Genealogy Research at the Phillips Library

There are some genealogy researchers who never had the chance to do research at the old Phillips Library.  And there are others who have been waiting for years for it reopen.  Since it won't reopen any time soon in Salem, and is now relocated to Rowley, there are some things you need to know if you want to research the Phillips Library collections.

The reading room is located at the Peabody Essex Museum Collections Center at 306 Newburyport Turnpike (Route 1) in Rowley, Massachusetts.  If you are familiar with Rowley, it is less than a mile from the Agawam Diner, heading north towards Newburyport, in the old Schylling toy distribution warehouse.  Look for the red sign on Route 1, left side northbound or right side southbound (its not too big and hard to read the lettering).

Researching at the Phillips Library is free.  There is no day fee required, nor is a membership required.  You don't need a researcher card, like at NARA in Washington or at AAS in Worcester.  Parking is free, and abundant. For folks who used to take public transportation, this new facility is 3 or 4 miles from the Rowley train station, and there is no bus or taxi service. I'm not sure if Uber covers Rowley, but that would be a commuters only possible option since it is a very long walk with no sidewalks on the side of busy highways. 

The Phillips Library reading room is only open to drop-in patrons on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays from 10am to 4pm.  No Saturday hours.  It is open by appointment on Mondays and Fridays from 10am - 4pm.  This fall the hours will be changed and/or extended so email or check the website.

The Phillips Library is a closed-stack library.  You must request items by filling out call slips and the staff will retrieve them and bring them to you in the reading room. 

HINT:  You can email in advance at research@pem.org and the staff will have your desired items waiting for you when you arrive at the library.

HINT:  from the reference librarian "We do not pull materials after 3:30 pm, and cannot guarantee that we can pull materials on demand between noon and 1:00 PM.  Contacting us ahead of time will allow us to have materials ready no matter your arrival time.  Also, if someone knows what they want, but cannot locate a call number, or has questions about manuscript finding aids, we can offer guidance in advance, which is less disruptive to other patrons who may be using our reading room."  Experienced researchers are probably accustomed to requesting items ahead of time at other archives and libraries, and the Phillips Library uses the same system.

Before your visit peruse the online catalog, known as Philcat, to see if there is something unique in the collections that you cannot see elsewhere.  These are the materials you probably want to see first during your visit to the Phillips Library reading room.  You can find Philcat at this link:  https://www.pem.org/visit/library/catalog   There are also finding aids, but the website links are currently broken.  There are a few collections digitized and available to see online.  The reference librarian has been very good about answering email within a few days.

You may photograph some items at the Phillips Library.  There are a few restrictions. The reference librarian stated "Manuscript collections may have restrictions in the deeds of gift, placed on them by donors that we need to honor.  We do allow photography of published material within our collection, but insist that it can be for research purposes only, so that it falls under Fair Use, and does not violate copyright laws."

Some items in the card catalog Philcat are not available to researchers.  According to the reference librarian: "...items that are restricted from researchers are due to conditions outlined in the deed of gift.  There are only a few collections that have restrictions, and most have an appointed person to contact for exceptions. Others just have a date after which the restriction ends.  Restrictions should be listed in the catalog record/finding aid.  To see an example, please enter "MH 176" into the Philcat search bar and view the corresponding record."   Follow this search and read the interesting label on the notes on this card catalog item.  Special requests must be made in advance if you want to view this item.

As a genealogist, some of the manuscripts and family papers stored here are the items I find the most interesting and important to my research. If you are researching any maritime ancestors, the ships logs, shipping records, and related items are equally important.  The only family papers that are currently digitized are from the WINTHROP family.   According to the reference librarian "We are currently working to set up a digitization priority list.  It will most likely be based on how frequently collections are used and preservation needs.  I anticipate some of the Salem founding families will be among the first, such as the Derby papers, but as we haven't yet completed the prioritization list, I cannot tell you which families will be included."   This means that a visit to the reading room is important for anyone who wants to see these items that have not yet been digitized.

The Phillips Library is not a genealogy library.  There are no genealogists on the staff.  You won't find a bookcase of the "Tan Books" (Massachusetts vital records to 1849), or city directories, or any other books in the reading room.  All books are in the closed stacks.  There are a few vital records books and town directories that relate to Salem and Essex County in the card catalog.  The rest are either not here, or available at Google Books or Internet Archives, or at other libraries with good genealogy resources.  Some of the strengths of the Phillips Library collection can be see online at the website https://www.pem.org/visit/library 

When you arrive, the old rules from the old Salem Phillips Library still apply.  You must store all bags, coats, and pens in the available storage lockers.  You may bring your laptop, phone or digital camera.  I did not see any photography cradles or similar equipment for photographing fragile manuscripts or books. Perhaps they are brought out as needed?  According to a blogger Robin Mason, who has used the new reading room, you must buzz in at the front door, and then check in with a guard who will give you a pass that must be returned to the guard before you leave the collections building.  She also gave the hint that multiple manuscripts can be ordered on the call slip for manuscripts, but non-manuscripts must be ordered one at at time using a different style of call slip.

Other trivia:  There are lockers in the hallway outside of the restrooms.  I saw a water fountain in the hallway. Water bottles are not allowed inside the reading room.  There is no break room available to eat a snack, sip a drink, or have a sandwich at lunchtime.  I suppose you could slip out to your car to drink a coffee or eat a sandwich if you are on an all day visit, or you could run down the street to the Agawam diner.  Nearby are a McDonalds, a Dunkin' Donuts, a Chinese restaurant, and a pizza place.

I can't wait to have my first research trip to this new reading room soon!  I enjoyed the open house last weekend very much, and will cherish my chance to actually walk through the stacks of the Phillips Library and linger over the section with boxes and boxes of family papers.

For the truly curious:

My blog post about the Phillips Library open house:
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-sense-of-place-phillips-library.html 

Robin Mason's blog post about the library:
https://www.witchesmassbay.com/2018/07/11/why-go-to-rowley-salems-pem-research-library-of-course/ 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Genealogy Research at the Phillips Library", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 19, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/07/genealogy-research-at-phillips-library.html: accessed [access date]).

A Sense of Place: The Phillips Library Reading Room Open House

The new Peabody Essex Museum Collections Center in Rowley, Massachusetts

As a genealogist, I’m always happy to find a clue, or to find that one document that leads to proving a family relationship.  It really doesn’t matter if that document exists online, on microfilm, in a book, in a dusty old library, or in a brand-new facility.  But sometimes the sense of place can be an important part of the discovery.  My internet and microfilm discoveries are often so “un-memorable” that they all blur together.  But I can still vividly remember discoveries made in the archbishop’s palace in Burgos, Spain or the afternoons I rode my bike to the beautiful reading room at the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts for some of my first genealogy research trips as a teenager.  I can vividly remember each of the half dozen times I met up with cousins at the historic Phillips Library in Salem in those years ago before it closed permanently.  Even my visit to the temporary reading room for the Phillips Library in Danvers was soon forgotten because it paled in comparison to the original facility.

Reading colonial manuscripts in a sterile white room that resembles a laboratory reminds me of finding a genealogical gem of a clue on boring microfilm.  Especially when the last time I read those manuscripts was in the handsome Phillips Library in Salem, Massachusetts.  I just attended the open house of the new Collections Center for the Peabody Essex Museum in Rowley, Massachusetts which now houses the Phillips Library reading room and their stacks of books and related materials.  This new room, which I was prepared to see because friends had described it to me, was so shockingly different that several of the other people (all strangers to me) in my tour group gasped out loud.  I could feel their pain.  Interior photos were not allowed for security reasons. 

Whenever I found some new information in Salem’s Phillip’s library, I could immediately walk down the street and find something to center that bit of new family history data in its proper historical sense of place.  I once read a ship’s log, and then found that sea captain’s house just blocks away. There was the time that my cousin and I read through the Salem Custom House collection of papers, and then walked over to the Custom House itself to see where our great great grandfather had served as the deputy customs collector.  Several family reunions held in Beverly and Peabody had cousins running together over to the Phillips Library to see a document mentioned at the family meetings.  These were wonderful experiences.

Visits to the new reading room in Rowley will certainly uncover lots of family history.  I have a long list of manuscripts and books I’ve been waiting to consult from the Phillips Library online catalog.  I’ve been keeping this list for a few years, and it has grown quite long.  I look forward to requesting each book and item from the reference librarian and searching through for the clues and proofs I’ve been waiting patiently to see.  However, only the information will be memorable, not the facility.  These bits of Salem local history will be located 20 miles (40 minutes according to the MapQuest website) away from the neighborhoods it represents.

Look for this red sign off Route 1
for the Peabody Essex Museum Collection Center
at 306 Newburyport Turnpike, Rowley, Massachusetts

On Saturday, July 14^th, the Peabody Essex Museum hosted an open house for the newly opened Collections Center at Rowley.    Although Rowley is closer to New Hampshire than Salem, it took us an hour and fifteen minutes to arrive at the parking lot.  It usually takes me an hour to get to Salem from Manchester, New Hampshire, although the search for parking in Salem probably make the difference in time a moot point.  The new facility has lots of free, available parking right at the front door.

There was a festive atmosphere out in front under a tent with snacks and cold drinks and tables to wait for our timed tour to start.  We arrived late, at 1:30, so we missed any speeches under the tent, but our tour started almost as soon as we were handed entrance stickers- very nice!  Later, a bus arrived and there was another long wait for tours.  Our tour group was very small, with only about a dozen people.

We were led inside a huge (think of the final scene in the first Indiana Jones movie when the Ark of the Covenant is carried off to a cavernous building for storage) warehouse style building.  In spite of the size of this facility we were only given a peek into two rooms other than the reading room described above.  We went down a long hallway past many, many doors with interesting labels, but these doors were all locked.  It would have been fun to be able to peek inside, but it would probably have been a huge security headache to the staff.  One of the rooms we viewed was piled high with shelves of furniture and objets d’art visible in their crates and packaging.  The second room we viewed was the library stacks, which was enormous and vast, but smelled deliciously familiar like old books always smell.

Everyone in our tour group was a PEM member, except for my family.  I haven’t had a membership since the library closed in 1997 for restoration, and only reopened to limited hours in 2004.   I’ve been kept informed about the goings on with the Phillip Library through the genealogical community and social media.  The other members of my tour seemed confused.  These PEM members were asking questions like “Why did the library close?”, and “When did the library close?”, and “Why was it moved out of Salem?”  I’m guessing that the member newsletter did not include a lot of information about this facility change.

The new facility is state-of-the-art in terms of preservation conditions and storage.  Any item requested in the reading room can be found only steps away in the massive stacks storage on the other side of the wall.  Some libraries have distant storage facilities, like the New England Historic Genealogical Society library in Boston and its storage in Connecticut.  Patrons requesting items from storage at NEHGS need to give a week’s notice!   Researchers will have wonderful access to materials in Rowley. 

In 2004, when the Phillips library said it would re-open to limited hours, it promised to put part of it’s collections on the Internet.  Very little has been scanned in the past 14 years compared to similar institutions, and some of that is not available to the public. Let’s hope that the PEM continues to digitize and make their Salem history items available to the people of Salem who have lost their access to local history.  One of our tour guides said that they were exploring for grants to help finance digitization efforts.

In the past few weeks I have exchanged a few email messages with the reference librarian.  I have a list of genealogy related questions she will be answering, and I will feature these in an upcoming blog post.  Stay tuned!

Phillips Library original Reading Room in 1885

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For the truly curious:

“Visiting the Reading Room” from the Phillips Library website:

https://www.pem.org/visit/library/visiting-the-reading-room

Salem residents state their opinions about moving the Phillips Library to Rowley in this NPR story:

http://www.wbur.org/artery/2018/07/13/phillips-library-salem-peabody-essex-rowley   

 A blog post from Alyssa Conary who did the VIP tour of the Collections Center a week before the public open house:

https://www.alyssagaconary.com/blog/2018/7/11/a-beautiful-tomb   

From Robin C. Mason, a description of a visit to the new facility for research purposes:

https://www.witchesmassbay.com/2018/07/11/why-go-to-rowley-salems-pem-research-library-of-course/   

also from Robin, a time line of the Phillips Library history including the mergers and moves

http://genealogyink.blogspot.com/2018/05/the-peabody-essex-museums-phillips.html   

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Sense of Place:  The Phillips Library Reading Room Open House", Nutfield Genealogy, posted July 17, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/07/a-sense-of-place-phillips-library.html: accessed [access date]).

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Above a Baptist Church

I post another in a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #358?  Scroll down to find the answer.

Today's weathervane was spotted above the steeple of the First Baptist Church in Rowley, Massachusetts.  This church is on Route 1A, so if you have traveled the seacoast of Essex County north of Boston, you might have passed right by here.

This church building was built in 1830.  The steeple and weathervane are probably original to the building, and the scroll work weathervane is appropriate for the time period.   There have been Baptists worshiping in Rowley since the first community in 1816 was dismissed from nearby Georgetown.

Scrollwork weather vanes like this one evolved out of the more simple banner and swallowtail weathervanes of the 1700s.  As the steeples of New England churches became more elaborate with windows, balustrades and fancy trim, the weather vanes became more elaborate with scroll work, lyre shapes, and stars.  This weathervane has all three fancy details.

First Baptist Church of Rowley:    https://www.firstbaptistrowley.org/

Click here to see ALL the "Weathervane Wednesday" posts!
https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday


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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Above a Baptist Church", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 11, 2018, (  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/weathervane-wednesday-above-baptist.html: accessed [access date]).

Weathervane Wednesday~ Above an old Town Hall

I post another in a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry, New Hampshire area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England and across the globe.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!  If you know a great weather vane near you, let me know if you'd like to have it featured on this blog.

Today's weather vane was photographed in Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weathervane post #357?  Scroll down to find the answer.

Today's weathervane was photographed above the tower on top of the Town Hall in Rowley, Massachusetts.  We were driving down Maine Street, which is also Route 1A, when I saw this unusual weathervane.  According to the book Images of America: Rowley, 2002, by the Rowley Historical Society, this Indian Archer weathervane dates from the 19th century and was first installed on the building that was the old town hall and school on Central Street.  It resembles a weathervane made by Boston coppersmith Shem Drowne in the 1700s that used to be on the Old Province House in Boston, but it is now on display inside the Massachusetts Historical Society on Boylston Street in Boston. 

Click here to see ALL the "Weathervane Wednesday" posts:

https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/search/label/Weathervane%20Wednesday   

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday~  Above an old Town Hall", Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 4, 2018, (   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/weathervane-wednesday-above-old-town.html: accessed [access date]). 

Weathervane Wednesday ~ An island with a lot of weathervanes

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I started out by publishing only weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding interesting weather vanes from all over New England.  Sometimes these weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are very unique.  Often, my readers tip me off to some very special and unusual weather vanes.

Today's weather vanes are from somewhere in Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of the weather vanes in post #296?  Scroll down to see the answer...

Weathervane #1

 Weathervane #2

 Weathervane #3

 Weathervane #4

 Weathervane #5

 Weathervane #6

 Weathervane #7 

All seven of these weather vanes were seen on Plum Island, off the coast of Newburyport, Massachusetts.  This little island is home to both year round and summer residents, as well as to the Sandy Point State Reservation on the southern end of the island.  Plum island is eleven miles long and is part of the towns of Newburyport, Newbury, Rowley and Ipswich. 

Plum Island is infamous for being battered by storms, and is losing ground to erosion.  For centuries the residents of Plum Island have carefully watched the weather.  Weather vanes are one way of monitoring the weather and predicting bad storms. I especially like the variety of weather vanes we saw here, most with maritime themes or birds, since Plum Island is on the migration path of so many New England birds.  

Plum Island Wikipedia article  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plum_Island_(Massachusetts)    

Sandy Point State Reservation http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-north/sandy-point-state-reservation.html   

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

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ An island with a lot of weathervanes", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 1, 2017,  (http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/02/weathervane-wednesday-island-with-lot.html:  accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ Sawyer of Lancaster, Massachusetts

SAWYER

This is another case of “three brothers came to America”.  There were three Sawyer brothers, and they settled in Rowley, Newbury, and Lancaster, Massachusetts.   Tradition is that they came together, but there is only proof that Thomas arrived early and Edward and William do not appear in records until after 1643.
 

Thomas Sawyer lived first in Ipswich, and appears in the records in 1636.  In 1643 some land in Rowley, Massachusetts was set off to Thomas Sawyer and to Edward Sawyer.  Thomas left Rowley to settle Nashaway Plantation, now known as Lancaster, where he is on the list of proprietors in 1647.  He was admitted as a freeman in 1654.  His house was on the East side of Main Street near  today's Seventh Day Adventist School (Atlantic Union College).   

During King Phillip’s War the local native Indians held several raids on Lancaster.  On 10 February 1675 there was a massacre which killed Thomas Sawyer’s son, Ephraim, and his father-in-law, John Prescott.  The town was abandoned for several years, and when it was re-settled Thomas Sawyer was a local leader in the growth of the town.  In 1705, another war broke out between England and France and there was another raid on the town.   Thomas Sawyer was able to survive all this and died in 1706, at age 90.  He has a very primitive gravestone in the Lancaster burial ground.

Thomas Sawyer's headstone
from FindAGrave.com

Thomas’s son, Joshua removed to Woburn in 1670 and was elected a freeman.  He fought in King Phillip’s War as a member of Captain Henchman’s company in 1676. 

For more information on the Sawyer family, see the History of the Town of Lancaster, Massachusetts by Abijah Perkins Marvin and the book The Birth, Marriage and Death Register, Church Records and Epitaphs and Lancaster, Massachusetts 1643-1850 by Henry S. Nourse, 1890.  There are two articles in The American Genealogist,  “Mary Carter, First Wife of Nathaniel Sawyer of Lancaster, Massachusetts” by Frank G. Lesure, 2000, Volume 75, pages 51 – 54 and also “The Children of Thomas Sawyer of Lancaster” by Claude W. Barlow, 1954, Volume 30.  See also the book Sawyer Familes II: Edward, William, Thomas, 1636 – 2005 by Eleanor Grace Sawyer, Penobscot Press, 2005.  There is a manuscript at NEHGS “Genealogy of the Sawyers of England, from which the American line descended” by Fannie Sawyer Quinn call number Mss A 4631 (8 typed pages).

My Sawyer genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Sawyer, son of John Sawyer and Agnes Sharpe, born in 1616 in Lincolnshire, England, died on 12 September 1706 in Lancaster, Massachusetts; married on 2 July 1648 in Rowley, Massachusetts to Mary Prescott, daughter of John Prescott and Mary Platts alias Gawkroger, baptized on 24 February 1630 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England and died in April 1716 in Lancaster, Massachusetts.  Thirteen children.

Generation 2: Joshua Sawyer, born 13 March 1655 in Lancaster, died on 14 July 1738 in Woburn, Massachusetts; married on 2 January 1678 in Concord, Massachusetts to Sarah Wright, daughter of John Wright and Priscilla Byfield.  She was born on 16 February 1652 in Woburn.  Seven children.

Generation 3:  Mary Sawyer, born about 1681, died 1766; married on 19 December 1698 in Woburn to Robert Convers, son of James Convers and Hannah Carter.  He was born 29 December 1677 in Woburn, died on 20 July 1738.  Twelve children.

Generation 4:  Susanna Converse m. Caleb Simonds

Generation 5: Ruth Simonds m. Andrew Munroe

Generation 6: Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 7: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 8: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Two Brigham sisters came to Massachusetts!

BRIGHAM

Sometimes in genealogy you hear stories about “two brothers came to America”.  Well, in my family tree we have two BRIGHAM sisters who came to Massachusetts.   They were the daughters of Thomas Brigham and Isabel Watson of Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England.   The eldest sister, Constance, married Robert Crosby and came to America after their first child was baptized in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor in 1634.  They settled in Rowley, but Robert was dead by 1642 and left Constance with five children.    Constance lived a long life, and died in 1684 in Rowley, Massachusetts.

The younger daughter, Ann, married Simon Crosby,  a distant cousin to her sister’s husband.  She had three  children (the first baptized also in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor in 1635) and her husband also died young in 1639.  But Ann remarried to Reverend William Thompson as his second wife.  Unfortunately the Rev. Thompson was “afflicted with melancholia” and did not work for seven years before he also died in 1666.  This caused many financial problems for the widow because he died intestate.  Ann lived until 1675 with her son Joseph in Braintree, Massachusetts.

Both of my BRIGHAM lines daughtered out in the first generation.  There were BRIGHAM kin from Holme-on-Spaulding Moor who came to live in Massachusetts, including Thomas Brigham who died in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1653 and had five children who all married and left descendants, including three sons, Thomas, Jr., John and Samuel Brigham.  These are the ancestors of most of the New England Brighams you can read about in the book The History of the Brigham Family: A record of several thousand descendants of Thomas Brigham, the Emigrant, 1603- 1653, by W. I. Tyler Brigham and Emma E. Brigham, 1907, and a second volume published in 1927 by Emma E. Brigham.  Thomas Brigham’s father, John Brigham (abt. 1574 – 1621) was the brother of Constance and Ann’s father, Thomas Brigham (1576 – 1633).

My Brigham lineages:

Generation 1:  Thomas Brigham, born 1576 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, Yorkshire, England, and died on 19 March 1633 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor; married on 4 February 1601 in Holme-on Spaulding Moor to Isabel Watson, daughter of James Watson.  She was baptized on 21 February 1561 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, and died on 25 June 1634 at Holme-on-Spaulding Moor. 

A.

Generation 2: Constance Brigham, born about 1692 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, died 25 January 1684 in Rowley, Massachusetts; married on 22 July 1622 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor to Robert Crosby, son of John Crosby and Jane Webster.  He was baptized on 30 October 1596 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, and died in 1640 in Rowley, Massachusetts.  Five children.

Generation 4: Mary Crosby m. Richard Langthorne

Generation 5: Constance Lanthorne m. Jonathan Mooers

Generation 6: Sarah Mooers m. George Munroe

Generation 7:  Andrew Munroe m. Lucy Mixer

Generation 8: Andrew Munroe m. Ruth Simonds

Generation 9:  Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 10: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 11: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

B.

Generation 2: Ann Brigham, born about 1606 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, died 11 October 1675 in Braintree, Massachusetts; married first to Simon Crosby, son of Thomas Crosby and Jane Sothern.  He was born about 1609 in Holme-on-Spaulding Moor, and died September 1639 in Cambridge, Massachusetts.  Three children.

Generation 3: Thomas Crosby m. Sarah Unknown

Generation 4: John Crosby m. Hannah Bangs

Generation 5: Jonathan Crosby m. Hannah Hamblin

Generation 6: Ebenezer Crosby m. Elizabeth Robinson

Generation 7:  Rebecca Crosby m. Comfort Haley

Generation 8:  Joseph Edwin Healey m. Matilda Weston

Generation 9: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 10: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

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

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Bailey

BAILEY

First Church in Rowley, Mass. 

James Bailey, and his brother, Richard Bailey, were both early settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts. Richard arrived in 1638 on the ship “Bevis”.   He was voted as “pinder” or “Pound keeper” of the town pound, in 1660.  He was active in the life of the First Church of Rowley, and is in the 1678 records when he testified that the Reverend Mr. Phillips was of “unborotherly and unchristian carriage”.  He was also an overseer of the poor, and selectman in Rowley, Massachusetts. 

James Bailey’s will transcribed by http://essexcountyma.net/Wills/index.htm   

[see http://essexcountyma.net/Wills/baileyj.htm ]

James Bayley of Rowley being weake of body, but pfect in understanding and memory, do make this my 
last will and Testament, in manner & forms as followeth, After my debts are payd I do give and Bequeath, the rest of the estate, God hath given me as followeth, I doe give unto my daughters Lidia Platts and Demaris Leaver each of them, Twenty pound a peece and to my daughter Platts, seven pound more, which is in the hands of Thomas Remington , she is to have that seven pounds when it is due the twenty pounds a peece, that I do give unto my two daughters, to be payd in four years time, Also I do give unto my Eldest son John all that land and meadow, and meadow, that he is now possesed of and halfe of the farme, that I purchased of mr Rogers and that Land, that Goodman Jackman doth improve, from merimack River downe to the meadow, my meaneing is from the River, untill it doth come, as far as mr Phillips his meadow, or the peece comonly cald the five acres, and the rest of that land, that goodman Jackman doth hire, that is betweene the sayd fives acres, and crane meadow, to be equally divided, between my son John and James. Also I doe give unto my son John Bayley, four acres of land more or less lyeing at the Plainse comonly cald, the Rye Plaine. Also I do give unto my son James Bayley, all my lands and meadow that I am possessed off in the  Towne of Rowley, with all the buildings upon the same together with that two acres of meadow that I purchased of goodman Lyon wch was sometimes Phillip Nellsons of Rowley, the other halfe of the ffarme, that I purchased of mr Rogers both upland and meadow, I do give unto my sonn James Bayley, also I do give unto my son John Bayley one ox gate, in east end ox pasture of Rowley and thre cow gates, and to my sone James two ox gates, in the sd pasture and thre cow gates. Also I doe give unto my wife, one third part of my lands in Rowley that James is to have, for her life tyme, and my son James for to alow her or pay to her one third part that the halfe farme that I have given him doth yearly produce, also my son John is to pay to her one third pt that the half farme I have given him doth yearly pduce, and this both of them to pay dureing her life, my meaneing is, when I say, wt it doth yearly pduce, is on third part of the rent of it, wt it is lett for, also I doe give unto my wife one third part of my houshold good, within dores & without. I doe give unto my son James Allso all my apparrell I do give unto my son John, and I do make my son James Bayley sole executor of this my last will & testament. Also my will is, that if my daughter Platts or my daughter Lever doe dye before the legasies, that I do give them be payd that then the sayd legasies bo payd to their children, and this I do deliver as my last will August the 8 1677.

James Bayley

Witness:

Phillip Nellson

Ezekeill Northeand

Edna Northend

Proved in Ipswich court Sept 25, 1677 by the witnesses.

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For more information:

History of Rowley, by Thomas Gage, 1840

Historical and Genealogical Researches in the Merrimack Valley, by Alfred Poor, Salem, 1858

Bailey Genealogy:  James, John and Thomas and their Descendants, by Gertrude E. Bailey, Abbie F. Ellsworth, William H. Reed and Hollis R. Bailley, originally in three parts, 1934, now there is a 1984 reprint by Parker River Researchers, P.O. Box 86, Newbury port, Massachusetts.   See Archive.org link at http://archive.org/details/baileygenealogyj00bail

My Bailey Lineage:

Generation 1:  James Bailey, born about 1612 in England, died 10 August 1677 in Rowley, Massachusetts; married about 1640 to Lydia Unknown, born about 1616 in England and died 29 April 1704.  Eight children.

Generation 2:  Lydia Bailey, born September 1644 in Rowley, died 24 November 1722 in Rowley; married on 8 May 1672 in Rowley to Abel Platts, son of Samuel Platts and Sarah Bates.  He was born about 1650 in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England and died in 1690 during a military expedition to Cape Breton, Canada.  Four children.

Generation 3: Moses Platts m. Hannah Platts

Generation 4: Moses Platts m. Ruth Williams

Generation 5: Sarah Platts m. George Southwick

Generation 6: Mary Southwick m. Robert Wilson

Generation 7: Mercy F. Wilson m. Aaron Wilkinson

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)

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Crosby

Robert Crosby is my 9x great grandfather, born about 30 October 1596 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, Yorkshire, England, and died before 1640 in Rowley, Massachusetts.  His third cousin, Thomas Crosby, was born about 1575 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor and died on 6 May 1661 in Rowley, too.  These two families have a common ancestor in Yorkshire- John Crosby born about 1440. 

Not only is this confusing, but Robert had a great grandfather named Thomas Crosby, born in 1510 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, married to a Jannett Unknown.  Thomas had a 2x great grandfather named Thomas Crosby, born in 1505 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, married to a Jannett Unknown (but widow of a John Bell).  Often I see family trees where these two Thomas Crosbys are merged into one man married to one woman named Jannett, making Robert and Thomas closer cousins.  However, this is not true. 

All of Robert Crosby’s children were baptized in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, including the youngest child Hannah, who was baptized on 31 October 1634.  They must have come to New England after this date.  His wife Constance received a grant of land in 1643, so he must have been dead by this time.

Thomas Crosby, the distant cousin, was well to do, according to tax records in England.  They arrived in New England with a group of Rev. Ezekiel Rogers followers before 1640.  They are thought to have lived for a time with the widow of their son, Simon, in Cambridge, before removing to Rowley.   Simon Crosby came on the ship “Susan and Ellyn” in 1635 with the followers of Rev. Thomas Shepard.   Simon died young and his wife married Rev. William Tompson of Braintree (now the town of Quincy), Massachusetts.

The Crosbys were a fairly well off family in England and immigrated for religious reasons as part of the Puritan Great Migration. The records in England have been well documented by genealogists. 

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Some good Crosby sources (there are many!):

Ancestors and Descendants of Timothy Crosby, Jr. by Paul W. Prindle, Orleans, MA, 1981.

The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634-1635, by Robert Charles Anderson, George F. Sanborn and Melinde Lutz Sanborn, Boston, MA: NEHGS, 2003, Volume 2, pages 232-236.

Simon Crosby the Emigrant: His English Ancestry and some of his Descendants, by Eleanor Davis Crosby, 1914.

There will be Dancing: The History of a Johnson Family, by Susan E. Keats, Boston, MA, 2000, pages 285 – 312.

“The Yorkshire Ancestry of the Three Crosby Sisters of Rowley, Mass”, by Paul W. Prindle,  New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Vol. 119,  pages 243 - 248, October 1965.

"The Watson Ancestry of Constance (Brigham) Crosby of Holme-upon-Spalding Moor, Yorkshire, and Rowley, Mass., And Notes on the Southeron and Millington Families" by Walter Lee Sheppard,  New England Historic Genealogical Society Register,  Vol. 120, 1966, pp. 21-25.  

“The Crosby Family of New York”, by Ernest Howard Crosby, October 1898, New York Genealogical and Biographical Record.

  

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Lineage A:

Generation 1:  John Crosby born about 1440, married Agnes Unknown

Generation 2:  John Crosby born about 1470

Generation 3:  Thomas Crosby born about 1505 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, died 1555 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor;  married to Jennett Unknown. Six children.

Generation 4: Richard Crosby, born about 1532 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor; married Margaret Stevenson

Generation 5: John Crosby, born about 1556 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, died about 1604 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor; married on 31 August 1594 to Jane Webster.

Generation 6: Robert Crosby, baptized on 30 October 1596 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, died before 1640 in Rowley, Massachusetts; married on 22 July 1622 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor to Constance Brigham, daughter of Thomas Brigham and Isabel Watson.  She was born in 1602 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, and died on 25 January 1684 in Rowley, Massachusetts. Five children.

Generation 7:  Mary Crosby, baptized on 4 December 1629 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, died on 29 November 1667 in Rowley; married on 16 January 1647 in Rowley to Richard Langthorne, son of John Langthorne and Jane Clement.  He was born about 1622 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, and died on 13 February 1668 in Rowley. Ten children.

Generation 8. Constance Langthorne married Jonathan Mooers. 

Generation 9: Sarah Mooer and George Munroe

Generation 10: Andrew Munroe and Lucy Mixer

Generation 11:  Andrew Munroe and Ruth Simonds

Generation 12:  Luther Simonds Munroe and Olive Flint

Generation 13: Phebe Cross Munroe and Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 14: Albert Munroe Wilkinson and Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 15: Donald Munroe Wilkinson and Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

  

Lineage B:

Generation 1:  John Crosby born about 1440, married Agnes Unknown

Generation 2:  Miles Crosby born about 1483, died after 1538

Generation 3: Thomas Crosby, born 1510, died on 16 March 1559 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor; married about 1542 to Jannett, widow of John Bell. Four children.

Generation 4: Anthony Crosby, born about 1545; married about 1570 to Alison Blanchard

Generation 5: Thomas Crosby, born about 1575 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, died 6 May 1661 in Rowley; married Jane Sothern, daughter of William Sothern and Constance Lambert.

Generation 6: Simon Crosby, born 1609 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor and died September 1639 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; married on 21 April 1634 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor to Ann Brigham, daughter of Thomas Brigham and Isabel Watson. Three children.

Generation 7: Reverend Thomas Crosby, born 26 February 1635 in Holme-on-Spaulding-Moor, died 13 June 1702 in Boston; married Sarah Unknown.  Twelve children.

Generation 8: John Crosby, born 4 December 1670 in Eastham, Massachusetts, died on 25 May 1717 in Harwich, Massachusetts; married about 1703 to Hannah Bangs, daughter of Jonathan Bangs and Mary Mayo. She was born on 14 March 1676 in Eastham, died about 1715. Six children.

Generation 9: Jonathan Crosby, born 2 November 1705 in Harwich, died 26 July 1782 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada; married before 7 March 1734 to Hannah Hamblin, daughter of Benjamin Hamblin and Hope Huckins. Eleven children.

Generation 10: Ebenezer Crosby, born 26 August 1747 in Mansfield, Connecticut, died 26 February 1826 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; married on 8 September 1774 to Elizabeth Robinson, daughter of Jabez Robinson and Tabitha Green.  She was born 17 June 1750 in Falmouth, Massachusetts; died 27 July 1837 in Nova Scotia.  Eleven children.

Generation 11:  Rebecca Crosby, born 19 December 1789 in Yarmouth; married on 12 August 1808 in Chebogue, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia to Comfort Haley, son of Comfort Haley and Abigail Allen. Comfort was born 9 October 1787 in Chebogue, and died 3 December 1874 in Chebogue.  Eleven children.

Generation 12: Joseph Edwin Healey married Matilda Weston

Generation 13: Mary Etta Healey married Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 14: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil married Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 15: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings married Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Platts / Gawkroger of Massachusetts

PLATTS / GAWKROGER

The Platts - Bradstreet House in Rowley

The Platts family can be difficult to trace due to the fact that the name was originally not Platts but Gawkroger!   The “Gawkrogers of Platts” lived in Sowerby, Yorkshire, England had several family members come to New England.  Some descendants were known as just Platts when they arrived here.  I’m descended of two of the family members who came to Massachusetts.

Samuel Platts arrived in Rowley, north of Boston, about 1653 with his first wife, Sarah and several children.  More children were born in Rowley, and he remarried in 1681 to Phillippa Andrews, widow of George Felt of Salem.   She married third to Thomas Nelson.   His house is still standing in Rowley, and is owned by the Historical Society.   It was previously owned by Joseph Jewett.  

Mary Gawkroger was born in Halifax, Yorkshire, and married John Prescott in 1629 in Sowerby.  They came with their first children to Watertown, Massachusetts and eventually settled in Lancaster, Massachusetts.  They had eight children in all, and endured many Indian raids in Lancaster.  Mary was the cousin of Samuel Platts, their fathers were the brothers Abram and James Gawkroger. 

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My Gawkroger lineage:

Generation 1: James Gawkroger, born 1546 in Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died in March 1592; married on 2 December 1571 in Halifax to Joan Fairbanks, daughter of George Fairbanks and Sybil Wade.  Two sons, Abram and James.

A. Generation 2:  Abram Gawkroger, baptized 21 November 1574 in Halifax, died 1625 in Warley, Yorkshire; married on 16 May 1604 in Halifax to Martha Riley, daughter of Thomas Riley. 

Generation 3:  Mary Gawkroger, born 15 May 1607 in Halifax, died after 1678 in Lancaster, Massachusetts;  married on 11 April 1629 in Sowerby, Halifax to John Prescott, son of Ralph Prescott and Helen Unknown.  He was born about 1604 in Standish, Lancastershire, England, and died 20 December 1681 in Lancaster, Massachusetts.  Eight children.

Generation 4:   Mary Prescott m. Thomas Sawyer

Generation 5:  Joshua Sawyer m. Sarah Wright

Generation 6: Mary Sawyer m. Robert Convers

Generation 7: Susanna Converse m. Caleb Simonds

Generation 8: Ruth Simonds m. Andrew Munroe

Generation 9:  Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 10: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 11:  Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

Also

Generation 4: Lydia Prescott (sister to Mary above) m. Jonas Fairbanks

Generation 5: Grace Fairbanks m. Ephraim Bullen

Generation 6: John Bullen m. Sarah Underwood

Generation 7: Grace Bullen m. Ebenezer Healey

Generation 8: Comfort Haley m. Abigail Allen

Generation 9: Comfort Haley m. Rebecca Crosby

Generation 10:  Joseph Edwin Healy m. Matilda Weston

Generation 11: Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 12: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 13. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

B. Generation 2: James Gawkroger, baptized 7 September 1578 in Sowerby, died 6 October 1628 in Sowerby; married on 5 September 1601 in Sowerby to Margaret Ainsworth.  Eleven children.

Generation 3: Samuel Platts, born 10 January 1617 in Sowerby, died before 1690 in Rowley, Massachusetts; married in 1647 to Sarah. She died on 10 April 1671 in Rowley, and he remarried on 19 December 1681 in Rowley to Phillipa Andrews, widow of George Felt.  She remarried, after Samuel Platts’s death, to Thomas Nelson on 9 April 1690 in Rowley.  Thomas Nelson was previously married to Ann Lambert and Mary Lunt.  Samuel Platts and Sarah had six children.

Generation 4: Abel Platts, born about 1650, died in 1690 on an expedition to Cape Breton, Canada; married on 8 May 1672 in Rowley to Lydia Bailey, daughter of James Bailey and Lydia Emery.  She was born in September 1644 in Rowley, and died 24 November 1722 in Rowley.

Generation 5: Moses Platts, born 4 February 1673 in Rowley, died 30 March 1739 in Rowley; married on 22 November 1693 to Hannah Platts, daughter of Jonathan Platts and Elizabeth Johnson.  [I suspect that Jonathan Platts is a member of the same Platts family but I have not determined how he is related]  Nine children.

Generation 6: Moses Platts, born 9 April 1707 in Rowley, died before 1753 on an expedition to Louisburg, Nova Scotia, like his grandfather, Abel Platts.   Moses married Ruth William on 2 December 1731 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, daughter of Daniel Williams and Alice Allen, born on 13 June 1710 in Manchester, Massachusetts.  Seven children.

Generation 7. Sarah Platts, born 26 August 1735 in Gloucester, died after 1803; married on 18 December 1760 in Danvers, Massachusetts to George Southwick, son of John Southwick and Mary Trask, born about 1726 and died before 1808 in Danvers.  Seven children.

Generation 8: Mary Southwick m. Robert Wilson

Generation 9: Mercy F. Wilson m. Aaron Wilkinson

Generation 10: Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 11: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Longhorn / Langthorne of Rowley, Massachusetts

LANGTHORNE/LANGHORNE/LONGHORNE

Rowley First Church and Pharmacy
photo by Fletcher6 at Wikipedia Commons

Richard Langthorne arrived in the New World from Holme on Spalding, Yorkshire, England and he was granted 100 acres in Rowley, Massachusetts in 1666.  He received land in the Hog Island marsh in 1667.  Richard died in 1668, only a month and a half after his wife, and at about the same time as three or four children. I don’t know if some un-named disease swept through the family.  Six children were left orphaned.  Within five months the two youngest sons were also dead.  The children were taken in by relatives in Cambridge and Rowley. Richard’s brother in Cambridge was Thomas Longhorn. 

The last will and testament of Richard Longhorne of Rowley in the county of Essex made Februarie 10.1668.

First give to my daughter Elizabeth a Double portion whom also I constitute and appynt to be the executresse of this my last Will and Testament together with my beloved brother Thomas Longhorne whom also I constitute and appoynt to be the other Executor with my Daughter Elizabeth and if the sayd Elizabeth shall die without heirs of her owne body my will is that the one half of the Estate given her by this my last Will and Testament be equally divided between my other three daughters.

I give unto Samuel Wood my servant the sume of 10 £ to be payd to him within the space of one yeare after my death and if Obadiah Wood the father of the said Samuel shall be willing that his son shall serve out his time untill he comes to the full age of Twenty one years with my brother John Johnson of Rowley then my will is that ten pounds more be added and the whole 20 to be payed unto (him) when he hath served out his full time and in case the said Samuell shall die before he hath served out his full time that then no part of the 20 £ be payd unto him butt that 20 £ shall be divided equally amongst my children then living. My will is also that my daught(er) Elizabeth shall have the 20 £ above forementioned over and above her double portion untill it shall be due unto the aforesayed Samuel and if the Sayd _______ Wood shall presently take away his son then 10 li: of the twenty shall be equally divided between my children and then all my estate both of lands houses cattle household stuffe and all my moveables to be divided equally (my debts being first paid) amongst my children, my daughter Elizabeth haveing a doube portion as aforesaid lastly

I constitute and appoynt John Peckard, John Johnson and James Bailey (all of Rowley aforesaid) to be overseers to see this my will performed.

[No signature]

Witness:

Anthony Crosbie

Daniell Ela

John Ward

Proved in Ipswich Court Mar. 30, 1669, by the Witnesses.

DEPOSITION of Jonathan Platts that going to Haverhill when Richard Longhorne was sick, with John Pickard, he left the latter on this side the river and went over with the daughter of Richard Longhorne to see him and told him his brother Pickard was on the other side. He told Deponent that he was very glad of it, for he had a great desire to speak with him, that he knew not how God might dispose of him and he desired Deponent to come to him again when his brother being with him, and he, having told his mind to his brother Pickard, the latter told Longhorne that he would relate what he said to Deponent for fear of spending him. Concerning his children's disposal, John Pickard said to leave them to the disposal of their Grandmother to which Longhorne replied that he would and also to their two Aunts, and that he would have them advise with Goodwife Bayly who was a good woman, whom he believed loved them Well. This was about three days before he died. John Pickard affirmed the same.

Sworn 30.1m; 1669, Ipswich Court.

For more information on the early Langthornes of Rowley, Massachusetts there are several good books to read, including The Pioneers of Massachusetts by Charles H. Pope [the entry for Constance Crosby Pope is wrong, Mary Crosby’s husband is NOT Nicholas Longhorne] and also The History of Rowley, Massachusetts by Thomas Gage.  In the Rowley and Cambridge vital records please see LONGHORN as well as LANGTHORNE. 

There was an article on Richard Longhorn in the National Genealogical Society Quarterly, Volume 68, pages 12 -13. 

My Langthorne lineage:

Generation 1: Richard Langthorne, born about 1662 at Holme on Spalding, Moor, Yorkshire, England, died on 13 February 1668 at Rowley, Massachusetts; married on 16 January 1647 in Rowley to Mary Crosby, daughter of Robert Crosby and Constance Brigham.  She was born before 4 December 1629 in Holme on Spalding Moor, and died 29 November 1667 in Rowley.  Ten children.

Generation 2: Constance Langthorne,  born in September 1652 in Rowley; married on 10 May 1670 in Newbury, Massachusetts to Jonathan Mooers, son of Edmund Mooers and Anne Unknown.  He was born on 23 April 1646 in Newbury.  Nine children.

Generation 3: Sarah Mooer m. George Munroe

Generation 4: Andrew Munroe m. Lucy Mixer

Generation 5: Andrew Munroe m. Ruth Simonds

Generation 6: Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 7: Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 8: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 9: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo