Patience Bourne Allen, buried at West Tisbury, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday

This tombstone was photographed at the West Tisbury Burial Ground on the island of Martha's Vineyard. 

In Memory of

Mrs. PATIENCE ALLEN

wife of Lieut. JOSEPH

ALLEN   Decd. who

Departed this Life Febry.

13th. AD 1765.  In the

79th Year of her Age.

Patience was the daughter of Shearjashub Bourne and Bathshua Skiff, born 20 April 1686 in Sandwich, Massachusetts and died 13 February 1765 in Tisbury, Massachusetts.  She married about 1710 to Joseph Allen, son of James Allen and Elizabeth Partridge (my ancestors - I descend from Joseph's brother John Allen who married Margaret Homes).  He was born about 1685 and died 10 March 1727 in Tisbury.  Patience and Joseph had three children:  Susanna, Joseph and Benjamin.

For more information on the ALLEN family:

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

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Patience Bourne Allen, buried at West Tisbury, Massachusetts - Tombstone Tuesday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 21, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/04/patience-bourne-allen-buried-at-west.html: accessed [access date]).  

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Father and Son memorialized together on the Island of Martha's Vineyard

This tombstone was photographed at the West Tisbury Village Cemetery in Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

In Memory of

Mr. JOSEPH ALLEN

deceas'd  Jan. 5th 1798

Aged 74 Years & 6 Mo.

Mr. ZADOCK ALLEN

Son of

Sd. JOSEPH & PATIENCE his Wife

deceas'd in Auxcaeys Hispaniola

Feby. 15th 1797 Aged 33 Years

This Monument is jointly erected

Joseph Allen, son of Joseph Allen and Patience Bourne, was born July 1723 and died 5 Jan 1798.  He married Patience Nye on 26 September 1746 in Sandwich, Massachusetts and had seven children.  She was born 3 August 1728 in Barnstable, Massachusetts and died 13 February 1817, the daughter of Benjamin Nye and Lydia Freeman.  She is buried nearby her husband and son.

Joseph Allen is my first cousin, 9 generations removed. His father, Joseph Allen, is my 9th great uncle. I descend from his brother, John Allen (1682 - 1767) who married Margaret Holmes of Ireland.  She was the daughter of Rev. William Holmes, the famous Presbyterian minister of Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard. He was one of the few Scots Irish settlers to preceed the 1718 migration from Northern Ireland.

Aux Cayes is sometimes known as Les Cayes, a seaport in Haiti, which is on the island of Hispanola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic share this island west of Puerto Rico).

These ALLENs are descended from the Allen family of Braintree, Massachusetts.  You can read more about this lineage at this link: 
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/surname-saturday-allen-of-braintree.html 


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~  Father and Son memorialized together on the Island of Martha's Vineyard", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 6, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/11/tombstone-tuesday-father-and-son.html: accessed [access date]).

Moving a lighthouse… in 1844 and in 2015

The Gay Head Lighthouse, photographed in 2004

On the island of Martha’s Vineyard, there is a lighthouse at Gay Head.   The first lighthouse was built in 1796, and it was wooden. In 1838 the parabolic lantern in the top of the lighthouse were lowered 14 feet in order to shine below the fog line.   In 1844 the wooden lighthouse was moved back 75 feet because the clay cliffs were eroding.  These colorful red and white cliff were what gave the area its name “Gay Head”, which was originally known to the Wampanoag Indians as “Aquinnah”.  This move was purported to cost $386.87.

In 1854 a new, more modern lighthouse was built on Gay Head, in a new location (further back from the cliffs again) with more lamps and reflectors.  This lighthouse was closed in 1956, and it was retrofitted to run automatically without a lighthouse keeper.  In 1986 the light was re-opened to the public for tours.  By 2013 the lighthouse was declared “excess property” by the Coast Guard and the town of Aquinnah acquired it.  The Martha’s Vineyard Museum now manages the tower and the tours.

In 2012 the lighthouse was only 46 feet from the eroding clay cliff.  The “Save the Gay Head Lighthouse Committee” was formed to move the lighthouse away from the cliffs to safety.  A plan was made in 2014, and in April 2015 the lighthouse was moved back 135 feet from the cliffs.  This move has cost over $3.5 million dollars.

My sister lives on Martha's Vineyard, and she was married on the top of the Gay Head Light house in 2006.  I know that the lighthouse has been a special place in her heart, even before the wedding, and it is special to many people who live on Martha’s Vineyard island.  She was so happy to be part of the committee to save the lighthouse, and became the landscape architect for the landscape design team.  You can see her proposed design and rendering for the park around the lighthouse at its new location at this link  (click on the image of the rendering at this link to enlarge): http://vineyardgazette.com/news/2014/07/17/site-chosen-relocating-gay-head-light?k=vg556b970b8a1db

And here is the completed landscape rendering and final design (you can see the old and the new locations of the lighthouse):

Lighthouse Relocation chair, Len Butler,
with landscape architect, Laurel Wilkinson,
(my little sister in a hard hat!)
Photo courtesy of Derrill Bazzy

At the many meetings and during the intensive research that went on as part of moving this enormous 400 ton brick lighthouse, my sister learned that in 1844 the original wooden lighthouse was moved by “John Mayhew of Edgartown”.   She thought that was wonderful, since our family is descended from the original Governor Thomas Mayhew of Martha’s Vineyard.  She asked me “Were we cousins?”

Well, we descend from three of Thomas Mayhew’s children, two from his first wife Abigail Parkhurst, and one from his second wife Jane.  There were many, many “John Mayhews” in the family tree.  Which one was the John who moved the lighthouse?

I asked a few fellow genealogists for help.  Janice Webster Brown, genealogist and fellow New Hampshire genealogy blogger at "Cow Hampshire",  leaped to the challenge and had a lineage for me before I could even get back to my computer that same day. Janice has a Mayhew ancestor, too. After some fiddling, here is our cousin connection:

                     Governor Thomas Mayhew m. Jane, widow of Thomas Paine

                                  I                                            I

Matthew Mayhew m. Mary Skiffe            Hannah Mayhew m. Thomas Daggett

                                  I                                            I

Paine Mayhew m. Mary Rankin                Thomas Daggett m. Elizabeth Hawes

                                  I                                            I

Thomas Mayhew m. Lydia Lothrop           Elizabeth Daggett m. John Butler

                                  I                                            I

Paine Mayhew m. Margaret Wass              Keziah Butler m. Samuel Osborn

                                  I                                             I

Arnold Mayhew m. Jerusha White             Samuel Osborn m. Sarah Wass 

                                 I                                              I

Constant Mayhew m. Rowena Phinney     Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

                                 I                                              I

John Mayhew m. Deborah Jernegan          Ann Skinner m.  Thomas Ratchford Lyons

                                                                                I

                                                                    Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham E. Bill

                                                                                I

                                                                    Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

                                                                                I

                                                                    Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

                                                                                I

                                                                    Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts

                                                                                           (my grandparents)

Many years ago I received assistance on my three Mayhew lineages from Catherine Mayhew (imagine that! Another cousin!), the librarian at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum.  This spring Patricia Stano Carpenter, a fellow member of the Massachusetts Society of Genealogist, put me touch in Catherine Mayhew and Jane Manning, a genealogist on the island.  Catherine sent me the following excerpts from Banks History of Martha’s Vineyard, Volume II “Annals of Gay Head”, pages 28 – 31 in this email:

“Leavitt Thaxter’s will confirmed the relationship naming his “adopted and beloved children John Mayhew, Esquire, and Martha Leavitt Thaxter”.⁶

 After the children’s father died Constant Mayhew died at Williamsburg in December 1827 of typhoid fever, he left five children ranging in age from 10 years to 2 months of age. A few years later Thaxter and his wife ‘Patty’ Martha (Mayhew) took in the two middle children, raising them as their own.¹ The girl Martha Mayhew, also called Patty, was 13 when as “Martha Leavitt Mayhew, an adopted daughter of Leavitt Thaxter” she changed her name to Thaxter on 13 March 1832.⁵

 The boy John Mayhew never changed his name. His obituary says he came to Edgartown to attend Thaxter’s Academy by the time he was about 12, in 1834. At 18 he trained as a carpenter, then worked as a clerk in the custom house for about six years. In 1850 he established a successful express shipping business on the Islands while acting as purser for the steamboat company. Later he was also a general freight agent with the New Bedford, Nantucket & Martha’s Vineyard Steamboat Company for fifteen years.¹

 I would be very interested in any facts found about the purported move.”

And from the book:

“Gay Head Light

..  approved 1799 by the General Court of Mass. a tract of two acres and four rods passed into possession of the government.  The tower first built was of wood, forty feet high, and the lantern  supported by eight large pine beams, was reached by ladders.  …The wooden tower, which had been reduced ten feet in height, lasted sixty years … and the site can be seen yet [c1930].  The second and present tower was built in 1858-9 and is of brick construction sixty feet high.”

Another mystery?  Was the lighthouse really ever moved?  Or did John Mayhew just lop off the top of the wooden tower?  Well, at least we now know who was John Mayhew (1822 – 1899).  And yes, he was a cousin!

 More resources for the truly curious: 

The Gay Head Lighthouse    http://gayheadlight.org/

Gay Head Lighthouse at the Martha’s Vineyard Museum website

http://www.mvmuseum.org/gayhead.php

Gay Head Light Wikipedia article  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Head_Light

Save the Gay Head Lighthouse Facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/SaveTheGayHeadLighthouse

“Gay Head Light reaches final destination after historic move” by Doug Fraser, for The Cape Cod Times, May 31, 2015, http://capecodtimes.com/article/20150531/NEWS/150539937

“Day Three: Cheers All Around as Historic Lighthouse Move is Complete” by Alex Elvin for The Vineyard Gazette, May 30, 2015  http://vineyardgazette.com/news/2015/05/30/day-three-cheers-all-around-historic-lighthouse-move-complete?k=vg556b970b8a1db

Stay tuned!  Both PBS's NOVA and the National Geographic channel filmed the Gay Head Lighthouse move for future broadcast as part of documentaries to be broadcast later.

----------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Moving a lighthouse ... in 1844 and in 2015", Nutfield Genealogy,  July 2, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/07/moving-lighthouse-in-1844-and-in-2015.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Benjamin Allen, died 1791, on the island of Martha's Vineyard

This tombstone was photographed at West Tisbury, Massachusetts

 at the West Tisbury Village Cemetery

Here lies interr'd the Remains

of Mr. BENJAMIN ALLEN

who was drowned

in going to Nantucket

on the night of the 14 of Novr

1791

Aged 64 Years 2 Mos & 14 Ds.

Benjamin Allen, born 28 August 1727 in Tisbury, died 14 November 1791 at sea, was the son of Joseph Allen and Patience Bourne.   Joseph Allen is my 8th great grand uncle, and Benjamin is my first cousin, 9 generations removed.   I descend not only from Samuel Allen (1598 - 1669) and Ann Whitmore, Benjamin's paternal grandparents, but also from his maternal grandparents, George Partridge (1605 - 1695) and Sarah Tracy. 

Benjamin was married first on 18 January 1753 to Eleanor Althearn and had eight children.  He married second to Elizabeth Doane. 

According to the Find A Grave website, there was a family story that "Benjamin went fishing and did not return. After many days his boat was found without him in it, with the exception of his leg." 

http://findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=allen&GSfn=benjamin&GSbyrel=all&GSdyrel=all&GSst=21&GScnty=1176&GScntry=4&GSob=n&GRid=5843775&df=all& 

I suppose that leg is all that is buried here in West Tisbury?

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/03/tombstone-tuesday-benjamin-allen-died.html
Copyright (c) 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ PRESBURY/PRESBYTER/PRESBITERY/PRESTON/PRESSON of Sandwich, Martha's Vineyard, Beverly, Massachusetts and of Saco, Maine

PRESBURY   PRESBYTER   PRESBITERY   PRESTON  PRESSON

John Presbury’s (about 1610 - 1648) first appearance in a New England record is on the Sandwich, Massachusetts 1643 list of men “able to bear arms”.  His widow, Catherine,  remarried to Richard Chadwell on 22 July 1648 in Sandwich.

John Presbury, Jr. (about 1640 - before 1679) married Dorcas Besse in 1664 went to Martha’s Vineyard, Salisbury, and to Saco, Maine in 1670.  He was a shoemaker.  In the third generation, William Preston (about 1664 - about 1718) married Priscilla Randall of Saco,  and lived there until about 1690.  King William's War with the Indians and French created many hostilities in the Maine settlements, which drove many settlers back to Massachusetts.  William and Priscilla removed to Beverly, Massachusetts. 

Randall Preston (1702 – 1744) was in the fourth generation in New England.  He was a tailor in Beverly.  He married Susannah Stone, a descendant of Nathaniel Stone (1632 - 1718) from whom I also descend in another Stone lineage.  In some records he was known as Randal Presson.  He was baptized as an adult in 1727, which was unusual in Puritan Massachusetts.

William Presson (1737 – 1814) settled at Gloucester, Massachusetts and married Abigail Sargent.  He was also a tailor.  His death was recorded in the Salem Gazette on 27 December 1814 with the words “Died – At Gloucester, Mr. William Preston, aged 78 – an honest man.”   My Preston line daughters out with William’s daughter, Lucy (1763 – 1852), who married James Andrews of Essex, the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, in 1788. 

For more information on the Presbury/Preston family:

The History of Martha’s Vineyard  by Dr. Charles Banks, Volume III Family Genealogies, pages 410 – 411.

“Memoirs of Alfred Presson (1838 – 1913) of Gloucester, Massachusetts”, New England Historic Genealogical Register, 18:3

This family is not recorded in the Great Migration series nor in Martin Hollick’s book New Englanders in the 1600s.  My sources were town records, church records, vital records and town histories. 

My Presbury/Preston genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Presbury, born about 1610 in England, died in 1648 in Sandwich, Massachusetts; married about 1637 to Catherine Unknown.  Two children.

Generation 2:  John Presbury, born about 1640 in Sandwich,  died before April 1679 in Saco, Maine; married about 1664 to Dorcas Besse, daughter of Anthony Besse and Jane Unknown,  in Sandwich.  Three children.

Generation 3:  William Preston, born about 1664 in Saco, died about 1718 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married in Maine to Priscilla Randall, daughter of Richard Randall and Elizabeth Irons.  She was born about 1661 in Saco and died 23 April 1752 in Beverly. Nine children.  William married second to Sarah Crocker.

Generation 4:  Randall Preston, born 3 April 1702 in Beverly, died 27 March 1744 in Beverly; married on 2 July 1723 in Beverly to Susanna Stone, daughter of John Stone and Sarah Gale.  She was born 20 August 1702 in Beverly, and died 17 May 1751 in Beverly.  Twelve children.

Generation 5:  William Presson was baptized on 24 April 1737 in Beverly, and died 20 December 1814 in Gloucester, Massachusetts; he married Abigail Sargent, the daughter of John Sargent and Mary Unknown, on 6 August 1761 in Gloucester.  Nine children.

Generation 6:  Lucy Presson, born May 1763 in Gloucester, died 5 September in 1852 in Essex, Massachusetts; married on 15 July 1788 in Ipswich to James Andrews, son of John Andrews and Martha Cogswell.  Ten children.

Generation 7:   Orpha Andrews m. Joseph Allen

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)

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The URL for this post is

 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-presburypresbyterpresb.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ FOLGER of Watertown, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts

A replica of the Pope Valuables Chest
at Plimoth Plantation

FOLGER

John Folger (my 9^th great grandfather), his wife Meribah, and son Peter arrived in New England on board the ship Abigail with the Reverend Hugh Peter in 1635. He lived first at Watertown, and then removed to the island of Martha’s Vineyard with Thomas Mayhew (my 10^th great grandfather).  He died intestate about 1660. 

In the second generation, Peter Folger was my 8^th great grandfather, and his wife Mary Morrill was an indentured servant for Rev. Hugh Peters.  Peter saved his money for seven years and paid 20 pounds to buy her out of servitude and declared “it was the best appropriation of money he ever made”.  There is too much information about Peter Folger to include in one blog post, but I'll put the highlights here. 

Peter went to Nantucket in 1663 to be an Indian interpreter for Tristram Coffin.  He was very influential in assisting the first settlers on this island with negotiations with the native people.  In the records Peter appears as a surveyor, miller, weaver, blacksmith, school master, and the clerk of the records.  His poem “A Looking Glass for the Time” was published on 23 April 1676. This poem gives his opinions on religious freedom and government, including freedom of speech.  

In the next generation, Peter had 12 children. One daughter was Bethshua, my 7^th great grandmother, and another was Abiah, mother of the famous Benjamin Franklin.  Several authors have attributed Benjamin Franklin’s wit to his grandfather, Peter.  Others have compared Franklin’s concepts of religious freedom and free speech in the Articles of Confederation with his grandfather’s writing. 

My 7^th great grandmother, Bethshua Folger, married Joseph Pope and lived in Salem, Massachusetts.   Their initials and wedding date is carved upon a "Valuables Chest” that was passed down in the family and auctioned off at Christie’s in 2000 for a record breaking $2,422,500.00  [see the link below for the full story].  The Popes were wealthy Quakers, who had been persecuted by the Salem authorities in earlier days.  During the witch craft hysteria of 1692 Joseph and Bethshua were accusers against John Proctor (also my ancestor), and Bethshua claimed to be tortured by some of the accused witches, including Giles and Martha Corey, and Rebecca Nurse (sister to another ancestor, Edmund Towne, my 9^th great grandfather).   When he died, Joseph Pope’s gravestone was described as “a pretentious stone of slate” by Jasper Marsh  [in the Historical Collections of the Danvers Historical Society, Volume 10, page 93].

Some sources for more information on the Folger family:

Mayflower Quarterly, Volume 72, pages 243- 264 (Peter Folger and his descendants)

Away Off Shore: Nantucket and Its People, by Nathaniel Phibrick, New York: Penguin Books, 2011

History of Martha’s Vineyard by Charles Edward Banks, Boston, 1911

History of Watertown, by Henry Bond and Horatio Gates Jones, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1860.

“The Folger Family” by William Coleman Folger in the NEHGS Register July 1862, Volume XVI, pages 269 – 274.

The Devil Hath Been Raised: A Documentary History of the Salem Village Witchcraft Outbreak of March 1692, by Richard B. Trask, Danvers, Massachusetts: Danvers Historical Society, 1992, pages 38 and 57.

A previous blog post about Joseph Pope and Bethshua Folger’s “Valuables Chest”

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/treasure-chest-thursday-at.html

My Folger lineage:

Generation 1:  John Folger, born about 1590 in Norwich, Norfolk, England, died about 1660 on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, in Massachusetts;  married before 1618 in England to Meribah Gibbs, daughter of John Gibbs and Alice Elmy.  She was born about 1595 in Freyn, Norwich, Norfolk, England and died about 1635 on Martha’s Vineyard.  They had five children.

Generation 2:  Peter Folger, born about 1618 in Norfolk and died about 1690 in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard; married on 23 June 1644 in Watertown, Massachusetts to Mary Morrill.  She was born about 1623 in England and died 1704 on Nantucket.  They had twelve children.

Generation 3:  Bethshua Folger, born about 1650 on Nantucket island and died in Salem, Massachusetts; married in 1679 in Salem Village (now Danvers), Massachusetts to Joseph Pope, son of Joseph Pope and Damaris Unknown.  Nine children

Generation 4:  Jerusha Pope m. George Flint

Generation 5: George Flint m. Hannah Phelps

Generation 6: Phebe Flint m. John Flint

Generation 7: Olive Flint m. Luther Simonds Munroe

Generation 8: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

----------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ FOLGER of Watertown, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 1, 2014, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/11/surname-saturday-folger-of-watertown.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Reverend Mr. John Mayhew, d. 1688 Martha's Vineyard

This tombstone was photographed in West Tisbury, Massachusetts on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

HERE LYES YE BODY OF MR

JOHN MAYEW THAT WORTHY

LABORIOUS MINISTER OF YE

GOSPELL TO YE INHABITANTS

OF TISBURY & CHILMARK UNITED

TO YE CHRISTIAN INDIANS

WHO DIED FEBRUARY YE 2D

1688 AETATIS 37

Reverend John Mayhew is my 8th great grandfather.  He was born in 1652 and died very young.  He was married to Elizabeth Hilliard, of Hampton, New Hampshire who outlived him and died in 1746.  John Mayhew is best known for his ministry to the Wampanoag people on the island of Martha's Vineyard.  He learned their language, and made friends with the Indians on the island.  His wonderful relations with the Wampanoag nation kept the violence of King Phillip's War away from Martha's Vineyard, one of the few places in New England where there was no blood shed during this time period.  

After his early death, his father,  Thomas Mayhew, was moved to give up his life as a merchant and turned to continuing his son's ministry to the Indians.  John's son, Experience Mayhew, was also a missionary to the Praying Indians and published several religious books in the Wampanoag language, including a Psalter in 1709, sermons in 1724, and others. His book "Indian Converts", 1720, was a best selling book of its time.  In 1723 Harvard College granted him a masters of arts degree, which was unheard of for a man who had never stepped foot inside a school and was totally self educated. 

You can read a short sketch about John Mayhew in The Annals of Chilmark, Volume II, pages 32 - 34.  

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The  URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/02/tombstone-tuesday-reverend-mr-john.html 

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

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 ~ HAWES of Duxbury and Yarmouth, Massachusetts

HAWES

Edmond Hawes was baptized in Solihull, Warwickshire, England on 15 October 1613, the son of Edmond Hawes.   He was apprenticed to a “cutler” (knifemaker) named Edward Warnet, and his records can be found in the London Company of Cutlers according to the Great Migration sketch of his life.  Edmond Hawes was a passenger on the James, which left Southampton, England about 5 April 1625.  His first residence in Massachusetts was the town of Duxbury.

He was made a freeman in Duxbury on 3 March 1644/5, and then removed to the town of Yarmouth by 1643.   He held many offices, which can be found in the Plymouth County Records, such as deputy, auditor, constable, selectman, and various committees.   The Plymouth County Records also record many land transactions in Duxbury and Yarmouth, and his will dated 5 May 1692 and proved on 20 July 1683. 

The name of his wife is unknown, and he had only one child, John, born about 1636, who married Desire Gorham, the granddaughter of John Howland the Mayflower passenger.  All of Edmond Hawes descendants are eligible for membership in the General Society of Mayflower Descendants.

John Hawes died in 1701, after having his leg amputated .   As a young man he had been brought before a jury on 5 March 1600/1 for accidentally causing an injury in a friend he had been wrestling.  He was found “not guilty” and released.   He grew up to also be a cutler, and served as a representative to the General Court.

The best sources for information on Edmond Hawes are The Great Migration, by Richard Charles Anderson, Volume II, pages 247 - 250.  Another good source of information is the book Edmond Hawes of Yarmouth, Massachusetts, by James William Hawes, 1914.  The Howland books published by the Mayflower Society’s Five Generation Project would also have the descendants of John Hawes and Desire Gorham. 

My HAWES genealogy:

Generation 1:  Edmond Hawes, son of Edmond Hawes, baptized 15 October 1613 in Solihull, Warwickshire, England; died 9 June 1693 in Yarmouth, Massachusetts; married with one known, surviving child.

Generation 2: John Hawes, born about 1636 in Duxbury, Massachusetts, died 11 November 1701 in Yarmouth; married on 7 October 1661 in Barnstable, Massachusetts to Desire Gorham, daughter of John Gorham and Desire Howland.  She was born 2 April 1644 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, and died 30 June 1700 in Yarmouth.  Eleven children.

Generation 3: Elizabeth Hawes, born 5 October 1662 in Yarmouth, died between 25 December 1732 and 13 February 1734 in Edgartown on the island of Martha’s Vineyard;  married on 22 January 1684 in Bristol, Rhode Island to Thomas Daggett, son of Thomas Daggett and Hannah Mayhew.   He was born about 1658 and died 28 August 1726 in Edgartown.  Ten children.

Generation 4: Elizabeth Daggett m. John Butler

Generation 5:  Keziah Butler and Reverend Samuel Osborn

Generation 6: Samuel Osborn m. Sarah Wass

Generation 7:  Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

Generation 8: Ann Skinner m.  Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons m. Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 10:  Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 11: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 12: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/surname-saturday-hawes-of-duxbury-and.html 

Copyright ©2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Nancy Luce the Chicken Lady of Martha's Vineyard

This tombstone was photographed at the cemetery in West Tisbury, Massachusetts,

on the island of Martha's Vineyard.

NANCY LUCE

Died

Apr. 3, 1880

Aged 73

The story of Nancy Luce is sad and depressing.  She was considered an oddity during her lifetime, and now in death gawkers gather at her strange gravesite.   On the island of Martha’s Vineyard, where she spent her life, she is known as “The Chicken Lady”. 

Nancy Luce was born in 1814, to a family of means, the daughter of Phillip Luce and Anna Manter.  She came down with some sort of illness as a young woman, and the disabilities lasted the rest of her life.  Some think she may have been an early sufferer of Lyme disease.  Her parents died at about this time, and neighbors tried to steal her property.   She won her rights but it left a bitter taste with the islanders, who hated her.  She lived alone, lonely and in poverty for the rest of her days.

For companionship she had her chickens.  She spent all her money on their care, and her egg money on their elaborate burials.  Each chicken had a casket and granite tombstone.  They had odd names like Toona, Otte Opheto and Tweedle Dedel Bebbe Pinky.   People thought she was crazy.  She wrote little books about her chickens to help pay for the taxes and expenses.   Curiousity seekers and tourists took her photographs and made postcards of her, but she didn’t receive any income from the photos.

She died alone in her house on 9 April 1890.  No one discovered her body for several days.   Her farm was sold and the tombstones for her chickens became doorsteps.  She had a decent burial, and even today her fans decorate her grave with chicken dolls, statues and glass eggs. 

The Dukes County Historical Society in Edgartown now has two of Nancy’s chicken tombstones.  Here is a sample epitaph:

POOR LITTLE HEARTS

Poor little Ada Queetie has departed this life,

Never to be here no more,

No more to love, no more to speak,

No more to be my firend.

O how I long to see her with me alive and well,

Her heart and mine was united,

Love and feelings deeply rooted for each other,

She and I could never part,

I am left broken hearted…

For the truly curious:

A biography of Nancy Luce,  Consider Poor I:  The Life and Works of Nancy Luce, by Walter Magnes Teller, 1984

Click here to read a sample of Nancy Luce’s 1871 writing about chickens

http://www.backyardchickens.com/t/664136/hens-diseases-and-cures-by-nancy-luce-1871-chicken-lady

Nancy Luce’s papers are now at the Brown University Library.  Walter Magnes Teller used them to write his biography of Luce.  They can be accessed at the Hay Annex, call numbers Ms. LUCE Box 1 and Box 2. 

A Complete Edition of the Works of Nancy Luce, by Nancy Luce can be read online at this link:

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=1556103

Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Henry Luce, born 1644 and died May 1687/88 in Tisbury; married about 1666 to Remember Litchfield, daughter of Lawrence Litchfield and Judith Dennis.

Generation 2:  Thomas Luce, born about 1679 in West Tisbury, died 1 April 1727 in Tisbury; married about 1707 to Hannah Butler, daughter of Thomas Butler and Jemima Daggett. Thomas Butler is my 9th great grand uncle, and I descend from his brother John Butler (1625 - 1658)

Generation 3: Malatiah Luce, born 1710 in Tisbury, died 3 May 1801 in Nauvoo, Illinois; married Eleanor Harlow

Generation 4:  Thomas Luce, born 1743 in Holmes Hole, Tisbury, Massachusetts and died about 1810 in Tisbury; married on 29 June 1769 in Holmes Hole, Tisbury to Hulda Butler, daughter of Shubael Butler and Hepsibah Daggett.  She was born about 1747 in Edgartown.  Shubael Butler is the son of Zephaniah Butler, my 8th great grand uncle.  I descend from Zephaniah's brother, John (see above).

Generation 5:  Phillip Luce, born 11 December 1771 and died 1 May 1847; married on 14 March 1811 in West Tisbury to Ann Manter, daughter of George Manter and Sarah Athearn.  She was born 28 July 1778 in Tisbury, and died 14 June 1851 in Holmes Hole, Tisbury.

Generation 6:  Nancy Luce, born 23 August 1814 in Tiah's Cove, West Tisbury and died 9 April 1890 in West Tisbury.  

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Nancy Luce the Chicken Lady of Martha's Vineyard", Nutfield Genealogy, posted January 17, 2014, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/01/nancy-luce-chicken-lady-of-marthas.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ DAGGETT of Plymouth, Watertown, and Martha’s Vineyard

DAGGETT/DOGGETT

John Daggett, my 11^th great grandfather,  arrived in Massachusetts with the Winthrop Fleet. He arrived in Salem in 1630 and was one of the original settlers of Watertown, and had a lot next to Sir Richard Saltonstall.  He became part of Governor Thomas Mayhew’s company that settled Martha’s Vineyard, an island off Cape Cod.  His son Thomas Daggett had already settled there.  He married in Plymouth in 1667 to Bathsheba Pratt, his second wife, and he probably died there in 1673.

In the second generation, Thomas Daggett, my 10^th great grandfather, married Governor Thomas Mayhew’s daughter, Hannah.  Governor Mayhew described him as “My son Doggett, that hath more language than any other Englishman upon the island and is a considerable young man.”   He was Clerk of the Courts and later a Justice of the County Courts.

In the third generation, Captain Thomas Daggett was in the town militia.  He removed to Bristol, Rhode Island for a while, but returned to Martha’s Vineyard, where he died.  The inventory of his estate showed that he owned 1,393 pounds in real estate.

There is an article about Alice Brotherton, wife of John Doggett of Martha’s Vineyard, in The American Genealogist, Volume 72, pages 89 to 102.  The sketch of John Doggett can be found in The Great Migration Begins, Volume I, pages 568 to 570.   

My DAGGETT genealogy:

Generation 1: John Daggett, born 4 October 1602 in Boxford, Suffolk, England, died in May 1673 in Plymouth, Massachusetts; married in 29 August 1622 in Marston Moretaine, Bedfordshire, England to Alice Brotherton.  He married second to Bathsheba Pratt.

Generation 2: Thomas Daggett, born between 1630 and 1632 in Watertown, Massachusetts; married on 23 September 1657 in Edgartown to Hannah Mayhew, daughter of Governor Thomas Mayhew.  She was born 15 June 1635 and died 7 February 1723 in Edgartown, Massachusetts. Eleven children.  He married second to Elizabeth Humphrey and third to Joan Unknown.

Generation 3:  Captain Thomas Daggett, son of Thomas Daggett and Hannah Mayhew, born about 1658 and died 28 August 1726 in Edgartown; married on 22 January 1684 in Bristol, Rhode Island to Elizabeth Hawes.   Ten children.

Generation 4: Elizabeth Daggett, born about 1690 in Edgartown, died after 1753; married on 16 December 1708 in Edgartown to John Butler, son of John Butler and Priscilla Norton.  He was born about 1674 and died after 6 February 1754.  Six children.

Generation 5: Keziah Butler married Samuel Osborn

Generation 6: Samuel Osborn married Sarah Wass

Generation 7: Sarah Osborn married Charles Skinner

Generation 8: Ann Skinner married Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons married Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 10:  Caleb Rand Bill married Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 11: Isabella Lyons Bill married Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 12: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/surname-saturday-daggett-of-plymouth.html 

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ BUTLER of Martha's Vineyard

BUTLER

Nicholas Butler, my 11^th great grandfather,  arrived in Massachusetts in June 1637 aboard the ship Hercules with his wife, children and five servants.  He lived at first at Dorchester, and his son, Henry, went to Harvard College.  By 1651 the Butler family was in Edgartown, on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.  Nicholas was a magistrate and later assistant to the chief magistrate.  He is called Mr. Butler in the records, and Governor Thomas Mayhew signed his will.

Nicholas Butler signed a brief will on 12 August 1671 and died the next day.  His will has a note “his sight as it were gon” and he signed with a mark, which might mean he had gone blind at this time.  His short will does not name any children, and he leaves permission for his wife to decide how his estate will be divided.   His wife left a longer will in 1689 which named her grandchildren.

This doth testify that I Nicholas Butler Being at present Sound in memory doe Now by this my last will give my Estate Whatsoever that I left after I Shall be buried like a Christian wholly unto my wife Joyce Butler, uppon serious consideration for her to dispose of to hir children and my children as shee shall see good, and hereunto I praise [god] being of memorie as aforesaid Sound. I doe witness with my hand this 12th of August 1671.

This will is witnessed by us   THOMAS MAYHEW   THO’ BIRCHARD The marke of Nicholas Norton

His sight as it were gon the mar  X  of NICHOLAS BUTLER.

In the second generation, Henry the Harvard graduate returned to England, and John was the only son to remain in New England and produce descendants.  John is my 10^th great grandfather. He died very young, but had five children.  His son, John, my 9^th great grandfather, was born in Dorchester and lived in Edgartown on the Great Neck.  He was called a gentleman and captain in the records.  The next John, my 8^th great grandfather, lived in Tisbury on Martha’s Vineyard.

For more information on the BUTLER family:

The History of Martha’s Vineyard by Dr. Charles E. Banks, Volume II Annals of Edgartown, pages 54 – 58.  You can read this online at this link: http://history.vineyard.net/nickbutler.htm

My BUTLER genealogy:

Generation 1:  Nicholas Butler, born about 1590 in Ashford, Kent, England,  died on 13 August 1671 in Edgartown, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard;  married first on 18 July 1613 in Canterbury, England to Mary Cotterell;  married second on 22 January 1624 in Ashford to Joyce Baker, daughter of Richard Baker and Margaret Elkes.  Four children.

Generation 2: John Butler, born before 2 January 1625 in Dorchester, Massachusetts; died in 1658 in Edgartown; married about 1648 to Mary Lynde, daughter of Thomas Lynde and Elizabeth Unknown.  She was born about 1629 and died after 1693 in Edgartown.  Five children.

Generation 3: John Butler, born about 1650 in Dorchester, died between 10 November 1733 and 2 October 1738 in Edgartown; married to Priscilla Norton, daughter of Nicholas Norton and Elizabeth Isaac.  Twelve children.

Generation 4: John Butler, born about 1674 and died after 6 February 1754; married on 16 December 1708 in Edgartown to Elizabeth Daggett, daughter of Thomas Daggett and Elizabeth Hawes.  She was born about 1690 and died after 1754.  Six children.

Generation 5:  Keziah Butler, born 1710 in Edgartown, died in October 1768 in Edgartown;  married first to Samuel Osborn on 9 September 1731 in Edgartown;  married in 1752 to Matthew Pease, son of Matthew Pease and Mary Green.  He was born 5 June 1707 in Edgartown, and died about 1756 in Edgartown.   

Generation 6: Samuel Osborn married Sarah Wass

Generation 7: Sarah Osborn married Charles Skinner

Generation 8: Ann Skinner married Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons married Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 10: Caleb Rand Bill married Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 11: Isabella Lyons Bill married Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 12: Donald Munroe Wilkinson married Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/12/surname-saturday-butler-of-marthas.html 

Copyright © 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ NORTON of Martha’s Vineyard

NORTON

Nicholas Norton arrived in New England in the 1635 company of Reverend John Hull.  The first record of him in Massachusetts in in 1637 in Weymouth.  He lived in Weymouth for twenty years before resettling on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.   

Nicholas Norton appears in many records on Martha’s Vineyard as “Goodman Norton”.  He was involved in several lawsuits and was both the plaintiff and defendant in the records.  In 1673 he joined the “Dutch Rebellion” with his townsmen.  This was an attempt by Holland to re-take New York.  When the English won New York back in 1674, it restored the authority of Governor Thomas Mayhew over the island.  He was officially “Governor for Life”.

The last will and testament of Nicholas Norton:

The last will and testament of me Nicolas Norton Being very weak in body but of perfect understanding and Souend memory After my death and desent Christian burial: I give and bequest my worry good as foloeth:-

Iprimes: I give my Son Izak Norton on half Comminig as also fouer Small Shares of medow
Secondly I give my Son Benjamin Norton all my medow at Saniacantick as also my medow at Morthals neck beach from the Crick dug into the Great pond westward as also my now dwelling hones and all my land aioyning to my Sayd houes after the deces of my wife Elizabeth Norton as also my lots at quompasha with all my devided land Elsewhere: provided my Sayd Son Beniamin deliver up his now dweling houes to my now wife Elizabeth Norton with the land aioyning to the Sayd houes: to be at my Sayd wifes sole will and pleseuer to dispose of at or before her desese, as also all that medow I have from a Creek to Izak Norton Medow
thirdly. I give Moses Cleveland the Remaynder of the Sayd medow to joyne with Weeks medow also on halfe Commonidg with all prevleges belonging there untoo
fourthly I give my Son in law Thomas Wolling on halfe Commonidg with all prevelidges belonging to it with a pese of medow from Izak Norton’s medow to the Creeke abofe named.
fifthly I give my Son Joseph Norton a tract of land lying at Saniacantacket joyning to the mill Creke which I bought of Mr Sam.
Sixtly I give that whole Commonidg which was Arys to my aforeSayd Son Beniamin Norton
Seventhly I give to Elizabeth Norton my wife all my Catle Coues oxen Steeres & Sheepe also all my hors kind & furder I give my Sayd wife Elizabeth Norton all my houeshold goods Beding pewter bras Iron tin wood wood as Chests trunks tables Chayers and all other things not named, also all plowes Carts Chayns yoks and all other utensells with all lumber: furder I leve my Sayd wife to give my dafter pese and my dafter wil (Wollong or Williams) and my dafter Stanbridg & my dafter Butler Something to Every one of them as much as shee sese cause: as also my dafter huxford to her my wife knows my mind
Eithly, my medow at the neck Caueled the Manado I leve to my wife Elizabeth Norton
Ninthly I doe apoynt my Sayd wife Elizabeth Norton to be my Sole Execitor and to performe my will as abof whritin.
The mark of N Nicklis Norton
Witness
Richard Sarson
Joseph Norton.

Some sources for Norton genealogy research:

The History of Martha’s Vineyard by Dr. Charles Banks, Volume III Family Genealogies:  pages 341 – 382  also available at this webpage http://history.vineyard.net/nortoni.htm

Also, the genealogy of Isaac Norton in the second and third generations at this link:

http://history.vineyard.net/nortoni.htm#isaac10

My Norton Genealogy:

Generation 1: Nicholas Norton, born about 1610 in Broadway, Somersetshire, England, died 1690 in Edgartown, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard; married about 1640 probably in Weymouth, Massachusetts to Elizabeth Isaac, born in England, died between 8 June and 8 October 1690 in Edgartown.  Eleven children.

Generation 2:  Isaac Norton, born 3 May 1641 in Weymouth, Massachusetts; died in 1723 on Martha’s Vineyard; married Ruth Bayes, the daughter of Thomas Bayes and Anne Baker. She was born 2 July 1643 in Dedham, Massachusetts; died after 1723 on Martha’s Vineyard. Eleven children.

Generation 3: Mercy Norton, born 1687; married on 30 November 1715 in Edgartown to James Claghorn, son of Shubael Claghorn and Jane Lovell.  Mercy had a child out of wedlock with Reverend Samuel Osborn.  

Generation 4:  Samuel Osborn m. Keziah Butler

Generation 5:  Samuel Osborn m.  Sarah Wass

Generation 6: Sarah Osborn m. Charles Skinner

Generation 7: Ann Skinner m.  Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. 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/2013/12/surname-saturday-norton-of-marthas.html 

Copyright © 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo