Over the past few years I have written 214 “Surname Saturday”
blog posts. Each one starts with
whatever information I can find on an immigrant ancestor, and then I show my
lineage from that ancestor. This is my
version of the “Genealogy Do Over”. I
researched some of these ancestors over 35 years ago. Before home computers. Before
Ancestry.com. Before instant access to
genealogy journals and books online.
Every week I pick a new immigrant ancestor and re-research the sources I
have for that person. Then I write it up
and present it online.
Back in 2012 I wrote a blog post for Thomas Browning (1587 –
1669/70), an early settler in Topsfield, Massachusetts. I had written that his
daughter, Sarah Browning married Joseph Williams in 1661 in Salem and had three
children born in Manchester, Massachusetts.
I thought descended from two of these children, Abigail Williams and
Daniel Williams. These two siblings
married two ALLEN siblings. This is how I wrote up the blog post in 2012.
Just this month I received an email (and a comment on the
BROWNING post) from Robin C. Mason, author of the
Genealogy Ink blog
http://genealogyink.blogspot.com/
. She had been looking at the Essex
County Probate File Papers on the NEHGS website and made the following notes:
18 May 1719 #29965
will/probate of single woman Abigail Williams of Salem, daughter of Sarah
Williams of Salem widow and granddaughter of Thomas Browning formerly of Salem.
Abigail ill and sick
of body, perfect mind and memory
my dear tender mother
Sarah Williams all my real estate in Salem, 10 acre lot in Southfield and my
acre of marsh lying in Southfield also adjoining to Deacons Marsh. My homestead
where my mother and I dwell together - to mother & her heirs
all my personal estate
to my 3 executors, my mother Sarah Williams, my kinsman Thomas Symonds, &
Edward Norrice
10 April 1719 her mark
witnesses: William
Buttolph, Isaac Frost? Mary Frost? Steph. Sewall
Apparently Abigail Williams, daughter of Joseph Williams and
Sarah Browning died as a single, unmarried woman. The vital records still showed the two
Williams siblings marrying the two Allen siblings. Who were these two Williams children, Abigail
and Daniel?
Unfortunately, WILLIAMS is a common name, and it took me a
long time to unravel this mystery. My
big clue came from Robin. Look in the
court records! What I found was that
there was another WILLIAMS family headed by a man who did not appear in any
vital record in New England. I still don't know his birth date, marriage date or his death date. But he left
a lot of deeds that spelled out the family relationships.
Although WILLIAMS is a common name, the man missing from the
vital records had the unusual first name of “Jenkin”. Jenkin Williams had seven children born in
Manchester, Massachusetts, too, and he had two named Abigail Williams and Daniel
Williams – the siblings who married the two ALLEN siblings!
How did I find out about Jenkin Williams and all his
deeds? Through the Boston Evening Transcript Genealogy queries column, published on
January 18, 1909, page 14. I have used
the Boston Evening Transcripts queries many, many times for clues to my New
England ancestry. Years ago I remember
sitting on the floor at the NEHGS library and carefully unfolding the old
newspapers to read the genealogy query columns.
They weren’t indexed, but they held a lot of genealogy gold
treasures. This post was written by a
mysterious person with the initials of C.H.A. in answer to a query posted by E.
W. L on August 24, 1903 about the WILLIAMS family.
In this very long answer, C. H. A. carefully gives examples
from over a dozen deeds for land in Maine and Massachusetts. He/she “examined every deed till I secured
nearly the complete family”. Many of the
deeds were both Daniel and Alice buying and selling land that was formerly
their father’s estate. Other siblings
were named, as well as grandchildren and their mother, who was Abigail Cloyes
(not Sarah BROWNING). Her brother Peter Cloyse married Sarah Towne
(1637 – about 1703), who was accused of witchcraft along with her sisters
Rebecca (Towne) Nurse and Mary (Towne) Estey.
Unfortunately Rebecca and Mary were hanged. Fortunately for me, there was a lot of information
on the TOWNE and CLOYSE family to help me unravel more clues about the WILLIAMS
family.
Apparently, Jenkin Williams first settled in “the east”
(Maine) near Falmouth and Casco Bay.
During King Philip’s War the destruction of the villages in this area by
the French and Natives was so terrible that the inhabitants fled to
Massachusetts for safety. On January 11,
1675/6 Jenkin Williams was admitted as a Salem resident. He was still selling Maine timber to men in
Salem and Beverly as late as 1695, although he was described as a fisherman in
most deeds. Essex Deeds 25:17 Daniel
Williams, his wife, daughter of Samuel Allen, deceased sold land to William
Hurst in 1712. William Hurst is the
informer against Sarah Cloyes in the 1692 witch trials.
All the deeds were interesting when I looked at them online, but one deed that really
shows the family relationships, as an example, was Essex Deeds 49:187. In it Nathaniel Williams, husbandman, and
John Williams, husbandman, both of Beverly, Thomas Ayres [ relationship?],
Samuel Allen, shoreman, and wife Abigail Williams, daughter of Jenkin, he of
Manchester, George Cross, coaster and wife Jane Williams, also of Manchester,
lawful heirs of a part of the estate of their father Jenkin Williams, late of
Manchester, sell to Daniel, their brother, then of Manchester, husbandman, and
shoreman, all claims on the estate, June 25, 1725.
“We Nath’l Williams
Husbandman and John Williams Husbandman being both … of Beverly … & Thomas
Ayers Samuel Allen & Abigail ^his wife^ & George Cross & Jane his
wife being all of us of … Manchester … Thomas Ayers Weaver Samuel Allen
^Shoreman^ & George Cross Coaster and Our sd Wives before mentiond being
lawfull Heirs to our due parts or portions in the Estate both real &
personal the which our hond Father Jenkin Williams late of sd Manchester
Deceased was Lawfully in possession of as his Own property Estate att his Death
And Now We as Heirs … Have Remised Released & quitt Claimed … for Ever …
unto our Brother Daniel Williams of sd Manchester Husbandman alias Shoreman
…"
“Excepting the within
named Nath Williams and He the sd Nathaniel Williams both by these presents
reserve to himself his Heirs and assigns forever his due part & portion of
and in all the Lands that his Father Jenkin Willims within named was the Legall
Owner of Att his Death or of right ought to have had in the County of York …
Main .. This above was written before the sd Nathaniel Willims did Sign, Seal
& Deliver in the presence of us [--] Robert Woodbery Mary Woodbery"
Grantors executed as
(marks and seals), John Williams, Thomas Ayers, Samuel Allen, Abigail Allen,
George Cross, Jane Cross, Nathaniel Williams
Below, I have puzzled out the genealogy of the WILLIAMS
family. I’m posting it here as a sort of
“cousin bait” to see if anyone else is working on this lineage:
Generation 1: Jenkin
Williams, of unknown origin; married before 1667 to Abigail Cloyes, daughter of
John Cloyes and Abigail Mournings. Seven
children born in Maine or Manchester, Massachusetts – order unknown. (My 8th great grandparents)
1. Daniel Williams, born 5 February 1672, died 1758 in Beverly,
Massachusetts; married about 1695 to Alice Allen, daughter of Samuel Allen and
Sarah Tuck (my 7th great grandparents) . She was born 20 September 1674 in Manchester.
Six children.
2. Abigail Williams, married
on 17 March 1686/7 in Marblehead, Massachusetts to Samuel Allen, son of Samuel
Allen and Sarah Tuck. (also my 8th great grandparents) He was born 4
August 1663 in Manchester, and died about 4 February 1744 in Manchester. Ten children.
3. John Williams,
born about 1688, died before 1743; married on 9 October 1674 to Martha Knight,
daughter of John Knight and Emma Unknown.
She was born 11 August 1657 in Lynn, Massachusetts and died after 1743.
Four children.
4. Jane Williams married George Cross.
5. Jonathan Williams (no further information)
6. Sarah Williams (no
further information)
7. Nathaniel Williams (no further information)
For the truly curious:
My original BROWNING blog post September 1, 2012 (revised)
My original WILLIAMS blog post September 12, 2015 (revised)
Also see these sources:
History of Salem, by Sidney Perley, Volume III, page 93
The Allens: from William Allen (1602 – 1679) of Manchester, England,
and of Salem, and Manchester, Massachusetts, in the direct line of descent
through Nathaniel Allen (1744 – 1789) of Beverly, Massachusetts, and Sedgwick,
Maine, to Lt. Raymond Frederick Allen, Jr. (1931 - ) of Rochester, New York,
with certain other descendants and collaterals, by Raymond Frederick Allen, 1958, pages 20 –
23 for a sketch of Samuel Allen.
Boston Evening
Transcript, January 18, 1909, Genealogy Queries, page 14, “Answers”
York Deeds, Volume 14, page 694 (and other deeds in this book)
------------------------------
Published under a
Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Mystery of Jenkin Williams",
Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 25, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/04/the-mystery-of-jenkin-williams.html: accessed [access date]).
