lineage B:

Generation 2: Dorothy’s brother, John Tuttle married Joan Antrobus in 1627 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England.  She was the widow of Thomas Lawrence, who died on 20 March 1625.  Joan and Thomas Lawrence are my 10x great grandparents on my maternal side. John was born about 1656 and died on 30 December 1656 in Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland.  They had five children together.

Generation 3: Simon Tuthill, born 1637 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; died 11 January 1691 in Lynn, Massachusetts; married about 1663 to Sarah Cogswell, daughter of John Cogswell and Elizabeth Thompson. Twelve children.

Generation 4: John Tuthill, born 22 April 1666 in Ipswich, died 27 Feb 1715 in Ipswich; married on 3 December 1689 in Ipswich to Martha Ward, daughter of Samuel Ward and Abigail Maverick.  She was born 16 September 1672 in Salem, Massachusetts, and died 17 August 1723 in Ipswich. Seven children.

Generation 5: Martha Tuthill m. Mark Haskell

Generation 6: Lucy Haskell m. Jabez Treadwell

Generation 7: Nathaniel Treadwell m. Mary Hovey

Generation 8: Jabez Treadwell m. Betsey Jillings Homan

Generation 9: Eliza Ann Treadwell m. Abijah Hitchings

Generation 10: Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 11: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 12: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

On 28 March 2013 the Fieldstone Common internet radio show featured an interview with Ava Chamberlain, the author of The Notorious Elizabeth Tuttle: Marriage Murder and Madness in the Family of Jonathan Edwards.  Elizabeth Tuttle was the daughter of William Tuttle, Symon and Isabel's son, and niece to Dorothy Tuttle, my 8th great grandmother.  You can find a link to the podcast (archived version) of this interview at the Fieldstone Common blog:

http://www.fieldstonecommon.com/show-notes-the-notorious-elizabeth-tuttle-with-ava-chamberlain/

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Amanuensis Monday- John Burnham's Will 1708

John Burnham left a will proved on December 17, 1708.  He was born on 8 April 1671 in Ipswich, Massachusetts and died in October 1708 in Ipswich. He was the son of John Burnham (1648 - 1704) and Elizabeth Wells (1646 - 1731), and was married to Sarah Choate on 13 April 1693 in Ispwich.  Deacon John Burnham is my 8x great grandfather, but I am also descended of his two brothers, Thomas (1693 - 1748) David Burnham (1688 - 1770).  The Burnham family tree is a very tangled genealogy!  He names eight children in this will.

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In the name of God, Amen. I John Burnam, Senr of Chebaco, in Ipswich In the County of Esix In the province of Massachusetts Bay in New England, Yeoman, being att this present time through Gods Goodness of Good understanding and firm and sound in memory and of a Disposing mind tho very weak and infirm of Body, not knowing how soon it may please God to call me hence to my long home.

I Do here by these presents make this to be My last will and Testament. I Committ My Imortall Soull into the mercyfull hand of that Gracious God who gave it and my Body to the Grave and to a Descent Buriall in hopes of a Glorious Ressurection thro Jesus Christ who i trust hath Redeemed my Soul from Death. And as to what Outward of this World God in the Way of his Good providence Bestowed upon me, I give and Bequeath as hereafter followeth.

1. I Do hereby Give & Bequeath as hereafter followeth. John Burnam & Thomas Burnam all my housing & upland & Marsh & Meadow Ground that i do now posess & Enjoy to be Equally Divided Between them Both for Quantity and Quality only my Son John Burnam Shall have my Dwelling house & homestead with the outhouses adjacent which i now inhabit and half of all my Land Lying most Convenient to it as aforesaid & my said son Thomas Burnam Shall have the Dwelling house that lyeth abut Southwest from my now Dwelling house & his half of the said Land to be to him as may be most convenent adjoining thereunto.

2. Also I Give my said two sons all my Quick Stock to be Equally Divid Between them & also my Carpenters tools & untensills husbandry all to be Divid as they Shall agree, or as judicious men Chosen Between them Both Shall Determine. They Equally paying the Legacies & performing the Severall Dutys that be hereafter Mentioned & they Equally to pay all Debts that my be Due from the Estate & Equally to receve all that my be Due to the Estate & my two Said sons John & Thomas Burnam to have their Equall Share of all my Common Rights.

3. I do hereby Give & bequeath unto my well Beloved wife Sarah Burnam all my household Goods & furniteur of Every Room in my House to be att her Dispose among her Chilldren as se may See cause or for her own use. also two Cow & then Sheep, ewes to be provided by my said two Sons Equally and from time to time to be Equally Maintained Both winter & sumer by them for her own proper use Behoff and Benefit also my Said wife shall have the use of one end of my now Dwelling house which She Shall Chuse & what priviledg She may have Occasion for In the Cillar & so as to the Ovens, well & other necessaries & convenenices that she may stand in need of; My said two sons shall Equally provide and maintain a good able horse Sutable for thir mother's use and also to pay her yearly Equally Between them the full sum of Seven pounds In money or in other species as money also they Equally are and shall provide firewood for one fire-room Drawn home and ready cutte fitt for her use and all these severall perticulars shall be continued and performed By my said two sons to my said wife Sarah so long as she remains my widdow.

4. I Give to my Eldest Daughter Sarrah wife of Jacob Brown what she hath allready had which is her portion also i give her ten shillings in, or as money as a token of my Love to be payd Equally by my two sons above named in one year after my Decese.

5. I give and Bequeath to my youngest sons jonathan Burnam & Robert Burnam forty pounds apice In money or other specie as money to be paid to them when they arrive successivley at the age of twenty and one years By my said two sons John & Thomas Burnam Each of them their Equall part which is forty pounds apice.

6. I hereby Give and Bequeath to my three youngest Daughters viz. mary Burnam Elizabeth Burnam & Hannah Burnam Each of them thirty pounds apice in money or other speces as money to be paid to each of them succesfully upon marrage or when they arrive succesfully att the full age of twenty and one years the three said Legacies which amount In the whole to Ninety pounds to be equally paid as abovesaid by my two sons John Burnam & Thomas Burnam.

7. I Do hereby constitute & appoint by trusty and well Beloved freinds Mr. William Thompson & Leutt John Cogswell to be overseers of this my Last will and testament & they to be satisfied for what trouble they are att in sevin herein & in witness that this is my last will and testament I the said John Burnam have thereto Set my hand and seal this seventeenth Day of December Anno Dom one thousand seven hundred & Eight.

JOHN BURNAM Senr.

Signed Sealed as the Last will & testament of the sd Jno Burnam Senior In presents of us three witnesses.
William Thomson
John Cogswell, Junr.
Mathe Rust Sen.

Copia Vera as on record
Expand
Attest Daniel Rogers, Regstr.

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The Burnham Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Burnham,  born 1623 in England, died 19 June 1694 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts; married abt 1643 in Ipswich to Mary Lawrence, daughter of Thomas Lawrence and Joan Antrobus, died on 27 March 1715 in Ipswich.  Fifteen children.  He erected a saw mill on the Chebacco river near the falls, and participated in the Pequot Expedition in 1636 and 1637.

Generation 2: John Burnham, born about 1648, died on 12 January 1704 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 6 June 1668 to Elizabeth Wells, daughter of Thomas Wells and Abigail Warner, born on 31 July 1646 in Ipswich, died on 9 June 1731.  Nine children.  He was the proprietor of a grist mill.

Generation 3: John Burnham, born on 8 April 1671 in Ipswich, died in October 1708 in Ipswich; married on 13 April 1693 in Ipswich to Sarah Choate, daughter of John Choate and Ann Unknown, born about 1672, died in June 1746.  Eleven children including those named in the will above.

See this link http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/two-joan-antrobuses.html for more about Thomas Lawrence and Joan Antrobus

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Two Joan Antrobuses

Joan Antrobus was born about 1592 in St. Albans, England to Joan Arnold and Walter Antrobus. She was married twice, First to Thomas Lawrence (1589 – 1625) on 23 October 1609 and had six children, and she married second to John Tuttle on before 1629.  Joan is the mother of three of my 9x Great Grandparents!

The Tuttles immigrated onboard the Planter, which left London in April 1635 for Boston. There exists an actual transcription of the Planter passenger list which shows that they traveled with her widowed mother (the other Joan Antrobus), John’s widowed mother, four of Joan’s children from her first marriage, four more children from her second marriage, John’s brothers Richard and William with their families, and several servants. Most ships did not keep passenger lists in the 1600s, and if they did, few survived. [ see “The Founders of New England”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 14, page 304 for the passenger list]

Obviously, from this rare record, you can see that this family group was wealthier than the average immigrant family. According to Gary Boyd Roberts and in other books about Americans of royal descent, the Lawrence family descended from nobility including the English Plantagenets. They lived well off here, and prospered with lots and lots of descendents.

Even though she came from a privileged background, I can’t imagine coming to America with all those children in tow! Even with servants and two grandmothers, it must have been an interesting voyage. I’d like to know that Joan lived in Massachusetts long enough to see her grandchildren prosper, but it is thought she went to Northern Ireland, where her husband died on 30 December 1656 in Carrickfergus. She wrote from there about his death to the children in Ipswich on 6 April 1657, but there is no further record of her in Ireland or New England.

This is one of my only ancestors who actually passed through Northern Ireland. Many Scots setters lived there for several generations and eventually many found their way to the New World. During the Great Rebellion of 1641 Carrickfergus was a refuge for Protestants. It was taken by the Scots that year by a General Robert Munro, and remained a Scots city until the restoration of Charles II in 1660.

And what about her mother, Joan Arnold Antrobus? She was baptized on 3 June 1571 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, and she married Walter Antrobus/Anterbus on 8 February 1587. When the planter sailed for Boston she was about 64 years old. There is no further record of her in Massachusetts. I don’t know if she decided to stay in England, died on board the ship on the way, or survived the journey and later died in Massachusetts. Either way, she was a brave woman to consider such a journey in 1635. John’s widowed mother, Isabel Wells Toothill/ Tuttle is thought to have died in 1635 in New Haven Connecticut.

Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Joan Arnold, daughter of John Arnold and Marie Unknown, born before 3 June 1571 in St. Albans, England, died probably in Massachusetts; married on 8 Feburary 1587 to Walter Anterbus, born about 1555, died 5 April 1614 in St. Albans.  Walter married also Barbara Lawrence. Two Children: Joan and William

Generation 2:  Joan Atrobus, born about 1592, died after 29 January 1661 probably in Northern Ireland; married first on 23 October 1609 in St. Albans to Thomas Lawrence (six children including my 9x Great Grandmother Jane Lawrence who married George Giddings on 20 Feb 1634 in St. Albans);  married second on 1627 in St. Albans to John Tuttle ( another six children including my 9x Great Grandfather Simon Tuthill who married Sarah Cogswell about 1663, and also my 9x Great Grandmother Mary Tuttle who married Thomas Burnham in June 1645).

For more information on Joan (Antrobus) (Lawrence) Tuttle see:

The Great Migration Biographical Sketches, by Robert Charles Anderson (available online at the NEHGS website http://www.newenglandancestros.org/ , previously available as a book)

"Focus on the Planter”, Great Migration Newsletter, Volume 15, number 4 – Volume 16. #1, by Robert Charles Anderson, online at http://www.greatmigration.org/

Migrations and the Origins of the English Atlantic World, by Alison Games, Harvard University Press, 2001

A passenger list of the Planter from the Winthrop Society http://www.winthropsociety.com/ships/planter.htm

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

The Illiterate Colonel

Joshua Burnham of Milford, New Hampshire

Last week I blogged about Colonel Joshua Burnham, and the fine mansion house he built in Milford, New Hampshire. His house was later sold to the Hutchinson family. Because of their fame as singers, I’ve been able to find many documents about my ancestor the Colonel. You would think that as a Revolutionary War officer, and as someone wealthy enough to build a large estate, he would have left documents for me, the future genealogist, to uncover. But that is not the case with Joshua Burnham.

In my family tree I can count eleven Joshua Burnhams. The Burnham family goes back in time to the Thomas Burnham who arrived on the “Planter” and he settled in Ipswich. Colonel Joshua Burnham was born in Gloucester, Massachusetts in 1754, and he married Jemima Wyman in 1779. He removed to Milford, New Hampshire as a young man, before the start of the American Revolutionary War.

Colonel Burnham first served as a private in the New Hampshire Militia at Milford, under Captain Josiah Crosby and Colonel James Read. He enlisted in April 1775 (probably at the time of the Lexington alarm) was at the Battle of Bunker Hill. He also served in New York, Philadelphia and Canada, and was discharged after four years, lame in one of his ankles. In 1819 he was issued a veteran’s pension. He signed his name, but other people wrote out his application for him. These records were available through the National Archives, and are not unusual. But there was more about Joshua Burnham that I found later.

I went over to Milford to look in the town library’s genealogy room, to see if there was more information about the Burnham family. Milford isn’t far from Londonderry, and I was able to chat up the librarians and town clerk at the town hall. Everyone told me that the Burnham house was still standing, and the family graveyard was nearby. This was good news! And the library had tons of Hutchinson family information, which turned out to be helpful in my Burnham search.

The land where he built his house was originally his father’s land in 1772. The Colonel Burnham house was originally built as a hotel, on the road to Lyndeborough. His plans for the house may have been influenced by some of the mansion houses he saw down South during the War. The ceilings were 13 feet high and there is a front to back hallway with doors at both the front and back of the house, which is not a traditional New England design. He didn’t have enough money to go into the hotel business, so he sold it to Jesse Hutchinson who finished it as a family home for his large family (sixteen children!) It is still standing on North River Road, privately owned, and is known locally as Colonel Burnham’s Tavern.

Colonel Burnham moved into “a little red house on the hill” for his retirement years. He was a frequent visitor to the Hutchinson homestead, and was offered free access to the apple orchards. According to John Wallace Hutchinson in his book “The Story of the Hutchinsons”: “…this honorable old gentleman would be seen going and coming with his pockets full, and they were pockets! They were like bags, and he could carry almost half a peck in each one. He would come over, fill his pockets, and then trudge along towards home.” The Hutchinson family named one of their sons Joshua in his honor.

The Hutchinson family eventually became quite famous and removed to Lynn, Massachusetts. The old homestead in New Hampshire became a summer retreat. The Hutchinsons were celebrities, and friends of P. T. Barnum, he was invited to the house and General Tom Thumb drove his small coach and ponies “through the front door, which is nearly four feet wide, and then down the wide (twelve foot) hallway in which there is a steamboat staircase.” (from the Milford Town History) This sounds like a typical P. T. Barnum publicity stunt! The Hutchinson family sold the house in 1949.

Also from John Wallace Hutchinson: “In those early days among the pioneers, education was sometimes neglected. The colonel, though passing through seven years of renown as a discreet officer, could not write his own name, and while in business kept his accounts by characters. For instance, having sold cheese to a person, he would make a mark of that portion of cheese that that man received. His funeral was the first that I had ever witnessed, and the impression was depressingly suggestive. He died at the age of ninety-three; and engraved as an epitaph upon his tombstone, were these words composed by Brother Joshua:
“’Soldier of the Revolution, zealous in his country's cause,
Faithful to the constitution and obedient to its laws.’”

Thus I was able to obtain a wonderful portrait of Joshua Burnham, not by his own words, but in the biographies and memoirs of a completely different family- the Hutchinsons.

My Burnham Lineage:

Generation 1: Thomas Burnham, born about 1623 in England; died on 19 June 1694 in the Chebacco Parish, Ipswich, Massachusetts; married in June 1645 to Mary Lawrence, daughter of Thomas Lawrence and Joan Antrobus, died 27 March 1715 in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Generation 2: John Burnham, born about 1648, died 12 January 1703/4 in the Chebacco Parish; married on 6 June 1668 to Elizabeth Wells, daughter of Thomas Wells and Abigail Warner, born 31 July 1646 in Ipswich, died 9 June 1731.

Generation 3: Thomas Burnham, born 30 September 1673 in Ipswich, died 16 December 1748; married on 30 September 1700 in Ipswich to Susannah Boardman, born 1681, died 1748.

Generation 4: Stephen Burnham, born about 1715 in the Chebacco Parish, died about 1790 probably in Milford, New Hampshire; married on 16 August 1735 in Ipswich to Mary Andrews, daughter of Thomas Andrews and Mary Smith, born about 1712 in Ipswich.

Generation 5: Joshua Burnham, born 26 January 1754 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, died 7 June 1835 in Milford; married on 21 January 1779 to Jemima Wyman, daughter of Increase Wyman and Catherine Unknown, born on 10 February 1757 in Billerica, Massachusetts, died on 6 September 1843 in South Boston, Massachusetts.

Generation 6: Jemima Burnham, born 9 May 1783 in Milford, died on 5 August 1868 at 88 Emerson St., South Boston; married on 22 November 1810 in Boston to Romanus Emerson, son of John Emerson and Katherine Eaton, born 1 September 1782 in Townsend, Massachusetts, died 10 October 1852 in South Boston.

From here my lineage follows the Emerson surname…
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For more information:

“Old Houses of Milford” compiled in a notebook for Wadleigh Memorial Library, Milford, New Hampshire

“The Story of the Hutchinsons” by John Wallace Hutchinson, 1896 (see pages 8 – 10 for the information on Colonel Joshua Burnham)

“The History of Milford” by George A. Ramsdell, Rumford Press, Concord, New Hampshire, 1901, page 783
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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

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Update May 18, 2010
A reader sent me the following information "I was researching my ancestor Stephen Clark of Epping New Hampshire, when I came across your story about Col. Burnham, who was in the Revolutionary War. He seems to be the only Col. so I concluded that he was the one you were calling, "Illiterate." I have proof that he wasn't. My copier doesn't scan good enough to be able to e-mail the page that I copied last summer when researching at the DAR library in Washingon, DC.

It is page 242 in the State of New Hampshire "Rolls of the Soldiers in the Revolutionary War 1775-1777." Hammond, editor. 1885
It reads:

"[Winter Hill Companies, December, 1775.]
Col. Burnhams report of the Company's recruited in New Hampshire
To the Hon. the Committee of Safety In the Colony of New Hampshire.
Return of the Companies of New Hampshire Militia in the Continental Army December 1775--"

This is followed by a table listing all the towns by name with the higher ranking officers names from each town and a count of all of the lower ranking officers and soldiers.

This doesn't look like something an illiterate person could have been able to do or been able to put his name on, if he were illiterate and couldn't verify the accuracy of the info himself."