Monday Is for Mothers: Thanklord Perkins (About 1610 - After 1675)

In the first record we have of this 8X great grandmother, Thanklord Perkins was married to Ralph Shepard at St. Bride's, Fleet Street in London on the 21st of May, 1632.

[Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives. ]

A year later the baptismal record for the couple's first child, Sarah, at St. Dunstan's in Stepney lists only her father's name, giving his occupation as tailor residing in Limehouse.

[Ancestry.com. London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives.]

The couple's non-conformist religious beliefs led to Ralph, Thanklord and Sarah's departure from London on June 30, 1635 aboard the ship Abigail bound for New England. Thanklord's age was given as 23 and she was pregnant with her second child, Thomas, who is one of my 7X great grandfathers.*

Their first residence was in Watertown (presumably where Thomas was born), followed by removals to Dedham in 1637, then Weymouth in 1639, on to Malden by 1650 and ending up in Concord by 1666.

In 1651 Thankslord joined with 35 other women in a petition in defense of their minister Rev. Marmaduke Matthews.

[Ancestry.com. The history of Malden, Massachusetts, 1633-1785 [database on-line]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: Corey, Deloraine Pendre,. The history of Malden, Massachusetts, 1633-1785. Malden: The author, 1899.]

Here's a tracing of her signature from that document.

[From Ralph Shephard, Puritan by Ralph Hamilton Shepard, 1893.

Source: Google Books]

Several land records in Malden name Ralph "with the assent and consent of Thankslord my wife" and she "acknowledged" a deed giving some property in Concord to their son-in-law Walter Power** on March 28, 1675. This is the last date we have for her. Her date of death and place of burial are unknown.



*My descent from Thomas.

[Ancestry.com]

**Walter Power married their daughter Trial (1641-1708) who's my 7th great grandmother.

[Ancestry.com]

© 2017 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday Is for Mothers: Martha "Patty" Shepard (1800 - Before 1875)

The time has come to give some attention to this third great grandmother. After all, we've already considered her father Joshua Shepard (1753-1804), her husband William Porter (1796-1868) and her son Orville Tracy Porter (1838-1916).

[Detail from New Hampshire. S. Lewis del. Tanner sc. (Published by John Conrad & Co., Philadelphia. 1804).

Source David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

Patty* was born in Alstead, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, in 1800 and was her parents' youngest child. She was only four years old when her father suddenly died while harvesting wheat in August of 1804.

Her mother Lucy became the head of the household as we can see in the 1810 U.S. Census. (Patty and her next-oldest sister Catherine are represented by the "2" in the column that enumerates those "FREE WHITE FEMALES: Of ten years, and under sixteen."

[Ancestry.com. 1810 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Third Census of the United States, 1810. (NARA microfilm publication M252, 71 rolls). Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

The next record we have for Patty is her marriage to William Porter, who lived in neighboring Walpole, on June 18, 1818, almost certainly in the building known as the Langdon Meeting House, which has served many functions over its lifetime. The clergyman who performed the ceremony was Robert Bartlett, a well-known Universalist** minister.

[Ancestry,com. New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659-1947 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: “New Hampshire, Marriage and Divorce Records, 1659–1947.” Online index and digital images. New England Historical Genealogical Society. Citing New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records, Concord, New Hampshire.]

[Langdon Meeting House. Source: Langdon Heritage Commission]

The young family left New Hampshire for the Township of Mexico*** in Oswego County, New York, in about 1826.

[Map of the County of Oswego. By David H. Burr. Published by the Surveyor General, pursuant to an Act of the Legislature. Entered according to an Act of Congress Jany. 5th. 1829 by David H. Burr of the State of New York. Engd. by Rawdon, Clark & Co., Albany & Rawdon, Wright & Co., N.Y. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

And that's where we find Williams's household in the 1830 and 1840 U.S. Census records; there's no record naming Patty until the 1850 U.S. Census. By then her 88-year-old mother Lucy Royce (now widowed a second time) and two of her sisters Lucy (66) and Mary (56) have joined the Porters in New York.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

In New York State's 1855 Census, we see that their 27-year-old son Charles is now the head of the house as his parents, several of his siblings and his aunts are now living with him in a frame (not log) house valued at $75. (I can't help but think they must have been really crowded in there.)

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013. Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

In the Federal Census five years later, Charles is still head of the household but there's no sign of his wife or the baby girl who had just been born in 1855 and there's a 3-year-old girl named Frances so it's clear that tragedy has stuck the family.

[Ancestry.com. 1860 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1860 U.S. census, population schedule. NARA microfilm publication M653, 1,438 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

More changes have taken place by the 1865 New York State Census. William is once again listed as head of a household which now includes son Chauncy Shepard Porter and his growing family. Patty's sister Mary is still living with them.

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1865 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1865. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

William died in 1868 and Patty and her sister Mary continued to live with Chauncy and his family until her own death sometime before the 1875 New York State Census. Mary Shepard died in 1877.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.Minnesota census schedules for 1870. NARA microfilm publication T132, 13 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

The place where William and Patty are buried isn't known.


*Patty and Patsy were common nicknames for girls named Martha. You can find out more about that here.
**Although today Universalists and Unitarians seem to have been conflated, in early years the Universalists considered themselves different. If you want to learn more, here's a link to an 1840 publication titled Plain Guide to Universalism.
***Represented on this 1829 map by the pink section that's closest to Lake Ontario.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Where Were My Ancestors About 1796? Abraham Bradley's Map of the United States: Part 2

This is a continuation of my post earlier this week using Abraham Bradley's postal map of 1796.  This is just an exercise to get a handle on where all of my American ancestors were during the Federalist Era.  I can already see the fatal flaw of adding ancestors by going up and down my tree as opposed to grouping by location--for instance, I actually have a lot of people who were in the western Pennsylvania area, but there will be separate maps for the family groups in this iteration because they are on different branches of my tree.  I will put together a more concise version at a later date.

In Bertie County, North Carolina, possibly in the Salmon Creek area, John H Hardy, 23, was married to his first wife, Jamima Wilson, and they had a toddler Etheldred.  Jamima would die in the next year.  John's mother Sarah Sowell, 63, had been widowed 3 years before when her husband William Hardy died, and she would be listed in the 1800 Federal Census as head of household in Bertie County, North Carolina.   John's future second wife, Elizabeth Ward, 21, daughter of Thomas Ward (who had died the year before at about age 60) and Pheraby Sowell, about 47.  John Hardy and Elizabeth Ward were distant cousins--their mothers were both descendants of Richard Sowell (born c. 1659).

John Chappell, 33, had moved to Georgia probably in the mid to late 1780's from Sussex County, Virginia, likely with his parents, Revolutionary veteran John C Chappell, 58, and Nancy "Nannie" Harrison, 55.  Like Jesse Warren Sr he was in the area that would become Hancock County, Georgia. John and his wife, Sarah "Sallie" P Heath, 25, had several small children by the time the map was made.  Sallie was the daughter of Valley Forge veteran Abraham Heath, 56, and Winnifred "Winny" (??), 50, who had moved from Surry County, Virginia to Burke/Warren County, Georgia 10 years earlier.
Josiah Freeman, 33, was likely in Oglethorpe County, Georgia with his first wife, Susannah Hawkins, and at least 5 small children.  He had likely moved to Georgia sometime between 1786 and 1790.  He was originally from Virginia, possibly Sussex or Surry counties.  His parents William Freeman, 58, and Sarah Williams(??), about 56, were in Surry County, North Carolina, and may have originally been from Surry County, Virginia.  All these Surry counties!!  It gets confusing.  Elizabeth Jordan, Josiah's second wife, was only about 9 in 1796.  I have not yet figured out who Elizabeth's parents were.  Elizabeth was born in either Georgia or possibly South Carolina.
Richard Turner, 17, had been born in Cascade, Pittsylvania, Virginia, and had moved with his family to Wilkes County, Georgia (part of which became Lincoln County) when he was about 5.  His parents, Shadrack Turner and Margaret Hill, were both about 45.  Mary Henderson, 15, would marry Richard about 3 years later in Wilkes or Lincoln County.  She had Virginia as place of birth on the 1850 and 1860 Censuses, but I have not yet been able to determine who her parents were, although there were numerous Henderson families in Elbert County (neighbor county to both Wilkes and Lincoln) at the time she would have married Richard.

William Porter was born in May 1796 in Sheffield, Caledonia, Vermont, to Benjamin Porter, 24, and Lydia Wilcox, 21.  It is not clear why they were there, as they had married in Surry, Cheshire, New Hampshire the year before, and were back there by the 1800 federal census.  Benjamin's widowed mother Esther Carpenter, 57, allegedly didn't die until 1827 in Lyme, Grafton, NH, but apparently didn't head a household in the censuses and probably lived with one of her adult children.  Lydia's parents, physician Obediah Willcox, 72, and Sarah Talcott, 61, were likely living in Surry, Cheshire, New Hampshire.
Joshua Shepard, 43, and Lucia "Lucy" Farnsworth, 34, were living in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire.  Joshua's parents, Jonathan Shepard, 87, and Love Palmer, 79, had divorced 32 years earlier (about 1764), and had both subsequently remarried.  Love had married a Mr. Heard or Herrick (date unknown), and she died 23 July 1796 in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire.  Jonathan had married Mary Underwood in 1765 and lived in Windsor, Windsor, Vermont, where he died 2 years after this map was made (26 March 1798).  Lucy's parents, Thomas Farnsworth, 65, and Elizabeth Davis, 68, also lived in Alstead (they had moved there sometime between 1776 and 1790).








© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Orville Tracy Porter (1838 - 1916) North to Alaska

The son of Martha Shepard (1800-1875) and William Porter (1796-1868), this paternal great great grandfather Orville Tracy "O.T." Porter was born in Mexico (Oswego County, New York) on November 23, 1838. The 1850 U.S. Census listed him as attending school, and by the 1855 New York State Census, 17-year old Orville was described as a "Farmer" in the household of his older brother Charles Dixon Porter.*

[Ancestry.com. New York, State Census, 1855 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.

Original data: Census of the state of New York, for 1855. Microfilm. New York State Archives, Albany, New York.]

O.T. must not have found farming the life he wanted to dedicate himself to because in 1860 he traveled to Oregon, although sources are divided whether he arrived via Panama or around Cape Horn.**

In her book  "..And This Is Our Heritage," Esther Moreland Leithold gives a brief description of Orville in 1862 when he courted and married my great great grandmother Matilda "Puggie" Biddle (1846-1927)*** who was living in Corvallis with her parents.

"Puggie was then sixteen; and, as she was living in a country where eligible young men outnumbered young women, of their own class, almost six to one, she had many admirers with matrimonial designs. Among those who saw Puggie most frequently was a handsome young teacher named Orville Porter, who had alluring brown eyes and an engaging manner. He was very intelligent, and was always employed; but he lacked the accumulative instinct,--the ability to spend less than he made;--and, while Robert liked him personally, he did not consider him a suitable husband for his daughter; and was very glad to have her at the Agency (the Indian Agency) where should would not see the charming Orville for awhile."

But parental objections didn't stop the pair from getting together.

"Each day she walked down to town to get the mail and the needed supplies for the house; and if she went at the right time (which she usually did) Orville Porter would walk home with her, and stay, to sit on the front porch, until time for him to return to his work. Then on Sunday afternoons he would stay until time for the evening Church Service and walk, with her, to the church. No one thought seriously of their friendship: but, on the morning of August 26th, he drove up to the house in a buggy; and Puggie went out, carrying a hat-box, to join him. She did not tell anyone where she was going: but, before the day was over, the secret had leaked out, and the family learned that they had gone to Albany to be married: and there they remained for a wonderful two day's honeymoon at the St. Charles Hotel."

In the 1870 U.S. Census for Waitsburg, Walla Walla County, Washington Territory, O.T.'s occupation was listed as school teacher and the household includes Matilda and three children, the youngest of which was born in 1868 in the territory so the family must have moved there sometime after Walter's birth two years earlier in Oregon.

[Ancestry.com. 1870 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009. Images reproduced by FamilySearch. Original data: 1870 U.S. census, population schedules. NARA microfilm publication M593, 1,761 rolls. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, n.d.]

The Porters didn't remain in Washington and were living in Harrisburg, Linn County, Oregon, where O.T. began publishing a weekly newspaper, The Nucleus, amid high hopes for the area.

"The centennial year of 1876 saw the birth of journalism in Harrisburg, when O. T. Porter started the Nucleus, a four-page Saturday weekly, Republican, 22x32, for which he charged $2.50 a year.

Like a good many other newspapers of the period, the Nucleus had a mission and frankly proclaimed it. In Pettengill’s newspaper directory for 1878 the publisher, announcing a circulation of 400, and proclaiming that “it will soon . . . possibly treble its circulation,” declared that “portions of Linn, Lane, and Benton counties are destined, at no distant day, to be separated and form a new county, with Harrisburg as the county seat. The Nucleus will be THE newspaper of Nucleus county. . . . Circulation in six incorporated villages.” In Ayer’s for the same year Porter asserted that the Nucleus “circulates as the local journal of Brownsville, Halsey, Junction, and Harrisburg, none of which has a smaller population than 300, all incorporated.” 

The ambitious dreams of Mr. Porter failed to save his little paper. Brownsville and Junction proceeded at once to establish their own papers, and within three years the Nucleus was not."****

O.T.'s occupation is listed as Editor in the 1880 U.S. Census when he and his expanding family were still living in Harrisburg.

[Ancestry.com and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 1880 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2010. 1880 U.S. Census Index provided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints © Copyright 1999 Intellectual Reserve, Inc. All rights reserved. Original data: Tenth Census of the United States, 1880. (NARA microfilm publication T9, 1,454 rolls). Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29. National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

According to his Oregon Biographical Index Card File 1900-1986, over his newspaper career had papers not only in Harrisburg, but also Albany,***** Waitsburg (Washington), and Healdsburg, California, probably where his youngest child was born. His editorial support during the 1888 election must have been the reason he was given a juicy political appointment, that of U.S. Marshall****** and Surveyor General (ex officio) of Alaska, by newly-elected Republican President Benjamin Harrison in 1889.

[Official Register of the United States ..., Volume 1, U.S. Government Printing Office 1892, Google Books]

[United States Congressional serial set, Issue 3089, Google Books]

We don't know at what point O.T. and Matilda's marriage ended but he married Carrie Delph****** in Sitka in 1890. She had come to Alaska a year earlier to teach at a missionary school sponsored by the Presbyterian Church.

[Detail from photos of Sitka in Alaska and Polar Regions Collections, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library, University of Alaska Fairbanks]

As the only U.S. Marshall for all of Alaska, O.T. kept busy not only professionally but also personally. He was elected Treasurer of the Alaska Historical Society in December of 1889, co-authored a book of poems about Alaska, and collected Native Art. Some of his actions made the national news.

[Date: Wednesday, May 14, 1890   Paper: New York Herald (New York, New York)   Issue: 134   Page: 7 . This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004.Source: GenealogyBank.com]

[Date: Friday, January 12, 1894   Paper: Santa Fe Daily New Mexican (Santa Fe, New Mexico)   Volume: 30   Issue: 275   Page: 1. This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

Since it was a political appointment, it must have been clear to O.T. that when Harrison lost the 1892 election to Democrat Grover Cleveland his job as Marshall was in jeopardy and he was replaced by Louis L. Williams in 1894.

By the 1900 U.S. Census O.T. and Callie were living in West Albany, in the same ward and enumeration district of the city as the "widowed" Matilda Porter and their youngest child Chester A. Porter, a 15-year old student.

[Ancestry.com. 1900 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004. Original data: United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900. Washington, D.C.:

National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls.]

The 1905 Albany City Directory gives their addresses; note that O.T. had become a Justice of the Peace by then.

[Ancestry.com. U.S. City Directories, 1822-1989 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011.

Original data: Title : Albany, Oregon, City Directory, 1905]

And O.T. and Carrie were still living in the same area as the "widowed" Matilda who was now residing in the household of her daughter Alice's family in the 1910 U.S. Census.

Orville Porter died on January 30, 1916.

[Date: Monday, January 31, 1916   Paper: Oregonian (Portland, Oregon)   Volume: LV   Issue: 17220   Page: 4   Piece: One of Two. This entire product and/or portions thereof are copyrighted by NewsBank and/or the American Antiquarian Society. 2004

Source: GenealogyBank.com]

As an example of how obituaries are not always accurate, of the eight children O.T. and Matilda had together, five survived him. Somehow his oldest child, my great grandfather Tracy Darrow Porter, another newspaperman, who was alive and well in Mississippi at the time wasn't mentioned at all.

Matilda survived him by 11 years, Carrie by 17.


*Although Charles is listed as head of household, both parents and two elderly aunts are living there too.
**Orville's obituary states that he came by way of Panama; the Oregon Biographical Index Card File 1900-1986 says via Cape Horn.
***She was the daughter of Benjamin Robert "B.R." Biddle (1808-1882) and Maria Evans (1814-1899).
****Source for this quote from Linn County Roots here.
*****Linn County Roots names him as a partner in the Albany Herald by 1883 here.
******You can read more about Carrie on a blog post by a member of the Delph family here.


© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Some Notes About Joshua Shepard

It's always nice to find an obituary of an ancestor that reflects how well thought of he was.  Saturday, September 1, 1804, New Hampshire Sentinel (Keene, New Hampshire), vol 6, issue 285, pg 3. from GenealogyBank.com

My 5th great grandfather, Joshua Shepard (1753-1804), yeoman and Revolutionary War veteran, son of Jonathan Shepard and Love Palmer, died intestate on 22 August 1804 in Alstead, Cheshire, New Hampshire, at a relatively young age, with minor children including my four year old ancestress Martha "Patty" Shepard (b. 1800, married William Porter). Elsewhere in the probate it showed Cyrus Kingsbury was appointed to be guardian of Patty and her sisters Caty (who had turned 9 just days before Joshua's death) and Polly (about 8).  

His death warranted notice in a variety of newspapers at the time, from New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Maine, and Pennsylvania.  I'm surprised there were no mentions in Connecticut papers, where Joshua was born, but maybe that is just reflection on GenealogyBank's holdings. 

Using GenealogyBank and restricting the search to "Joshua Shepard" in 1804, I found his death was reported from late August 1804 to mid-September 1804, from Maine all the way down until Doylestown, Pennsylvania (marked red dots).  The green arrow indicates approximate location of Alstead.  Image is from Abraham Bradley's postal routes in 1796 (Abraham Bradley's Map of the United States, exhibiting the post-roads, the situations, connections & distances of the post-offices, stage roads, counties, ports of entry and delivery for foreign vessels, and the principal rivers (Philadelphia: William Harrison, c. 1796); digital image, Library of Congress Geography and Map collection (http://www.loc.gov/resource/g3700.ct003710/ : accessed 22 Sep 2015).

Joshua's wife, my 5th great grandmother Lucy Farnsworth (born 1762), had to go to the court in Jaffrey, Cheshire, New Hampshire (over 36 miles) to file as administratrix.

Lucy (Farnsworth) Shepard's application to be administratrix of her late husband's estate.  This document shows that Joshua's wife was named Lucy and that her brother was Joseph Farnsworth.  This information was already known to me, but it is nice to see confirmation of what I already have. Cheshire County, New Hampshire, Joshua Shepard probate file No. 114, Estate Files, S58-S143, 1793-1807: digital images, "New Hampshire, Wills and Probate Records, 1643-1982", Ancestry (http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=8996 : accessed 22 Sep 2015), search "Joshua Shepard."

A transcription:

To Abel Parker Esp. Judge of the probate of Wills &(?) for the County of Cheshire
Respectfully sheweth Lucy Shepard that she was the lawful wife of Joshua Shepard of Alstead in said county deceased whereby administration of the estate of said Joshua by law belongs to her.
She therefore prays that the administration of the estate aforesaid may be granted to her together with her brother Joseph Farnsworth of said Alstead
Dated(?) at Jaffrey the 3d day of Sept. 1804

Lucy Shepard

* Joshua's service record from Fold3.
* This is the most relevant set of laws in place I could find for New Hampshire c. 1804: The Laws of the State of New Hampshire: The Constitution of the State of New-Hampshire, and the Consitution of the United States, with Its Proposed Amendments. by J. Melcher, 1797.  I only briefly examined the work, but put it here in case I should need to consult it regarding the laws of probate.




© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Barnabas Davis (About 1599 - 1685), Tallow Chandler, Soldier, Planter

Although it sometimes can be difficult to trace colonial ancestors back across "the pond" to their origins in the Old World, that's not the case with this paternal ninth great grandfather--sources agree that he came from Tetbury in the Cotswolds in Gloucestershire and was born about 1599. Therefore he was about 29 when he married Patience James in Tewkesbury on July 4, 1628. The couple's four oldest children were baptized in Tetbury.*

[Glocestershire; Britannia Depicta or Ogilby Improved. Being a Correct Coppy of Mr. Ogilby's Actual Survey of All ye Direct & Principal Cross Roads in England and Wales ... By Ino. Owen ... Maps of All the Counties of South Britain ... By Eman Bowen, Engraver. 1675. Source: David Rumsey Historical Map Collection]

In 1635 Barnabas and Patience decided to emigrate to New England with their four children and chose to make their departure from London. However in July of that year, Barnabas left London by himself on the ship The Blessing bound for New England as the agent of William and John Woodcock who had made an investment in Connecticut land and wanted Barnabas to check on its progress, and they convinced him to leave his family in England.

Ten days after Barnabas landed in Boston he set out for Connecticut on foot. But when he arrived at the Woodcock's property he found nothing had been done and that Francis Stiles, the man in charge of the work, had returned to England so Barnabas left as soon as he could get passage back to London.** After he reported his findings to the Woodcocks it was learned that Stiles had gone back to Connecticut. So the Woodcocks sent Barnabas off to New England again (after a short visit to his family who apparently were back in Tewkesbury).

He arrived in Boston during the Pequot War and as it was no longer safe to travel overland to Connecticut he went by sea. Because of trouble with the Indians he wasn't able to visit the location of the Woodcock's property but Barnabas was able to ascertain from neighbors that the promised work had not been done and was given letters to deliver to his employers in London.

"[B]ut in the meantime he was taken a soldier against the Pequids and before he could return & get shipping in the sea near upon a year was spent from his last landing."

[A Map of New England from  A Narrative of the Troubles with the Indians in New-England, from ... 1607 to this present year 1677 ... To which is added a Discourse about the Warre with the Pequods in the year 1637. By W. Hubbard, Minister of Ipswich. ... Boston.

Source:David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.]

So Barnabas returned to England for the final time and embarked with his family in 1639 to settle in Charlestown where he remained for the rest of his life.*** He died on November 28, 1685.

He is referred to as a tallow chandler in deeds, also sometimes as a planter or husbandman.**** The inventory of his estate included "tallow valued in 13s. 6d. and mold & [nod] & knife for a chandler valued at 6s."

[The Art and Mystery of Making Wax and Tallow Candles, engraved for the 'Universal Magazine', 1749 | Social Studies, The Arts | Image | PBS LearningMedia]

Although the engraving above is dated 1749, the candle-making process didn't change much in the intervening years. Tallow chandlers often made soap also. It was a smelly but profitable trade.

Elizabeth Davis (1728-1823), the great great granddaughter of Barnabas and Patience, married Thomas Farnsworth (1731-1820) and their daughter Lucy (1762-after 1850) married Joshua Shepard (1753-1804). Their great great granddaughter Letta Estella Porter is my paternal grandmother.

*Three more children were born to the couple later. My descent is from their oldest child, Samuel (1629-1699). Most of the information here is taken from his profile in The Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volumes 2, page 286.. Boston: New England Historical and Genealogical Society, 1996-2011.
**In 1636. We know about this period of his life from depositions taken during his suit again the Woodcocks in 1641 for money they owed him. Unfortunately the result of this suit is lost to history.
***He continued to act as a agent of the Woodcocks and was able to get a judgement for 300 pounds against Stiles after his 1639 landing.
****Both Barnabas and Prudence were able to sign their names on these deeds.

© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: William Porter (1796-1868), Silversmith

My paternal grandmother Letta Estella Porter Warren's great grandfather was William Porter who was born in Vermont in 1796. His family moved to New Hampshire when he was about four years old and that's where he married Martha Shepard in 1818.

In about 1826 he and his family moved to Mexico, not the country on our southern border, but a village in Oswego County, New York, where he lived for the rest of his life.

For the first time, the 1840 U.S. Census "reported the number of persons in each household who engaged in mining; agriculture; commerce; manufactures and trades; navigation of the ocean; navigation of canals, lakes, and rivers; and learned professions and engineers." The entry for William Porter's household had two people who were employed in agriculture and none in any other category.

The 1850 U.S. Census is the first to list all the members of a household by name, a wonderful innovation for genealogists. In that census, William Porter's occupation was given as "Silver Smith" and the value of his real estate was $1,500 which would be worth almost $43,000 today.

[Ancestry.com. 1850 United States Federal Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2009.

Images reproduced by FamilySearch.

Original data: Seventh Census of the United States, 1850; (National Archives Microfilm Publication M432, 1009 rolls); Records of the Bureau of the Census, Record Group 29; National Archives, Washington, D.C.]

The next two census records we have for William (1855 N.Y. State and 1860 Federal) give his occupation as "Farmer" and  in the 1865 N.Y. State Census his occupation is listed  as "None." He died in 1868.

Was William Porter really a silversmith as he claimed in 1850? Unfortunately, we simply don't know for sure because no supporting evidence has been found. A history of Mexico published in 1895 doesn't mention the family at all.

© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Monday is for Mothers: Love Palmer (1717-1796)

My paternal fifth great grandmother Love Palmer was baptized in the First Congregational Church in Stonington, Connecticut, on June 2, 1717. When she was actually born depends on which source you refer to, but it was mostly likely in March of that year.

[Stonington, CT: First Congregational Church Records, 1674-1874. (Online Database. AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2008), Originally published as: History of the First Congregational Church, Stonington, Conn., 1674-1874 with the Report of the Bi-centennial Proceedings, June 3, 1874. Richard A. Wheeler, T. A. David and Co., Norwich, CT, 1875.]

On December 23, 1736, she married Jonathan Shepard in North Stonington.

[Ancestry.com. Early Connecticut Marriages [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

Original data: Bailey, Frederic W. Early Connecticut Marriages as Found on Ancient Church Records Prior to 1800. Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1997.]

In October of 1758 their tenth child, a daughter also named Love, was born to the couple and that's the end of the records we've found for Love Palmer Shepard.

Some accounts say that Jonathan and Love divorced around 1765 but I haven't found anything to either confirm or refute that assertion. In New England, divorce was a civil, not religious, matter and most common in Connecticut and Massachusetts. So it's not as unlikely as if these ancestors were living in Virginia or South Carolina.

Those same accounts declare that Love Palmer Shepard was married a second time to a man with the surname Hearick (given name unknown) and died in Alstead in Cheshire County, New Hampshire, on July 23, 1796. Once again, there's no documentary evidence to support these claims. There's certainly a gravestone in Alstead Center Cemetery with the name Love Hearick on it and many of Love and Jonathan's children settled in Alstead, but is this really the grave of my fifth great grandmother or did she die in Connecticut around 1765?

[Source: Find A Grave Memorial# 38144881; Photo by Kristin Jones (#47028934)]

Jonathan Shepard and Mary Underwood were married in Tolland County, Connecticut, on January 31, 1765, and by the first U.S. Census in 1790 was living in Vermont, where he died on March 26, 1798.


© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.

Working on Wednesday: Ralph Shepard, Tailor

One of my paternal 8th great grandfathers, Ralph Shepard (or Sheaphearde, Shepheard, Sheppard, etc.) was born about 1606 in Stepney, Middlesex, east of the City of London. Tradition says he was baptized at St Dunstan's which was severely damaged in the Great Fire of 1666, rebuilt by Wren, and bombed by the Germans during World War II.

St Dunstan's on a map from 1615 

http://spitalfieldslife.com/2011/08/05/vera-hullyer-parishioner-of-st-dunstans/

On May 21, 1632, he married Thankslord Perkins at St. Bride's, Fleet Street. Their daughter Sara was baptized in St. Dunstan's on August 9, 1633 and her father's occupation is given as tailor. (In the church record below, Sarah's entry is the third from the bottom of the left hand page.)

Source Information: Ancestry.com. London, England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. Original data: Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Images produced by permission of the City of London Corporation Libraries, Archives. 

However, in the spring of 1634 "Ralph Shepard, of Limehouse, tailor" came to the attention of the Court of High Commission, an ecclesiastical body prosecuting non-conformists, and he was called before them several times to answer questions about his religious beliefs.

What the final decision of the Court of High Commissionwas isn't known but in June/July of the next year Ralph Sheppard, age 29, his wife Thankes Sheppard, age 23, and their daughter Sara, age 2, embarked on the ship Abigail in London, bound for New England and a completely different life.

In Massachusetts, Ralph became a land owner, buying and selling property as he moved a number of times before settling in Concord sometime before 1666. He continued to be described as a tailor in deeds and he and his wife were able to sign their names to those documents.

He died in Charlestown (now part of Boston) on August 20, 1693, Thankslord having predeceased him. There is a gravestone for him in Bell Rock Cemetery in Malden, Middlesex County, Massachusetts.

Source: findagrave.com; photo posted by Wendy Roberts (#46939433)

I'm related to him and Thankslord through two of their seven children, their oldest son Thomas and their daughter Trial.

For more information about Ralph Shepard see: The Great Migration, Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, Volume VI, R-S, by Robert Charles Anderson. Boston: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2009, pages 262-269. It's available online to members of New England Historic Genealogical Society.

© 2014 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.