The Ship “John and Sara” Prisoners of War, 1651

In 1650 the Scots sided with the monarchy in the English Civil War, and fought against the Puritans in the Battle of Worcester.  Thousands were captured as prisoners of war, and forced to march to London.  Oliver Cromwell sent these undesirables to the New World to be sold into forced servitude.  They died at a rate of about 30 a day until the ships left London, when the first ship “Unity” left with 150 prisoners.  The second ship was the “John and Sara” and it carried 272 men to Boston.

Some of the men of the “John and Sara” were sold to work at hard labor at the Saugus Ironworks, and others to sawmills in New Hampshire and Maine.  The average length of servitude was 6 to 8 years.  They were sold by Thomas Kemble of Charlestown to the highest bidders.  This statement of goods recorded on 8 November 1651 gives us the passenger list for the “John and Sara”.  The Gaelic names of some of the prisoners were written phonetically by the British, for example Saint Clair became Sinkler, Forbes became Furbush, etc. which are surnames still found in New England.

My ancestor, William Munroe, is the Monrow listed below with the torn first name.  He arrived with at least one brother and was sold into servitude in Menotony, now Arlington, Massachusetts, to millwright John Adams.   He first appears on the records in Cambridge in 1657 as receiving a fine for not having a ring in the nose of his pig.  By 1660 he had settled in Cambridge Farms, which is now known as Lexington.  He was a freeman in 1690.  His grandsons and great grandsons fought in the Battle of Lexington Green.

London this 11th : of November 1651:
Capt. Jn'o GREENE
Wee whose names are vnder written freighters of your shipe the John & Sarah doe Order yow forthwith as winde & weather shall permitt to sett sajle for Boston in New England & there deliver our Orders & Servants to Tho : KEMBLE of charles Toune to be disposed of by him according to the orders wee have sent him in that behafe & wee desire yow to Advise with the sajd KEMBLE about all that may concerne that whole Intended vojage using your Indeavors with the sajd KEMBLE for the speediest lading your shipp from N.E. fit for the West Indies where yow are to deliver them to Mr. Charles RICH to be disposed of by him for the Joinet accout of the freighters & so to be retourned home in a stocke undevided thus desiring your Care & industrje in Dispatch & speed of the vojage wishing you a happy & safe Retourne wee remajne your loving freinds

Jo : BEEX
Robt RICH
Willjam GREEN

Signatum & Recognitum in pnica -- Jo : NOTTOCK notar Publ:

Entred & Recorded at the Instant Request of the said Mr. Tho : KEMBLE. Edw: RAWSON Recorder, 13 May 1652

A list of the passengers abord the John & Sarah of London John GREENE mr bound for New England:--

• Donald ROYE
• James MOORE
• Walter JACKSON
• Michaell FFOSSEM
• Daniell SIMSON
• John ROSSE
• Sander MILLESON
• Daniell MONLOW
• Henry BROUNELL
• James FARSASON
• Alester LOWE
• Daniell HOGG
• Hugh MACKEY
• Daniel MACKANNELL
• John CROOME
• John MACKLUDE
• Dan : MACKWELL
• ----- MACKUNNELL
• John HUDSON
• John MACKHOLME
• John BEME
• ----- MORE
• John GRAG
• Robert MONROW
• Hill MACKIE
• John MACKDONELL
• Allester MACKNESTER
• John EDMINSTEIRE
• Wm. BANES
• Patrick JONES
• Andrew WILSON
• Baniell MONWILLIAM
• John MACKENTHOW
• John JAMNELL
• David MACKHOME
• Mortel MACKJLUDE
• Salamon SINCLARE
• John GURDEN
• Wm. MACKEN
• John CRAGON
• John GRAUNT
• Alestre MACKRORE
• Daniel MACKENDOCKE
• Gellust MACKWILLIAM
• James MILWARD
• Wm. DELL
• James MICKNAB
• Glester MACKTOMAS
• Almister MACKALINSTEN
• John COEHON
• Robert JENLER
• Edward DULEN
• John HOGG
• James MICKELL
• John MACKALESTER
• Daniell MACKNELL
• Patrick JIMSON
• John HANOMAN
• Andrew JERRIS
• James JACKSON
• Patricke TOWER
• Wm. MACKANNELL
• Dani-- MACKAJNE
• Senly MACKONNE
• James ENGLISH
• Dan--- MACKENNELL
• John MACKEY
• Danniell GUNN
• James ROSS
• John WILSON
• David JELLER
• George QUENNE
• John JENLER
• John WOODELL
• George PERRY
• John MONROW
• Wm. CLEWSTON
• Daniell MACKHAN
• Alester MACKHENE
• Alester SIMSON
• Richard JACKSON
• James CARNELL
• Dan : MARTJN
• John HOGG
• John ROBINSON
• John ROSSE
• John ROSSE
• Hugh MONROW
• Thomas BEREERE
• Simon RUSSELL
• John MORRE
• Edward PUNN
• Sannder MORROT
• Wm. FFRESSELL
• John BOYE
• John BUCKANEN
• Patricke MORTON
• Dan(i)ell MAKALESTER
• James MICHELL
• Sander MACKDO(N)ELL
• James GURNER
• Wm. TELLER
• Origlais MACKFARSON
• Nicholas WALLIS
• John MURROW
• Robert HIGBEN
• John MACKHELLIN
• Allester -----
• Dan : MACKHELLIN
• ----- --------
• Charles LESTEN
• Wm. STEWART
• John MORRE
• Edward FFRESSELL
• David HINNE (?)
• Daniell BLACKE
• Daniell SESSOR
• Patricke MACKHATHERNE
• Alexander TOMPSON
• Danell KEMPER
• Daniell HOW
• John BROW
• ---- -------
• Henry MACK----
• John ROBINSON
• Daniell ------
• Patricke ------
• Patricke ------
• ----- -------
• ----- (MAC)KFARSON
• ----- MACKLYNE
• ----- MONROW
• ---ster MACKNELL
• Daniell ROBINSON
• (J)ames SHONE
• John ANDERSON
• James GRAUNT
• Patricke CROSSHONE
• John GRANT
• John SCOTT
• Dan : GORDON
• Dan : ROSS
• John HOGG
• Partick MANN
• Ansell SHERRON
• James ROSS
• David HAMILTON
• Patricke MACKNEILE
• David ROSSE
• Amos QUERNE
• Alestre HUME
• Neile JOHNSON
• Alester RALLENDRA
• Rory HAMILTON
• James ROBINSON
• David BUKANON
• David STERLING
• Daniell MACKNITH
• Rob't MACKFARSON
• Mw. MUNCKRELL
• Neile CAMELL
• Semell MACKNETH
• John MACKANE
• Dan SHURON
• Rory MACHY
• Patrick GRAUNT
• Particke HARRON
• James ROWE
• Sander SIMSON
• James GORDEN
• Charles ROBINSON
• Alester ROBINSON
• Patricke ROBERSON
• Alester GRAUNT
• Neile MACKETH
• Patricke MACKNITH
• Daniell MACKNITH
• James HEDERICKE
• James MACKHELL
• John CURMICKHELL
• Havid HUME
• Patrick MACKTRETH
• David ANDERSON
• Wm. BEAMES
• David MONWILLJAM
• John STERLING
• John MANN
• Wm. DENGELL
• Daniell MANN
• Sander MACKCUNNELL
• Cana MACKURNALL
• Patricke MACKANE
• Ansel SOTHERLAND
• Sander MILLER
• James PATTISON
• Alexander GRAUNT
• Thomas GRAUNT
• Neile CARTER
• Dan : MACKUEILE
• John SHENNE
• Robt. MACKAJNE
• Dan : HUDSON
• Neile MURROW
• Jahn CANNELL
• Evan TILER
• Jonas MURROW
• Alester MACKHELE
• Edward DENGLE
• James KALLENDER
• Jonas ROSS
• Neile MACKHONE
• James GRAUNT
• David TENLER
• James MACKALLY
• Wm. MACKAJNE
• Alester TOOTH
• Austin STEWART
• Laughlell MONTROSSE
• Wm. MACKONTOSS
• Neile MACKAJNE
• James MACKREITH
• John MACKREITH
• John MACKFORSEN
• James HAMILTON
• John GRAUNT
• James MURROW
• Wm. CARMACKHELL
• James MACKNEILE
• Samuell MACKAJNE
• Dan : GRAUNT
• Cha : STEWART
• Neile STEWART
• David MARKETH
• David JAMESON
• Dan SIMSON
• George HUME
• James CROCKFORD
• David KALLENDER
• David PATTERSON
• Alester ANDERSON
• Patricke SMISON
• Rob't BOY
• John WILSON
• Patricke JACAON
• Wm. MACKAJNE
• Dan : MACKHOE
• Dan : MACKAJNE
• Alester ROSS
• Neile MUCKSTORE
• Wm. MACKANDRA
• John BOYE
• Wm. GRAUNT
• James GRAUNT
• Henry SMITH
• Wm. HIDRECKE
• Cana MACKTENTHA
• Niele HOGG
• Rob't MACKHANE
• Rob't STEWART
• David SIMSON
• Laughteth GORDON
• Neile JAMESON
• Patrick ENGLISH
• James BENNE
• David MILWARD
• Wm. ANDERSON
• Sander MACKEY
• Patrick SOTHERLAND
• Daniel ONEALE
• John WOODALL
• Christopher WILSON
• John MURROW

The persons afore named passed from hence in the ship afore mentioned and are according to order Registed heare.
Dat. Search office, Gravesend, 8th November, 1651
Giles BARROW
Edw : PELLING
John MORRIS - Searchers 

http://www.usgennet.org/usa/topic/colonial/main/john&sara.html   Passenger List for the “John and Sara” , source Historical and Genealogical Registers, New England Historic Genealogical Society, Boston, 1847 Vol - 1 - 50 - (Oct 1847 pg 378-379)

http://files.usgwarchives.net/ma/essex/towns/lynn/scotsprisoners.txt  from the Massachusetts Historical Society Proceedings – Oct 1927, p. 5 – 28.  A list of prisoners and to whom they were sold.  This list is incomplete, but very useful.

http://www.todrobbins.com/robbins/sources/list-of-scots.html  A similar type of list as the one immediately above, with men from the Unity and John and Sara

The Original Scots Colonists of Early America, Supplement: 1607-1707 by David Dobson Genealogical Publishing Company, 1997 (available at ancestry.com)  

Emigrants in Chains by Peter Wilson Coldham, Genealogical Publishing Company, 1994

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Taylor Family Reunion 2011

The Descendants of Matthew and Janet Taylor
are gathering in the Upper Village Hall,
Derry, New Hampshire. 

This quilt shows the Taylor family tree,
first generations, as an oak tree with acorns
symbolizing Nutfield (the original patent for Londonderry)
-click to enlarge-

Pat Taylor Jennings, the quiltmaker

On Friday afternoon the first Taylors began to gather

There were five large genealogy charts on the walls
for the children of Matthew and Janet Taylor

A hooked rug by Heather Taylor Facey
showing Matthew and Janet Taylor
arriving in America in 1719
(with another nut tree)

This is the 290th anniversary of the arrival of Scots Irish settlers Matthew and Janet Taylor in Londonderry (now Derry), New Hampshire from Northern Ireland.  The descendants are celebrating with a large family reunion this weekend.  Today they are gathering at the Upper Village Hall, and taking a tour of Forest Hill Cemetery with expert Dorothy Goldman.  Tonight they will attend the spaghetti supper at the First Church, across the street, the same congregation attended by the original Taylor settlers back in the days when it was a Presbyterian church.  Tomorrow are more reunion activities including a family picnic at the Taylor Up and Down Sawmill and a silent auction, which includes the quilt and hooked rug shown above, as well as other goodies.  When I dropped by this afternoon, the Taylors were all busy looking at genealogy information, which was posted on wall charts, and being shared on tables in books and more family trees.  It looks like the Taylors are going to have a fun weekend!

For more information on the Taylor Family see the website:
http://taylorfamilyreunion2011.myevent.com/

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Serendipity Week #3 A letter between two teenagers 1848

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 third story- # 1.) about a painting, 2.) a Civil War Veteran, and 3.) a letter between a teenage girl and boy in the 1840s.

Hawaii State Archives, Queen Lili'uokalani Collections,
M-93, Box 11, Folder 103
Letter from "Charlotte" to John Owen Dominis, undated

As you might know, I photographed hundreds of letters at the Hawaii State Archives last summer, and I’m using them to build up an extended family tree of the Jones sisters of Boston, Massachusetts.  One of those sisters was my 4x Great Grandmother, Catherine Plummer (Jones) Younger (1799 – 1828), and another was Mary Lambert (Jones) Dominis (1803 – 1889), who lived in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Mary Dominis lost her husband, Captain John Dominis, at sea in 1846 while he was on a voyage to China to buy her some furnishings for a new house in Honolulu.  This large mansion became a boarding house to help make ends meet for the new widow.  In the year 1848 two of the boarders were the teenaged sisters Estelle Charlotte and Frances Evaline Mott, who were returning from boarding school in New York to meet their parents (Mr. Mott was a diplomat to Mexico on the West Coast).    At this time, Mary’s son, John Owen Dominis (1832 – 1891) was sixteen years old.

If you read the links below, where Leah Allen transcribed Essie Mott’s memoirs in a series of blog posts, you can see that the Mott girls had fun at the Dominis home.  They spent a lot of time socializing with John Dominis and several of the young princes of the Kingdom of Hawaii.  They rode horses, attended parties and dances, and explored the social life among the New England families who were living in Hawaii at this time period.  There was quite a bit of socializing and flirting between fourteen year old Essie and young John Dominis, too.   Upon the return of the Mott family to San Francisco, Mr. Mott sent a letter of disapproval to John, asking him to stop writing to his daughter.

I found Mr. Mott’s letter amongst the other letters I photographed at the Hawaii Archives.  Recently, still working my way through these letters, I found a simple note to John O. Dominis signed by “Charlotte” written in schoolgirl pencil on lined yellow paper.  The note is in reply to a request to go out riding.  I suspected that this was Essie (Estelle Charlotte Mott), who went by the name Charlotte. 

I wrote several emails to Leah Allen, who is a descendant of the Motts, and has several writing samples of Essie/Charlotte’s.  Unfortunately, the memoir she transcribed was typed and not hand written.  Although the letter is undated, and only signed “Charlotte” we both think that is was from Essie to John O. Dominis.  Of course, one was written when Essie was a girl, and the other later in life, so there is a slight difference in penmanship.  Thank goodness that Leah and I met through blogging, and we've made connections like this for sharing documents.  What do you think about the handwriting samples?

Dear John,

I shall be most happy

to accept your kind

invitation to ride this afternoon,

And if you will send "Tramper"

around I shall be ready to

accompany you any time after

half past four o'clock,

Yours in haste,

Charlotte

Click on this link to read the letter from Mr. Isaac Thomas Mott to young John Dominis, asking him to cease corresponding with his daughter: http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2010/08/amanuensis-monday-letter-to-john-owen.html

 Leah Allen’s blog post with the first part of Essie Mott’s memoir about her time in Honolulu. 

Part 1 http://shbwgen.blogspot.com/2010/04/transcription-mott-memoir-part-10.html

Part 2 http://shbwgen.blogspot.com/2010/04/transcription-mott-memoir-part-11.html

Part 3 http://shbwgen.blogspot.com/2010/04/transcription-mott-memoir-part-12.html

Part 4  http://shbwgen.blogspot.com/2010/04/transcription-mott-memoir-part-12.html

Part 5 http://shbwgen.blogspot.com/2010/05/transcription-mott-memoir-part-14.html

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Not So Wordless Wednesday- Mending Stockings

In 2008 I was a delegate to the Mayflower Congress in Plymouth, Massachusetts and my husband came along and spent the days wandering museums, beaches and the historic sites nearby.  In getting ready for the 2011 Congress, I found his files of photographs from 2008.  He took hundreds of great photos of Plimoth Plantation, and this one has been on my Facebook photo album for almost three years.  The re-enactor here, Justin Squizzero, found it and used it on his own Facebook page (he's been a re-enactor at Plymouth, Old Sturbridge Village and the Coggeshall Farm Museum and probably other places).  Here he is as a pilgrim, mending a stocking. You can catch a glimpse of a 20th century person in the doorway to the left.

I hope to post more of these photographs soon!

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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo

Happy 2nd Blogoversary to me!

Recently I posted that I passed the 600^th mark for posts at Nutfield Genealogy.  This was a revelation for me, since I never realized or added up how many stories I’ve put online.  There are several other facts pulled from my statistics page that blew me away…

I’ve published about 1025 comments (I won’t tell you how many spam comments I’ve deleted!)
82,144 pageviews in two years.  Believe me that the first year was slow, much slower than this!
My highest month for readers was last month, June 2011 with almost 11,000 pageviews. 

Bigtime bloggers like Dear Myrtle and Dick Eastman are probably sniggering at my stats, but I’m still impressed since only a year ago, last July 2010, I was only averaging about 2,500 pageviews.  I can thank people like Randy Seaver atGeneaMusings, and Thomas MacEntee at GeneaBloggers for mentioning my posts in their own blogs and Thomas for having me on his BlogTalk Radio show last April.   Other bloggers have also mentioned me on their own blogs, Tweets or Facebook, and also being named in Family Tree Magazine’s top 100 genealogy blogs has helped me to increase my readership.  By the way, Randy Seaver recently posted his 5,000th story at GeneaMusings, and Thomas MacEntee recently celebrated his 2,000th post at GeneaBloggers.com ! 

When I started blogging, I didn’t know about the statistics page on my blog and I didn’t care who was following me.  I began my blog as a way to practice writing out the stories from my family tree, and to share them with family.  I started on the community blog www.londonderrynh.net  and saw how easy it was to post stories.  Eventually I began to include local history and genealogical lore from New England and before I knew it, I had created my own blog at Nutfield Genealogy. 

I’m seriously considering not looking at the statistics at all this next year, and just writing for the pure pleasure of putting these stories out there for everyone’s enjoyment.  However, I love checking out the “Traffic sources” every night just to have a nice after dinner laugh over all the silly search terms I find listed.  Not only do I find a few good chuckles, I love to puzzle over what folks are looking for in their searches, and have a good rant when it appears that a cousin might be looking for a common ancestor.  It’s a “curiosity killed the cat” sort of dilemma.

If you have a blog, what is your opinion of the statistics page?

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Copyright 2011, 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
 

Serendipity Stories #1 A Folk Painting

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 first story- # 1.) about a painting.  The rest of the week will include 2.)  a Civil War Veteran,  and  3.) a letter between a teenage girl and boy in the 1840s.

I previously blogged a few times about the 1804 House my cousin is rennovating in Manchester, Massachusetts.  First I wrote about some of our family's genealogical connections to the Israel Forster family, and then I wrote about a gravestone from the Forster family found in the basement! 

My cousins have done an admirable job researching the history of their historic house, and in hiring a design team that specializes in historical homes.  As part of their research they found that the man who built the home in 1804, Israel Forster, had a portrait that was currently up for sale at an exhorbitant price (especially for a family paying for a large rennovation project!).  We joked that perhaps we could talk the owners into letting us scan the painting so a facsimile could hang over the fireplace when the restoration was completed!

Lo and behold! Along came Bill Pease of Lancaster, Pennsylvania.  You might have seen Bill's posts at GenForum, where he publishes notices of family portraits up for sale or auction, with some genealogy and art history information usually attached to a message that  usually reads something like this:

 “…this fine portrait should be made known to family and descendants… I am scanning it in case any of the descendants might like a copy, either by email or by postal mail. Someone in the families ought to have it--it is too good to be missed by the family. It may not have extensive genealogy value, but it certainly does have a whole lot of family and historic value.”  

His posts usually end with the line “If it were a portrait of a Mr. Pease, I'd certainly want someone to do the same for me.”

My cousin found Bill Pease's post dated February 2010 about the Israel Forster portrait “The Winter/Spring 2010 issue of ANTIQUES & FINE ART magazine on p. 75 pictures in an advertisement a fine 1797 portrait of Israel Forster (1779-1863) of Manchester, MA. The portrait is dated 1797.”  Bill likes readers to respond directly  to his email address rather than responding to his posts, which number in the hundreds.   Just check out his message posting history and you might find something related to your own genealogical research.

The gallery that sold the painting is in Newbury, Massachusetts and their website is www.americanfolkpaintings.com   Check out their inventory, and you might find a portrait of someone from your own family tree.

An advertisement for this painting reads:

"Portrait of Israel Forster attributed to Rufus Hathaway
Striking portrait of a young man, identified as Israel Forster and dated 1797 in an early note on the painting's stretcher when it was included in an exhibition of the artist's work in Duxbury, Massachusetts in 1987.

Hathaway is known primarily for a small group of portraits from the 1790's of citizens of Duxbury, the town in which he settled after a number of years of itinerant painting, married, and became a physician.  The oval within rectangular format is seen in a number of works representing young sitters from this period.

Forster, born in Manchester, Massachusetts in 1779, may have been a student at Phillips Academy in Andover when this work was painted.  He later returned to Manchester, and he was a Major in the War of 1812.  His House still stands on ----- Street, and his grave in the local cemetery marks his death at age 83 in 1863.

Illustrated in Rufus Hathaway: Artist and Physician, 1770-1822, pp. 68 and 69, by Lanci Valentine.  Exhibited March 18 - May 17, 1987 at the Art Complex Museum in Duxbury.

Sight size 16 1/2 inches by 20 1/4 inches"
[I removed the address of the home for my cousin's privacy]

Thanks to Bill Pease, and other genealogists like him, people researching their family history, or their house history in this case, find treasures on the internet.  Just image your research without the thousands of people posting vintage photographs, family bible genealogies, transcribing local history, or helping the LDS church with transcribing thousands of scanned documents for their huge database.  Imagine genealogical research without websites like FindAGrave.com, or RAOGK.org (Random Acts of Genealogical Kindness), BillionGraves.com or GenForum.com.   Outside of the internet, thousands of volunteers man the corresondence to historical societies, local libraries and museum by answering genealogical queries for free or for less than the cost of a tank of gas or plane ticket to faraway places.  It's nice to be associated with a group of people who are so friendly and altruistic!

To find Bill's message posting history at GenForum.com click on this link:
http://genforum.genealogy.com/cgi-genforum/messagehistory.cgi?848059765 

PS  My daughter is working with some photo editing software to make a nice copy of the Israel Forster painting so that we can return him to his place over the mantel at the house in Manchester, Massachusetts.  I think it belongs there!

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Three previous stories about the Forster Leach House

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/03/1804-house-and-some-family-connections.html

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/1804-house-update.html

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/05/in-cellar-tombstone-tuesday.html
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Copyright 2011, Heather Wilkinson Rojo