A Visit to The Fairbanks House

The Fairbanks house is located at 511 East Street, Dedham, Massachusetts.  It was about an hour and twenty minutes from Manchester, New Hampshire, and located just outside of Boston.  The website has driving directions, and directions for anyone arriving by public transportation (bus or the commuter train).  This building is the oldest known wooden structure in North America, and was built by my ancestor Jonathan Fairbanks sometime between 1637 and 1641.  Jonathan, his wife Grace, and six children arrived from England in 1633, and lived in this house, which was passed down through the family for eight generations!  

1630       1930

FAIRBANKS HOUSE

Oldest house in Dedham.

Part of it built about 1636. Home-

stead of Jonathan Fairbanks

who, with his sons, John, George,

and Jonathan, Junior.  Signed

the Dedham Covenant September

10, 1636.  Ancestral home of the

late vice-president Fairbanks

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Massachusetts Bay Colony                

                       Tercentenary Commission

Although the 1930 sign and the chimney say that the house was built in 1636, dendrochronology tests show that the oldest wood in the house was from a tree felled in 1637.   Over the years many additions and rooms were added to this house.  The last changes were added in 1820, when the family fell unto hard times.  After this time period no modern conveniences were ever added to this house, so the building remains trapped in time.  There were never any plumbing, heat or electricity added to the building.  When you visit, you see the house as it was when the Fairbanks family lived here. 

The Fairbanks house remained in the Fairbanks family until it was the home of Rebecca Fairbanks (1827 - 1908), the unmarried 6th great granddaughter of Jonathan and Grace (Smith) Fairbanks.  The building became a museum in 1904, operated by the Fairbanks Family in America, a family association.  It is open for tours from May to October.   The family association still has an annual reunion, and this year it will held on Saturday August 11th.  See the website (below) for more information on the family association. 

FAIRBANKS HOUSE

Built 1636 by

JONATHAN FAIRBANKS

Here lived eight generations

to preserve and perpetuate this historic spot

The Fairbanks Family Association

acquired the property in 1903

Tablet placed by

Massachusetts Society Daughters of the American Colonists

1941

During our tour of the Fairbanks House the curator took apart this model, and rebuilt it as he showed how each generation added additions and rooms onto the original homestead.  

Jonathan Fairbanks came from Yorkshire, where he was built spinning wheels for his living. When he arrived in New England, he was the only settler for many miles who knew this skill.  As a result, he became very wealthy, since the people of the Massachusetts Bay Colony needed spinning wheels to produce their own clothing, rugs, blankets and other textiles.

The kitchen of the Fairbanks House

My Fairbanks genealogy:

Generation 1:  Jonathan Fairbanks, son of John Fairbanks and Isabella Staincliffe, born about 1594 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died 5 December 1668 in Dedham, Massachusetts; married on 20 May 1617 in Halifax to Grace Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith and Grace Gawkroger.  She was born 6 January 1600 in Warley, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire and died 28 November 1673 in Dedham.  Six children.

Generation 2: Jonas Fairbanks, born 6 March 1624/5 Sowerby, Halifax, and died 10 February 1676 in Lancaster, Massachusetts when he was killed during an Indian massacre; married on 28 May 1658 in Lancaster to Lydia Prescott, daughter of John Prescott and Mary Gawkroger.  She was born 15 August 1641 in Watertown, Massachusetts and died 31 December 1723 in Watertown.  She married second to Elias Barron.  Six Fairbanks children.

Generation 3:  Grace Fairbanks, born 15 September 1663 in Lancaster, died 11 August 1689 in Sherborn, Massachusetts; married about 1680 to Ephraim Bullen, son of Samuel Bullen and Mary Morse.  He was born 18 July 1653 in Sherborn and died 1690 in Sherborn.  Four children.

Generation 4:  John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 5:  Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healy

Generation 6:  Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 7:  Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 8:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 9:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

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The genealogy of the Fairbanks family members who lived in this house:

Generation 1:  Jonathan Fairbanks (about 1595 - 1668) and Grace Smith
Generation 2:  John Fairbanks (1618 - 1684) and his wife Sarah
Generation 3:  Joseph Fairbanks (1656 - 1734) and his wife Dorcas
Generation 4:  Joseph Fairbanks (1687 - 1753) and his wife Abigail
Generation 5:  Joseph Fairbanks (1717 - 1794) and his wife Frances, and his younger brother Ebenezer Fairbanks (1732- 1812) lived here with his wife Prudence.
Generation 6:  Ebenezer Fairbanks, Jr. (1758 - 1832) and his wife Mary
Generation 7:  Prudence (1781 - 1871), Sally (1790 - 1877), and Nancy (1794 - 1879) - three unmarried daughters of Ebenezer, Jr. left the house to an unmarried neice-
Generation 8:  Rebecca Fairbanks (1827 - 1908)

This painting "Old Fairbanks House, Dedham, Massachusetts", by Childe Hassam (1859 -1935) is at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts.  It is on display in the Lorraine and Alan Bressler Gallery (Gallery 222).    The artist is related to my mother through her LEACH, CHOATE and ALLEN lineages.  The artist was born Frederick Childe Hassam, son of Frederick Fitch Hassam and Rose Delia Hathorne.  

For the truly curious:

The Fairbanks House website (including the Fairbanks Family Association):     https://fairbankshouse.org/ 

The Fairbanks House Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/The-Fairbanks-House-129954507016357/ 

The Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633 - 1897, by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks,  1897.

The Fairbanks House: A History of the Oldest Timber-Frame Building in New England, by Abbott Lowell Cummings, published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2002.

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Visit to The Fairbanks House", Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 6, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/08/a-visit-to-fairbanks-house.html: accessed [accesss date]).

Surname Saturday ~ Morse of Dedham and Medfield, Massachusetts

MORSE / MOORS

My 10^th great grandfather, Samuel Morse (1576 – 1654) arrived on board the ship Increase in 1635 with his wife, Elizabeth, a son Joseph, and “Elizabeth Daniel”, age 2, a granddaughter.  His living children followed him to Massachusetts but were not listed on the Increase. The English origins of Samuel and Elizabeth have been written up in journals.  Samuel Morse is the son of Rev. Thomas Morse of Foxearth Essex, and his wife Elizabeth Jasper is the daughter of Lancelot Jasper and Rose Shephard of Suffolk.   See below for the journals with their English origins.

Upon arriving in New England, Samuel and Elizabeth Morse first lived in Watertown, and in 1636 Samuel and his sons Joseph and Daniel were each granted twelve acres in Dedham. In 1640 he was admitted to the church in Dedham, and a few months later he became a freeman.  He was one of the original nineteen settlers of Dedham.

The inventory of his estate calls him “Samuell Morse of Medfield, lately deceased”.  His will mentions his wife Elizabeth, John Morse, Daniell Morse, Mary Bullin & Ann Morse “the wife of my dearly beloved son Joseph deceased, who with my said children shall have an equal portion”.  The will was witnessed by two neighbors and Samuel Bullin, my 9^th great grandfather, husband of Mary, the youngest Morse child.

For more MORSE information:

The English origins of Samuel Morse were written up by G. Andrews Moriarty in The American Genealogist, Volume 24 (1949), pages 147 – 156.

A sketch of Samuel Morse by Robert Charles Anderson in The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 – 1635, Volume V, pages 170 – 177.

The Ancestry of Colonel John Harrington Stevens and his wife Frances Hellen Miller, by Mary Lovering Holman, 1951, (non paginated, sketches 15 – 18)  

Caveat - some errors – The Morse Genealogy: being a revision of the Memorial of the Morses published by Rev. Abner Morse in 1850, by Howard Morse and Emily Levitt, 1903

Also:

The English origins of Elizabeth (Jasper) Morse were written up by Myrtle Stevens Hyde in The American Genealogist, Volume 62 (1987), pages 235- 40.

My MORSE genealogy:

Generation 1:  Samuel Morse, son of Rev. Thomas Morse, baptized 12 June 1576 in Boxted, Essex, England, died in Medfield, Massachusetts 5 December 1654; married on 29 June 1602 in Redgrave, Suffolk, to Elizabeth Jasper, daughter of Lancelot Jasper and Rose Shepard.  She was baptized on 30 January 1579/80 in Redgrave, and died on 20 June 1655 in Medfield.  Seven children.

Generation 2: Mary Morse, baptized on 13 August 1620 in Burgate, Suffolk, died on 14 February 1688 in Sherborn, Massachusetts; married on 10 August 1641 in Dedham to Samuel Bullen.  Ten children

Generation 3:  Ephraim Bullen m. Grace Fairbanks

Generation 4: John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 5: Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healy

Generation 6: Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 7: Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 8: Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 9: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ Morse of Dedham and Medfield, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 26, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/05/surname-saturday-morse-of-dedham-and.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ UNDERWOOD of Hingham and Watertown, Massachusetts

UNDERWOOD

Joseph Underwood, my 9^th great grandfather, came to America with his brother, Thomas, and first settled in Hingham about 1637.  They removed to Watertown about 1645, where Joseph was admitted as a freeman. He married Martha Wilder, who had come from England with her widowed mother, a brother and a sister in 1638.  She gave him seven children before she died in 1658, and he remarried to Mary Howe of Dorchester, the daughter of Abraham Howe.

My 8^th great grandfather was Joseph Underwood, Jr. (about 1650 – 1691).  His wife was Elizabeth Bond, who survived him and remarried to William Bull in 1693.  My 7^th great grandmother is their daughter, Sarah (1687 – 1757) who married John Bullen in 1709. 

Some UNDERWOOD resources:

New Englanders in Nova Scotia, by F. F. Crowell, sketch No. 571 “UNDERWOOD”, a manuscript in long hand at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, by Henry Bond, 1860, page 610

NEHGS Register Volume 38 [1884], pages 400 - 403 "Underwood Families of Massachusetts", by Lucien M. Underwood.

My UNDERWOOD genealogy:

Generation 1:  Joseph Underwood, born about 1615 in London, England, died 16 February 1676/7 in Watertown, Massachusetts; married first about 1644 in Hingham to Mary Wilder, daughter of Thomas Wilder and Martha Unknown; married second on 29 April 1665 to Mary Howe.  Seven children.

Generation 2:  Joseph Underwood, born about 1650 in Watertown, died 7 April 1691 in Dorchester, Massachusetts; married Elizabeth Bond, daughter of William Bond.  She was born 30 November 1656 in Watertown and died 23 December 1729 in Watertown. Seven children.

Generation 3: Sarah Underwood, born 9 February 1687 in Watertown, died 18 September 1757 in Brimfield, Massachusetts; married on 31 August 1709 in Sherborn, Massachusetts to John Bullen, so of Ephraim Bullen and Grace Fairbanks.  He was born 22 February 1686 in Sherborn and died 28 January 1757 in Brimfield.  Five children.

Generation 4: Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healy

Generation 5: Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 6:  Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 7:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 8:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 9:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

------------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ UNDERWOOD of Hingham and Watertown, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 12, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/surname-saturday-underwood-of-hingham.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ FAIRBANKS of Dedham, Massachusetts

Fairbanks House, 1940, Dedham, Massachusetts

FAIRBANKS

Jonathan Fairbanks (abt 1594 – 1668), my 10^th great grandfather, came from Halifax in Yorkshire, England. He was the son of John Fairbanks (born about 1560) and Isabella Staincliffe, the grandson of George Fairbanks (born about 1530) and Sybil Wade, and the great grandson of Gilbert Fairbanks and his wife Janet.

Jonathan settled in Dedham with his wife and six children, and built the house which is still standing.  The Fairbanks House is  built of timber from England and is considered to be one of the oldest frame houses in the United States.  It remained in the Fairbanks house and has never been deeded or mortgaged, and has belonged to the Fairbanks Family Association since 1903.

Jonathan Fairbanks signed the Dedham Covenant in 1636.  His will names his wife and five surviving children.  I descend from their son Jonas (1624/5 – 1676), my 9^th great grandfather, who removed his family to Lancaster, Massachusetts where he was killed by the native Indians with his son Joshua on 10 February 1676.  His wife, Lydia Prescott remarried to Elias Barron as his second wife. 

My 8^th great grandmother was Grace Fairbanks (1663 – 1689), who was orphaned when her father was killed in Lancaster at age 12.  She married Ephraim Bullen of Sherborn and had four children.  My Fairbanks lineage daughters out here.  The next generation removed to Brimfield, Massachusetts, and the next generation to Nova Scotia, Canada as planters upon the removal of the Acadians.

For more information on the Fairbanks family:

Dedham Town Records 1:28

Genealogy of the Fairbanks Family in America, 1633 - 1897, by Lorenzo Sayles Fairbanks, 1897

"The English Ancestry of Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham, Massachusetts" by Clarence Almon Torrey, The American Genealogist, Volume 37 [1961]: pages 65 - 72.

"Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham, Massachusetts and his family in the West Riding of Yorkshire", by Ruth Fairbanks Joseph and James Swan Landberg, The New England Historic Genealogical Register, Volume 166, pages 165 - 187.

My FAIRBANKS genealogy:

Generation 1:  Jonathan Fairbanks, son of John Fairbanks and Isabella Staincliffe, born about 1594 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died 5 December 1668 in Dedham, Massachusetts; married on 20 May 1617 in Halifax to Grace Smith, daughter of Samuel Smith and Grace Gawkroger.  She was born 6 January 1600 in Warley, Halifax Parish, Yorkshire and died 28 November 1673 in Dedham.  Six children.

Generation 2: Jonas Fairbanks, born 6 March 1624/5 Sowerby, Halifax, and died 10 February 1676 in Lancaster, Massachusetts; married on 28 May 1658 in Lancaster to Lydia Prescott, daughter of John Prescott and Mary Gawkroger.  She was born 15 August 1641 in Watertown, Massachusetts and died 31 December 1723 in Watertown.  She married second to Elias Barron.  Six Fairbanks children.

Generation 3:  Grace Fairbanks, born 15 September 1663 in Lancaster, died 11 August 1689 in Sherborn, Massachusetts; married about 1680 to Ephraim Bullen, son of Samuel Bullen and Mary Morse.  He was born 18 July 1653 in Sherborn and died 1690 in Sherborn.  Four children.

Generation 4:  John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 5:  Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healy

Generation 6:  Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 7:  Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 8:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 9:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

The photo above is from the Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Historic American Buildings Survey HABS MASS, 11-DED, 1-9, Jonathan Fairbanks House 511 East Street, Dedham, Massachusetts, General View from South East. Created 1 May 1940.


A previous blog post about the PRESCOTT family:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-saturday-prescott-of-lancaster.html

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ FAIRBANKS of Dedham, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 5, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/05/surname-saturday-fairbanks-of-dedham.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ BULLEN of Medfield, Dedham, and Sherborn, Massachusetts

BULLEN house, Sherborn, MA

BULLEN / BULLIN /  BULLEY  / BULLAN

Samuel Bullen (about 1617 - 1691), my 9th great grandfather, is of unknown origins. When he arrived in Massachusetts from England he was an indentured servant to Jonathan Fairbanks of Dedham.  He signed the Dedham Compact in 1639 and he took the freeman's oath in 1641, after his indenture was complete.  He also married Mary Morse in 1641 and owned a house in Dedham by 1646.

When Medfield was settled in 1651 he was one of the first thirteen original settlers.  The town was attacked during King Phillip's War, and 32 houses were burned, including Samuel Bullen's home.  The family relocated to Sherborn to be near Mary's brother, Daniel Morse.  This is when the house on Brush Hill Road was built.

Later, in 1679,  Samuel was able to petition for his losses during the war and he returned to Medfield and rebuilt his house.  He became a Medfield selectman in 1682 and was chosen to be a deacon in 1689.

Samuel Bullen has two grave markers, an original field stone and a memorial erected 100 years later by his descendants in the Vine Lake Cemetery in Medfield, Massachusetts.  You can see photographs at the Find A Grave website at this link:
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/30823812/samuel-bullen 

His son Ephraim (1653 - 1690), my 8th great grandfather, married Grace Fairbanks, the granddaughter of Jonathan Fairbanks, his father's master during his indentured servitude.  They lived in Sherborn and four children.  I descend from their son John (1686 - 1757), my 7th great grandfather who removed to Brimfield in western Massachusetts.  This is where my lineage daughters out, with their daughter Grace (born 1727) in Brimfield, my 6th great grandmother, who married Ebenezer Healy and removed to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

For more information:

History of the Towns of Sherborn and Holliston, by Rev. Abner Morse

History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts 1650 - 1886, by William S. Tilden, 1887, page 334

Memorial of the Morses, by Rev. Abner Morse

New England Historical Genealogical Register,  Volume 83 (1929), pages 291 - 293.

Samuel Bullen and Some of His Descendants, by May Philipps Train, 1941 



My BULLEN genealogy:

Generation 1:  Samuel Bullen, born about 1617 in England, died 16 January 1691/2 in Medfield, Massachusetts; married on 10 August 1641 Medfield to Mary Morse, daughter of Samuel Morse and Elizabeth Jasper.  She was baptized on 13 August 1620 in Redgrave, Suffolk, England and died 14 February 1688 in Sherborn, Massachusetts.  Ten children.

Generation 2:  Ephraim Bullen, born 18 July 1653 in Dedham, died 1690 in Sherborn; married about 1680 to Grace Fairbanks, daughter of Jonas Fairbanks and Lydia Prescott.  She was born 15 September 1663 in Lancaster, Massachusetts, and died 11 August 1689 in Sherborn.  Four children.

Generation 3:  John Bullen, born 22 February 1686 in Sherborn, died 28 January 1757 in Brimfield, Massachusetts; married 31 August 1709 in Sherborn to Sarah Underwood, daughter of Joseph Underwood and Elizabeth Unknown.  She was born 9 February 1687 in Watertown, and died 18 September 1757 in Brimfield.  One known child.

Generation 4:  Grace Bullen, born 1727 in Brimfield; married Ebenezer Healy, son of Paul Healy and Elizabeth Unknown.  He was born 21 January 1708 in Rehoboth, and died 14 February 1777 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Eight children.

Generation 5: Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen
Generation 6: Comfort Healey m. Rebecca Crosby
Generation 7: Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston
Generation 8: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil
Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings
Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)


The photo above this blog post is from Wikimedia
John Phelan, "Sawin-Bullen-Bullard House, Sherborn, Massachusetts", Wikimedia, April 2010, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sawin-Bullen-Bullard_House,_Sherborn_MA.jpg 

Click here to read a historic survey by the town of Sherborn on the Bullen House:
https://www.sherbornma.org/sites/sherbornma/files/uploads/52.pdf


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ BULLEN of Dedham, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 28, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/surname-saturday-bullen-of-dedham.html: accessed [access date]).

Family Reunions, 2015

Members of the Balch and Woodbury families tour the 1679 Balch House
during the 2014 "Old Planters" Family Reunion in Beverly, Massachusetts

Summer is time for family reunions!  The following list of family reunions and family association meetings are taking place in New England, or are families descended from New England settlers.  If you know of one I didn’t list, please email me at vrojomit@gmail.com or leave a message in the comments:

WING -  June 19 – 21, at the Plaza Hotel, Salt Lake City, Utah, the 2015 Wing Family Reunion,  for descendants of the Reverend John and Deborah Wing.  http://www.wingfamily.org/reunions.html

LINELL – June 26 – 28 at the Sheraton Four Points, Eastham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts for the 10^th Annual Linnell Family Reunion   http://www.linnellfamilyassociation.com/Reunion/2015/Reunion_2015_Registration_Form.pdf

MANNING -  June 27, at the Manning Manse, Billerica, Massachusetts, Annual meeting and gathering.  http://www.manningassociation.org/newsletters/messenger_2015_03.pdf   (held on the fourth Saturday of June annually)

GRINNELL-  July 9 – 12 in New Bedford, Massachusetts for the Grinnell Family Association of America, descendants of Matthew and Rose Grinnell.  http://www.grinnellfamily.org/

STILES – July 9 -12, Stiles Family Reunion at the Wingate Hotel, Erlanger, Kentucky, meeting, genealogy, group photo, tours, meals http://www.stilesfamilyofamerica.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-sfa-Reunion-info.pdf

PHELPS Family Reunion in Windsor, Connecticut - for descendants of Willaim and George Phelps - July 11, 2015.  Please join the FB group Phelps Famly Reunion in Windsor for more details:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/236219789837169

ELDRED - July 12 at Lake Eden, Eden, Vermont the 75^th Annual Eldred Family Reunion.  Held every year on the 2^nd Sunday in July.   http://eldredreunion.com/

BLAISDELL/BLASDEL -  July 16 – 19, at the Holiday Inn Portsmouth, 300 Woodbury Avenue, Portsmouth, Maine, The Blaisdell National Family Reunion, with tours of York and Pemaquid, Maine, and also a tour of the Blaisdell clock makers in Amesbury, Massachusetts.  http://www.blaisdell.org/BFNA%20Reunion%202015%20Schedule.doc.pdf

BOTSFORD and PLATT - July 17 and 18, at the Botsford Homestead, 84 Gunn Street, Milford, Connecticut, The Botsford and Platt family associations joint reunion.  Contact Richard N. Platt at rnplatt@optimum.net or Michelle Narus at michelle@ivy-design.com for more information.

ADAMS Family Association of Wilton, ME annual reunion July 18, 2015 at Kineowatha Park, Wilton, ME. See www.adamsfamilyassociation.info  for details.

FOLSOM -  The 100^th Anniversary Folsom Family Assocation Reunion will be held in Exeter, New Hampshire July 22 – 26, 2015.  http://www.folsomfamily.org/Other%20Pages/National%20Reunion%20and%20Conference.html

FOOTE – July 23 – 26, at Salt Lake City, the Foote Educational Conference (held every two years) under the auspices of the Foote Family Association of America FFAA, for descendants of Nathaniel Foote of Wetherfield, Connecticut.  http://footefamily.org/reunion2015.html

FELTON Family Association annual reunion,  24 -25 July 2015,  at the Nathaniel Felton Jr. and Nathaniel Felton Sr. homesteads on Felton Hill in Peabody, Massachusetts.  Check the website http://www.feltonfamily.org/Events_and_Products.html

PARSONS – July 25 at Stocking Hall, Cornell University,  Ithaca, New York the 93^rd Parsons Family Reunion.  See the newsletter online for more information, http://www.parsonsfamilyassn.org/Cornet_chronical_spring_2015_kbg_4_print_v1__2_.pdf

RUSH – July 25 – August 1, Rush Family Reunion in Benedicta, Maine, held every five years for the descendants of Johann Diederich Rashe (1800 – 1874) and Sarah Theresea Schmidt (1812 – 1856), who came to the US in 1833.  http://rushreunionbenedicta.blogspot.com/

LILLIBRIDGE -  July 25, the Lillibridge National Family Reunion, at Exeter, Rhode Island, located at the Canonicus Camp and Conference Center.  https://lillibridgereunions.wordpress.com/

LOCKE Family Association meeting; July 31-August 2 in Portsmouth, NH - info submitted by David Wilson, The 125th reunion of descendants of Rye, NH founder John Locke.  See this website http://www.lockefamilyassociation.org/reunions.html

SHELDON - July 31 to August 2^nd, Sacremento, California, the Sheldon Family Association Reunion http://www.sheldonfamily.org/2015reunion/2015meeting.htm

McINTIRE-  August 1, 11am McIntire Family Reunion, at the Barn at the the York Historical Society. Bring a lunch and a dessert to share.  We're collecting Scottish recipes, bring yours to share.  

OLD BROAD BAY FAMILY HISTORY ASSOCIATION-  August 1st, a reunion of the descendants of the German Settlers at Old Broad Bay, Waldeboro, Maine.  The meeting will take place at the Knox-Lincoln County Extension, 377 Manktown Road, in Waldeboro at 9am.  See the website for more information and a list of surnames:  http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~meobbfha/

RICHARDS – August 3 – 7, Ocean Edge Resort and Golf Club, Brewster, Cape Cod, Massachusetts  http://richardsreunion.com/reservations-2/

STEERE -  The 85^th Annual Steere Family Association Reunion to be held August 7 – 9 in Chepachet, Rhode Island for descendants of John Steer.  See this newsletter PDF for more information: http://steerefamily.com/reunion_schedule.pdf

FAIRBANKS - August 8, the 113^th Annual Fairbanks Reunion at the Fairbanks House in Dedham, Massachusetts.  Email homestead@fairbankshouse.org to receive the newsletter with more information or call 781-326-1170 or see the website www.fairbankshouse.org

KIMBALL  - The Kimball Family Association annual reunion will be held August 14 and 15 at the Best Western Plus hotel in Haverhill, Massachusetts.  There will be a business meeting of the association, a trip to the Bradford Burial Ground, and other tour to historic sites.   http://www.kimballfamilyassociation.com/

COLBY – The 62^nd Annual Colby Clan Reunion will be held August 14 and 15^th at Bow, New Hampshire, for descendants of Anthony and Susannah Colby.

 http://www.colby-family-association.org/2015%20march_colby%20news.pdf

KALLOCH – August 15, at the Congregational Church, 172 St. George Road, South Thomaston, Maine,  see www.http://kalloch.org or the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kalloch-Family-Reunion-Association/163290497023722

DENISON - GALLUP -  August 15 will be a combined reunion of the Denison and Gallup families at the Coogan Farm and Nature Center in Mystic, Connecticut.  Contact Julie Souto for more information juiss8814@yahoo.com 

MEADER – The Meader Family Association, descendants of John Meader of Piscataqua, who settled near the mouth of the Oyster River by Durham, New Hampshire around 1647, has an annual reunion August 28 and 29 in Manassas, Virginia.  http://www.themeaderfamily.org/Pages/reunion2015.html

HARLOW -  75^th Annual Reunion of the Sgt. William Harlow Family Association will be held August 29 – 30 at the Beal House in Kingston, Massachusetts and at the Harlow Old Fort House on Sandwich Street, Plymouth, Massachusetts.  http://www.harlowfamily.com/current_events.htm

MAYFLOWER Society General Board of Assistants Meeting, September 9 - 13th at Foxwoods Casino, Connecticut.  See your Mayflower Quarterly for more information and registration forms, or the website https://www.themayflowersociety.org/2015-gboa-meeting/schedule-of-events

NICKERSON -  The Nickerson Family Association Annual Reunion will be held September 11 – 13 in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  http://www.nickersonassoc.org/togethering.shtml

HARRIMAN-  September 12, at the First Parish Church, 50 Church Street, Waltham, Massachusetts, The Harriman Family Association Meeting and Reunion, for the descendants of Leonard and John Harriman, immigrants to Rowley, Massachusetts and New Haven, Connecticut circa 1638.  http://www.harriman-family.org/

TOWNE Family Reunion -  September 18 - 20th, for descendants of William Towne and Joanna Blessing of Topsfield, Massachusetts at Vancouver, Washington.  See the website for details and registration http://townefolk.com/testing/TFA_MEET.php

HATCH – September 11 – 13 at Falmouth, Massachusetts for the Hatch Family Association   http://www.hatchfamilyassoc.org/reunion.htm

DENNISON - GALLUP - August 15, the combined Dennison and Gallup family reunion will be held at the Coogan Farm Nature and Heritage Center in Mystic, Connecticut.

LEAVITT - September 18 - 19, Descendants of John Leavitt of Hingham, Massachusetts and Thomas Leavitt of Hampton, New Hampshire will meet at Leavitt Hill in Deerfield, New Hampshire.  See the website for more details.  http://www.leavitts.org/ 

TENNEY-  September 18 – 20^th, in Upshur County, West Virginia, The Tenney Family Association Reunion, for descendants of immigrant John Tenney of Rowley, Massachusetts.

http://10efamily.org/2015-annual-reunion-in-upshur-county-west-virginia/

NYE – September 19, 2015 at the Benjamin Nye Homestead and Museum in East Sandwich, Massachusetts.  Annual business meeting, lunch, afternoon and evening programs.  See the fall newsletter of the Nye Family of America Association, or this website:  http://www.nyefamily.org/home/family-reunion

RICE -  September 25 -26, the Edmund Rice Association meets up at the Wayside Inn in Sudbury, Massachusetts.  http://www.edmund-rice.org/reunion.htm  

Upcoming next year:

CRANDALL   Crandall Family Association – Upcoming 2016 reunion, see the Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/Crandall.descendants

WINCHESTER,  June 17 – 19, 2016 at Digby Pines, Digby, Nova Scotia.  For descendants of Nathan Winchester, who came to Nova Scotia from Framingham, Massachusetts about 1760.  For registration and schedule of events contact Jim Greenwood at thewinchesterreunion@gmail.com  and for genealogy information contact Mr. Schani Biermann at ussenterprise1701@accesscomm.ca

GRISWOLD Family Association:  Contact@griswoldfamily.org  for more info. We are planning to visit Boston MA in 2016 and tour in Griswold country in the UK in 2017.

LOOMIS Family Reunion, July 1, 2018 - July 14, 2018.   https://www.facebook.com/events/406026092817497/

DOANE  The 54^th Biennial Reunion of the Doane Family Association will be in the summer of 2016.  http://www.doanefamilyassociation.org/dfacalendar.html

THAYER -  July 1 – 4, 2016 at the West Point, New York historic Thayer Hotel http://www.thayerfamilies.com/

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Family Reunions, 2015", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 8, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/06/family-reunions-2015.html : accessed [access date])

Surname Saturday ~ Prescott of Lancaster, Massachusetts

PRESCOTT

John Prescott was a blacksmith in Sowerby, in the parish of Halifax, Yorkshire, England.  He came to Barbados in 1628, and then to Watertown Massachusetts about 1640 with his wife and first four children.  In about 1645 or 1646 they removed to the Nashaway Plantation, which became the town of Lancaster, Massachusetts.  He was admitted as a freeman in 1669.  He built the first gristmill and sawmills in Lancaster.   In 1900 a bronze marker was placed near where John Prescott’s mill once stood. 

Lancaster was several miles inland from the Massachusetts coast, in an isolated area of Worcester County.  Because of the remote location it was attacked by the local Indians during King Phillip’s War on 10 February 1676, and the town was abandoned for several years.  Eventually the Prescott family removed back to Lancaster.   There are legends of John Prescott going about in his chain mail and sword to defend himself against another Indian attack.   Unfortunately he was killed in another Indian massacre in 1681, along with his grandson, Ephraim Sawyer.  There were many Indian raids through the years, killing many members of the Prescott family in Lancaster.

One of those legends is in the book The Wheeler Family of Rutland, Massachusetts by Daniel Merrick Wheeler, 1924 : “John was a sturdy, strong man of stern countenance, and whenever he had any difficulty with the Indians he would clothe himself with his coat of mail, helmet, cuirass, and gorget, which gave him a fierce and frightful appearance.  They having once stolen from him a horse, he put on his armour and pursued them; and in a short time overtook the party.  They were surprised to see him along, and a chief approached him with uplifted tomahawk.  John told him to strike, which he did, and finding the blow made no impression on his cap, he was much astonished… They gave him up his horse, thinking him to be a supernatural being.”

John Prescott has no surviving headstone, but a memorial was erected at the Old Burial Ground in Lancaster and it reads:

“Here with his children about him lies John Prescott Founder of Lancaster and first settler of Worcester County Born at Standish Lancashire England Died at Lancaster Massachusetts Dec. 1681 Inspired by the love of liberty and the fear of God This stout hearted pioneer Forsaking the pleasant vales of England And encountered wide beast and savage to secure freedom for himself and his posterity His faith and virtues have been inherited by many descendants who in every generation have well served the state In war, in literature, at the bar, in the pulpit, in public life, And in Christian homes”

There are many books about John Prescott and his family history.  There is an old book The Prescott Memorial or a Genealogical Memoir of the Prescott Families in America in Two Parts, by William Prescott, MD, 1870 that is fairly reliable.  You can read it at Google Books.   There is another book The Descent of John Prescott, Founder of Lancaster, Massachusetts, 1645, from Alfred the Great, King of England by Frederick Lewis Weis, 1948 is less reliable on the English origins of this family, as is the update published in 1957.  You will have better luck reading up on the descendants of John Prescott in the town histories of Lancaster, the town military annals, and in the various vital records of the town. 

Randy Seaver, author of the genealogy blog “GeneaMusings” www.geneamusings.com is also a descendant of John Prescott, and has written several blog posts about him.  Another descendant is genealogy blogger Bill West at “West in New England”  http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/   There are many famous Prescott descendants including Colonel William Prescott of the Battle of Bunker Hill, Doctor Samuel Prescott who accompanied Paul Revere during the Lexington alarm, and William H. Prescott, historian of Mexico and Peru. 

My Prescott genealogy (note that at least five people named below died in massacres):

Generation 1:  John Prescott, born about 1604 in Standish, Lancastershire, England, died 20 December 1681 in Lancaster, Massachusetts; married on 11 April 1629 in Sowerby, Halifax, Yorkshire, England to Mary Platts alias Gawkroger.  She was born 15 May 1607 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England and died after 1678 in Lancaster, England.  Eight children, the first four baptized in England.

1. Mary, (see below)  My 8^th great grandmother.

2. Martha, bap. 11 March 1632, m. John Rugg, died after childbirth in 1656

3. John, bap. 1 Paril 1635, m. Sarah Hayward

4. Sarah, bap. 1637, m1. Richard Wheeler who was killed in the Lancaster Indian massacre of 1676, m2 Joseph Rice

5. Hannah, probably b. Barbados 1639, m. John Rugg her sister’s widower.  He was killed in the Lancaster Indian massacre of 1697.

6. Lydia, b. 15 August 1641 m1 Jonas Fairbank who was killed with son Joshua in Lancaster Indian massacre of 1676. (see below)   She is my 8^th great aunt and also my 9^th great grandmother.

7.  Jonathan, b. about 1640 m1. Dorothy Unknown, m2 Elizabeth Hoar, m3 Rebecca Bulkeley, m4 Ruth Brown

8. Jonas, b. 1648 in Lancaster, m. Mary Loker

1^st lineage:

Generation 2: Mary Prescott, baptized on 24 February 1630 in Sowerby, died in April 1716 in Lancester, Massachusetts; married on 2 July 1648 in Rowley, Massachusetts to Thomas Sawyer, born 1616 in England, died 12 September 1706 in Lancaster.  Thirteen children.

Generation 3:  Joshua Sawyer m. Sarah Wright

Generation 4: Mary Sawyer m. Robert Converse

Generation 5:  Susanna Converse m. Caleb Simonds

Generation 6:  Ruth Simonds m. Andrew Munroe

Generation 7:  Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 8:  Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 9:  Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

2^nd lineage:

Generation 2: Lydia Prescott, born 15 August 1641 in Watertown, d. 31 December 1723 in Watertown; married Jonas Fairbanks on 28 May 1658 in Lancaster.  He was the son of Jonathan Fairbanks and Grace Smith, born 6 March 1625 in Dedham, Massachusetts, died in the Lancaster Indian massacre of 10 February 1676, along with his son Joshua.  Six children.  Lydia remarried to Elias Barron.

Generation 3:  Grace Fairbanks m. Ephraim Bullen

Generation 4: John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 5: Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healey

Generation 6: Comfort Healey m. Abigail Allen

Generation 7:  Comfort Healey m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 8: Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 9: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

This means that I am descended from John Prescott on both my maternal and paternal side!

UPDATE:   There is a great blog post with lots of photos of John Prescott's gravesite and other views of the Old Settler's Burial Field in Lancaster at Michael Auger's blog:
http://michaelsgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/11/old-settlers-burial-field-lancaster.html

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To Cite/Link to this post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Prescott of Lancaster, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 9, 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-saturday-prescott-of-lancaster.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ Platts / Gawkroger of Massachusetts

PLATTS / GAWKROGER

The Platts - Bradstreet House in Rowley

The Platts family can be difficult to trace due to the fact that the name was originally not Platts but Gawkroger!   The “Gawkrogers of Platts” lived in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England had several family members come to New England.  Some descendants were known as just Platts when they arrived here.  I’m descended of two of the family members who came to Massachusetts.

Samuel Platts arrived in Rowley, north of Boston, about 1653 with his first wife, Sarah and several children.  More children were born in Rowley, and he remarried in 1681 to Phillippa Andrews, widow of George Felt of Salem.   She married third to Thomas Nelson.   His house is still standing in Rowley, and is owned by the Historical Society.   It was previously owned by Joseph Jewett.  

Mary Gawkroger was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, and married John Prescott in 1629 in Sowerby.  They came with their first children to Watertown, Massachusetts and eventually settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts.  They had eight children in all, and endured many Indian raids in Lancaster.  Mary was the cousin of Samuel Platts, their fathers were the brothers Abram and James Gawkroger. 

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My Gawkroger lineage:

Generation 1: James Gawkroger, born 1546 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died in March 1592; married on 2 December 1571 in Halifax to Joan Fairbanks, daughter of George Fairbanks and Sybil Wade.  Two sons, Abram and James.

A. Generation 2:  Abram Gawkroger, baptized 21 November 1574 in Halifax, died 1625 in Warley, Yorkshire; married on 16 May 1604 in Halifax to Martha Riley, daughter of Thomas Riley. 

Generation 3:  Mary Gawkroger, born 15 May 1607 in Halifax, died after 1678 in Lancaster, Massachusetts;  married on 11 April 1629 in Sowerby, Halifax to John Prescott, son of Ralph Prescott and Helen Unknown.  He was born about 1604 in Standish, Lancastershire, England, and died 20 December 1681 in Lancaster, Massachusetts.  Eight children.

Generation 4:   Mary Prescott m. Thomas Sawyer

Generation 5:  Joshua Sawyer m. Sarah Wright

Generation 6: Mary Sawyer m. Robert Convers

Generation 7: Susanna Converse m. Caleb Simonds

Generation 8: Ruth Simonds m. Andrew Munroe

Generation 9:  Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 10: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 11:  Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 12:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Also

Generation 4: Lydia Prescott (sister to Mary above) m. Jonas Fairbanks

Generation 5: Grace Fairbanks m. Ephraim Bullen

Generation 6: John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 7: Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healey

Generation 8: Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 9: Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 10:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 11: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 12: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 13. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

B. Generation 2: James Gawkroger, baptized 7 September 1578 in Sowerby, died 6 October 1628 in Sowerby; married on 5 September 1601 in Sowerby to Margaret Ainsworth.  Eleven children.

Generation 3: Samuel Platts, born 10 January 1617 in Sowerby, died before 1690 in Rowley, Massachusetts; married in 1647 to Sarah. She died on 10 April 1671 in Rowley, and he remarried on 19 December 1681 in Rowley to Phillipa Andrews, widow of George Felt.  She remarried, after Samuel Platts’s death, to Thomas Nelson on 9 April 1690 in Rowley.  Thomas Nelson was previously married to Ann Lambert and Mary Lunt.  Samuel Platts and Sarah had six children.

Generation 4: Abel Platts, born about 1650, died in 1690 on an expedition to Cape Breton, Canada; married on 8 May 1672 in Rowley to Lydia Bailey, daughter of James Bailey and Lydia Emery.  She was born in September 1644 in Rowley, and died 24 November 1722 in Rowley.

Generation 5: Moses Platts, born 4 February 1673 in Rowley, died 30 March 1739 in Rowley; married on 22 November 1693 to Hannah Platts, daughter of Jonathan Platts and Elizabeth Johnson.  [I suspect that Jonathan Platts is a member of the same Platts family but I have not determined how he is related]  Nine children.

Generation 6: Moses Platts, born 9 April 1707 in Rowley, died before 1753 on an expedition to Louisburg, Nova Scotia, like his grandfather, Abel Platts.   Moses married Ruth William on 2 December 1731 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, daughter of Daniel Williams and Alice Allen, born on 13 June 1710 in Manchester, Massachusetts.  Seven children.

Generation 7. Sarah Platts, born 26 August 1735 in Gloucester, died after 1803; married on 18 December 1760 in Danvers, Massachusetts to George Southwick, son of John Southwick and Mary Trask, born about 1726 and died before 1808 in Danvers.  Seven children.

Generation 8: Mary Southwick m. Robert Wilson

Generation 9: Mercy F. Wilson m. Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 10: Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 11: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 12: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Wedding Serendipity

Our family tree is growing a new branch!  Last month our daughter was engaged to be married, and she jumped right into wedding planning.  She has always dreamed of being married in a historical house with some family connection.  Fortunately for her, there are many houses in our area that were lived in by ancestors and their close kin.  She was on line researching houses, and on the phone with many of them that made her “short list”.

My daughter’s first choice was the Fairbanks house, which was built by her 11x great grandfather, Jonathan Fairbanks (abt 1594 – 1668), in Dedham, Massachusetts.  It was built between 1637 and 1641.  She loved the fairytale look of the crooked roof line, and the history.  However, the house and grounds were too small for a big wedding.  It has hosted small weddings in the past.  There were no kitchen facilities for a caterer.  Disappointed, she moved on down the list.

The Mayflower House, Plymouth, MA

Next was the Mayflower House in Plymouth, which is used by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants as their headquarters.  If you have used the library, you have been there.  It has a lovely rose garden in the back, where I have attended garden parties for the Mayflower Society’s Trienniel Congresses every three years.  This garden was too small for a reception tent, but would be perfect for a wedding ceremony.  My daughter decided to move on down the list…

The 2000 Felton Family Reunion, Peabody, MA

The Felton Houses in Peabody, Massachusetts were built by her 10x great grandfather, Nathaniel Felton (abt 1615 – 1705).  The Nathaniel Felton, Sr. house was built about 1650, and later divided in half to build the Nathaniel, Jr. house next door.  Both houses have large additions and gardens.  There is a barn across the street used for functions, and our family is familiar with this from the Felton Family Association reunions held every summer in the barn.  There is room for a tent near some beautiful orchards.  My daughter was not in love with the site (perhaps it was too familiar to her from the family reunions?) so we moved on down the list.

The Francis Wyman House, Burlington, MA

The Wyman house, built in Burlington, Massachusetts in 1666 by her 10x great grandfather, Francis Wyman (1617 – 1699), is lovely, but has no bathrooms, kitchen or proper place for a party.  There are plans to erect a barn on the grounds in the near future, especially for functions and rentals.  Too bad, because my daughter lives right in Burlington and that would have been handy! 

The next house was the Larz Anderson Auto Museum in Brookline, Massachusetts, which is inside a lovely carriage house that looks like a Loire castle.   The manor house that used to be behind it was destroyed years ago to form a town park.  Many weddings are held on the great lawn, with the “castle” in the background.  It was a bit too formal, too expensive, and not really owned by an ancestor, just a close cousin since Larz Anderson married Isabel Weld Perkins, and we have both Perkins and Weld ancestors.  Next…

The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts sounded perfect.  I've passed by this old house many times and have seen weddings and functions going on in the yard.  It was built by Reverend William Emerson in 1770, who was Ralph Waldo Emerson's grandfather, and is my 1st cousin 7 generations removed.  Our Emerson ancestors lived for a long time in Concord.   The Old Manse is a very romantic house because Nathaniel Hawthorne lived here for a short time and etched love poems to his wife on the window panes.  It is also located right next door to the Concord Minuteman statue and the Old North Bridge for some delightful wedding photos, but would make her wedding right in the middle of lots of tourists and gawking.  The Old Manse didn't quite fit my daughter's plans either. 

I could tell that my daughter was becoming a bit frustrated in her search, since there were so many choices, and none were perfect.  She confessed that she always like the Pierce House in Lincoln, Massachusetts.  She used to pass it every day when she worked nearby at the DeCordova Museum.  It was beautiful, historical, and who cared if it didn’t belong to a member of the family tree.  We all went to visit it and she loved it so much that we put down a deposit for a day next spring.  My husband took a photo of the portrait of John H. Pierce that was in the hallway.  I asked the caretaker if he was descended of the Pierce’s of Watertown, Massachusetts (a wild guess!).  He told me that he didn’t know the family genealogy, but he knew that his real name was Hoar, and he changed it to Pierce.

Here we are at the Pierce  House

Undaunted, when I got home I took a look at my Pierce family tree on the computer.  I found an article about John Howard Pierce online, and how his father, Abijah Pierce Hoar, had changed the surname.  Abijah’s mother was Susanna Pierce.  I found her already listed in my database as a 5^th cousin, 6 generations removed.  This was a rather distant kinship, but fun to tell my daughter about the connection.  However, before I called her I looked at John Howard Pierce’s wife’s name, Mary Elizabeth Wheeler.   She had six common ancestors with us (Coolidge, Hubbard, Heyward, two Munroe lines, and Stone).  Now, that was interesting! 

We’ll have to put a family tree under that portrait of John. H. Pierce on the wedding day!

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For more information, check this list.  One of these historic Massachusetts houses could be perfect for your next function or wedding!:

The Fairbanks House, Dedham, MA http://www.fairbankshouse.org/index.html

The Mayflower House, Plymouth, MA http://www.themayflowersociety.com/museum

The Nathaniel Felton, Sr. and Jr. Houses, Peabody, MA http://www.peabodyhistorical.org/properties.asp

The Francis Wyman House, Burlington, MA http://www.wyman.org/francis-wyman-house

The Larz Anderson Estate, Brookline, MA http://larzanderson.org/
The Old Manse http://www.thetrustees.org/places-to-visit/greater-boston/old-manse.html 

The Pierce House, Lincoln, MA http://www.piercehouse.com/

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Wedding Serendipity", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 9, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/04/wedding-serendipity.html: accessed [access date]).