Surname Saturday ~ HART of Watertown, Reading and Lynnfield, Massachusetts

Examination of a Witch
T.H. Matteson, 1853

HART / HARTT / HARTE

There was a Samuel Hart living in Lynn, Massachusetts at the same time as Isaac Hart, but they are not known to be kin – even though Isaac Hart had a son named Samuel.

Isaac Hart, my 8th great grandfather, arrived in Watertown aboard The Rose in 1636 as the servant to Richard Carver.  In 1642 he had five acres in Watertown. He then removed to Reading by 1648 when his wife was listed as member of the church.  He had married Elizabeth Hutchinson, sometimes recorded as Hutchins, the daughter of Thomas Hutchins and Anne Browne.  Isaac bought land from his father-in-law near the border of the Saugus, Reading and Lynnfield lines, which he later left to his son Samuel.  The Isaac Hart homestead is still standing in Lynn. 

Elizabeth was brought before her church in Reading in 1652 for not harboring travelers that had requested aide.  In 1655 she was brought before the Puritan church deacons again for “contempt of authority”.   Elizabeth Hart was accused of being a witch in March of 1692.  In October her son, Thomas, petitioned for his mother’s innocence, but she was not released until December.

I descend from Isaac’s son Adam.  Adam’s sister, Deborah Hart, married my 7^th great uncle, Benjamin Proctor. I descend from Benjamin’s two siblings, Abigail Proctor Varney (1639 – 1732) and John Proctor (1631 – 1692) who was hanged as a witch during the witch hysteria.

Adam Hart, my 7th great grandfather,  married Elizabeth Collston, daughter of Adam Collston and Mary Dustin.  Elizabeth, her mother, aunt, and grandmother were all accused and arrested for witchcraft in 1692.  Elizabeth, only sixteen years old, escaped imprisonment twice!  Adam married second to Abigail Deal, and third to Dorcas Brown. .  You can read more about Elizabeth and the Collston family at this link: https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/surname-saturday-collston-of-reading.html

Adam Hart was named the father of Elizabeth Collston's illegitimate baby a short time before they married.  After marriage about 1704, he was named the baby's guardian, but the child was known in records as Mary COLLSTON not Mary Hart.  See Genealogical History of the town of Reading, Mass., by Hon. Lilley Eaton, page 85. 

Witchcraft accusations abound in this family!  In 1692 Adam Hart's mother, his wife and the women of her family were all accused of witchcraft and imprisoned.  And these families of witch trial victims tended to intermarry.  Adam and Elizabeth’s grandson, Jonathan Flint (my 5^th great grandfather) married Lydia Proctor, the great granddaughter of the John Proctor, mentioned above, who was hanged in 1692.  But strangely, Jonathan’s own grandfather was William Dounton, who was infamously known as the cruel jailor of the Salem Gaol where many victims were imprisoned.  Some intermarriages cannot be explained.

Some HART resources:

Genealogical History of Samuel Hartt from London, England to Lynn, Mass., 1640 And Descendants, by James Morrison Hart, Pasadena, CA, 1903

“Isaac Hart and Samuel Hart”, The Essex Genealogist, Volume 18, pages 40 – 46.

My HART genealogy:

Generation 1:  Isaac Hart, born about 1614 in England, died 10 February 1699 in Lynnfield, Massachusetts married about 1650 to Elizabeth Hutchinson, daughter of Thomas Hutchinson and Anne Browne.  She died 28 November 1700.  Seven children.

Generation 2:  Adam Hart, born 4 February 1666 in Lynnfield, died 17 September 1745 in Reading; married about 1703 to Elizabeth Collston, daughter of Adam Collston and Mary Dustin.  She was born 9 October 1676.  Two children.

Generation 3:  Mary Collston, born 22 September 1704 in Reading; married on 18 February 1723 in Reading to Jonathan Flint, son of Thomas Flint and Mary Dounton.  He was born 8 November 1689 in Salem Village (now Danvers, Massachusetts).  Two children.

Generation 4: Jonathan Flint, born 11 August 1730 in Reading, died 1800 in Reading; married on 1 August 1751 in Salem to Lydia Proctor, daughter of John Proctor and Lydia Waters.  She was born 31 March 1730 in Salem.  Eight children.

Generation 5:  John Flint, born 3 April 1761 in North Reading, died 26 August 1836 in North Reading; married Phebe Flint as his second wife.  She was the daughter of George Flint and Hannah Phelps, born 8 March 1763 in North Reading, died December 1846 in North Reading.  Eight children.

Generation 6: Olive Flint, born 27 July 1805 in North Reading, died 26 November 1875 in Peabody, Massachusetts; married on 3 September 1826 in Reading to Luther Simonds Munroe.  He was the son of Andrew Munroe and Ruth Simonds, born 10 May 1805 in Danvers, died 23 December 1851 in Danvers.  Six children.

Generation 7: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilson

Generation 8:  Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

UPDATE 26 October 2022 - 

Click here for a link to "My Hartt - The Descendants of Isaac and Elizabeth Hartt"  http://www.myhartt.com/  

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ HART of Watertown, Reading and Lynnfield, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 19, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/11/surname-saturday-hart-of-watertown.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ HUTCHINSON of Charlestown, Massachusetts

HUTCHINSON

I wrote a blog post on 5 November 2016 about Richard HUTCHINSON (1602 – 1682) of Salem Village, Massachusetts , my 9^th great grandfather.  I have another 9^th great grandfather, Thomas HUTCHINSON of Charlestown, Massachusetts who came to New England in 1630 with the Winthrop Fleet.  He was listed as a member of the church in Charlestown on 30 July 1630.  He must have died soon after, and his wife, Anne, remarried to Adam Hawkes in 1631.   Anne, with her Hutchinson children, and her new husband all removed to Lynn as one of the first settler families in the area.  Anne died in 1669 and Hawkes remarried to Sarah Hooper in 1670.  Sarah was 19 years old and Hawkes was 65 years old.

Their only daughter (they also had four sons), was my 8^th great grandmother, Elizabeth Hutchinson, who married Isaac Hart of Lynnfield.  They had seven children.  Elizabeth was accused by Ann Putnam of being a witch.  She was imprisoned in May 1692.  Her son, Thomas, sent a petition for her release five months later stating she was “inflicted from lying in Miserie, and death rather to be Chosen than a life in her Circumstances”.  Another daughter, Deborah Hart, was married to Benjamin Proctor, son of the accused witches, John and Martha Proctor (famous from the play “The Crucible”)and also my 10th great grandparents in another lineage - see the genealogy below.  Elizabeth stayed in jail in Boston until December of 1692, when the trials and arrests were stopped by the Governor.

I descend from their son, Adam Hart (1666- 1745), the youngest son and my 7^th great grandfather.  He married Elizabeth Collson, and was made guardian to Elizabeth’s illegitimate daughter, Mary (who was named as his child).  Not only was Elizabeth Hart, his mother arrested for witchcraft, but also arrested were Elizabeth (Collson) Hart,  Adam’s wife, and her mother, Mary (Dustin) Collston,  and her grandmother, Lydia Dustin.  You can read about the Collston family arrests HERE.  Elizabeth was only 16 years old, and she made a daring escape from jail and was recaptured twice. Lydia, Mary and Elizabeth (all accused and imprisoned, were my 9th, 8th and 7th great grandmothers. 

This branch of the family oozes with witch craft accusations and imprisonments, but the only one who was actually hanged was John Proctor.

For more information on this HUTCHINSON family see the Great Migration Begins, Volume II, page 1056, and also Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 - 1635, pages 253 - 257 (sketch of Adam Hawkes).  Annals of New England, by Thomas Prince, 1755, Part II, page 69.  Salem Possessed, by Boyer and Nissenbaum, 1974.  There is an article "Isaac Hart and Samuel Hart (Both of greater Lynn but not related)" in the Essex Genealogist, Volume 18, pages 40 - 46. 

My HUTCHINSON genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Hutchinson, died about 1631 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married Ann (possibly Browne?).  She was born about 1600 and died 4 December 1669 in Lynn.  Five children.

Generation 2: Elizabeth Hutchinson, died 28 November 1700; married about 1650 in Habstown (now Reading), Massachusetts to Isaac Hart.  He was born about 1614 and died 10 February 1699 In Lynnfield.  Seven children. 

Generation 3: Adam Hart m. Elizabeth Collston

Generation 4: Mary Collston m. Jonathan Flint

Generation 5: Jonathan Flint m. Lydia Proctor (great grandson of John Proctor, hanged as a witch)

Generation 6:  John Flint m. Phebe Flint

Generation 7: Olive Flint m. Luther Simonds Munroe

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)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ HUTCHINSON of Charlestown, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 12, 2016, (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/11/surname-saturday-hutchinson-of.html: accessed [access date]).

Friday Funny ~ Cemetery Challenge for Halloween

Here are three cemeteries I've visited with weird body part names:

Hooksett, New Hampshire's Head Cemetery

and

Sterling, Massachusetts  Leg Cemetery

and don't forget

Dunstable, Massachusetts has a Blood Cemetery

It's almost Halloween and I'm wondering if we can put together a collage of cemeteries named after body parts.  After all, there might be a Foote Family Burial Ground, or even a cemetery named Hart, Cheek, Nail, Soul, etc. 

If you have a photo, email it to me at vrojomit@gmail.com before October 23rd, and I'll put something together for Halloween!  Don't forget to send your name so I can give you full credit on the blog post! 

UPDATE-  Many people have posted names of cemeteries and links to their "Find A Grave" photos on my Facebook page.  This doesn't count. I'm looking for individuals to send me their own (non-copyrighted) photos via email or Facebook.  I can't use Find A Grave photos on my blog (and you shouldn't use them on your websites, social media or data bases either!). 

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Friday Funny ~  Cemetery Contest for Halloween", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 2, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/friday-funny-cemetery-contest-for.html : accessed [access date]).

What an 1848 letter between two 16 year old cousins taught me about my family

Ann Marie Holt's gravestone
at the Oahu Cemetery, Honolulu, Hawaii

The following letter, written in Dorchester, a village outside of Boston, to the Sandwich Islands (Hawaii) in 1848 was written by Ann Marie Holt.  She was my first cousin five generations removed. Ann Marie wrote to her first cousin, John Owen Dominis.  She was about sixteen years old, and John was the same age.

Cousin John had gone to Hawaii when he was about five years old with his mother, to meet up his father, a sea captain who had made Honolulu his new residence.  Captain John Dominis was lost at sea in 1846, about two years before this letter was written. The Captain had built his Boston wife a fine home out of local wood and from parts shipped from Boston to Honolulu. He was going to China to buy furnishings for the new house when his ship was lost.  Auntie Mary (Jones) Dominis (1803-1889) decided to stay in Honolulu, and at about this time John was starting out on his own in business.  The fine home, known as “Washington Place”, mentioned in the letter, is still standing in Honolulu and serves as the Hawaiian Governor’s residence.

Auntie Mary had six sisters. One was my 4^th great grandmother, Catherine Plummer (Jones) Younger (1799 – 1828) who was already dead by the time this letter was written.  Ann Marie’s mother was another sister, Ann Marie Stanwood (Jones) Holt (1811 – 1832), who had also died young in Boston.  Ann Marie’s father, Captain Robert William Holt, was also a sea captain who made many trips to Hawaii.  He had remarried to a native Polynesian woman in 1835 and his second wife and children were living in Honolulu.  When Ann Marie and her sister, Elizabeth (1830 – 1865), were a bit older, they traveled to Hawaii to reunite with their father. Unfortunately, Anne Marie, the author of this letter, died on 15 May 1851, at Washington Place, soon after disembarking at Honolulu. 

This letter is especially poignant to me because I knew that these two teenaged cousins, long separated by two oceans, would meet again in a few years under tragic circumstances.  Ann Marie must have arrived in Honolulu very ill, and died in cousin John’s own home soon after.

I am also imagining how difficult it was for family members to be separated in 1848.  How long did it take for a letter to get from Boston to Hawaii?  You can guess in the last paragraph that the family must have located a ship bound for Hawaii, and rushed to get letters on board before it sailed.

The “Aunt Agnes” mentioned in this letter is a fourth Jones sister from Boston.  All the sisters grew up in Boston’s North End, the daughter of Owen Jones, a mariner.  Agnes (Jones) Hart (1816 – 1890) was the youngest daughter.  She must have taken in her Holt nieces while they continued their education in Massachusetts, waiting for the day to join their father in Hawaii.  The “Aunt Lee” mentioned in this letter is the fifth daughter, Laura Williams (Jones) Lee (1890 – 1887).  The only sisters not mentioned in this letter were my 4^th great grandmother, Catherine, already deceased, and the eldest daughter, Sarah Dargue (Jones) Snelling (1794 – 1875), whose husband Enoch Howes Snelling was a Boston glazier who provided the doors and windows for “the handsomest [house] on the Island”, Washington Place.

This letter was found in the Hawaii State Archives.  John Owen Dominis (1832 – 1891), the teenaged boy who was the recipient of this letter, grew up to marry Lydia Kamekeha Paki, who became Queen Lili’uokalani.  Thank goodness he saved this letter, and that his private papers were preserved by his wife and passed on to the Hawaii State Archives.  Finding this letter, and others like it, have helped me to piece together the story of the Jones sisters of Boston.  None of the sisters had their births or marriages recorded in city or state vital records.  Finding their kinship and family relationships has come together from these letters, family documents, oral history, church and official death records.

Source: Hawaii State Archives, Queen Lili’uokalani Collections, M-93, Box 11, Folder 104, Letter from A. M. Holt to John Owen Dominis, dated 13 August 1848.

                                                  Dorchester Aug. 13^th 1848

Dear Cousin

                I found looking over my letters the other day

that I am in debt to you for two.  I thought that I must

do my best to pay you by writing to you this opportunity.

I am at Aunt Agnes’ visiting.  They have a very pleasant

place near Granite Bridge the house is old fashioned

but very good the fireplaces about two yards long wide

and a yard and a half long the panes of glass in the

windows about as large as a sheet of note paper.

I suppose that you have almost set up business for your-

self.  How do you like your house I should like to see it

very much as I understand it is the handsomest on

the Island.  Sarah Ann is in Boston visiting I suppose

she will write to you this opportunity we miss her

and the children very much she has two very pretty

little girls  I know that you long to see them.

Aunt Lee has left Charter St. at last and gone to

Bridgewater to live they have quite a farm I believe

keep cows hens &c.  Uncle William and Aunt Agnes send

love to your mother and she will write if she has

time but she has such a family that if the vessel

sails tomorrow she will not be able to.  Do you

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ride as much as ever?  Write every opportunity

and believe me yours suffice

A.      M. H.

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A.M.Holt, Dorchester

Aug. 13/48

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John O. Dominis

Honolulu

Oahu

S.I.

For more information on the Jones sisters, see this blog post (my very first blog post in 2009!)

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/07/hawaii-boston-connection-to-royal.html     

For more information on Ann Marie Holt and her grave in Honolulu, Hawaii

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/08/hawaiis-holt-family.html     

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/03/annie-maria-holt-1832-1851.html     

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/07/a-memorial-for-annie-marie-holt-hawaii.html     

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/06/what-1848-letter-between-two-16-year.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Nathaniel Treadwell, d. 1723, Ipswich, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Old Burying Ground, Ipswich, Massachusetts

HEAR LIES Ye

BODY OF MR

NATHANIEL

TREADWELL WHO

DIED AUGUST

YE 17th 1723

In Ye 47th

YEAR OF HIS 

AGE

Nathaniel Treadwell is my 7th great grandfather.  He was born 13 June 1677 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the son of Nthaniel Treadwell and Abigail Wells.  He married Hannah Unknown sometime before 1698, and they had seven children.  He died young on 17 August 1723, only 47 years old.  His widow remarried to George Hart on 4 April 1724 in Ipswich.

I love the death's head on this early stone.  The head is so primitive, it looks like a cartoon face!

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/tombstone-tuesday-nathaniel-treadewell.html 

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Planning a Genealogy Photo Trip to Ipswich, Massachusetts

Last week we took a trip to Ipswich, Massachusetts.  I had four goals four this trip:

1. )      Visit the Historical Society to learn about their genealogy resources

2. )      Visit the Whipple House, built by an ancestor

3. )      Visit the 1640 Hart House restaurant, built by someone in my family tree

4. )      Photograph lots of ancestral gravestones at the Old North Burial Ground

This is what I learned…  It pays to use the internet before going on a little trip like this… Or to pick up the phone and ask questions.  Did I meet my four goals? 

1.)    Ipswich Historical Society has a museum you can learn more about at http://www.ipswichmuseum.org/ to find the hours and days it is open.  It operates tours of both the Whipple House and the Heard House.  Also, it is right next door to the Ipswich Visitor Center (bonus points for visitors). You can get a lot done here in one place, but they also have a staff genealogist who just happened to meet me at the door.  I didn’t have an appointment, this was just serendipity.  She prefers appointments for genealogy questions (this is stated on the website!), so you need to call ahead.  Or queries are answered for $20 per hour, one hour minimum.   Her best advice to me was to explore the historical records at the Ipswich Public Library.  I'll have to make a special research trip to Ipswich at some other date.

This is only a partial view of the map of Ipswich, Mass

with houses and early land grants marked by surnames.

It was a large map hanging just inside the entrance to the Ipswich Museum

Also, at the entrance to the museum was this great map of the original proprietors of Ipswich, Massachusetts.  You just might find your ancestor on this map.  The society does not have copies of this map on a poster or brochure.  Just inside the front foyer was the gift shop, where I bought this great book about Ipswich, too.

American Town: The History of Ipswich, Massachusetts

by Alan Pearsall,  Ipswich, Mass: Ebsco Publishing, 2009

2.)    So, we had a great tour of both houses, but the Whipple House was first.  It was a private tour since it was a Friday morning and we were the only patrons.  This was wonderful and I was able to ask lots of questions.  Photos were allowed without flash.  Perfect!

Above is the back of the Whipple House, and below is the front door 

Whipple House web page:

http://ipswichmuseum.drupalgardens.com/exhibitions-collections/whipple-house

Captain John Whipple (1595 – 1669) built the Whipple House.  He is my 10^th great grandfather.  His daughter Sarah Whipple (1641 – 1681) is my 9^th great grandmother, married to Joseph Goodhue.  As you can see, I don’t have a long line of Whipple ancestors in Ipswich!

If you are interested in photographing First Period Homes (before 1725) or your ancestor's home in Ipswich, you can pick up the following brochure at the Visitor Center or at the Historical Society. It was produced by the Ipswich Historical Commision:

3.)    After the Historical Society we found the 1640 Hart House restaurant.  http://1640harthouse.com/   It wasn't dinner time, so we didn't go inside.  This is something else to add to the agenda for trip number 2 to Ipswich.   I took some photos of the outside, and we’ll save the fancy dinner for the next time we are in town.  It was built by Thomas Hart, who was an indentured servant in Boston until 1637.  He came to Ipswich and built this home, which was passed down in the family for generations, and added onto over the years.   Some of the original Keeper’s Room was removed from the interior and installed as an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.   So does that make it a good excuse for Trip number 3?

Thomas Hart (1611 – 1674) had a son named Thomas Hart (about 1640 – 1717), and a grandson named George Hart (1669 – 1753) who married Martha Ward (1672 – 1723), my first cousin 9 generations removed.

4. )    The best information for Ipswich History and cemetery guides is at the website of the Ipswich Historical Commission (not the Historical Society) at https://historicipswich.wordpress.com/   

On this cemetery web page, there are links to each of the old cemeteries in Ipswich.  You can print them out (or download them).  I did both, so I could use my iPad mini or my paper copy in the cemetery.  Actually the paper copies worked out best because I could circle the spots on the map where my ancestors were buried, and I could write notes as to who was buried where.  There is also an eBook version.

For the Old North Burying Ground there is a database of graves I saved as a text document.  I used this to see who was buried here, and (thank goodness!) there is a list of epitaphs for those stones that are now almost illegible.   I printed out all the maps.  The cemetery is divided into eight sections, and all the graves are numbered according to the database of graves in the text document.

This was a very easy system.  I had TWELVE pages of graves to find and photograph.  I had highlighted all the direct ancestors, and we found all of the directs, and many, many of the other graves.  I will have to go back to find them all.  We spent about an hour and took over 150 photographs of WHIPPLE, TREADWELL, WARD, HASKELL, and other surnames.  Jackpot!

Above is my paper version of the Old North Burying Ground sections C and D map

and below is the downloaded version from the website onto my iPad Mini

Below I made a text document of the locations and epitaphs, 

cut and pasted from the version on the website.  

Direct ancestors were highlighted. 

I checked them off as we photographed each gravestone. 

I would recommend this system to anyone exploring the Old North Burying Ground.  Bring your hiking boots, since it is very large and built on a very steep hill. Hopefully your ancestors aren't buried at the top of the hill or you’ll have to climb a scary set of granite steps.  Don’t ask me how they carried coffins up there 250 years ago.  I don’t know the answer to that!

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Planning a Genealogy Photo Trip to Ipswich, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 6, 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/planning-genealogy-photo-trip-to.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ Collston of Reading, Massachusetts

COLLSTON

Adam Collston’s origins are unknown.  He settled in Reading, Massachusetts before 1668, and was the schoolmaster from 1679 to 1681.  This will was found in England and reprinted in the NEHGS Register in January 1884, page 68.

"Elizabeth Bretland, late the wife of William Bretland, deceased, Barbados, 6 October 1687.  Legacies to daughters Elizabeth Taylor and Millecent Acklam; to grandson Peter Jones; to grandsons John and Jacob Legay.  I give and bequeath to my brother Adam Coulson's children, of Reading near Boston, in New England, the sum of one hundred pounds, to be equally divided among them or the survivor of them.

            Cousin Edward Munday and Mr. John Mortimer of London, merchants, to be executors of the will.

            Item, I give unto my brother Adam Coulson's chilren, of Reading, near Boston, In New England, one negro woman, by name Sarah, being my own proper purchase, or to the survivor of the, to be sent to them the first opportunity after my decease.  I leave, according to the desire of my dear husband, Mr. Edward Munday, to my three daughters, Elizabeth, Millecent and Mary, thirty five pounds of silver, at twelve ounces to the pound. 

            Friends, Capt. Elisha Mellowes and Mr. John Hooker, to be executors for that portion of the estate in the Barbados.

            The witnesses made depostion as to this will 3 April 1689.  It was entered and recorded in the Secretary's Office, 17 February 1689.  Proved in London 5 December 1690.”

Adam’s daughter, Elizabeth, is my 8x great grandmother.  At sixteen she was arrested on a charge of witchcraft, along with three other women in her family (Lydia Dustin her grandmother, Sarah Dustin her aunt, and Mary Collston her mother).  Young Elizabeth was very brave and escaped twice!  The first time was from Cambridge jail, and the second while she was being transported to Charlestown.  Grandmother Lydia Dustin died in prison in Cambridge.

Elizabeth had an illegitimate daughter, Mary Collston my 7x great grandmother.  Her husband Adam Hart was made guardian to Mary. I don’t know when Elizabeth died, but Adam had two more wives- Abigail Deal and Dorcas Brown.  Adam Hart’s mother, Elizabeth (Hutchinson) Hart, had also been arrested for witchcraft.

Mary (Collston) Flint’s son, Jonathan Flint (1730 – 1800) married Lydia Proctor, a great granddaughter of the John Proctor (1631 – 1692) who was hung as a witch (also my 8 x great grandfather).  As you can see, this holds up my theory that the families of accused and executed witches formed a very tight bond in the generations immediately following the 1692 witch hysteria.

There have been no books or articles written about the early Collstons.  All my Collston information came from vital records, the Reading town histories and records, and from documents produced around the witch trials in the 1690s (except for the will mentioned above).

My lineage from Adam Collston:

Generation 1: Adam Collston, died 1 March 1686 in Reading, Massachusetts; married on 7 September 1668 in Reading, Massachusetts to Mary Duston/Dustin/Dastin.  She was the daughter of Josiah Dustin and Lydia Unknown.  Six children.  Mary remarried on 26 September 1701 to Cornelius Brown as his third wife.

Generation 2: Elizabeth Collston, born 9 October 1676, married about 1703 to Adam Hart as his first of three wives.  She had a daughter, Mary, as an illegimate child.

Generation 3: Mary Collston, born 22 September 1704 in Reading; married on 18 February 1723 in Reading to Jonathan Flint, son of Thomas Flint and Mary Dounton.  He was born on 8 November 1689 in Salem Village (now Danvers).  At least two children.

Generation 4. Jonathan Flint married Lydia Proctor

Generation 5: John Flint married Phebe Flint

Generation 6: Olive Flint married Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 7: Phebe Cross Munroe married Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 8: Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

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

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ Collston of Reading, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 16, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/06/surname-saturday-collston-of-reading.html: accessed [access date]). 

Happy Birthday, Old Ironsides!

Old Ironsides at dock in the Charlestown Navy Yard, near Boston

The USS Constitution was launched on 21 October 1797 from Hartt’s Shipyard in Boston, Massachusetts.
  

In researching my 4x great grandmother, Catherine Plummer Jones (1799-1828), I learned that her sister Agnes (1816 -1890) married William N. Hart (1812- 1878) on 5 November 1837 in Boston.   The Joneses and Harts all lived in Boston’s North End, and are buried in Copp’s Hill Burial Ground.    Edmund Hartt, a distant relative and the owner of Hartt’s Shipyard, is also buried at Copp’s Hill.  He built the USS Boston, the USS Argus and the USS Independence.   Most of the relatives in this branch of my family were mariners, ships carpenters, sailmakers, ropemakers or from other sea faring occupations.

The USS Constitution (Old Ironsides) was designed by Joshua Humphrey and built out of pine and southern live oak.   Her name was chosen by President George Washington.   During the War of 1812 she earned her famous nickname "Old Ironsides" when British soldiers swore they saw cannon balls bounce from her sides.   In this era wooden warships were expected to last about fifteen years.  In 1830 an article in the Boston newspaper Advertiser erroneously gossiped that she was about to scrapped, which began a letter writing campaign to save her.  Oliver Wendell Holmes wrote his famous poem “Old Ironsides” during this time.   The Constitution was saved, and her sister ship Congress was scrapped.

Your tour guide is a US Navy crew member
in 1812 uniform

During the Civil War the USS Constitution was saved by the Union Navy and towed to New York City from Annapolis, where it was feared she would fall into the hands of the South.   See this link for that story:   http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/old-ironsides-during-civil-war.html.    Again, by 1900 her fate was up in the air as it was suggested she be used for target practice and sunk.  Protests led to another restoration in 1906, and then she began to serve as a museum ship in the Charlestown Navy Yard.  She was restored in 1925, and reconstructed in 1995 and 2010. The USS Constitution is still a commissioned warship of the US Navy, and will participate in a re-enactment of the famous battle versus the HMS Guerriere for the 200^th anniversary of the War of 1812.

The USS Constitution is still a commissioned
warship of the US Navy

For the truly curious:

Genealogical History of Samuel Hartt from London, England to Lynn, Massachusetts, to 1903, by James Morrison Hart, Printed and bound by the Rumford Printing Company, Concord, NH, 1903  available at the New England Genealogical Society CS71.H326.1903.

For more information on the USS Constitution see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution

The story of Old Ironside's rescue during the Civil War http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/old-ironsides-during-civil-war.html

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo