Surname Saturday ~ HENDERSON of Saco, Maine and Salem, Massachusetts

HENDERSON

In the late 1600s the early Maine settlers were in conflict with the Native people of the seacoast, and there were many massacres that killed people on both sides.  Large numbers of settlements were completely abandoned.  Many of these settlers fled to Salem and Marblehead, Massachusetts.  Some historians believe that the traumas experienced by many of these people, especially the children, may have led to the witch hysteria.

Peter Henderson (about 1649 – after 1700), my 9^th great grandfather, was a fisherman from Saco, Maine. He married his probable brother’s step-daughter, Abigail Bully in 1670 in Saco (now Biddeford Poole, Maine).  The John Henderson who married Ellen Booth, the widow of Nicholas Bully is considered to be his brother or close kin.   In 1671 Peter was granted 12 acres of land next to John’s property.

Peter first appeared in the Salem records around 1677, after the first massacres in Maine.  In Salem Peter Henderson was known as a Master Mariner and “Fisher Captain”.  In 1683 he paid taxes in Salem and appeared in a lawsuit against Robert Bray, Sr., and Richard Bale “for abusive carriages on board to the master. Bale was fined and ordered to be whipped.”   Also in 1683 Peter Henderson’s ship “ketch, Sara, was chased ashore by pirates at Funchal [Madeira].  There was another incident with pirates in 1697 concerning Henderson’s ketch, Margaret.

Two of Peter’s sons, Peter and Benjamin, married two Beadle sisters, Elizabeth and Abigail.  See my BEADLE genealogy at this link:   https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/05/surname-saturday-beadle-of-salem.html   I descend from the daughter, Abigail Henderson (1676 – 1737), my 8^th great grandmother, who married Jonathan Glover in 1699.  Abigail and Jonathan Glover were the grandparents of Major General John Glover (1732 – 1797) of Marblehead, the Revolutionary War hero.  Click this link for my GLOVER genealogy:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/09/surname-saturday-glover-of-salem-and.html

Some HENDERSON resources:

History of Saco and Biddeford, by George Folsom, 1830

Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire, by Sybil Noyes, Charles Thornton Libby and Walter Goodwin Davis, 1928-1939

“The Henderson Family of Salem” by G. Andrews Moriarty, Jr., Essex Institute Historical Collections, Volume 48 (1912), page 328. 

My HENDERSON genealogy: 

Generation 1:  Peter Henderson, born about 1649, died after 27 September 1700 in Salem, Massachusetts; married on 29 December 1670 in Salem to Abigail Bully, daughter of Nicholas Bully and Eleanor Booth.  She was born 1 February 1655 in Saco, Maine.  Five children.

Generation 2:  Abigail Henderson, born October 1676 in Salem, died 29 April 1737 in Salem; married on 31 March 1699 in Salem to Jonathan Glover, son of John Glover and Mary Guppy. He was born 13 April 1677 in Salem and died March 1736.  Six children

Generation 3: Jonathan Glover m. Tabitha Bacon

Generation 4: Daniel Glover m. Hannah Jillings.

Generation 5: Tabitha Glover m. Thomas Homan

Generation 6: Betsey Jillings Homan m. Jabez TREAdwell

Generation 7:  Eliza Ann Treadwell m. Abijah Hitchings

Generation 8:  Abijah Franklin Hithcings m. Hannah Eliza Lewis

Generation 9:  Gertrude Maria

Generation 10:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ HENDERSON of Saco, Maine and Salem, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted December 9, 2017, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2017/12/surname-saturday-henderson-of-saco.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ LEWIS of Saco, Maine

The Saco River in Maine

LEWIS

Thomas Lewis (1590 – about 1640), my 10^th great grandfather, was a draper and a wine merchant, educated at the Shrewsbury School between 1600 and 1605.  On 12 February 1629 in London the “Council for the Affairs of New England in America” granted him and Capt. Richard Bonython land north of the Saco River. Thomas Lewis came to Maine on the ship Elizabeth in 1631.  His wife and children came from England to Maine in 1637.

In 1640 the executors of his estate left his daughters Judith (Lewis) Gibbons of Saco, Maine and Elizabeth (Lewis) Haywood of Barbados, part of the estate originally held by Richard Bonython and Thomas Lewis.  Judith Gibbons is my 9^th great grandmother.   She inherited 32 square miles of the great Saco patent.  Her husband, James Gibbons acquired another 100 acres of the Biddeford side of the Saco River in 1642.

There is a book The Ancestry of Charity Haley, 1755 – 1800, by Walter Goodwin Davis, 1916 that describes Thomas Lewis, his property in Maine, and Judith’s descendants.   The English ancestry of the Lewis family at St. Chad’s church in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England was published in the New England Historical Genealogical Register Volume 101, 1947, pages 3 to 23 in the article “Ancestry of Thomas Lewis and his Wife Elizabeth Marshall of Saco, Maine” by Walter Goodwin Davis.  There is a great sketch of Thomas Lewis in The Great Migration Begins, by Anderson, Volume II. 

My LEWIS genealogy:

Generation 1:  Thomas Lewis, son of Andrew Lewis and Mary Herring, born about 1590 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, died before 28 April 1640 in Maine; married 29 August 1618 at St. Chad’s Church, Shrewsbury, Shropshire to Elizabeth Marshall, daughter of Roger Marshall and Katherine Mytton.  Eight children.

Generation 2: Judith Lewis, born 1626 in Shrewsbury, died 1699 in Saco, Maine;  married about 1646 in Saco to James Gibbons.  He was born about 1614 in England and died after 1692 in Maine. Eight children.

Generation 3:  Hannah Gibbons m. Robert Mace

Generation 4:  John Mace m. Sarah Frost

Generation 5:  Ithamar Mace m. Rachel Berry

Generation 6:  Abigail Mace m. Simon Locke

Generation 7: Richard Locke m. Margaret Welch

Generation 8:  Abigail M. Locke m. George E. Batchelder

Generation 9:  George E. Batchelder m. Mary Katharine Emerson

Generation 10:  Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

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

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ LEWIS of Saco, Maine", Nutfield Genealogy, posted June 25, 2016,  (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/06/surname-saturday-lewis-of-saco-maine.html: accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ IRONS of Boston, Massachusetts

IRONS / INES / IANS / IYANS / JYANS / IANSE

Matthew Irons’ origins are unknown.  It is difficult to trace him in the records because of the many inventive spellings of his surname.  However, when I pronounce IRONS with my Yankee New England accent, it becomes easy to figure out why his name was spelled so many ways.  Just drop the “R”.  

Matthew arrived as a servant to William Colbron, and  was made a freeman in Boston in 1636 as “IVES”.   He was an innkeeper in Boston, and granted eight acres at Muddy River (what is now the Fenway and Brookline).  He left a will on 30 January 1661/2 that named some of his children, and an inventory was taken on 16 April 1661.  He had eleven children in the Boston vital records and church records (baptisms) with his wife, Anne, who was probably the sister to Watertown settlers Edmund and Abraham Browne.  [Great Migration Begins, volume II, page 1059].

I descend from the eldest daughter, Elizabeth who married Richard Randall.  They settled on Cape Porpoise in what is now Saco, Maine.  One of her daughters, Sarah also married a Saco settler, Joseph Cole. Sarah Cole and her three daughters were captured by Indians on 20 August 1703 and taken to Montreal.  The children remained in Canada and were baptized by the Catholic Church. Sarah returned to Beverly, Massachusetts with her sister, Priscilla and they lived together as widows. 

  

I descend from Priscilla Randall, sister to the captive Sarah Randall Cole, who married William Preston. They had nine children, and I descend from two sons, Nehemiah and Randall Preston.  Both lived in Beverly, Massachusetts, the town where I was born on this date (Yes, today is my birthday!) 

For more information:

Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to the New World 1620 - 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume II, pages 1057 - 1059.

My Surname Saturday blog post on RANDALL  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/03/surname-saturday-randall-of-saco-maine.html

My Surname Saturday blog post on PRESTON

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

My Surname Saturday blog post on ALLEN

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2012/09/surname-saturday-allen-of-manchester.html

My Irons genealogy:

Generation 1:   Matthew Irons, born about 1613 probably in England, died before 16 April 1661 (the date of the inventory of his estate); married by about 1638 to Anne (probably Anne Browne, sister to Edmund and Abraham Browne, brothers who settled in Watertown, Massachusetts).  Eleven children.

Generation 2: Elizabeth Irons, born 15 April 1641 in Boston, baptized 18 April 1641 in Boston, died 1701 in Saco, Maine;  married to Richard Randall.  He was born about 1633 in England and died after 1713 in Saco.  Three children.

Generation 3: Priscilla Randall m. William Preston

Lineage A:

Generation 4: Nehemiah Preston m. Abigail Allen

Generation 5: Hannah Preston m. Robert Woodbury

Generation 6: Molly Woodbury m. Westley Burnham

Generation 7: Henry Burnham m. Sally Poland

Generation 8:  Sarah Ann Burnham m. Samuel Mears

Generation 9: Sarah Burnham Mears m. Joseph Gilman Allen

Generation 10: Joseph Elmer Allen m. Carrie Maude Batchelder

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

Lineage B:

Generation 4: Randall Preston m. Susanna Stone

Generation 5: William Preston m. Abigail Sargent

Generation 6: Lucy Presson m. James Andrews

Generation 7: Orpha Andrews m. Joseph Allen

Generation 8: Joseph Gilman Allen m. Sarah Burnham Mears (see above)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ IRONS  of Boston, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 24, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/surname-saturday-irons-of-boston.html : accessed [access date]).