My Revolutionary War Ancestors - Amos Burnham of Ipswich, Massachusetts

 

1832 map of Ipswich, Massachusetts

This is the 11th Revolutionary War ancestor I have written about in this series.  My 5th great grandfather Amos Burnham was born on 13 July 1735 in Ipswich, Massachusetts, the son of David Burnham and Elizabeth Marshall.  On 27 January 1757 he married Sarah Giddings in Ipswich.  She was the daughter of Thomas Giddings and Martha Smith, born in 1737.  

Sarah and Amos had eleven children born in Essex and Ipswich between 1758 and 1782.  On 26 January 1782, Sarah died, just 12 days after giving birth to her last child, Judith, my 4th great grandmother.  I don't know how this infant survived without a mother, but she did live and I'm grateful!  Later that same year, on 4 October 1782 Amos married Mehitable Burnham, daughter of Solomon Burnham and Mehitable Emerson. I'm sure that the hasty marriage was to secure a wife to take care of his many children.  Mehitable was the widow of Joshua Foster.  He had at least one more child with his second marriage. 

During the Revolutionary War Amos Burnham served as a private in Captain David Low's Third Regiment, under Colonel Jonathan Cogswell's Company in 1778. I know very little about his time in the military, and very little about his private life.  Was he a farmer? A fisherman or mariner (Ipswich is a coastal town)? 

Amos Burnham died by drowning in Chebacco Pond in Essex on 28 November 1788 "while fowling" (hunting water fowl).  He was 54 years old.  This incident is mentioned on page 204 of the History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton, by Joseph B. Felt, 1834. I have not found a gravestone for Amos or either one of his two wives.  He left his second wife, Mehitable, a widow again for the second time with three children under the age of 18.  Judith, his daughter, my 4th great grandmother, married Joseph Allen on 5 April 1799 in Ipswich, and had eleven children, just like her own mother and father. 

For the truly curious:

Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War, Volume 2, page 874

The Burnham Family, or, Genealogical Records of the Descendants of the Four Emigrants of the Name, by Roderick H. Burnham, 1869. 

#1 in this series,  Colonel Joshua Burnham of Milford, New Hampshire:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/02/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-colonel.html  

#2 in this series,  Andrew Munroe of Lexington, Massachusetts:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-major.html  

#3 Jonathan Flint of Reading, Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-jonathan.html   

#4 Daniel Glover of Marblehead, Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-daniel.html  

#5 Levi Younger of Gloucester, Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-levi.html  

#6 Nathaniel Treadwell of Ipswich, Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-nathaniel.html 

#7 Captain Westley Burnham of Essex, Massachusetts:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/04/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-captain.html  

#8 Abner Poland, Sr. of Essex, Massachusetts:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/05/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-abner_02014071889.html   

#9 Abner Poland, Jr. Of Essex, Massachusetts and Enfield, New Hampshire:    https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/05/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-abner_02014071889.html  

#10 Robert Wilson of Salem Village, (now Danvers, Massachusetts)     https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/03/my-revolutionary-war-patriots-robert.html   

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "My Revolutionary War Ancestors - Amos Burnham of Ipswich, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 22, 2026, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2026/06/my-revolutionary-war-ancestors-amos.html: accessed [access date]). 

Exploring Tewksbury, Massachusetts Old Center Burial Ground

I was reading a manuscript by Jan Koso of the MACE family genealogy, and delighted to learn that a branch of the Mace family left the Isles of Shoals and relocated to Tewksbury, Massachusetts.  My daughter married a young man from Tewksbury, and they now live there.

According to the Find A Grave website some members of the Mace family were buried at the Old Center Burial Ground in Tewksbury.  I knew that my daughter lived two houses away from a cemetery, and after consulting some maps I found the Old Center Burial Ground across the street from the larger cemetery. I waited until the spring weather arrived to check it out.  Early spring is a lovely time to explore cemeteries - before the poison ivy appears, before the snakes come out to bask, no autumn leaves obscuring the ground, and before the grass grows too long to hide the ticks. 

I brought my granddaughter along to explore with me.  She had walked through the larger, newer cemetery to walk her dogs with her Dad, but had never explored the tombstones.  We discussed the fact that some "old" family members were buried there (which brought up a lot of questions in her five year old mind), and she told me she could help find the gravestones because she knew the letter "M".  We were off to a good start!

We discussed the names on the stones we found, and the engravings.  My granddaughter was particularly interested in the engravings. We discussed the soul's head effigies (they looked like the skull heads in the Disney "Coco" movie), the weeping willows, and the portraits inside the little coffin shapes on these New England gravestones dating from the 1700s to the early 1800s.  It was difficult to read some of the inscriptions, especially for a 5 year old, so the next time we go cemetery exploring we will try the burial ground across the street which dates from the 1800s to today (burials are still taking place there).  The inscriptions will be easier to read.

A neighbor to this cemetery saw us exploring, and he kept his "social distance" by shouting to us about the Thomas Marshall buried in the corner of the cemetery with his three wives.  Of course we just had to run over and check out this interesting little plot!  My granddaughter was fascinated with the idea of someone having THREE wives!  We found that the tombstones for Mary and Phebe were labeled "2d wife of Mr. Thomas Marshall" and "3d wife of Mr. Thomas Marshall" but we never found wife #1.  My granddaughter thought maybe wife #1 ran away!  We'll have to look into this family history!

Memento mori
In Memory of
Mrs. Mary Marshall
2d wife of Mr.
Thomas Marshall
who died July
7th 1770. In
the 47th year 
of her age.

I asked my granddaughter what was her favorite part of exploring the cemetery that day.  She said she loved all of it, but her favorite tombstone at the burial ground was the only one with flowers.  We thought that someone must have loved that one special person very much to have planted flowers (crocus bulbs) that lasted almost 200 years later.  She also said that the broken tombstones made her sad, because no one could read them anymore.  Although this is a very old burial ground, we only saw two broken tombstones.  

And we found the Mace family, too, after all this exploring. 

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To Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Exploring Tewksbury, Massachusetts Old Center Burial Ground", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 27, 2021, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2021/04/exploring-tewksbury-massachusetts-old.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ William S. MARSHALL and family, buried in Windham, NH

These tombstones were photographed at the Cemetery on the Plain, in Windham, New Hampshire

WILLIAM S. MARSHALL

DIED

SEPT. 3, 1873

AEt. 57 YRS 1 MO.

[illegible]

EMILY A.

Wife of

WILLIAM S. MARSHALL

Died Feb. 16, 1898,

AE. 74 yrs, 11 mos.

The Lord is my rock and my fortress.

Isa. 63. 6.

We all do fa-

de as a leaf.

EMILY J. MARSHALL

Wife of 

D. F. ROBINSON

Subsequently wife of

E.E. CURTIS

Died Nov. 12, 1880.

AE. 33 yrs. 2 mos.

William S. Marshall, son of John Marshall and Ruth Simpson of Bow, New Hampshire, was born 22 July 1816, died 3 September 1873.  He married on 1 May 1845 to Emily A. Haseltine, daughter of Leonard Haseltine and Mary Merrifield, born 8 March 1823.  [History of Windham in New Hampshire, by Leonard Morrison, page 573].   William lived in Windham and in Londonderry as a carpenter.

Two children:

1.  Emily, born 10 September 1847, died 12 November 1880; married first on 27 January 1867 to D. F. Robinson and had two children: Willie and Lena;  married second to Eugene E. Curtis of Nashua and had four sons:  Clarence, Walter, Charles and Bertie. 

2.  Mary Lizzie, born 3 Feb 1852; married 11 March 1879 to Charles A. Nodding. One child: Leonard

[History of Windham in New Hampshire, by Leonard Morrison, page 624]

  

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ William S. MARSHALL and family, buried in Windham, NH", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 31, 2017,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/01/tombstone-tuesday-william-s-marshall.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ BEAMSLEY of Boston

Although my Beamsley lineage daughters out in the second generation, there is a lot of information about William Beamsley, the immigrant ancestor, to be found in books and archives.  He arrived in Boston in 1632, and was admitted to the Boston church on 5 April 1635.  He was admitted as a freeman on 25 May 1636. The Boston records show him serving many civil roles such as constable, fenceviewer, water bailey, highway surveyor, and he was admitted to the Ancient and Honorable Artillery company in 1656/57.

About 1632 William Beamsley married Anne Unknown, probably in England, and his six children were all born in Boston.  Around 1645 he married a widow and had another child, and took in her children (three of his step children are named in Beamsley’s will).

Beamsley owned much land he had acquired over time in Boston. This was all described in his will.  His daughters are all named with their husbands in a deed dated 1668 which sold his house and land to Key Alsop of Boston.  [“Ann Woodward with Ezekiell Woodward her present husband, Grace Graves with Samuell Graves her present husband, Mercy Wilborne alias Peterson with Andrew Peterson her present husband, Hannah Beamsley alias Perkins with Abraham Perkins her present husband, Elizabeth Page with Edward Page her present husband, Mary Roberson alias Dennis with Thomas Dennis her present husband, [and] Edward Bushnell all formerly of Boston” Suffolk Deeds 5:519- 522]  note: Elizabeth and Mary are step daughters.

I descend from the daughter Ann (Beamsley) Woodward named above, and from two of Ann’s daughters- Margaret (Woodward)  Andrews and Prudence (Woodward) Marshall.

For more information on William Beamsley:

The Ancestry of Margaret Brooks Thelfall, by John Brooks Threlfall, Madison, Wisconsin: 1985, unpaginated, see ancestor number 390.

Fifty Great Migration Colonists to New England & Their Origins, by John Brooks Threlfall, Madison, Wisconsin: 1990, pages 13 – 16.

Great Migration Begins,  by Robert Charles Anderson, NEHGS, Boston, Massachusetts: 2001, Volume 1, pages 139 – 142.

My Beamsley lineage:

Generation 1: William Beamsley, born about 1605 probably in Lincolnshire, England, died 29 September 1658 in Boston, Massachusetts;  married first about 1632 in England to Anne Unknown who died between 1643 and 1645; married second  about 1645 to Martha Hallor, widow of Edward Bushnell, who died before 16 November 1668. Six children with Anne, one child with Martha.

Generation 2:  Anne Beamsley, born 13 February 1632/33 in Boston, died about 1679 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married in January 1650 in Boston to Ezekiel Woodward as his first of three wives.  They had nine children together, and I descend from two daughters.

Lineage A:

Generation 3:  Margaret Woodward m. William Andrews

Lineage A1:

Generation 4:  John Andrews m. Elizabeth Story

Generation 5:  Abigail Andrews m.  Jeremiah Burnham

Generation 6:   Abigail Burnham m. Isaac Allen

Generation 7:   Joseph Allen m. Judith Burnham

Generation 8:   Joseph Allen m.  Orpha Andrews

Generation 9:   Joseph Gilman Allen m.  Sarah Burnham Mears

Generation 10:  Joseph Elmer Allen m.  Carrie Maude Batchelder

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

Lineage A2:

Generation 4:  Rachel Andrews m. Zachariah Story

Generation 5:  Deborah Story m. Westley Burnham

Generation A2a:

Generation 6:  Westley Burnham m. Molly Woodbury

Generation 7: Henry Burnham m. Sally Poland

Generation 8: Sarah Ann Burnham m. Samuel Mears

Generation 9:  Sarah Burnham Mears m. Joseph Gilman Allen (see above)

Generation A2b:

Generation 6:  Sarah Burnham m. Abner Poland

Generation 7:   Sally Poland m. Henry Burnham (see above)

Lineage B:

Generation 3:  Prudence Woodward m. Benjamin Marshall

Generation 4: Benjamin Marshall m. Bethiah Goodhue

Generation 5:  Elizabeth Marshall m. David Burnham

Generation 6:  Amos Burnham m. Sarah Giddings

Generation 7:  Judith Burnham m. Joseph Allen (see above)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-beamsley-of-boston_15.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ MARSHALL of Salem and Ipswich, Massachusetts

Cape Ann, Massachusetts
Showing Salem, Beverly, Chebacco, Gloucester

MARSHALL

According to the book Planters of the Commonwealth, by Charles E. Banks, 1930, Edmund Marshall, his wife Millicent, and Edmund their son, were passengers on the ship Hopewell from Weymouth England to New England on 8 May 1635.

Edmund Marshall became a member of the First Church of Salem, Massachusetts on 8 January 1636/7 and his daughter, Naomi, was baptized the same year.  His wife, “Millisent” was a member of the church on 31 December 1637.  By 1651 the Marshall family was in Manchester (between Beverly and Gloucester), but probably went to church in Gloucester where Reverend Richard Blinman was minister.

Many New England settlers arrived in groups with their ministers from home.  These “non-conforming” preachers brought their flocks to New England, and you can trace their parishioners moving around with them.  The “Blynman Party” came from Wales, arrived in Plymouth, and then Gloucester, and moved to New London, Connecticut.  On 13 February 1651/2 Edmund sold his land in Salem, and was listed in New London in March.  It is unknown whether or not Edmund Marshall was from Blinman’s original home of Wales or not.

Edmund Marshall was back in Beverly soon after because he is in the records as accusing several women of witchcraft in 1652.  These charges were found to be false and he was fined.  

By 1663 he was living in Chebacco, a parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts.  Again, Edmund Marshall was in court, and this time John Marshall sued Robert Cross for trespass, and Cross countersued Thomas Varney (also my 9^th great grandfather), John Marshall (the son), Edmund Marshall, and William Warrener.  (Robert Cross was married to my 8^th great aunt Hannah Jordan)  In 1668 there was another lawsuit involving their son-in-law Thomas Wells.  Lots of family members deposed in these suits, including my 8^th great grandfather, Benjamin (1646 – 1716) – the son of Edmund Marshall.  These lawsuits gave some great genealogical clues.

Lawsuits were also helpful telling me more about the next generation, especially Benjamin Marshall.  His depositions gave his age, and where he lived over the years.  Along with his brother, Edmund Jr., he was a shipwright.   He signed the petition supporting John and Elizabeth Proctor during their arrest for witchcraft in 1692.  Since many who supported the accused witches found themselves also accused, it was a very gallant move.  John Proctor is also my ancestor – my 9^th great grandfather.

Some sources for MARSHALL research:

New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Volume 53 (1899) pages  185 -197 and 282- 294

History of Ipswich, Essex and Hamilton by Joseph B. Felt, 1834

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward by Harold Edward Woodward, Boston: NEHGS, 1984

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My MARSHALL genealogy:

Generation 1: Edmund Marshall, born about 1598 and died 1673 in Salem, Massachusetts; married to Millicent Unknown. Seven children.

Generation 2: Benjamin Marshall, born between 12 and 18 April 1646 in Salem, Massachusetts, and died 25 November 1716 in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married on 2 November 1677 in Ipswich to Prudence Woodward, the daughter of Ezekiel Woodward and Anne Beamsley.  She was born on 4 April 1660 in Boston, Massachusetts and died 9 June 1732 in Ipswich.  Nine children.

Generation 3: Benjamin Marshall, born 15 November 1684 in Ipswich, and died 2 October 1747 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich; married after 24 November 1711 in Ipswich to Bethiah Goodhue, daughter of William Goodhue and Hannah Dane.  She was born about 1685 and died 28 March 1752 in Ipswich.  Five children.

Generation 4: Elizabeth Marshall, born 1715 and died 15 November 1801 in Ipswich; married on 25 September 1734 to David Burnham, son of David Burnham and Elizabeth Perkins.  He was born 17 June 1714 in Ipswich and died 27 December 1802 in Ipswich.  Twelve children.

Generation 5:  Amos Burnham, born 13 July 1735 in Ipswich, and died 28 November 1788 when he drowned in Chebacco Pond; married on 27 January 1757 in Ipswich to Sarah Giddings, the daughter of Thomas Giddings and Martha Smith.  Sarah was born in 1737 and died 26 January 1782. Eleven children.

Generation 6: Judith Burnham, born 14 January 1782 in Essex (Chebacco Parish) and died 26 October 1848 in Essex; married on 5 April 1799 in Ipswich to Joseph Allen, son of Isaac Allen and Abigail Burnham.  Joseph Allen was born 22 September 1776 in the Chebacco Parish and died 24 March 1861 in Essex.  Eleven children.

Generation 7: Joseph Allen, born 31 July 1801 in Chebacco Parish and died 2 August 1894 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 28 October 1824 in Essex to Orpha Andrews, daughter of James Andrews and Lucy Presson.   She was born 3 February 1804 in the Chebacco Parish and died 20 April 1869 in Peabody, Massachusetts. Six children.

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen, born 22 May 1830 in Essex and died 9 April 1908 in Essex; married on 23 May 1863 in Essex to Sarah Burnham Mears, daughter of Samuel Mears and Sarah Ann Burnham.  She was born 30 November 1844 in Essex and died 4 March 1913 in Essex.  Ten children.

Generation 9: Joseph Elmer Allen, born 24 September 1870 in Essex and died 12 March 1932 in the Masonic Home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts; married on 1 November 1892 in Essex to Carrie Maude Batchelder, daughter of George E. Batchelder and Mary Katharine Emerson.  She was born 22 September in Chichester, New Hampshire, and died 21 January 1963 at the Sea View Convalescent and Nursing Home, Rowley, Massachusetts.  Five children.

Generation 10: Stanley Elmer Allen, born 14 January 1904 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and died 6 March 1982 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 14 February 1925 in Hamilton, Massachusetts to Gertrude Matilda Hitchings, daughter of Arthur Treadwell Hitchings and Florence Etta Hoogerzeil.  She was born 1 August 1905 in Beverly and died 3 November 2001 in Peabody. Seven children.

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/07/surname-saturday-marshall-of-salem-and.html

Copyright ©2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ WOODWARD of Boston and Ipswich, Massachusetts

The Woodward compiled genealogy book (see below)

WOODWARD

Ezekiel Woodward is NOT a son of Nathaniel Woodward of Boston, which is often seen in online genealogies and some old genealogy books.  He  died in Wenham, Massachusetts in 1699.  According to the book Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward, 1984, page 4 “It is not on record that Ezekiel Woodward was a son of Nathaniel Woodward but he used the names of his stepmother and of his half-sister and of two sisters-in-law for four of his daughters, and his brother Nathaniel had a son and a grandson named Ezekiel.  He was also a carpenter, as was Nathaniel1, and bought land in Boston in 1651.”

Before I go on, remember that the daughters of Ezekiel were Anne, Sarah, Margaret, Elizabeth, Prudence, Martha, Mary and Rachel.  These were all common Puritan names.  It also supposes that Nathaniel2 was his brother.  It may point to a kinship, but there is still no proof that Ezekiel is Nathaniel1 Woodward’s son.  An 1894 article in the NEHGS Register, “Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward,” Volume 51, page 172 does not name Ezekiel as a son, and neither does the Great Migration Begins.

In the Gates Dawes genealogy (see below), page 671 there is an interesting story about Ezekiel Woodward:

“Ezekiel was married thirdly to SARAH (KNOWLTON?) PIPER, widow of Nathaniel of Wenham,… and thereby hangs a tale, for she had been receiving attentions from one John Poland and may even have been engaged to marry him.  After her marriage to Ezekiel, certain men taunted Poland with having “lost his widow”, asked how “Woodward got along with his new wife”, etc. In order to “save his face” Poland began to peddle lies and on 20 June 1679, Ezekiel brought suit against Poland for defamation, for slandering him and his wife.  The case came to trial in Sep 169, and witnesses testified that Poland had said the widow had a poor bargain with Ezekiel and she repented of it: that Ezekiel did not deserve her, and her friends wondered that she left Poland. Then Poland became intrigued with is subject and claimed that the widow’s brother Knowlton “sayd to me yt shee came to him slaubering & crying & sayd yt she was undone by marrying Woodward: & that shee was very much Troubled that she had wronged me; yt is Poland & That she was not able to see me but watterd her plants at the meeting at the very sight of me & did grately bemone herself that shee should offer so much wrong to Polend & that I derst not goe to the meeting at Wenham for every Time she see mee she is nott able to bare it but is ready for to swound away”

“A verdict was rendered in favor of Ezekiel and Poland was ordered to make acknowledgement of his fault so at this same court he “made open confession in court that he had done wrong to widow Piper, now the wife of Ezekiel Woodward, in speaking the words to which the witnesses testified, and was sorry for it, desiring the court to forgive him” – which seems an easy way out for him!”

I like this story because John Poland is my 9^th great grandfather, through his first wife, Bethiah Friend.  John Poland married a woman named Margery sometime in 1680.  Sarah Piper married Ezekiel as his third wife sometime after 3 December 1678 when his second wife, Elizabeth, widow of John Solart, died.  Ezekiel Woodward is also my 9^th great grandfather.  I descend from two of his daughters by his first wife, Anne Beamsley: Margaret and Prudence. 

Some WOODWARD resources:

Some Descendants of Nathaniel  Woodward who came from England to Boston about 1630, by Harold Edward Woodward, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984. (Ignore pages 3 – 4 which name Ezekiel as Nathaniel’s son, this book is mostly unsourced.)

There is another compiled genealogy about the Woodward family, the Ezekiel (1) Woodward sketch on pages 666 – 676 in the American Ancestry of Mary Beman (Gates) Dawes by Mary Walton Ferris, Chicago: R. R. Donnelley & Sons (privately printed), volume 1, 1931.

Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume III, pages 2061 - 2064. 

There is no article about Ezekiel Woodward listed in Martin Hollick’s New Englanders in the 1600s which lists new research articles and books as possible source information.

If you are lucky enough to see the British BBC version of Who do You Think You Are?  with celebrity Richard Madely, it shows how his ancestor Ezekiel Woodward was a sergeant during King Philip’s War and was in the Great Swamp Fight of 1675.  I haven’t seen this episode yet.  Does anyone know if it is online somewhere?

My WOODWARD genealogy:

Generation 1:  Ezekiel Woodward,  died 29 January 1699 in Wenham, Massachusetts; married first to Anne Beamsley in January 1650 in Boston; married second to Elizabeth Unknown on 20 December 1672 in Wenham, the widow of John Solart; married third to Sarah Edwards, widow of Nathaniel Piper.

Lineage A:

Generation 2: Margaret Woodward, born 24 February 1655 in Boston, died 22 May 1716 in Scarborough, Maine; married on 20 October 1672 in Ipswich, Massachusetts to William Andrews, son of John Andrews and Jane Jordan.  He was born in 1649 and died on 7 February 1716/7 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich.

Generation 3: John Andrews m. Elizabeth Story

Generation 4: Abigail Andrews m. Jeremiah Burnham

Generation 5: Abigail Burnham m. Isaac Allen

Generation 6: Joseph Allen m. Judith Burnham

Generation 7: Joseph Allen m. Orpha Andrews

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears

Generation 9: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

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

Lineage B:

Generation 2:  Prudence Woodward, born 4 April 1660 in Boston, died 9 June 1732; married on 2 November 1677 in Ipswich to Benjamin Marshall, son of Edmund Marshall and Millicent Unknown.  He was born 27 September 1646 in Salem, Massachusetts; died 25 November 1716 in Ipswich.

Generation 3: Benjamin Marshall m. Bethiah Goodhue

Generation 4: Elizabeth Marshall m. David Burnham

Generation 5: Amos Burnham m.  Sarah Giddings

Generation 6: Judith Burnham m. Joseph Allen (see above)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ WOODWARD of Boston and Ipswich, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 21, 2014, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/06/surname-saturday-woodward-of-boston-and.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Merry Widow, Elizabeth Porter (1689 - 1789)

It all started out very innocently.  I joined a Facebook group to discuss a specific ancestor, and someone asked me about Mark Haskell and his wife Elizabeth Giddings.  Mark Haskell (1687 – 1775) is my 7^th great grandfather, but I couldn’t find a wife named Elizabeth Giddings.  It turns out his father was also named Mark Haskell, and his wife was Elizabeth Giddings.  Mark, Jr. had married my 7^th great grandmother Martha Tuthill in 1710, and then a widow named Elizabeth in 1767.  I took another look at this widow… and opened a very large can of worms!

Elizabeth Porter was born in June 1689, the daughter of John Porter and Lydia Herrick of Wenham, Massachusetts.  She first married Daniel Gilbert, and the marriage intention was dated 2 December 1710 in Ipswich.  Daniel died on 2 November 1723.   Then Elizabeth married Joseph Goodhue on 1 November 1727 in Ipswich.  Joseph died in 1739.  Next she married John Burnham on 9 October 1740 in Ispwich.  He died in 1749, leaving her free to marry Mark Haskell as mentioned above.  She lived to be about 100 years old (no proof of this age has been found).

What made this discovery odd to me, was that all these men were already in my family tree.  I didn’t have to add a single name, just link them together in the database because I already had them there.  I didn’t even have to add her parents and grandparents, because they were already relatives, too.

1)   Lydia Woodbury, Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother, is the sister to Humphrey Woodbury (1609 – 1686), my 10^th great grandfather. So that means Elizabeth herself is a distant cousin.

2)    First husband, Daniel Gilbert (1680 – 1723) is a 2^nd cousin, 8 generations removed.  Our common ancestor is his great grandparents, John Black and wife, Susanna, of Beverly, Massachusetts.

3.) Second husband, Joseph Goodhue (1685 – 1773), is the brother of my 7^th great grandmother, Bethiah Goodhue, wife of Benjamin Marshall.

4.) Third husband, John Burnham (1695 – 1749) is my 7^th great grandfather, along with his first wife, Anne Choate (my 7^th great grandmother).  So this means Elizabeth Porter was married to two of my 7^th great grandfathers!

5.) Fourth husband, Mark Haskell (1687 – 1775) is my 7^th great grandfather, as stated above.

6.)   Elizabeth’s son, Daniel Goodhue, born 1728, married Hannah Giddings, a 2^nd cousin 7 generations removed.

7.)  Elizabeth’s grandson, Daniel Goodhue (1759 – 1803) married Hannah Shatswell,  a descendant of John Shastswell (1574- 1646), my 11^th great grandfather.

All this tangle because of a simple comment made by someone on Facebook, which caused me to search out all of Elizabeth’s previous marriages!  Always check out every clue, for you never know where it will lead you…

For more information see:

The History of the Town of Gloucester, Cape Ann: Including the Town of Rockport, by John James Babson,  1860

Chronicles of the Haskell Family, by Ira J Haskell, 1985 (Chapter 16 has Mark Haskell, my ancestor, it is available online at Ancestry.com and Archives.org )

Vital records of Ipswich and other various towns in Essex County

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

That little Notch on the Massachusetts Border?

See that little Notch on the Massachusetts/Connecticut border?

You know the one I mean?  When you look at the top and bottom (northern and southern) borders on the map of Massachusetts they are two parallel, straight lines.  However, on the southern border there is a strange little square sticking out that locals call “The  Granby Notch” after the Connecticut town with a hole.  On the Connecticut side they call it the “Southwick Jog” after the Massachusetts town that eats into their territory.  How did it get there?  Why is it there?

It appears that my 9x Great Grandfather is to blame for this strange border notch between Massachusetts and Connecticut.  Nathaniel Woodward was born about 1590 in England, and he lived in Boston, Massachusetts.  It appears that he was a mathematician and a surveyor.   In 1638 he ran the boundary line between the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and Connecticut.  He surveyed land north of the Merrimack River and helped to establish the boundary between Charlestown and Lynn.

 

When I found a mention of Nathaniel Woodward in a 2001 New York Times article, I never suspected to find a controversy, but this news story explained the puzzle.   In 1642 Nathaniel Woodward and his companion Solomon Saffery were hired by the Massachusetts Bay Colony to find the southern border that ran straight to the Pacific Ocean from three miles south of the Charles River.   According to the New York Times:

“Normally, surveyors would simply begin tacking westward, marking the state line as they went. But Woodward and Saffery were afraid of being slaughtered by Indian tribes in the untamed New England interior (now known as metropolitan Springfield, Mass.), so the two instead chose to sail around Cape Cod, down into Long Island Sound and up the Connecticut River, until they reached what they believed was the proper latitude.

            In fact, they were about seven miles too far south. So they fudged the mistake, added a large dip in Massachusetts' southern boundary that took in 108,000 acres of what had been Connecticut, and kept moving west. Down in Hartford, officials quickly learned of the maneuver and demanded a new survey. Massachusetts ignored them. Thus began decades of Notch-related feuding…

Incredibly, 162 years passed before both states finally agreed on a compromise in 1804 that cemented the Notch's current smaller size and ended its role in the longest interstate boundary dispute in United States history.”

The Woodward Genealogy:

Generation 1: Nathaniel Woodward, born about 1590 in England, died 11 May 1685 probably in Boston, Massachusetts; married first to Unknown, second about 1638 to Margaret Jackson.  Five children with first wife, three more with Margaret.  Nathaniel Woodward is my 10 x Great Grandfather.

1. Nathaniel Woodward, born about 1613, married 1.) Mary Jackson, 2.) Katherine Unknown

2. John Woodward, born about 1615, married Sarah Crossman

3. Robert Woodward, born about 1618, married Rachel Smith

4.  Sarah Woodward, born about 1620

5.  Ezekiel Woodward, born about 8 May 1624, died January 1699 in Wenham, Massachusetts; married 1) Anne Beamsley and had eight children, 2) Elizabeth Unknown, widow of John Solart, and had two more children, 3) Sarah Edward, widow of Nathaniel Piper. Ezekiel is my 9x Great Grandfather.  I descend from two of his daughters with Anne Beamsley (Margaret, born 24 February 1655 who married William Andrews; and from Prudence, born 4 April 1660 who married Benjamin Marshall)

For the truly curious:

New York Times, “A Blunder in 1642 Creates Headaches for Homeowners who Straddle a Border” by Paul Zielbauer, 26 January 2001.

The “Southwick Jog” explained by the Connecticut State Library http://www.cslib.org/jog.htm

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward, Mathematician, compiled by Percy Emmons Woodward, Concord, New Hampshire: Rumford Press, 1940

Some Descendants of Nathaniel Woodward who came from England to Boston about 1630, by Harold Edward Woodward, Boston, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1984

My blog post on the WOODWARD family "Surname Saturday":
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/06/surname-saturday-woodward-of-boston-and.html 

"The Southwick Jog" episode of Chronicle WCVB TV:
https://www.wcvb.com/article/main-streets-and-back-roads-the-southwick-jog/9216653?fbclid=IwAR2cUSEKZzhSt7pJ7v1j7EtW4r5B7IBTmlTb4EDlQsZOsyhblWiZd6tFYvQ 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "That little Notch on the Massachusetts Border?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 30, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/01/that-little-notch-on-massachusetts.html: accessed [access date]).