Happy Mother's Day! My Matrilineal Line

My matrilineal line:

My Mom, she graduated from Beverly, Hospital School of Nursing

My grandmother, Gertrude Matilda Hitchings.

She was born 1 August 1905 in Beverly, Massachusetts and died 3 November 2001 in Peabody, Massachusetts. She married Stanley Elmer Allen on 14 February 1925 in Hamilton. They had seven children. 

My great grandmother, Florence Etta Hoogerzeil.

She was born 20 August 1871 in Beverly, Massachusetts and died 10 February 1941 in Hamilton, Massachusetts. She married Arthur Treadwell Hitchings on 25 December 1890 in Beverly, Massachusetts. They had eight children. 

My great great grandmother, Mary Etta Healey, seated in the front row with the baby on her lap.

She was born 19 May 1852 in Beverly, Massachusetts and died 23 July 1932 in Beverly, Massachusetts.  She married Peter Hoogerzeil on 14 March 1870 in Salem, Massachusetts.  They had six children. 

My 3x great grandmother was Matilda Weston.   

She was born October 1825 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada, and died 19 August 1909 in Beverly, Massachusetts.  She married Joseph Edwin Healey on 3 February 1848 in Canada.  They had four children.

My 4x great grandmother was Mary Clements.  She married Zadoc Weston in Nova Scotia and had two children. She was his second wife.  My matrilineal line ends here because not much is known about Mary Clements, even though she is part of of my Mayflower application lineage.  I don't know her birth date, death, marriage, or her parents names.  Her husband, Zadoc Weston, is the descendant of ten Mayflower passengers, and he is named in at least two Silver books.  Zadoc was the son of Nathan Weston and Hannah Everson of Plymouth County, Massachusetts.  His first two wives were Sarah MacDuffie and Mary Pratt, and the two Marys are part of the confusion. Altogether, Zadoc was the father of a total of eight children. 

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Happy Mother's Day! My Matrilineal Line", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 10, 2020, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2020/05/happy-mothers-day-my-matrilineal-line.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ SIMMONS of Duxbury, Massachusetts

SIMMONS / SYMONS / SIMONSON / SYMONDS

Moses Simmons or Moyses Simonson, my 9^th great grandfather, came to the Plymouth Colony as a young teenager on November 19, 1621 from Leyden, Holland in the second boat of Pilgrims on the ship Fortune.  He received a grant of land along with Philip Delano, who also arrived with him from Leyden.  He was made a freeman in 1633.  Sometime about 1635 he married his wife Sarah.  Her maiden name is still unknown.  They had seven children.

Moses signed his name with a mark, meaning he was functionally illiterate. He was made the Duxbury town surveyor of highways in 1657 and 1662, and surveyor of highways for Scituate in 1675. He was described as a yeoman, which means he was a farmer.  He has many land transactions in the Plymouth County records, and he deeded all his lands to his children before his death.  In his will he left only money to his children.  The inventory of his estate included no land [Plymouth Probate Records Volume 1, 107]

Moses’s oldest child, Rebecca, is my 8^th great grandmother. She married John Soule, son of Mayflower passenger George Soule.  Her daughter, Rebecca Soule, married Edmund Weston, and had a son, Nathan Weston who married Desire Standish, the granddaughter of two Mayflower passengers – Capt. Myles Standish and Edward Doty.

John Simmons, founder of Simmons Female College in 1899, where my daughter received her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Some Simmons resources:

History of the Simmons Family from Moses Simmons, by Lorenzo Albert Simmons, 1930 (available at Ancestry.com)

The Ancestry of John Simmons Founder of Simmons College, by Henry Sherburne Rowe, 1933

Records of the Colony of New Plymouth In New England, edited by Nathaniel B. Shurtleff, 1855

My Simmons Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Moses Simmons, born about 1605 in Leyden, Holland and died 15 September 1691 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married about 1632 to Sarah Unknown.  Seven children.

Generation 2:  Rebecca Simmons, died before 1678 in Duxbury; married about 1654 in Duxbury to John Soule, son of George Soule and Mary Beckett.  He was born about 1632 in Plymouth and died before 14 November 1707 in Duxbury. Nine children.

Generation 3:  Rebecca Soule m. Edmund Weston

Generation 4:  Nathan Weston m. Desire Standish

Generation 5:  Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson

Generation 6:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements

Generation 7:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy

Generation 8:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 9: Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ SIMMONS of Duxbury, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 13, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/10/surname-saturday-simmons-of-duxbury.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ DOTY of the Mayflower

DOTY / DOTEN / DOUGHTY / DOTIE /DOLTON

My 8^th great grandfather, Edward Doty, was a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620 to Plymouth, Massachusetts, and signed the Mayflower Compact. His origins are still unknown.  He was a servant to Stephen Hopkins during the voyage and for the first few years in Plymouth.  The first duel (with a sword and dagger) in New England was in 1621 between Edward Doty and Edward Leister, both servants to Hopkins.  Both were wounded, and both were punished by being bound with their head and feet together.  The sentence was for them to be bound for 24 hours, but within one hour “because of their great pains, and at their own and their master’s humble request, upon promise of better carriage, they are released by the governor” [A Chronological History of New England, by Thomas Prince, 1852, pages 190-191]

After this and Doty was in court many times for fighting, trespass, slander and debt.  But he married twice, prospered, had an apprentice. In his will he left land and property to his sons and wife.  In Faith’s will she left her land, willed to her from her husband, to her son John Doty.

 I descend from his daughter, Desire, my 7^th great grandmother, who married Alexander Standish, the son of Mayflower passenger Myles Standish.   Alexander also married Sarah Alden, daughter of Pilgrims John Alden and Priscilla Mullins.  Desire had eleven children by three husbands and outlived them all.  Her will written in 1723 mentions a sons William Sherman, Ebenezer Sherman, Israel Holmes, John Holmes, Thomas Standish and Ichabod Standish; and daughters Hannah Ring, Experience Standish and Desire Weston (my 6^th great grandmother). 

For the truly curious:

The Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume 1, pages 573 - 577.

The Doty - Doten Family in America, by Ethan Allen Doty, 1897. 

Mayflower Families Five Generations, Doty, published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Volume 11,  1996.

The Pilgrim Edward Doty Society:   http://www.edwarddoty.org/  

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

My DOTY genealogy:

Generation 1:  Edward Doty, born about 1599, died 23 August 1655 at Plymouth, Massachusetts; married first to unknown before 1634; married second on 6 January 1635 in Plymouth to Faith Clark, daughter of Thurston Clark and Faith Unknown.  She was born about 1619 and died before 21 December 1675 in Marshfield, Massachusetts. Faith was the mother of nine children.  She remarried to John Phillips on 14 March 1667 in Plymouth as his second wife.

Generation 2: Desire Doty, born about 1645 in Plymouth, died 22 January 1731 in Marshfield; married first to William Sherman on 25 December 1667 in Marshfield (six children); married second on 24 November 1681 in Marshfield to Israel Holmes (two children); and married third before 1689 to Alexander Standish, son of Mayflower passenger Captain Myles Standish and Barbara Unknown.  He was born about 1626 in Plymouth and died 6 July 1702 in Duxbury.  Desire and Alexander Standish had three children together. 

Generation 3:  Desire Standish, born 5 May 1689 in Marshfield, died 20 June 1766 in Plympton; married on 21 February 1716 in Plympton to Nathan Weston, son of Edmund Weston and Rebecca Soule (granddaughter of Mayflower passenger George Soule).  He was born 8 February 1689 in Plympton, and died 11 October 1754 in Plympton.  Four children.

Generation 4: Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson

Generation 5:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements

Generation 6:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m.  Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (My grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ DOTY of the Mayflower”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 22, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-doty-of-mayflower.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ SOULE of the Mayflower

SOULE /  SOOLE /  SOLE /

George Soule (about 1593 – 1680), my 9^th great grandfather, was a passenger on the ship Mayflower in 1620.  He was then a young, unmarried man, and a servant of Edward Winslow.  He signed the Mayflower Compact.

George’s wife, Mary Buckett, arrived on the ship Anne in 1623.  They were married around 1625, and by the time of the May 1627 Cattle Division he was listed with Mary and their first son, Zachariah as the eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth people in the ninth company.  They removed to “Duxburrow” or Duxbury where he lived for the rest of his life and is buried there.  During his life he served as deputy, on the grand jury, and other civic positions appointed at town meetings.   He had nine children.

I descend from George’s son, John (about 1632 – 1707) who apparently had a family rift with his sister, Patience.  In George’s 1677 will he recorded “If my son John Soule above named or his heirs or assigns or any of them shall at any time disturb my daughter Patience or her heirs or assigns or any of them in peaceable possession or enjoyment of the lands I have given her at Nemasket alias Middleboro and recover the same from her or her heirs or assigns or any of them; that then my gift to my son John Soule shall be void: and that then my will is my daughter Patience shall have all my lands at Duxbury and she shall be my sole executrix of this my last will and testament and enter into my housing lands and meadows at Duxbury.”  John married Rebecca Simmons and had nine children.

John’s daughter, Rebecca (1656 – 1732) is my 6^th great grandmother.  She married Edmund Weston about 1688 and had six children. 

Notable descendants:  actors Richard Gere and Dick Van Dyke

For more SOULE information:

The Great Migration Begins, by Richard Charles Anderson, 1995, Volume III, pages 1704-1708

Note:  Anderson reports “serious flaws” in the Mayflower Families Through Five Generations, Volume Three: George Soule, 1980.  He recommends two articles which point out the problems in The Genealogist, Volume 1, pages 225 – 258, and also in The American Genealogist, Volume 57, pages 57 – 58.

The Soule Kindred (Soule family association)  https://soulekindred.org/   

Family Tree DNA project for George Soule:

https://www.familytreedna.com/group-join.aspx?Group=Soule   

My SOULE genealogy:

Generation 1:  George Soule, born about 1593, died 22 January 1679/80 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married about 1623 in Plymouth, Massachusetts to Mary Beckett.  She was born about 1602 and died 16 December 1676 in Duxbury.  Nine children.

Generation 2:  John Soule, born about 1632 in Plymouth, died before 14 November 1707 in Duxbury; married about 1654 in Duxbury to Rebecca Simmons, daughter of Moses Simmons and Sarah Unknown.  She died before 1678 in Duxbury.  Nine children

Generation 3:  Rebecca Soule, born about 1656 in Duxbury, died 18 November 1732 in Plympton, Massachusetts; married about 1688 to Edmund Weston, son of Edmund Weston.  He was born about 1660 and died 23 September 1727 in Plympton.  Six children.

Generation 4: Nathan Weston born 8 Feburary 1689 in Plympton, Massachusetts m. Desire Standish (granddaughter of two other Mayflower passengers - Myles Standish and Edward Doty) on 21 February 1716 in Plympton.  He died on 11 October 1754 in Plympton.  Four children. 

Generation 5:  Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson.  This couple removed to Nova Scotia in the 1760s and had nine children, some born in Plympton and some born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Nathan died in Yarmouth in 1780, and Hannah died in Yarmouth in 1814. 

Generation 6:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements. He had three wives (Mary Pratt about 1785 (no children?),  Sarah Mac Duffie about 1790 (seven children?), and last Mary Clements, my 4th great grandmother, about 1824) 

Generation 7:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy. This couple was born in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, married in Canada, and removed to Beverly, Massachusetts where four children were born between 1852 and 1857.  Joseph died at the Battle of Saint Charles in Arkansas during the Civil War, when his iron-clad ship exploded. 

Generation 8:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 9:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 10: Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ SOULE of the Mayflower”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 15, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-soule-of-mayflower.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ STANDISH of the Mayflower

Myles Standish's burial ground in Duxbury, Massachusetts

STANDISH

Myles Standish (1584 – 1656), my 8^th great grandfather, was not only a passenger on the Mayflower in 1620, but he was also the Captain and leader of the Plymouth Colony military forces until his death.  He served in several civic leadership positions in the colony, such as an Assistant to the Governor on 1 January 1632/3, treasurer in 1644 and many years after, and on May 1653 he was made the Deputy Governor.   Myles Standish is also recognized as the first person to settle in the town of Duxbury, where he lived for the rest of his life.

Although you might read on the internet that Myles Standish was from Lancashire, or even that he was from the Isle of Man, his origins are still unknown.  I know that genealogists and historians are working on proving his origins now, and maybe we will have an answer or a good clue by the 2020 anniversary of the arrival of the Mayflower in New England?

Standish was a soldier in the war with Spain, and he was in Leyden, Holland when the Scrooby Separatists were there with Pastor John Robinson.  He was hired by the separatists and arrived on the Mayflower in 1620 with his wife Rose, who died that first winter when half the passengers succumbed to some mysterious illness.  His second wife Barbara arrived on the ship Anne in 1623.  They had seven children, including Alexander Standish (about 1626 – 1702), my 7^th great grandfather.

Alexander Standish married twice, both times to daughters of Mayflower passengers.  His first wife was Sarah Alden, the daughter of John Alden and Priscilla Mullens.  His second wife was Desire Doty, my ancestress, who was the daughter of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty and his wife Faith Clark.  She was the widow of both William Sherman and Israel Holmes.   Alexander was the constable in Duxbury, and a farmer. 

In the next generation I descend from Desire Standish (1689 – 1766), my 6^th great grandmother, wife of Nathan Weston.  She had four children. 

Famous Descendants:
Actor Dick Van Dyke, Vice President Dan Quayle, Revolutionary War Patriot Deborah Sampson, 

For more STANDISH information:

Mayflower Families Through Five Generations (Silver book), Volume 14, published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants, Plymouth, Massachusetts, 2007.

The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620 - 1633, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume III, pages 1741-1747.

Myles Standish Society (Standish descendants)   https://www.mylesstandishsociety.org/

My STANDISH genealogy:

Generation 1:  Myles Standish, born about 1584, died 3 October 1656 at Duxbury, Massachusetts; married first to Rose Unknown; married second to Barbara Unknown, mother of seven children.  She died after 6 October 1659.

Generation 2:  Alexander Standish, born about 1626 in Plymouth, Massachusetts, died 6 July 1702 in Duxbury; married first to Sarah Alden; married second to Desire Doty, widow of William Sherman and of Israel Holmes, daughter of Edward Doty and Faith Clark.  She was born about 1645 in Plymouth, and died 22 January 1731 in Marshfield, Massachusetts.  Three Standish children.

Generation 3: Desire Standish, born 5 May 1689 in Marshfield, and died 20 June 1766 in Plympton, Massachusetts; married on 21 February 1716 in Plympton to Nathan Weston, son of Edmund Weston and Rebecca Soule (the granddaughter of Mayflower passenger Edward Soule).  Four children.

Generation 4: Nathan Weston m. Hannah Everson

Generation 5:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements

Generation 6:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ STANDISH of the Mayflower”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted September 8, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/surname-saturday-standish-of-mayflower.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ EVERSON of Plymouth, Massachusetts

My 8^th great grandfather, John Everson, was warned out of Boston and Plymouth, Massachusetts as an early settler in Massachusetts. Because of this, there are few records about his life.  However, since several of his descendants married into Mayflower families, there has been much research into tracing his life.  Lucky John!  And lucky me!  Several details have come to light, but we still don’t know his origins, or the name of his wife.

For some reason John Everson’s children were taken from him and placed with guardians in Plymouth, Massachusetts.  There are few clues to the reasons why this happened.  In an article in the NEHGS Register “ Descendants of John Everson of Plymouth Massachusetts” by Mary Blauss Edwards, Volume 169 (2015), pages 35 and 36 several cordwainers (shoe makers) were fined in Boston in 1662 for employing John Everson (perhaps he was a shoe maker, too?) because “of ill behavior belonging to other places” and this was contrary to the town order to warn him out of town.

Next in 1668 John Everson’s 2 year old son Richard was placed with William Nelson.  In 1669 John deposed that he placed his daughter Martha with Robert Barrow of Plymouth.   In 1690 Stephen Bryant had custody of John Everson, Jr.  Also, at the 1668 Plymouth town meeting “it was… agreed that John Everson be forwith warned to depart the towne with all Convenient speed” [ Records of the Town of Plymouth, Volume 1, page 106]. 

Little John, Jr. (about 1669 – about 1729), my 7^th great grandfather, who had been placed with Stephen Bryant as a ward or apprentice grew up to live in the town of Plympton, near Plymouth.  He had several deeds for land, some bought or given from Stephen Bryant, Jr.   His wife is known only as “Elizabeth”, and they were listed in the document “First Members of the Plympton Church to Join in Full Communion”.  John, Jr. and Elizabeth had four children.  Two sons were named in deeds where he divided his land in 1724. 

I descend from the third John Everson (1703 – 1780), my 6^th great grandfather, who married Silence Staples, daughter of Benjamin Staples and Mary Cox.   Their daughter, Hannah Everson (1732 – 1814), my 5^th great grandmother, married Nathan Weston and they removed from Kingston to Yarmouth, Nova Scotia as a grantee given land in 1767.   He was a descendant of the Mayflower passengers George Soule, Edward Doty, and Myles Standish.

My EVERSON genealogy:

Generation 1:  John Everson, born about 1642, and died after 29 July 1669; married to Unknown.  At least three children.

Generation 2: John Everson, born about 1669, died between 16 June 1724 and 3 April 1729 in Plympton, Massachusetts; married Elizabeth Unknown about 1702.  She died 10 December 1737 in Kingston, Massachusetts.  Four children.

Generation 3:  John Everson, baptized on 23 May 1703 in Plympton, died 3 June 1780 in Kingston, Massachusetts; married about 14 October 1727 in Kingston to Silence Staples, daughter of Benjamin Staples and Mary Cox.  She was born 11 November 1705 in Braintree, and died 29 April 1785 in Kingston.  Seven children.

Generation 4:  Hannah Everson, born 6 July 1732 in Kingston, died 26 April 1814 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; married on 29 August 1751 in Kingston to Nathan Weston, son of Nathan Weston and Desire Standish.  He was born 11 July 1723 in Plympton and died after 29 February 1780 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Four children.

Generation 5:  Zadoc Weston m. Mary Clements

Generation 6:  Matilda Weston m. Joseph Edwin Healy

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~  EVERSON of Plymouth, Massachusetts”, Nutfield Genealogy, posted August 18, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/08/surname-saturday-everson-of-plymouth.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ WESTON of Duxbury, Massachusetts

WESTON / WESTIN  / WESTING

My 8^th great grandfather is Edmund Weston (about 1605 – 1686), who is of unknown origins.  He arrived in New England on 8 May 1635 aboard the Elizabeth & Ann.  He was a servant to John Winslow and to Nathaniel Thomas before setting in Duxbury, Massachusetts where he took the oath as a freeman in 1639.  The name of his wife is unknown.  His will names his four children.

In the second generation, my 7^th great grandfather is Edmund Weston (about 1660 – 1727) who removed to Plympton and owned a grist mill.  He married Rebecca Soule, the granddaughter of Mayflower passenger George Soule.  They had six children.

Their son, Nathan Weston (1689 – 1754) is my 6^th great grandfather.  He was listed as a laborer.  He married Desire Standish, the granddaughter of two more Mayflower passengers, Captain Myles Standish and Edward Doty.  Nathan and Desire had four children born in Plympton.

Nathan Weston, Jr. (1723 – 1780), my 5^th great grandfather, was granted 500 acres of land in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia in 1766.  He arrived in Melbourne (10 miles from Yarmouth) in 1767 and is on a list of grantees dated 7 April 1767.  His wife was Hannah Everson, and they had nine children born in Plympton and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.

Zadoc Weston (about 1761 – 1849) , my 4^th great grandfather, was probably born in Plympton, and he owned a grist mill there.  In Chester, Nova Scotia he was listed as a laborer, and he married his wife, Mary Pratt there in 1785.  His second wife was Sarah MacDuffie.  His third wife was Mary Clements, mother of my 3^rd great grandmother, Matilda Weston (1825 – 1909).

Matilda was born in Yarmouth, where she probably married my 3^rd great grandfather, Joseph Edwin Healy, who was also born there.  They had four children born in Beverly, Massachusetts.  My Weston line daughters out here, but my family stayed in Beverly until I was born there, too.  Matilda was left a widow when her husband died in 1862 at the Battle of Saint Charles, Arkansas during the Civil War. She remained a widow until her death in 1909. 

Some WESTON resources:

Mayflower Descendant, Volume 15, pages 186 – 189 (corrects an earlier sketch of Edmund Weston’s descendants in the NEHGS Register Volume 41, pages 285 – 286)

National Genealogical Society Quarterly Volume 71, pages 41 – 63

Yarmouth Genealogies, page 410

My WESTON genealogy:

Generation 1:  Edmund Weston, born about 1605 in England, died between 18 April and 3 June 1686 in Duxbury, Massachusetts; married about 1658 to Unknown.  Four children.

Generation 2:  Edmund Weston, born about 1660, died 23 September 1727 in Plympton, Massachusetts; married in 1688 to Rebecca Soule, daughter of John Soule and Rebecca Simonson.  She was born in 1656 in Duxbury, and died 18 November 1732 in Plympton.  Six children.

Generation 3:  Nathan Weston, born 8 February 1689 in Plympton, died 11 October 1754 in Plympton; married on 21 February 1716 in Plympton to Desire Standish, daughter of Alexander Standish and Desire Doty.  Four children.

Generation 4:  Nathan Weston, born 11 July 1723 in Plympton, died after 29 February 1780 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; married on 29 August 1751 in Kingston, Massachusetts to Hannah Everson, daughter of John Everson and Silence Staples.  She was born 6 July 1732 in Kingston, and died 26 April 1814 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Nine children.

Generation 5:  Zadoc Weston, born about 1761 probably in Plympton, died 1849 in Nova Scotia; married first to Sarah MacDuffie, second to Mary Pratt, and third to my 4^th great grandmother, Mary Clements.

Generation 6:  Matilda Weston, born in October 1825 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, died 19 August 1909 in Beverly, Massachusetts; married on 3 February 1848 in Canada to Joseph Edwin Healy, son of Comfort Healy and Rebecca Crosby.  He was born 12 August 1823 in Yarmouth and died 17 June 1862 at the Battle of Saint Charles, Arkansas during the Civil War.  Four children.

Generation 7:  Mary Etta Healey m. Peter Hoogerzeil

Generation 8:  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil m. Arthur Treadwell Hitchings

Generation 9:  Gertrude Matilda Hitchings m. Stanley Elmer Allen (my grandparents)

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To cite/link to this blog post: Heather Wilkinson Rojo, “Surname Saturday ~ WESTON of Duxbury, Massachusetts”,  Nutfield Genealogy, posted April 14, 2018, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/04/surname-saturday-weston-of-duxbury.html: accessed [access date]). 

Happy Mother's Day! My Mystery Matrilineal Line

My maternal line

My mother-  

Little Sister, Yours Truly and Mother

My grandmother – Gertrude Matilda Hitchings     

                b. 1 August 1905, Beverly, Massachusetts

                d. 3 November 2001, Peabody, Massachusetts

                m. 14 February 1925 to Stanley Elmer Allen in Hamilton, Massachusetts

My great grandmother -  Florence Etta Hoogerzeil

                b. 20 August 1871, Beverly, Massachusetts

                d. 10 February 1941, Hamilton, Massachusetts

                m. 25 December 1890 to Arthur Treadwell Hitchings in Beverly, Massachusetts

3x great grandmother – Mary Etta Healey

Mary Etta is seated, with the baby on her lap
Florence Etta is standing with a baby

                b. 19 May 1852, Beverly, Massachusetts

                d. 23 July 1932, Beverly, Massachusetts

                m. 14 March 1870 to Peter Hoogerzeil in Salem, Massachusetts

4x great grandmother – Matilda Weston

                b. October 1825,  Yarmouth, Nova Scotia

                d. 19 August 1909, Beverly, Massachusetts

                m.  3 February 1848 to Edward Joseph Healey

5x great grandmother – Mary CLEMENTS (or PRATT?)

               m. to Zadoc Weston

Mary, my 5^th great grandmother, is a mystery to me.  I can travel back thirteen or fourteen generations on many of the branches in my family tree, but my maternal line ends after six generations with a solid brick wall.  I've tried to smash this wall for nearly 30 years.

The Mayflower Society’s Five Generations Project Book (Silver Book, Volume XIV, Myles Standish, 2007, page 121) lists the wife of Zadoc Weston as Mary Pratt of Chester, Nova Scotia.  However, my 3x great grandmother’s death record in Beverly, Massachusetts lists her parents as Zadoc Weston and Mary Clement.  Did Mary Pratt remarry someone name Clement? Was there a completely different wife named Mary Clement?  Was the informant wrong?

Another possible clue:  Zadoc Weston, her husband was born 1761 probably in Plympton, Massachusetts, son of Nathan Weston and Hannah Everson.  Nathan is a descendant of the following Mayflower passengers:  Edward Doty, George Soule, and Myles Standish

My mtDNA maternal haplogroup is H.  Is that a clue?

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The URL for this post is

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/05/happy-mothers-day-my-mystery.html

Copyright © 2015, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Sometimes you just can't find your ancestors, unless you ask for help

The HEALEY family plot, Central Cemetery, Beverly, Massachusetts

Last year Vincent and I drove Mom around and around the Central Cemetery in Beverly, Massachusetts looking for the graves of ancestors.  I had many family members buried there in the 1800s and 1900s with names like HOOGERZEIL, HITCHINGS, HEALEY, ROBERTS and BLADES.  These are names that should have been easy to find, not like Smith or Jones.

My first mistake was in not realizing how huge this cemetery was, and how many tombstones we would have to examine.  After the fact I checked the Find A Grave website and saw that there were almost 17,000 interments at Central Cemetery.   Even though I was born in Beverly, and I knew it was a large city, I had been living in Cow Hampshire much too long! My usual method of showing up at a rural cemetery and poking around doesn't work in large urban cemeteries, so I decided to do some pre-planning for our next trip.  This is good advice for anyone searching in a city cemetery, and you can read below how it helped.

Since Central Cemetery is a municipal cemetery, I called the city hall and asked for the cemetery department.  I was lucky enough to reach a sympathetic young woman named Kerin Cotter.  Her advice to was to email her the list of names, and she would find out where they were buried.  I didn't hear from her for a while because I sent her quite a long list of about 20 names.  But it was worth the wait.

paperwork from Beverly, Massachusetts with maps of Central Cemetery

Ms. Cotter sent me a large manila envelope which included a map of the entire cemetery, plot cards for each family (seven family groups) or individual plot and section maps with the graves highlighted.  With all this paperwork and maps we set out again to Beverly and searched the cemetery.  We found all but one plot.  It wasn't simple, but it was easier with all the maps.

The Healey Family Plot

Here is the first plot we found.  As you can see, one stone is sunk, one is missing, and the large one is facing away from the paved lane.  No wonder we couldn't find this one on our own.

Plot #4 is the Healey Family Plot on this large scale map

Above is a closer view of where to look for the Healey family.

Below is the plot card

Interments

Month Day Year                   Name                 Age

                                                                        Yrs    Months

8 -22-1909      1       Matilda W. Healey   83    10

                                              2       J. Edwin Healey                        Lost at sea

Mar. 28 1947    3      L. Gertrude Healey   72  6      

Aug.  15 1951     4     John E. Healey           94   5      

Oct. 26 2001      5    Ruth Moroni               89           

My 3x great grandparents were Joseph Edwin Healey and Matilda Weston.  Joseph Edwin Healey was born 12 August 1823 in either Belfast, Maine or Yarmouth, Nova Scotia (some records list one place, other records list the other place) and he died on 17 June 1862, during the Civil War, at the Battle of Saint Charles in Arkansas.  He was in the navy, and his ship, the USS Mound City, an iron clad, was hit with bullets and the steam engine exploded, either scalding to death or drowning the men on board.  The plot card only says "lost at sea", not that he died in action during the Civil War even though he has a military or government issued headstone.

EDWARD HEALEY

U.S. NAVY

You can see that the military headstone lists "Edward Healey" and it is in nice shape.  Matilda's headstone has sunk so much that her inscription is underground. She died in 1909, having lived as a widow for 47 years.

The other people on the card are John Edwin Healey, my 2nd great uncle, and his wife Lizzie Gertrude Woodbury.  Their daughter, Ruth, who was born about 1913 is also listed as a cremation and her remains must be interred here in the spot indicated, but there was no stone.  The large stone is in nice shape, and the inscription faces away from the road, not in the same direction as the military stone.

HEALEY

1857  JOHN HEALEY 1954

HIS WIFE

1874   L. GERTRUDE 1947

Click here to read more about John Healey:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2009/11/abig-appetite-he-must-have-loved.html

Click here to read about my Civil War ancestor, Joseph Edwin Healey (3 part series, including a boo boo of epic proportions by the City of Beverly, Massachusetts)
 http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/07/serendipity-week-2-civil-war-hero.html

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/healey-square-beverly-massachusetts.html

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/11/healy-square-beverly-revisited.html

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The URL for this post is
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2014/09/tombstone-tuesday-sometimes-you-just.html

Copyright (c) 2014, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Weston Babies buried in Reading, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Laurel Hill Cemetery in Reading, Massachusetts

In memory of 2 children

of Mr. John and Mrs. Sarah

Weston

Peace died                 Hope died 8

1 Jan. 1799                    Jan. 1799

Aged 10 days            Aged 17 days

I find the little portraits of these babies to be very touching.  They look like they are in little coffins.  According to the Reading vital records these twin babies were born on 22 December 1798.

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Copyright 2013, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Surname Saturday ~ Jones of Watertown, Massachusetts

JONES

Unfortunately for me, I have several JONES families in my family tree, and all were genealogist's nightmares, except for this JONES line, which has been well documented. 

Lewis Jones was one of the first to settle in Watertown, Massachusetts arriving with Ann, his wife, arrived with her family on 15 April 1635 on the ship “Increase”.  They joined the church of Reverend John Eliot, the pastor to the Indians.  The Joneses lived in Roxbury and then in the part of Watertown that is now Belmont, Massachusetts. 

His son, my 8x great grandfather, Josiah Jones, served in King Philip’s War and was made the captain of the Watertown militia.  He removed to Weston, Massachusetts and became a church deacon. 

WILL OF LEWIS JONES

Lewis Jones died April 11, 1684, will made Jan. 7, 1678.

In the name of God Amen, I, Lewis Jones, in Watertown, in New England, being at p'sent of p'fect understanding and memory, though weak of body, committing my soul into the hands of Almighty God and my body to decent buryall, in hope of a Ressurrection into eternal life, through the Merrits and power of Jesus Christ my most gracious Savior and Redeemer; do thus dispose of that estate which God has graciously given unto me--; Considering the weak and helpless condition of my dear wife, Ann Jones, and of my son, Suball Jones, my will and pleasure is, that the whole of my estate (after the discharge of my debts and my buriall) be improved for their supply, the benefits of it, and also the principal, if they stand in need thereof. And my further will and pleasure is y't when the Lord shall please to remove either of them by death, that then that which remaineth shall be wholly to the use of the other so long as either of them shall live; & if the Lord shall so dispose that anything remaineth after their death, that when what remaineth be divided, two parts to my daughter, Lydia Whitney, if she be then living, & one part to my son Josiah; but if Lydia be dead, that w't remaineth be divided equally to my son Josiah, if living, or such of his children as shall be living, and the children of my daughter Lydiah that shall then be living, & of this my last will, I do constitute my son Josiah my sole executor and do earnestly desire my loving friend and Brother John Stone to be overseer, to assist my son in the managing of ye estate so as may be best for the comfort of my poor wife and child aforesd, and in confirmation hereof I have hereunto set my Marke and seale  The Marke -??- & seal of

Lewis Jones.

This 7th day of ye 11th, 1678

A Codicil annexed to ye above sd will, 19, 2, 1682 (after

the death of the wife of the testator):

As a further addition to my last Will and Testament, I do nominate and appoynt my assured friends, Simon Stone & John Stone of Watertown, to be guardians unto my son

Suball Jones, to whose prudence and wisdom I do commit & send the governm't of my sd son, and the disposal of all that estate as well real and p'sonal to my sd son bequeathed: & I do hereby authorize and empower sd Guardians, or the longest liver of them, to make sale of any part of my house and lands as there shall appear to them needful for the belief of my sd son Shuball Jones

his mark

x

Lewis Y Jones

x

The above will was proved June 17, 1684.

Jonath. Remington, Clericus.

My lineage from Lewis Jones:

Generation 1:  Lewis Jones, born 1605 and died 11 April 1684 in Watertown, Massachusetts; married in England to Anna.   Four children.

Generation 2:  Josiah Jones, born 2 October 1643 in Roxbury, Massachusetts, died 9 October 1714 in Watertown; married on 2 October 1667 to Lydia Treadway, daughter of Nathaniel Treadway and Sufferana Haynes, born 1 September 1649 and died 18 September 1743.  Ten children.

Generation 3: Anna Jones, born 28 July 1684 and died 1736; married before 1704 to Joseph Mixer, son of Isaac Mixer and Rebecca Garfield, born 9 August 1674 in Watertown, died 10 December 1723 in Watertown.  Nine children.

Generation 4. Joseph Mixer m. Mary Ball

Generation 5. Lucy Mixer m. Andrew Munroe

Generation 6. Andrew Munroe m. Ruth Simonds

Generation 7. Luther Simonds Munroe m. Olive Flint

Generation 8. Phebe Cross Munroe m. Robert Wilson Wilkinson

Generation 9. Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

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

Divided We Stand: Watertown, Massachusetts 1630 – 1680 by Roger Thompson, Amherst, Mass:  University of Massachusetts Press, 2001

Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settlers of Watertown, Massachusetts, by Henry Bond, Boston: Little, Brown, & Company, 1855

History of the Jones Family, by William Henry Jones, 1834 manuscript at the New England Historic Genealogical Society MSS C 5012 (Genealogy with charts of the descendants of Josiah Jones and his wife Lydia Treadway)

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Copyright 2012, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Serendipity Week #2 A Civil War Hero

This past week, several interesting emails and comments have led me to make several interesting genealogical breakthroughs in my research.  Today I am focusing on the second story- # 1.) about a painting, 2.)  a Civil War Veteran,  and  3.) a letter between two teenage girl and boy in the 1840s.

Last week I received an interesting email from Michael Collins, the Commissioner of Public Services and Engineering for the City of Beverly, Massachusetts.  He had found my blog stories about my Great Great Grandfather Joseph Edwin Healey and had some information for me that was quite exciting.

I had an 1860 Federal Census from Beverly that listed Edwin Healey as a mariner, living with his wife and family.  In the 1870 census I couldn't find him alive, and his wife Matilda was listed as a widow living alone.  I couldn't find any Joseph Healey serving in the Civil War from Massachusetts, and I thought that perhaps he had died at sea, since there were no death records in Beverly or in the Massachusetts Vital Records.  I had many family members who had died at sea, and they were not found in town or state records. 

However, Mr. Collins said that Joseph Edwin Healey enlisted in the Navy in 1861, and he was killed aboard the USS Mound City at the Battle of Saint Charles, White River, Arkansas in 1862.   As the Public Services Commissioner he said "My quest is to document the veteran squares in the city of Beverly and when I came to Healey Square, I turned up the details here.  The intersection of Cabot and Judson is known as Healey Square.  This is right next to the Cabot Theater.  I hope I have the right person.  If so, you should know that he was honored as a hero.  My goal is to raise awareness of the veterans for whom we have dedicated squares.  In this case I would be replacing the existing wooden sign with a new cast sign.  I hope in the end to have a web page dedicated to each square."

Mr. Collins also sent a photo of Joseph Edwin Healey's civil war tombstone.  I never knew this existed, since I had no death record to point to a cemetery.  He was also buried next to a tombstone that read "MOTHER" (I assume this was Matilda?), and his son and daughter-in-law.  All this was nearby to Healy Square, which, another big surprise, was very close to where the family lived on 43 Bartlett Street in Beverly!  My mother knew her own grandmother, who grew up in this house, and no-one ever spoke about Healey Square being named for a family member!

Mr. Collins has a Veteran's agent, Jerry Guilebbe,  researching the archives in Worcester for the Civil War records.  The cemetery lists Joseph as "lost at sea, GAR".    I was close thinking he was lost at sea, but I never knew he was lost during the Civil War.  On a list of the casualties for the USS Mound City, he appears to have been listed as "Edward Healey", just like on his tombstone.

If this isn't enough serendipity for one story, it turns out that Mr. Collins worked in the same city department as my Uncle Don (from the story about Beverly's Lynch Park).   His efforts to research and document all the Veteran's Squares in the City of Beverly are a wonderful project.  He also told me "For the last several months I have had my staff scanning cemetery records and creating a database and that helped here.  We are back to the early 1900s.  Should make everyone's life easier when done."  I hope to find out if that database will be available to the public, since Beverly was founded in the early 1600s and there might be hundreds of thousands of descendants interested in that cemetery information!

I hope to get to Beverly soon to see the Healey family plot, visit Healey Square and perhaps see if the local library has any newspaper records of the story behind Great Great Grandpa's Veteran's Square sign.  Thanks to Mike Collins and Jerry Guilebbe, I have found a part of my genealogy that is a nice surprise to my whole family!

Genealogy:

Generation 1: William Hele, born about 1713 in Cornwood, Devonshire, England, died 18 November 1683 in Cambridge, Massachusetts; married on 15 August 1661 to Phebe Green, daughter of Bartholomew Green and Elizabeth Unknown, born about 1629 (one of five wives!)  Four children by Phebe, thirteen children in all. 

Generation 2: Paul Healy, born about 1664 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, died 3 December 1717 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts; married about 1695 to Elizabeth Unknown.  Fourteen children.

Generation 3: Ebenezer Healy, born 21 January 1708 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts, died 14 February 1777 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia; married first to Grace Bullen, daughter of John Bullen and Sarah Underwood, born about 1727 in Brimfield, Massachusetts. Eight children. 

Generation 4: Comfort Haley, born 1754 in Brimfield, Massachusetts, died 15 May 1821 in Chebogue, Nova Scotia; married on 21 July 1777 to Abigail Allen, daughter of Jeremiah Allen and Eunice Gardner, born 23 July 1753 in Manchester, Massachusetts, died 16 June 1799.  Seven children. 

Generation 5: Comfort Haley, born 9 October 1787 in Chebogue, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, died 3 December 1874 in Chebogue; married on 12 August 1808 in Chebogue to Rebecca Crosby, daughter of Ebenezer Crosby and Elizabeth Robinson, born 19 December 1789 in Yarmouth.  Eleven children. 

Generation 6: Joseph Edwin Healey, born 12 August 1823 in Belfast, Maine or Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, died 19 June 1862, killed when the USS Mound City was sunk at the Battle of Saint Charles, Arkansas; married on 3 February 1848 to Matilda Weston, daughter of Zadoc Weston and Mary Clements, born October 1825 in Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, died 19 August 1909 in Beverly, Massachusetts.  Four children.

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo