Historic Portsmouth Harbor

This weekend we took a one and half hour tour of the historic harbor in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  I've taken cruises to the Isles of Shoals, and up the Piscataqua River from Portsmouth, but I'd never seen the sights of Portsmouth from the harbor.  It was a beautiful day, and the views were spectacular.

Our tour boat took off from Ceres Street, behind the businesses along Market Street.  This is the view of the restaurants along Bow Street, just around the corner.  The back decks were packed with happy people lunching and enjoying the waterfront. 

The new Sarah Long drawbridge was finished last year.  It looks brand new from downtown Portsmouth, and carries traffic and trains over to Kittery, Maine and the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. 

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is actually located on Seavey Island in Kittery, Maine.  Submarines are repaired here, but are not visible to the public, even from boats in the harbor.  We could see the tail end of one, but it was covered with tarps. 

Many visitors to Portsmouth think this impressive building is an abandoned hotel.  However, it is located on Naval property on Seavey island.  It is the abandoned Naval prison.  There are lots of stories about the prisoners here, and one of the only true stories is that Humphrey Bogart was once an MP who was bringing a prisoner to this facility during WWII.  His prisoner tried to escape whilst changing trains in Boston, and attacked Bogart with his manacles.  This left Bogart with a mangled lip that was repaired by an Naval doctor, who botched the job and left him with a distinctive lisp.  Prisoner have been kept at Seavey Island since the War of 1812, but this prison building dates from 1905 and was known as the "Alcatraz of the East".  You can read the history of this prison at this Wikipedia LINK.  

I've blogged about Fort McClary before at this LINK.  It is an impressive spot to visit, with great views of the harbor and the Isles of Shoals.  Seeing it from the middle of the harbor was a treat. 

Fort Constitution is a New Hampshire State Park located at the tip of New Castle Island.  You can visit the fort and climb the lighthouse.  This was once known as Fort William and Mary before the American Revolution.  The British used to keep a large supply of gunpowder stored here.  One of the first acts of rebellion during the war was 14 December 1774 when the local people of Portsmouth stormed the fortress and confiscated the gunpowder.  The powder was distributed throughout the colony and used during the Revolutionary War. You can read more about the history of this historic site at Wikipedia at this LINK. 

This Life Saving Station on Wood Island dates from before the establishment of the US Coast Guard.  Men in wooden boats would row out and rescue crew and passengers from floundering ships.  It is being renovated into a museum that will only be accessible by boat.  Plans are to open it to the public in 2019.   You can read some of the history HERE. 

Whaleback Lighthouse is located at the mouth of the Piscataqua River in Portsmouth Harbor.  It is actually in the town of Kittery in the state of Maine.  During the "Perfect Storm" of 1991 the waves from the Atlantic were higher than this 70 foot lighthouse.  Lighthouse keepers used to row out here and do two week stints of duty on this rocky little island.   There is a good sketch of the history of this lighthouse at Wikipedia at this LINK. 

From the mouth of the harbor we could see the Isles of Shoals six miles out to sea.

Our tour boat went around New Castle into Little Harbor and past the historic Wentworth-by-the-Sea hotel.  This hotel was originally built in 1874, and hosted the 1905 Portsmouth Peace Treaty to end the Russian-Japanese War.  This treaty was hosted by President Theodore Roosevelt, and Japan gifted the American people the cherry trees that now line the Potomac Basin in Washington, D.C.  You can read more about this historic hotel HERE. 

In Little Harbor you can see the historic Wentworth-Coolidge mansion, built by the Royal Wentworth Governors who lived here before the American Revolution.  It is now a museum house open to the public, and there is a lilac festival here every spring.  The Wentworth family brought the first lilac cuttings to New England, and now the purple lilac is the New Hampshire state flower.  Residents of New Hampshire treasure cuttings from the lilacs here on the Wentworth mansion property, and re-grow lilac trees at homes and parks all over the Granite State.  You can read more about this historic mansion at this LINK. 

A large cache of lobster pots seen along the working waterfront of Portsmouth Harbor

Our tour boat moored right in front of the Moffatt-Ladd historic house museum.  This 1763 house was a wedding gift for Samuel and Sarah Catherine Moffatt, and remained in their family for 150 years. It was also the home of William Whipple, who signed the Declaration of Independence. It is owned by the National Society of Colonial Dames, and is open for tours and for rental for weddings and functions.  You can read more about the Moffatt-Ladd House HERE. 

We took our tour with Portsmouth Harbor Cruises, at 64 Ceres Street:

http://www.portsmouthharbor.com/    

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Historic Portsmouth Harbor", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 16, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/07/historic-portsmouth-harbor.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ KELLY of the Isles of Shoals

The Isles of Shoals
straddling New Hampshire and Maine

My ancestor Roger Kelly’s story is similar to the story of John FROST posted on June 11^th.  Not much about him is known except for court records and deeds.  Both men lived on the Isles of Shoals, where there is a dearth of vital records, but plenty of court records because most of the inhabitants crossed the law because of physical altercations, drunkenness or other petty crimes. It was known as a lawless place, and because of this Roger Kelly was often in the records because he was not only the local constable, but he was also a judge, and he found himself on both sides of the law.

Diane Rapaport wrote about Roger Kelly.  She is a lawyer, and a genealogist, and Roger Kelly’s story must have fascinated her.  Much of what I know about Roger, my 10^th great grandfather, came from Diane Rapaport’s article on him in the New England Ancestors journal, and from the book Pioneer Irish in New England (see below for both sources).   There is no proof that Roger Kelly was from Ireland, but he is generally thought to be of Irish origins. It would be nice to have at least one Irish ancestor in my family tree, but so far the closest I can prove is two Scots Irish ancestors.

Some books and articles claim that Roger Kelly came from Ireland with two brothers.  There is no proof of this although William Kelly lived at Great Island (New Castle, New Hampshire) and Charles lived at Kittery, Maine, both places close by to the Isles of Shoals.   Roger Kelly’s first record in the New World was a civil suit naming him as the mate of the Hope in the West Indies.  He served 15 weeks in a prison in Boston in 1664 for this suit for damages.  

Next, Roger shows up in the Isles of Shoals with his wife, Mary, as a tavern owner on Smuttynose Island, with frequent lawsuits.  So he moved to Hog Island (now Appledore Island in Maine) to be out of the jurisdiction of the New Hampshire court (yes, the Isles of Shoals are in both New Hampshire and Maine).   In 1666 he was in court for selling wine without a license.  He was a land owner and made constable in 1667, and later selectman.  He became the representative for the islands at the Massachusetts General Court.  Because of his influence on Smuttynose Island he was made Justice of the Peace.   He was both litigant and defendant on several occasions.

Being a magistrate on the Isles of Shoals made Roger Kelly an unpopular figure.   He suffered a lot of verbal abuse, and even physical attacks by the islanders who preferred to live freely in a state of drunkenness and disorder.   In his old age he suffered from blindness, as described by his son Charles in a 1698 deed transferring land in Kittery from Roger.   His daughter, Sarah Kelly, my 9^th great grandmother, married John Frost of Star Island.   His grandson, John Frost, Jr. was in the court records in 1705 for a disagreement with Roger Kelly over a church bell.   

Some KELLY resources:

“Off shore Antics:  The Case of the Smuttynose Sailor Who Became Judge”, by Diane Rapaport, New England Ancestors,  2004, Volume 5.3, pages 48 -49. 

Pioneer Irish in New England, by Michael O’Brien, New York, New York: P. J. Kennedy & Sons, 1937.

Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, by Charles Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin Davis, 1939, page 396.

Also see Suffolk County, Massachusetts Court Records,   New Hampshire Court Records,  York County, Maine deeds.

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My KELLY genealogy:

Generation 1:  Roger Kelly, born about 1629, origins unknown; married Mary Unknown, six children.

Generation 2:  Sarah Kelly married about 1674 to John Frost.  He was the son of John Frost and Rose Unknown, and died 7 April 1677 in York County, Maine.  Four children.

Generation 3:  Ithamar Frost m. Unknown

Generation 4: Sarah Frost m. John Mace

Generation 5: Ithamar Mace m. Rachel Berry

Generation 6: Abigail Mace m. Simon Locke

Generation 7:  Richard Locke m. Margaret Welch

Generation 8:  Abigail M. Locke m. George E. Batchelder

Generation 9: George E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson

Generation 10: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

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

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ KELLY of the Isles of Shoals", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 2, 2016,  (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/07/surname-saturday-kelly-of-isles-of.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ MACE of the Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine

The Isles of Shoals

MACE

The Isles of Shoals are a group of islands six miles off the coast of Maine and New Hampshire.  Both states have wrangled over the state line which now makes the border between Appledore Island, Smuttynose and Cedar Island in Maine and Lunging Island and Star Island in New Hampshire.

The island were used for fishing by the native Americans and the first European explorers in the 1600s.  It was “discovered” by Captain John Smith in 1614, and there is a monument with his map in Rye Harbor, New Hampshire that overlooks a nice view of the isles.  Fishermen first resided on Appledore and Star Island, where they formed a little town called Gosport.   The town was evacuated during the Revolutionary War, and the island remained more or less abandoned until the 1800s when a hotel was built by Thomas Laighton and Levi Thaxter. 

Robert Mace (1652 - ?) my 8^th great grandfather, was a resident of Gosport.  He appears in several court records testifying in cases involving his neighbors in Gosport who were accused of wife abuse, defamation and other crimes.  He was probably a fisherman, and he owned a pew at the meetinghouse in Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1700.

Robert’s son, John Mace (1693 – 1737), my 7^th great grandfather, was born on the Isles of Shoals.  He married his wife, Sarah Frost in Gosport, and was taxed in Rye in 1724.  According to the Essex County, Massachusetts Probate, he was a mariner.  His estate was administered in Newbury, Essex County on 5 July 1737. 

Ithamar Mace (1729 – 1806), my 6^th great grandfather, was born in Gosport and named after his maternal grandfather, Ithamar Frost.  He enlisted in the French and Indian War and was taken prisoner for nine years.  He married Rachel Berry in Rye, New Hampshire and had three children born in Rye.  Their daughter, Abigail (1767 – 1803), my 5^th great grandmother, married Simon Locke, a descendant of John Locke and Elizabeth Berry, first settlers at Locke’s Neck in Rye.

For more information on the MACE family, please contact Jan A. Koso.  I previously published a blog post about Jan’s Mace Genealogy Project (the link to Jan’s website is no longer valid, please contact him at jakoso@gmail.com or at mace-genealogy@comcast.net  ) :

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/01/jan-kosos-mace-genealogy-project.html

I'm also descended of Rev. Joseph Hull, an early minister at Gosport on the Isles of Shoals.  You can read my blog post about my HULL lineage (and the updated information on the HULL family) at this link: 

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/surname-saturday-hull-update.html

Click here to see the Capt. John Smith Monument in Rye Harbor
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/400th-anniversary-of-john-smiths.html 

My MACE lineage:

Generation 1: Robert Mace, born about 1652 in England; married first to  Hannah Gibbons, daughter of James Gibbons and Judith Lewis, and had three children; married second to unknown and had two more children.  Hannah was born about 1669 in Saco, Maine. 

Generation 2: John Mace, son of Robert Mace and Hannah Gibbons, born about 1693 in Gosport, died before 5 July 1737; married about 1726 to Sarah Frost, daughter of Ithamar Frost. Three children. 

Generation 3:  Ithamar Mace, born about 1729 in Gosport, died before 9 November 1806; married to Rachel Berry, daughter of Jotham Berry and Mary Bates.  She was baptized on 3 July 1743 in Rye, New Hampshire and died 9 November 1806 in Rye, New Hampshire. Three children. 

Generation 4:  Abigail Mace, born 1 February 1767 in Rye, died 18 February 1803; married on 14 February 1792 in Greenland to Simon Locke as his first wife.  He was the son of Richard Locke and Elizabeth Garland, born in September 1770 in Rye, and died 31 July 1863 in Rye.  Seven children (he had eight more children with his second wife, Elizabeth Locke Allen, the daughter of Jude Allen and Dorcas Marden.)

Generation 5: Richard Locke m. Margaret Welch
Generation 6: Abigail M. Locke m. George E. Batchelder
Generation 7:  George E. Batchelder, Jr. m. Mary Katharine Emerson
Generation 8: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen
Generation 9: Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~  MACE of the Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire and Maine", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 4, 2016,  ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/06/surname-saturday-mace-of-isles-of.html: accessed [access date]). 

400th Anniversary of John Smith's "Discovery" of New Hampshire

This monument is located in Rye Harbor State Park, New Hampshire, 

and the Isles of Shoals are visible just six miles off shore.  

This new monument was dedicated August 14, 2014. 

ISLES OF SHOALS

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About six miles offshore, these nine rocky

islands served Europeans as a fishing station

before the first mainland settlements were made

in 1623.  Capt. John Smith (1580 - 1631) named

the group "Smith's Isles" in 1614.  The codfish

that "shoaled" or schooled there in huge

numbers were a prized delicacy that supported

300 to 600 inhabitants before the revolution.

By the mid-1800s, new hotels attracted a

summer colony of writers and artists, chief of

whom was Celia Thaxter (1835 - 1894).  The

islands have supported religious conferences

since 1897 and marine research since 1928.

2006

MAP FROM CAPT. JOHN SMITH'S 1614 EXPEDITION

ORIGINS OF NEW ENGLAND

John Smith's map and widely read book

"A Description of New England"

detailed the region's teeming fishing

banks, abundant game, clean rivers,

vast forests and native people.  The book

had a major influence in the subsequent

wave of English migration to these

shores.  The map guided the Pilgrims

to "Plimoth" in 1620 and led John

Winthrop to "The River Charles" and

the founding of Boston in 1630

ISLES OF SHOALS

Six miles from this point lie the Isles of

Shoals.  Possibly named for the bountiful

"schools" of fish surround them, the

nine islands were home to a prosperous 

fishing community for over 150 years.

On Star Island, the other obelisks

were erected on anniversaries of 

the 1614 voyage. In 1864 A monument

was build to honor Capt. John Smith, and

in 1914 a 46.5 foot monument was

dedicated to Reverend John Tucke.

COMPASS ROSE

FROM JOHN SMITH'S MAP

JOHN SMITH (1580 - 1631)

In 1614 Captain John Smith, who seven

years earlier was a founder of the 

Jamestown settlement, returned to 

America and explored and mapped the

local coastline from Penobscot Bay

to Cape Cod.  He was the first European

to map the Isles of Shoals, which

he named "Smith's Iles".  While that

name did not endure, with the consent

of King James I, "Admirall" Smith

named this region "New England".

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/01/400th-anniversary-of-john-smiths.html
Copyright (c) 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday - Hull Update

Hull Update

This is an update to my HULL surname sketch posted earlier at this link http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/surname-saturday-hull.html

I have some additional information about Reverend Joseph Hull thanks to reader Martin Hollick, a former genealogy blogger.  He informed me that Hull had two wives and seventeen children as listed below, and his English ancestry has been confirmed.    Again his TWO wives are still unknown, although even more has been found about Reverend Hull.   

Martin gives some good sources I didn’t have:

Robert Charles Anderson The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635 (NEHGS, Boston, 2003), Vol. III: 452-460

Ancestral Lines by Carl Boyer, 3rd (Santa Clarita, CA, 1998, 3rd ed.)

Genealogical Dictionary of ME and NH by Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby, and Walter Goodwin Davis (Portland, 1939, reprinted Baltimore, 1988)

The American Genealogist Vol. 68 (1993) p. 149

Heard-Hurd Genealogy 1610-1987: Some Descendants of John and Elizabeth (Hull) Heard of Dover, New Hampshire by Charles Samuel Candage and Ralph Ernest Peak (Picton Press, Camden, ME, 1988)

The Ancestors and Descendants of George Hull 1590-1659 and Thamzen Michell of Crewkerne, Somerset England, Dorchester, MA  . . .  by Robert E. Hull (Gateway Press, Baltimore, 1994)

Generation 1:  Reverend Joseph Hull, son of Thomas Hull and Joanne Peson, born in 24 April 1596 in Crewkerne, England, died on the Isles of Shoals, New Hampshire on 19 November 1665. He married first about 1620 to Joanne Unknown in England.  She died about 1635.  He married second to Agnes about 1635.  Seventeen children:

With Joanne:

1. Joanna, born about 1620

2. Joseph, born about 1622

3. Tristram, born about 1624, died about 1666, married Blanche unknown (see Bill West's post at this link http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2011/12/bad-blanche-hull.html)

4. Temperance, born about 1626, died after 1685, married John Bickford

5.  Elizabeth (see sketch in yesterday’s post)

6.  Griselda, born about 1630

7.  Dorothy, born about 1632

With Agnes:

8.   Hopewell, born about 1637, died about 1693

9.  Benjamin, born 1639, died before 1693, married Rachel York

10. Naomi, born 1639

11. Ruth, born 1641

12. Dodovah, born about 1642, died about 1682

13. Samuel, born about 1644

14, Phineas, born about 1646, died about 1693

15. Captain Reuben, born 1649, died about 1693, married Hannah Ferniside

16. Ephraim, born about 1650

17. Priscilla, born 1651, died 1652

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday - Hull

HULL

Please see an important update at
 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/surname-saturday-hull-update.html

The Isles of Shoals are
six miles off the coast of New Hampshire

My 9x great grandfather Joseph Hull was a minister.  He left a great paper trail.  Ministers can be dream ancestors for genealogists because of the plethora of records.  He graduated from Oxford on 14 November 1614 with a Bachelor of Arts degree.  He served as curate at Colyton in Devonshire.  Later he was ordained in the Church of England on 14 April 1621 as called to be rector at Northleigh in the Diocese of Exeter.  During this time period he began to believe in “non-conformist” ideas.  There is no record of his marriage, and his wife’s name is known only as "Agnes".   This is odd, considering how much other information is known about Joseph Hull’s life.

Reverend Hull led 106 people from Somersetshire (about 20 families, his wife, 7 children and 3 servants) and arrived in Massachusetts on 7 June 1635.  He was a freeman in Weymouth in September 1635 and preaching in a church as an Episcopalian, but causing dissention.   He moved to Barnstable in 1639 and Yarmouth in 1641 (both towns are on Cape Cod) but was temporarily excommunicated by Governor Winthrop because he left Weymouth without asking permission. 

By 1643 he was the minister in York, Maine.  By 1652 he was back in Launceston, Cornwall leaving all his children but one In Massachusetts.  In 1662 he was “ejected from the rectory of Buryan, Cornwall County, England.”  Again he came to America and this time went to New Hampshire.   He first served as minister at Oyster River (now the city of Durham, New Hampshire) and then settled as minister at the fishing colony on the Isles of Shoals where he remained until his death in 1665.  Although he moved around New England and back and forth across the Atlantic, he left enough of a paper trail along the way for historians to follow his movements as a minister. 

The Hull’s Company ship had a list of passengers compiled by John Porter, deputy clerk to Edward Thoroughgood on 20 March 1635.  They left from Weymouth, England and named their settlement in Massachusetts after this port. 

The Hull Genealogy:

Generation 1:  The Reverend Joseph Hull was born about 1595 in Crewkerne, Somersetshire, England, and died 18 November 1665 on the Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire.   The name of his wife is known only as Agnes.  Seven children all born in England:

1. Joanna, born about 1620, married first to John Bursley, second to Dolor Davis who is my 10x great grandfather with his first wife, Margery Willard.

2. Joseph, born about 1622

3. Tristram, born about 1623, married Blanche Unknown (see Bill West's post at this link: http://westinnewengland.blogspot.com/2011/12/bad-blanche-hull.html )

4. Temperance, born about 1626, married John Bickford

4. Elizabeth, born abut 1628 (see below) my 8x great grandmother

5. Griselda, born about 1629, married James Warren

6. Dorothy, born about 1631, married Oliver Kent

Generation 2: Elizabeth Hull, born about 1628 in Northleigh, Devonshire, England, and died 30 November 1706 in Dover, New Hampshire; married about 1643 in Northleigh to John Heard, who died 17 January 1689 in Dover.  Fifteen children.

Generation 3.  Mary Heard, born 26 January 1650 m. John Ham

Generation 4.  Mercy Ham m. Richard Nason

Generation 5. Richard Nason m. Mary Thompson

Generation 6. Mercy Nason m. William Wilkinson

Generation 7. Aaron Wilkinson m. Mercy F. Wilson

Generation 8. Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

Accounts of the Reverend Hull’s life can be found in the History of the Township of Durham, New Hampshire by Everett S. Stackpole, Lucien Thompson and Winthrop S. Meserve, 1913, in the book The Isles of Shoals in Lore and Legend, by Lyman V. Rutledge, 1965, and in The Isles of Shoals: An Historic Sketch by John Scribner Jenness, 1975.   A good account of his early years in Massachusetts can be found in Volume 1 of The History of Weymouth, Massachusetts, 1923, and page 73 lists the passengers in the Hull Company ship.

There are sketches of Rev. Hull’s life also in The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, by Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, 1999, Volume III, pages 452 – 460 and also in Ancestral Lines by Carl Boyer, 1998, pages 318 -324.

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo