The Oyster River Massacre, 1694 (and two lucky uncles)

The Falls at Oyster River

The Oyster River Massacre happened on 18 July 1694 at Durham, New Hampshire, then part of the town of Dover.  There had been a period of peace with the native Abenaki tribes following the Cochecho Massacre and the Seige of Pemaquid, Maine in 1689.  The government at Boston entered a new trade negotiation with the Abenaki and the French wished to end this agreement.  They didn't want the Abenaki to ally with the English.  The New England settlement at Oyster River was attacked by about 250 Abenaki led by Claude-Sebastien de Villieu of Quebec.   About 100 inhabitants were killed and 27 taken captive to Canada.   Half the town was destroyed, along with crops and animals, which left the survivors destitute.   Five out of twelve garrisons were destroyed.  Many of the refugees fled to Massachusetts.  It was the worst massacre of King William's War. 

The settlement eventually rebuilt, and was protected by troops from Massachusetts.  By 1716 Oyster River Plantation was a separate parish of Dover, named after Durham in England.  The town of Durham was incorporated in 1735 and included parts of Dover, Madbury, Lee and Newmarket.  

Oyster River from the footbridge below the historic marker

I could not find a complete list of deaths or captured individuals from the Oyster River Massacre.  According to the New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, Volume 2, pages 125 – 128, some of the surnames mentioned as killed were  Dean, Adams, Drew,  and Davis.   

List of some of the captured individuals of the massacre was found in the book New England Captives Carried to Canada, by Emma Lewis Coleman, pages 253-254 and the names include the following people:

Mercy Adams

Two daughters of John Davis

John Dean’s wife and child

Peter Denbow

John Derry

Deliverance Derry

John or Joseph Derry

Thomas Drew

Tamsen Drew

Thomas Edgerly, Sr.

Joseph Edgerly

A daughter and some children of Thomas Edgerly, Jr.

Judah (Davis) Emerson

Ann Jenkins and three children

Samuel Rand

Remembrance Rand

Mrs. Hannah Watson

Joseph Watson

Abigail Willey/Willis, daughter of William Pitman of Dover

There are many interesting stories from this event.  John Bickford (about 1625 - 1697) married my 8th great aunt, Temperance Hull, the daughter of Reverend Joseph Hull.  An unrelated man, Thomas Bickford, had a garrison house. I can only imagine that my great aunt and uncle Bickford were sheltering at this fortunate garrison because John Bickford did not die in this attack, but he died three years later in 1697.  According to The History of New Hampshire, by Jeremy Belknap, ed. John Farmer (Dover, N.H.: S.C. Stevens and Ela & Wadleigh, 1831):

"Thomas Bickford preserved his house (12.)  in a singular manner. It was situated near the river, and surrounded with a palisade. Being alarmed before the enemy had reached the house, he sent off his family in a boat, and then shutting his gate, betook himself alone to the defense of his fortress. Despising alike the promises and threats by which the Indians would have persuaded him to surrender, he kept up a constant fire at them, changing his dress as often as he could, shewing himself with a different cap, hat or coat, and sometimes without either, and giving directions aloud as if he had a number of men with him. Finding their attempt vain, the enemy withdrew, and left him sole master of the house, which he had defended with such admirable address."

Another great uncle was lucky.  Robert Burnham (about 1614 - 1691), my 9th great grand uncle, built a garrison house at Oyster River in 1654.  The Burnham Garrison was about a mile below Durnham Falls.  It sheltered the Burnham descendants and the Pitman family, and none were lost. Seven garrisons were defended: Burnham, Bickford, Smith, Bunker, Davis, Jones and Woodman.  Robert Burnham's daughter, Sarah was married to John Woodman (about 1634 - 1706), who also successfully defended the Woodman Garrison, the largest garrison in the Oyster River area.  

The 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.

OYSTER RIVER MASSACRE

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On July 18, 1694, a force of about 

250 Indians under command of the

French soldier, de Villieu, attacked 

settlements in this area on both

sides of the Oyster River, killing

or capturing apporximately 100

settlers, destroying five garrison

houses and numerous dwellings. It

was the most devastating French and

Indian raid in New Hampshire during

King William's War.          1993

Oyster River Massacre links:

http://minerdescent.com/2013/02/01/oyster-river-massacre-1694/ 

http://www.seacoastnh.com/history/as-i-please/digging-into-the-oyster-river-massacre/ 

“The Great Massacre of 1694: Understanding the Destruction of Oyster River Plantation”, by Craig J. Brown, Historical New Hampshire, Volume 53 (1998), pages 68 – 89.

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-oyster-river-massacre-1694.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Kettell of Charlestown

 

Charlestown, Massachusetts
From Britannica.com

KETTELL/KETTLE

Richard Kettell’s origins are unknown, but he was probably from England.  The first record of him was when he and his wife were admitted to the church in Charlestown, Massachusetts on 30 July 1633.  He was made a freeman on 4 March 1634/5.  He was a cooper and a sergeant in the militia. His wife was “Atherton Haulghe’s maid servant”. 

Richard Kettell owned about 33 acres, which was a lot of land in Charlestown.  In his will he mentions his children, grandchildren, and the division of this land. In his will he lists land near the mill pond, which you can see in the map above.  His son, John Kettell, removed to Gloucester, and lived for a time in Lancaster where his wife was carried off by the Indians in 1676 during one of the raids, and she spend some time with the captive Mary Rowlandson.   There is a Kettell's Cove in nearby Gloucester in the town of Manchester-by-Sea, very close to the house where my Uncle Robert Wilkinson lived for many years. 

I am descended from two of Richard Kettell’s children, Hannah and Jonathan.

Some sources for Kettell information:

The Great Migration Begins, by Richard Charles Anderson, Boston: NEHGS, 2000, Volume II, pages 1124 – 1128. You can also see Charlestown Genealogies by Thomas Bellows Wyman, 1879, Volume 2, page 574, and the Thayer Genealogy by Ruther Thayer Ravenscroft, Colorado Springs, 1943.

Genealogy:

Generation 1: Richard Kettell, born about 1609 in England, died 20 June 1680 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married about 1636 to Hester Ward, born about 1612 in England, died 5 July 1679 in Charlestown.  Six children.

Lineage A:

Generation 2: Hannah Kettell, born 27 October 1637 in Charlestown, died 27 August 1708 in Charlestown; married on 26 June 1656 in Charlestown to John Call, born 6 March 1636 in Faversham, Kent, England, died 19 April 1697 in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  Eight children.

Generation 3: Mehitable Call m. John Rand

Generation 4: Caleb Rand m. Katherine Kettell ( his second cousin)
Generation 5: Caleb Rand m. Mary Mayhew
Generation 6: Mary Rand m. Asahel Bill
Generation 7: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons
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)

Lineage B:

Generation 2:  Jonathan Kettell, born 1646 in Charlestown, died 18 December 1720 in Charlestown; married on 30 March 1676 in Charlestown to Abigail Converse, daughter of James Converse and Anna Long.  She was born 13 October 1658 in Woburn, and died 25 January 1691 in Charlestown.  Five children.

Generation 3.  Jonathan Kettell, born 23 August 1681 in Charlestown, died 21 January 1764 in Charlestown; married first on 8 May 1707 in Boston to Katherine Hands, daughter of John Hands and Mary Bell.  She was born about 1681 and died on 8 March 1748.  He married second to Eunice Treadway on 24 October 1748.  He had ten children with his first wife.

Generation 4: Katherine Kettell and Caleb Rand (see above)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Call of Charlestown, Massachusetts

Charlestown, Massachusetts

CALL / CAULE

Thomas Call, my 9^th great grandfather, was born in Faversham, Kent England in 1597.  He arrived in Massachusetts with his wife, Bennett, and three children on the ship Hercules in 1637.  He went on to have six more children.  He built his home on beside the Mystic River in Charlestown, about two and half miles from Bunker Hill.    His second wife, Joanna, was the widow of Daniel Shepardson.  Thomas Call was a baker, and so was his son, John, who married Hannah Kettell.    One of his sons, Thomas, Jr , married his step-sister Lydia Shepardson.

In the next generation John Call, my 8^th great grandfather, John Call was less than one year old when his family arrived in Massachusetts from England.  He fought in King Phillip’s War.  He was admitted to the church on 29 April 1662 and became a deacon of the First Church in Charlestown.  His wife was the daughter of Richard Kettell, an ancestor of Henry David Thoreau.

To read about the early generations of Calls in Massachusetts you can check the Bicentennial Book of Malden by A. W. McClure, 1850, page 240 has a short sketch of Thomas Call.  There is also a short sketch of Thomas Call in A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England, by James Savage, 1969, Volume 1, pages 329 - 330.

My Call genealogy:

Generation 1: Thomas Call, son of Richard Call and Edith Bennet, born 15 June 1597 in Hernhill, Faversham, Kent, England, died 17 May 1676 in Malden, Massachusetts; married on 25 June 1619 In Hernhill to Bennett Harrison? Who died about 1644 in Malden.  Thomas married second after 26 July 1644 in Malden to Joane, widow of Daniel Shepardson.  Nine children.

Generation 2: John Call, baptized on 6 March 1636 in Faversham, died 19 April 1697 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married on 26 June 1656 in Charlestown to Hannah Kettell, daughter of Richard Kettell and Hester Ward.  She was born on 27 October 1637 in Charlestown, and died 27 August 1708 in Charlestown.  Eight children.

Generation 3: Mehitable Call, baptized on 30 June 1668 in Charlestown, died on 25 November 1727 in Charlestown; married on 2 December 1685 in Charlestown to John Rand, son of Thomas Rand and Sarah Edenden.  He was born 6 February 1662 in Charlestown and died 4 September 1737 in Charlestown. 

Generation 4:  Caleb Rand m. Katherine Kettell ( his second cousin)

Generation 5: Caleb Rand m. Mary Mayhew

Generation 6: Mary Rand m. Asahel Bill

Generation 7:  Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons

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)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Edenden of Cranbrook, England and Massachusetts

EDENDEN

There is an account of the Edenden family in an old issue of the New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, that starts with the lineage in about the year 1500 in Cranbrook, Kent, England.  William Iddenden, the son of Stephen, married a woman named Joane, and had eight children.  Several of these children died of the plague in 1597.

In the next generation, William’s son, James died of the plague in 1597, too, but left a detailed will naming most of the family members.  His brother, George, my ancestor, married first to a cousin, Sara Iddenden, and their three daughters also died of the plague in 1597.  It is unknown how Sara died, but she was probably a plague victim, too.  He remarried and had nine more children, one of which is my 9^th great grandfather, Edmond Edenden.

Edmond Edenden was baptized in Cranbrook in 1599.  He came to Massachusetts around 1637, when he was a proprietor at Scituate.  He became a Freeman in 1641.  In 1642 he was a representative to the General Court.  At some point he removed to Boston.  He had two children by his first wife, Elizabeth Wller, and six children by his second wife, Elizabeth Wightman/Whiteman/Whitman.  It is not known when or where Edmond Edenden died in Massachusetts.

My 8^th great grandmother is Edmond’s daughter, Sarah, who married Thomas Rand in 1656 in Charlestown, Massachusetts.  This Edenden line daughters out very quickly in Massachusetts, but seems to have had an interesting history in Cranbrook, England.  Except for the plague!

Much of this information was taken from the article “Genealogical Research in England”,  NEHGS Register, January 1913, Volume 67, page 43 and from the book History of Scituate, Massachusetts by Samuel Deane, 1831.  

My Edenden lineage:

Generation 1: Stephen Iddenden, born about 1500 in Cranbrook, Kent England, died before 1578

Generation 2: William Iddenden, born about 1530, died between 24 December 1578 and 23 January 1681/82 in Cranbrook; married to Joane.  Seven children.

Generation 3: George Iddenden, baptized 18 July 1564 in Cranbrook, Kent, England and was buried on 24 April 1632 in Tenterden, Kent, England; married to his cousin, Sara Iddenden, daughter of John Iddenden and Christian Glover.  She was baptized on 27 January 1571/72 in Cranbrook and died about 1597.  The name of George’s second wife is unknown.  He had three children with Sarah, and nine with his second wife.

Generation 4: Edmund Edenden, baptized 21 October 1599 in Cranbrook, died in Massachusetts; married first on 12 July 1625 in Cranbrook to Elizabeth Weller.  She was baptized at Cranbrook on 24 December 1500 and buried at Tenterden on 2 August 1631.  He married second on 1 February 1631/2 at Maidstone to Elizabeth Wightman. Eight children, two with his first wife, and six with his second wife.

Generation 5: Sarah Edenden, born about 1636 in England and died 26 June 1699 in Charlestown, Massachusetts; married on 25 March 1757 in Charlestown to Thomas Rand, son of Robert Rand and Alice Sharpe.  He was born in April 1627 and died 4 August 1683 in Charlestown.  Twelve Children.

Generation 6: John Rand m. Mehitable Call

Generation 7: Caleb Rand m. Katherine Kettell

Generation 8: Caleb Rand m. Mary Mayhew

Generation 9: Mary Rand m. Asahel Bill

Generation 10: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons

Generation 11: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 12: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 13: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Rand of Charlestown, Massachusetts

Colonial Charlestown, Massachusetts
from Britannica.com

The first known record of Robert Rand, my 9^th great grandfather, was of his wife Alice being admitted to the church in Charlestown in 1635. I don’t know when they arrived in Massachusetts from England.  They had seven children born in England and Charlestown.  Robert Rand owned a house on the west side of “Windmill Hill” (now Town Hill) in Charlestown, along with sixty-six acres and three commons. When Alice Rand died in 1691 her will mentions sons Nathaniel and Thomas, and grandchildren.

I descend from their son, Thomas, born about 1627.  He was a cordwainer (shoemaker) and was made a freeman in 1660.  He was elected sergeant and cowherdman in Charlestown.  He married Sarah Edenden and had twelve children, seven of whom married and left descendants.  

In my lineage, the first four generations of Rands were born and lived in Charlestown until my 6^th great grandfather, Caleb Rand, removed to Nantucket.  His son, Caleb Rand my 5^th great grandfather, removed to Cornwallis, King’s County, Nova Scotia and raised eleven children there.  His daughter, Mary Rand my 4^th great grandmother, was the end of my Rand line.  Her grandson, Caleb Rand Bill (1833 – 1902) my great great grandfather, removed back to Massachusetts.  

Some Rand sources:

A Genealogy of the Rand Family in the United States, by Florence Osgood Rand, 1898 (available at Google Booksearch).

“The Lynn Descendants of Robert Rand of Charlestown”, The Essex Genealogist, Volume 21, 2001, pages 28 to 35.

There is a sketch of Robert Rand in The Great Migration, by Robert Charles Anderson, 2009, Volume VI, pages 1 to 5.

My Rand lineage:

Generation 1: Robert Rand, born about 1594 in England, died in Charlestown, Massachusetts sometime before 1691 when his wife died a widow; married in England to Alice Sharpe, who died 5 August 1691 in Charlestown.  Seven children.

Generation 2:  Thomas Rand, born in April 1627 in Charlestown, died 4 August 1683 in Charlestown; married on 25 March 1656 in Charlestown to Sarah Edenden, daughter of Edmund Edenden and Elizabeth Whitman.  She died 26 June 1699 in Charlestown.  Twelve children.

Generation 3: John Rand, born on 6 February 1662 in Charlestown, died 4 September 1737 in Charlestown; married on 2 December 1685 in Charlestown to Mehitable Call, daughter of John Call and Hannah Kettell.  She was born about 30 June 1668 in Charlestown, and died 25 November 1727 in Charlestown. Fourteen children.  John Rand married second to Mary Randall.

Generation 4: Caleb Rand, born 6 December 1703 in Charlestown, died 3 January 1766 on Nantucket; married on 4 August 1726 in Charlestown to Katherine Kettle (his second cousin), daughter of Jonathan Kettle and Katherine Hands. She was born 14 February 1708 in Charlestown and died 10 May 1756 on Nantucket.  Eight children.

Generation 5: Caleb Rand, born 10 January 1730 in Charlestown, died 25 September 1776 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia; married to Mary Mayhew, daughter of John Mayhew and Ruth Davis.  She was born 22 May 1734 and died in Nova Scotia.  Eleven children.

Generation 6: Mary Rand, born 1758 and died 19 February 1845; married on 18 June 1778 in Cornwallis to Asahel Bill, son of Ebenezer Bill and Patience Ingraham.  Eleven children.

Generation 7: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons

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)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Ingraham

INGRAHAM

I hesitated about putting my Ingraham lineage up on a Surname Saturday post because I am very confused about the original immigrant ancestor, Richard Ingraham.  But then, I rethought this and I’m hoping for a cousin connection to someone out there who can help me with the facts.  I have several very old sources that are contradictory on Richard Ingraham, and the newest information I know about him was published in the NEHGS NEXUS Volume XIV.  I foolishly tossed all my old volumes of the NEXUS and American Ancestors thinking they were now available on line.  However, only the first few volumes of NEXUS are in the online database.  Live and learn. 

There are records for a Richard Ingraham living in both Rehoboth and Northampton, Massachusetts at this time period.   He became a freeman in Massachusetts on 18 May 1831.  He was a surveyor of highways in Rehoboth in 1655.  In 1668 he signed a petition.  He donated two shillings to Harvard in 1673.  The American Genealogist, Volume 19, page 77, says “Richard Ingraham, who died in Northampton, Massachusetts in Aug 1683, the common progenitor and father of William and Henry of Boston, Jarret of Rehoboth, and John of Hadley”. 

There are several women who are supposed to be wives of Richard Ingraham, but I have not seen any proof of any marriage records or names.  There is a sketch of Richard Ingraham in the genealogy columns of the Boston Transcript 8 February 1944 which claims he was the son of Arthur Ingram of England and had a royal lineage.  Anyone who has worked with these Boston Transcript columns knows that they are good clues, but since they are unsourced advice sent in by readers they are not great sources of genealogy information.

I’ve had better luck finding information Richard’s children, including the two siblings from whom I descend, William and Abigail.  William Ingraham appears in the Boston records as marrying Mary Bairstow.  There is a deed dated 29 June 1706 in which William conveyed land to “my Nefew Obadiah Ingraham son to Jarratt Ingraham my brother”.  An earlier deed dated 17 May 1693 shows Wiliam purchasing land from his father Richard Ingraham.  These documents show that both William and Jared were sons of Richard Ingraham.  The Richard Ingraham of Northampton only mentions in his 1683 will his wife, Joan, and “son-in-law” Calleb Pumry.

William’s sister, Abigail, is also my ancestor.  She married Samuel Chesebrough in Rehoboth in 1655.  Both Abigail and William settled in Connecticut.  The Chesebrough line is well documented.  Abigail’s daughter, Elizabeth, married her cousin, William Ingraham (son of William and Mary above). 

A good source of information on both William Ingraham and his sister Abigail is the book Genealogy of the Descendants of William Chesebrough, Founder of Stonington, Connecticut, by Anna Chesebrough Widley, 1903.  There are good vital records for this family in the Connecticut records known as the Barbour Collection. Connecticut research is new for me, but I’ve found the Barbour collection on microfilm at many good genealogy libraries such as NEHGS, any Family History Library, the American Canadian Genealogical Society and other.  The Barbour Collection can also be found online.

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My INGRAHAM lineage:

Generation 1: Richard Ingraham, born about 1600,  According to the LDS Batch No. c028262, a Richard Ingram was baptized on 18 March 1600 in Fishtoft, Lincolnshire, son of John Ingram.  Seven children, and I am descended of two:

1.     Elizabeth, born 21 March 1628, m. Richard Bullock

2. Joanna, born about 1629, m. George Robinson

3.  William, see below

4.  Jared, born about 1631, m. Rebecca Searle

5. Abigail, see below

6. John, born about 1637, m. Elizabeth Gardner

7.   Henry, born about 1639, m1. Lydia Dowse, m2. Elizabeth Underwood

Line A.

Generation 2: William Ingraham, born 1629 in England, died 4 May 1721 in Stonington, Connecticut; married on 14 May 1656 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Mary Bairstow, daughter of William Bairstow and Anna Hubbard.  She was born 28 December 1641 in Dedham, Massachusetts and died 16 November 1708 in Scituate, Massachusetts. Two children.  He married again to Esther Unknown.

Generation 3: William Ingraham, born 27 January 1658 in Boston, died 16 January 1708 in Stonington, Connecticut; married in 1689 to Elizabeth Chesebrough, daughter of Samuel Chesebrough and Abigail Ingraham.  She was born 6 January 1669 in Stonington, died after 1708 probably in Stonington. Seven children.

Generation 4: Patience Ingraham, born 2 April 1706 in Stonington, died Oct 1770 in Groton, Connecticut; married on 8 September 1726 in Lebanon, Connecticut to Ebenezer Bill.  He was born 14 December 1695 in Groton, died 23 May 1788 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia. Ten children.

Generation 5: Asahel Bill, born 7 April 1748 in Lebanon, died 10 November 1814 in Billtown, Nova Scotia; married 18 June 1778 in Cornwallis Township, Nova Scotia to Mary Rand, daughter of Caleb Rand and Mary Mayhew.  She was born in 1758 and died on 19 February 1845. Eleven children.

Generation 6: Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill m. Isabella Lyons

Generation 7: Professor Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 9: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

Line B.

Generation 2:  (There is no proof that Abigail Ingraham is the daughter of Richard Ingraham, since the records only list the sons of Richard Ingraham) Abigail Ingraham, died 18 April 1700 in Stonington, married on 3 November 1665 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Samuel Chesebrough, son of William Chesebrough and Ann Stevenson.  He was born about 1627 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, and died 31 July 1673 in Stonington.  Seven children.

Generation 3: Elizabeth Chesebrough m. William Ingraham (see above)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ BILL of Boston, Connecticut, Nova Scotia and Salem, Massachusetts

BILL

The Billtown Baptist Church, 2007
We drove the little red convertible all the way to Nova Scota
to see if there really was a place called "Billtown" and we found it! 

This is sometimes a difficult line to research.  Whenever I Google “BILL” I usually get hits on first names, not surnames, and newspaper searches pull up legislation instead of people.  But I was lucky, several very good books have been compiled on the Bill family, and they helped me to form the skeleton of my research.  Using vital records, newspapers, and in the case of one minister in this line some college archives, filled in and confirmed my lineage.

The first Bill in America was John Bill (1598 – 1638), who lived in what is now Winthrop, Massachusetts.  It was across the harbor from Boston, and at that time was known as Pulling or Pulllen Point, and then known as Bills Farms.  The earliest Bills are buried in Boston at Copp’s Hill Burying Ground next to the Old North Church.  From Copp’s Hill you can look across the harbor and see Winthrop and to where the Bill family had settled.

Son John Bill, aged 13, arrived on the ship Hopewell , and his sister, Mary, age 11 with the Tuttle family, arrived on the ship Planter, both in 1635 as part of the Winthrop Fleet.   The earliest record of the father John Bill is in the records “Town of Boston”  where it reads “John Bill died 10 mo. 1638”   Another record on 21 January 1638/9 made Richard Tuttell responsible for “one Dorthie Bill, Widdowe, a sojourner in his house…for any thing about her”  [see Drake’s History of Boston, p. 245]   Richard Tuttle was her brother.

Phillip Bill (1629 – 1689), son of John Bill, left Pulling Point, Massachusetts, where his children were born,  and removed to a part of New London, Connecticut that is now the town of Groton.  He died the same day as his daughter, Margaret, of throat distemper (diphtheria) on 8 July 1689.  His widow married again to Samuel Bucknall or Buckland.

Phillip’s grandson, Ebenezer Bill (1695 – 1788), lived in Lebanon, Connecticut and eventually sold his home to his brother James.  He removed to Nova Scotia as a planter upon the removal of the “French Neutrals” ( The Acadian Huguenot Protestants).   He settled in Kings county, Nova Scotia.  His children came with him, and Asahel Bill (1748 – 1814), my 4^th great grandfather, settled on a large tract of land  which became known as “Billtown”.   

Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill  (1805 – 1891), my 3^rd great grandfather, was the youngest of eleven children.  He was moved to become a Baptist at a very young age, and was called to the ministry.  He was one of the founders of Acadia College in Wolfeville, Nova Scotia, which was founded by several Baptist ministers.  He was the pastor of the Billtown Baptist Church for over twenty-three years, and then pastor of the Germain Street Baptist Church in St.  John, New Brunswick.  He preached in Prince Edward Island, Maine, England and all the states as far south as Alabama.   He was the editor of “The Christian Visitor” Baptist newspaper and wrote the book Fifty Years with the Baptist Ministers and Churches of the Maritime Provinces of Canada in 1880. 

Rev. Bill’s son, the music professor Caleb Rand Bill (1833 – 1902), removed with his family back to New England.  He lived and taught music in Houlton, Maine,  and in the towns of Watertown, Salem and Beverly, Massachusetts. 

Some sources for researching the Bill family:

History of the Bill Family, edited by Ledyard Bill, 1867

A supplement to the Bill Family book was privately published by Harry Bill of Billtown in the 1990s for members of his immediate family.  I don’t have a copy of this book, but I do have copies of pages pertinent to my lineage which Harry sent me before he passed away in 2010.  If you can find a copy of this book you will find all the family lines updated.  

There is much about the Billtown Bills in local history books of Kings County, Nova Scotia, and the archives at Wolfeville’s Acadia College have copies of the biographies and sermons of the many Bill Baptist ministers, including Reverend I. E. Bill, my 3^rd great grandfather.  

There was a senator Caleb Rand Bill, appointed to the Canadian Senate 23 October 1867 by Royal Proclamation from Queen Victoria. He represented Kings County from 1855 to 1859, and the northern region of Kings County from 1863 to 1867 in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly.  He was a brother of my ancestor Rev. I. E. Bill, and is buried at the Billtown Baptist Cemetery.  You can find his biography in any good Canadian encyclopedia or list of famous Canadians.

My Bill genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Bill, born about 1598, died 21 January 1638; married about 1612 in England to Dorothy Tuttle, daughter of Symon Tuttle and Isabel Wells.  She was born about 1592, and died about December 1638 in Boston, Massachusetts.  Five known children.

Generation 2: Phillip Bill, born April 1629 in England, died 8 July 1689 in New London, Connecticut; married about 8 July 1689 in Groton, Connecticut to Hannah Waite.  She was the daughter of Samuel Waite and Mary Ward, born about 1625, died 1709 in Groton.  Eight children.

Generation 3:  Samuel Bill, born about 1665 near Boston, died 27 January 1730 in Groton, Connecticut; married about 1685 in Groton to Mercy Houghton, daughter of Richard Haughton and Catherine Unknown.  Eleven children.

Generation 4:  Ebenezer Bill, born 14 December 1695 in Groton, died 23 May 1788 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia; married first about 1719 to Elizabeth Unkown;  married second on 8 September 1726 in Lebanon, Connecticut to Patience Ingraham, daughter of William Ingraham and Elizabeth Chesebrough.  She was born 2 April 1706 in Stonington, Connecticut, and died October 177 in Groton.  Ten children. 

Generation 5: Asahel Bill, born 7 April 1748 in Lebanon, died 10 November 1814 in Billtown, Nova Scotia; married on 18 June 1778 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia to Mary Rand, daughter of Caleb Rand and Mary Mayhew.  She was born about 1758 and died 19 February 1845 in Billtown.  Eleven children.

Generation 6:  Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, born 19 February 1805 in Billtown, died 4 August 1891 in St. Martin’s, New Brunswick; married first to Isabella Lyons, daughter of Thomas Ratchford Lyons and Ann Skinner.  She was born 28 January 1806 in Cornwallis, died April 1872 in Carleton, New Brunswick.  Rev. Bill married second on 14 May 1873 in Cambridge, Massachusetts to Susan L. Nichols, widow of George Dove.

Generation 7:  Professor Caleb Rand Bill, born 30 May 1833 in Nictaux, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, died 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia to Ann Margaret Bollman, daughter of Bremner Frederick Bollman and Sarah Elizabeth Lennox.  She was born on 11 September 1835 in Lunenburg, and died 1923 in Salem, Massachusetts. Nine children.

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons Bill, born January 1863 in Machias, Maine, died 19 January 1935 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 18 October 1894 in Salem, Massachusetts to Albert Munroe Wilkinson, son of Robert Wilson Wilkinson and Phebe Cross Munroe.  He was born 7 November 1860 in Danvers, Massachusetts, died 12 May 1908 at the Corey Hill Hospital, Brookline, Massachusetts. Two children.

Generation 9: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ BILL of Boston, Connecticut, Nova Scotia and Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted March 23, 2013, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-saturday-bill-of-boston.html: accessed [access date]). 

Boston Tea Party ~ 16 December 1773

The newly re-opened Boston Tea Party Museum

The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773, and was an act of violence and treason. There is no official list of participants, especially since the men who threw the tea into the harbor were committing a crime. There is a list at the Boston Tea Party Museum website that contains the names of men “documented” to have been at the event. http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/. There is a list of participants at this link, too:  https://familypedia.fandom.com/wiki/Boston_Tea_Party_participants   

In various records I've found several members of my family tree who claimed to have been at the Boston Tea Party. Who knows for sure? What do you think?

Robert Hichborn was the brother in law to my 6x great grandfather Daniel Glover (1735 – abt 1790). He had several famous military brothers in law, including General John Glover (1732 – 1797). Robert Hichborn was a sailmaker and shipbuilder who lived on Anne Street in Boston’s North End, near the site of the Boston Tea Party. He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and was also an officer in the American Revolution. In the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings Volume 20, page 11, he was listed along with 25 men, including Paul Revere, to guard the tea (guard?). This is the same bunch accused of tossing it into the harbor.

Nathaniel Frothingham (1746 – 1825) is a 2^nd cousin seven generations removed, grandson of my 7x great aunt Hannah (Rand) Frothingham (1672 – 1760), great grandson of my ancestors Thomas Rand and Sarah Edenden. He was a Boston coachmaker or “chaisemaker”and is listed on the Tea Party Museum website, as well as on the SAR list.

Major Robert Davis (1747 – 1798) was a descendant of my ancestors John Gore and Rhoda Gardner. He was an officer in the American Revolution, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company. He was said to have been a member of the Boston Tea Party in compiled genealogies, and was also a Freemason. He is on the museum list, and the SAR list has him as an “importer of groceries and liquors”. I wonder if he was involved with importing tea?

John Holyoke (1743 – 1807) was married to Elizabeth Treat (1747 – 1830) my 2^nd cousin 8 generations removed. He served in the American Revolution and claimed to have participated in the Boston Tea Party. “Mr. HOLYOKE never, never confirmed the tale; the whole party was pledged to secrecy” [ Holyoke, A North American Family 1637 - 1992, John Gibbs Holyoke, Gateway Press, Inc. (Baltimore, 1993)] He is not on the lists at the museum or SAR. I’m inclined to think he was telling his grandchildren a tall tale.

Serendipity! Last year I was pleased to find out that fellow genealogy blogger, Deb Ruth, had made a “cousin connection” with me when she was researching her husband’s ancestor James Starr. She was excited to find out that James was a member of the Sons of Liberty, and he had participated in the Boston Tea Party. Starr is listed on the museum website. She wrote about our cousin connection at this link: http://deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surprise-connection-hello-cousin.html

There was a Josiah Snelling listed on the page of participants from the Boston Tea Party museum, but there are no details about him. My 4x great grandmother, Catherine Plummer (Jones) Dominis, had a sister, Sarah Dargue Jones (1794 – 1875) who married Enoch Howes Snelling in Boston. Enoch had three cousins named Josiah Snelling, born in 1735, 1741 and 1757. The last one would have been only 16 years old in 1773. All these Snellings lived along the waterfront in Boston, mostly in the North End, where Paul Revere lived, too. I’m pretty sure that the Josiah Snelling on the list is one of these cousins, or maybe even one I don’t have in my Snelling database.

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The list of participants from the Boston Tea Party Museum can be seen at this link:

http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/participants-in-the-boston-tea-party

A list of participants from the Old South Meetinghouse website:
https://www.osmh.org/boston-tea-party/who-dumped-the-tea 

There is also a running theme at J.L. Bell's Blog "Boston 1775" about the participants at the Boston Tea Party. He writes posts every December about the possible men who were documented to be at the event, believe it or not. You can find his blog at this link http://boston1775.blogspot.com/

From my Christmas Ornament collection

This blog post was orginally published 16 December 2011 at this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/12/boston-tea-party-16-december-1773.html

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Boston Tea Party ~ 16 December 1773", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 14, 2012, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/12/boston-tea-party-16-december-1773.html: accessed [access date]). 

The Boston Tea Party ~ 16 December 1773

On my Christmas Tree, 2011

The Boston Tea Party took place on 16 December 1773, and was an act of violence and treason.  There is no official list of participants, especially since the men who threw the tea into the harbor were committing a crime.  There is a list at the Boston Tea Party Museum website that contains the names of men “documented” to have been at the event. http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/.   The “Sons of Liberty” chapter of the SAR has a list of 58 men at this link http://www.revolutionarywararchives.org/tealist.html

In various records, I’ve found several members of my family tree who claimed to have been at the Boston Tea Party.   Who knows for sure?  What do you think?

Robert Hichborn was the brother in law to my 6x great grandfather Daniel Glover (1735 – abt 1790).  He had several famous military brothers, including General John Glover (1732 – 1797).   Robert Hichborn was a sailmaker and shipbuilder who lived on Anne Street in Boston’s North End, near the site of the Boston Tea Party.  He was a member of the Sons of Liberty and was also an officer in the American Revolution.   In the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings Volume 20, page 11, he was listed along with 25 men, including Paul Revere, to guard the tea (guard?).  This is the same bunch accused of tossing it into the harbor.   

Nathaniel Frothingham (1746 – 1825) is a 2^nd cousin seven generations removed, grandson of my 7x great aunt Hannah (Rand) Frothingham (1672 – 1760), great grandson of my ancestors Thomas Rand and Sarah Edenden.  He was a Boston coachmaker or “chaisemaker” and is listed on the Tea Party Museum website, as well as on the SAR list.

Major Robert Davis (1747 – 1798) was a descendant of my ancestors John Gore and Rhoda Gardner.  He was an officer in the American Revolution, and a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company.  He was said to have been a member of the Boston Tea Party in compiled genealogies, and was also a Freemason.  He is on the museum list, and the SAR list has him as an “importer of groceries and liquors”.  I wonder if he was involved with importing tea?

John Holyoke (1743 – 1807) was married to Elizabeth Treat (1747 – 1830) my 2^nd cousin 8 generations removed.  He served in the American Revolution and claimed to have participated in the Boston Tea Party.  “Mr. HOLYOKE never, never confirmed the tale; the whole party was pledged to secrecy” [ Holyoke, A North American Family 1637 - 1992, John Gibbs Holyoke, Gateway Press, Inc. (Baltimore, 1993)]  He is not on the lists at the museum or SAR.  I’m inclined to think he was telling his grandchildren a tall tale.

Serendipity! Last month I was pleased to find out that fellow genealogy blogger, Deb Ruth, had made a “cousin connection” with me when she was researching her husband’s ancestor James Starr.  She was excited to find out that James was a member of the Sons of Liberty, and he had participated in the Boston Tea Party.  Starr is listed on the museum website.  She wrote about our cousin connection at this link: http://deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/surprise-connection-hello-cousin.html

There was a Josiah Snelling listed on the page of participants from the Boston Tea Party museum, but there are no details about him.   My 4x great grandmother, Catherine Plummer (Jones) Dominis, had a sister, Sarah Dargue Jones (1794 – 1875) who married Enoch Howes Snelling in Boston.  Enoch had three cousins named Josiah Snelling, born in 1735, 1741 and 1757.  The last one would have been only 16 years old in 1773.  All these Snellings lived along the waterfront in Boston, mostly in the North End, where Paul Revere lived, too.  I’m pretty sure that the Josiah Snelling on the list is one of these cousins, or maybe even one I don’t have in my Snelling database.

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

The list of participants from the Boston Tea Party Museum can be seen at this link:

http://www.bostonteapartyship.com/participants-in-the-boston-tea-party

There is also a running theme at J.L. Bell's Blog "Boston 1775" about the participants at the Boston Tea Party.  He writes posts every December about the possible men who were documented to be at the event, believe it or not.  You can find his blog at this link http://boston1775.blogspot.com/

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Amanuensis Monday- More from Rev. Bill's Memoirs



Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill (1805-1891)

Last week on Amanuensis Monday I posted the first part of Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill's memoirs. I'll be posting a little bit every Monday for the next few weeks. Last week's post included a bit of Bill genealogy, starting in England and Boston. This branch of the Bills were living in Lebanon, Connecticut before immigrating to Nova Scotia. Their settlement is known as "Billtown", part of Cornwallis outside of Wolfeville. His immediate ancestors (grandparents and parent) are described here. These are all good clues to the family tree, but fortunately I already knew the Bill lineage from the book written by Ledyard Bill in 1867, The History of the Bill Family . Next week I'll include more from this memoir about Reverend Bill's young adulthood and conversion to the Baptist faith. There are only a few words I was not able to transcribe.

"The Provincial Branch of the Family

...By this brief reference ?? ?? ancestors in the old world and their rise and progress in the new we have prepared the way to that of those who gave us a favored birth on Nova Scotia soil. We belong to the sixth generation of Bills on this continent, and to the second generation in Nova Scotia. My grandfather’s Christian name was Ebenezer and my Grandmother’s maiden name was Ingraham. Being the youngest of the family may parents kindly honored me by giving me the names of both grandparents. The modern mode of spelling my first name leaves out the ah and hence we have Ingram instead of Ingraham. My father’s name was Asahel Bill. He was born in Lebanon, Connecticut, April 7th 1740 and removed with his father to Nova Scotia about 1755 where he was subsequently united in marriage to Mary Rand, a native of that province. Happy in their marriage life and full of youthful aspiration and vigor they selected for their future home a magnificent tract of land of several hundred acres in the center of the township of Cornwallis. This district was subsequently in honor of my father, called Billtown. The value of the tract selected was greatly influenced by a block of intervals of not less than a hundred acres of surprising fertility. From the ample products of this fruitful homestead our parents were not only able to supply the physical and mental necessities of a large family but to accumulate what was then considered a most valuable property which was ultimately divided between their three sons John M., Caleb R., and Ingram E. and four daughters Sarah, Rebecca, Mary and Levinia. Our parents were trained religiously in the doctrine and practice of the Presbyterian faith, but by a careful study of the word of God they changed their views regarding the subjects and mode of Christian baptism, and embraced Baptist sentiment and participated largely in the revival influence experienced under the ministrations of the Mannings, Hardings, Crandals and others of that class. Their hearts and their home were open at all times to extend to these servants of God and their ??? the rites of a truly Christian hospitality. In that home of peace and Christian love the gospel was frequently proclaimed by Gods chosen interpreter with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven, and there united prayers were offered such as God delights to hear and answer. The change in my mother’s views regarding ordinances did not prevent her from teaching her children the summary of doctrine contained in the Westminster catechism. So thoroughly did she instruct them in these fragmental verities of the Christian faith that as they grew to years of understanding they formed no difficulty in giving a good reason for the faith which they cherished. Thorough catechistical instruction coming from parental lips to children made their fostering care produce impressions and connections not easily e??. Hence the obligations resting upon parents to apply themselves carefully and prayerfully to the religious culture of those that God has given them."

Part One of this Memoir can be read here http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuensis-monday-reverend-i-e-bills.html 

 Part Three can be read here http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/11/amanuensis-monday-more-from-rev-i-e.html 

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To Cite/Link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Amanuensis Monday- More from Rev. Bill's Memoirs", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 25, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuensis-monday-more-from-rev-bills.html: accessed [access date]). 

Amanuensis Monday- Reverend I. E. Bill’s Memoirs

Ten years ago a distant cousin sent me a photo copy of Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill’s memoirs. He was my 3x great grandfather, who had a grade school education, never attended Divinity School, yet became a Baptist preacher who spoke all over Canada, the Eastern United States and England. The original journal is in the archives at Acadia University in Wolfeville, Nova Scotia. He was part of the original committee of Baptist ministers who founded Acadia College in 1839, and they later granted Rev. Bill an honorary doctorate. I’ve transcribed his memoirs, and will post in several parts over the next few Amanuensis Mondays.

a photograph of Reverend I. E. Bill
from the Bill Genealogy by Harry Bill

 Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, son of Asahel Bill and Mary Rand, born 19 February 1805 at Billtown, Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, died on 4 August 1891 at St. Martin’s, New Brunswick; married on 20 April 1826 to Isabella Lyons, daughter of Thomas Ratchford Lyons and Ann Skinner. Five children born in Billtown.

Children:
1. Asahel Bill, born 14 May 1827 and died 20 July 1848 shortly after graduating from Acadia College.
2. Mary Anne Bill, born 27 April 1829, died 17 November 1865; married on 14 September 1851 to Thomas McHenry
3. Edward Manning Bill, born 27 March 1831, died on 18 December 1904 in Boston, Massachusetts; married on 6 June 1857 to Charlotte Grace in Australia. Please see my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/02/missionary-to-new-zealand.html for more information on E. M. Bill, who lived for a while in Australia.
4. Caleb Rand Bill, born 30 May 1833, died on 30 December 1902 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 7 June 1858 to Ann Margaret Bollman in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia. Please see my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/10/bill-family-reunion.html for more information on Caleb R. Bill, my 2x great grandfather, the music professor at Salem, Massachusetts.
5. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill, Jr., born 8 April 1836, died after 1887; married on 23 November 1871 to Eleanor Pike in Maidstone, Kent, England.

See my blog post http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/09/tracing-your-minister-ancestors.html for more information on the Bill family lineage.

For my BILL lineage, see this link:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/03/surname-satruday-bill-of-boston.html  

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"A Personal Sketch

By the Reverend I. E. Bill

Having been mercifully preserved amid manifold dangers and temptations by sea by land, at home and abroad, for more than half a century in the ministry of the gospel of the blessed Lord, it is deeply pressed upon my soul as a solemn duty which I owe to my covenant God and Father to record his wondrous goodness and rich grace as made manifest in what I have seen, heard and experienced during these years of protracted ministerial service. Not indeed that self may be exalted but that Christ the Saviour may be glorified and his church benefit. A few paragraphs regarding my ancestry will not be inappropriate.

In a history of the Bill Family edited by Mr. Ledyard Bill of Connecticut and published in 1869, I find the Bill ancestry traced back to 1490. The first name in the list is Dr. Thomas Bill, a physician of great eminence, and an attendant of the Princess Elisabeth in 1549. He took the degree of M. D. at the celebrated university founded by the Emperor Charlemagne at Paria in Italy. He was one of the physicians to Henry VIII and Edward the VI and from these sovereigns received distinguished honors.

William Bill L.L.D was another distinguished name in the annals of Britain. He was born in Hartfordshire England about 1505. Subsequently as a literary man he was elevated to very high positions one of which was master of St. John’s College and soon after he became vice chancellor of the university. In 1551 he was appointed Master of Trinity College, and became one of the Kings Sir Chaplains. He had with many others high in office to suffer bitter persecution under the cruel reign of Mary and was compelled to go into retirement for safety, but on the secession of Queen Elisabeth he was restored to his former honors and became Fellow to the famed Eton College. He was also appointed a member of the Royal Ecclesiastical Commission, consisting of the distinguished Bishop Cramer and others, to revise the calendar of sermons and homilies to be used in the church service throughout the year. On the 15th of June 1560 he was installed Dean of West Minster being the first incumbent of that office.

He died on the 15 of July 1561, and was interred on the 20th of that month in the Chapel of St. Benedict in Westminster Abbey where there is an altar tomb having thereon a brass with an outline portrait of the deceased with an inscription round the verge noting the honors conferred upon this eminent man. It seems that no other person ever held at the same time the three important positions of Master of Trinity, Provost of Eaton and Dean of Westminster.

Having thus briefly noted two prominent members of English ancestry we ?? on to say that the first mention of any of the Bill family in America is found in the ancient records of the town of Boston, where says Ledyard Bill in his history, we read John Bill died Nov 10 1638. The writer of the history assumes for good reasons that John Bill and his wife arrived in the New World prior to 1635. They had sons and daughters, who in their turn married, multiplied and passed into other generations. These are very sketched by the author of the history giving names, dates, marriages, births, callings, positions, professions, offices, residences, purchases, sales, deeds, and deaths ?? of our relatives in America for eight generations.

Before proceeding with our own parentage justice demands that we should make a panning reference to our cousins, whose ancestors adopted the teachings of the American revolution and who pledged their fortunes and their lives to the cause of freedom from what they regarded as British tyranny of the darkest shade, many of these were men of high ???, of bold adventure and of brave instincts they believed they were right and rushed with others to the mighty conflict determined to conquer or to die. We have the result; a nation was born that is now mighty in its numerical strength, boundless in its resources of material wealth. Rich in its political institutions, enriched in its agencies for mental and religious cultures, and filled with the treasures of learning and of a God given Christianity. A nation whose ships traverse very sea, and whose commerce extends to all the towns and cities of the world. A nation that has given birth to intellectual giants in all realms of thought, invention and progress, and whose statesmen, generals, poets, orators, theologians, ministers and missionaries take rank with the greatest and the best of nations.

We have seen that the Bill family was of British origin, and that English blood courses in the veins of its numerous generations, but what is America to day in all its high and noble instincts, but the expansion and growth of British blood, language, energy, ???, education, intelligence, freedom, and Christianity on this broad American continent. It is the daughter of the grand old mother struggling by her side for the diffusion of light, liberty and salvation among all nations, peoples, and ?? for the ushering in of that age of gold when the knowledge of the glory of God shall fill the whole earth. We have therefore no political quarrels with our cousins across the lines, but heartily offer the prayer God bless them and their nation and prosper them in every good word and work!..."

This is part one of his memoir
For part two, posted on 25 October 2010, click this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuensis-monday-more-from-rev-bills.html

For part three, posted on 1 November 2010, click this link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/11/amanuensis-monday-more-from-rev-i-e.html

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To Cite/Link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Amanuensis Monday- Reverend I. E. Bill’s Memoirs", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 18, 2010, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/10/amanuensis-monday-reverend-i-e-bills.html: accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday- Billtown Cemetery, Nova Scotia

In 2006 we drove over 2,000 miles round trip from New Hampshire to Nova Scotia in this little red convertible. Our destination was Billtown, but we also saw Yarmouth, Lunenburg, Halifax, Louisburg, the Cabot Trail and the Bay of Fundy. It was a lot of fun, and we took a lot of photos. That is Yours Truly in the photo, with my daughter, the graveyard hound.

The Billtown Baptist Church
Home town of my 3x Great Grandfather
The Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill (1805-1891)

The Bill Family Plot

Mary Rand Bill (1758- 1845)

My 4x Great Grandmother

"Sacred to the memory of Mary Rand

wife of Asahael Bill

who died 19 Feb 1845

in the 82nd year of her age"

Senator Caleb Rand Bill (1902-1872) and his wife Margaret Ann Bligh (1852-1938)
He was appointed to the Senate in 1867 by a royal proclamation of Queen Victoria, following Canadian Confederation that year.

Senator Bill was Reverend I. E. Bill's brother

Caleb Rand Bill's gravestone

More photos of Billtown Cemetery tomorrow....

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Cousins at the Battle of Lexington

A view of Jonathan Harrington's house,
he crawled across Lexington Green
to die in his wife's arms 19 April 1775

My 5x great grandfather, Andrew Munroe was not at the Battle of Lexington. He had died in 1766, and his wife had remarried to Caleb Simonds in 1774. At the time of the conflict on 19 April 1775, my 4x great grandfather, Andrew Jr., would have been only about eleven years old. Was he there? I’ll never know. It is known that many townspeople witnessed the event from their homes or from behind stone walls and trees. It is my bet that an eleven year old boy couldn’t have resisted watching history that morning.

Who did die at the Battle? There were eight American deaths on the Lexington Green, and 49 total Americans killed on the march from Boston to Concord Bridge and back to Boston (not all Lexington men). Another 73 British soldiers also died. A tour guide told me that members of the Munroe family accounted for half the dead at the Lexington Green, and many of those who fought. (Tuesday I posted a photograph of the memorial on Lexington Green that only lists six names.)

William Munroe (abt. 1625 -1718) was one of the first settlers in Lexington. I know that my distant cousin William Munroe (1756- 1837) (great grandson of the immigrant William Munroe) was a leader of the Lexington Militia as Orderly Sergeant, and entertained George Washington when he visited the site of the Battle in 1789. He rallied his Munroe Clan, descendants of Scots warriors, to the Battle of Lexington Green that day in 1775. In response, the British commandeered the Munroe Tavern as a field hospital, and tried to burn it down on their retreat.

I wanted to see if the tour guide was correct. How many Munroes and cousins were present in the Battle?

To start, I examined a copy of a propaganda broadside printed up to announce the atrocities at Lexington. The names of the dead were John Brown, Samuel Hadley, Caleb Harrington, Jonathan Harrington, Robert Munroe, Isaac Muzzy, Asahel Porter and Jonas Parker. The dead were secretly buried immediately after the conflict, and then later re-interred in 1835 under a large monument on Lexington Common (which lists only six names, however). I researched each name to see if were a Munroe or a Munroe cousin. Here are the names of the dead in alphabetical order:

1. John Brown- no known connection…
2. Samuel Hadley- I haven’t found a connection yet to the Hadley family.
3. Caleb Harrington (1751-1775) - Andrew’s uncle, William Munroe (1756-1837) the Orderly Sergeant, was married to Abigail Harrington. Caleb was her first cousin.
4. Jonathan Harrington (1745-1775) - according to legend, died after crawling, wounded, to his doorstep and died in his wife’s arms! Also Abigail’s first cousin.
5. Robert Munroe (1712-1775) - He was Andrew’s older brother, and Andrew Jr.’s uncle. He and Jonas Parker were both veterans of the French and Indian War. Ensign Munroe, as he was known, was famous for having held the banner at the Battle of Louisburg in Nova Scotia thirty years earlier. Munroe and Parker stood on the front line, and were the first two killed by British bayonets.
6. Isaac Muzzy (1744-1775)- His grandmother was Sarah Langthorne (1660-1710) , whose sister Constance (b. 1652) was the mother of Sarah Mooer (1677-1752), wife of George Munroe (abt. 1672- 1747), William the immigrant’s son. He was a distant cousin to the many Munroes on the town Green.
7. Jonas Parker (1722-1775) - This one was easy. Jonas Parker was married to Andrew’s sister, Lucy. So Jonas was Andrew’s brother –in-law, or Andrew Jr.’s uncle. He was definitely another member of the Munroe Clan.
8. Asahel Porter (1746-1775) - His brother married Hannah Munroe, sister to Orderly Sergeant William Munroe. Asahel Porter lived in Woburn and was born in Danvers, Massachusetts, where Andrew Munroe Jr. eventually settled. A few subsequent Porters married Munroes.

Total “Lexington Green Dead” with ties to the Munroe family = 6 out of 8 men

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Bill Poole, a historian, and the Lexington Minute Men Company, have identified seventy seven Lexington men at the Battle on the Green that day. They draw their conclusion from depositions and recollections of surviving militia members. As re-enactors, they try to replay the part of each man exactly according to a script they replay every 19 April on the Lexington Green. You can find this list here at http://www.lexingtonminutemen.com/     click on the tab "biographies".

I didn’t have time to research all seventy seven participating men, but I counted surnames and found eight Munroe Participants, including two killed (Robert listed above, and Jedediah Munroe killed later during the retreat). There were four Parkers participating, including Captain John Parker, who headed the militia, and Jonas, named above as one of the dead). There were nine Harringtons, including the two mentioned above. Two Muzzys. Two Simonds.

Prince Estabrook, the black man wounded that day on the Green, was a slave to the Estabrook family. Prudence Estabrook married Benjamin Munroe. Joseph Estabrook, Prince’s owner, had a daughter, Millicent, who married a distant cousin of the Munroes, a Jonathan Rand.

Total participants on 19 April 1775 with ties to the Munroe family = 25 out of 77, and I haven’t even researched the other surnames. Lexington was obviously an interconnected small community at that time, with extensive kinship networks including the Munroe family.

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Please see my blog about the Munroe family from November 18, 2009
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/other-mayflowers-voyage-3.html

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For more information:

History of the Town of Lexington Massachusetts, Volume II, Genealogy, by Charles Hudson, 1913. This book names all the dead, some of the participants and also gives some short family genealogies of some families.

Paul Revere’s Ride, by David Hackett Fischer, 1994 In my humble opinion, this is the best account of the day of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

Prince Estabrook, Slave and Soldier, by Alice Hinkle, 2001

History and Genealogy of the Lexington, Massachusetts, Munroes, compiled by Richard S. Munroe, 1966

http://www.lexingtonhistory.org/   The homepage of the re-enactors who put on an excellent recreation of the Battle of Lexington Green every year. Sponsored by the Lexington Historical Society.

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo
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