How did the Scots Irish celebrate Christmas?

Why was it that the Scots Irish settlers at Londonderry, New Hampshire spent all night celebrating weddings, but ignored Christmas?  They would dance and drink at celebrations of weddings, funerals, births, so we know they knew how to throw a good party.  What did they have against Christmas?

The Ulster Presbyterians were Calvinists.  This is why the Puritan government of Massachusetts allowed the first Scots Irish ministers to first come to their colony as pastors.  Men like the Presbyterian Reverends Thomas Craighead and William Homes were very close in religious sympathies with the Puritans. This was a big step for the Puritan government, to allow ministers of "other" religions to come to the colony of Massachusetts. But as Calvinists, they were considered acceptable.   For this reason they were invited to come from Scotland to Massachusetts as ministers, but sent to the outskirts of Cape Cod since they were not exactly English.

And did the Puritans celebrate Christmas?  Certainly not.  They celebrated no religious holidays whatsoever, and considered them very Catholic.  The only religious holidays they celebrated were Fast Days and Days of Thanksgiving.   The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland tried to abolish Christmas in 1638.  And in Puritan England there was no Christmas in 1643, and it was banned by June 1647.  Christmas was not restored until 1660, with the restoration of Charles II to the throne.

However, in the New World, where the Puritans still remained in power, Christmas took even longer to be restored.   In Massachusetts a law was enacted in October 1658 fining 5 shillings for Christmas celebrations.  You can find business transactions and even General Court records for New England colonies  for December 25^th, and no mention of religious celebrations on that day. Churches were closed and businesses were open. 

For some great examples of the Scots Irish settlers of Londonderry “whooping it up” you can read the first two chapters of Horace Greeley’s book Recollections of a Busy Life, published in 1872.   He describes his childhood in New Hampshire, and gives a short history of the Nutfield settlement.  Pages 23 – 25 describe the wild celebrations of a wedding, and of a funeral wake.  He states “… there was more humor, more play, more fun, more merriment, in that Puritan community, than can be found anywhere…”.  

Apparently the Ulster Presbyterians learned about holding a good Irish wake during their few generations in Northern Ireland.  And the wild practice of “Shivaree” for a Scots Irish wedding night is well known.  Just because they ignored Christmas, it didn’t mean that they didn’t know how to have a good time!

For the truly curious:

“Christmas – a Sacrilege”, by Jo Ann Butler of the Rebel PuritAn blog

http://rebelpuritan.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-sacrilege.html

“Christmas in Puritan New England” at Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_in_Puritan_New_England

The Autobiography of Horace Greeley: or, Recollections of a busy life

https://archive.org/details/autobiographyofh00gree   (read online or download from Archive.org )

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Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "How did the Scots Irish Celebrate Christmas?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 8, 2014, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/12/how-did-scots-irish-celebrate-christmas.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Rev. William Homes and wife, Katherine Craighead, Chilmark, Massachusetts

These gravestones were photographed at the Abel's Hill Cemetery, Chilmark, Massachusetts, pn the island of Martha's Vineyard by my sister Laurel Wilkinson, and her friend Kate Fournier.  They used an iPad to get these photos, which came out terrific considering the great age of the tombstones.  Genealogy blogger Barbara Poole, at "Life from the Roots" uses an iPad for her fantastic photography, too.   I was able to very clearly read the epitaphs on these photos so I could transcribe them below.  Someday I'd like to visit this cemetery, which my sister reports is full of names from our family tree, like MAYHEW and DAGGETT.

In MEMORY of

the Reverend learned

emenently prudent &

pious Mr.  William Homes

the pastor of the Church

of Christ in Chilmark

who departed this life

June ye 27th 1746 in ye

83rd year of his age.

HERE LIES

BURIED THE BODY OF

KATHERINE HOMES

THE VERY PIOUS RELICT OF THE

REVEREND MR WILLIAM HOMES 

LATE DECEASED WHO DEPARTED

THIS LIFE TO A BETTER. 

APRIL YE 10TH 1754

IN YE 82ND YEAR OF

HER AGE.

William Homes and Katherine Craighead are my 9th great grandparents.  The Reverend Homes was born in 1663 in Donaghmore, County Tyrone in Northern Ireland.  He was pastor of the church at Chilmark, on the island of Martha's Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.  His wife, Katherine Craighead, was the daugher of another Ulster Presbyterian minister from Northern Ireland, the Reverend Robert Craighead.

Don't you love the great use of adjectives on these two tombstones?  The Homes family, or perhaps their congregation, must have been quite wealthy to pay for all the extra adjectives carved onto Rev. William Homes's epitaph.

Click here to read my "Surname Saturday" blog posts on these families:

Homes:    http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/surname-saturday-homes-of-northern.html

Craighead:   http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/surname-saturday-craighead-family-of.html

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/06/tombstone-tuesday-rev-william-homes-and.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ CRAIGHEAD, A family of Scots Irish Presbyterians

CRAIGHEAD

Reverend Robert Craighead received a Master’s degree from St. Andrews University on 15 February 1653.  He went to Northern Ireland for 30 years as the pastor of the Presbyterian church at Donoughmore.   He witnessed the siege of Londonderry, escaped and went to Glasgow, Scotland, but returned to die in Londonderry, Northern Ireland on 22 August 1711.

Robert Craighead married Agnes, the daughter of Reverend John Hart of Taughboyne, Northern Ireland.   Their daughter Katherine, my 9^th great grandmother, married the Reverend William Homes and came to Massachusetts.  They also had three sons.  Robert Craighead, Jr. also became a Presbyterian minister and studied at Glasgow, Edinburgh and Leiden where he received a Master’s degree.  He was a longtime minister in Dublin.  Another son, Thomas, also studied in Edinburgh and became a Presbyterian minister.  He came with his sister to New England and became a minster at Freetown, Massachusetts.  In 1724 he became a pastor at White Clay Creek, Delaware, and later went to Pennsylvania.

The Craigheads were a very important family in the history of Presbyterianism in America.  Many descendants became ministers in the New World.

For more information on Robert Craighead:

 Craighead Family, A Genealogical Memoir by Rev. James Geddes Craighead, Philadelphia, 1876.  This book is available at the New England Historic Genealogical Society library in Boston on the shelves and also on microfiche.  It is available online at the Hathi Trust Digital Library, too. 

A good book about the siege of Londonderry is Seige City: The Story of Derry and Londondery, by Brian Lacey, Blackstaff Press, Belfast, 1990. 

My Craighead Genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Craighead

Genreration 2: Thomas Craighead born in Scotland; married in 1620 in Aberdeen, Scotland to Janet Ferguson

Generation 3: Reverend Robert Craighead, born about 1630 in Scotland, died 22 August 1711 in Derry, Northern Ireland; married Agnes Hart, daughter of Reverend John Hart and Agnes Baxter.  She was born 17 December 1648 in Dunino, Fife, Scotland.

Generation 4: Katherine Craighead, born about 1678 and died 10 April 1754 in Chilmark, Massachusetts; married on 25 September 1693 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland to Reverend William Homes, born 1663 in Donaghmore, Tyrone, Northern Ireland and died 20 June 1746 in Chilmark. Nine children born in Straban, Tyrone, Northern Ireland.

Generation 5: Margaret Homes m. John Allen

Generation 6: Rebecca Allen m. Wilmot Wass

Generation 7: Sarah Wass m. Samuel Osborn

Generation 8: Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

Generation 9: Ann Skinner m. Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 10: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 11: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 12: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 13: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

For the truly curious:

My HOMES Surname Saturday post:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/surname-saturday-homes-of-northern.html 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ CRAIGHEAD, A family of Scots Irish Presbyterians", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 22, 2014, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-craighead-family-of.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ HOMES of Northern Ireland and Martha's Vineyard

HOMES

William Homes is one of the few ancestors I have who was born in Northern Ireland.  He also has a Londonderry, New Hampshire connection, which is fun!  As a young man, William Homes came to Martha’s Vineyard island off Massachusetts to teach school from 1686 – 1689.  He then returned to Ireland where he was ordained in 1692 in the village of Strabane, and he also married there.  His wife was Katherine Craghead, daughter of Reverend Robert Craighead of Donaghmore.   He was the pastor at Strabane until about 1714 when he took his family back to Martha’s Vineyard.

He was made the pastor at Chilmark on 15 September 1715, where he served until he died in 1746.  His children married well into prominent New England families.  His son Robert married Mary Franklin, sister of Benjamin Franklin, who is my first cousin many generations removed in another lineage.  One daughter, Katherine, married Samuel Smith, son of my great uncle many generations removed in another lineage.  This is a very tangled family tree!

According to the Irish professor, Linde Lunney, the Craighead and Homes families traveled together to Boston in 1714.  They were well received by the Puritan leadership because the Presbyterian doctorine was Calvinist.   Cotton Mather had met with his son, Robert Homes, a sea captain, prior to their arrival, and brought back information to Northern Ireland, leading the Presbyterians to believe they would be welcome to re-settle in New England.   Reverend Edward L. Parker, author of The History of Londonderry [New Hampshire], speculated that these families “influenced the decision of hundreds or even thousands of Ulster-Scots to leave Ireland for new opportunities in America.”   Robert Homes is the son who married Mary Franklin of Boston.  (see page 34 of Parker's book)

After witnessing the seige of Londonderry in Northern Ireland, and losing many of their rights to worship as Presbyterians, the Ulster Scots were anxious to resettle in North America.  When the first fleet of Presbyterians arrived in Boston, they weren't exactly welcomed, and were sent to places like New Hampshire, Maine and Worcester to act as a buffer between the Puritans and the wilderness.  Many of the Presbyterian pastors were sent to far flung villages on Cape Cod and the islands. 

For more information on Reverend William Homes you can read his journal, “Diary of Rev. William Homes of Chilmark, Martha’s Vineyard, 1689 – 1746”, New England Historic Genealogical Register, NEHGS, Volume 48 0 50, 1894 – 1896.  The manuscript is at the Maine Historical Society in Portland, Maine.

There is also a genealogy of the HOMES family in the NEHGS Register, Volume 91 (1937), pages 159 - 176.  There is a biography of William Homes in the book Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America by Charles Knowles Bolton (viewable at www.archive.org). 

MY HOMES/HOLMES genealogy:

Generation 1:  Reverend William Homes, born 1663 in Donaghmore, Tyrone, Northern Ireland, died 20 June 1746 in Chilmark, Massachusetts; married 26 September 1693 in Londonderry, Northern Ireland to Katherine Craighead, daughter of Reverend Robert Craighead and Agnes Hart.   She was born about 1678 and died 10 April 1754 in Chilmark.  Nine children born in Straban, West Tyrone County, Northern Ireland.

Generation 2:  Margaret Homes, born 28 February 1696 in Straban,  West Tyrone, Northern Ireland; died 26 April 1778 in Chilmark; married 1 March 1716 in Chilmark to John Allen, son of James Allen and Elizabeth Partridge.  He was born 1682 in West Tisbury, Massachusetts and died 17 October 1767 in Chilmark.  Thirteen children born in Chilmark.

Generation 3:  Rebecca Allen m. Wilmot Wass

Generation 4: Sarah Wass m. Samuel Osborn

Generation 5: Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

Generation 6: Ann Skinner m. Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 7: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 8: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

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

A 2013 post about Rev. William Homes:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-found-irish-ancestor.html 

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-homes-of-northern.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ PARTRIDGE of Duxbury, Massachusetts

 Partridges by John James Audubon

PARTRIDGE

My 10^th great grandfather George Partridge arrived from England to Duxbury, Massachusetts about 1636.  He was a single man, and there is no evidence he was married before he wed Sarah Tracy in 1638.  He was given a grant of land at Powder Point in 1636 and later accumulated about 200 acres in Duxbury.  At town meetings he was elected to serve the community as constable, surveyor of highways and in a grand-jury.   I was fascinated to see that he served as a private in Captain Myles Standish’s militia, since Capt. Standish is also my 8^th great grandfather in a different lineage. Two of Standish's sons signed George Partridge's will, including my ancestor, Alexander Standish, my 7th great grandfather. 

George Partridge had ten children. Two of his daughters married sons of Samuel Allen, and two Partridge children married two children of Governor William Brewster, the Mayflower passenger.  One daughter married a son of Peter Thacher, which was interesting to me since I have Thacher first cousins, their descendants.  I descend from daughter Elizabeth (1643 – 1722) who married James Allen. 

Since very little is known about George Partridge, we don’t even know his occupation, I’ll paste his last will and testament here:

"On ye 26th day of June in ye year of our Lord 1682. I George Partridge yeoman living in Duxborough being in sound mind and good and perfect remembrance praysed be ye Lord for it make & ordaine this my last will and testament in manner and form following first I commend my soul unto Almighty God my maker and Redeemer and my body I will that it be decently buryed and funerall charges paid together with all my just and lawful debts out of my estate. 

"I give and bequeath unto my beloved wife Sarah Partridge all my houses & lands in Duxburough to say uplands and meadows and all my cattell and all my household stuff for her own proper use and behoofe during her natural life on the condition that my wife do as much for my daughter Mercy as we have done for ye rest of our daughters already married and that she give my grand-daughter Bethyah Allen as much as she in prudence shall think fit and if any part of my moveables remain at my wife's decease my will is that it be disposed of by her amongst my children as she thinks meet and fit. I give to my eldest son John Partridge at my decease half my uplands and half my meadow lands lying and being at Middleborough with ye priviledges and appurtenances thereunto belonging to him & his heirs forever. 

"Item--I give six pounds sterling to my son John Partridge at his mother's decease to be paid in current pay. 

"I give to my son James Partridge the other and remayning half both of my uplands and meadow lands lying and being at Middleborough with ye priviledges and appurtenances  thereunto belonging to him after my decease & to his heirs forever. 

"Item--I give to my son James all my houses and all my lands both uplands and meadow lands in Duxborough and also ye Island at ye Glade with all ye priviledges and appurtenances belonging to ye aforesd lands at his mother's decease to him and his heirs forever if my son James will live in the house with his mother quietly during her life. I do hereby constitute and make my beloved wife Sarah Partridge sole executrix & administratrix of this my last will & testament as witness my hand and seal this 29th of June one thousand six hundred and eighty two. 

          GEORGE PARTRIDGE [Seal] 

         "In ye presence of us witnesses 

           ALEXANDER STANDISH 

           JOSIAH STANDISH 
In case that any estate belonging unto me beyond sea should be brought over hither before my wife's decease my will is that she should dispose thereof amongst my children according to her discretion.

Source: At genealogylibrary.com: Descendants of George Partridge of Duxbury, MA, by George Henry Partridge, The Plimpton Press, Norwood, MA 1915 

Other sources for information on the Partridge family are the History of Duxbury, by Justin Winsor, 1849 (available to view and download at https://archive.org ) and also The Great Migration series.

My PARTRIDGE genealogy:

Generation 1: George Partridge, born in England, died 7 July 1695 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married on 16 November 1638 to Sarah Tracy, daughter of Stephen Tracy and Tryphosa Lee.  She was born about 1621 in Leyden, Holland and died 16 November 1708 in Duxbury.  Ten children.

Generation 2:  Elizabeth Partridge, born 14 February 1643 in Duxbury, Massachusetts, died 8 August 1722 in Chilmark, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard; married about 1662 in Duxbury to James Allen, son of Samuel Allen and Ann Whitmore.   He was born about 1636 in Braintree, Massachusetts and died on 25 July 1714 in Tisbury, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.  Twelve children.

Generation 3:  John Allen m. Margaret Homes

Generation 4:  Rebecca Allen m. Wilmot Wass

Generation 5: Sarah Wass m. Samuel Osborn

Generation 6: Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

Generation 7: Ann Skinner m. Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons m. Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 9:  Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 10: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-partridge-of-duxbury.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ ALLEN of Braintree, Massachusetts

Mount Wollaston, now Quincy, Massachusetts
as it appeared in 1840

Although some earlier works stated that Samuel Allen was a son of George Allen,  there is no proof of this.  In The Great Migration, Volume 1, page 34 the author, Robert Charles Anderson, rejects the notion, too, in his sketch for George Allen.  The sketch for Samuel Allen is on pages 39 to 40.

 

A man named Samuel Allen was admitted as a freeman in the Massachusetts Bay Colony on 6 May 1635, stating that he had been a member of a church in Massachusetts.  There is no church record that exists.  In Braintree, then called Mount Wollaston, a lot was granted to Samuel Allen on 24 February 1639/40.  This is the first know record of my Samuel Allen, my 10^th great grandfather.  He was also a town clerk, selectman, surveyor of highways, and constable.   His will was dated 16 September 1669 in Braintree:

The last will and testament of Samuel Allen of Braintree, in the county of Suffolk in New England, being very weake in body, yet of perfect memory and understanding. What debts I owe, be paid with as much speed as may be convenient. I give unto my sonn Samuel Allen 20 pounds, to bee paid him or his out of my Estate. 10 pounds within one year after my decease and 10 pounds within three years after the first payment bee made. Unto my sonn, Janes Allen, 5 pounds to bee paid him or his within three years after my decease. Unto my sonn- in- law; Josiah Standish, 10 pounds to bee paid him or his, 5 pounds within one year after my decease & the other within two years after the first payment bee made. Unto my sonn-in-law, Nathaniel Greenwood 5 pounds, to bee paid him or his within three years after my decease. Unto my daughter Abigail 30 pounds, to bee paid unto her when she shall bee at the age of 21 years. The rest of my estate as house & land & what else remains, I leave between my beloved wife and my sonn Joseph Allen, that is to say that my wife shall have half the bennifit of house & land & whatever estate may be left after discharge of the legacies during her life, & the other half to my sonn Joseph. Provided they joyne in what is necessary for the support of such as are left in the family. My will is that my wife shall have liberty to give unto any of our children the whole value of 20 pounds where she shall see need. I make my wife and my sonn Joseph, my Executrix and Executor of this my will

Witness the hand of

Samuel Allen

Witnesses, Francis Elliott, John French, Thomas Holbrook.

Know all men, by these present's that I Margaret Allen the Late wife of Samuel Allen now deceased: & Joseph Allen my Sonne both Of the Towne of Brantry in the Goverment of the Massachussets in New England. for & in consideraton of Twenty pounds. given & appointed to her Paide. by the abovesaide Samuel Allen deceased. to his sonne Samuell Allen of Bridgwater in the Goverment of New Plimouth. Wee the abovesaide Margaret Allen & Joseph Allen doe hereb'y acknowledge to here bargained, sold & assigned. ' by this will * * over to the abovesaide Samuell Allen of Bridgewater twelve Acres of Land. Lying & being within the Towneship of Brantry. butting Upon the River called Monatt** beginning at the Upper corner of their Lot next the River neere the Saw Mill & on the North side of the River. & running downe the river soe far as the Cartway at the Bridge to a crooked Ash tree & running in Length the same bredth as its by the River til it makes Up the full Sume of twelve Acres of Land; which Land with Wood. Timber Stones & all other pvilages conteined within the limit's before Specified, I the saide Margaret Allen & Joseph Allen abovesaid doe by these presents. fully, freely, absolutely, aLienate, bargaine, Enfeoffe comirrie & for ever maKe over Unto the aforesaide Samuell Allen of Bridgewater all our claime, title & interest that doth. did or any waise may appeare formerly to belong to Us or any of o'r heires Executo'rs, or adm'rs Unto the aforesaide Samuell Allen of Bridgewater his heires, Executo'rs or adm'rs & assignes; Together with all benefits pvilages & imunities thereUnto belonging To have, hold, occupy & enjoy as his & theire proper Land. peaceably to Enjoy for ever: without any claime. title & adm'rs. or amy Other person or person's whatsoever for or to any part or perSon Of any of the land before Specified as from Us apperteining & Hereun'to have Set o'r hand & Seale. Margaret Allen her Marke & a Seale

Joseph Allen & a Seale

the late being interlined in ye 2d line before Sealing

Signed Sealed & Delivered in the presence of us Daniell

Preston, Samuell Greenwood, Nathaniel Greenewood

This instrument was acKnowledged by Margaret Allen & Joseph Allen as theire Act & deede. Novemb'r 16th 1672 before Edward Ting Assist.

Recorded & Compared Nov'r 21st 1672 p: Isaac Addington Cler.

My ALLEN genealogy:

Generation 1:  Samuel Allen, born about 1598 In England and died 5 August 1669 in Braintree (now Quincy), Massachusetts; married first about 1630 in England to Ann Whitmore (four children), married second to Margaret French, the widow of Edward Lamb (three children).

Generation 2:  James Allen, born about 1636 in Braintree (now Quincy) and died 25 July 1714 in Tisbury, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard; married about 1662 in Duxbury, Massachusetts to Elizabeth Partridge, daughter of George Partridge and Sarah Tracy.  She was born 14 February 1643 in Duxbury, and died 8 August 1722 in Chilmark, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard. Twelve children.

Generation 3:  John Allen born 1682 in West Tisbury, and died 17 October 1767 in Chilmark; married on 1 March 1716 in Chilmark to Margaret Homes, daughter of William Homes and Katherine Craighead.  She was born 28 February 1696 in Straban, Tyrone, Ireland and died 26 April 1778 in Chilmark.  Thirteen children.

Generation 4:  Rebecca Allen, born 25 February 1717 in Chilmark, died 29 May 1790 in Pleasant River, Maine;  married in 1732 in Chilmark to Wilmot Wass, son of John Wass and Ann Wilmot.  He was born 9 February 1712 in Boston, and died before 18 July 1793 in Windsor, Connecticut.  Twelve children.

Generation 5:  Sarah Wass m. Samuel Osborn

Generation 6: Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

Generation 7:  Ann Skinner m. Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons m. Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 9:  Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 10:  Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 11:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

The image above is from Wikimedia Commons, "The New English Canaan of Thomas Morton", by Charles Francis Adams, Jr., Boston, 1883 "This view of Mount Wollaston is taken from Rev. William P. Lunt's Two Discourses on the Occasion of the Two Hundredth Anniversary of the First Congregational Church, Quincy", page 37.

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-allen-of-braintree.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

I found an Irish Ancestor!

My family tree is rather boring.  Everyone is WASPY.  Most arrived in New England with the Great Migration or before 1650, and if they left they returned within one or two generations.  My grandmother and her parents came through Ellis Island, which sounds exciting, but they were English just like everyone else.  I remember one aunt saying to me, “Didn't you even find an Irishman?”  Later, I found one German Hessian, and a Dutch ancestor, and several Scots.  How is that for diversity?  My DNA test came up 63% British Isles, 25% Scandinavian, 12% uncertain.

Well, I finally did find an Irish ancestor!  He was an Ulster Protestant, but at least it shakes up the family tree a bit.  My Boston Brahmin ancestors can now properly roll over in their graves!

My Northern Ireland ancestry dates back to Margaret Homes, born 28 February 1696 in Straban, Tyrone, Ireland.  She came from a family of Presbyterian ministers.  Her father, Rev.  William Homes, was a minister in both Ireland and on the island of Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts, and on her maternal side her grandfather, Rev. Robert Craighead,  was a minster in Londonderry, Ireland. Katherine’s brother, Rev. Thomas Craighead, became a Presbyterian minister in Pennsylvania.

The most interesting part of all this is the family connection to Londonderry, Ireland, since now I live in Londonderry, New Hampshire.  I’m living in a town that was settled in 1719 by Ulster Scots who fled Northern Ireland after witnessing the siege of Derry.  They settled in the Nutfield Grant, and renamed their town Londonderry.   It’s funny how things worked out, isn't it?

Margaret Holmes’s father, William Homes came to America in 1686 and taught school on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.  In 1691 he returned to Ireland to enter the ministry, and he was ordained on 21 December 1692 as the pastor at Strabane.  He received a degree from the University of Edinburgh in 1693.  Then in October 1714 the Reverend William Homes and his brother-in-law Reverend Thomas Craighead came to Boston from Londonderry, Ireland on the ship “Thomas and Jane”.  Samuel Sewall welcomed them to Boston.  Reverend William Homes went back to Martha’s Vineyard to be the minister at Chilmark until his death in 1746. 

In Rev. E. L. Parker’s History of Londonderry, page 34 he wrote that a young man named Homes, son of a clergyman, told the people of Ireland the opportunities in New England.  He supposed that this was Captain Robert Homes, son of Rev. William Homes.  In 1717 John McClelland and James Jameson visited Rev. Homes in Chilmark.  William Homes went to Boston to meet with Reverend Cotton Mather at the North Meeting House in Boston.   With Mather’s blessing, five ships of Presbyterians arrived in Boston in 1718 to settle in New England.

                                                           John Craighead
                                                                        I

                                                           Thomas Craighead m. Janet Ferguson
                                                                        I

                                                   Rev. Robert Craighead m. Agnes Hart
                                                                        I

                       Rev. William Homes (1663-1746) m. Katherine Craighead (1678-1754)
                                                                        I

                                    Margaret Homes (1696 – 1778) m. John Allen

For more information, please see The History of Londonderry by Rev. E. L. Parker, 1851 page 34.

The Diary of Rev. William Homes of Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard, 1689-1746, can be found at the Maine Historical Society in Portland, Maine.  This diary was transcribed in the Register of the New England Historic Genealogical Society over three years in the following issues:

Volume 48 (1894), Pages 446 – 453

Volume 49 (1895), pages 413- 416

Volume 50 (1896), pages 155 – 166

There was also a genealogy of the extended family at the NEHGS Register Volume 91 (1937), pages 159 – 176.

You can also see the Biography of William Homes from the book Scotch Irish Pioneers in Ulster and America by Charles Knowles Bolton (the entire book is view-able at Archive.org)

Ok, my ancestor was Scots Irish, but now I can officially celebrate St. Patrick's Day! 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "I found an Irish Ancestor!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 14, 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/i-found-irish-ancestor.html: accessed [access date]).