A Visit to Saratoga National Historical Park

 

The Visitor Center for Saratoga National Historic Park

Last month we wandered over to New York state to visit Fort Ticonderoga and the Saratoga National Historic Park.  I had ancestors fight in both locations in the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.  In preparation of the trip I had already researched these ancestors, and I had placed queries with the historians at both parks.  See below for how to contact the historican at Saratoga.

During the American Revolution, in 1777, the British forces tried to separate New England from the southern colonies with a series of attacks in the Champlain and Hudson River Valleys. British, Canadian and German armies met up with the American forces at Saratoga.  There were two important battles here and a three day seige.  Finally British General John Burgoyne was forced to surrender.  It was a pivotal moment in the Revolutionary War, and it was the first ever surrender of the British Army.  The Battles of Saratoga changed the world forever. 

You can begin your visit at the Visitor Center, where I met up with the historian who I had communicated with earlier about my ancestors.  One fought on the American side, and the other was a Hessian soldier (a doctor and surgeon)  the British side. He recommended we take the park map, which led to a ten mile driving audio tour you can follow with an app.  We also watched an orientation film at the Visitor Center, and toured the museum.  

The email I received from the Saratoga National Historical Park Ranger and Military Historian:  "Your ancestor was the Compagnie Feldscher - Company Surgeon - of Captain Julius von Poellnitz's company of the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment von Riedesel. As you say, he served in Burgoyne army in the Northern Campaign of 1777. Given the regiment he served in, he probably cared for the wounded in the aftermath of the Battle of Hubbardton (fought July 7, 1777) and the Battle of Freeman's Farm (fought September 19, 1777)."  Of course, sitting with him and watching him mark up my park map with all the places where my Hessian soldier was quartered, was injured, and where he served in the British hospital and prisoner of war camp was a highlight of the trip.  If your ancestors or relatives were at Saratoga, it is well worth the trip! 

The audio tour can take up to three or four or more hours, especially if you get out at every stop, walk the trails, take photos, and read all the signage and monuments.  There are ten stops on the audio tour inside the National Park. The tour leaves the park and ends a few miles north at Schuylerville, where the surrender site and the Saratoga Monument are located near Victory Woods.  The park is dog friendly, there are picnic sites and restrooms along the way, and also horse and bike trails. There is also a Wilkinson National Recreation Trail through parts of the battlefields and other natural areas. 

A display about the Hessian soldiers who fought at the Battles of Saratoga

Each stop on the audio tour had a three dimensional map and information

The Neilson House, headquarters for Benedict Arnold and Enoch Poor's brigade

A monument to the unknown soldiers at Saratoga Battlefield

A monument to Tadeusz Kosciuszko, Polish officer and military architect at Saratoga 

The famous "Boot Monument" 

Benedict Arnold is not named on this monument at all

Erected 1887 by

JOHN WATTS de PEYSTER

Bev: Maj. Gen: SNY

2nd V. Pres't Saratoga Mon't Ass't'n

In memory of 

the "most brilliant soldier" of the 

Continental Army

who was desperately wounded

on this spot by the sally port of

BURGOYNES GREAT (WESTERN) REDOUBT

7th October 1777

winning for his countrymen

the decisive battle of the American Revolution

and for himself the rank of

Major General

A view of the Hudson River Valley from Bemis Heights, Saratoga National Historical Park

We enjoyed our stay in Saratoga and also saw the Saratoga Spa State Park and toured the Automobile museum.  We ate dinner at the lovely Old Bryan Inn, built in 1773 and probably hosted some of the characters that made the nearby battles so famous.  There are also the historic Saratoga Springs Racetrack and the nearby mineral springs and spas to visit.  

Inside the Old Bryan Inn

For the truly curious:

The official Saratoga National Historical Park website:   https://www.nps.gov/sara/index.htm  

Queries to the historian at Saratoga NHP:  https://www.nps.gov/sara/contacts.htm    

Johann Daniel Bollman, my Hessian ancestor: 

The Boot Monument (Benedict Arnold) at Wikipedia:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boot_Monument

The Olde Bryan Inn:  https://www.oldebryaninn.com/   

Saratoga Spa State Park:    https://parks.ny.gov/visit/state-parks/saratoga-spa-state-park   

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo "A Visit to Saratoga National Historic Park", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 22, 2016, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/a-visit-to-saratoga-national-historical.html: accessed [access date]). 

My Loyalist Ancestors - The Hessian soldier, Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

An exhibit on the German soldiers

Saratoga National Historical Park visitor center

photographed 16 August 2026

This is the first blog post I've written this year about a Loyalist ancestor, for the 250th anniversary of the United States.  Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman was born at Hammersleben, Magdeburg, about 1751 and came to North America with Baron de Riedesel's Brunswick Regiment in 1776.  Magdeburg is on the Elbe river in Germany, in Saxony-Anhalt.  He was my fourth great grandfather, and would have been about 25 years old in 1776.

In January 1776 King George of England contracted with the Duke of Brunswick to send troops to America. These soldiers left Brunswick in February under the newly promoted Major General Friedrich Adolph Riedesel. Sixteen ships traveled across the North Atlantic in six weeks, reaching Quebec City in June.  The Baron de Riedesel's wife and children followed, and arrived in July. They were part of a British plan under General Burgoyne to cut off New England from the other southern colonies. The first big battle of this campaign was at Bennington, Vermont, in August, and was soon followed by the battles at Saratoga, New York in October. The British forces lost both battles, and surrendered at Saratoga on 17 October 1777.  The defeated army was marched to Cambridge (outside of Boston, Massachusetts), including the de Riedesel family and all the captured prisoners of war - German and English.

Johann Daniel Bollman was the compagnie feldscher (company surgeon) under Captain Julius Poellnitz's company of the Braunschweig Infantry Regiment under Major General Von Riedesel.  This was all under Burgoyne's army in the Northern Campaign of 1777.  He was part of the Battles of Saratoga, including the Battle of Freeman's Farm fought on 19 September 1777. 

Dr. Johann Bollman was taken prisoner at Saratoga when he was wounded. As a prisoner he aided wounded British soldiers, and was part of the field hospital set up along banks of the Hudson River below the battlefields.  He was part of the march to Cambridge, and was included in the prisoner exchange when some British troops were sent to Halifax.  Most of the other prisoners, known as the Convention Army, were marched south to Virginia.  Under the terms of the "Convention of Saratoga" it was agreed by truce that the troops would be sent back to Europe and not fight again in the conflict. It is estimated that about 5,000 to 6,000 soldiers were captured at Saratoga (British, German, Canadian and other loyalists).  In Cambridge about 1,300 escaped. Another 600 men escaped during the march to Charlottesville, Virginia later in 1779. They were held there for about four years. 

We know that Dr. Bollman must have been part of the earlier prisoner exchange to Halifax prior to 1779, since he petitioned for compensation for providing medical services in Nova Scotia for the period of 25 November 1779 to 10 March 1780.  He married, Jane Bremner, the widow of German settler Philip Augustus Knaut, in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia on 14 February 1782.  

The Baron Von Riedesel's wife, Frederika Charlotte, kept a journal of her experiences in America. Her writing includes witnessing the Battle of Freeman's Farm on 19 September 1777 in Saratoga.  She describes the battle, and caring for the wounded in the aftermath.  She witnessed the surrender at Schuylerville on 17 October, and traveled with the defeated army to Boston with her children.  She and her family, including the children, were prisoners for four years as part of the Convention Army.  Her letters and journal were pubished in a book in 1800.  Although she never names Dr. Bollman, he must have worked with the Baroness, and seen the same horrific wounds and sights.  It is a valuable book for understanding the battle and the prisoners of war. 

Later in Nova Scotia, Dr. Bollman became active in politics and served as a member of the House of Assembly representing Lunenburg Township from 1793 to 1809.  He was appointed one of the first Health Officers in Nova Scotia on 14 May 1799.  In the Nova Scotia Archives there is another petition of John Bolman to the House of Assembly requesting reimbursement for vaccinating Mi'kmaq in Mahone Bay for small pox in 1817. 

Dr. Bollman also appeared before the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia in 1793.  He was running for office agains Lewis Morris Wilkins. After Dr. Bollman's election was announced, Wilkins and some followers trashed Dr. Bollman's house and apothecary shop in Lunenburg. They destroyed 150 window panes as well as doors and furniture. In the medicine shop over 100 bottles were destroyed. Bollman's lawyer wrote "His said dwelling house was rendered uninhabitable, his family and himself obliged to fly from the same and his business and trade as a Druggist and Apothecary was totaly prevented, stopeped and put to an end so that the said John Bolman being obliged to ship up his said shop the windows thereof and the Drugs and Medicines as aforesaid and divers other wrongs and outrages then and there committed against the peace of our Lord." According to Dr. Bollman, Wilkins called him "that Hessian Bugger".  (see the book Surgeons, Smallpox and the Poor below) 

Johann Daniel Bollman and his wife, Jane, had eleven children born in Lunenburg:

1. Jane, born 1 Jan 1764, married John Pernette

2. John, born 1785, died 16 May 1811 at the Battle of Albuera in Spain

3. Henry, born 1 August 1787, married to Mary (Unknown)

4. Mary, born 25 Noember 1788, died 9 February 1865 in New Dublin, Nova Scotia (unmarried?)

5. Ann, born 22 December 1790, died 21 March 1872 (unmarried?) 

6. Robert, born 1 April 1793, died 8 August 1817 drowned at sea

7. James Bethel, born 26 May 1795, died before 1833

8. Caroline, born 16 May 1797, married Roger Aitkan

9. Edward Bremner, born 23 October 1799, married Sarah Creighton

10. Bremner Frederick (my 3rd great grandfather), born 25 February 1802, married Sarah Elizabeth Lennox and had three children. I descend from from their daughter, Ann Margaret Bollman (1835 - 1923) who married Professor Caleb Rand Bill of Nictaux, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia and they removed to Salem, Massachusetts (my great, great grandparents). 

11. Charles Morris, born 23 December 1805, married Clara Collins

In the records of the Anglican church in Lunenburg you can find the deaths of Johann Bollman and his wife.  He died on 17 September 1833 and she preceded him on 6 March 1829.  There doesn't seem to be a tombstone for either one of them in the local cemeteries. He served as a doctor in Lunenburg for 54 years. 

For the truly curious:

"Surname Saturday ~ BOLLMAN, my Hessian Ancestor", posted 1 March 2014:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/surname-saturday-bollman-my-hessian.html    

"The Hessian soldier who stayed in the New World", posted 19 November 2009:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-mayflowers-part-4.html   

Frederika Charlotte Riedesel,  Letters and Journals relating to the War of the American Revolution, and the Capture of the German Troops at Saratoga, by Mrs. General Riedesel. Translated by  William L. Stone, published at Albany 1867.  Available to read and download at Google Books online. 

The Hessians of Nova Scotia, 1994, compiled by Johannes Helmut Merz.  

The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz, 1965, University of Michigan, see page 111 for references to Dr. Johann Bollman. 

Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799,  By Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pages 160- 161 for references to Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman. 

A Directory of the Members of the Legislative Assembly of Nova Scotia, 1758 - 1958, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 1958. 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Loyalist Ancestors - The Hessian soldier, Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 1, 2016, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/09/my-loyalist-ancestors-hessian-soldier.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ FINCK of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

The waterfront of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, seen from the sloop Eastern Star in the harbor

Last week I wrote a post about my ancestors, the SCHUPP family of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia.  In this post I wrote how the early Germans setters were foreign Protestants brought in by the British to repopulate Nova Scotia in the wake of the expulsion of the Acadians.  You should read that post for background information on the history of these German families.  Click HERE.

The immigrant ancestor of the FINCK family in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia was Christian FINCK.  He was a smith from Wurtenburg in Germany, and he arrived with the foreign Protestants on board the ship Gale on 12 June 1751, which sailed from Rotterdam to Halifax, Nova Scotia.   He was granted land B-40 in the NW Range in Lunenburg, and he was listed on the 1755 victualing list as FINK under the names Christian, Maria, Margaret, Anna, Catherine, and Frederick.

Christian Finck’s will was sealed on 17 October 1779.  It stated that his burial was to be arranged by his son Frederick, and that his son shall keep his mother, Anna Maria and “allow her to stay and upkeep all her natural life”.  It also named his daughters by their married names.

Christian Finck’s daughter Anna Margareta married Johan Justinias Schupe, the son of settlers Richart and Apollina Schupp.  His grand daughter, Anna Margareta Schupp, married a Scots Immgrant, John Lennox.  His great grand daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, married Bremner Frederick Bollman, the son of a Hessian soldier of the American Revolutionary War.  These three German surnames highlighted in red are the only known German surnames in my family tree.

My Finck genealogy:

Generation 1:   Christian Finck, born about 1711 in Wurtenburg, Germany, died 19 July 1784 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; married to Anna Maria Unknown.  She was born about 1713 in Germany and died 13 September 1794 in Lunenburg.  Five children.

Generation 2: Anna Margareta Finck, born about 1749, died 5 May 1801 in Lunenburg; married on 1 November 1763 at Saint John’s Anglican Church, Lunenburg to Johan Justinas Schupe, son of Richart Schupp and Apollina Unknown.  He was born about 1746 in Litrelinden, Wielbourg, Germany and died about 1813 in Nova Scotia.  Eleven children.

Generation 3:  Ann Margaretha Schupp m. John Lennox

Generation 4: Sarah Elizabeth Lennox m. Bremner Frederick Bollman

Generation 5: Ann Margaret Bollman m. Caleb Rand Bill

Generation 6: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 7: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/03/surname-saturday-finck-of-lunenburg.html 

Copyright ©2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ LENNOX of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

The Lennox Inn, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

The Lunenburg, Nova Scotia death records list John Lennox as “of Stirling, Scotland, innkeeper, died on 1 October 1817 at 54y.”  In researching my 4^th great grandfather, John Lennox, I was surprised to learn that his inn at 69 Fox Street in Lunenburg was still standing, and still operating as a bed and breakfast.  It is the oldest operating inn in Canada.  In 2007 we planned a genealogical family vacation to Nova Scotia, and the first place we wanted to book was a few nights at the Lennox Inn.

John Lennox married Ann Margaretha Schupp, the daughter of German immigrants to Lunenburg, in the St. John Anglican church, just a few houses away from his inn.  He had six children.  They lived in a smaller house on Fox Street across the street from the inn.

St. John's Anglican Church
where John Lennox married Ann Margaretha Schupp

The house where the Lennox family lived
across the street from the inn

In his 1817 will, John Lennox, innkeeper, named his wife, son William and daughters Anna Barbara  Chamberlain, Isabella Lennox, Sarah Lennox and Lucy Lennox.   This will and the inventory of his estate were valuable resources for the restoration of this colonial building. During the restoration the owner found John Lennox’s signature on a beam, and an order from Halifax for a list of rums and wines.  The modern day “innkeeper”, Bob Cram, showed me these things on our tour of the Inn.  It was a wonderful experience to sleep in my ancestor’s tavern!

His daughter, Sarah, married Bremner Frederick Bollman, the son of the town doctor,  and they named their daughter, my great great grandmother, Ann Margaret “Annie”, after her mother. Annie and her husband, the music professor Caleb Rand Bill, removed to Salem, Massachusetts.

My Lennox genealogy:

Generation 1: John Lennox, born about 1765 in Stirling, Scotland, died 1 October 1817 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia; married on 19 March 1797 in Saint John’s Anglican Church in Lunenburg to Ann Margaretha Schupp.  She was the daughter of Johan Justinas Schupe and Anna Margareta Finck, born 18 September 1773 in Lunenburg. They had six children.

Generation 2: Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg; married first to Martin Ernst and had one child; married second to Bremner Frederick Bollman, son of Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman and Jane Bremner.  They had three children.

Generation 3:  Ann Margaret Bollman m. Caleb Rand Bill

Generation 4: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 5: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For more information:

The Lennox House (built by John Lennox, innkeeper and across the street from his inn, on the corner near the St. John Anglican Church in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia) http://www.edmundbrownless2.de/lennoxhouse.html

The Lennox Inn, 69 Fox Street, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia   http://www.lennoxinn.com/

My blog post about the Lennox Inn:

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/john-lennox-innkeeper-at-lunenburg-nova.html

A 2013 blog post by Jean Knowles, about the Lennox Inn:

http://easternedgephotog.blogspot.ca/2013/01/an-eighteenth-century-inn.html?spref=fb

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The URL for this post is:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/surname-saturday-lennox-of-lunenburg.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ BOLLMAN, my Hessian Ancestor

BOLLMAN

Johann Daniel Bollman was born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany.  I do not know his parentage, and I have not found his exact date of birth.  In 1776 he arrived in North America with Baron de Riesdesel’s Brunswick Regiment of Hessian soldiers to fight in the Revolutionary War.  They left Germany in February and arrived in Portsmouth, England on 18 March 1776.  It took six weeks to cross the Atlantic and landed in Quebec. 

This regiment was brought to Canada to save it from the Revolutionary War by cutting off New England from southern colonies and driving them to surrender.  They were at the Battle of Bennington in August of 1777 where 200 Hessians were killed and 700 were captured.  In September they lost the Battle of Saratoga, and my ancestor, Johann Daniel Bollman, was captured.  Luckily, he was a valuable hostage, since he was an officer and the surgeon of his regiment.  He was exchanged quickly, and the rest of the prisoners of war were marched to Massachusetts.

The prisoners who were exchanged were sent to Halifax, Nova Scotia.  I have found Dr. Bollman’s petition asking for compensation for providing medical services to the prisoners between 25 November 1779 and 10 March 1780.   He eventually settled in Lunenburg, a mostly German settlement not far from Halifax, where he lived for 54 years.  He married Jane Bremner, widow of settler Philip Knaut.

Dr. Bollman was active in politics and represented Lunenburg in the House of Assembly from 1783 to 1809.  He was appointed a health officer on 14 May 1799.  Besides his civic duty records, I also found many mentions of him in The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz.  Apparently he had a lawsuit against another German doctor in town, Joseph Falt and it was recorded in this diary.  Adolphus Gaetz was a Lunenburg businessman who wrote a diary form 1855 – 1873, and this manuscript is in the Lunenburg County documents of the Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management (www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm) 

There was another incident in the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia involving Lewis Morris Wilkins.  Dr. Bollman ran against Wilkins in the provincial elections of 1793 and won.  Wilkins and for other residents vandalized his house and apothecary shop breaking 150 window panes, furniture, doors and over 100 medicine bottles.  Bollman’s lawyer wrote “His said dwelling house was rendered uninhabitable, his family and himself being obliged to fly from the same and his business and trade as a Druggist and Apothecary was totally prevented, stopped and put to an end so that the said John Bolman beign obliged to shut up his said shop the windows thereof and the Drugs and Medicines as aforesaid and divers other wrongs and outrages then and there committed against the peace of our Lord. “ [Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799,  By Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal, pages 160- 161.]

Another excerpt from Johnny Bluenose at the Polls, by Brian Cuthbertson, Formac Publishing, Halifax, 1994, page 166:

"Among the few Loyalists who came to Lunenburg was the former surgeon in General de Riesdesal's Hessian Regiment.  A native of Mageburg in Germany, John Bolman married the widow of Phillip Knaut shortly after arriving in the township where he soon rose to social prominence.  Another Loyalist was Lewis Morris Wilkins, the son of Isaac and the Shelburne Loyalist elected to the Assembly in 1785. Before the American War Lewis had gone to King's College (later Columbia University) in New York.  He had likely studied law with his uncle in Shelburne before deciding to practise his profession in Lunenburg. It was a wise decision because there was not to be another lawyer in Lunenburg for many years; he was able to develop an extensive practice not only there, but also increasingly in Halifax and Pictou.  Wollenhaupt declined to reoffer. Both Wilkins and Bolman seized the opportunity to run for the single township seat. Bolman was nearly twice the age of the youthful Wilkins and this was likely in his favour, though Bolman did not win by a large margin, the vote being 164 to 123."

Dr. Bollman had eleven children.  I descend from his second youngest son, Bremner Frederick Bollman, born in 1802.  I found records for these families in the Anglican and Presbyterian church records in Lunenburg.  One of Dr. Bollman’s sons was named “Henry”, and there was another Hessian soldier named Henrich Bollman who settled in Trois Rivieres, Quebec but I do not know if they were kin.  Another son, John, b. 1785, was killed in the Battle of Albuera in Spain in 1811. 

For researching this family, the Lunenburg town records and the books mentioned above were invaluable.  For more information on the Hessian soldiers and Baron de Risedesel's Brunswick regiment was found in the journals of the Johannes Schwalb Society.  http://www.jsha.org/ 

My BOLLMAN genealogy:

Generation 1: Johann Daniel Bollman, born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany and died 17 September 1833 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada;  married on 14 February 1782 in Lunenburg to Jane Bremner, the daughter of Robert Bremner and Margaret Stewart, Scots immigrants to Nova Scotia.  Eleven children.

Generation 2:  Bremner Frederick Bollman born 25 February 1802 in Lunenburg, died 15 December 1838 in Lunenburg; married Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, daughter of John Lennox and Ann Margaretha Schupp.  She was born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg.  Three children.

Generation 3:  Ann Margaret Bollman, born 11 September 1835 in Lunenburg, died 1923 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 in Lunenburg to Caleb Rand Bill, son of Ingraham Ebenezer Bill and Isabella Lyons.  He was born 30 May 1833 in Nictaux, Nova Scotia and died 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts.  Nine children.

Generation 4: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 5: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-bollman-my-hessian.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday- Wilkinson

Janet and Donald M. Wilkinson
(my great aunt and grandfather)

After blogging for more than two years, I finally decided to try participating in the Surname Saturday meme.  I usually don’t blog on weekends, but thanks to the magic of blogger, I can post this ahead of time.  Yes, it took me two years to learn how to do this!  Don’t laugh.  I'll be working my way through the family tree, tracing each surname in order. 

WILKINSON (my maiden name)

The first recorded Wilkinson in my line is Thomas Wilkinson.  He appears in the Portsmouth, New Hampshire records as marrying Elizabeth Caverly in August 1715.   The record reads “Tho. Wilkinson of London in Great Britain and Elizabeth Caverly of Portsmouth were married August 1715”.  From this I can see that he was probably an immigrant, with no other Wilkinsons before him in New England.  However, there were other Wilkinsons living nearby, including a Samuel Wilkinson born about 1722 who was living in Deerfield (a son? A cousin?) and a Wilkinson in New Castle (an island off Portsmouth), where his brother in law Moses Caverly lived.    These are important clues I continue to research, since all the New Hampshire/Maine Wilkinsons lived in close proximity and had similar naming patterns for their children.

Thomas Wilkinson was taxed for land in Barrington, New Hampshire in 1722, and in Portsmouth in 1727.  He was last taxed in 1732.  He died sometime before 1736 when his son is listed as “William Wilkinson, son of Elizabeth,  Oct. 17, 1736" (Records of the South Church of Portsmouth, New Hampshire).  His wife remarried to Phillip Jewel on 27 November 1739.

Generation 1.  Thomas Wilkinson, born about 1690, probably in London, England, died before 1739; married in August 1715 to Elizabeth Caverly, daughter of William Caverly and Mary Abbott.  Two known sons:  James and William (no further information). There were probably more children.

Generation 2.  James Wilkinson, born about 1730, died between 1796 and 1805 in Berwick, York County, Maine; married about 1753 to Hannah Mead, daughter of Thomas Mead and Hannah Stilson, born 9 August 1730 in Wakefield, New Hampshire, died before 1759.  Seven children.

                1. William, married Mercy Nason (my 4x great grandparents)

                2. James G., born 31 December 1753 in Newington, New Hampshire; married Mary

                3. Anna, born 16 June 1755 in Newington, New Hampshire; married Samuel Hearle

                4. Joseph, baptized 8 May 1757 in Berwick, Maine; married Dorcas Nason

                5. George, born about 1761; married Mehitable Whitehouse

                6. Samuel, born about 1761; married Hannah Turner

                7. Daniel, born about 1764; married Hannah Weymouth

Generation 3.  William Wilkinson, died after 1840; married on 7 February 1788 in South Berwick, Maine to Mercy Nason, daughter of Richard Nason and Mary Thompson, born about 1764 in Kittery, Maine. Three children.

                1. Willliam H., born about 1797, married Mary Lord

                2. George,  born about 1800, married Jane Furbish

                3. Aaron, born 22 February 1802, married Mercy F. Wilson (my 3x great grandparents)

Generation 4.  Aaron Wilkinson, born 22 February 1802 in South Berwick, Maine, died 25 November 1879 in Peabody, Massachusetts; married on 23 June 1829 in Danvers, Massachusetts to Mercy F. Wilson, daughter of Robert Wilson and Mary Southwick, born 17 June 1803 in Danvers, died 9 October 1883 in Peabody.  Eleven children.

                1. Robert Wilson, born 26 May 1830, married Phebe Cross Munroe

                2. George Washington,  born 10 February 1832; married Sally Richardson

                3. William Prescott, born 3 May 1833; married Sarah Ellen Proctor

                4. Samuel Warren, born 14 November 1835, died 28 November 1836

                5. Samuel Warren, born 15 November 1837, died 23 September 1844

                6. Henry Harrison, born 28 January 1841, died 4 Feb 1842

                7. Henry Harrison, born 30 May 1843, died 13 June 1917

                8. Margaret, born about Oct. 1844, died 4 September 1845

                9. Mary Elizabeth, born 1 Oct 1844, died 4 September 1845

                10. Abba, born about June 1846, died 23 December 1846

                11. Abby Wilson, born 17 June 1846, died 17 June 1846

Generation 5.  Robert Wilson Wilkinson, born 26 May 1830 in Salem, Massachusetts, died 23 March 1874; married on 24 November 1853 to Phebe Cross Munroe, daughter of Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint, born 28 October 1830 in Danvers, died 31 January 1895 in Salem, Massachusetts.  Three children.

                1. Robert Henry, born 14 January 1855; married Eliza Harris Poor

                2. Walter, born 3 November 1856, died 2 April 1858

                3. Albert Munroe, born 7 November 1860; married Isabella Lyons Bill (my great grandparents)

Generation 6. Albert Munroe Wilkinson, born 7 November 1860 in Danvers, died 12 May 1908 at the Corey Hill Hospital, Brookline, Massachusetts; married on 18 October 1894 to Isabella Lyons Bill, daughter of Caleb Rand Bill and Ann Margaret Bollman, born January 1863 in Machias, Maine, died 19 January 1935 in Beverly, Massachusetts.  Two children.

                1. Donald Munroe, born 23 October 1895; married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

                2. Janet, born 14 June 1898; married William John Blades

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Wilkinson", Nutfield Genealogy, posted 24 September 2011, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/09/surname-saturday-wilkinson.html: accessed [access date]). 

Amanuensis Monday- Reverend I. E. Bill’s Memoirs

Ten years ago a distant cousin sent me a photo copy of Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill’s memoirs. He was my 3x great grandfather, who had a grade school education, never attended Divinity School, yet became a Baptist preacher who spoke all over Canada, the Eastern United States and England. The original journal is in the archives at Acadia University in Wolfeville, Nova Scotia. He was part of the original committee of Baptist ministers who founded Acadia College in 1839, and they later granted Rev. Bill an honorary doctorate. I’ve transcribed his memoirs, and will post in several parts over the next few Amanuensis Mondays.

a photograph of Reverend I. E. Bill
from the Bill Genealogy by Harry Bill

 Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, son of Asahel Bill and Mary Rand, born 19 February 1805 at Billtown, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, died on 4 August 1891 at St. Martin’s, New Brunswick; married on 20 April 1826 to Isabella Lyons, daughter of Thomas Ratchford Lyons and Ann Skinner. Five children born in Billtown.

Children:
1. Asahel Bill, born 14 May 1827 and died 20 July 1848 shortly after graduating from Acadia College.
2. Mary Anne Bill, born 27 April 1829, died 17 November 1865; married on 14 September 1851 to Thomas McHenry
3. Edward Manning Bill, born 27 March 1831, died on 18 December 1904 in Boston, Massachusetts; married on 6 June 1857 to Charlotte Grace in Australia. Please see my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/missionary-to-new-zealand.html for more information on E. M. Bill, who lived for a while in Australia.
4. Caleb Rand Bill, born 30 May 1833, died on 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 to Ann Margaret Bollman in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Please see my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/bill-family-reunion.html for more information on Caleb R. Bill, my 2x great grandfather, the music professor at Salem, Massachusetts.
5. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, Jr., born 8 April 1836, died after 1887; married on 23 November 1871 to Eleanor Pike in Maidstone, Kent, England.

See my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/tracing-your-minister-ancestors.html for more information on the Bill family lineage.

For my BILL lineage, see this link:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-satruday-bill-of-boston.html  

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"A Personal Sketch

By the Reverend I. E. Bill

Having been mercifully preserved amid manifold dangers and temptations by sea by land, at home and abroad, for more than half a century in the ministry of the gospel of the blessed Lord, it is deeply pressed upon my soul as a solemn duty which I owe to my covenant God and Father to record his wondrous goodness and rich grace as made manifest in what I have seen, heard and experienced during these years of protracted ministerial service. Not indeed that self may be exalted but that Christ the Saviour may be glorified and his church benefit. A few paragraphs regarding my ancestry will not be inappropriate.

In a history of the Bill Family edited by Mr. Ledyard Bill of Connecticut and published in 1869, I find the Bill ancestry traced back to 1490. The first name in the list is Dr. Thomas Bill, a physician of great eminence, and an attendant of the Princess Elisabeth in 1549. He took the degree of M. D. at the celebrated university founded by the Emperor Charlemagne at Paria in Italy. He was one of the physicians to Henry VIII and Edward the VI and from these sovereigns received distinguished honors.

William Bill L.L.D was another distinguished name in the annals of Britain. He was born in Hartfordshire England about 1505. Subsequently as a literary man he was elevated to very high positions one of which was master of St. John’s College and soon after he became vice chancellor of the university. In 1551 he was appointed Master of Trinity College, and became one of the Kings Sir Chaplains. He had with many others high in office to suffer bitter persecution under the cruel reign of Mary and was compelled to go into retirement for safety, but on the secession of Queen Elisabeth he was restored to his former honors and became Fellow to the famed Eton College. He was also appointed a member of the Royal Ecclesiastical Commission, consisting of the distinguished Bishop Cramer and others, to revise the calendar of sermons and homilies to be used in the church service throughout the year. On the 15th of June 1560 he was installed Dean of West Minster being the first incumbent of that office.

He died on the 15 of July 1561, and was interred on the 20th of that month in the Chapel of St. Benedict in Westminster Abbey where there is an altar tomb having thereon a brass with an outline portrait of the deceased with an inscription round the verge noting the honors conferred upon this eminent man. It seems that no other person ever held at the same time the three important positions of Master of Trinity, Provost of Eaton and Dean of Westminster.

Having thus briefly noted two prominent members of English ancestry we ?? on to say that the first mention of any of the Bill family in America is found in the ancient records of the town of Boston, where says Ledyard Bill in his history, we read John Bill died Nov 10 1638. The writer of the history assumes for good reasons that John Bill and his wife arrived in the New World prior to 1635. They had sons and daughters, who in their turn married, multiplied and passed into other generations. These are very sketched by the author of the history giving names, dates, marriages, births, callings, positions, professions, offices, residences, purchases, sales, deeds, and deaths ?? of our relatives in America for eight generations.

Before proceeding with our own parentage justice demands that we should make a panning reference to our cousins, whose ancestors adopted the teachings of the American revolution and who pledged their fortunes and their lives to the cause of freedom from what they regarded as British tyranny of the darkest shade, many of these were men of high ???, of bold adventure and of brave instincts they believed they were right and rushed with others to the mighty conflict determined to conquer or to die. We have the result; a nation was born that is now mighty in its numerical strength, boundless in its resources of material wealth. Rich in its political institutions, enriched in its agencies for mental and religious cultures, and filled with the treasures of learning and of a God given Christianity. A nation whose ships traverse very sea, and whose commerce extends to all the towns and cities of the world. A nation that has given birth to intellectual giants in all realms of thought, invention and progress, and whose statesmen, generals, poets, orators, theologians, ministers and missionaries take rank with the greatest and the best of nations.

We have seen that the Bill family was of British origin, and that English blood courses in the veins of its numerous generations, but what is America to day in all its high and noble instincts, but the expansion and growth of British blood, language, energy, ???, education, intelligence, freedom, and Christianity on this broad American continent. It is the daughter of the grand old mother struggling by her side for the diffusion of light, liberty and salvation among all nations, peoples, and ?? for the ushering in of that age of gold when the knowledge of the glory of God shall fill the whole earth. We have therefore no political quarrels with our cousins across the lines, but heartily offer the prayer God bless them and their nation and prosper them in every good word and work!..."

This is part one of his memoir
For part two, posted on 25 October 2010, click this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuensis-monday-more-from-rev-bills.html

For part three, posted on 1 November 2010, click this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/11/amanuensis-monday-more-from-rev-i-e.html

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Amanuensis Monday- Reverend I. E. Bill’s Memoirs", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 18, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuensis-monday-reverend-i-e-bills.html: accessed [access date]). 

Amanuensis Monday- Lines from a Diary

Dr. Bolman's House in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

from the Diary of Adolphus Gaetz, page 41

June 1858 Monday 7th- "Married at 12 o'clock noon, at the house of Mrs. Trider, under whose care the Bride had been brought up, Mr. C. R. Bill, formerly at teacher of vocal music in this place, to Miss Annie Bolman, daughter of the late Bremner Bolman. At 2 o'clock the married couple started on their way to New Brunswick, they were escorted as far as Mahone Bay by several young men and maidens who had been at the wedding. The above were married by the father of the Groom, Rev'd I. E. Bill, baptist preacher, at St. John, New Brunswick, who came here for the purpose."

In 2007 I went to Lunenburg, Nova Scotia for the first time, to see where my ancestors lived. The Bolman family of Lunenburg is descended from Dr. Johann Daniel Bolman, a Hessian surgeon captured at the Battle of Saratoga, and never returned to Germany. He settled in Lunenburg, married a widow of German descent, and entered Nova Scotia politics.
A published copy of Adolphus Gaetz's diary was in my room at the Lennox Inn, the Lunenburg B&B where I stayed (owned and operated by another ancestor, John Lennox, in the early 1800s). As soon as I picked up the book and perused the names inside, I noted this passage mentioned my great great grandparents, Annie Bolman and Caleb Rand Bill. She was the granddaughter of Dr. Bolman.

An advertisement from Salem, Massachusetts

for a photography studio to restore old photos

The couple depicted is Annie and Caleb Bill

When I returned home from Nova Scotia I found another copy of Gaetz's diary at the New England Historic Genealogical Society library in Boston. Only a snippet view is available on line at Google Books, but it is also in the card catalog at Ancestry.com and can be read or browsed online. The diary is full of references to Lunenburg families, and other goings on in Nova Scotia. Adolphus Gaetz wrote his diary from 1855 to 1873. He noted births, deaths, marriages, politics and other historical events in great detail. It is surprisingly easy and fun to read, as well as a wonderful genealogical treasure trove. I was able to find many references to ancestors in 19th century Lunenburg.

Adolphus Gaetz was born 13 May 1804 in Werheim, Germany, and immigrated to Lunenburg in 1832. He had a dry goods shop, was registrar of probate and county treasurer. He married Lucy Dorothea Zwicker in 1834, the granddaughter of German immigrant to Nova Scotia Johann Peter Zwicker. He died on 12 April 1873.

Sources for Adolphus Gaetz’s Diary:

The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz, edited by Charles Bruce Ferguson, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Public Archives of Nova Scotia, 1965

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canns/lunenburg/gaetz.html website listing deaths mentioned in Adolphus Gaetz’s diary

Ancestry.com. The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2008. Original data: Fergusson, Charles B.. The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz. Halifax, N. S.: 1965.

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Amanuenis Monday- Professor Bill in the Google Book Search

My 2x great grandfather, Caleb Rand Bill, was born on 30 May 1833 in Nictaux, Nova Scotia and died on 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts. He married Ann Margaret Bollman in 1858 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, and had nine children. I don’t know all the different places he lived in his life, but his children were born at New Brunswick, Maine, Nova Scotia, Watertown and Beverly, Massachusetts. These were some of the places where he taught as a music professor. He was quite well known as a music teacher, but I didn’t know how well until I found these tidbits in the Google Book Search!

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The New York Daily Tribune, Tuesday July 16, 1889, Page 7, column 5

TEACHERS TAUGHT AT ASBURY PARK.
INSTRUCTORS AND SUBJECTS AT THE COMING SCHOOL OF PEDAGOGY.

Asbury Park, July 15 (Special).- The Summer School of Pedagogy, which has become famous in the last, two years, began Its annual session in Educational Hall today. Among those present are teachers from all parts of the country. The arrangements for the school are upon a liberal scale. There will be lectures by Professor James M. Green, the principal of the New-Jersey State Normal School a t Trenton, on physiology. Professor William M. Griffin, principal of one of the grammar schools of Newark, will lecture upon arithmetic. Professor P. E. Demarest, the principal of one of the grammar schools of Long Island City, is the lecturer on natural history. The programme of the school shows many prominent people in educational circles as lecturers. Dr. Jerome Allen, Editor of "The School Journal,'' New-York, will deliver a course of lectures to the school on the history of educational thought Professor William N. Barringer, Superintendent of Public Instruction. Newark, will lecture on pedagogy. P. E. Demarest will also deliver a course of lectures on botany. The languages will be taught by A. S. Kelly, principal of the Lyman School, Boston, and A. B. Guilford, principal of a Jersey City grammar school. Edwin Shepard, of Newark, will lecture on history. J. S- Cooley, of Windsor Locks, Conn., will teach writing, and Professor C. R. Bill, of Boston, will lecture on music. Dr. E. P. Heff, of Newark, will deliver a series of lectures on physiology, and Stephen S. Day, principal of a Newark grammar school, will lecture on mlscroscopy. Elocution will be taught by Miss Minnie Swayzee, of New-York. A course in woodcarving will be given by Miss Laura L. Thompson, of Jersey City. Professor L. H. Thompson, of Jersey City, will deliver a course on drawing and manual training, and physical training will be taught by Miss M. E. Hampton, of Plainfield.

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History of Public School Music in the United States, by Edward Bailey Birge, Oliver Ditson Co, 1928, page 134

“The first summer school exclusively for school music training was held in 1884 at Lexington, Massachusetts, under Hosea E. Holt. Then in 1886 the National Summer School of Music was started in Boston with the following faculty: - Luther Whiting Mason, N. Lincoln, C. R. Bill, George A. Veazie, O. B. Brown, S. H. Hadley, J. B. Sharland, Henry G. Carey and Leonard B. Marshall.”

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National Education Association of the United States, Journal of Proceedings and Addresses, Session of the Year 1894 Held at Asbury Park, New Jersey, Published by the Association, St. Paul, 1895, page 925

Department of Music Education
Secretary’s Minutes
First Session – Thursday, July 12, 1894
“….The discussion was opened by A. J. Gantvoort, Piqua, Ohio, who was followed by C. C. Congdon, St. Paul, Minn.; J. C. Broekhoven, Cincinnati, Ohio; C. R. Bill, Salem, Mass.; and W. S. Twichell, Paterson, N. J…”

Page 956
Discussion
“Mr. C. R. Bill, Salem, Mass., put special emphasis on the fact that music is no longer taught as it was years ago, but is conducted, in the main, by the regular teacher under intelligent supervision. The whole question of teaching music must be considered from an educational point of view.”

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Municipal Register of the City of Waterbury, Connecticut for the year 1895, Press of C. & M. T. Maloney, 1896, Page 23

Public School Report
“Report of the Teacher of Music
To M.S. Crosby, Superintendent of Schools:

There are two agencies at work in the schools in connection with musical instruction, viz, the director of music and the regular teachers.

It is the duty of the director to visit the schools at regular intervals as time will permit, to plan and lay out a systematic course of instruction for the teachers, and to give lessons regularly to each class in the presence of the teacher. The last named is a very important feature of the direction, because it is here that the regular teacher, who is not supposed to be a music teacher, learns not only what, but how to present musical instruction to the pupils, and it is for this reason that the director of music is very earnest in his desire that the undivided attention of the regular teacher should be given to his work while he is in the room. I am glad to be able to say that such attention is given, and that there is scarcely an exception to this desirable attitude on the part of the regular teachers, and not only is this the case, but what is more gratifying there is an earnest desire on the part of teachers to follow out the directions of the supervisor, and to know just how they may become most useful in connection with music.

The general progress of the schools in music during the past year has been marked. Progress in music as in other things depends largely on conditions. Especially is this true when considered in connection with the order and discipline of the school. If, when the music teacher enters the room, he find the normal condition one of attention and respectful submission to what is required on the part of the pupils, good results are sure to follow his efforts. If, on the other hand he finds a widely different condition of affairs, his efforts will not be attended with that success which is desirable. Hence, the widely accepted principle that good order and attention must be the grand fundamental basis of the teacher’s operation in the school room.

I may mention as prominent in this connection, which is everywhere apparent in the schools, the increasing interest of pupils in the subject of music.

The object of music study in the schools is not only to acquire a knowledge of the principles of music, but to acquire it in such way that an ever increasing taste and love for that which is best in music will be formed. The heartiness with which the scholars take up - as a general rule – their work in music, is in evidence that they are developing a love for it which will increase with their knowledge of the subject, and with their intelligence in musical interpretation.

Here I may say that the original programme of instruction suggested by the director for the various grades is being carried out with good results in the first grades. The little are introduced to the study of music through rote songs suited to their capacity and age. They also study the scale, together with the steps of the scale, and tones arranged in rhythmical form, and commence notation, which means the use of the staff notes, etc. In the second grade the same ideas is continued in a more extended form, and the larger portion of the time is give to note and not rote singing. In the third grade the instruction begins to be more technical, and good work in sight singing may be looked for. Part singing is introduced in the fourth grades. Part singing is established as the regular order, chromatics and studies of the various keys. The subject of time is given very careful attention, the pupils being required to mark and keep their own time.

In the fifth grade studies in the various keys continued, more difficult rhythms, chromatics and modulation, and two part singing in all keys. In the sixth grade the harmonic relation of sounds is taken up.

Three part singing is commenced, chromatics, modulation and minor keys are considered. It is expected that pupils of this grade, as also of the fifth and fourth, will be able to sing two and three part songs of ordinary difficulty at sight.

In the seventh and eighth grades the work of the sixth grade is continued and developed, with practical work in three and four part singing.

The development and progress of music in the High school is dependent largely upon the work of the lower schools. There is already a marked improvement in this school, and as soon as the High school is composed of scholars, all of whom have had musical training in the grammar schools, music will assume a commanding and gratifying position there. In all of the grades the charts and books of the National music course are in use, and as the songs contained in that course are of the best authors of school music, much good in every way may be expected from their use.

Respectfully submitted,

C. R. Bill, Director of Music
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Municipal Documents of the city of Beverly, Massachusetts, 1907

Page 416 - 417
“…In 1873, a special teacher of music, C. R. Bill, was employed. He also taught music to the lower schools….In 1884, music was again introduced under the former instructor, C. R. Bill, and free textbooks were first provided.”
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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

George Peabody Merit Scholarship Medals

1879 set of Dickens inscribed by the Peabody Scholarship Committee

Sometimes I Google the names of ancestors and wait to see what happens next. I usually know their vital statistics, such as birth, marriage or death records, and I often know their children, or their parent’s names. However, I want to know the stories that might come up in obscure books or newspapers, or their mentions in town records, annual reports, and church bulletins. You never know what you’ll find.

Imagine my surprise when I found the name of my great grandfather on a list of George Peabody Merit Scholarships recipients in the 1879 graduating class of Peabody High School. George Peabody was a famous resident of Massachusetts, and when South Danvers broke off from Danvers, the citizens named their new town after him- Peabody, Massachusetts.

George Peabody (1795 – 1869) was an entrepreneur and a philanthropist. In 1851 he found a company called “George Peabody and Company”, and later went into business with Junius Spencer Morgan to form “Peabody, Morgan and Company.” Peabody retired in 1864, and firm was renamed “J. S. Morgan” and later “J.P. Morgan” after his son. The international bank JPMorgan Chase traces its roots back to Peabody’s original business. Peabody was the only American ever buried inside Winchester Cathedral in London. He was later re-interred at the Harmony Grove Cemetery in Salem, Massachusetts. One of his philanthropic ventures was this lasting Scholarship, which is still awarded by the city of Peabody, Massachusetts.

I found a website by the Peabody Public Schools that lists each group of Peabody Scholars. Apparently the first award was in 1855. Albert Munroe Wilkinson, my great grandfather, won the award in 1879. Albert’s elder brother, Robert Henry, was also a recipient in 1873. Robert’s future wife, Eliza Harris Poor, won the scholarship in 1871. In 1885, a cousin named Rosetta Mary Munroe won the medal. Another distant cousin, Alice Hubbard Munroe, won in 1913 and her brother Allan Breed Munroe in 1917. Other Wilkinsons won the award in 1941, 1958, and 1974 (perhaps distant cousins?).

From School Committee Report on Peabody Prizes - "...determined that a suitable medal shall be awarded and presented to every pupil who shall pass three years, - constituting the entire course, - in either of these schools (Peabody and Holten), and whose attendance, deportment, and advancement shall have been uniformly satisfactory to the teachers and committee. The die, from which the medals are to be struck, will soon be completed, and the following individuals, who have accomplished the amount required, will be entitled to a "Peabody Medal," and will receive the same at an early day. It is hoped that each and all, thus favored, will feel a strong and sincere determination to have their subsequent deportment and standing in life such as will do them credit, and thus honor the Peabody Medal and the generous friend to whose liberality and thoughtfulness they are indebted for this act of encouragement. By habits of industry and perseverance, by acts of kindness, by manly and upright deportment, and by fidelity in all of life's relations and duties, they will best their appreciation of the gift and the giver."

I don’t know what happened to Albert’s medal, but I do know he also received a set of Dickens books from the Peabody School Committee. When my Dad passed away in 2002 my Mom sorted out his books, and gave me a boxful, including a set of Dickens. Months later I noticed that the inside of the books were inscribed to Albert, my Dad’s grandfather, from the Peabody School Committee. Now I know the full story!

Albert Munroe Wilkinson was in the 1886 Peabody City Directory and he is listed as a bookkeeper at Thomas Proctor's, boarding with his mother at 14 Elm Street in Peabody. He is listed in the Salem City Directory as a bookkeeper at 9 Webster Street, living at 15 Stevens St. in Peabody, Massachusetts. After his marriage to Isabella Lyons Bill they lived on Loring Avenue in Salem. Albert died fairly young at age 47 due to "shock following the removal of gall stones, about 12 hours" signed Dr. Benjamin E. Sibley on his death certificate on 12 May 1908 at Corey Hill Hospital in Brookline, Massachusetts. My Dad never knew his grandfather, because of his early death, and I wish I could have told Dad the story of the George Peabody Merit Scholarship.

The Wilkinson Lineage:

Generation 1. Thomas Wilkinson, born about 1690 in England, died before 1739; married August 1715 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire to Elizabeth Caverly, daughter of William Caverly and Mary Abbott, born about 1696 in Portsmouth, married second 27 Nov 1739 to Philip Jewell.

Generation 2. James Wilkinson, born about 1730, probably in Berwick, Maine, died between 1795 and 1805 in Berwick; married first about 1753 to Hannah Mead, daughter of Thomas Mead and Hannah Stilson, born 9 August 1730 in Wakefield, New Hampshire, died before 1759; married second to Mary Unknown.

Generation 3. William Wilkinson, died after 1840; married 7 February 1788 in South Berwick to Mercy Nason, daughter of Richard Nason and Mary Thompson, born about 1764 in Kittery, Maine.

Generation 4. Aaron Wilkinson, born 22 February 1802 in South Berwick, died 25 November 1879 in Peabody, Massachusetts; married 23 June 1829 to Mercy F. Wilson, daughter of Robert Wilson and Mary Southwick, born 17 June 1803 in South Danvers, died 9 October 1883 in Peabody.

Generation 5. Robert Wilson Wilkinson, born 26 May 1830 in Salem, Massachusetts, died 23 March 1874 in Peabody; married 24 November 1853 in Danvers, Massachusetts to Phebe Cross Munroe, daughter of Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint. Three sons:

1. Robert Henry Wilkinson*, born 14 January 1855 in South Danvers, died 22 September 1884 in Peabody; married 18 April 1883 in Peabody to Eliza Harris Poor*, daughter of Nathan Holt Poor and Abigail Morrill.

2. Walter Wilkinson, born 3 November 1856 in South Danvers, died 2 April 1858 in South Danvers.

3. Albert Munroe Wilkinson*, born 7 November 1860 in Danvers, died 12 May 1908 in Brookline, Massachusetts; married 18 October 1894 in Salem to Isabella Lyons Bill, daughter of Caleb Rand Bill and Ann Margaret Bollman.

*denotes Peabody Merit Medal Scholars


For more information:

A list of the George Peabody Merit Medal Scholars
https://ma01001873.schoolwires.net/Page/409

The History of the George Peabody Merit Scholar Program  https://ma01001873.schoolwires.net/Page/407

“George Peabody: A Biography” by Franklin Parker, Vanderbilt University Press, 1995

www.peabodyhistorical.org The website of the Peabody, Massachusetts Historical Society

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "George Peabody Merit Scholarship Medals", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 29, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/01/george-peabody-merit-scholarship-medals.html: accessed [access date]).

The Other Mayflowers, Voyage 4

The Hessian Soldier who stayed in the New World


Part four in my Thanksgiving series about ancestors who DIDN’T arrive in the New World on the Mayflower. My 4x great grandfather Johann Daniel Bollman was a surgeon from Hammersleben in Saxony, Germany. He came to North America with Baron de Riedesel’s Brunswick Regiment of Hessian Soldiers in 1776. The Duke of Brunswick had contracted with England to send 3,964 foot soldiers and cavalry to America. They arrived in Quebec and their military objective was to cut off New England from the other colonies by driving troops down to Albany. They lost the battle at Bennington, Vermont when 200 Germans were killed and another 700 were captured. Again, at Saratoga, the Americans trapped them and took the Germans as prisoners of war for the duration.

Fortunately, as an officer and a surgeon, Johann Daniel Bollman was a valuable prisoner. He was also wounded at Saratoga, and while being held he tended to the other sick and wounded. He was exchanged as a prisoner of war, and sent to Halifax. Eventually he settled as a permanent resident of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, the home of many German speaking settlers.

Dr. Bollman was not only a physician, he also became active in politics and served as a member of the House of Assembly representing Lunenburg Township between 1793 to 1809. In 1782 he married Jane Bremner, daughter of Scots settlers and widow of Phillip Knaut, an original Lunenburg grantee. His granddaughter removed to Massachusetts in the 1870s and joined the family tree in the United States.

Bollman Family Tree:

Generation 1: Dr. Johann Daniel Bollman, born about 1751 in Hammersleben, Magdeburg, Saxony, Germany, died 17 September 1833 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, Canada; married on 14 February 1782 in Lunenburg to Jane Bremner, daughter of Robert Bremner and Margaret Stewart, born about 1764 and died on 6 March 1829 in Lunenburg. Eleven children including two sons who were surgeons…

Generation 2: Dr. Bremner Frederick Bollman, born 25 February 1802 in Lunenburg, died on 15 December 1838 in Lunenburg; married to Sarah Elizabeth Lennox, daughter of John Lennox and Ann Margaretha Schupp, born 16 February 1805 in Lunenburg. Three children…

Generation 3: Ann Margaret Bollman, born 11 September 1835 in Lunenburg and died 1923 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 in Lunenburg to Caleb Rand Bill, son of the Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill and Isabella Lyons. He was born on 30 May 1833 in Billtown, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, and died on 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts. See my blog posting on October 4, 2009 “Bill Family Reunion” for a continuation of this lineage.

Sources:

“The Diary of Adolphus Gaetz” describes life in early Lunenburg, Nova Scotia between 1855 and 1873. Nova Scotia Archives and Records Management www.gov.ns.ca/nsarm/

“Johnny Bluenose at the Polls” by Brian Cuthbertson, Formac Publishing, Halifax, 1994

“Surgeons, Smallpox, and the Poor: A History of Medicine and Social Conditions in Nova Scotia, 1749-1799”, by Allan Everett Marble, McGill-Queen's University Press, Montreal

Johannes Schwalm Historical Association http://www.jsha.org/ website of Hessian Soldiers and their Descendants in the New World

The records of Saint John's Anglican Church, Lunenburg, Nova Scotia

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Other Mayflowers, Voyage 4", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 19, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-mayflowers-part-4.html: accessed [access date]).