An English child born in a Spanish Village, 1811- Amanuensis Monday

A page from the baptism record book, San Sebastian Church, Puerto Seguro, Salamanca province, Spain
The bottom right baptism record is for an English child named Julian Smith
click to enlarge

I hope you are enjoying the record books and archival documents you use to research your family history.  Take time to peruse the other names and information in the papers.  Sometimes you will find interesting things that, although not directly related to your family, will help you to understand the location and time in which your ancestors lived.

I found this interesting entry in the book of baptisms for the village of Puerto Seguro, in the province of Salamanca, Spain. In 1811, and before the Spanish War of Independence (against Napoleonic France) this village was known as Barba de Puerco (literally "Pig’s Beard" in English)!  Puerto Seguro is located on the Portuguese border, and there were some fierce battles all along this region between English and French troops.

Transcription in Spanish:

“En el lugar de Barba de Puerco en dies y ocho dias
del mes de Diciembre de 1811
yo el infraescripto Cura Ecónomo de esta parroquia
bauticé solemenemente a Julian que nació el veinte
y tres de Septiembre en un Pueblo de Portu-
gal llamada Mallada Sorda, Obispado de Piñel, hijo
de Josef Smith, natural de Oxford jurisdiction de ---------
-------y de Ysabel Smith, natural de Stanmanheh.
Nieto paterno de James Smith y de Nancy Smith y Materno
de Eduard Smith y Ysabel Smith, todos de Reino de
Ynglaterra, fueron Padrinos: D. Manuel Alvarez y
Dña. Juana Hernández Escobar, Españoles y vecinos de de éste,
les advertí a obligación espiritual y parentesco. Fueron testigos:
Lucas Alamo y Juan Francisco Bernal, y en fe de ello yo firmo,
fecha ut supra
Manuel Escudero Corral.

los contenidos en esta partida son Yngleses y se bautizó a instancia de los Padres que fueron católicos"


The translation reads:

“In the place of Pig’s Beard on the 18th day
of the month of December of the year one thousand eight hundred eleven
I, the undersigned Cura Economo of this parish
Solemnly baptized Julian, who was born
The 23rd of September of this same year, in the town of Port-
gal called Mallada Sorda, diocese of Pinel, son
Of Josef Smith, native of Oxford, jurisdiction of ---------
And of Ysabel Smith, native of Stowmarket,
Paternal Grandson of James Smith and Nancy Smith, and maternal
Edward Smith and Ysabel Smith, of the Kingdom of
England, godparents are Don Manuel Alvarez and
Doña Jauna Hernandez Escobar, Spaniards and residents of this place
who were advised of their spiritual obligation and kinship. Witnesses were
Lucas Alamo and Juan Francisco Bernal, and in faith I sign
Date ut supra
Manuel Escudero Corral

The margin note reads: “the member of this entry are English and the baptized is from parents who were Catholics”

This entry was found in the book of baptisms for San Sebastian church, as I looked through it for the baptisms for my mother-in-law’s side of the family. First of all, what was an English family doing in “Pig’s Beard” in 1811 during the war? And why did they have some important Spanish citizens serve as godparents to their infant? There was a second English child in the same baptism book, listed on 21 December 1811, which made me think that this baptism was not a fluke. It appears that there was a close relationship between the British and the people of “Pig’s Beard”. I wonder if any of my husband’s ancestors knew some of these Englishmen.

With a little research I found that the British were involved in what they call the Peninsular War (1809 – 1814), the same war that the Spaniards call the War of Independence. In February 1810 the British had occupied “Pig’s Beard” and the French had undertaken a large effort to free the village and the nearby walled city of Ciudad Rodrigo. The Duke of Wellington was involved with this large campaign. By August the invasion of Almeida, Portugal had begun. “Pig’s Beard” was disputed between Spain and Portugal until the borders' treaty signed on 29 September 1864. In 1916 “Pig’s Beard” became the village of Puerto Seguro (literally “Secure Door”).

In the book “Dispatches of Field Marshall the Duke of Wellington, K. G.” [Volume 5 by Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, London, 1852, pages 3- 18] I can see that he was still sending letters from the area of Ciudad Rodrigo by 15 May 1811, during the time period of this baptism. Obviously, the British must have maintained a large force of troops to occupy the area. Perhaps Mr. Joseph Smith was an officer, and some leading citizens of “Pig’s Beard” (designated by the titles Don and Doña) served as godparents to his son? This book was found online at a Google Book Search and is entirely readable and searchable.

There are 4,193,113 images available at Familysearch.org for Spanish Church Records, 1500 – 1930. All are fully visible scanned images from parish church books. If your family comes from one of the following provinces (Albacete, Avila, Barcelona, Ciudad Real, Gerona, Murcia, or Salamanca) you will find this is a gold mine of information viewable from your own computer. There are many other records available online for Spain, or on microfilm you can view at your local history library. But this new group of online images is where I have been finding gold nuggets for our family tree this year.

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For more information:

http://www.puertoseguro.org// the village of Puerto Seguro website, with history, all in Spanish

http://familysearch.org/ The LDS church genealogy website

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Three Generations and some Apple Blossoms

It's Apple Blossom Time in Londonderry (usually near Mother's Day)

Me, Mom and Daughter

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Two Joan Antrobuses

Joan Antrobus was born about 1592 in St. Albans, England to Joan Arnold and Walter Antrobus. She was married twice, First to Thomas Lawrence (1589 – 1625) on 23 October 1609 and had six children, and she married second to John Tuttle on before 1629.  Joan is the mother of three of my 9x Great Grandparents!

The Tuttles immigrated onboard the Planter, which left London in April 1635 for Boston. There exists an actual transcription of the Planter passenger list which shows that they traveled with her widowed mother (the other Joan Antrobus), John’s widowed mother, four of Joan’s children from her first marriage, four more children from her second marriage, John’s brothers Richard and William with their families, and several servants. Most ships did not keep passenger lists in the 1600s, and if they did, few survived. [ see “The Founders of New England”, The New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 14, page 304 for the passenger list]

Obviously, from this rare record, you can see that this family group was wealthier than the average immigrant family. According to Gary Boyd Roberts and in other books about Americans of royal descent, the Lawrence family descended from nobility including the English Plantagenets. They lived well off here, and prospered with lots and lots of descendents.

Even though she came from a privileged background, I can’t imagine coming to America with all those children in tow! Even with servants and two grandmothers, it must have been an interesting voyage. I’d like to know that Joan lived in Massachusetts long enough to see her grandchildren prosper, but it is thought she went to Northern Ireland, where her husband died on 30 December 1656 in Carrickfergus. She wrote from there about his death to the children in Ipswich on 6 April 1657, but there is no further record of her in Ireland or New England.

This is one of my only ancestors who actually passed through Northern Ireland. Many Scots setters lived there for several generations and eventually many found their way to the New World. During the Great Rebellion of 1641 Carrickfergus was a refuge for Protestants. It was taken by the Scots that year by a General Robert Munro, and remained a Scots city until the restoration of Charles II in 1660.

And what about her mother, Joan Arnold Antrobus? She was baptized on 3 June 1571 in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, England, and she married Walter Antrobus/Anterbus on 8 February 1587. When the planter sailed for Boston she was about 64 years old. There is no further record of her in Massachusetts. I don’t know if she decided to stay in England, died on board the ship on the way, or survived the journey and later died in Massachusetts. Either way, she was a brave woman to consider such a journey in 1635. John’s widowed mother, Isabel Wells Toothill/ Tuttle is thought to have died in 1635 in New Haven Connecticut.

Genealogy:

Generation 1:  Joan Arnold, daughter of John Arnold and Marie Unknown, born before 3 June 1571 in St. Albans, England, died probably in Massachusetts; married on 8 Feburary 1587 to Walter Anterbus, born about 1555, died 5 April 1614 in St. Albans.  Walter married also Barbara Lawrence. Two Children: Joan and William

Generation 2:  Joan Atrobus, born about 1592, died after 29 January 1661 probably in Northern Ireland; married first on 23 October 1609 in St. Albans to Thomas Lawrence (six children including my 9x Great Grandmother Jane Lawrence who married George Giddings on 20 Feb 1634 in St. Albans);  married second on 1627 in St. Albans to John Tuttle ( another six children including my 9x Great Grandfather Simon Tuthill who married Sarah Cogswell about 1663, and also my 9x Great Grandmother Mary Tuttle who married Thomas Burnham in June 1645).

For more information on Joan (Antrobus) (Lawrence) Tuttle see:

The Great Migration Biographical Sketches, by Robert Charles Anderson (available online at the NEHGS website http://www.newenglandancestros.org/ , previously available as a book)

"Focus on the Planter”, Great Migration Newsletter, Volume 15, number 4 – Volume 16. #1, by Robert Charles Anderson, online at http://www.greatmigration.org/

Migrations and the Origins of the English Atlantic World, by Alison Games, Harvard University Press, 2001

A passenger list of the Planter from the Winthrop Society http://www.winthropsociety.com/ships/planter.htm

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

A Mystery Branch of the Wilkinson Family Tree?

a page from the Sullivan, Maine town records

A few years ago I found the following reference to some Wilkinsons living in Maine during a Google Book Search. It was one of the first times I used Google Books, and I was amazed at the references to a branch of Wilkinsons living not near New Hampshire, but way down east near Mount Desert Island. Using these clues, I went to census and vital records to piece the family together to see if they connected to the Thomas and Samuel Wilkinsons of Rockingham County. (see the links above under the heading for these Wilkinson lineages)

Elliott, Charles W., "John Gilley- One of the Forgotten Millions," Originally published in 1899 in the Century Magazine and in book form in 1904 by the American Unitarian Association under the title of "JOHN GILLEY, Maine Farmer and Fisherman".

Part Three
When cold weather put an end to the fishing season, John Gilley, having provided all necessary articles for his house, sailed over to Sullivan, distant about eighteen miles, in his fishing-vessel and brought back to the home on Sutton’s Island Harriet Bickford Wilkinson, the schoolmistress from Sullivan. The grandfather of Harriet Wilkinson came to Sullivan from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, in 1769, and her mother’s family came from York, Maine. The marriage took place on December 25, 1854, when John was thirty-two and Harriet was twenty-five; and both entered with joy upon married life at their own island farm. She was a pretty woman, but delicate, belonging to a family which was thought to have a tendency to consumption. In the summer of 1855 he spent about half his time on this same vessel which had brought home his wife, and made a fair profit on the fishing; and the next year he sometimes went on short trips of shore fishing, but that was the last of his going away from the farm. Whatever fishing he did afterward he did in an open boat not far from home, and he went coasting no more. A son was born to them, but lived only seven months; and soon the wife’s health began to fail. A wife’s sickness, in the vast majority Of families, means first, the loss of her labor in the care and support of the household, and secondly, the necessity of hiring some woman to do the work which the wife cannot do. This necessity of hiring is a heavy burden in a family where little money is earned, although there may be great comfort so far as food, fire, and clothing are concerned. His young wife continuing to grow worse, John Gilley tried all means that were possible to him to restore her health. He consulted the neighboring physicians, bought quantities of medicine in great variety, and tried in every way that love or duty could suggest to avert the threatening blow. It was all in vain. Harriet Gilley lived only two years and a half after her marriage, dying in June, 1857. At this period, his expenses being large, and his earning power reduced, John Gilley was forced to borrow a little money. The farm and the household equipment had absorbed his whole capital.

On April 27, 1857, there came from Sullivan, to take care of Harriet, Mary Jane Wilkinson, her cousin. This cousin was only twenty-one years of age; but her father was dead, and her mother had married again. She had helped her mother till she was almost twenty-one years of age, but now felt free. Until this cousin came, nieces and a sister of John Gilley had helped him to take care of his dying wife. The women relatives must always come to the aid of a family thus distressed. To help in taking care of the farm and in fishing, John Gilley habitually hired a man all through the season, and this season of 1857 the hired man was his wife’s brother. When Harriet Gilley died -there was still the utmost need of a woman on the farm; so Mary Jane Wilkinson stayed during the summer and through the next winter, and before the end of that winter she had promised to marry John Gilley. There were at that time eight houses on Sutton’s Island, and more permanent residents than there are now. Mary Jane Wilkinson was fond of the care of animals and of farm duties in general. She found at the farm only twelve hens, a cow, and a calf, and she set to work at once to increase the quantity of live stock; but in April, 1858, she returned to her mother’s house at West Gouldsboro’, that she might prepare her wardrobe and some articles of household linen. When, later in the season, John Gilley came after Mary Jane Wilkinson at Jones’s Cove, he had to transport to Sutton’s Island, besides Mary Jane’s personal possessions, a pair of young steers, a pig, and a cat. They were married at Northeast Harbor by Squire Kimball, in the old tavern on the west side of the harbor, in July, 1858; and then these two set about improving their condition by unremitting industry and frugality, and an intelligent use of every resource the place afforded. The new wife gave her attention to the poultry and made butter whenever the milk could not be sold as such. "

1860 Federal Census, Cranberry Island, Maine
John Gilley, age 38, farmer, b. Maine
Mary J., age 24, b. Maine
Harriet M., age 1, b. Maine
Delphina Bunker, age 15, b. Maine

1870 Federal Census, Cranberry Island, Maine
John Gilley, age 55, eel fishing, b. Maine
Mary J, age 33, keeping house, b. Maine
Hattie M, age 11, at school, b. Maine
Laura A., age 8, at school, b. Maine
Mary E, age 3, at home, b. Maine
Pung, John, age 11, at school, b. Maine

1880 Federal Census, Cranberry Island, Maine
Gilley, John, age 58, farmer, b. Maine, father b. Maine, mother b. Maine
Mary J. age 33, wife, keeping house, b. Maine, father b. Maine, mother b. Maine
Harriet M, age 21, daughter, at home, b. Maine, father b. Maine, mother b. Maine
Laura A, age 17, daughter, at home, bb. Maine, father b. Maine, mother b. Maine
Mary A, age 13, daughter, at school, b. Maine, father b. Maine, mother b. Maine
Pung, John, ae 21, servant, laborer, b. Maine, father b. Maine, mother b. Maine

"and brought back to the home on Sutton's Island Harriet Bickford Wilkinson, the schoolmistress from Sullivan. The grandfather of Harriet Wilkinson came to Sullivan from Portsmouth, New Hampshire in 1769, and her mother's family came from York, Maine. The marriage took place on December 25, 1854, when John was thirty-two and Harriet was twenty-five..."  from "The Durable Satisfactions of Life" by Charles William Eliot, Ayer Publishing, 1905.

The Genealogy:

Generation 1: Luke Wilkinson, born 1762 in New Hampshire, died 1845 in Hancock, Sullivan County, Maine; married Abigail Unknown, born 1767 and died 1842. (dates from gravestones at the Simpson Cemetery, Hancock)

Generation 2:
1. Joshua Wilkinson, born 23 August 1795 in New Castle, Maine, died 11 November 1867 in Sullivan; married on 22 October 1823 in Sullivan to Hannah Johnson, born 5 August 1806 in Sullivan, died March 1859 in Sullivan, the daughter of Stephen Johnson and Hannah Bickford.

2. Ruth Wilkinson, born 1791, died 1867, no further information

3. Joseph Wilkinson, born 1801, died 1852; married Mary Unknown, no further information.

4. Harriet Wilkinson, born 1805, no further information

5. Daniel Wilkinson, born 1809, no further information

Generation 3 (Children of Joshua Wilkinson and Hannah Johnson):
1. Abigail Wilkinson born 23 September 1824 in Sullivan, died 1865, no further information

2. Charles Wilkinson, born 1827, died 1853, no further information

3. Harriet Bickford Wilkinson, born 24 January 1830, died 21 June 1857 on Baker’s Island, Maine; married on 25 December 1854 to John Gilley, born 22 February 1822 on Great Cranberry Island, Maine and died on 12 October 1896 at sea, son of William Gilley and Hannah Boynton Lurvey. Four children: Hattie M. Gilley (married a Springer), Laura A. Gilley (married a Donnell), Mary E. Gilley (married Eugene Parker Stanley), and Charles Walter Gilley.   John Gilley married second on 18 July 1858 in Northeast Harbor, Maine to Mary Jane Wilkinson, born about 1830 in Sullivan, daughter of Joseph Wilkinson and Charlotte Ash.  She was described in the Century article as a "cousin" to Harriett B. Wilkinson.

4. Hannah Wilkinson, born 1832 in Sullivan, no further information

5. Daniel L. Wilkinson, born 1835 in Sullivan, died 27 October 1862 while serving in the Civil War at Camp Stetson, Washington DC; married on 23 March 1862 in Sullivan to Huldah Wasgatt, born 4 August 1830, died 9 December 1862, daughter of Unknown Wasgatt and Hulda Buckley. One child: Charles Daniel Wilkinson, born 7 November 1862 in Sullivan and died 29 March 1888 in Reading, Pennsylvania.

6. Joshua B. Wilkinson, born 7 August 1837, died 3 December 1908 in Rockport, Maine; married about 1863 to Edith A. Jellison, born 1845 and died after 1908, daughter of Sylvanus Jellison and Catherine Merchant. Three children: Annie Wilkinson born 1866, Willard A. Wilkinson, born Dec 1868, died before 1944 in Rockport, Maine; married on 31 October 1895 in Rockport to Bertha L. Parsons, and Blanche Wilkinson, born 1873

7. Eliza Wilkinson, born 1843, died 1846.

8. Eleanor Elizabeth Wilkinson, born 11 March 1850, died 7 May 112 in Boston; married on 4 April 1865 in Prospect Harbor, Maine to Allen Moore Cole, son of Abijah Cole and Rebecca Simonton, born 11 March 1830 in Gouldsboro, Maine, died 11 May 1890 in Gouldsboro. Five children: Charlotte Sargent Cole, Jennie Wright Cole, Rebecca C. Cole, Winnefred Cole, and Allen Wilkinson Cole.

Why do I think Luke Wilkinson is related to Thomas Wilkinson? He lived in New Castle where he was enumerated in the 1790 Federal Census. In the New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers I found a reference in Volume 12, pages 696-7 where he and Thomas both signed a petition to raise money by lottery to build a bridge in New Castle, New Hampshire. He was enumerated in Portsmouth in 1800, in Hancock in the 1810, 1820 and 1830 Federal Censuses, which matches up with the story from the Century Magazine. More study is needed on Luke Wilkinson to find the relationship, which could be brothers or cousins to Thomas and/or Samuel Wilkinson.

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For more information see:

The Gilley Family of Mount Desert Island, by William Otis Sawtelle, published in Spragues Journal of American History Vol 12 # 1&2.

http://api.ning.com/files/0xC-5W72P2eo3GZ36el9OIsdQcZX7dEgs7a2mJsQzhM_/Wilkinson.jpg a page from the Sullivan town records listing the Joshua Wilkinson family.

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "A Mystery Branch of the Wilkinson Family Tree?", Nutfield Genealogy, posted May 12, 2011, ( https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/mystery-branch-of-wilkinson-family-tree.html: accessed [access date]).

I'm going to SCGS Jamboree!

Yippeee!

Even though I was away and incommunicado in Spain, on April 29th Thomas MacEntee, on his Genealogy BlogTalk Radio Show, announced that I was the winner of a free registration to the Southern California Genealogical Society Jamboree!  (Please see the right sidebar for a link the Jamboree website and to archived versions of this wonderful internet genealogy radio show).

With the luck of free registration, some Marriott points and frequent flyer miles I will be attending this conference in June.  Stay posted, and I promise to not be incommunicado while I'm in Burbank.  I'll be posting stories from Jamboree, and keep everyone updated with the latest genealogy news from the conference.

Message #1- I'm already loving the Jamboree 2011 app for my iPhone!  I can't tell you all the ways I tried to put together a Rube Goldberg style version of this app on my iPhone for the 2011 NERGC conference in April using Google Documents, scanned schedules and links to the NERGC website.  This new app will blow your mind!

Thanks, Thomas and SCGS!

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Madrid's Antique Book Fair - Not so Wordless Wednesday

Madrid's Feria del Libro

Last week was the opening day of the "Feria del Libro" in Madrid, Spain.  It will run for most of the month of May.  There were old and new books for sale all along the Paseo de la Castellana, in typical European style book kiosks.  Hubby had a great afternoon walking the Castellana  between Plaza Colon and the Cibeles fountain whilst perusing the books and art prints.

What was disturbing was the number of old books from the 1700s and earlier that were sold in pieces (by the page), and also very old (1500s? - 1600s) handwritten court records sold in binders.  These pages were ripped or cut right out of books. Who knows how the court records were acquired?  Probably the sum of the price of individual pages equals more than the price of the book.  I suppose that people like framing the pages to look at the print or calligraphy, but the genealogist in me shudders at the idea. 

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Clark Gravestones - Tombstone Tuesday

These stones are located at the Forest Hill Cemetery, Derry, New Hampshire

 HERE LYES THE BODY OF

MR. JAMES CLARCK.  HE DIED

OCTOBER 15 1758 IN THE 77th

YEAR OF HIS AGE  ALSO THE

BODY OF MRS ELISABETH

CLARCK WIFE TO THE ABOVE

SHE DIED JULY 9 1732 IN THE

55th YEAR OF HER AGE

HERE LYES

THE BODY OF MRS MARGARET

CLERK WIFE TO MR. JAMES

CLERK  SHE DIED

APRIL 9, 1762

AGED 63 YEARS

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Off the Grid, In more ways than one!

Last week we were in Spain. It wasn’t a vacation, but we were there for family reasons. My husband is the only child, and his parents live over 3,000 miles away in Madrid. As they age, and as health problems come up, it has been a challenge figuring out how to handle life’s little problems, and a puzzle working out how we will handle everything in the future. Right now we are struggling with a Parkinson’s disease diagnosis, a recent fall, and all those other little things that come along with aging parents. But, life is good, and we have come up with some solutions for the present time. We’ll see what the next few years will bring us…

And so, as we set off to Europe, I had lots of plans for staying connected. After all, I had an iPhone, and there are internet cafés and WiFi everywhere, right? I had the best intentions of keeping up this blog, and sending regular messages home, and keeping up with email… and then life’s little realities hit again. Our iPhones don’t work in Europe, and most of the free WiFi in Madrid requires registering with your national identification card (which only Spaniards have). We had plans to connect the grandparents with a new laptop so we could Skype back and forth across the Atlantic, but there was no easy way to get a modem installed within our one week in Madrid. But we did get our questions answered for some preparatory work to be done before our next trip (phone jacks will need to be installed by an electrician ahead of our next visit, arrangements made with an internet carrier ahead of time, etc).

So I decided to just enjoy our visit with family- off the grid. No checking email, no posting to the blog, no checking Facebook. And not only that, I was at a disadvantage when it came to TV and newspaper because my Spanish is poor and I was tired of asking Hubby to translate. So with the Royal Wedding, Bin Laden’s death, and all the other news that happened last week I just absorbed a little and enjoyed not worrying about the media. We didn’t travel to villages for genealogy research, nor did we visit the National archives.

Four generations playing dominos together!

If I had been home, all these little news stories would have had me running to Google, watching CNN, buying newspapers... Instead I decided to spend the time talking with relatives, poring over old family photos, visiting cousins, and just enjoying life’s little moments. I was in Madrid! It was time to enjoy trips to the pub for tapas, taking siestas, walking the neighborhood during the evening paseos, and long games of dominos. May is lovely in Madrid! As a genealogist, this was invaluable information I was gleaning from cousins, elderly people, and even from the neighbors at the pub. Without a single trip to an archive or church registry, I was able to fill in the details about life in Spain and in the family without adding a date to the family tree. ¡There is always mañana!

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo