Tombstone Tuesday ~ Five Fletchers on one Tombstone

This tombstone was photographed at the Forefather's Burial Ground in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

panel 1:

Rebekah

Sept. 24

1778

In the

? year of

her Age

panel 2:

Jepthae

died Sept

26th 1778

In the 4th

year of

his age.

He lies in the

same grave

as his

mother

panel 3:

In Memory of

Mrs Hannah

Fletcher wife

of Lieut. Benjn

Fletcher who

departed this

Life Sept 26th

1778 in the 30th

year of her Age

panel 4:

Mary

died Octr

3d 1778

In the 9th year of

her Age.

panel 5:

Sarah

died Octr

5th 1778

In the 6th

year of 

her Age

Hannah Parker, daughter of Isaac Parker,  married Benjamin Fletcher in Chelmsford on 29 January 1767.  Obviously, some contagious childhood disease struck the Fletcher household and killed these four little children and their mother, all within two weeks of each other in the autumn of 1778.  Their eldest child, Hannah, born 1767 was the lone survivor.  This pathetic tombstone lists all the victims.  Benjamin remarried to Ann Spaulding on 21 October 1779 and had three more children.


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~  Five Fletchers on one Tombstone", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 4, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/10/tombstone-tuesday-five-fletchers-on-one.html: accessed [access date]).

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Oliver Fletcher, Esquire, died 1771, Chelmsford, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Forefather's Burial Ground in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Memento Mori

Oliver Fletcher Esqr

departed this Life

Novr 30 1771

In the 63d year of his Age

and his remains

are here interred

This tombstone was interesting because of the three dimensional skull carved above the epitaph.  Last week I photographed the tombstone of Lt. Benoni Perham in the same cemetery for the same reason.  However, these were the only two tombstones with three dimensional carvings like this.  The others are all traditional, two dimensional carvings.  According to Find A Grave, this tombstone was made by carver William Park.  Park was a Scottish stonecarver who was famous in Middlesex County for first carving death's heads, which evolved into carving cherubs as time passed. 

side view of the skull's head detail

Oliver Fletcher, son of William Fletcher and his wife, Mary, was born 10 September 1708 in Chelmsford, and died 30 November 1771 in Chelmsford.  He married my 2nd cousin, nine generations removed, Grace Weld, in Roxbury on 13 November 1766.  She was the daughter of Joseph Weld and Elizabeth Chamberlain. Her grandfather was Joseph Weld (1650 - 1712), my 9th great grand uncle, son of John Weld (1623 - 1691) and Margaret Bowen, my 10th great grandparents. 

Oliver Fletcher was a lawyer and school teacher in Chelmsford.  He graduated Harvard College in 1735.  He held many town positions (town clerk, selectman, assessor) and acted as legal counsel for individuals in court at Cambridge or Concord (he signed documents, wills, depositions, etc.). 

His obituary appeared in the Boston Gazette Monday, 9 December 1771:

"Died at Chelmsford the first Instant, Oliver Fletcher, Esq;  He had his education at Harvard College: took his Degrees in 1735 & 1738, has been many years a Justice of the Peace for the County of Middlesex and Quorum Unus:  He was Councellor in the Law, and, for some years a Member of the House of Representatives, in all which he sustained a good Character and Reputation.  He has left a sorrowful Wife & a young Daughter; and his Death is lamented by his Friends and Acquaintances, and is a publick Loss." 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~  Oliver Fletcher, Esquire, died 1771, Chelmsford, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 27, 2016,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/tombstone-tuesday-oliver-fletcher.html: accessed [access date]).

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Benoni Perham, died 1774, Chelmsford, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Forefather's Burial Ground in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Here lies ye Body

of Lt. Benony

Perham Son of

Mr. Samuel & Mrs

Sarah Perham

who departed

this Life Feb. 10th 1774

Aged 25 Years 10 M

                and 27 days

This tombstone caught my eye because of the very three dimensional winged head peeking out from the tombstone. All the other winged heads in this cemetery were flat.

The ancestry of Lt. Benoni Perham:

Generation 1:  John Perham, immigrant from Coventry(?), England to Rehoboth, Massachusetts about 1640.

Generation 2:  John Perham, born 1633; married Lydia Shipley on 15 December 1664 and removed to Chelmsford about 1666.

Generation 3:  Benoni Perham, born 1676 and died about 1723; married Sarah Robbins.  He was one of the "Snow Shoe Men" of Dunstable who marched north with Captain William Tyng in the of winter 1703/4 during Queen Anne's War.

Generation 4: Samuel Perham, born 4 March 1715; married Sarah Richardson on 11 April 1741

Generation 5:  Lt. Benoni Perham, born about 1748, died 10 February 1774, unmarried.  Buried in Chelmsford.

[ from The History of Chelmsford, Massachusetts by Wilson Waters, 1917,  page 809]

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Benoni Perham, died 1774, Chelmsford, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 20, 2016 (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/tombstone-tuesday-benoni-perham-died.html: accessed [access date]).

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Rev. John Fiske, founder, buried in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Forefather's Burial Ground in Chelmsford, Massachusetts

THIS CENOTAPH IS ERECTED

BY THE FISKE FAMILY

OF CHELMSFORD

TO THE MEMORY OF THE 

REV. JOHN FISKE

FIRST PASTOR OF CHELMSFORD

HE WAS BORN AT SOUTH 

ELMHAM, SUFFOLK CO, ENLGNAD

ABOUT THE YEAR 1606

IN 1637

HE CAME TO NEW ENGLAND

IN 1644 HE GATHERED A

CHURCH AT WENHAM, MASS

AND CONTINUED AS ITS PASTOR

UNITL 1656 WHEN HE REMOVED WITH

THE GREATER PART OF HIS CHURCH TO

CHELMSFORD

WHERE HE MINISTERED BOTH AS

PASTOR AND PHYSICIAN

GREATLY RESPECTED AND BELOVED

UNTIL HIS DEATH

JANUARY 14, 1676

AT THE AGE OF 70 YEARS

FISKE

Reverend John Fiske, son of John Fiske and Anne Lawter, was baptized on 20 March 1608 at St. James church in South Elmham, Suffolk, England.  He received a diploma in medicine from King's College at Cambridge in 1625.  He came to New England aboard the Mary Ann in 1637 with his wife, two sisters, mother and his brother William Fiske.  His first three children were born in Salem, and then he removed to nearby Wenham where he was ordained and became the first minister in 1644.  His daughter, Ann, my 8th great grandmother, was the first child baptized in Wenham in 1646.  Later, he removed to Chelmsford to be the first minister and founder of this new community.  

No other FISKEs are buried at the Forefather's Burial Ground in Chelmsford.

PDF file of a guide to Forefather's Burial Ground by Catherine Goodwin, http://www.chelmsfordgov.com/CHCwebsite/CHC_files/ForefathersCatherineGoodwin.pdf

My recent "Surname Saturday" post on FISKE and Rev. John Fiske:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/07/surname-saturday-fiske-of-salem-wenham.html

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~  Rev. John Fiske, founder, buried in Chelmsford, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 13, 2016,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/09/tombstone-tuesday-rev-john-fiske.html:  accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ FISKE of Salem, Wenham and Chelmsford, Massachusetts

FISKE, FISK

John Fiske, my 9^th great grandfather, was born in South Elmham, Suffolk, England and attended King’s College in Cambridge where he studied medicine and received a diploma in 1625.  He married Ann Gipps and removed to Massachusetts in 1637 on board the Mary Ann, with his wife, two sisters, mother (who died at sea) and younger brother, William.  

John Fiske first taught grammar school in Cambridge, and then in Salem where one of his students was the young Sir George Downing (my 9^th great grand uncle, sister to my ancestress Lucy Downing (1625 – 1697) wife of William Norton).   George Downing became minister for Cromwell and Charles II,  and he owned the house at which is now the  famous #10 Downing Street, residence of the Prime Minister.

His first three children were born in Salem, and then he removed to Enon (now the town of Wenham) where he was ordained there as the first minister in 1644.  His daughter Ann, my 8^th great grandmother, was the first child to be baptized there in 1646.  He later removed to Chelmsford to be the first minister there in 1655.  His wife, Ann, died before him in 1672 and he remarried to Elizabeth, the widow of Edmund Henchman. 

Ann, his daughter, in 1677 married Capt. John Brown of Reading as his first (of three) wives. His third wife was Elizabeth (Bulkley) Emerson, who was also my 8^th great grandmother, wife of Reverend Joseph Emerson (1620 – 1680), a minister at Ipswich, York, and Wells, Maine.   Ann and John Brown had a daughter, Mary (1678 – 1740), who married Peter Emerson (1673 – 1751), the son of Elizabeth and Joseph Emerson.   Peter had been raised by John Brown as an orphan, and married his stepsister.

More FISKE resources:

“Genealogical Research in England: The Fiske Family”, by G. Andrews Moriarty, New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Volume 86 (1932), pages 406 -35 and Volume 87 (1933), pages 141 – 46, pages 217 – 224,  and pages 367 – 374 and Volume 88 (1934) pages 142 – 146, pages 265 – 273, pages    (The English origins of the ancestors of Rev. John Fiske)

Genealogical Dictionary of New England, by James Savage,  Volume 2

The Notebook of Reverend John Fiske:  1644 – 1675, edited by Robert G. Pope, 1974

Fiske and Fisk Family, Being the record of the descendants of Symond Fiske, lord of the manor of Stadhaugh, Suffolk County, England, from the time of Henry IV to date, including all the American members of the family, compiled by Frederick C. Pierce, 1896,  also available online at archive.org

My FISKE genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Fiske, son of John Fiske and Anne Lawter, baptized 20 March 1608 at St. James, South Elmham, Suffolk, England, and died 14 January 1677 at Chelmsford, Massachusetts;  married first to Ann Gipps; married second on 1 August 1673 in Chelmsford to Elizabeth Unknown, widow of Edmund Henchman. Six children with Ann.

Generation 2: Anna Fiske, born 15 January 1646 in Wenham, died 30 May 1681 in Reading, Massachusetts; married on 30 May 1677 in Chelmsford to John Brown, so of Nicholas Brown and Elizabeth Unknown.  He was born about 1634 in Malford, Worcestershire, England and died 12 March 1717 in Reading. Two children.

Generation 3:  Mary Brown m. Peter Emerson

Generation 4:  Brown Emerson m. Sarah Townsend

Generation 5: John Emerson m. Katherine Eaton

Generation 6: Romanus Emerson m. Jemima Burnham

Generation 7: George Emerson m. Mary Esther Younger

Generation 8: Mary Katharine Emerson m. George E. Batchelder

Generation 9: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

Generation 10: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ FISKE of Salem, Wenham and Chelmsford, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 23, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/07/surname-saturday-fiske-of-salem-wenham.html: accessed [access date]).