Weathervane Wednesday ~ Over a waterfall!

I post a series of weather vane photographs every Wednesday.  This started with images of weathervanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've found interesting weather vanes all across New England.  Sometimes my weather vanes are whimsical, or historical, but all are interesting.  Often my readers tip me off to some very unique or unusual weathervanes, too!

Today's weather vane is from a quaint town in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weathervane #249?  Scroll down to find the answer

This weather vane was spotted by my friend, who spotted another weathervane nearby. when she was house sitting near Lake Winnipesaukee.  We investigated the first weathervane together, and also found this one.  It's fun to find new weathervanes, and on that day I discovered six new weathervanes all in downtown Meredith, New Hampshire!

This gilded, scroll weathervane sits on the cupola of the Mill Falls Inn in Meredith, New Hampshire.  It is a restored 19th century linen mill, once powered by water.  In the Victorian period, new machinery and tools made fancy scrollwork popular, both in metal and woodworking.  The early banner style weather vanes evolved into more elaborate scroll style vanes.  They were also flat and simple to reproduce. I don't know if this weathervane is original to the the 19th century mill, but it is historically appropriate.

Today this mill building is one of four inns, all adjacent to each other, that are part of the Mill Falls at the Lake resort on the edge of Lake Winipesaukee.

There were several weather vanes in or near this resort.  I'll feature a few more next week.  I also featured the Hart Turkey Farm weather vane last Thanksgiving, which was part of this same photo safari in Meredith with my friend.

Mill Falls at the Lake website:  http://www.millfalls.com/

Click here to see the entire collection of Weathervane Wednesday posts! 

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Over a waterfall!", Nutfield Genealogy,  posted February 24, 2016 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/weathervane-wednesday-over-waterfall.html :  accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Joshua Herrick and his two wives, Beverly, Massachusetts

These tombstones were photographed at the Abbott Hale Cemetery in Beverly, Massachusetts

Here lyed ye Body

of Lydia Wife of Joshua

Herrick who died

Augt. 19, 1736 in her 27 

year.  The memory of ye just is Blessed

Joshua 

Deborah

[the rest has sunk underground]

In Memory of Mr

JOSHUA HERRICK

who departed this

Life Decr. 7th

1782.  In the

84th year of 

his age.

In Memory of

Mrs. ABIGAIL HERRICK

Relict of

Mr. JOSHUA HERRICK

who departed this life

April 26th 1784

Aged 75 years.

Joshua Herrick, my first cousin 10 generations removed, was born 22 February, 1699 in Beverly, Massachusetts, the son of Joseph Herrick and Mary Dodge.  He married Lydia Cushing on 30 June 1726 in Beverly.  She was the daughter of Theophilus Cushing and Mary Thaxter of Hingham, Massachusetts.  They had five children:  Mary, Lydia, Theophilus, Joshua and Deborah.  Only Lydia lived to marry, and the rest died young.  According to Find A Grave three children - Mary, Joshua and Deborah are named on this stone, but I could only see two names.

Joshua Herrick remarried second to Abigail Jacobs, who was also from Hingham!

Joseph Herrick, Joshua's father, married Lydia's mother, Mary (Thaxter) Cushing in Beverly in 1722.  Lydia's sister, Deborah Cushing, married in Beverly in 1726 to Joshua Corning.  This solves the mystery of how these young people from such distant towns on the Massachusetts coastline came to marry!

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Joshua Herrick and his two wives, Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 23, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/tombstone-tuesday-joshua-herrick-and.html: accessed [access date]).

The New Hampshire State Papers – You can’t do Colonial NH research without them!

Probate Records of the Province of New Hampshire
Volume 9, 1767 - 1771, State Papers Series, Volume 39

This post was originally written in 2010, but the links needed updating- and so did the message!

If your ancestors lived in Colonial New England, or if you suspect that your ancestors lived in New England any time up until 1800, then you must have used the New Hampshire State Papers for your genealogical research. I first came across this wonderful resource years ago (before the internet) at the Portsmouth Atheneum library. Now, when I run across a new name in the family tree, I can go to the NH State Papers online at the website for the State Archives.  

The NH State Papers were published in forty volumes between 1867 and 1943. The websites below have indexes to names about 2070 pages long. The project has been made available on microfilm and CD-ROM to libraries and repositories worldwide. The first seven volumes are sometimes referred to as The Provincial Papers. Their contents include town papers, the Revolutionary Rolls (in volumes 14 to 17), other military records, land grants, town charters, probate and court records.

Please remember that the “Association Test” (also known as “The Patriot Test”) during the American Revolution was a document by the Committee of Safely that required every male over age 21 to sign in 1776. This was a loyalty oath to the Patriot cause.  It is considered as valuable as a census record since both signers and non-signers (usually with a reason why they would not sign, for example Quakers did not sign) are listed.  It is the best list of NH residents before the first Federal census in 1790.  You can find the Association Test signatures in Volume 30, and also at this link grouped by county and town: http://www.newhorizonsgenealogicalservices.com/new-hampshire-genealogy/association-test/nh-revolutionary-war-association-test.htm      

These Association Test names are also available in a book called Inhabitants of New Hampshire, 1776, by Emily S. Wilson, Baltimore, MD, Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993 and online at Ancestry.com (look In the card catalog of online books).

Links for the complete set of New Hampshire State Papers:

http://sos.nh.gov/nhsos_content.aspx?id=47297&terms=state%20papers   The New Hampshire State Papers page at official State of New Hampshire website.  The top link is an index, where you can search surnames by then clicking on the correct volume and page.  

http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~vtwindha/nhsp/index.htm  Rootsweb’s PDF index to the NH State Papers.  Use the index to find the name you are interested in researching, and then the links to the correct Volume and page.  It is cumbersome, but the only way to search the NH State Papers online right now.

Internet Archive has most volumes (37 out of 40 volumes ) at this link (no index): https://archive.org/details/University_of_New_Hampshire_Library?and%5B%5D=%22new+hampshire%22+%22provincial+and+state+papers%22&sort=-date

The Rutland Historical Society, (Rutland Vermont) has a list of links to all forty volumes of the New Hampshire State Papers, but no index here:  http://www.rutlandhistory.com/IndextotheNewHampshireStatePapers.asp

Any link you may have to the University of New Hampshire Archives and Library is a broken link.  They are trying to fix their links now (on my request as of February 1, 2016.  If you feel like browsing through the historical collections for volumes of the NH State papers, you might want to try this link: http://www.library.unh.edu/digital/ and click on "NH State Publications" and then click on "Historical" (sorry, no other link will work). 

You may find various volumes of the New Hampshire State and Provincial papers online with Google or other search engine (searchable images or text) but for access to all 40 complete volumes I would recommend using the links above.

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "The New Hampshire State Papers – You can’t do Colonial NH research without them!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 22, 2016, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/the-new-hampshire-state-papers-you-cant.html: accessed [access date]). 

Surname Saturday ~ BAKER of Ipswich, Massachusetts

BAKER

There were three men named John Baker living in New England in the early 1600s.  One lived in Charlestown, Massachusetts, another in Dover, New Hampshire, and the third was my 10^th great grandfather, John Baker of Ipswich.  He arrived in Massachusetts in 1637.  He was listed as a “grocer” from Norwich, Norfolk, England on the passenger list for the Rose of Yarmouth.  His first three children were baptized at St. Peter’s, Mancroft, Norwich, England.

"Aprill 8, 1637. The examination of John Baker, borne in Norwich in Norffolkke, Grocar, aged 39 yrs, and Elizabeth he wife aged 31 yrs, with three children, -Elizabeth John and Thomas, -and four servants, Marcy Alxasrson aged 24 yrs, Anne Alxarson aged 20 yrs, and Bridgett Boulle aged 32 yrs, and Samuell Arres aged 14 yrs, as all desiroues to goe for Charles Towne in New England ther to inhabitt and remaine." (New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Volume 14, page 32.)  Note that he was NOT the John Baker who settled in Charlestown, which often causes confusion!   

John Baker settled in Ipswich.  He was made a freeman there on 2 June 1641 (two men named John Baker were on that list!).  He had a house lot on High Street.  He was licensed to sell wine in 1644 and 1647, and in 1652 to sell beer, and was an inn-holder in 1664, 1665 and 1666. He had three more children born in Ipswich.  

"He appears to have been a man of property, his name standing one of the forty-four highest of one hundred and fifty-seven subscribers to the compensation of Major Denison, the military leader, in 1648." (Hammatt's Papers 1:22.)

John Baker bought land in Topsfield, adjacent to Ipswich, and conveyed a 150 acre farm to his son Thomas Baker in 1661, on the condition that Thomas pay ten pounds a year to his father John; his mother, Elizabeth;  and daughter Elizabeth.  John Baker died in the 1680s, probably in Ipswich.

Some additional BAKER resources:

Ancestry of the Children of Robert Croll Stevens and Jane Eleanor (Knauss) Stevens, Volume II: The Genealogy of John Christian Croll 1707 – 1758, by Robert Croll Stevens, 1985, (unpaginated, families are numbered- Baker is 164) available online at a Family History Center Library.

Great Migration Begins, Volume I, by Robert Charles Anderson, 1995, page 74

Ancestry of Priscilla Baker, by William S. Appleton, 1870, pages 3 – 5.

My BAKER lineage:

Generation 1:  John Baker, son of John Baker, born about 1598 in Norwich, Norfolk, England and died in the 1680s in Ipswich, Massachusetts; married to Elizabeth Unknown, born about 1612.  Six children.

Generation 2:  Martha Baker, born 1643 in Ipswich, died after 1670 in Ipswich; married on 22 June 1670 in Topsfield to Thomas Andrews, son of Robert Andrews and Grace Melburn.  He was born about 1645 in Boxford, Berkshire, England and died 1 April 1724 in Boxford, Massachusetts.  One child for Martha Baker and Thomas Andrews. 

Generation 3: Sarah Andrews m. Joseph Swett

Generation 4: Benjamin Swett m. Elizabeth Norton

Generation 5: Elizabeth Swett m. David Batchelder

Generation 6: Elisha Batchelder m. Sarah Lane

Generation 7:  Jonathan Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson

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

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

Generation 10: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

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

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ BAKER of Ipswich, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 20, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/01/surname-saturday-baker-of-ipswich.html: accessed [access date]). 

Fairhaven Protecting Society ~ Photo Friday

This building was photographed on Washington Street in Fairhaven, Massachusetts

The Fairhaven Protecting Society was organized in 1887 as an association of volunteers.  They worked along side the fire department by going into buildings after the firefighters left, to try to save household goods. The Fairhaven Protecting Society moved into this little white building in 1894.  It was previously the town jail!

Today this historic building houses an old fire engine that gives rides to children on the town's "Harvest Fun Day".  It is maintained by the Fairhaven Historical Commission.


History of the Fairhaven Fire Department  http://www.fairhavenfire.org/history.html

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Fairhaven Protecting Society ~ Photo Friday", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 19, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/fairhaven-protecting-society-photo.html: accessed [access date]).

Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Great Big Apple!

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I first started by publishing posts about weathervanes from the Nutfield area, but now I've been finding interesting and historical weathervanes from all over New Hampshire and New England.  Sometimes my weathervanes have an interesting history, and sometimes they are just whimsical.  Often, my readers tip me off to some very unique and unusual weathervanes outside of New England.

Today's weathervane is from Massachusetts.

Do you know the location of weather vane #248?  Scroll down to see the answer!

This big apple weathervane was photographed above the farm stand at Brooksby Farm in Peabody, Massachusetts.  This is a city owned orchard and farm located at the former Felton homestead, built by my ancestor Nathaniel Felton in 1644.  You can read all about Nathaniel Felton at this link HERE.   As you approach the farm stand where this weather is located, you will pass the two Felton homesteads dating from the 17th century, the Smith barn (with a cow weathervane), and a re-located Peabody fire house, Engine Company Number 3, (with a centaur weathervane).   A plethora of weather vanes for fans!

Brooksby Farm is now a recreation area, with orchards, vegetables, berries and opportunities to pick your own produce.  There are also summer camps, a petting zoo, field trips, and rentals for weddings and other functions.

The website for Brooksby Farm:  http://www.brooksbyfarm.org/

Click here to see the entire series of weathervanes at this blog!

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ A Great Big Apple!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted November 25, 2015, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/weathervane-wednesday-great-big-apple.html : accessed [access date]).

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Mary (Ayer) Spofford, d. 1781 Beverly, Massachusetts

This tombstone was photographed at the Abbott Hale Cemetery in Beverly, Massachusetts

Near this place lye the remains

of Mrs MARY SPOFFORD

late CONSORT

to ISAAC SPOFFORD Physician

Deceased 6th Decer 1781

AE. 25 

Unblemished innocence, ingenious truth

Religion pure & rational & mild

Engaging manners, charity & all the

affections that embellish & exalt

the human heart.

SPOFFORD            J. CHANDLER SPO

d.  ye Nov.              Deceased J. --  6th 

1781                             1783

                              AE. 3 1/2 years

Mary Ayer was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts on 10 May 1756, the daughter of John Ayer and Elizabeth Hale.  Mary is my 3rd cousin, 8 generations removed.  We are both descendants of immigrant ancestors, John Ayer (1582 - 1657) and Hannah Webb (1598 - 1688), early settlers at Haverhill, Massachusetts.

Mary Ayer married Dr. Isaac Spofford as his first wife.  She died of complications of childbirth on 6 December 1781, after giving birth to a daughter, Sally, on 1 July 1781.   Their son, John Chandler, died young in 1783 at age 3 1/2.  He was baptized in Beverly on 11 July 1779.

You can see Dr. Isaac Spofford's elaborate tombstone here at his link:
http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/tombstone-tuesday-mr-isaac-spofford.html


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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Mary (Ayer) Spofford, d. 1781 Beverly, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 16, 2016, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/tombstone-tuesday-mary-ayer-spofford-d.html:  accessed [access date]),

Surname Saturday ~ ANDREWS of Boxford, Massachusetts

ANDREWS

Note:  I have previously blogged about another ANDREWS family from Essex, County, Massachusetts at this post “ANDREWS of Essex, Massachusetts(Ipswich’s Chebacco Parish” – the descendants of John Andrews and Jane Jordan,my 8th great grandparents.    This sketch of Robert Andrews (about 1612 – 1668) of Topsfield and Boxford, my 10^th great grandfather,  is not to be confused with Robert Andrews (1593 – 1634/5) of Ipswich.

Robert Andrews was in Boxford, Massachusetts in 1656, and he owned land in both Rowley and Topsfield.  He died in Topsfield on 29 May 1668.  His will names his wife, sons and daughters.

Estate of Robert Andrews of Boxford (Rowley Village)

Essex Probate Docket # 709

In the name of God amen Know all Christian people this may or shall concearne yt I Robart Andrews of Rowley village in the County of Esex being verey sick & weack of body but blesed be god in prfect cence & memorey doe mack this my last will & testiment revoking all other former will wtsoever.

Impr. I bequeath my soule to Allmighty God that gave it me in whome I trust through the merits of Jesus Christ to be receaived into Eternall happiness forever and my body to the earth from whence it came to be deciently burried in ye burring place of Topsfield according as my wife and Children shall see meet.

It I give & bequeath unto my eldest sonn Thomas Andrews the house yt I now Live in and nine(s)core Ackers of Land being upland & Medow & yt Land yt I bought of Zacheus Gould only my well beloved wife is to have duering her life time, the kiching and hall & Kiching Chamber & halfe the seller & the new feeld & the eight Ackers peeice & halfe the orchard & if ther be not Land enufe for her to manuer then my sd sonn with ye help of my son Robart is to breack her up three Ackers more or let her have three Ackers yt is allready broacken up and the same to injoy duering her life without the Lett hinderanc or molestation of my sd sonn or aney other prson under him and my sonn Thomas is to shingle the house and at my wives deceas the said land orchard and rooms is to returne to my son Thomas & his haires forever my said sonn Paying unto my three youngest daughters Rebeckah, Sarah & Ruth twenty pound pr each when she shall be twenty yeares of Age and if eaither of them shall die before yt time then yt prt shall be equally devided between the other two and allso his is to pay unto my Daughter Mary the wife of Isack Comins five pound three years after my deceas & for the new whip saw and all other Carpenters tools shall be for the use of my wife sonn Thomas & Robert.

It. I give and be bequeath unto my sonn Robart Andrews eight(s)core Ackers of Land from Piebroock to ye clay pits and ye fatti medow and the fishing broock medow & becaus my sonn Thomas & Robart should not wrong one another in wood I desier ther Land may be ped by them selves & two other honest men and Robart is to pay unto my Daughter Elizabeth the wife of Samuell Symons five pounds three years after my deceas and to my daughter Hanah Pebody five pounds fouer years after my deceas.

It. I give unto my sonn John the Lot comonly called the seller Lott and the Medow belonging unto it but the medow shall be for the use of my wife & Thomas untell my sonn John shall be one and twenty years of Age and then to returne to him without aney further truble he paying to my seaven Grandchildren twenty shillings pr each when they shall come to the age of fourteen years.

It. I give unto my sonn Joseph ye Land in the Topsfeeld yt I bought of John Wilds, Senr. with all the previledgs therunto belonging.

It. I give unto my well beloved wife all my Cattell & other moveable goods and the Doung that is now in ye yard & half the barne & Lintos and my sonn Thomas the other halfe and he and his brother Robart is to set up the other Lintoos & Lay in for the use of ther mother eavery year duering her Life twelve Loads of hay and if eaither of my sonns should die before they are married then yt Land yt is given to them to be equally devided amongst the Survivers Leaving my said wife sole Executrix and in Testimony hereof I have Set my hand and Seale this Sixteenth day of May in the yeare of our Lord one thousand Six hundred Sixty & eight.

Robart (his / mark) Andrews, Senr (seal)

Witness:

Robert (his G mark) Smith

James Hanscombe

Proved in Salem court 2: 5m: 1668 by the witnesses. Essex County Probate Files, Docket 709

Inventory of the estate was taken by Frances Pabody, Isack Comings, and Edman Towne. Attested 1:5m: 1668 by Grace Andrewes wife of the deceased

[Source: Essex County Quarterly Court Files, vol 13 leaf 67]

My ANDREWS genealogy:

Generation 1:  Robert Andrews, born about 1612 in England, died 29 May 1668 in Topsfield, Massachusetts; married about 1637 to Grace Unknown.  She died on 25 December 1700 in Topsfield, Massachusetts.  Eleven children.

Generation 2: Thomas Andrews, born abut 1645 and died 1 April 1725.  He married first to Martha Baker, daughter of John Baker and Elizabeth Unknown.  She died about 1670.  He married second to Mary Belcher, and married third to Rebecca Unknown.  One child with Martha Baker.

Generation 3: Sarah Andrews, daughter of Thomas Andrews and Martha Baker.  She was born about 1670 in Boxford, Massachusetts, and died about 1763; married on 20 November 1701 in Hampton to Joseph Swett, son of Benjamin Swett and Hester Weare.  He died before January 1721 and Sarah remarried second to Charles Treadwell, my half 7^th great granduncle in a different lineage.

Generation 4:  Benjamin Swett m. Elizabeth Norton

Generation 5:   Elizabeth Swett m. David Batchelder

Generation 6:  Elisha Batchelder m. Sarah Lane

Generation 7:  Jonathan Batchelder m. Nancy Thompson

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

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

Generation 10: Carrie Maude Batchelder m. Joseph Elmer Allen

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

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To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ ANDREWS of Boxford, Massachusetts", Nutfield Genealogy, posted February 13, 2016,  (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2016/02/surname-saturday-andrews-of-boxford.html: accessed [access date]).