Little Musical Performers in Boston 1905

 

from The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), 22 March 1905, Wednesday, page 7

 "BRIGHT LITTLE ARTISTS

Give Marked Evidence of the Instruction They Have Received

    The pupils of Miss Isabel Florence gave an excellent entertainment for their friends last evening in the Children's theatre, Huntington chambers.  Many of the little artists have had only a limited number of lessons, yet their first public appearance on the stage gave evidence of much careful training, and brought forth much well deserved applause.

The program was varied, including character sketches, instrumental music and fancy dances.  Without exception all contributing to the program proved to be possessed of an artistic spirit.

The opening number was a merry circle of little artists, that gave the admiring parents and friends that comprised the audience, an inkling of the instruction the children were receiving.  Those who appeared were Baby Helena, Dorothy Nolan, Helen Jolly, Celia Deutschmann and Marjorie Boyd, the Jarvis sisters, Estelle Seeley, Helen Sylvester and Little Gladys and Helen, as Sambo and Dinah, the hit of "Humpty Dumpty."

Josephine Kirkland gave a dance, and Matilda Yannetta, 10 years old, executed two difficult harp solos.  Bonnie and Hazen Jarvis danced the minuet in a delightfully graceful manner. Eva Lee, aged 8 years, played two piano solos, and then Hermia DeLisle danced a hornpipe, followed by Stella Rothwell in a lively Irish jig.

Matilda and Adelaide Yannetta gave a skirt dance, and Gladys Gilbert executed a jocky toe dance that won much praise. The program closed with an amusing little sketch, which served to introduce Baby Goldie, a 4-year old pupil."

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I found this article online recently during a recent, free weekend of access to Newspapers.com.  My son-in-law has some interesting ancestors from French Canada, Ireland, colonial New England and Italy.  His Italian ancestors were particularly musical, and included his great-great grandparents Dominic Ianetta and Maria Carmella Grosse.  I have not done much Italian genealogy research, but the first thing I learned about the Ianetta family was that there are dozens of spellings of this surname.  This little article appeared in my search at Newspapers.com only after I tried every variation I could think of, and then a few more! 

Dominic Ianetta (1865 - 1952) of Caserta, Campania, Italy married Maria Carmella Grosse (1871 - 1921) of Belmonte Castello, Frosinone, Lazio, Italy on 10 December 1893 in Boston, Massachusetts.  They had eleven children, all born in Boston's North End:

1.  Matilda Angela, born 7 March 1894, died 1993, married Vincent DiPersio

2.  Adelina Laura, born 21 March 1895, died 1977, married Albert Don Safallo

3.  Salvino Angelo "Jimmy", born 29 November 1897, died 1991, married Teresa Marie Galiano

4. Marie, born 28 March 1899, died young 28 August 1899

5. Florence Rose, born 17 November 1900, died 1939, unmarried

6. Alfred Raffaele, born 10 October 1902, died 1947, married Mildred Nuzzolo

7. Lawrence Blasio, born 3 February 1904, died 1981, married Marian Stowe Harris

8. George, born 22 February 1907, died 1934, married Helen 

9. Stella Marie, born 3 February 1910, died 1997, married Anthony Debenedictis

10. Pietro Michael, born 29 Sept 1912, died young 17 October 1912

11. Margharita Louise, born 4 June 1915, died 1976, died unmarried

For the past few years the New England Historic Genealogical society has been conducting a digitization project for the Catholic records of churches in the Boston Diocese. These documents show the records of the seven sacraments (including baptism, marriage and burials) for hundreds of parishes across New England. These are handwritten records with over 10 million names, browsable, searchable (members only) and downloadable.  Best of all, these records are available FREE, even to non-members.

By searching these records for all the variations of the Ianetta name (Janetta, Jannetta, Iannetta, Iannetti, Iannetto, etc). I was able to construct the family you see listed above.  Here is a sample record, showing the baptism of Matilda Ianetta, our little harpist and dancer.  It is recorded entirely in Latin, including her name Matildes Annam Angeles Jannetta, daughter of Dominico Jannetta and Maria Grossi.  Her marriage in 1910 to Vincenzo Di Persio is in the right margin. You can see that the Catholic records give lots of genealogical information, including the birthplace of the parents and the names of the witnesses (who might be kin?). 

I'll be doing some future blog posts about the Ianetta family, and will include some very interesting stories about Dominic, the immigrant ancestor, who was known as the "Hurdy Gurdy Czar" of Boston, and Marie Grosse, who was a famous dancer who performed for Queen Victoria, for Boston theaters, and society events such as soirees at Isabella Stewart Gardner's palace in the Fenway. 

For the truly curious:

Catholic Records at the New England Historic Genealogical Society:   https://catholicrecords.americanancestors.org/  

Newspapers.com    https://www.newspapers.com/    

The New England Historic Genealogical Society  https://americanancestors.org/  

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Little Musical Performers in Boston 1905", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 16, 2022, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2022/03/little-musical-performers-in-boston-1905.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ GARDNER of Gloucester, Massachusetts

GARDNER / GARDINER / GARNER

 Very, very little is known of my 8^th great grandfather, James Gardner (about 1641 – 1684) who appears first in the Gloucester, Massachusetts records in 1661 when William Vinson deeded him some land.  He settled in the most eastern section of the Gloucester peninsula according to John J. Babson in his History of the Town of Gloucester, 1860.   He next appears in the vital records in 1661 when he married Elizabeth Vinson, daughter of the William mentioned above.  They had ten children together and both died rather young in 1684. 

I descend from James Gardner, Jr., my 7^th great grandfather, who was the youngest child, not even four years old when his parents died.  James had five children with his wife Abigail (maiden name unknown) all born in Gloucester.  Again, I descend from the youngest child, Eunice, born in 1724, my 6^th great grandmother, who married Jeremiah Allen from Manchester, Massachusetts. 

I have two other GARDNER lineages.  One is from Thomas Gardner at this link:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-gardner-of-salem.html

and the other is a brickwall ancestor in Salem, Massachusetts:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/surname-saturday-gardner-of-boston.html 

My GARDNER genealogy:

Generation 1:   James Gardner, born about 1641, died 8 December 1684 in Gloucester, Massachusetts; married on 19 June 1662 in Gloucester to Elizabeth Vinson, daughter of William Vinson and Sarah Unknown. She was born 16 May 1644 in Gloucester, and died 4 March 1684 in Gloucester. Ten children.

Generation 2:  James Gardner, born 27 August 1681 in Gloucester, married Abigail Unknown.  Five children. 

Generation 3:  Eunice Gardner, born 18 March 1724 in Gloucester; married on 17 June 1748 in Manchester, Massachusetts to Jeremiah Allen, son of Jeremiah Allen and Lydia Tuck.  He was born 6 April 1728 in Manchester and probably died in Nova Scotia. Eight children.

Generation 4:  Abigail Allen m. Comfort Haley

Generation 5:  Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 6:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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

  

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ GARDNER of Gloucester, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 16, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/06/surname-saturday-gardner-of-gloucester.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ RANDALL of Boston, Another Brickwall Ancestor

I have two RANDALL lines, that seem to be completely unrelated. In 2015 I wrote a Surname Saturday post on Richard Randall (1633 – 1713) of Saco, Maine.  This second lineage starts with a possible 7^th great grandfather,  Stephen Randall, a mariner who died in Boston before 18 May 1742.  He is a mystery and a brickwall since I do not know his origins or his parents’ names.  Nor do I know his birth date.

The first and earliest record I found for Stephen Randall was that he served as a private in the Colonial Wars from 22 November 1724 to 22 May 1725, 26 months, in Colonel Thomas Westbrook’s Company.  Next to his name it reads “Of Boston”.  The next record I found for Stephen Randall was a probate record granting his widow, Sarah, guardianship of his son “Andros a. about 4 in right of his father Stephen Randall of Boston late deceased, mariner, May 18, 1742”.   Sadly, just a few years later a man named John Hill was made guardian for “Andrus Randall, a. abt. 11, son of Stephen, mariner & Sarah, both deceased, Mar. 1749/50”.  I have not been able to find a death record for Stephen or Sarah, the parents.

In the Thwing Collection, Inhabitants and Estates of the Town of Boston, 1630 – 1822 there is a listing for Stephen Randall, who married Sarah Cannon on 16 January 1729.  Their children are listed as:

1. Abigail, born 20 March 1730

2. Elizabeth, born 7 January 1732/3

3. Mary, born 10 January 1734/5

4. Stephen, born 5 December 1736

5. Andros, born 20 February 1739

[Note that this record does NOT name a daughter named Sarah Randall.  In the Boston Births 1700 – 1809 there is a “Sarah Randall, daughter of Stephen and Sarah Randall, born 16 October 1729", so we know that there is a Sarah in this family group.  Another good clue is that a man named William Randall married Elizabeth Hill in Boston on 10 December 1691 [Torrey’s Marriages, Volume II, page 1247].  Could this be a relative to the mysterious John Hill who was named guardian to Andros Randall?]

In the Boston Marriages 1700 – 1809 there is a record:  “Benjamin Gardner to Sarah Kendall, Dec. 1, 1751 West Church”   Benjamin Gardner and his first wife Sarah Randall are my 6^th great grandparents.  He was a Boston ropemaker who removed to Salem around the time of the Revolutionary War.  The Boston Marriages  record is a transcription of church records, famous for mistakes.  Could Sarah Kendall be a Sarah Randall?   Sarah (Randall/Kendall) Gardner died in 1781 in Salem, Massachusetts, the mother to three children:  Mary (my 5^th great grandmother), Benjamin b. 1753, and Sarah b. 1755. 

Does anyone know the story behind this RANDALL / KENDALL / GARDNER mystery?  Please leave a comment below or email vrojomit@gmail.com

Thank you!

My previous blog post on Richard Randall of Saco, Maine:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/03/surname-saturday-randall-of-saco-maine.html

My RANDALL? genealogy:

Generation 1:  Sarah (possible surname RANDALL or KENDALL) possibly born 16 October 1729 in Boston, daughter of Stephen Randall and Sarah Cannon, died in 1781 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 10 October 1751 at the West Church in Boston to Benjamin Gardner.  He was born about 1720 in Boston and died 7 June 1797 in Salem.  Three children.

Generation 2:  Mary Gardner; married 24 June 1775 in Lynn, Massachusetts to Abijah Hitchings.  He was born 18 January 1753 in Lynn and died 27 March 1826 in Salem.  Four children.

Generation 3:  Abijah Hitchings m. Mary Cloutman

Generation 4:  Abijah Hitchings m. Eliza Ann Treadwell

Generation 5: Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 6: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 7: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ RANDALL of Boston, Another Brickwall Ancestor", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 18, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/surname-saturday-randall-of-boston.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ Gardner of Boston? A Brickwall Ancestor

GARDNER, GARDINER, GARDENER

The location of the ropewalks in Boston on an 1814 map
This would be where the Public Garden is located now,
but at that time it was waterfront property, near wharves
on the Charles River (before Back Bay was filled in).
Photographed at the West End Museum in Boston, Massachusetts

I have two Gardner lineages, and they might be connected.  I don’t know because one is a brick wall I have been working on for about twenty five years.  If anyone knows a connection or any information, please leave a comment or email vrojomit@gmail.com  

My first GARDNER ancestor was Thomas Gardner, my 9th great grandfather.  He was an "Old Planter" with the Dorchester Company on Cape Ann in the early 1620s, and his family arrived in Massachusetts aboard the ship Zouch Phenix in 1624.  His first wife, Margaret, joined the church in Salem in 1639.  His second wife, Damaris, joined the church in 1641 as Shattuck, so the marriage to Gardner must be after that date. Two of her Shattuck children married two of Thomas Gardner’s children.  Damaris and Samuel Shattuck are my 10thgreat grandparents in another lineage.   

  

However, I don’t know if my second GARDNER lineage is from Thomas Gardner.  I have two GARDNER sisters who both married my 5^th great grandfather, Abijah Hitchings (1753 – 1826), a resident of Lynn, Massachusetts.  His first wife was Mary Gardner who married him on 24 June 1775 in Lynn, Massachusetts.  Mary and Abijah had five children together including Abijah, Jr. (1776 – 1868), my 4^th great grandfather. 

Mary must have died before 1792 when Abijah remarried to Sarah Gardner and their only child, Cynthia, was born on 7 October 1792 .  I had no birth record for either sister, Mary or Sarah Gardner.  Sarah’s death record in Lynn states that she was “dau. Of B. Gardner of Boston, ropemaker, wife of Abijah Hitchins, of paralysis of the brain”.   This was a huge clue.  I found that there was a ropemaker, Benjamin Gardner, who removed from Boston to Salem to run a big ropeworks.   The Salem vital records record the death of Benjamin Gardner “[ropemaker, NR 9], [m, of Boston, dropsy, CR 4], June 7, 1797, a. 77 y.”

There is a valuable resource for Salem genealogy besides the vital records.  It is The Diary of William Bentley, D. D.: Pastor of the East Church, Salem, Massachusetts, by William Bentley, edited by Joseph Gilbert Waters, Marguerite Dalrymple, and Alice G. Waters, published by the Essex Institute in four volumes.  Volume 1 covers 1784 – 1792, Volume 2 covers 1793 – 1802, Volume 3 covers 1803 – 1810 and Volume 4 covers 1811 – 1819.  There is also an index at the end of volume 4, and a separate subject index.  He was the minister of the Second Congregational Church, known as the East Church from 1783 until his death in 1819.  He also published a weekly column in the Salem Gazette. His original diary fills 32 volumes.  He is buried in Harmony Grove cemetery near the Hitchings family.

There is also a book Record of the parish List of Deaths, 1785 – 1819 by William Bentley, edited by Ira J. Patch.  This book had the entry “June 7 1797, Benjamin Gardner, Dropsey aet 77., 1st marriage forty years, 2nd marriage 5 years, a son and daughter Hitchins survive by first wife, He was of Boston, married 1751, Lived and married in Marblehead 2nd time, there two years. Thence to Salem, here twenty years, See Day Book”.   The day book refers to his diary which had an entry “June 7 1797, Died this morning suddenly, Mr. Benjamin Gardner, Ropemaker.  He had within a week moved in with his daughter Hitchins, feeling infirmities which took him in his labours.  He was born in Boston. At the commencement of the war he removed to Marblehead where he married his second wife and thence removed to Salem. This second wife died 6 apr 1787 and since this time he has lived with the widow Hawkes. He lived upon terms of intimate friendship with Mr. Josiah Gaines who died 18 May 1796. He was industrious to the close of his life and had never known sickness. He was in his 77th year. He was a most worthy, consistent and industrious man.  I loved him and visited him often. He was married in 1751. His wife died in Salem in 1781. He married again on Nov., 1782 in Salem.”

This is how I found out that my 6^th great grandfather, Benjamin Gardner, was a rope-maker, was married twice, and had died on 7 June 1797 in Salem.  I was able to find a marriage in Boston on 1 December 1751 at the West Church [Boston Marriages 1700 – 1809] of Benjamin Gardner to Sarah Kendall/Randall (seen with both spellings depending on the transcription). 

However, beyond this, I am stumped.  There are no records of a Benjamin Gardner’s birth in Boston, or elsewhere in Massachusetts,  born about 1720.  I don’t know if he is from the “Muddy River” (now Brookline) Gardners of Boston, or if he is a descendant of Thomas Gardner mentioned above, or from another Gardner family.  My only hint is that in Volume 1 of the Bentley diary, on page 176 there is this entry “27 sep 1789-  Benja. Gardiner and children, death of a brother at Boston” (meaning he made a pastoral visit to Benjamin Gardner and children upon the occasion of the death of his brother in Boston).   I was able to find the death record of Thomas Gardner in a record and an obituary in Boston “Thomas Gardner died 22 Sep 1789 in Boston, ropemaker, 67 years old”. 

Independent Chronicle. Weekly & Semi-Weekly; 19 Sept. 1776 - 1 Mar. 1820.

09-24-1789, Volume: XXI; Issue: 1091, page 3:  "Died last Tuesday night, Mr. Thomas Gardner, ropemaker.  His funeral will be tomorrow at 4 o'clock from his dwelling house in West Boston, which his friends and acquaintances are desired to attend, without further invitation."

Who are the parents of Benjamin and Thomas Gardner, the brother ropemakers of Boston?  I visited the West End Museum in Boston a few years ago when they had a big exhibit on the rope-makers of the age of sail in Boston.  We found the Gardner rope-works on the map (located on the waterfront marsh that is now the Public Garden), but no clues to the identity of the Gardner family who operated this business.  It is amazing to me that I have found so much personal and business information on the Gardner rope-maker brothers in Boston and Salem, but not their birth records or parentage!

This is another map on display at the West End Museum in Boston.
It shows the ropewalk on the Charles River, now the Back Bay neighborhood

A model of a ropewalk at the West End Museum in Boston, Massachusetts
This long building is where the ropes were twisted in long lengths inside, away from weather
There is a surviving ropewalk building at Mystic Seaport in Connecticut

For more information on GARDNER family:

Thomas Gardner Society, Inc. http://thomasgardnersociety.org   (also on Facebook)

Gardner Memorial: A biographical and genealogical record of the descendants of Thomas Gardner, planter, Cape Ann, 1624, Salem (Naumkeag), 1626 – 1674, through his son Lieut. George Gardner, compiled by Frank Augustine Gardner, Salem, Mass, 1933.  Available online at the Hathi Trust Digital Library website:

 http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002304239;view=1up;seq=1

See my previous Surname Saturday post on Thomas Gardner at this link:  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-gardner-of-salem.html

A brief biography of William Bentley at Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Bentley

The Diary of William Bentley, DD at the Hathi Trust website (links to all four volumes)

https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/008651372

My 2012 blog post about my visit to the West End Museum in Boston for their special exhibit on the ropewalks of Boston:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/10/the-west-end-museum-of-boston.html

My GARDNER genealogy:  

Generation 1:  Unknown Gardner, had two sons A.) Benjamin born 1720 possibly in Boston, and B.) Thomas Gardner born about 1722, died 22 September 1789 in Boston.  Both sons were rope-makers.

Generation 2:  Benjamin Gardner, born about 1720 and died 7 June 1797 in Salem; married first on 10 October 1751 at the West Church in Boston to Sarah Randall, daughter of Stephen Randall and Sarah Cannon.  She was the mother of three children.  Sarah Randall was born 16 October 1729 in Boston and died 1781 in Salem.  He married second on 2 November 1782 in Salem to Mary Briers, widow of Michael Ferguson and John Bassett.  She was the daughter of Elias Briars and Mary Pitman, baptized 29 December 1728 in Marblehead, and died 6 April 1787 in Salem.

Generation 3:  Mary Gardner, born in Boston, died before 1792; married on 24 June 1775 in Lynn, Massachusetts to Abijah Hitchings, son of Daniel Hitchings and Hannah Ingalls.  He was born 18 January 1753 in Lynn and died 27 March 1826 in Salem. Four children.  Mary's sister, Sarah Gardner, was Abijah's second wife. 

Generation 4: Abijah Hitchings, Jr. m. Mary Cloutman

Generation 5: Abijah Hitchings III m. Eliza Ann Treadwell

Generation 6: Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 7: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 8: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Gardner of Boston?  A Brickwall Ancestor", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 4, 2017, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/03/surname-saturday-gardner-of-boston.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ GARDNER of Salem, Massachusetts

GARDNER

I have two Gardner lineages, and they might be connected.  I don’t know because one is a brick wall I have been working on for about twenty five years.  If anyone knows a connection or any information, please leave a comment or email vrojomit@gmail.com  

Thomas Gardner is my 9^th great grandfather.  He was an "Old Planter" with the Dorchester Company on Cape Ann in the early 1620s, and his family arrived in Massachusetts aboard the ship Zouch Phenix in 1624.  His first wife, Margaret, joined the church in Salem in 1639.  His second wife, Damaris, joined the church in 1641 as Shattuck, so the marriage to Gardner must be after that date. Two of her Shattuck children married two of Thomas Gardner’s children.   Damaris was probably a Quaker, or sympathetic to the Quakers because she appears in several records for being absent from meeting, or “present at a Quaker meeting”.   Damaris and Samuel Shattuck are my 10^th great grandparents in another lineage.   Damaris died one month before Thomas.

Thomas Gardner was the first superintendent of the Salem Colony, and was succeeded by Roger Conant.  He was licensed as an innkeeper in the 1660s but this was amended to retail liquor to strangers, not to townspeople in 1667.  He held many civic positions over the years in Salem ranging from constable and fence viewer to juror and selectman.   Many of his descendants lived in Salem, Boston and Nantucket.  There is a long list of his famous descendants on his page at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Gardner_(planter) 

For more information on the descendants of Thomas Gardner:

Contact the Thomas Gardner Society, Inc http://thomasgardnersociety.org/  (also on Facebook)

The Great Migration Begins, Immigrants 1620 – 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1995, Volume 2, pages 731- 737.

Descendants of Thomas Gardner: Cape Ann (1624 – 1626), Naumkeag/Salem (1626 – 1674), compiled by Jean W. Henderson, Silver City, New Mexico (privately printed), 1997

Gardner Memorial: A biographical and genealogical record of the descendants of Thomas Gardner, planter, Cape Ann, 1624, Salem (Naumkeag), 1626 – 1674, through his son Lieut. George Gardner, compiled by Frank Augustine Gardner, Salem, Mass, 1933.  Available online at the Hathi Trust Digital Library website http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=mdp.39015002304239;view=1up;seq=1

Thomas Gardner Family of Cape Ann, by Mary Walton Ferris, privately printed, 1943 (two volumes)

Thomas Gardner and his Nantucket descendants, by Howard Greene, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, 1917.

For more about Damaris (---) (Shattuck) Gardner, see The American Genealogist Volume 30, pages 165 -68)

My GARDNER genealogy:

Generation 1: Thomas Gardner, born about 1592 in England, died 29 December 1674 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to Margaret, mother of his children; married second to Damaris, the widow of Samuel Shattuck.  Nine children.

Generation 2: Sarah Gardner, born about 1627 and died 5 April 1686 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married about 1650 to Benjamin Balch, son of John Balch and Margery Uknown.   He was born about 1628 in Beverly and died after January 1715 in Beverly. Eleven children.

Generation 3:  Mary Balch m. Nathaniel Stone

Generatoin 4: Josiah Stone m. Dorithy Fuller

Generation 5: Josiah Stone m. Martha Ashby

Generation 6: Josiah Stone m. Susanna Hix

Generation 7: Eunice Stone m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8: Peter Hoogerzeil m. Mary Etta Healey

Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

This may be a possible descendant of Thomas Gardner?

Generation 1:  Unknown Gardner, had two sons 1) Benjamin born 1720 possibly in Boston 2) Thomas Gardner born about 1722, died 22 September 1789 in Boston.  Both were ropemakers.

Generation 2:  Benjamin Gardner, born about 1720 and died 7 June 1797 in Salem; married first on 10 October 1751 at the West Church in Boston to Sarah Randall, daughter of Stephen Randall and Sarah Cannon.  She was the mother of three children.  Sarah Randall was born 16 October 1729 in Boston and died 1781 in Salem.  He married second on 2 November 1782 in Salem to Mary Briers, widow of Michael Ferguson and John Bassett.  She was the daughter of Elias Briars and Mary Pitman, baptized 29 December 1728 in Marblehead, and died 6 April 1787 in Salem.

Generation 3:  Mary Gardner, born in Boston, died before 1792; married on 24 June 1775 in Lynn, Massachusetts to Abijah Hitchings, son of Daniel Hitchings and Hannah Ingalls.  He was born 18 January 1753 in Lynn and died 27 March 1826 in Salem. Four children.

Generation 4: Abijah Hitchings m. Mary Cloutman

Generation 5: Abijah Hitchings m. Eliza Ann Treadwell

Generation 6: Abijah Franklin Hitchings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 7: Arthur Treadwell Hitchings m. Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

Generation 8: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/surname-saturday-gardner-of-salem.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ BALCH of Beverly, Massachusetts

Balch House, Beverly, Massachusetts, circa 1679
operated by the Beverly Historical Society

BALCH

I’m glad to be writing about John Balch now, especially since I attended the Balch family reunion in Beverly, Massachusetts this fall, and at this meeting the newest edition of the Balch genealogy was debuted (see below).  It’s always fun to see your own name in print (check out pages 668 and 743!)  I’m also glad to write about the Balch family because the homestead of John Balch is still standing and is located just a few blocks from where I grew up in Beverly, Massachusetts.   For twelve generations in a row this lineage has lived in the city of Beverly.

John Balch arrived in the New World as part of the Dorchester Company, which came to Cape Ann, Massachusetts to fish.  Some of these men decided to stay and settle, and eventually joined the colony at Salem headed up by Conant. These families are known as “The Old Planters”.  According to Charles Edward Banks in his book Planters of the Commonwealth, John Balch arrived in 1624 aboard the Zouch Phenix, a consort of the Unity, with the Balch, Woodbury and Gardner families.  Other Old Planter families include Trask, Jeffrey, Palfrey, Allen, Norman and Knight.  I descend from the families highlighted in yellow.

John Balch was granted land in Salem and in the area that is now the city of Beverly, Massachusetts. This land was bequeathed to his wife Annis/Agnes and to his oldest son Benjamin (my 8^th great grandfather).  This is the land where the Balch house still stands, operated as a museum by the Beverly Historical Society.  Archeological digs in the front yard show that a much earlier house once stood there, probably John Balch’s original homestead.

Benjamin Balch married Sarah Gardner, the daughter of another Old Planter.  All his children were born in the Balch house.  He was married three times.  The Balch family was only slightly involved with the 1692 Salem witch hysteria.  There is a deposition by the wife of Benjamin Balch, Junior against Sarah Bishop, and a mention of the Balch family in a deposition by Mary Gage against Dorcas Hoar of Beverly.  Benjamin’s son, Freeborn Balch (1660 – 1729), married Miriam Moulton, who brother, John Moulton, was married to Elizabeth Corey, the daughter of Giles Corey who died while being tortured to confess as a witch on 19 September 1692 in Salem.

For the truly curious:

Descendants of John Balch, by Robin Balch Hodgkins (an update to Genealogy of the Balch Family in America by Galusha Balch, 1897), published by the Beverly Historical Society, Beverly, Massachusetts, 2014.

The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England, 1620 - 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, Massachusetts, 1995, page 84 -86.

My Balch Genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Balch, born in England and died 25 May 1648 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to  Margery Unknown (mother of his children), she died 1682; he married second to Annis Unknown.   Three children.

Generation 2:  Benjamin Balch, born about 1628 in Beverly, died after January 1715 in Beverly, married first about 1650 to Sarah Gardner (mother of his children), daughter of Thomas Gardner and Margaret Frier; married on 5 February 1688/9 in Marblehead to Abigail Clarke; married third 15 March 1691/2 in Beverly to Grace Mallet.  Eleven children.

Generation 3:  Mary Balch, born about 1667 in Beverly, died 12 March 1737 in Beverly; married on 26 March 1689 in Beverly to Nathaniel Stone, son of Nathaniel Stone and Remember Corning.  He was born 15 September 1663 in Salem and died 23 February 1741 in Beverly.  Nine children.

Generation 4: Josiah Stone m. Dorithy Fuller

Generation 5: Josiah Stone m. Martha Ashby

Generation 6: Josiah Stone m. Susanna Hix

Generation 7: Eunice Stone m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Peter Hoogerzeil m. Mary Etta Healey

Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/surname-saturday-balch-of-beverly.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ POPE of Salem, Massachusetts

The Pope Chest, dated 1679
At the Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, Massachusetts

POPE

The English origins of Joseph Pope, my 8^th great grandfather,  are unknown, but the records in Salem are full of stories about him and his family.  He arrived in Massachusetts in 1634 aboard the ship Mary and John and settled in Salem, Massachusetts.  He joined the First Church (Puritan) in 1636, but he was also in the first group of early Quakers in Salem.  There is a long list of fines levied against him in the court records, for absence from church until they were finally excommunicated.  Many other Quakers in Salem were whipped and jailed.

The Quaker persecution in Salem ended when Samuel Shattuck went to London in 1661 to deliver a plea to King Charles II, who sent a mandamus to Massachusetts and ended the Quaker persecutions.  It is unknown whether or not Shattuck is related to Joseph Pope.  Joseph named “my bothers George and Richard and Joseph Gardner and cousin Samuell Shatok the elder to be overseers”  of his last will and testament.  All these families were Quaker.  In a TAG article in 1954 the author was unable to find a genealogical relationship between these families [The American Genealogist, Volume 30: 164-66]

Joseph Pope, Jr. is my 7^th great grandfather.  He was the constable for Salem Village (now the town of Danvers) in 1683, and was one of the more wealthy citizens according to a tax list.  He ran a saw mill with his brother, Benjamin, and brother-in-law, Joshua Buffum.  The Buffums were also a Salem Quaker family (another sister, Hannah Pope, married Joshua’s brother, Caleb Buffum).   I descend from Joshua’s sister, Deborah Buffum, who married Robert Wilson (my 9^th great grandparents) and was whipped for appearing  “naked” in the Puritan church to protest these persecutions of the Quakers (she was also probably suffering from some sort of mental illness).   Click HERE for that story.

Joseph Pope, Jr. and his bride, Bethshua Folger, were married in 1679.  This year, and their initials, was carved into a valuables chest attributed to the Symonds furniture shop of Salem.   This chest was passed on in the family as the “Franklin Chest” because Joseph and Bethshua Pope were the uncle and aunt to Benjamin Franklin (Bethshua’s sister, Abiah, was Benjamin Franklin’s mother).   When the chest was sold at a Christies Auction on 20 January 2000 it was bought by the Peabody Essex Museum for a record breaking $2,422,500.   Now it is on display as the “Pope Chest”.  To read more about this chest, click HERE. 

The Popes were witnesses against some of their Salem neighbors in the 1692 Salem witch trials.  Perhaps this was payback for  all the earlier the Quaker persecutions?  Besides being connected to the infamous Witch Hysteria, they were also related to founding father Benjamin Franklin.  Bethshua's sister, Abiah Folger, was Franklin's mother.  This branch of my family tree touches a lot of interesting American history! 

For more information on the Pope family:

The Great Migration, by Robert Charles Anderson, NEHGS, 2007, Volume V, pages 487-491.

A History of the Dorchester Pope Family, 1634 – 1888 by Charles Henry Pope, (Boston 1888) pages 299 – 301.

Also see The Records of the First Church in Salem, Massachusetts, 1629 -1736, and The Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts (too many to list here, see the sketch at The Great Migration for details on the volumes and page numbers)

Also, please see last week's "Surname Saturday" post on the FOLGER family at this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-folger-of-watertown.html

My POPE genealogy:

Generation 1:  Joseph Pope, born about 1606 in England, died 1667 in Salem, Massachusetts; married first to Damaris Unknown (mother of 8 children); married second to Gertrude Unknown.  She died 27 April 1667 in Salem.

Generation 2:  Joseph Pope, baptized 27 October 1650 in Salem, Massachusetts, died in February 1712 in Salem; married in 1679 in Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts to Bethshua Folger, daughter of Peter Folger and Mary Merrill.  She was born about 1650 on Nantucket.  Nine children.

Generation 3:  Jerusha Pope, born 1 April 1695 in Salem, died 29 June 1781; married on 9 July 1713 to George Flint, son of George Flint and Elizabeth Putnam.  He was born on 1 April 1686 in Reading, Massachusetts. Seven children.

Generation 4:  George Flint m. Hannah Phelps 

Generation 5:  Phebe Flint m. John Flint

Generation 6:  Olive Flint m. Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 7:  Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 8: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 9: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-pope-of-salem.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Abigail (Allen) Haley, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

This tombstone was photographed at the Chebogue Cemetery, at Town Point, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

In memory

Of

Abigaile Heley

Wife Of

Mr. Comfort Heley

Died June 16, 1799

Aged 39 years

My daughter trying to decipher this very worn tombstone

Abigail Allen was the daughter of Jeremiah Allen (b. 1728) and Eunice Gardner (b. 1724), born 23 July 1753 in Manchester, Massachusetts, died 16 June 1799 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  She married Comfort Haley on 21 July 1777 in Chebogue, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  He was the son of Ebenezer Healey and Grace Bullen, born 1754 in Brimfield, Massachusetts, died 15 May 1821 in Chebogue.  Their parents were planters, resettled in Nova Scotia from New England after the expulsion of the Acadians.

Abigail Allen is my 5th great grandmother. She is a direct descendant of William Allen (1602 - 1678) an early settler at Manchester, Massachusetts and my 9th great grandfather.  My mother's maiden name is Allen, a direct descendant of this same William.  Although Abigail Allen is also in my mother's lineage, it is from a different line, through the Healey's who left Nova Scotia and came back to Massachusetts, and settled in Beverly, Massachusetts. A double Allen line. 

Abigail died at age 41 (although the gravestone says she was 39 years old), and had seven children.  After Abigail's death, her husband Comfort Haley remarried to Hannah Ellis (1765 - 1862) in December 1795 and had seven more children.  Hannah was 30 years old, the widow of Stephen Tinkham, and Comfort was 41 years old. 

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/07/tombstone-tuesday-abigail-allen-haley.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Old Planters Reunion, Beverly, Massachusetts 26 – 28 September 2014

The Balch House, Beverly, Massachusetts

Are you descended of Beverly’s 17^th century “Old Planters”?   Some of the first men to settle the North Shore of Massachusetts were Roger Conant, John Woodbury, William Trask, John Balch and Peter Palfrey, Walter Knight, William Allen, Thomas Gray, Tohn Tylly, Thomas Gardner, Richard Norman, William Jeffrey, and Captain William Trask.  These settlers were here before the Endicott and Winthrop groups arrived in Massachusetts.

If you are descended from these families, or are interested in early settlers in Beverly, you might want to join this conference and explore the history of the Old Planters.  There will be a Friday night networking dinner, lectures, walking tours, visits to First Period Houses and more.  On Saturday, September 27 there will be meetings of both the BALCH and WOODBURY family associations.

NEWS

The new Balch Genealogy by Robin Balch Hodgkins will be available at the Reunion.  Order by calling 978-922-1186 or send a check to the Beverly Historical Society, 117 Cabot Street, Beverly, MA 01915  Hardcover copy $100/$80 members,  Flashdrive copy $40/ $32 members. Registered attendees of the Old Planter reunion will receive 10% off the purchase price.

Registration Form:

http://www.beverlyhistory.org/misc_files/OPRearly2014.pdf  

Balch Family Genealogy at Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/BalchFamilyGenealogy  

Books about the Old Planters:

The Old Planters of Beverly in Massachusetts and the Thousand Acre Grant of 1635, by Alice Gertrude Lapham, 1930

Ryal Side from the Early Days of Salem Colony, by Calvin P. Pierce, 1931

Genealogy of the Balch Families in America, by Galusha B. Balch  (this is the book Robin Balch Hodkins has just updated, see above)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/08/old-planters-reunion-beverly.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Isabella Stewart Gardner Mausoleum

This mausoleum was photographed at the Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  It is the Gardner family tomb, and Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840 - 1924) is interred inside between her husband, John "Jack" Lowell Gardner, Jr. and her little boy.  The child's bust in the niche at the end of the mausoleum is her son, John Lowell Gardner, III (1863 - 1865).

Isabella Stewart Gardner was a patron of the arts and a collector, and she opened her home in Boston as a museum during her lifetime.  After her death she left provisions in her will for the museum to continue under certain conditions, or it would be sold off and the profits given to the Harvard Medical School.  Her collection of art is now considered priceless, and was the victim of a famous art theft in 1990 when several paintings and objects were stolen.

 

I'm not related to Isabella, but to her husband's family.  I have several Gardner lines from Salem, Massachusetts.  The closest relationship I have to John Lowell Gardner is 5th cousin five generations removed, which is not very close.

 

Family Information: John Lowell Gardner, son of John Lowell Gardner and Catherine E. Peabody, born 26 November 1837 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, died 1878; married on 10 April 1860 in Boston to Isabella Stewart, daughter of David Stewart and Adelia Smith.  One child: John Lowell Gardner born 18 June 1863 in Boston, died 15 May 1865 in Boston.

 

Mount Auburn Cemetery http://www.mountauburn.org/

Gardner Museum  http://www.gardnermuseum.org/ 

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A 1779 Slave Petition finally passes in the New Hampshire Legislature, 233 years late

Prince Whipple, an enslaved officer in the Continental Army, and 19 other enslaved men from New Hampshire drew up a petition in 1779.  They wanted to be emancipated.  The New Hampshire legislature tabled the petition, saying that it wasn't a good time to vote (it was the middle of the Revolutionary War).  They effectively ignored the black men’s document.   Five of the men and Prince Whipple were eventually freed, and the other 14 died as slaves.

Thirty years ago historian Valerie Cunningham found the petition on the front page of the New Hampshire Gazette and wrote about it in her book Black Portsmouth.   To raise awareness for the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and the fundraising effort to erect a memorial on the site of the African Burying Ground, the committee asked Senator Martha Fuller Clark to revive the petition.  She introduced it to the Senate in January 2013. 

Now 233 years later, New Hampshire is changing history.  In March 2013 the New Hampshire Senate unanimously passed the bill.  Today, on 24 April 2013 the New Hampshire House voted on the bill to free the 14 slaves.  The vote passed (344 yeas and 2 nays, then after a revote it was unanimous).

Although only about 1% of New Hampshire’s population is of African American descent, this action rights a wrong that has been long overdue.  The small number of blacks in New Hampshire makes them less likely to be heard in political matters.  This vote freed those 14 enslaved men posthumously. Their fate had languished in limbo for 233 years.

To go along with the celebration, just yesterday, the National Endowment for the Arts gave a $20,000 grant to the African Burying Ground Memorial Park.  This brings the total raised to $720,000.  The African Burying Ground Committee is looking to raise $1.2 million.  This recognition from the NEA helps to bring the project into the national spotlight.

Judy G. Russell, the “Legal Genealogist” asked me to photograph this petition at the New Hampshire State Archives, for one of her lectures at the National Genealogy Society conference.  If you are attending the conference in Las Vegas, Nevada 8 – 11 May 2013, you can hear all the details from Judy, an expert lawyer and genealogist (a terrific combination).  My photographs were donated to the State Archives, and are on file at the State Archives office for anyone who would like to see a copy of the petition.  Here is page one above.

These are the names of the enslaved men who signed the petition. Do you recognize any of these surnames from your New Hampshire family tree?

Nero Brewster

Will Clarkson

Garrett Colton

Peter Frost

Zebulon Gardner

Cesar Gerrish

Seneca Hall

Cipio Hubbard

Winsor Moffat

Cato Newmarch

Jack Odiorne

Romeo Rindge

Pharaoh Rogers

Quam Sherburne

Pharaoh Shores

Kittindge Tuckerman

Cato Warner

Peter Warner

Samuel Wentworth

Prince Whipple (owned by William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence)

For the truly curious:

Click this link to see the 1779 Freedom Petition as published in the New Hampshire Gazette, 15 July 1780:  http://www.trinityhistory.org/AmH/SlavesNH1779.pdf

Black Portsmouth by Mark J. Sammons and Valerie Cunningham, University of New Hampshire Prss, Published by University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH, 2004

Seacoastonline announces the vote today at this link:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130424-NEWS-130429868

The Portsmouth African Burying Ground http://www.africanburyinggroundnh.org/

The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail http://pbhtrail.org/web/

The New Hampshire State Archives  http://sos.nh.gov/arch_rec_mgmt.aspx

A lesson plan from the New Hampshire Historical Society about the 1779 Slave Petition:

http://www.nhhistory.org/edu/support/nhsources/slavepetitionlesson.pdf

The NGS 2013 Family History Conference http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A 1779 Slave Petition finally passes in the New Hampshire Legislature, 233 years late", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 24, 2013, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-1779-slave-petition-finally-passes-in.html: accessed [access date]). 

News from Nutfield

Nutfield Genealogy has another (the fourth!) spin off!  My guest blogger John Tew has started his own blog called Filiopietism Prism.  You can read his first few posts, and his story about his interesting title, at this link: http://filiopietismprism.blogspot.com/   I think you’ll enjoy it!

Another “new to me” distant cousin contacted me just before Christmas, and also had a group of several Salem historians all contact me, too.  They are all descendants of the GARDNERS of Salem, who read my post about Benjamin Gardner.  He is mysterious brickwall ancestor who was a ropemaker in Salem just after the American Revolutionary War.  John Goff, who I knew before as a WYMAN cousin, wrote up a story mentioning Benjamin Gardner for the website “Wicked Local- Salem” http://www.wickedlocal.com/salem , which will appear later in January.  John Goff has a regular column at this website, called “Preservation Perspective”.

Another one of these GARDNER cousins is John Switlik who writes the blog “Thomas Gardner of Salem, MA” at http://thomasgardnerofsalem.blogspot.com/   and he also manages the Thomas Gardner Society website at http://thomasgardnersociety.org/     If you are a GARDNER, or if you have Salem ancestry, you might want to check out these links.

This cairn marked the first sermon by Rev. MacGregor
Where was it located?  It has disappeared since 1919

A geographer named Donald Kirkland is working with Richard Holmes, the Derry town historian, to determine the location of a cairn that marked the site where Rev. MacGregor gave the first sermon in Nutfield (now Derry, somewhere near Beaver Lake).  He read my blog posts on Beaver Lake and sent me this photo which dates from 1919.  Mr. Kirkland was hoping I knew the location of the cairn, or if I had a relative who knew the location. The cairn was somewhere near the northeast side of Beaver Lake.  He has queried seniors and members at the First Parish Church, but no one seems to know the spot.  If you know the location of this former cairn, please contact me (email vrojomit@gmail.com or leave a comment here) and I’ll pass it on to Mr. Kirkland.

A second cousin once removed, who I never knew before, related to my ALLEN lineage has found me via the website www.Genealogywise.com  I hadn’t been on the Genealogywise website in months and almost missed her posting.  Have you tried Genealogywise?  I don’t find it as interesting or useful as Facebook for connecting with other genealogists, but I’m glad I checked back in.  This is a lesson in checking back onto bulletin boards or websites where you may have left messages, because there just might be a return message, or a new post from someone who has potential information for you!

Last week I wrote a post on a Sunday.  I usually never post on Sunday.  However, at Christmas I had receive a very unique gift from my daughter and it was so perfect for family historians that I just had to share.  She had a cutting board made with my mother’s favorite recipe in her OWN HANDWRITING woodburned into the board.  It was made by a crafter at Etsy.com who took a scan of the original recipe card and burned the handwriting.  Think of all the recipes, letters or signatures you have collected that you can share this way.  It was picked up by someone and posted to Pinterest, where it went absolutely viral.  I have had almost 1500 hits to this one post this week, and over 1,000 of the hits came directly from the Pinterest website. I’m so glad I decided to post that whimsical story and photograph.  Isn't that what social media is all about?

Thanksgiving and Christmas have come and gone, and it’s now 2013.  I’ll be attending RootsTech 2013 in Salt Lake City in March and also NERGC in April in Manchester, New Hampshire.  Let’s see what the New Year brings for genealogy mysteries and interesting local history stories…

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Boston Tea Party ~ 16 December 1773

The newly re-opened Boston Tea Party Museum

The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773, and was an act of violence and treason. There is no official list of participants, especially since the men who threw the tea into the harbor were committing a crime. There is a list at the Boston Tea Party Museum website that contains the names of men “documented” to have been at the event. http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/. There is a list of participants at this link, too:  https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party_participants   

In various records I've found several members of my family tree who claimed to have been at the Boston Tea Party. Who knows for sure? What do you think?

Robert Hichborn was the brother in law to my 6x great grandfather Daniel Glover (1735 – abt 1790). He had several famous military brothers in law, including General John Glover (1732 – 1797). Robert Hichborn was a sailmaker and shipbuilder who lived on Anne Street in Boston’s North End, near the site of the Boston Tea Party. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and was also an officer in the American Revolution. In the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings Volume 20, page 11, he was listed along with 25 men, including Paul Revere, to guard the tea (guard?). This is the same bunch accused of tossing it into the harbor.

Nathaniel Frothingham (1746 – 1825) is a 2^nd cousin seven generations removed, grandson of my 7x great aunt Hannah (Rand) Frothingham (1672 – 1760), great grandson of my ancestors Thomas Rand and Sarah Edenden. He was a Boston coachmaker or “chaisemaker”and is listed on the Tea Party Museum website, as well as on the SAR list.

Major Robert Davis (1747 – 1798) was a descendant of my ancestors John Gore and Rhoda Gardner. He was an officer in the American Revolution, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was said to have been a member of the Boston Tea Party in compiled genealogies, and was also a Freemason. He is on the museum list, and the SAR list has him as an “importer of groceries and liquors”. I wonder if he was involved with importing tea?

John Holyoke (1743 – 1807) was married to Elizabeth Treat (1747 – 1830) my 2^nd cousin 8 generations removed. He served in the American Revolution and claimed to have participated in the Boston Tea Party. “Mr. HOLYOKE never, never confirmed the tale; the whole party was pledged to secrecy” [ Holyoke, A North American Family 1637 - 1992, John Gibbs Holyoke, Gateway Press, Inc. (Baltimore, 1993)] He is not on the lists at the museum or SAR. I’m inclined to think he was telling his grandchildren a tall tale.

Serendipity! Last year I was pleased to find out that fellow genealogy blogger, Deb Ruth, had made a “cousin connection” with me when she was researching her husband’s ancestor James Starr. She was excited to find out that James was a member of the Sons of Liberty, and he had participated in the Boston Tea Party. Starr is listed on the museum website. She wrote about our cousin connection at this link: http://deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surprise-connection-hello-cousin.html

There was a Josiah Snelling listed on the page of participants from the Boston Tea Party museum, but there are no details about him. My 4x great grandmother, Catherine Plummer (Jones) Dominis, had a sister, Sarah Dargue Jones (1794 – 1875) who married Enoch Howes Snelling in Boston. Enoch had three cousins named Josiah Snelling, born in 1735, 1741 and 1757. The last one would have been only 16 years old in 1773. All these Snellings lived along the waterfront in Boston, mostly in the North End, where Paul Revere lived, too. I’m pretty sure that the Josiah Snelling on the list is one of these cousins, or maybe even one I don’t have in my Snelling database.

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The list of participants from the Boston Tea Party Museum can be seen at this link:

http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/participants-in-the-boston-tea-party

A list of participants from the Old South Meetinghouse website:
https://www.osmh.org/boston-tea-party/who-dumped-the-tea 

There is also a running theme at J.L. Bell's Blog "Boston 1775" about the participants at the Boston Tea Party. He writes posts every December about the possible men who were documented to be at the event, believe it or not. You can find his blog at this link http://boston1775.blogspot.com/

From my Christmas Ornament collection

This blog post was orginally published 16 December 2011 at this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/boston-tea-party-16-december-1773.html

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Boston Tea Party ~ 16 December 1773", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 14, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/boston-tea-party-16-december-1773.html: accessed [access date]).