Surname Saturday ~ DANE of Roxbury and Andover, Massachusetts

North Parish Church, Andover, Massachusetts
Founded in 1645, and where the
Reverend Francis Dane was the 2nd minister

DANE

The first DANE in this lineage to come to the New World was John Dane (about 1587 – 1658) who settled in Roxbury, Massachusetts from Essex, England.  He arrived about 1636 with his children Elizabeth and John, and later married the widow of William Chandler.   He was a chirurgeon (surgeon) in Roxbury and Ipswich. His son John was also a surgeon in Roxbury. You can read John Dane’s diary at this link: http://genealogysurnames.net/JOHNDANE.HTML

I descend from the younger son, Reverend Francis Dane (1615 – 1697).  He matriculated at King’s College in Cambridge, England in 1633.  He was ordained in 1648 and was the second minister of the church in Andover, Massachusetts.  He began a school and was minister for 44 years when the Salem witch hysteria began in 1692.  He and Thomas Barnard wrote a letter signed by 24 Andover residents condemning the trials.  This caused Dane and half a dozen of his relatives to be accused as witches.  Included in those arrested were his daughters Elizabeth Dane Johnson and Abigail Dane Faulkner, and daughter-in-law, Deliverance Haseltine Dane.  His two granddaughters, Abigail and Dorothy Faulkner were also arrested. (His daughter, Hannh, my ancestress, seems to have escaped suspicion). He bravely continued to preach against the witch hunt, and fortunately none of his kin were hung.  He died a few years later in 1697.

“May the Lord direct and guide those that are in place, and give us all submissive wills, and let the Lord do with me and mine what seems good in his own eyes.”  Rev. Francis Dane, 1692.

There has been much published about this family, Rev. Dane and the Salem Witch Trials, but if you are truly curious about more information on the DANE family, here are a few suggestions:

Genealogical Directory of the First Settlers of New England Showing Three Generations of those who came before May 1692 on the basis of farmers register, by James Savage, Baltimore, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1990, Volume II, page 6 and 7.

History of Andover from its Settlement to 1829, by Abiel Abbott, 1829

The Annals of Salem, by Joseph B. Felt, 1827

Salem Witchcraft by Enders A. Robinson, 1992

“Early Records of the Dane Family of Andover” compiled by Charlotte Helen Abbott, a manuscript at the Memorial Hall Library (Andover Public Library) also available online at http://www.mhl.org/abbott-genealogies     

“A Declaration of Remarkable Providences in the Course of my Life” by John Dane, The New England Historic and Genealogical Society Register, Volume VIII (1854), pages 149-156. The original manuscript is kept at the Massachusetts Historical Society in Boston.

My DANE genealogy:

Generation 1:   John Dane was from Bishop’s Stortford, Hertfordshire, England and died in Roxbury, Massachusetts on 14 September 1658; married first to Frances Bowyer about 1606 in England and had four children.  She died about 1641 in Roxbury and John married second to Annis Bayford, the widow of William Chandler, on 2 July 1643 in Roxbury. No children by the second marriage.

Generation 2:  Reverend Francis Dane, born about 1615 in England, died 17 February 1697 in Andover, Massachusetts.  He married first to Elizabeth Ingalls, daughter of Edmund Ingalls and Ann Tripp about 1639 and had nine children.  She died on 9 June 1676 in Andover and he married second to Mary Thomas on 21 September 1677.  She died on 18 February 1689 and he married third to Hannah Chandler, his step sister, daughter of William Chandler and Annis Bayford about 1690. 

Generation 3: Hannah Dane, born about 1648 in Andover; married on 14 November 1666 in Ipswich, Massachusetts to William Goodhue, son of William Goodhue and Margery Watson.  He was born about 1645 and died 12 October 1712.  Eleven children.

Generation 4: Bethiah Goodhue m. Benjamin Marshall

Generation 5: Elizabeth Marshall m. David Burnham

Generation 6: Amos Burnham m. Sarah Giddings

Generation 7: Judith Burnham m. Joseph Allen

Generation 8: Joseph Allen m. Orpha Andrews

Generation 9:  Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears

Generation 10:  Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

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

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/10/surname-saturday-dane-of-roxbury-and.html

Copyright © 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ CHAPIN of Springfield, Massachusetts

CHAPIN

"The Puritan" at Springfield, Massachusetts

Samuel Chapin and his family were in Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1635.  His first five children were born in England, and then one born in Roxbury and the last in Springfield, Massachusetts.  His English origins are described in the book Thirty One English Emigrants (see below).

Chapin followed William Pynchon who left Roxbury in 1636 with a dozen families for Springfield which was first known as Agawam.  He was very influential in his new settlement, and served as one of the first five selectman, magistrate and was a deacon of the church for 25 years. He died in 1675 a few months after the town of Springfield was attacked by Indians and burned during King Phillip’s War.  His wife survived him by seven year, and his seven children all lived to adulthood and produced 72 grandchildren.

There is a large bronze statue of Deacon Samuel Chapin in Springfield.  It is called “The Puritan” and was sculpted by Augustus Saint-Gaudins in 1887.  You can read a blog post about this statue HERE.

Sources for Chapin family information:

Thirty-One English Emigrants Who Came to New England by 1662, by Dorothy C. and Gerald E. Knoff, Baltimore: Gateway Press, 1989, pages44 to 51.

Search for the Passengers of the Mary & John, 1630, Volume 17, pages 27 to 28.   See the website http://www.maryandjohn1630.com/

The Chapin Book of Genealogical Data of the Descendants of Deacon Samuel Chapin by Gilbert Warren Chapin, in two volumes, Hartford, Connecticut: Chapin Family Association, 1924 reprinted by Higginson Book Company.

Life of Deacon Samuel Chapin of Springfield, by Howard Miller Chapin, Providence, Rhode Island: Snow & Farnham, Co. Printers, 1908. Available to read online at www.Archive.org  

My Chapin genealogy:

Generation 1: Samuel Chapin, son of John Chapin and Phillippa Easton, baptized 8 October 1598 in Paignton, Devonshire, England, died 11 November 1675 in Springfield, Massachusetts; married on 9 February 1624 in Paignton to Cicely Penney.  She was the daughter of Henry Penney and Jane Unknown, born on 27 February 1602 in Paignton, died 8 February 1683 in Springfield. Seven children.

Generation 2: Catherine Chapin, baptized in April 1626 in Berry Pomeroy, Devonshire, England; died 4 February 1712 in Springfield; married on 20 November 1646 to Nathaniel Bliss, son of Thomas Bliss and Margaret Hulins, baptized on 28 December 1622 in Rodborough, Gloucestershire, England, died on 18 November 1654 in Springfield.  Four children.  Catherine Chapin remarried in 1655 to Thomas Gilbert, and in 1664 to Samuel Marshfield.

Generation 3:  Margaret Bliss m. Nathaniel Foote

Generation 4: Eunice Foote m. Michael Taintor

Generation 5: Eunice Taintor m. Aaron Skinner

Generation 6: Charles Skinner m. Sarah Osborn

Generation 7: Ann Skinner m. Thomas Ratchford Lyons

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons m. Reverend Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 9: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 10: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

"The Puritan" at Boston's
Museum of Fine Art

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/11/surname-saturday-chapin-of-springfield.html

Copyright © 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ CHANDLER of Roxbury, Massachusetts

William Chandler of Roxbury came to the New World in 1637 with his wife and children.  In 1640 he was listed as owning twenty-two acres of land, with seven people in his family. He was not in Massachusetts long, and his story is very short.  The Roxbury records, says: "he lived a religious & godly life among us & fell into a Consumption to which he had, a long time, been inclined; he lay near a yeare sick, in all which time his faith, patience & Godliness & Contentation So Shined that Christ was much glorified in him — he was a man of \Yeake parts but Excellent faith and holiness; he was a Very thankful man, and much magnified God's goodness. He was poor, but God prepared the hearts of his people to him that he never wanted that which was (at least in his Esteem) Very plentiful and comfortable to him — he died in the year 1641, and left a Sweet memory and Savor behind him." 

Reverend John Eliot’s church records have “William Chandler, A Christian, Godly brother, died of Consumption month 11, day 26, 1641, and was buried 19 (11) 1641 in Roxbury”

Of William’s Children, his son William married Mary Dane, daughter of John Dane on 24 August 1658. After William Chandler died on 19 January 1642, Annis, his widow, married John Dane on 2 July 1643.  In another interesting family tree tangle, Hannah Chandler (1629 – 1711), daughter of William Chandler married my 9^th great grandfather, the Reverend Francis Dane (1615 – 1697) as his second wife about 1690.  I do not descend from their marriage, but from the Reverend Dane’s first marriage to Elizabeth Ingalls about 1639.  Reverend Francis Dane was Mary Dane’s brother.

I descend from William son, John Chandler, baptized at Bishop’s Stortford on 27 July 1634, just before the family immigrated to Massachusetts.  He married Elizabeth Douglas in 1658 and was the father of eight children. They removed to Woodstock, Connecticut, which was first known as New Roxbury, then Pomfret, and now Woodstock.

For more about the Chandler family you can read the compiled genealogy The Chandler Family: The Descendants of William and Annis Chandler who settled in Roxbury, Mass, by George Chandler, Worcester, Mass, 1883.  There is also a chapter about the Chandlers in the book Lineage of the Bowens of Woodstock, Connecticut, by Edward Augustus Bowen (One of William’s descendants  married a descendant of Griffith Bowen), Cambridge, Mass.: Riverside Press, 1897, see pages 174 – 177.   Also see A Volume of Records Relating to the Early History of Boston, Volume 34, pages 368 – 369. The early vital records of Roxbury are very good for tracing this family.  There is information on William Chandler’s English ancestry at an article in The American Genealogist, Volume 73, pages 50 – 57.   For the Chandler’s in Connecticut you can see “Origin of Woodstock, Connecticut and Names of the First Planters”, by Rev. Abner Morse, New England Historic Genealogical Society Register, Volume 18, July 1864, pages 227 – 228.

My Chandler genealogy:

Generation 1: William Chandler, son of Henry Chandler and Anne Unknown, was born 12 October 1595 at Bishop’s Stortford, Herfordshire, England, died 26 November 1642 in Roxbury, Massachusetts; married on 6 November 1625 in Farnham, Essex, England to Annis Bayford as his second wife, daughter of Francis Bayford and Joan Unknown.  She was baptized on 12 June 1603 in Farnham,  and died on 15 March 1683 in Roxbury.  Six children.

Generation 2: John Chandler, born about 1634, died 15 April 1703 in Woodstock, Connecticut; married on 16 February 1658 in Roxbury to Elizabeth Douglas, daughter of William Douglas and Anna Mattle. Eight children.

Generation 3: Hannah Chandler, born 18 September 1669 in Roxbury, died 9 June 1692 in Roxbury; married on 7 July 1685 in Roxbury to Moses Draper as his first wife, son of James Draper and Marie Stansfield.  He was born on 15 September 1663 in Dedham, Massachusetts, and died 14 August 1693 in Boston, Massachusetts. Two children.

Generation 4: Hannah Draper m. Samuel Gore

Generation 5: Moses Gore m. Desire Burris

Generation 6: Desire Gore m. Thomas Ratchford

Generation 7: Elizabeth Ratchford m. David Lyons

Generation 8: Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner

Generation 9: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 10: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 11: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

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

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The URL for this blog post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/10/surname-saturday-chandler-of-roxbury.html

Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ DRAPER of Roxbury, Massachusetts

DRAPER

1832 map of Roxbury, Massachusetts
from the Jamaica Plain Hstorical Society www.jphs.org 

It is not known when the James Draper first arrived in Massachusetts. In the history books he is nicknamed James “The Puritan” Draper, or sometimes James “The First” or “The Emigrant” Draper.  His oldest daughter, Miriam, was born in Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England on 7 February 1647.   His next daughter, Susanna,  was recorded in Roxbury in 1650.  James Draper and Marie Stansfield were married on 21 April 1646 in Heptonstall, Yorkshire, England.  He had several children born in Dedham between 1663 and 1668, and the last two children were born again in Roxbury.  James died in Roxbury on 13 July 1697.

At some point in 1654 James was named as a proprietor for the new town of Lancaster, Massachusetts but he remained in Roxbury and never lived there.  He owned several looms, and was a clothier in both England and Massachusetts.   James Draper was a large landowner in Roxbury, which was a separate town, but now is a neighborhood of Boston.  There are quite a few records of the Draper family in the Roxbury town records.

Marrian or Marie Draper’s gravestone is one of the oldest in the Westerly Burying Gound in Roxbury.  The epitaph reads “Here lyes ye body of Mrs. Marrian Draper, wife of Mr. James Draper, aged about 77 years.   Jan 1697”.   Click HERE to see a photo of this stone at www.findagrave.com  She came to America with her younger sister, Abigail, who married Samuel May of Boston on 7 May 1654.

Some DRAPER resources:

The Drapers in America, by Thomas Waln-Morgan Draper, New York: Polhemus Printing Company, 1892 (available to read or download online at http://archive.org/

“The English Genealogy of James Draper”, The American Genealogist, Volume XV, pages 237 to 242.

There is no mention of James Draper in The Great Migration series, nor in the book New Englanders in the 1600s by Martin Hollick.

The Town Records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, 1647 – 1730: Being Volume One of the Original, by Robert J. Dunkle, edited by Ann S. Lainhart, Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1997.

My Draper Genealogy:

Generation 1: James Draper, son of William Draper and Grace Mitchell, born 28 July 1622 in Heptonstall, Halifax, Yorkshire, England, died 13 July 1687 in Roxbury, Massachusetts; married on 21 April 1646 in Heptonstall to Marie Stansfield, daughter of Gideon Stansfield and Grace Eastwood.  She was born on 27 November 1625 in Heptonstall, and died between 1700 and 1701 in Roxbury.  Nine children.

Generation 2: Moses Draper,  born 15 September 1663 in Dedham, Massachusetts, died 14 August 1693 in Boston, Massachusetts; married on 7 July 1685 in Roxbury to Hannah Chandler, daughter of John Chandler and Elizabeth Douglas.  She was born 18 September 1669 in Roxbury, and died 9 June 1692 in Roxbury.  Two children.  Moses married second to Mary Thacher.

Generation 3: Hannah Draper, born 8 April 1686 in Roxbury, died 11 July 1741 in Norwich, Connecticut; married before 1704 to Samuel Gore, son of Samuel Gore and Elizabeth Weld.  He was born 20 October 1681 in Roxbury, and died 27 May 1756 in Norwich, Connecticut.  Nine children.

Generation 4:  Moses Gore m. Desire Burris

Generation 5:  Desire Gore m. Thomas Ratchford

Generation 6:  Elizabeth Ratchford m. David Lyons

Generation 7:  Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner

Generation 8:  Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 9: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 10: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 11:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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The URL for this post is:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2013/09/surname-saturday-draper-of-roxbury.html 

Copyright (c) 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ WELD of Roxbury, Massachusetts

Harvard University's Weld Boathouse,
donated by George Walker Weld (1840 - 1905)

WELD

The first Weld in New England was Captain Joseph Weld.  He was a protestant, and his family in England was Roman Catholic. He came in June 1632 on board the William & Francis with his wife Elizabeth; daughter Elizabeth, age 10; Mary, age 8, Hannah, age 6, and Thomas his brother.  He left his son John, who came to Massachusetts later.  He was a freeman in 1636 and settled in Roxbury, where he became a property owner, proprietor, and captain of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company (Winthrop was Colonel and Thomas Dudley was the Lieutenant Colonel).

Joseph Weld was supposed to be the richest man in Massachusetts and one of the first donors to Harvard College.  He owned an estate in West Roxbury that is now owned by Harvard. Today at Harvard University there are many buildings donated by and named after the Weld family, including the famous Victorian era Weld boathouse on the Charles River that is the subject of many picturesque postcards of Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

There are many sources for information on the Weld family. One is the book History of the Weld Family from 1632 to 1878, by Charlotte Fowler Weld,   and Descendants of Edmund Weld of Sudbury, England by William Addsion Weld, 1992.  A look at the New England Historic Genealogical Society online catalog will give you two pages of WELD compiled genealogies, and manuscripts such as The Family of Weld Who Came to the Town of Roxbury in Massachusetts Bay, New England in the Year 1632 for Conscience Sake, by William Weld Gordon.

There is a lengthy sketch of Joseph Weld, b. 1599, in The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England 1634 - 1635, Volume VII, pages 280 – 288, and a sketch of his brother Thomas Weld b. 1595, in Volume III, pages 1961-1963. The Roxbury records are a good source for information on the early generations of Welds.

There is an article in the NEHGS Register, Volume 47, pages 543- 459 about the Bowen family.  In the second generation in Massachusetts, John Weld married Margaret Bowen, daughter of Griffith Bowen of Wales.  They are my 10^th great grandparents.

My Weld genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Weld and Alice Unknown

Generation 2:  Thomas Weld, born about 1532 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England, died 8 April 1597 in Sudsbury; married Margaret Unknown.  She died 13 July 1593 in Sudbury.

Generation 3: Edmund Weld, born about 1559 in Sudbury, died 1608 in Sudbury; married on 12 April 1585 at St. Peter’s Church in Sudbury to Amy Brewster.

Generation 4:  Joseph Weld, baptized 7 April 1599 in Terling, Essex, England, died 7 October 1646 in Roxbury, Suffolk County, Massachusetts; married first  on 11 October 1620 in Sudbury to Elizabeth Wise. She died in October 1638 in Roxbury.  Eight children.  He married second to Barbara Clapp, widow of Anthony Stoddard on 20 April 1639 and had four more children.

Generation 5.  John Weld, son of Joseph Weld and Elizabeth Wise, baptized on 28 October 1623 in Terling, died 20 September 1691 in Roxbury; married on 24 December 1647 in Roxbury to Margaret Bowen, daughter of Griffith Bowen and Margaret Fleming.  She was born 2 April 1629 in Gower, Glamorgan Wales, and died 1 September 1692 in Roxbury. Nine children.

Generation 6:  Elizabeth Weld, born 14 November 1655 in Roxbury, and died in 1725; married on 28 August 1672 in Roxbury to Samuel Gore, son of John Gore and Rhoda Unknown.  He was born about 1647 in Roxbury, died 27 May 1756 in Norwich, Connecticut.

Generation 7: Samuel Gore m. Hannah Draper

Generation 8: Moses Gore m. Desire Burris

Generation 9: Desire Gore m. Thomas Ratchford

Generation 10: Elizabeth Ratchford m. David Lyons
Generation 11: Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner
Generation 12: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill
Generation 13: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman
Generation 14: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson
Generation 15: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Gore of Roxbury, Massachusetts

GORE

After several Surname Saturdays with brick wall ancestors, or ancestors with little information to tell, the Gore family has too much information to fit into a blog post!  I’ll try to summarize this lineage as best as I can…

The immigrant ancestor in this line was John Gore, born about 1606 in England, educated at Queen’s College in Oxford, and graduated on 24 January 1627/8.  He has English origins going back generations, and was from a wealthy family.  When John came to Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1638 he brought his entire family with him.  In 1644 he sent letters back to England to act as executor of his father’s will and estate.   He had 188 acres of land in Roxbury by 1643, and was a member of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery Company in 1638.  He was town clerk for many years, and so was his son, John Gore, junior.  When I look at the early records of Roxbury, Massachusetts, I am reading my ancestor’s handwriting.

John Gore had ten children, and I descend from his son, Samuel.   He was a carpenter and selectman in Roxbury, and married Elizabeth Weld, the granddaughter of Captain Joseph Weld (1599 – 1646), one of the founders of Roxbury.  Joseph Weld was supposed to be the richest men in Massachusetts, and one of the first donors to Harvard College.  The Welds were financially well off for many, many generations in Massachusetts.

John Gore’s inventory of his estate showed over 812 pounds of real estate and buildings.  His will names all his living children.   The widow Rhoda Gore, was left 188 acres, out of the 4,000 acres left to the children.  During the second and third of her four marriages, she was still negotiating for some of that land, and there were several letters of administration filed as late as 1693, after her death.

There are many sources for information on the Gore family.  I would suggest that the first place to read up on this family is the book Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634 -1635, Volume III, pages 114 – 120, by Richard Charles Anderson, NEHGS, 2009 for a sketch of the first generation.   The article “The Gore Family of Roxbury: New Evidence and Suspected Connections” in the NEHGS Register 1994, Volume 148, pages 61 – 65 show some of the English origins of the Gore family.

There are many compiled genealogies of various lineages descended of John Gore.  I have used The John Gore Family by Mary Walton Ferris, 1943, and A Brief Genealogy of the Gore Family: especially in the line of Gov. Christopher Gore by William H. Whitmore, Boston, 1875. 

Despite what many New England Gore descendants believe, Vice President Al Gore is NOT a descendant of John Gore of Roxbury, Massachusetts.

My Gore genealogy:

Generation 1: John Gore, son of Richard Gore and Elizabeth, born about 1606 in England, died 2 June 1657 in Roxbury, Massachusetts; married before 1632 in England to Rhoda Unknown.  Ten children.

Generation 2: Samuel Gore:  born about 1647 in Roxbury, died 26 July 1692 in Roxbury; married on 28 August 1672 in Roxbury to Elizabeth Weld, the daughter of John Weld and Margaret Bowen.  She was born 14 November 1655 in Roxbury, and died in 1725. Seven children.

Generation 3: Samuel Gore, born 20 October 1681 in Roxbury, died 27 May 1756 in Norwich, Connecticut; married before 1704 to Hannah Draper, daughter of Moses Draper and Hannah Chandler.  She was born 8 April 1686 in Roxbury, died 11 July 1741 in Norwich. Nine children.

Generation 4: Moses Gore, born 23 September 1709 in Roxbury, died in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia;  married on 27 May 1740 in Preston Connecticut to Desire Burris, daughter of John Burrows and Lydia Hubbard. Eight children.

Generation 5: Desire Gore, born 20 September 1740 Groton, Connecticut and died 11 April 1813 in Horton, Kings County, Nova Scotia; married on 1 December 1760 in Groton to Thomas Ratchford.  He ws born 19 June 1741 in Bridgewater, Massachusetts, died 27 December 1813 in Horton.

Generation 6: Elizabeth Ratchford m. David Lyons

Generation 7: Thomas Ratchford Lyons m. Ann Skinner

Generation 8: Isabella Lyons m. Rev. Ingraham Ebenezer Bill

Generation 9: Caleb Rand Bill m. Ann Margaret Bollman

Generation 10: Isabella Lyons Bill m. Albert Munroe Wilkinson

Generation 11: Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

First Church of Nashua

When we first moved to Londonderry, I was surprised to find there was no Congregational church. Nearly every town in Massachusetts has one! Almost every New Hampshire town has one, too, but since Nutfield was founded by the Presbyterians, the churches remained Presbyterian for a long time. The First Church in Derry changed to Congregational in the 1800s, and I tried a few services there. My husband was working in Nashua, and he said several co-workers attended the First Church in Nashua. We tried it out, and since we knew one or two people, it became our on again/off again church.

My husband is Catholic, and there were two Catholic parishes in Londonderry, so it was easier to attend mass then to travel all the way to Nashua. However, we still occasionally attend services in Nashua, and I love the ministers and their sermons. One day I was reading the church flyer and the history of the church surprised me. It was founded by Reverend Thomas Weld of Roxbury. I knew that was the name of one of my ancestors, so after church I hurried to my files to see what information I could find.

The church flyer said that Thomas Weld was ordained the day the First Church of Nashua was gathered, on 16 December 1685. The current building dates from 1894, and is the tenth building to house the First Church congregation. I found this Thomas Weld in my notes, as the 2x great grandson of my ancestor Thomas Weld (1595-1660). Reverend Thomas 5 Weld (Thomas 4, Thomas 3, Edmund 3, Thomas 1) removed from Roxbury (outside of Boston) to Dunstable, Massachusetts in 1683. It was a settlement near the Merrimack River that is now Nashua, New Hampshire. It was considered a real pioneer town on the border of the unknown frontier in those days.

According to the cousin calculator on Family Tree Maker, Reverend Thomas Weld is my second cousin eleven generations removed. I descend from Edmund Weld (1559 – 1608) and his wife Amy Brewster through their son, Joseph Weld (1598 – 1646) and his wife Elizabeth Shatswell. Reverend Thomas Weld of Dunstable descends from Joseph’s brother, Reverend Thomas Weld (1595-1660) . It was a long line of Reverend Thomas Welds. Now you know why I had to go look him up in the notes!

The Weld Lineage.

Generation 1. Thomas Weld, born about 1532 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England and died on 8 April 1597 in Sudbury; married Margaret Unknown who died 13 July 1593 in Sudbury.

Generation 2. Edmond Weld, born about 1559 and died about 1608 in Sudbury, Suffolk, England; married on 12 April 1585 in Sudbury to Amy Brewster.

Generation 3. Reverend Thomas Weld, born about 1595 in England, baptized in Sudbury, Suffolk, England on 13 July 1595, died on 23 March 1660/1 in London, England; married first to Margaret Unknown; married second to Judith Unknown, buried on 4 May 1646 in Gateshead, Durham; married third to Margaret Unknown.

Generation 4. Reverend Thomas Weld, born about 1626 in Terling, Essex, England and died on 17 January in Roxbury, Massachusetts; married on 4 June 1650 in Roxbury to Dorothy Whiting, born about 1628 in England and died 31 July 1694 in Roxbury, daughter of Samuel Whiting.

Generation 5. Reverend Thomas Weld, born 12 June 1653 in Roxbury and died on 9 June 1702 in Dunstable, Massachusetts (now Nashua, New Hampshire); married on 9 November 1681 to Elizabeth Wilson, born in September 1656 in Medfield, Massachusetts and died 19 July 1687, daughter of John Wilson and Sarah Hooker (daughter of famous founder of Hartford, Connecticut, Reverend Thomas Hooker).

For more information:

The American Genealogist Volume 55, page 145 for the Weld Genealogy

The First Church of Nashua website at http://www.firstchurchnashua.org/

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Copyright 2010, Heather Wilkinson Rojo