Eber Bunker's Hill in Australia, a Mayflower Descendant

The text on this plaque is below

Bunkers Hill

"Bunkers Hill was named after Captain Eber Bunker, father of Australian whaling, who had his house and store not far from here in the early 1800s.  This high ground, as outlined on the map below, was commonly called Bunkers Hill until the 1830s, but only received official recognition, at the request of the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority, in 1977.

Captain Eber Bunker was born to a Puritan whaling family in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 7^th March 1761.  He moved to England after the American Revolution where he married Margrett Thompson, second cousin to Admiral Collingwood, in 1786 and took his first command, the whaler “Spencer”, in 1788.  He first arrived in Sydney in 1791 as master of the “William and Ann”, a transport in the Third Fleet, and there upon engaged in the first whaling expedition in Australian waters in the company of the “Britannia”. 

He returned to Australia in 1799 with the new ship “Albion” and spent two winters whaling of the Australian and New Zealand coasts.  At the request of Governor King, he took presents to King Pomere of Tahiti in exchange for hogs, howls and fruits for the colony. On a second voyage from England in 1803 he discovered the Bunker Islands off Queensland.  The “Albion” accompanied the “Lady Nelson” from Sydney with stores and cattle, to found the new settlement of Hobart on the River Derwent, in Tasmania.

He was well rewarded for his services being given several land grants around Liverpool and the Hunter Valley and, after his last whaling voyage in 1824-25, he retired to his properties, dying at Collingwood (now part of Liverpool) on 27^th September 1836, aged 74.

You are standing on the high bluff that gave The Rocks its name and which marks the eastern edge of Bunkers Hill.  In front of you are the brickyards of Sgt. Major Row (1881), the stone buildings of the Counting House (1848), and Union Bond (1841) and below are the terraces of Atherton Place (1880 – 81).  Behind you, in Cumberland Street are under approaches to the Sydney Harbour Bridge, where Princes Street once lay, was the site of the solid mansions of worthy and well-to-do citizens of the 1850s.  Handsome homes of two or three storeys, with thick walls of squared stone and wide verandahs with graceful iron columns rose in grounds dotted with tall Norfolk Pines and Moreton Bay figs.

The Plague of 1900 led to a massive clean up of The Rocks and many of the old houses were torn down by the government of the day.  Work on the Harbour Bridge swept away much of what remained.

The walkway and lookout on which this plaque stands were put by the Sydney Cove Redevelopment Authority in 17979 – 80, transforming Gloucester Street to Gloucester Walk.

This Plaque was unveiled by the Minister for Planning & Environment the Hon. Eric Bedford BA MP on Wednesday 22^nd October 1980."

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These three photos were sent to me by a young genealogist friend in Australia. He is applying for membership to the Mayflower Society under the passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley.  The new Australian Mayflower Society just formed a few months ago, and I wish him luck!  He is also a descendant of Eber Bunker.  Here is the lineage from John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley down to Eber Bunker.

Generation 1:  John Howland, Mayflower passenger, son of Henry Howland and Margaret Aires, was born 1592 in Fenstanton, England, died 23 February 1672 at Rocky Nook, Plymouth, Massachusetts; married on 25 March 1623 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Elizabeth Tilley, Mayflower passenger, daughter of John Tilley and Joan Hurst.  She was born 30 August 1607 in Henlow, Bedfordshire, England and died 21 December 1687 in Swansea, Massachusetts. They had ten children.

Generation 2:  Desire Howland, born 13 October 1623 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died 13 October 1683 in Barnstable, Massachusetts; married on 6 November 1644 in Barnstable to John Gorham, son of Ralph Gorham and Margaret Stephenson.  He was born 28 January 1620 in Benefield, Northamptonshire, England and died 5 February 1675 in Swansea. They had eleven children.

Generation 3:  Shubael Gorham, born 21 October 1667 in Barnstable, died 7 August 1750; married on May 1695 on the island of Nantucket to Puella Hussey, daughter of Stephen Hussey (grandson of Rev. Stephen Batchelder) and Martha Bunker (daughter of George Bunker and Elizabeth Godfrey).  She was born 10^th 10 mo. 1677 on Nantucket, and died in Barnstable before 23 September 1748. They had ten children.

Generation 4:  Desire Gorham, born 26 September 1710 in Barnstable, died 5 November 1801; married Zachariah Bunker on 2 September 1728 on Nantucket island. He was the son of Jonathan Bunker and Elizabeth Coffin.  Zachariah Bunker died on Nantucket 16 August 1757.  They had nine children all born on Nantucket island.

Generation 5: James Bunker, born 21 August 1733 on Nantucket island, was lost at sea in 1768; married Hannah Shurtleff in Plymouth, Massachusetts on 26 January 1757.  She was the daughter of James Shurtleff and Faith Jackson.  They had five children.

Generation 6: Eber Bunker, son of James Bunker and Hannah Shurtleff, was born on 7 March 1761 in Plymouth, Massachusetts and died on 27 September 1836 at Collingwood, now Liverpool, New South Wales. He married first on 16 November 1786 in England to Margrett Thompson, daughter of Henry Thompson and Isabella Collingwood, who died March 1808. They had children:  Isabella, Mary Ann, Charlotte, Charles Harris, Henry Edmund, Ernest, James Eber, and Henry Thompson.  He married second to Margaret Macfarlane.  He married third to Ann Howey, widow of William Minchin on 28 April 1823.

You might be wondering if Eber Bunker of Bunkers Hill in Australia is related to the same family of Bunker Hill in Boston (Charlestown).  The answer is “Probably!”. 

 The Bunker Hill in Massachusetts was named for George Bunker, who had a farm there in Charlestown.  The Bunker family lived on this land before the battle, and for generations afterwards.  George left the area a few years before the Revolutionary War, which was fortunate since the town of Charlestown was destroyed by the British during the battle.  The famous “Bunker Hill Monument” is on the top of Breed’s Hill in Boston, not Bunker Hill.  

George Bunker was born about 1600 at Bengeo, Hertfordshire, England and died about 1664 in Malden, Massachusetts; married Judith Major on 8 September 1624 at Odell, Bedfordshire, England.  He owned the land known as Bunker Hill in Charlestown and is buried at the Phipps Street Buring Ground in Charlestown.  His five children were baptized in Odell, Bedfordshire which is very close to Tingrith (see below for the lineage of Eber Bunker).  However George Bunker’s parents are unknown, so we cannot prove that these two Bunker branches were kin.  George Bunker’s last two children (he had seven children) were baptized at Charlestown, Massachusetts. 

Eber Bunker (1761 - 1836)

Eber Bunker’s Bunker Genealogy:

Generation 1: Tymothie Bunker and Elizabeth Hawkins, resided in Tingrith, Bedfordshire, England

Generation 2: George Bunker and Elizabeth Godfrey, 5 May 1644 in Maulden, Bedfordshire, England

Generation 3: William Bunker and Mary Macy

Generation 4: Jonathan Bunker and Elizabeth Coffin

Generation 5: Zachariah Bunker and Desire Gorham

Generation 6: James Bunker and Hannah Shurtleff

Generation 7: Eber Bunker of Australia

Isabella, daughter of Eber Bunker

For the truly curious:

Australian Dictionary of Biography website, a sketch about Eber Bunker:  http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/bunker-eber-1849

The Bunker Blog – Website of the Bunker Family Association - https://www.bunkerfamilyassn.org/

Bunker Family History by Henry L. Bunker III, 1984.  [Information on Bunker Hill in Massachusetts is on pages 69 – 70, 72, and 99 – 100].

Australian Mayflower Society became official on 26 January 2020:
 https://www.themayflowersociety.org/blog/item/443-welcoming-the-australia-society

Australian Society of Mayflower Descendants Facebook group:   https://www.facebook.com/groups/736882643392129/

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Eber Bunker's Hill in Australia, a Mayflower Descendant", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 20, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/03/eber-bunkers-hill-in-australia.html: accessed [access date]). 

Isaac Allen, Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday

This tombstone is located at the Old Burial Ground at Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts. 

Manchester Vital Records: (vol. 1, pg 11)

Births, Allen
Isaac, s. Jacob and Sarah [Lee], Feb. 6, 1758.

Deaths, Allen
Isaac [s. Jacob and Sarah (Lee), "a soldier of the Revolution." G. R.] Sept. 26, 1841. T. C. [a. 88 y. C. R.]

epitaph 

ISAAC ALLEN, SON OF JACOB & SARAH (LEE) ALLEN.

A soldier of the Revolution.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Born Feb. 6, 1758 ~ Died Sept 26, 1841.

In May 1775, at the age of seventeen,
he enlisted for 8 mos. in the 28th Reg.
of Foot, Col. Paul D. Sargent serving
74 days in Capt. Hart's Co. and from
Aug in Capt. Wiley's until
his discharge.

He was at Bunker Hill and in the
first Army when Washington
assumed command at Cambridge.
In March 1776, he enlisted for 9 mos.
in Col. Foster's Reg. and served the
full term in Capt. Bradley's Co.
In March, 1777, he joined the Transport
Schooner Endeavor. serving 8 mos.
He was pensioned in 1832.

(Erected by his grandson C.W.G. of Beverly.)

Isaac Allen married first to Rebecca Tewksbury on 30 March 1779 in Manchester, Massachusetts, daughter of John Tewskbury and Elisabeth Hilton, born 6 October 1758 in Manchester, and died 10 September 1807 in Manchester.  He married second to Mary Foster on 10 January 1808 in Manchester, and she died on 1 February 1843.  He had eight children by his first wife.  Isaac Allen is my second cousin 7 generations removed.   I am descended of both Joseph Allen, his grandfather Jonathan Allen's brother, as well as of Alice Allen who married Daniel Williams, Jonathan's sister.
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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Isaac Allen, Manchester by the Sea, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 5, 2011, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/isaac-allen-manchester-by-sea.html: accessed [access date]). 

Platts Family - Tombstone Tuesday

The Platts gravestones are located in the Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire.  The stone erected to James Platts is typical of several found along the area called "Old Settlers", where descendants have erected memorial stones to their ancestors because the original gravestones are missing, broken or illegible.

The Platts family plot

JAMES PLATTS

BORN ROWLEY MASS. aUG. 21, 1775

BUNKER HILL MASS. AMERICAN ARMY

1775-6-7 DIED JAN 9, 1835

HIS WIFE MARY WARNER

BORN IPSWICH MASS JAN. 22, 1755

DIED NOV. 29, 1839

CHILDREN (B) LONDONDERRY

MARY 1780-1858

SUSAN (FISK) 1782-1822

NANCY (WALKER) 1785 - 1873

SARAH (WALKER PIERCE 1789 -1864

MAHITABLE 1790-1844 LOWELL MASS

ABIGAIL (FISK) 1792-1878

JAMES 1794-1828 BRASHER N.Y.

IN WAR 1812

WESLEY 1797-

ELIZA 1800 - 1830

ERECTED BY C.M. AND F.E. PLATTS

James Platts was born 21 August 1755 in Newbury, Massachusetts, died 29 January 1835 in Londonderry; married on 6 April 1780 to Mary Warner, born 22 January 1755 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, died 29 November 1839.

James Platts was the son of James Platts and Mary Perkins. We share a plethora of common ancestors, including Samuel Platts AKA Gawkroger (1617 – about 1690) and Sarah Bates (my 9x great grandparents), Richard Hutchinson (1602 – 1682) and Alice Bosworth (my 9x great grandparents), John Perkins (1583 – 1654) and Judith Gater (my 10x great grandparents), Robert Kinsman (1603 – 1664) (my 9x great grandfather), Daniel Rindge (d. 1662) and Mary Kinsman (my 8x great grandparents), and John Burnham (1616 – 1694) and Mary Whipple (my 9x great grandparents).

Mary was the daughter of John Warner and Susannah Hodgkins of Ipswich, and the grand daughter of Nathaniel Warner and Mary Tuthill. We also share the following ancestors: John Tuthill (1666 – 1715) and Martha Ward (my 8x great grandparents), George Giddings (1609 – 1676) and Jane Lawrence (my 9 x great grandparents), Daniel Rindge and Mary Kinsman (see above).

So many common ancestors! I’m glad we snapped this photo!

My Platts Genealogy:

Generation 1. Samuel Platts and Sarah Bates

Generation 2: Abel Platts and Lydia Bailey

Generation 3: Moses Platts and Hannah Platts (daughter of Jonathan Platts and Elizabeth Johnson)

Generation 4: Moses Platts and Ruth Williams

Generation 5: Sarah Platts and George Southwick

Generation 6: Mary Southwick and Robert Wilson

Generation 7: Mercy F. Wilson and Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 8: Robert Wilson Wilkinson and Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson and Isabella Lyons Bill

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

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A Dozen Random Things about Nutfield

1. Nutfield, later called Londonderry, was the second largest town in New Hampshire in early colonial times. Derry, Windham and a portion of Manchester were formed from its boundaries.

2. In 1719 the first white potato (Irish potato) in the United States was grown in Derry

3. For the first census in 1790 the population of Londonderry was 2,622 and in the 2000 census the Londonderry population was 23,236 and the Derry population was 34,021.

4. The Londonderry Lancers Marching Band from our high school marched in 4 different Rose Bowl Parades, most recently in 2011!

5. The first tomatoes grown in New England for food were introduced by the widow of Rev. Morrison in 1822. Previously tomatoes were considered to be poisonous.

6. Linen from Colonial Londonderry was worn by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. Londonderry produced much linen, and it was considered the finest, thus it was often found that other towns tried to sell cloth with the Londonderry label, so the New Hampshire House of Representatives wrote an act to have an official seal affixed to all Londonderry Linen.

7. Upon hearing of the attack at Lexington on 19 April 1775, George Reid marched with a contingent of men from Londonderry to Lexington and then to Medford, where they joined General Stark’s troops in the battle of Bunker Hill in June. Later in the war he attained the rank of Brigadier General.

8. Matthew Thornton was born in 1714 in Northern Ireland, but was a Londonderry selectman, President of the Provincial Assembly, later the President of the New Hampshire House of Representatives, and signer of the Declaration of Independence.

9. The first woman who claimed to bicycle around the world was “Annie Londonderry”, a mother from Boston who was sponsored by Londonderry Lithia Water in 1895. Her real name was Annie Cohen Kopchovsky, a Latvian Jewish immigrant.

10. The first American in Space was Derry resident, Alan Shepard.

11. Professional Baseball player Duffy (George Edward) Lewis is buried in the Holy Cross Cemetery, Londonderry. He played for the Boston Red Sox 190-1917, the New York Yankees 1919-1920, and the Washington Senators in 1921.

12. James Wilson (1763 -1835) of Londonderry manufactured the first pair of terrestrial and celestial globes made in America in 1813. The 13 inch globe sold for $50.

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A House in the Smithsonian Museum

Last week, at the Smithsonian Museum of American History, we stumbled upon an exhibit that took my breath away. The exhibit is called “Within These walls”. It was a house from Ipswich, Massachusetts reconstructed inside the museum, showing the generations of families that had lived there since the 1700s until the mid 21st century. Yes, it was beautiful, but what I loved most were the names of the families. The first five families who lived in this house were from my family tree!

Timeline of house owners
click to enlarge

The first inhabitant of the house, and its builder in 1757, was Abraham Choate. He was my 1st cousin 8 generations removed. He removed to Maine in 1772 and sold his house to Isaac Dodge, my 3rd cousin 8x removed. Isaac sold the house to his brother Abraham Dodge in 1777 who served in the Revolution at the Battle of Bunker Hill. (My other ancestor Abner Poland enlisted in Capt. Abraham Dodge’s regiment at the start of the war.) In 1789 Abraham Dodge sold the house to Nathaniel Baker, who I suspect was a cousin through Abraham’s grandmother, Priscilla Baker (it was a small town, after all), who sold it to John Appleton in 1791, and he lived in it until 1798 when he sold it to Daniel Thurston and his wife Margaret Appleton. Margaret was a great granddaughter of Jacob Perkins, my 9x Great Grandfather, and she was the daughter of John Appleton, the previous owner.

After this the house was sold to many other Ipswich inhabitants, but I only recognized one other surname from my family tree (Mears). I'm sure there are other cousin kinships though!

In the lineages below, I have highlighted the residents of the house in red…

Choate Lineage:

Generation 1: John Choate, born about 1624 in Groton, Colchester, England, and died 4 December 1695 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married about 1660 to Ann Unknown. Eight children. My 9x Great Grandfather. I descend from Thomas, below, and Sarah, who married John Burnham in 1693.

Generation 2: Thomas Choate, born about 1671 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, died 31 March 1745 in Ipswich; married about 1690 in Ipswich to Mary Varney, daughter of Thomas Varney and Abigail Proctor. My 8x Great Grandfather. His sister, Sarah, is also my 8x Great Grandmother (she married John Burnham in 1693) He had nine children and I descend from Thomas’s daughter Anne, who married John Burham in 1710. He was also married to Mary Ayer in 1734, and to Hannah Burnham in 1743.

Generation 3: Francis Choate, born 13 September 1701 in Ipswich, died 15 October 1777 in Ipswich; married 13 April 1727 to Hannah Perkins.

Generation 4: Abraham Choate, born 24 March 1732 in Ipswich, died 23 April 1800 in Whitefield, Maine; married on 13 March 1755 in Ipswich to Sarah Potter, daughter of Aaron Potter and Sarah Appleton.

Dodge Lineage:

Generation 1: William Dodge, born before 19 September 1640 in Middlechinnook, Somerset, England, died 24 March 1720 in Beverly; married to Mary Conant, daughter of Roger Conant and Sarah Horton.

Generation 2: William Dodge, born 20 March 1663 in Wenham, Massachusetts, died 20 October 1765 in Wenham; married on 27 July 1699 to Prudence Fairfield, daughter of Walter Fairfield and Sarah Skipper.

Generation 3: William Dodge, born 6 March 1705 in Wenham, died 11 April 1777 in Ipswich; married on 9 January 1728 to Rebecca Appleton, daughter of Isaac Appleton and Priscilla Baker.

Generation 4. Isaac Dodge, born 26 February 1732 in Ipswich, died 29 June 1785 in Ipswich; married on 8 November 1755 in Ipswich to Elizabeth Day. His brother Abraham was born 17 August 1740 in Ipswich, died 16 June 1786 in Ipswich; married first on 17 April 1762 to Abigail Cogswell; married second on 2 June 1782 to Bethia Patch. Abigail is my 1st cousin 8x removed because her grandfather, Robert Woodbury, is my 8x Great Grandfather. (confused yet?)

Margaret Appleton’s Lineage:

Generation 1: Jacob Perkins, born before 12 September 1624 in Hillmorton, Warwickshire, England, died 29 January 1700 in Ipswich; married about 1648 to Elizabeth Whipple, daughter of Matthew Whipple and Anne Hawkins.

Generation 2: John Perkins, brother to my 8x Great Grandfather Jacob Perkins, born 3 July 1652 in Ipswich, died 15 March 1717 in Wenham; married about 1677 to Mary Fiske.

Generation 3: Sarah Perkins born about 1688 in Ipswich; married 17 December 1701 in Topsfield, Massachusetts to Oliver Appleton.

Generation 4 : John Appleton, born 1707 in Ipswich, died 4 January 1794; married on 4 August 1731 in Ipswich to Lucy Boardman. Lucy’s great grandfather is also Jacob Perkins, above, so John and Lucy were 2nd cousins.

Generation 5: Margaret Appleton, born 1742 in Ipswich, died February 1822; married first to Daniel Thurston, married second on 3 June 1773 in Ipswich to John Kinsman. Believe it or not, John Kinsman is my 2nd cousin, 8x removed. He is related to me through his mother, Hannah Burnham, and his great grandfather, Robert Kinsman, is my 9x Great Grandfather.

The official link to the Smithsonian Choate House exhibit http://americanhistory.si.edu/house/families/choates.asp

A Massachusetts realtor’s website, a member of the National Association of Realtor’s who sponsored the exhibit in Washington DC http://www.tricountyrealtors.org/id46.html

Descendants of John Choate http://www.paulasgenealogy.com/choate.htm

Descendants of John Perkins http://www.paulasgenealogy.com/perkins.htm

The Dodge Family Association http://www.dodgefamily.org/index.shtml

The Perkins Family http://www.perkins-family.org/

The Family of John Perkins of Ipswich, Massachusetts, by George Perkins, Salem, Mass, 1889. The full text of this book is available on http://www.archive.org/

Video of "Within These Walls", the Smithsonian Choate House exhibit:
http://vimeo.com/50368799

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Not so Wordless Wednesday - "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is 180 years old today!

The Lamb, Sterling, Massachusetts Town Common

Sarah Josepha (Buell) Hale shares my birthday. She was born on 24 October 1788 in Newport, New Hampshire, daughter of Captain Gordon Buell and Martha Whittlesay. She is the author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb”, campaigned with Abraham Lincoln to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, and was on the committee to complete the Bunker Hill Monument. Sarah was also the editor of Godey’s Lady Book, the most influential woman’s magazine of her time. I’ve always admired her, and considered her a kindred spirit. The New Hampshire Mayflower Society is having a re-enactor portray Sarah Josepha Hale on November 6, 2010 at the Chateau Restaurant in Manchester, and she will discuss Hale's role in Thanksgiving becoming a national holiday.

When I was growing up in Holden, Massachusetts, we used to visit Sterling Town Common, which is the town next door. On the village common is the statue of Mary’s little lamb, and a memorial to the schoolhouse which once stood nearby. The schoolhouse, which was built in 1798, was bought and moved by Henry Ford to Longfellow’s Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts. This is similar to what happened to Ocean Born Mary’s house in Londonderry, which was sold and relocated to Little Compton, Rhode Island - causing the organization of the Londonderry Historical Society, founded to protect Londonderry’s historic resources. See my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/ocean-born-mary-londonderry-character.html

The poem was published on 1 September 1830 in the children’s journal Juvenile Miscellany. It was set to music later that decade by Lowell Mason, and the lyrics are similar to the original poem. Today the poem is celebrating its 180th birthday. The original lamb statue I remember from my childhood was replaced in the 1980s by a new one made of bronze. To see the lamb statue, visit the Sterling Town Common at the intersection of routes 12 and 62 and Meetinghouse Hill Road.

It is believed that the Sterling schoolmaster, John Roulstone, wrote the first few lines, and that Sarah Josepha Hale completed the rhyme and the other stanzas for publication. The plaque on the statue has the first four lines of the poem and the name John Roulstone as the author.

Mary had a little lamb,

Its fleece was as white as snow,

And every were that Mary went,

The lamb was sure to go.

He followed her to school one day;

That was against the rule;

It made the children laugh and play;

To see the lamb at school.

And so the teacher turned it out;

but still he lingered near;

And waited patiently about;

Till Mary did appear.

And then he ran to her, and laid

His head upon her arm,

As if he said "I'm not afraid,

You'll keep me from all harm."

'What makes the lamb love Mary so?"

The eager children cry;

"O, Mary loves the lamb, you know,"

The teacher did reply.

"And you each gentle animal

To you, for life may bind,

And make it follow at your call,

If you are always kind."

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Not so Wordless Wednesday -  "Mary Had a Little Lamb" is 180 years old today!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 1, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/09/not-so-wordless-wednesday-mary-had.html: accessed [access date]).

General John Stark "Live Free or Die!"

The statue of General John Stark
in Manchester, New Hampshire

You know he said “Live Free or Die” but what else do you know about John Stark? You can learn all about Londonderry’s famous general on June 9th at the Folsom Tavern in Exeter, New Hampshire. The lecture begins at 7PM, admission is $3 for members, $5 for non members. Author Ben Z. Rose, who wrote the book John Stark: Maverick General will discuss Stark’s battlefield history. This is part of a series called “Conversations with Authors” by the American Independence Museum of Exeter, which will continue on September 29th with John P. Resch’s discussion on his book Suffering Soldiers: Revolutionary War Veterans, Moral Sentiment, and Political Culture in the Early Republic. For more information, call the American Independence Museum at 603-772-2622 or check the website at http://www.independencemuseum.org/

John Stark was born 28 August 1728 in Nutfield (now Londonderry) to parents from Scotland and Northern Ireland. When the family home in Londonderry burned in 1736 they moved up to the Merrimack River, above Amoskeag Falls. Several other families followed them and it became the town of Derryfield (now Manchester). The Stark family home is now a museum run by the local Molly Stark chapter of the DAR.

In 1752 John, his brother William and two neighbors were ambushed by Indians whilst out hunting. William escaped, and later ransomed John. He became a member of the famous Roger’s Rangers in the frontier. Two years later John led an expedition for Governor Benning Wentworth to explore western New Hampshire. He was commissioned an officer in January 1757, just before the French and Indian War. These frontier experiences would give him an insight into the colony’s borders and northern defenses that other officers of the time period lacked.

After seeing action at the siege of Fort Ticonderoga he returned home to marry Elizabeth “Molly” Page. They had eleven children. Molly was a tomboy who was an excellent marksman and considered “too much for any man to handle.” There is a statue of a gun carrying Molly overlooking the Deerfield River at the Molly Stark State Park in Vermont. Molly served as a nurse to her husband’s troops, and opened the home in Manchester as a hospital during the Revolution.

When he heard of the attack at Lexington, John Stark was supposedly on his horse within ten minutes, and on his way to Massachusetts. Twelve hundred men from New Hampshire joined him at Medford, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress appointed him Colonel of the 1st New Hampshire Regiment, which defended Bunker Hill at the infamous battle. They fought the rear action of the battle during the British retreat.

Stark went with George Washington to New Jersey, at the Battle of Trenton. He predicted that the next British attack would come out of Canada, and he was correct when General Burgoyne and 10,000 troops came down from Lake Champlain toward Fort Ticonderoga. He was ordered to Saratoga, but refused and instead he mustered men for the battle at Bennington on August 16th, defeating the British and Hessian forces and greatly affecting Burgoyne, who was forced to surrender on October 17, 1777.

The war lasted six more years. After the war John Stark returned to Manchester and private life with Molly. Washington summoned him to headquarters in 1783 for a personal “thank you”, and given the rank of Major General by brevet. He lived to age 94, the last surviving Revolutionary War general.

Perhaps Stark’s greatest contributions to history are his famous quotes, such as:

"There they are, men! We'll beat them before night or Molly Stark's a widow."

Or "Live free or die- Death is not the worst of evils." Which he wrote for the anniversary of the Battle of Bennington, and the first four words live on as the motto of the state of New Hampshire. Of all the license plate mottos in the United States, this is perhaps the most famous! Most folks don’t know the second part, which I think is the most visionary. Most folks also think he said it at the battle, which is not true.

There is a New Hampshire state roadside marker to General John Stark on the side of Route 28 in Derry, about 2.3 miles south of the Derry Rotary. Nearby is a furniture store called “The General Stark Store”. There is a John Stark Regional High School in Weare, New Hampshire. Flag Hill Distillery in Bennington, New Hampshire is now producing fine vodka named “General John Stark.” Molly is memorialized by the DAR chapter, the Vermont State Park, and a cannon in a New Boston park. There is also a Molly Stark Inn in Bennington, Vermont. A tuberculosis sanatorium in Canton, Ohio was named for Molly Stark in 1929.

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John Stark’s Family Tree:

Generation 1: Archibald Stark, b. 1697 in Glasgow, Scotland, d. 25 June 1758 in Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire; married to Eleanor Nichols, b. about 1697 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland. Archibald Stark is buried at the old burial ground in Manchester where his stone reads "Here Lyes The Body of Mr. ARCHIBALD STARK. He Departed This Life June 25, 1758, Aged 61 Years."

Generation 2: General John Stark, b. 28 August 1728 in Londonderry, New Hampshire, d. 8 May 1822 in Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire; married on 20 August 1758 in Dunbarton, New Hampshire to Elizabeth Page, "Molly", b. 1737 in Haverhill, New Hampshire, d. 29 June 1814. General John Stark is buried at the John Stark State Park, Manchester, New Hampshire.

1. Caleb Page Stark b. 03 Dec 1759, Dunbarton, New Hampshire, d. 26 Aug 1838, Oxford, Ohio
2. Archibald Stark b. 28 May 1761, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. 11 Sep 1791
3. John Stark b. 17 Apr 1763, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. 24 Nov 1844, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire
4. Eleanor Stark b. 04 Mar 1765, d. 20 Aug 1767
5. Eleanor Stark b. 30 Jun 1767, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. Abt 1843
6. Sarah Stark , b. 11 Jun 1769, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. 29 Jan 1801
7. Elizabeth Stark b. 10 Aug 1771, d. 13 May 1813, Ryegate (Caledonia County), Vermont
8. Mary Stark b. 09 Sep 1773, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire
9. Charles Stark . 02 Dec 1775, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. Nov 1796, At Sea
10. Benjamin Franklin Stark b. 16 Jun 1777, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. 19 Jul 1809
11. Sophia Stark, b. 21 Jun 1782, Derryfield (Manchester), New Hampshire, d. 18 Jun 1870, North Reading, Massachusetts

For more information:

History of Manchester (formerly Derryfield), by C. E. Potter, 1856, Chapter 24

John Stark: Maverick General, by Ben. Z. Rose, Hobblebush Books, Brookline, New Hampshire, 2007

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tour Guides and their "Myths"

A few years ago Philadelphia began a campaign to stop tour guides from telling myths and to start studying history before beginning their jobs. They plan to certify each guide with an exam, and fine them for leading tours without this certificate. Philadelphia is the city where the Betsy Ross House is a top attraction, and there is no evidence that she ever even sewed a flag. In my opinion, a certificate should not be required by law, but I would choose take a tour with certified guides over one without certification? Just like hiring a genealogist- would I hire one without certification over one without?

I like to do research in Boston and Salem, Massachusetts. As I walk from library to library, I often hear the tour guides on walking tours or in the famous “Duck Boats” blathering on about history. Sometimes I am shocked at the lies they repeat, and how the tourists just sit and absorb it all! Entertainment rules over education on these tours. Quack quack! Here are samplings of things I have actually overheard tour guides say:


Salem Tour Guides

Myth -“This is a witch burned at the witch trials in 1692…”
Truth- This is a statue of Roger Conant, governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and he died in 1679- thirteen years before the witch trials. Perhaps his hat is the problem? And by the way, no one was burned at the stake in Salem.

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Plymouth Tour Guides

Tour guides here repeat the myth that the Pilgrim’s November Thanksgiving feast was about religion. If it was a religious celebration they never would have invited the Indians, and they wouldn’t have had food and games. What we know of as Thanksgiving was actually “Harvest Home” a secular English tradition every fall. Actual Puritan thanksgiving days [not capitalized because they were not holidays] were days of fasting and praying throughout the year, not just in November.

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Cambridge Tour Guides

This is John Harvard’s statue in Harvard Yard at Harvard University.
Myth #1- This is not the founder, he was the first Harvard benefactor.
Myth #2- Harvard was not founded in 1638, it was 1636.
Myth #3- Never, ever kiss the shoe, no matter what the Harvard student tour guides tell you (They’ll say it’s for good luck before exams) Judging by the shiny shoe, many tourists and Freshmen fall for this. I can’t tell you what Harvard students do to this shoe and statue, it’s too disgusting to repeat here. Tourists continue to rub or kiss the shiny shoe, whilst the students snigger in delight.

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Boston Tour Guides

The tour guides love to talk about the Pilgrims in Boston. The only Pilgrims in Boston were a baseball team from 1901 to 1907. Yes, there were Puritans in Boston, but no Pilgrims or Separatists- they lived in Plymouth.

The Battle of Bunker Hill actually happened on Breed’s Hill, which was bulldozed long ago to fill in Boston Harbor. So forget the blow by blow battle descriptions by the tour guides as they stand on Bunker Hill. They’re not in right neighborhood.

The tour guides will tell you that Mother Goose and Benjamin Franklin are buried in the Granary Burial Ground. There is a grave marked “Elizabeth Goose”, and a memorial raised by the Franklin family to their parents- Josiah and Abiah Franklin. Ben Franklin is buried in Philadelphia.

Even though it sounds like a good theory, the wandering one-way streets did not start as cow paths. It was just a lack of urban planning in the early days that made the streets so crooked. By the time Back Bay was built, urban planning had progressed.

The Boston Massacre was not really a massacre. Only five people died, and it was more like a street riot. The revolutionaries used the event as a good chance for propaganda.

Don’t even get me started on Paul Revere myths- there isn’t enough room in this blog!

Part Two with more myths told by tour guides!
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/06/more-myths-told-by-tour-guides.html 


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tour Guides and their 'Myths'", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 21, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/05/tour-guides-and-their-myths.html: accessed [access date]).

Lafayette visits Derry, New Hampshire

In New Hampshire we have a Lafayette Social Club in Manchester, started by the French Canadians, and a Lafayette Road along the seacoast, otherwise known as Rt. 1. There is a Mount Lafayette in the White Mountains, which rises 5,260 feet from the side of Interstate 93 in Franconia Notch. All of these were named in honor of General Lafayette, the French hero of the American Revolution. He made an extremely popular, triumphal tour of New Hampshire in 1824-25, in celebration of the 50th anniversary of the Battle of Bunker Hill.

General or Marquis de La Fayette, Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier (6 September 1757 -20 May 1834) was a very young man, only age 19, during the Revolutionary War. He was handsome, popular and served with distinction. He was also the first person to be granted honorary United States citizenship. He is buried in the Picpus Cemetery in Paris, under dirt taken from Bunker Hill. He had the honor of laying the cornerstone for the monument at Bunker Hill.

Upon his return visit to New England he was given an honorary degree from Harvard and Boston gave his a portrait of Washington. He visited every state but Georgia. He was greeted by mobs and hailed as a hero, at a time when all the other founding fathers and Revolutionary era Generals had already passed away. No pop star today can match the crowds he drew as he visited over 400 towns on this tour.

General Lafayette came to Derry on September 1, 1824 on his way to Boston (which was really out of the way since he was coming from Portsmouth!). He stayed with General Elias Haskett Derby at his house on Lane Road. On his way to Boston he drank from a spring in Windham, which was afterwards named Lafayette Spring. In 1990 this famous spring was bulldozed by developers.

And then on June 21, 1825 Lafayette returned to Derry. He was accompanied by his son, George Washington Lafayette, and be entertained by the young ladies at the Adams Female Academy on Lane Road. General Derby was going to attend and greet his old friend. He had a meal at Derry’s Redman tavern (which later became the home of the milk Baron, H.P. Hood, and is now Chen’s Chinese Restaurant) before moving on to Pembroke to stay with Major Caleb Stark, the son of Derry’s famous General John Stark. He went home to France in September, and died nine years later. It was his last trip to the United States.

Derry Lawyer, Alan Hoffman, is a “Lafayetteophile” and he has been gathering information on the General, and all his travels in the New World, as well as his stops in Derry. For two years he translated Levasseur’s “Lafayette in America in 1824 and 1825” from the original French. Hoffman lives in Londonderry. He has translated the original 1,130 page book into a 572 page book with a 27 page index and maps.

In my family tree I don’t recall anyone meeting Lafayette, either during the war or during his return tour of the United States. But perhaps some of them did, for several members of the family tree were prominent in the building of the Bunker Hill Monument. The cornerstone was laid by Lafayette on June 17, 1825 and Daniel Webster addressed the crowd of 100,000 including 190 elderly veterans of the battle. My first cousin 5 x removed was Nathaniel G. Snelling, who was a member of the Bunker Hill Monument Association. Another cousin on this side of the family was William Lingham, who died in 1873 in Roxbury, and he was the senior Captain of the Massachusetts Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company at the laying of the cornerstone ceremony.

Alan Hoffman will speak at NEHGS on Wednesday, January 27, 2010 at 6PM on “Lafayette, Symbol of Franco-American Friendship”. A book signing will follow the lecture.

Click here for my blog on H. P. Hood from September 2009, which has a photo of the Hood homestead, formerly known as Redman's Tavern, where Lafayette dined.

For more information:

“Lafayette in America” by August Levasseur, Lafayette Press, Manchester, New Hampshire, 2006

“Nutfield Rambles” by Richard Holmes, Peter E. Randall Publisher, Portsmouth, New Hampshire, 2007, pages 71-75 for the story of Lafayette in Derry

“Lafayette’s Travels Not Lost in Translation: Londonderry Lawyer Obsessed with Life of Revolutionary War Hero” by Susan Laurent, The Eagle Tribune, July 12, 2007

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Copyright 2010, 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."