The Odiorne Family, from the Odiorne Burial Ground, Rye, New Hampshire

 These tombstones were photographed at the Wallis-Odiorne Burial Ground on Bracket Road in Rye, New Hampshire.  Most of the inscriptions are legible, but unfortunately the smaller poetry epitaphs are mostly illegible. 

WILLIAM S. ODIORNE

DIED

Nov. 4, 1869

Aged 72 yrs, 1 mo. &

8 days.

???? [illegible]

MARY T.

wife of Wm S. Odiorne,

DIED

April 7, 1867,

Aged 66 yrs, 3 mos.

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

Dearest Mother thou hast left us

and thy loss we deeply feel;

But 'tis God that has bereft us,

He can all our sorrows heal.

She sleeps in Jesus and is blest,

???? her slumber may

??? suffering and from sin released

And freed from every ???

TRUMAN S. ODIORNE

DIED

Dec. 3, 1831,

Aged 57 yrs, 2 mos.

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

???[illegible]

MOTHER

MARY O.

wife of

Trueman S. Odiorne

DIED

Aug. 16, 1894

AEt. 56 yrs,11 mos

12 days

?????[illegible]

William Seavey Odiorne was born 26 September 1797 in Rye, New Hampshire, the son of Ebenezer Odiorne and Mary Seavey.  He married Mary T. Amazeen on 9 July 1823. She was the daughter of Ephraim Amazeen and Hannah Tarleton.  The Amazeen family goes back in time to the immigrant John Amazeen, who was described as "John Amazeen, an Italian" by Charles Brewer, a Portsmouth historian. William and Mary Odiorne had nine children, and some are buried here in this burial ground.

Truman Seavey Odiorne is the oldest child of William and Mary.  He was born in 1822 in Rye, and married Mary Olive Moulton, the daughter of Joseph Moulton and Lydia Marston on 23 April 1864 in Rye.  She was born in 1837 and died 16 august 1894 in Rye. They had five children: William Wallace b. 11 Sept. 1864; Jonathan Everett b. 18 July 1866; Lydia Ann b. 13 Aug. 1869; Charlotte Seavey b. 3 August 1872; and Mary Amazeen b. 12 Dec. 1873. 

I am an Odiorne descendant, and William Seavey Odiorne is my 4th cousin, 5 generations removed.   Our common ancestor is the immigrant John Odiorne, born about 1625 in Shevlock, Cornwall, England and died 1707 in New Castle, New Hampshire. John Odiorne's parents and siblings first lived on the Isles of Shoals off the coast of Portsmouth, and were later granted land at Great Island, now known as New Castle.  John later purchased the land that is now Odiorne State Park in Rye.  

For the truly curious:

"Surname Saturday - Odiorne" a blog post from 5 November 2011

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surname-saturday-odiorne.html  

Find A Grave, Truman Seavey Odiorne:   https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182148226/truman_seavey_odiorne   

Portsmouth Athenaeum, Truman Seavey Odiorne:     https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/182148226/truman_seavey_odiorne 

Also, a sketch on John Amazeen "an Italian?"   http://kristinhall.org/fambly/Amazeen/JohnAmazeen.html 

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

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Odiorne Family, from the Odiorne Burial Ground, Rye, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 16, 2024, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2024/04/the-odiorne-family-from-odiorne-burial.html: accessed [access date]). 

November 11, 1620 - The Day The Pilgrims Signed the Mayflower Compact

Today a small group (due to COVID restrictions) of members of the New Hampshire Mayflower Society met at Odiorne Point State Park to remember the signing of the Mayflower Compact at Provincetown 400 years ago.  This new memorial to the Mayflower Compact was dedicated here on October 1, 2020 at the spot where a small group of Plymouth Colonists met with David Thompson at his fishing colony in 1623.  The memorial includes a bronze plaque with the Mayflower Compact, and the names of the men who signed the compact in 1620.  

MAYFLOWER COMPACT

"America's First Constitution"

Nov. 11, 1620  - In the name of God, Amen.  We...do by these presents, solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God, and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic,

for our... preservation and furtherance of the ends aforesaid;... to enact, constitute, and frame, such

just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices... as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the colony; unto which we promise all due obedience.

John Alden    Richard Clarke       John Howland     George Soule

Isaac Allerton     Francis Cooke        Stephen Hopkins     Edward Tilley

John Allerton    John Crackstone       Edward Leister       John Tilley   

      John Billington       Edward Doty           Edmund Margesson     Thomas Tinker   

William Bradford      Francis Eaton      Christopher Martin      John Turner  

William Brewster    Thomas English     William Mullins   Richard Warren

Richard Britteridge    Edward Fuller     Degory Priest     William White

   Peter Browne         Samuel Fuller         John Rigsdale    Thomas Williams

    John Carver      Richard Gardiner     Thomas Rogers    Edward Winslow

James Chilton     John Goodman     Myles Standish    Gilbert Winslow

In 1623 Pilgrim Captain Myles Standish was given cod fish by English fisherman David Thompson to assist the 

struggling Plymouth Colony.  This plaque dedicated November 11, 2020 by New Hampshire Society of Mayflower

Descendants in honor of their ancestors who signed the Mayflower Compact "America's First Constitution".

If you have not yet visited this lovely memorial, please take some time to walk along the shore of Odiorne Point in Rye, New Hampshire and read our new plaque.  You can watch our October 1st dedication ceremony at this link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZornc-Vh-Q  

New Hampshire Mayflower Society:  https://www.nhmayflower.org/   

The General Society of Mayflower Descendants:  https://www.themayflowersociety.org/    

Odiorne State Park, Rye, NH:  https://www.nhstateparks.org/visit/state-parks/odiorne-point-state-park  

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

Cite/Link to this post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "November 11, 1620 - The Day The Pilgrims Signed the Mayflower Compact", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 11, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/11/november-11-1620-day-pilgrims-signed.html: accessed [access date]). 

Major General John Sullivan (1740 - 1795) of New Hampshire

Major General John Sullivan (1740 - 1795)

from http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2004666644

John Sullivan, born 17 February 1740 in Somersworth, New Hampshire, was the son of Irish immigrants John Owen Sullivan and Margery Browne.  John had an older brother, Benjamin, who served in the British Navy before the American Revolution, and Benjamin was lost at sea.  His three other brothers and himself all served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, and John rose to the rank of Major General.  He commanded the Sullivan Expedition in 1779 against the Iroquois towns west of New England.

After the war, John Sullivan was a delegate to the Continental Congress, the 3rd Governor of the state New Hampshire, and a US Federal Judge.  He married Lydia Worcester and had nine children.  He was also the first Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of New Hampshire.  Major General John Sullivan is a celebrated New Hampshire hero.  There are many things in New Hampshire named for him including a town, a county, a bridge in Durham, among others.

Major General John Sullivan's brother James (1744 - 1808), Governor of Massachusetts, was married to Mehitable Odiorne.  That is an unusual name, except along the New Hampshire seacoast.  I'm also an Odiorne descendant, making Mehitable my 2nd cousin, seven generations removed.  We both descend from William Odiorn and Agnes Hickins, and from their son, John Odiorne (about 1625 - 1707), who came from Sheviock in Cornwall and settled along the New Hampshire coast at what is now known as Odiorne Point in Rye, New Hampshire.

MAJOR GENERAL JOHN SULLIVAN

--- 1740 - 1795 ---

Revolutionary patriot, soldier, politician, first 

Grand Master of Masons in New Hampshire, and

a resident of Durham.  He left the Continental

Congress to serve under Washington from 

Cambridge to Valley Forge.  Commanded at Rhode

Island in 1778 and led campaign against the

Six Nations in New York in 1779.  Re-entered 

Congress, then served three terms as Governor

of New Hampshire.  Led fight for ratification

of U. S. Constitution and became a federal 

district judge.                                               

This state historical marker is on the south side of Route 4, just east of the intersection with Route 108, by the bridge over the falls at Oyster River in Durham, New Hampshire.  At one end of the bridge is the memorial to General Sullivan, at the other end is the memorial to the Oyster River Massacre in 1694.

Just behind the Sullivan memorial is the John Sullivan house at 23 Newmarket Street in Durham, New Hampshire.  The house is privately owned, but is on the National Register of Historic Places.  It was built between 1729 and 1741 by Dr. Samuel Adams, and sold to General Sullivan in 1763. 

The John Sullivan House is visible behind the memorial

IN MEMORY OF

JOHN SULLIVAN

BORN FEB. 17, 1740

DIED JAN. 23, 1795

ERECTED BY THE STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

UPON THE SITE OF THE MEETING HOUSE

UNDER WHICH WAS STORED THE GUNPOWDER

TAKEN FROM FORT WILLIAM AND MARY

Another curiosity was located on the ground near this monument.... see below!

BENEATH THIS DRIPSTONE

FROM THE FORMER MARSTON HOUSE

THE PEOPLE OF DURHAM ON MAY 21, 1976

DEPOSITED A VAULT TO BE OPENED ON 

THIS NATION'S TRI-CENTENNIAL IN 2076

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

The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/major-general-john-sullivan-1740-1795.html  

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo 

Corrections to the Story of Hilton Point. Or “Why Historians should listen to Genealogists”

On Friday, 1 May 2015 I posted a “Photo Friday” story about Hilton Point in Dover, New Hampshire, with photos of the two memorials built there to the memory of Edward Hilton.  Both memorials state that New Hampshire’s first permanent settlement was when Edward Hilton arrived in 1623 to fish. 

I checked the official government website for the state of New Hampshire, https://www.nh.gov/   The page with the history of our state reads “… in 1623, under the authority of an English land-grant, Captain John Mason, in conjunction with several others, sent David Thomson, A Scotsman, And Edward and Thomas [sic] Hilton, fish merchants of London, with a number of other people in two divisions to establish a fishing colony in what is now New Hampshire, at the mouth of the Piscataqua River…. the Hilton brothers set up their fishing stages on a neck of land eight miles above, which they called Northam, afterwards named Dover.”

My blog post used the information on the historical markers, and from several books on the History of New Hampshire.  Were they wrong? 

I didn't use Robert Charles Anderson’s Great Migration series for this blog post, because I was just doing a quick local history post, not a genealogy story.  But I should have.  As fellow blogger Jeanie Roberts pointed out to me in a comment on my blog post, “Edward did not migrate until 1628” according to Anderson.  

I couldn't wait to run to my copy of the Great Migration to see what it said.  I used to teach fourth grade, the year that New Hampshire students learned all about state and local history.  We always taught them that 1623 was THE YEAR.   I was imagining fourth graders being assigned homework, googling the story and reading my blog post. Was it full of wrong information?

Anderson made a good case in Great Migration Begins, Vol. II, page 950. He quoted The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, page 331 (a sketch of Edward Hilton) “He likely made a voyage to Piscataqua with trading goods and began a plantation, unrecorded, in 1628”  and on page 334 (a sketch of his brother William (not Thomas as stated on the New Hampshire state website) “The historian Hubbard cared little about the eastern country and his paragraph about the founding of N.H. (N. E. Reg. 31.179) is mostly false, Hilton did not come to the Piscataqua with David Thomson in 1623 and Chr. Levett’s book proves that no settlement had been made up the river in the spring of 1624”

GDMNH was published in 1939.  The Great Migration Begins was published in 1995.  This is 2015.  Why are we all still saying that New Hampshire’s first permanent settlement was 1623?  Don’t the historians communicate with our great genealogists?

Instead of just updating my first blog post from Friday, I’m also publishing this one, and linking the two posts.  I can’t wait to see if a fourth grader challenges his teacher with this information!

Sources mentioned  (all three are traditional genealogy sources):

The Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, by Sibyl Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin Davis, published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2012 (originally 1939 in five volumes) 

The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620 – 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, published by the New England Historic Genealogical Society, three volumes, 1995.

The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 31 (1877), page 179 “Some of the Descendants of William Hilton” by John Hassam.

Jeanie Robert's blog The Family Connection blog post 5 January 2013, "Thomas Roberts of Dover, New Hampshire"
http://www.jeaniesgenealogy.com/2013/01/thomas-roberts-of-dover-new-hampshire.html   

Of course, we have to add an article by Portsmouth historian, J. Dennis Robinson, too!
http://www.seacoastnh.com/History/History-Matters/portsmouth-and-dover-still-feuding-over-1623-nh-founding-date/   

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

The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/corrections-to-story-of-hilton-point-or.html 

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Hilton Point, New Hampshire - Photo Friday

UPDATED 2 May 2015

Historians say that in the year 1623 William Hilton settled on Hilton Point (now Dover Point) in the current town of Dover, New Hampshire.  This has been disproved by several sources, but the date lingers on in many books and websites.  Hilton Point is still considered the first permanent settlement in New Hampshire, because David Thompson’s Pannaway settlement on Odiorne Point in 1621 was soon abandoned.   Hilton Point  is a  peninsula  where the the Bellamy and Cocheco Rivers meet up with  the Piscataqua River and the Great Bay.  The Hilton brothers, William and Edward, established a fishery and then they were granted the “Squamscot Patent” for this land.  The settlement was very small (only three houses) until 1633 when they were joined by Puritan “non-conformist” families who formed the Plantation of Cochecho. 

William Hilton was a member of the Fishmonger’s Guild in London on 9 April 1621.  Edward, with his wife and children, arrived at Plymouth Plantation in 1623.  William had David Thomson transport his family to his brother’s settlement at Piscataqua in 1624.   William later moved to the York River in York, Maine.   Edward later removed to Newfields, near Exeter, New Hampshire. (For more information on William please see the very interesting sketch in Anderson's The Great Migration Begins, Volume II, pages 954-955.)

Thomas Roberts came over to New England with Edward Hilton in 1623.  Roberts remained at Dover Point, where his family lived for many generations.  Roberts married Rebecca Hilton, sister to Edward and William. He became "President of the Court" of the Dover Colony until it came under the Massachusetts Colony in 1642/3. He is not listed in the Great Migration series, so he must have arrived later than 1635 and before 1639 when he became president of the court.  

Please be aware that the historical information you see on these two signs is NOT ACCURATE. See my correction to this post from 2 May 2015 at this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/corrections-to-story-of-hilton-point-or.html   

You can reach Hilton State Park at the west bound exit 5 of the Spaulding Turnpike, Route 16.  The memorials are located near the playground and parking area.   The state historical marker was placed in 1973, and the granite marker to Edward Hilton was placed by descendants in 1955. 

MEMORIAL TO

EDWARD HILTON

PIONEER SETTLER

1623

IN HONOR

OF

EDWARD HILTON

FOUNDER OF DOVER 1623

FATHER OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

MAKER OF THE FIRST ROAD

IN THE PROVINCE

MARKED BY HIS DESCENDANTS

1955

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

The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/hilton-point-new-hampshire-photo-friday.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

The Second Thanksgiving at Plymouth

The Second Thanksgiving...

When two of my ancestors collaborated on survival in New England 1623

"The Sacred Cod" hangs in the Massachusetts State House in Boston

David Thompson (1592 – 1628) arrived in New Hampshire in 1623, the first permanent European settler in our fair state.  He established an outpost at Pannaway, where Odiorne State Park is now located in Rye. His son, John, was the first European child born in New Hampshire.  He came to make money, to utilize the resources of New England for trade- salt cod, furs, and lumber.  One of his first visitors was Myles Standish from the Plymouth Colony, where, although they had been there several years, the people were starving and not able to grow significant harvests or pay back their creditors, the Plymouth Colony.  Thompson was successful at fishing, and brought a load of salt cod down to Plymouth where the settlers held their second Thanksgiving in his honor.

In his journal, Bradford mentions the cod fish incident, and the second Thanksgiving.  He doesn’t give credit to Thompson for the event.  The Separatist settlers who came for religious reasons, to be separate, perhaps did not hold the settlers who came for money making reasons in high enough esteem, even though they saved their lives.  Myles Standish is my 8th great grandfather, and David Thompson is my 9th great grandfather in a completely different lineage.

I find this story interesting because two of my ancestors, from completely different sides of the family, had this meeting which influenced New England history, and American history, almost 400 years ago.  By 1626 Thompson had removed to an island in Boston harbor, now known as Thompson’s island.  There on this island he met with Myles Standish in 1621. Along with others, and they brokered an agreement about trading and relations with the native Indians.

In another weird coincidence, David Thompson’s widow remarried to Samuel Maverick, who lived on Maverick’s island off Boston.  Samuel’s brother, Moses Maverick, married Remember Allerton, who was also a Mayflower passenger when she was only five years old.  I descend from Remember Allerton, as well as Myles Standish! 

And so, on the first Thanksgiving the Plymouth settlers celebrated with five deer brought by the Indians, and on the second Thanksgiving they celebrated with salt cod brought by David Thompson. 

The big questions is:  Are you having cod for your Thanksgiving dinner tomorrow?

For more information:

My blog post from 2020 about the new memorial plaque at Odiorne Point about this incident with the Pilgrims and David Thompson:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/11/november-11-1620-day-pilgrims-signed.html 

The Islands of Boston Harbor:  Their History and Residents by Edward Rowe Snow, Andover Massachusetts: The Andover Press, 1935.   Available online at this link:

http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067288159;view=1up;seq=10

The Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, Volume III, pages 1807 – 1809.

Myles Standish Speaks Out on NH’s First Settler, by J. Dennis Robinson, from his blog at “Seacoast New Hampshire”  at this link: http://www.seacoastnh.com/History/History-Matters/myles-standish-speak-out-on-nhs-first-settler/

Turkeygate: 365 Year old Scandal, by J. Dennis Robinson, from his blog at “Seacoast New Hampshire”, 1997 at this link: http://www.seacoastnh.com/Today/Editor-at-Large/Turkeygate-The-Thanksgiving-Scandal/   

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

To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The Second Thanksgiving at Plymouth", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 27, 2019, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/the-second-thanksgiving-at-plymouth.html: accessed [access date]). 

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Sailboat and a World War II Relict

Every Wednesday for more than two years I've been posting photographs of weathervanes located in or near the Nutfield area (the former name for the land where Londonderry, Derry and Windham, New Hampshire are now located). Most are historically interesting or just whimsical and fun weathervanes. Today's weathervane can be seen in somewhere on the New Hampshire coast. Have fun guessing where you may have seen this weather vane.

Do you know the location of weather vane #117? Scroll down to see the answer....

 

Today's weather vane can be seen on Ocean Boulevard in Rye, New Hampshire.  It is a wonderful three dimensional sailboat, complete with a sail, on top of a private residence.  It was hard to spot this dark weather vane against the winter brown trees, and would be much easier to see in the summer again green foliage.  It is right across the street from the rocky beaches and a wonderful view of the Isles of Shoals.  Sailboats and other ships, boats and kayaks can be seen going by from here, so the choice of weather vane is perfect for this location.

Behind the weather vane is a tall concrete tower.  This tower was originally named Base Station #142, but is now known as Pulpit Rock Tower.   This is a 73 foot look out tower built in 1942 during World War II to protect Portsmouth Harbor, which was (and still is) a military ship building area. There were more than a dozen of these towers around the entrance to Portsmouth Harbor, defended by Fort Dearborn (located where Odiorne Point State Park is now located).

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts!

Pulpit Rock Tower   http://www.friendsofpulpitrocktower.org/

A video of the 2010 Open House Tour of Pulpit Rock Tower
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7blimQ0W04w

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

The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/weathervane-wednesday-sailboat-and.html
 

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Photo Friday ~ Interesting Sign at Odiorne Point

Although I'd been to Odiorne Point many, many times, sometime you miss the obvious.  Right next to the parking area is this strange formation under a hill, and this sign....

NATURAL HILLS?

Look closely at the hill in front of you.  During World

War II bunkers like this one were constructed to house

large guns and then camouflaged to look like natural hills.

Fort Dearborn located here on Odiorne Point played an active role

in the defense of Portsmouth Harbor and the naval shipyard. 

Following the war, the iside of this one was equipped as a civil 

defense shelter and a rotating radar unit was placed on top.  In

1959, Fort Dearborn was declared surplus property and was

acquired by the State of New Hampshire for use as a state park.

-NEW HAMPSHIRE DIV. OF PARKS-

My ancestor David Thomson established the first settlement in New Hampshire here at Odiorne Point.  John Odiorne, another one of my ancestors, acquired several acres here and built a farm.  The Odiornes lived here for generations.  The land was broken up and sold until by the 1930s there were seventeen different families living on Odiorne Point, including an Odiorne descendant.

In 1942 the US government bought all the land and built Fort Dearborn.  Route 1A was closed, and the houses and estates were demolished.  According to the sign above, in 1959 the Fort was closed and the land was sold to the State of New Hampshire as a park.  Today there are historic monuments, a beach, tide pool areas, picnicking, playgrounds and the Seacoast Science Center here at Odiorne Point State Park.  

A previous blog post about the Odiorne family:

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surname-saturday-odiorne.html

Odiorne Point State Park website http://www.nhstateparks.com/odiorne.html 

Seacoast Science Center http://www.seacoastsciencecenter.org/

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

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A 1779 Slave Petition finally passes in the New Hampshire Legislature, 233 years late

Prince Whipple, an enslaved officer in the Continental Army, and 19 other enslaved men from New Hampshire drew up a petition in 1779.  They wanted to be emancipated.  The New Hampshire legislature tabled the petition, saying that it wasn't a good time to vote (it was the middle of the Revolutionary War).  They effectively ignored the black men’s document.   Five of the men and Prince Whipple were eventually freed, and the other 14 died as slaves.

Thirty years ago historian Valerie Cunningham found the petition on the front page of the New Hampshire Gazette and wrote about it in her book Black Portsmouth.   To raise awareness for the Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail and the fundraising effort to erect a memorial on the site of the African Burying Ground, the committee asked Senator Martha Fuller Clark to revive the petition.  She introduced it to the Senate in January 2013. 

Now 233 years later, New Hampshire is changing history.  In March 2013 the New Hampshire Senate unanimously passed the bill.  Today, on 24 April 2013 the New Hampshire House voted on the bill to free the 14 slaves.  The vote passed (344 yeas and 2 nays, then after a revote it was unanimous).

Although only about 1% of New Hampshire’s population is of African American descent, this action rights a wrong that has been long overdue.  The small number of blacks in New Hampshire makes them less likely to be heard in political matters.  This vote freed those 14 enslaved men posthumously. Their fate had languished in limbo for 233 years.

To go along with the celebration, just yesterday, the National Endowment for the Arts gave a $20,000 grant to the African Burying Ground Memorial Park.  This brings the total raised to $720,000.  The African Burying Ground Committee is looking to raise $1.2 million.  This recognition from the NEA helps to bring the project into the national spotlight.

Judy G. Russell, the “Legal Genealogist” asked me to photograph this petition at the New Hampshire State Archives, for one of her lectures at the National Genealogy Society conference.  If you are attending the conference in Las Vegas, Nevada 8 – 11 May 2013, you can hear all the details from Judy, an expert lawyer and genealogist (a terrific combination).  My photographs were donated to the State Archives, and are on file at the State Archives office for anyone who would like to see a copy of the petition.  Here is page one above.

These are the names of the enslaved men who signed the petition. Do you recognize any of these surnames from your New Hampshire family tree?

Nero Brewster

Will Clarkson

Garrett Colton

Peter Frost

Zebulon Gardner

Cesar Gerrish

Seneca Hall

Cipio Hubbard

Winsor Moffat

Cato Newmarch

Jack Odiorne

Romeo Rindge

Pharaoh Rogers

Quam Sherburne

Pharaoh Shores

Kittindge Tuckerman

Cato Warner

Peter Warner

Samuel Wentworth

Prince Whipple (owned by William Whipple, signer of the Declaration of Independence)

For the truly curious:

Click this link to see the 1779 Freedom Petition as published in the New Hampshire Gazette, 15 July 1780:  http://www.trinityhistory.org/AmH/SlavesNH1779.pdf

Black Portsmouth by Mark J. Sammons and Valerie Cunningham, University of New Hampshire Prss, Published by University Press of New England, Lebanon, NH, 2004

Seacoastonline announces the vote today at this link:
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20130424-NEWS-130429868

The Portsmouth African Burying Ground http://www.africanburyinggroundnh.org/

The Portsmouth Black Heritage Trail http://pbhtrail.org/web/

The New Hampshire State Archives  http://sos.nh.gov/arch_rec_mgmt.aspx

A lesson plan from the New Hampshire Historical Society about the 1779 Slave Petition:

http://www.nhhistory.org/edu/support/nhsources/slavepetitionlesson.pdf

The NGS 2013 Family History Conference http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/cs/conference_info

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

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A 1779 Slave Petition finally passes in the New Hampshire Legislature, 233 years late", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 24, 2013, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/04/a-1779-slave-petition-finally-passes-in.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday - Thompson

THOMPSON/ THOMSON

Thompson's Island, Boston, Massachusetts

David Thompson (1592 – 1628) is a favorite ancestor because of all the terrific adventure stories about him in early New Hampshire History.  But he is also a favorite because his wife, Amyes Colle, is related to me two ways.  The first way is through her marriage with Thompson in 1613 because I descend from their son, Miles Thompson my ancestor.  The second way I am related to Amyes Colle  is that her second marriage was to Samuel Maverick, son of my other ancestor John Maverick (1578 – 1636).  Yes, it is a tangled genealogy!  Amyes Colle is thought to be the first white woman permanently settled in New Hampshire.

It is hard to summarize David Thompson in a short blog post.  He was an agent of Sir Ferndinando Gorges, and he first visited New Hampshire in 1616.  By 1621 he had established a trading post at Odiorne Point on the New Hampshire seacoast.  It was the first year round station, although the coast had been visited in the summer for many years.  I blogged about Odiorne Point at this link: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surname-saturday-odiorne.html with some photos of the early settlement sites.    Thompson’s fort was known as Pannaway, and he had a fur trading business with the Indians as well as a salt cod fishing enterprise for the fishermen working out at the Isles of Shoals.  The exact location of Fort Pannaway is unknown since the area was disturbed for the construction of both Route 1 and Fort Dearborn during World War II.

An early sea captain, Christopher Leavitt, visited Pannaway in the summer and fall of 1623 and describes David Thompson as a scholar who entertained visitors and strangers with graciousness and hospitality.

He also had a station in Boston Harbor now known as Thompson’s Island, where he removed from Pannaway around 1626.  This island is now the Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center, and part of the Boston Harbor Islands National Recreation Area.    This is where David Thompson disappeared in 1628.  His widow married Samuel Maverick, who lived on Maverick’s Island, another island in Boston Harbor that is now located under filled land for Logan Airport.   There is a monument to David Thomson at the cemetery in Odiorne Point, New Hampshire.

Many people have written about David Thompson over the years, from Edward Winslow and William Bradford of the Mayflower, to Charles W. Brewster the 1800’s newspaper columnist in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to present day historians.    There are many tales of his adventures, and my personal favorite is one where Miles Standish appeared at Pannaway to beg for salt cod in 1623 to keep the Pilgrims at Plymouth alive.  It was the cause of the second day of Thanksgiving at the Plymouth colony! See the link below for more on this story...

Thompson/Thomson Genealogy

Generation 1.  David Thompson, born 1592, son of Richard Thompson and Florence Cromlen of Clarkenwell, England, and he is presumed to have drowned or disappeared off Thompson’s Island in Boston harbor in December 1628; married on 18 July 1613 in St. Andrew’s, Plymouth, Devonshire, England to Amyes Colle, daughter of William Colle and Agnes Bryant.   She was born about 1592 and died in 1649 in Massachusetts, and was married second to Samuel Maverick, brother to my 10 x great grandfather, Moses Maverick (1578 – 1636).  Five children:

1. Ann Thompson, died young

2. Priscilla Thompson, born before 1616, died about 1635

3. John Thompson, born 5 January 1619 in Plymouth, England; married Sarah Woodman

4. Ann Thompson, died young

5. Miles Thompson (see below)

Generation 2:  Miles Thompson was born about 1626 in New Hampshire and died before 30 June 1708 in Berwick, Maine; married about 1652 to Anne Tetherly, daughter of William Tetherley and Christian Thorne.  She was born about 1632 and died after 1717 in Berwick.  Seven children:

1. Ann Thompson, married Israel Hodson

2. Bartholomew Thompson, died unmarried

3. Mary Thompson, born about 1659 and married Thomas Rhodes

4. John Thompson, (see below)

5. Sarah Thompson, married James Goodwin

6. Amy Thompson, married Daniel Goodwin

7. Thomas Thompson, married Sarah Furbush

Generation 3:  John Thompson, born about 1662, died about 1702; married about 1683 to Sarah Emery, daughter of James Emery and Elizabeth Unknown.  Three children.

1. Mercy Thompson, married Philip Stackpole

2. Elizabeth Thompson, married Mainwaring Hilton

3. John Thompson (see below)

Generation 4.  John Thompson, born about 1684 in Kittery, Maine, died about 1753; married on 22 June 1709 to Mary Stacy, daughter of William Stacy and Mehitable Weymouth.  She was born on 6 April 1690 in South Berwick, Maine and died 13 January 1753 in Kittery.  Three children:

1. John Thompson, born 10 November 1711, married Mary Unknown

2. Mary Thompson (see below)

3. Noah Thompson, born 15 March 1713 in Berwick, married Susannah Place

Generation 5.  Mary Thompson married Richard Nason

Generation 6.  Mercy Nason married William Wilkinson

Generation 7.  Aaron Wilkinson married Mercy F. Wilson

Generation 8.  Robert Wilson Wilkinson married Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9.  Albert Munroe Wilkinson married Isabella Lyons Bill

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

A book about David Thompson is First Yankee: David Thomson 1592- 1628, by Ralph E. and Matthew R. Thompson, originally printed in 1979, reprinted by the Piscataqua Pioneers.    There are sketches of David Thomson in the Great Migration Begins, Volume III, pages 1807-1809, and in the New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Volume 9, pages 110 – 116.  You can find sketches of the Pannaway settlement in any good New Hampshire history.

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A great website for Thompson genealogy, with links to other websites http://www.wellswooster.com/tommies/

The Thompson Island Outward Bound Education Center website http://www.thompsonisland.org/

Charles W. Brewster’s excerpt about “Old Pannaway”  http://seacoastnh.com/brewster/85.html

How David Thompson “saved” the Pilgrims, by present day Portsmouth Historian J. Dennis Robinson:  http://www.seacoastnh.com/Today/Editor-at-Large/Turkeygate-The-Thanksgiving-Scandal/

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday- Odiorne

ODIORNE

John Odiorne's parents' marriage is registered in the Sheviock parish records in Cornwall. He was an early fisherman on the Isles of Shoals off the coast of New Hampshire, and he later sold his land on Smuttynose Island and was granted land at Great Island (now known as New Castle, New Hampshire).  He later purchased the land that is now Odiorne State Park in Rye, New Hampshire.  He appears in  New Castle records for various civic duties such as Grand Jury and church subscriptions.  His extensive land holdings were willed to his son John.

John's wife, Mary (Johnson) Odiorne appears in the records as a member of the North Church in Portsmouth in 1694. She then joined the Christ Church in Portsmouth in 1697.

The Odiorne family land remained in the family until it was bought by eminent domain during World War II for use as coastal protection.  Bunkers and a fort were built there, and later the land was offered for sale to the family who could not buy it back. It was sold to a man who later sold it back to the state.   It became Odiorne State Park and the Seacoast Science Center.  In 1899 the Colonial Dames erected a monument here to the first settlers on the beach in the park.  This monument was removed and placed in the Odiorne family burial ground in 1955, but was recently removed back to the beach.

Here Landed
In the Spring of 1623
The First Band of Englishmen
Pioneers In the Planting of
New Hampshire
Consecrating This Soil To The
Service Of
God and Liberty
1623 -1899

The Odiorne Genealogy:

Generation 1: John Odiorne, born about 1625 in Sheviock, Cornwall son of William Odiorne and Agnes Hickins, died 1707 in New Castle, New Hampshire; married Mary Johnson, daughter of James Johnson. Three children:
        1. Hannah,  (see below)
        2. John, born about 1675, m. Catherine Unknown
        3. Jotham, born about 1675, m. Sarah Bossum/Barsham, widow of Benjamin Bickford

Generation 2. Hannah Odiorne, born in New Hampshire; married second to James Stilson, son of James Stilson and Margaret Gould, born about 1680 at Muscongus Island near Pemaquid, Maine, died aobut 1772 in New Durham, New Hampshire.  Four children listed below.  Married first to John Batson, one daughter, Mary Batson.  Hannah and John were captured by Indians and taken to Quebec where John Batson died.  James Stilson, another captive, married Hannah in Quebec, and later they came back to New Hampshire.
         1. Hannah, born 2 August 1706 in Quebec (see below)
         2. Anna, born about 1710, m. Abraham Trefethen
         3. Alice, born about 1712, m. Samuel Clark
         4. James, born about 1712, m. Mary True

Generation 3. Hannah Stilson (1706 - 1776) m. Thomas Mead
Generation 4. Hannah Mead (1730 - before 1759) m. James Wilkinson
Generation 5. William Wilkinson (d. after 1840) m. Mercy Nason
Generation 6. Aaron Wilkinson (1802- 1879) m. Mercy F. Wilson
Generation 7. Robert Wilson Wilkinson (1830- 1874) m. Phebe Cross Munroe
Generation 8. Albert Munroe Wilkinson (1860 - 1908) m. Isabella Lyons Bill
Generation 9. Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Books:

Genealogy of the Odiorne Family in America, by James Creighton Odiorne, revised in 1966

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday - Stilson

Pemaquid, Maine

STILSON

The first immigrant ancestor named Stilson was Vincent Stilson, from Herefordshire, England, who died sometime before 13 May 1690 in Milford, Connecticut when the inventory was dated for his will.  The Records of the Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts place him in Marblehead several times.  In Volume 6, pages 149-151 and 169, Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, dated June 1676, there are two pages of testimony in a defamation suit in which Vincent, (Vincon or Vinson) Stilson, son of the early Vincent, became involved.  Grace Stilson, wife of Vincent I, testified at the trial, and her age was given as "about 37". She is believed to have been the mother of perhaps four of the older children, and Mary, the second wife, was the mother of the second four.  The maiden names of both wives are unknown. According to Donald Lines Jacobus, the eminent genealogist, Vincent was the only early settler with the name STILSON.  

Generation 1. Vincent Stilson, born between 1620 and 1635 in Herefordshire, England; died before 13 May 1690 in Milford, Connecticut; married first to Grace, four children; married second to Mary, four more children:

            1. Vincent, b. about 1656; m. Sarah

            2. James, b. about 1658, see below

            3. Agnes, b. about 1660; m. Joseph Hawkings

            4. Mary, b. about 1670; m. George Barlow

            5. Moses, b. about 1676; m. Charity Bailey

            6. Hugh, b. about 1678; m. Martha Fenn

            7. Susanna, b. 9 November 1680

            8. Charles, b. about 1682

Generation 2. James Stilson, born about 1658, died on 2 August 1689 at Muscongus Island, now Bristol, Maine; married about 1675 to Margaret Gould, daughter of Alexander Gould and Margaret Brown,  born 1661 in New Harbor, Maine. Their children were baptized at Marblehead in 1686, but the same year James Stilson sold his land and moved to Pemaquid Maine.  Margaret had inherited the island of Muscongus and land in Bristol from her maternal grandfather, who had purchased it for “fifty skins” in 1625 from the Sagamores.  This is supposed to be the earliest Indian deed on record in Maine. In 1689 James was killed by the Indians, and  Margaret and the children were kidnapped to Canada (the infant killed on the way).  Margaret and two of the children came back with a rescue mission in 1695.  James, Jr. and Mary returned later. Margaret remarried to Thomas Pitman on 30 March 1696 in Marblehead.  Five children:

            1. James, b. about 1680, see below

            2. John, b. before May 1686

            3. Margaret, b. before May 1686

            4. Mary, b. before May 1686

            5. Infant, d. about 1689

Generation 3. James Stilson, born about 1680 at Muscongus Island, died about 1772 in New Durham, New Hampshire; married to Hannah Odiorne, daughter of John Odiorne and Mary Johnson, born at New Castle, New Hampshire.  While captive in Canada, he heard of Hannah Odiorne, who had also been a captive.  He went to see her, and gave a hat full of silver to marry her.  He has been found in the records of Quebec as Jacques Stilson dit Dutilly, and was baptized there as a Roman Catholic.  The wedding of James and Hannah is recorded in Quebec, along with the baptism of their first child. James was redeemed from the French in 1703.  Four children:

            1. Hannah, b. 2 August 1706 in Quebec, baptized “Marie Anne” (see below)

            2. Anna, b. about 1710; m. Abraham Trefethen

            3. Alice, b. about 1712; m. Samuel Clark

            4. James, b. about 1712; m. Mary True

Generation 4. Hannah Stilson, b. 2 August 1706 in Quebec, Canada, died 1776 in New Castle, New Hampshire; married on 2 May 1725 in New Castle to Thomas Mead, son of Nicholas Mead and Elizabeth, died between 23 June and 26 September 1759 probably in Portsmouth.  See my blog post about the Mead family here http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/10/surname-saturday-mead.html .  Five children.

Generation 5. Hannah Mead m. James Wilkinson

Generation 6. William Wilkinson m. Mercy Nason

Generation 7. Aaron Wilkinson m. Mercy F. Wilson

Generation 8. Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

The story of Vincent Stilson has been written up in several historical sketches of early settlers of Milford, Connecticut.  Savage, in his Genealogical Dictionary of New England Vol IV, page 196 gives the following information: "Stilson, Vincent, Milford 1646 D 1690 but more than half that interval, lived away from Milford and at Marblehead is seen 1668-74".   There is one book I know of about the Stilsons- Notes on the Genealogy of the Stilson Family, compiled by William Charles Stilson in 1939.   

The Odiorne family has been written up many times, and these books and articles contain much information on the James Stilson and Hannah Odiorne story.  I’ll be writing about the Odiorne lineage soon in another Surname Saturday post.

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday - Stilson", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 15, 2011, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/10/surname-saturday-stilson.html: accessed [access date]).