Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Lobster!

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I started by publishing weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding 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 and unusual weather vanes, too!

Today's weather vane  is from somewhere in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weather vane #231? Scroll down to see the answer!

Although this wooden weathervane is bright red, it is hard to see while driving down Ocean Boulevard in Rye, New Hampshire.  We didn't see this weathervane until we pulled into the parking lot.  There are two buildings at Ray's, one on each side of the parking lot.  One is the big two story restaurant, and the weathervane is across the way over the smaller building that used to be a gift shop, but is now used for storage.  Look carefully and you can see it over the gable end of the house in the photo above.

This piece of advertising art is a fun weathervane.  It looks home made, but was probably mass produced.


Ray's Seafood Restaurant   http://www.raysseafoodrestaurant.com/  

Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday collection! 

------------------------
Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Lobster!", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 21, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/weathervane-wednesday-another-lobster.html :  accessed [access date]. 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ Head Cemetery, Hooksett, New Hampshire

HEAD SCHOOL

DISTRICT NO. 1

AND HEAD CEMETERY

------ooo------

Headstones date to the early 1800s when this

area was part of Chester.  Hooksett settlers and 

their descendants are buried here including Natt

Head, NH Governor (1879 - 1881).

Chester first had a school on this site in 1805.

This brick structure, built by Hooksett in 1839,

was the District 1 schoolhouse until it closed in

1912 due to dwindling student population.

It was converted to a chapel by the town in

1922 and rededicated in 1966 by the Women's Club.

Vacant for many years, in 2010 the Heritage

Commission return it to its original use.

Listed on NH State Register of Historic Places

in 2007.

ERECTED IN 2010 BY THE TOWN OF HOOKSETT

---------------------

Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ Head Cemetery, Hooksett, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 20, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/tombstone-tuesday-head-cemetery.html : accessed [access date]).

Levi Younger, Last Will and Testament, 10 June 1857

Suffolk County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, 1636-1899; Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Suffolk County); Probate Place: Suffolk, Massachusetts


[transcription]

“Know all men by these presents, that I, Levi Younger of Boston, in the County of

Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, being of sound disposing mind and memory

do make and publish this my last Will and Testament.  First, I give and be-

queath to my daughter Catharine five dollars.  To my daughter Mary Ester and

each of her children I give and bequeath one dollar.  Second, The rest and resi-

due of my personal property after paying my debts and the amounts already-

y named as named as given to my daughters,  Catharine and Mary Ester and her child-

ren,  I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Margaret A. Younger and her heirs

forever.  Third, I give and bequeath to my beloved wife, Margaret, all my

household furniture and wearing apparel.  Fourth, I ordain and appoint

my beloved wife, Margaret Younger, as Executrix of this my last will and tes-

tament. In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and seal and pub-

lish and declare this to be my Last Will and Testament in the presence of the wit-

nesses named below this tenth day of June, in the year of our Lord eighteen hun-

dred and fifty seven.                           Levi Younger, L.I.

Signed, sealed, published and declared by the said Levi Younger as and for his last

Will and Testament in the presence of us, who in his presence, and in the pres-

ence of each other, and at his request have hereunto subscribed our names as

witnesses.               Joseph I. Coolidge,  John T. Coolidge, Jr.,  A. C. Slater

L. I. Suffolk ss.  Commonwealth of Massachusetts. At a Probate Court holden

In Boston within and for the Country of Suffolk, on the tenth day of January

in the year 1858. By the honorable Isaac Ames Esquire, Judge of Probate, At-

torney.  The annexed Will presented by Margaret A. Younger the Exec-

utrix therein named for Probate.  And all the heirs.  A?? of said Levi Younger

deceased having in writing requested that said Will might be admitted to Pro-

bate upon the testimony of any one of the subscribing witnesses thereto without

further notice to them.  A. C. Slater appears and makes oath that he saw the said

Levi Younger sign, seal, and heard his publish the same Instrument as his

Last Will and Testament, and that he was then, to the best of his discernment of a

sound, disposing mind and memory and that he with Joseph I. Coolidge and

John T. Coolidge, who are absent, subscribed their names thereto, as witnesses in

the presence of said Testator and of each other, and I do prove, approve, and al-

low the same and order it to be recorded.  Given under my hand, and seal

[new page]

Of office the day and year above written.  Isaac Ames, Judge of Probate & Insolvency

Examined Mr. C. Brown, Reg.

Levi Younger

Heirs Consent to Prob. Of Will

42095

To the ??  Judge of Probate & Insolvency in and for the County of Suffolk.  The un-

dersigned being all the heirs at law of Levi Younger late of Boston in said Coun-

ty deceased do hereby request that the last Will of said deceased being late June

 10^th in the year 1857 may be admitted to Probate upon the testimony of any one of

the subscribing witnesses thereto, without further notice to us. Boston Dec. 28, 1858

Catherine Wise                 Mary E. Emerson

Examined     Mr. C. Brown, Reg.

 ------------------

Levi Younger was my 4th great grandfather.  He was born on 1 May 1786 in Gloucester, Massachusetts, the son of Levi Younger and Mary Wotten.  He married first to Catherine Plummer Jones on 23 October 1816 in Boston.  She was the daughter of Owen Jones and Elizabeth Lambert, and the older sister of Mary Lambert (Jones) Dominis who went to Hawaii with her husband and became the mother-in-law to Queen Liliuokalani.

Levi was a mariner.  He was relatively poor compared to his wife's family.  She died very young, on 2 May 1828, at age 29 after having five children.  Levi remarried to a woman named Jane, who died 26 November 1845, and then remarried a third time to Margaret (named in the will), who survived Levi and died on 21 February 1895 in Boston. 

At the time I discovered Levi's will on the new Ancestry.com collection of probate records, I didn't know that he had a daughter named Catharine.   I descend from the younger daughter, Mary Ester (Younger) Emerson (17 Feb 1826 - 7 Jan 1913).  It was quite a surprise to me to learn about this daughter.

Catharine was born in 1817 in Gloucester, Massachusetts.  She married Henry Wise on 29 May 1836 in Boston, and I haven't been able to find any census records, nor any records of children born to Henry and Catharine.  She died on 17 October 1859 in Boston of consumption.  There was a Henry Wise in the Boston City Directory in 1839 as a printer on Franklin Street, and again in 1842 living on Nassau Court.  In the 1855 the Boston Directory shows a Henry Wise, peddler, living at 22 Oneida (this street was demolished in 1956 as part of urban renewal).   In the same 1855 Boston Directory there was a "Mrs. Kate Wise" living at 28 Vine (there is a Vine Street both in Charlestown and in Dorchester).  

My 3rd great grandmother, Mary Esther Younger married George Emerson on 11 August 1845 in Boston and had eight children.  According to the Will, she, and each child received a dollar.  I descend from Mary Esther's eldest daughter, Mary Katharine (25 December 1847 - 23 April 1932).   Levi's sister-in-law, Laura Williams Jones (1809 - 10 December 1887) married a John Lee and named one of her daughters "Catharine Younger Lee" (born 1835).  This Catharine married Lorenzo Virgil Morse and had a daughter "Catharine Morse" (born 1875 in Omaha, Nebraska).   You can see that the name Catharine/Katharine was passed along in this family!

As a mariner, during the War of 1812 Levi was captured by the British and impressed to join the British Navy. In other words, he was a prisoner of war.  I know from certificates of protection that he was of light complexion, living in Gloucester and I've recorded the years of those certificates (from 1801 - 1815).  The Boston City Directories list him as a mariner living on Love Lane (now Tileston Street in the North End, and Ship Street (now Atlantic Avenue), and then on Fleet Street, Hanover Street and Charter Street (all in the North End), from the 1820s to the 1850s.  

Despite his reduced circumstances, Levi Younger left money to his daughters, and his household goods to his third wife, Margaret. The will mentions that the money for daughter Catherine was to go to her and her heirs.  I wonder if I will be able to find those descendants?

-------------------

Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Levi Younger, Last Will and Testament, 10 June 1857", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 19, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/levi-younger-last-will-and-testament-10.html : accessed [access date]).

Surname Saturday ~ BATCHELDER of Hampton, New Hampshire

BATCHELDER / BACHILER / BACHELLOR / BATCHELLER

The memorial at Founder's Park, Hampton, New Hampshire

A LITTLE BAND OF PIONEERS

UNDER THE LEADERSHIP OF

REV. STEPHEN BACHILER

OF SOUTHAMPTON, ENGLAND

SEEKING A LARGER LIBERTY

IN OCTOBER 1638

SETTLED IN THE WILDERNESS

NEAR THIS SPOT

TO PLANT A FREE CHURCH

IN A FREE TOWN

THEY WERE JOINED IN 1639 BY OTHERS

AND IN THAT YEAR

THE TOWN WAS INCORPORATED

TO DO HONOR TO 

THE FOUNDERS AND FATHERS OF HAMPTON

TO EXALT THE IDEALS

FOR WHICH THEY TROVE

AND AS AN INSPIRATION TO POSTERITY

THIS MEMORIAL IS DEDICATED

OCTOBER 14, 1935

UPDATE - 10 September 2018 - see the 3 part series that updates this lineage.  Part 1 is at this link:  https://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2018/09/batchelder-family-do-over-part-1.html 

----------------

Stephen Bachiler, my 11^th great grandfather,  graduated from St. John’s College in Oxford, England in 1585 and became the vicar of the Church of the Holy Cross and St. Peter in Wherwell, Hampshire, England.  He was a “non-conformist” and was dismissed from his church.  In 1608 he went to Leyden, Holland with the separatists.  He came to New England on 5 June 1632 on board the ship William and Francis.  He was over 70 years old at the time, and traveled with some of his grandchildren.   Of his own children, only two daughters, Theodate Hussey and Deborah Wing, later came to New England.

First he went to Lynn, where he was the first minister, from August 1632 until 1636.  Then he was in Yarmouth, on Cape Cod, in 1637 and Newbury in 1638.  From 1638 until 1641 he lived at Hampton, New Hampshire where he founded another church.  He separated from his wife, Mary, and asked the court for a divorce, and then, about age 93, he left for England.  The court records in York show her being branded with the letter A on 15 October 1651, for adultery.  The Reverend Bachiler died nearly 100 years old in London and was buried on 31 October 1656.

Another one of my 9^th great grandfathers, Rev. Samuel Skelton (1623 – 1695), the first minister at Salem, Massachusetts, said of Rev. Bachiler “Little has come down to us concerning him,  owing, it is said, to the fact that he differed about clerical associations and other subjects from most of the principal persons in Massachusetts."   He was a follower of the “Old Puritan” religion, and the new 17^th century form of Puritanism in the New World was different from the Jacobean form.  Perhaps this is why he wandered around New England and settled in New Hampshire, away from the Puritan authorities.

There are many other stories and interesting associations between the Rev. Stephen Bachiler and other early settlers and ministers in New England. There are too many stories to tell them all here in a short blog post. Please see some of the sources listed below if you would like more information on his life.

More BATCHELDER resources:

Great Migration Begins, by Robert Charles Anderson, Volume 1, pages 61 – 69.

Batchelder, Batcheller Genealogy, by Frederick Pierce, 1898. Also online at Archive.org

Descendants of Rev. Stephen Bachiler, Founder, Hampton, Rockingham Co., NH Facebook group:

https://www.facebook.com/DESCENDANTS-OF-REV-STEPHEN-BACHILER-FOUNDER-HAMPTON-ROCKINGHAM-CO-NH-364188593479/timeline/

The Lane Memorial Library in Hampton, New Hampshire has a webpage for Rev. Stephen Bachiler and it contains many useful links to biographies, journal articles and other research: http://www.hampton.lib.nh.us/hampton/biog/bachilertoc.htm

There is a discussion group for descendants of Rev. Stephen Batchelder at Genealogy Wise:  http://www.genealogywise.com/group/batchelderfamily

Some Notable Descendants of Reverend Stephen Batchelder from Wikipedia

Leon Leonwood Bean (L. L. Bean)

Lady Randolph Churchill

Sir Winston Churchill

James Dean

Major General Henry Dearborn

Julie Nixon Eisenhower

Thomas Stearns Eliot (T.S. Eliot)

Gerald Ford

Louis L'Amour

President Richard Nixon

Daniel Webster

John Greenleaf Whittier

Nathaniel Hawthorne (now you know how he got the idea for "The Scarlett Letter") 

My BATCHELDER genealogy:

Generation 1:  Rev. Stephen Batchelder, born 1560 in Wherwell, Hampshire, England, died about 31 October 1656 in London, England; married first to Ann Bate, about 1586 in Wherwell, (mother of 10 children and I descend from two of them); married second to Christian Weare on 2 March 1624 in Abbotts Ann, Hampshire, England; married third to Helena Unknown, widow of the Rev. Thomas Mason on 26 March 1627 in Abbotts Ann;  married fourth to Mary Unknown, widow of Robert Beedle,  in 1648 in Beedle Wherwell, Hampshire, England. 

Lineage A:

Generation 2: Nathaniel Batchelder, born about 1590, died 1630 in the Netherlands; married to Hester Mercer, born about 1602 in Ypres, Belgium, died before 1631 in the Netherlands, mother of five children.  She was the daughter of Jan LeMercier and Jeanne LeClerc of Normandy, France.

Generation 3: Nathaniel Batchelder, born about 1630 in England, died 1710 in Hampton, New Hampshire; married on 10 December 1596 to Deborah Smith, daughter of John Smith and Deborah Parkhurst.  She was born before 1645 at Edgartown, Massachusetts on the island of Martha’s Vineyard, and died 8 March 1676 in Hampton, New Hampshire.  Nine children, and I descend from two of them.  He married second to Margery.  He did not come to New England, but some of his children did settle there.

Lineage A1:

Generation 4: Nathaniel Batchelder, born 24 December 1659 in Hampton, died about 1745 in Hampton Falls; married in 1685 in Hampton to Elizabeth Foss, daughter of John Foss and Mary Berry.  She was born in 1666 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire and died in 1746. Nine children.

Generation 5:  Josiah Batchelder, born 1 July 1695 in Hampton, died 9 October 1759 in Hampton Falls; married on 31 January 1723 to Sarah Page, daughter of Francis Page and Hannah Nudd.  She was born 18 October 1698 and died in May 1781.  Six children.

Generation 6: David Batchelder, born 13 January 1736 in Hampton Falls, died 11 March 1811 in Hampton Falls; married on 24 July 1760 in Hampton Falls to Elizabeth Swett, daughter of Benjamin Swett and Elizabeth Norton.  She was born 1742 in Hampton Falls, and died 12 August 1769.  Five children.  David married second to Mary Emery on 1 January 1771 in Newbury, Massachusetts and had eight more children.

Generation 7:  Elisha Batchelder, son of David Batchelder and Elizabeth Swett, born 10 June 1763 in Hampton Falls, died 11 October 1813 in Pittsfield, New Hampshire; married Sarah Lane, daughter of Samuel Lane and Hepzibah Sleeper.  She was born 24 March 1769 in Hampton Falls, died 27 Feb 1819 in Pittsfield.  Four children.  Three children. 


NOTE 10 September 2018 -  The generations below do not descend from Elisha Batchelder.  Jonathan Batchelder, my 4th great grandfather, is the son of Nathaniel Batchelder (1732 - 1778) and his wife Mary Longfellow (1735 - 1814). 

Generation 8:  Jonathan Batchelder, born about 1800 in Hampton, died before 4 November 1847 at the Concord State Asylum, Concord, New Hampshire; married on 11 February 1822 in Belmont, New Hampshire to Nancy Thompson.  She was born about 1804 in Gilmanton, New Hampshire, and died after 1847 in Warner, New Hampshire.  Two children.

Generation 9:  George E. Batchelder, born 13 August 1822 in Chichester, New Hampshire, died 3 April 1848 in Chichester; married on 7 September 1845 in South Boston, Massachusetts to Abigail M. Locke, daughter of Richard Locke and Margaret Welch.  She was born 10 September 1825 in South Boston, and died 15 January 1888 in Chichester.  Two children.

Generation 10:  George E. Batchelder, born 8 October 1848 in Chichester, died 28 July 1914 in Cambridge; married on 28 October 1869 in Chichester to Mary Katharine Emerson, daughter of George Emerson and Mary Esther Younger.  She was born 25 December 1847 in South Boston, and died 23 April 1932 in Roxbury, Massachusetts.  Nine children.

Generation 11:  Carrie Maude Batchelder, born 22 September 1872 in Chichester, died 21 January 1963 at the Sea View Convalescent and Nursing Home, Rowley, Massachusetts; married on 1 November 1892 in Essex, Massachusetts to Joseph Elmer Allen, son of Joseph Gilman Allen and Sarah Burnham Mears.  He was born on 24 September 1870 in Essex and died 12 March 1932 at the Masonic Home in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts.  Five children.

Generation 12:  Stanley Elmer Allen m. Gertrude Matilda Hitchings (my grandparents)

Lineage A2:

Generation 4: Abigail Batchelder, born 28 December 1667 in Hampton, died 14 November, 1736 in North Hampton; married on 4 November 1689 in Hampton to John Dearborn, son of Henry Dearborn and Elizabeth Marrian.  He was born 10 October 1666 in Hampton, died 22 November 1750 in Hampton. Eight children.

Generation 5:  Elizabeth Dearborn m. John Garland

Generation 6:  Elizabeth Garland m. Richard Locke

Generation 7: Simon Locke m. Abigail Mace

Generation 8: Richard Locke m. Margaret Welch

Generation 9: Abigail M. Locke m. George E. Batchelder (see above)

Lineage B:

Generation 2: Ann Batchelder, born 1601 in Wherwell; married John Sanborn about 1619 in Southampton, Hampshire, England. Three children.  She married second on 20 January 1632/3 in Strood, Kent, England to Henry Atkinson.

Generation 3:  John Sanborn m. Margaret Page

Generation 4: Jonathan Sanborn m. Elizabeth Sherburne

Generation 5: Margaret Sanborn m. Moses Sleeper

Generation 6: Hepzibah Sleeper  m. Samuel Lane

Generation 7: Sarah Lane m. Elisha Batchelder (see above)

----------------------------

Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Surname Saturday ~ BATCHELDER of Hampton, New Hampshire", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 17, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/surname-saturday-batchelder-of-hampton.html:  accessed [access date]).

Last Will and Testament of Abner Poland, 1804

Ancestry.com. Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2015.

[transcription]

In the name of GOD, Amen. ~  I Abner Poland, of Ipswich in the county of Essex and commonwealth of Massachusetts, yeoman, being in perfect health of body, and of a sound mind and memory, thanks be given unto GOD, calling unto mind the mortality of my body, and knowing that it is appointed for all men once to die, do make and ordain this my last will and testament, that is to say: ~ Principally, and first of all, I give and recommend my soul into the hand of GOD, who gave it; and my body I recommend to the earth, to be buried in a decent Christian burial, at the direction of my executor; nothing doubling but at the general resurrection I shall receive the same again by the mighty power of GOD.  And, as touching such worldly estate, werewith it has pleased GOD to bless me in this life, I give, demise and dispose of the same in the following manner and form.

First of all, my will is, that my executor hereafter named should sell so much of my estate, as shall enable him to pay all my just debts and funeral charges.  After my just debts and funeral charges are paid, I give and bequeath to Deborah Poland, my dearly beloved wife, all the household goods and furniture, which she brought to me, to be her own disposal.  I further give and bequeath to Deborah my wife the use and improvement of all my real and personal estate, which shall not hereafter be disposed of, during her natural life.

I give and bequeath to my daughter Epsabah Poland the feather bed, which was her mother’s for her to come into possession after my decease, and also the looms and tackle thereto belonging, for her to come into possession thereof after my wife’s decease.

And, finally, I give and bequeath to my seven children hereafter named, and their heirs, viz.  Abner Poland, Asa Poland, Parker Poland, Epsabah Poland, Rachal Burnham, Eunice Poland and Anna Spillar, all all my real and personal estate, of what name or nature soever, which has not hereto fore been disposed of, to be equally divided amongst them, or their heirs, according to quantity and quality for them to come into the possession of after my wife’s decease.  And I do hereby constitute, appoint and fully authorize Nathaniel Burnham, of Ipswich in the said county of Essex, gentleman, sole executor to this my last will and testament; and I hereby utterly disavow, revoke and disannul all and every other former testaments, wills, legacies, bequests and executors, by me in any wise before mentioned, willed and bequested; ratifying and confirming this and no other to be my last will and testament.

In witness whereof.  I have hereunto set my hand and seal ye. Seventeenth day of May in the year of our LORD one thousand eight hundred and four.

Signed, sealed, published, pronounced and declared by the said Abner Poland to be his last will and testament, in presence of us, who in his presence, and in the presence of each other, have hereunto subscribed our names: ~

Joshua Giddings                                              Abner Poland (seal)

David Giddings

Nancy Giddings

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Essex, ss.  At a court of probate holden at Gloucester in and for said county on the third Tuesday in July AD 1824. – The foregoing instrument, purporting to be the last will and testament of Abner Poland, late of Essex in said county, yeoman, deceased, having been duly presented for probate, and it being made to appear, that notice has been given according to order to all persons interested; David Giddings and Nancy Giddings, two of the witnesses thereto subscribed, being present, make oath that they saw the said Abner Poland sign and seal the said instrument, and heard him declare the same to be his last will and testament, and that they the said David and Nancy, with Joshua Giddings, esquire, subscribed their names together as witnesses to the execution thereof in presence of said testator, and that was then, to the best of their judgement, of sound and disposing mind; and the same is proved. -  It is thereupon considered and decreed by the court here, that the same be approved, allowed, and recorded, as the last will and testament of the before named deceased; and that it have full force and effect as such, agreeably to the laws of the commonwealth aforesaid in such cases made and provide.

                                      D. A. White, judge of probate

Recorded from the original, and examined by Nathl. Lord, Jr. register

To the hon. Daniel A. White esquire, judge of probate for the county of Essex. I the subscriber would represent to your honor, that I am appointed executor of the last will and testament of Abner Poland, late of Essex, desceased, and that it is inconvenient for me to execute that trust.  Wherefore I hereby declare my refusal to undertake it.  June 24, 1924.   Nathaniel Burnham

Essex, ss. Filed in probate court at Gloucester, July 20, 1824

                Attest.  Nathanl. Lord, Jr. register

Recorded from the original, and examined by Nathanl. Lord, Jr. register

----------------------

Abner Poland, my 6^th great grandfather,  was born about 1736 in the Chebacco Parish of Ipswich, Massachusetts.  This town is now known as Essex, Massachusetts.   He was the son of John Poland and Abigail Davis.  He was married first to Dorothy Burnham on 3 April 1761, and had seven children with her- all named in the will.  She died on 7 April 1789 and he remarried to her cousin, Deborah Burnham, the widow of Nathaniel Emerson, on 5 December 1792.   It is interesting to note that Deborah is my 5^th great grand aunt because I descend from TWO of her siblings:  Westley Burnham (1747 – 1835) and Sarah (Burnham) Poland (about 1759 – 1846).   Sarah was married to Abner Poland, Jr (1761 – 1835)!  You can find Sarah's will at this link HERE. 

Nathaniel Emerson had died on 2 September 1778 while serving in the American Revolution.   Both Abner Poland, Senior and Junior, served in the American Revolution.  Abner, Senior, was on the list of prisoners sent to Forton Prison in England in 1778. He served at the Battles of Long Island, White Plains and Harlem Heights, and was honorably discharged in New Jersey.    Abner Poland, Junior, received a badge of merit from General George Washington for his service of 7 years, from Lexington through to Yorktown.   Abner, Junior is my 5^th great grandfather.  You can read about his badge of merit HERE. 

As a yeoman, Abner Poland, Senior, was a farmer.  He received a pension for his military service starting on 6 April 1818.  At that time he owned 18 acres of land, a small house, a small barn and 2 cows.  He went blind in 1822 and died on 9 February 1824 in the Chebacco Parish.

All seven children lived to be named in his will.  Here is an account of the lives of the children:

1.   Abner, Junior, received a land bounty for his military service (see above) and removed to Enfield, New Hampshire where he was buried. He had eight children with his wife Sarah Burnham (see above) who was also his step-aunt.

2.  Asa (1763 – 1853) also served in the American Revolutionary War. He was left for dead in a field after a battle, slashed from head to chest by a sword, but survived.  He removed to Waterbury,  Vermont, where his 8 children were born.  Later in life he lived with his daughter, Electra (Poland) Loveland  in Moira, New York where he died. 

3. Parker (born between 1765 and 1770) I have no further record.

4. Hephzebah (spelled “Epsabah” in the will) (about 1766 – 1856) never married.

5. Rachel (about 1768 – 1797) married William Burnham in 1789, another Burnham cousin.

6. Eunice (about 1770 – 1870) never married and was nearly 100 years old at her death.

7.  Anna (born about 1774) married William Spiller in 1794.

My surname Saturday post on the POLAND family (with the entire lineage):

http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/04/surname-saturday-poland-of-essex-county.html   

---------------------------------

To cite/link to this blog post:  Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Last Will and Testament of Abner Poland, 1804", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 12, 2015, ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/last-will-and-testament-of-abner-poland.html : accessed [access date]).

Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Historic Church

Weathervane Wednesday is an on-going series of photographs I post weekly.  I started by publishing weather vanes from the Londonderry area, but now I've been finding 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 and unusual weather vanes, too!

Today's weather vane  is from somewhere in New Hampshire.

Do you know the location of weather vane #230? Scroll down to see the answer!

Today's weathervane was photographed above the North Congregational Church in Market Square, Portsmouth, New Hampshire.  This is a lyre style weathervane seen so often in New England nineteenth century churches.  This style combines the older banner style with an arrow, star, and a tail, more elaborate than eighteenth century weathervanes.    

NORTH CONGREGATIONAL

CHURCH

Organized in 1671

Present Building Erected in 1855

on the site of that of 1712 (which

was remodeled in 1837)

----------NOTED MEMBERS----------

William Whipple -                                 

    Signer of the Declaration of Independence

John Langdon -                                       

Signer of the US Constitution

Daniel Webster-                                      

  Orator - Warden of this Church

One Minister became president of Harvard,

another of Yale

President George Washington-               

        Worshipped here Nov. 1, 1789

The North Congregational Church, Portsmouth, New Hampshire website

http://www.northchurchportsmouth.org/

Click here to see the entire Weathervane Wednesday collection! 

------------------------
Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Weathervane Wednesday ~ Another Historic Church", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 14, 2015, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/weathervane-wednesday-another-historic.html :  accessed [access date]). 

Tombstone Tuesday ~ A Very Patriotic Name! Independence Liberty Gile, buried 1852 in Hooksett, New Hampshire

This tombstone was photographed at the Head Cemetery in Hooksett, New Hampshire

INDEPENDENCE GILE

1800 - 1852

ADALINE CROCKETT

HIS WIFE

1818 - 1905

GILE

Independence Liberty Gile was born 4 July 1800 in New Grantham, Cheshire, New Hampshire, son of Richard Cheney Gile and Mary Gay Jones. On 20 March 1823 in New Grantham he married Susan Hardy, daughter of Tristam Hardy and Kezia Frasier  and had four children.  He married second  on 17 December 1844 in Meredith, New Hampshire to Adaline Crockett, daughter of John Crockett and Nancy Glidden.   Independence died on 1852 in Hooksett, New Hampshire.

Independence had a brother named Ezekiel Gile (1804 – 1882).  Ezekiel named his son Independence Liberty Gile, born August 1833 in Norwich, Vermont.  This second Independence attended Norwich University, a military academy, from 1854 – 1856.  He was a farmer in Sharon, Vermont, and married Olive A. Kendall.  

Here is an interesting tidbit I found about Independence’s mother, Mary Gay Jones (born 18 May 1775 at Alfred, Maine) in the book The Guile-Gile-Guiles Genealogy: Descendants of Samuel Guile, one of the twelve founders of Haverhill, Massachusetts in 1640, by John John Gile, page 69

“Haverhill gazette 18 May 1875 news item “One Hundred Years – Mrs. Mary Gile who has resided here in the village with her daughter, Mrs. Nathaniel Gage for several years, but who in the early part of the past winter went to stop for a while with another daughter at Lawrence, where she at present remains, was one hundred years old Tuesday.  She retains her faculties to a remarkable degree, and is, we believe, the oldest person in Essex County.  When we remember the commencement of the Revolutionary War was contemporaneous with her birth, we can in a moment appreciate her great age.  She is older than the battle of Bunker Hill.” 

Oh, isn’t it the fun the tidbits you can discover just from a name on a tombstone!

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Published under a Creative Commons License
Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Tombstone Tuesday ~ A Very Patriotic Name!", Nutfield Genealogy,  posted October 13, 2015 ( http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/tombstone-tuesday-very-patriotic-name.html : accessed [access date]).

Sandwich Notch Road, New Hampshire (1801 to 2015)

1981, Sandwich Notch Road

In 1981, when I was in college, four of us drove from Cambridge, Massachusetts up to New Hampshire on Columbus Day weekend.  None of the other students had ever been to New Hampshire, and so I was the tour guide.  I took them to the usual places to see foliage- Franconia Notch, the Basin and the Flume, Crawford Notch, the Kancamagus Trail, and then we went to somewhere I had never been either.  We saw "Sandwich Notch Road" on our AAA map, and decided to explore that route.  It was a dotted line on the map, indicating a dirt road.

We had a great time exploring Sandwich Notch Road.  The nine mile road was in very poor condition for automobile traffic.  The old Pinto station wagon we were driving bottomed out at every bump and hump in the road.  We had trouble getting up over the notches, but finally made it to the other side. We had so much fun that years later, after my husband and I graduated and married and had a daughter, we did the same trip a few more times as a family.

2015, Sandwich Notch Road
Yes, we are walking behind the car, so the low carriage of the convertible can clear the road bumps!

It had been at least a dozen years since we did the trip up over Sandwich Notch, and we decided, for old times sake, to do it again this Columbus Day weekend.  It was the 34th anniversary of our "discovery" of Sandwich Notch Road.

In the years in between 1981 and now I had read a lot of history about the Sandwich Notch road.  It was more than just a scenic byway through the White Mountains National Forest.  It was built in 1801 as the first major highway through the mountains.  It connected the White Mountains and Vermont with Southern New Hampshire and the seacoast area.  You can read more about the history at this link from the Sandwich, New Hampshire Historical Society:   http://www.sandwichhistorical.org/auto-tour-of-sandwich-notch.html 

Another great place to learn more about the history and natural history of the Sandwich Notch Road is by reading Elizabeth Yates' 1973 book The Road Through Sandwich Notch. (You may know her best as the author of the Newbury Award winning book Amos Fortune, Free Man) Her book was instrumental in preserving the road as part of the National Forest system.

At one time 300 families lived along this road, with sawmills, farms, and businesses.  Then the land returned to wilderness in the 20th century, and left only one residence in the middle of the road.  This road passes through two notches and three different watersheds as it travels from Center Sandwich to Thornton, New Hampshire. You can see the ghostly remains of stone walls and cellar holes all along this road, deep in the forest. Today many popular hiking trails through the White Mountain National Forest cross the Sandwich Notch Road, and hikers experience miles of wilderness dotted by the occasion signs of pioneer life in the 19th century.

If your ancestors or family lived in Sandwich, Thornton or nearby they probably traveled this road in the early 19th century, mostly on foot or by oxcart. By the time of the Civil War, farmers were leaving New Hampshire in droves for better land west of New England in Ohio, the midwest and further west.  The population of New Hampshire dropped dramatically in those years, especially in the small farming communities.

When our daughter was attending Simmons College we met the then President, Susan Scrimshaw at a parents' cocktail party.  She told us that her family owned a farm on the Sandwich Notch Road, and I was surprised because there are very few homes on the road.  It is very remote, impassible in the winter, and probably off the grid.  Sure enough, near the end of the Sandwich Notch Road we came to a few farm houses and read the name "Scrimshaw" on one of the barns.  We found the homestead!

Fall Foliage seen on Sandwich Notch Road, October 11, 2015

An action shot!  Seen along Sandwich Notch Road

If you are going to travel Sandwich Notch Road, I would recommend a four wheel drive vehicle with a high carriage to clear the humps and bumps in the dirt road.  It was wonderful having a convertible to see the views and the foliage, but our little red convertible (2007 Toyota Solara Camry) was a too low slung to clear some of the road, and so the passengers had to get out and walk up the hills or over the bumps behind the car!  Some cars have been known to bottom out and sustain damage, so beware...

For more information:

The Road Through Sandwich Notch, by Elizabeth Yates, Brattleboro, VT: The Stephen Greene Press, 1973.

The Sandwich Historical Society, webpage on the history of the Sandwich Notch Road: 
http://www.sandwichhistorical.org/auto-tour-of-sandwich-notch.html 

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Heather Wilkinson Rojo, "Sandwich Notch Road, New Hampshire (1801 to 2015)", Nutfield Genealogy, posted October 12, 2015, (  http://nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com/2015/10/sandwich-notch-road-new-hampshire-1801.html : accessed [access date]).