Miller, Faber b. 1905

Hannah Littlefield b. 1633

/ Kirstin Miller

Hannah Littlefield 9th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Hannah was baptized on August 10, 1633 with her twin, Thomas at St Peters Church Titchfield. This church was built beginning in the 7th century, with updates and additions it still stands and has an amazing history involving monks, Henry the 8th, Victorian disapproval and more. Photos on google Maps. Hannah, her dad, grandpa and grandma all lived in Titchfield. Hannah’s grandma Mary Littlefield is buried at St Peters. Hannah would barely remember Titchfield, she left for America at 5 years old. Her dad and a brother sailed earlier, then Hannah, her mom. siblings and two servants, maybe one a tutor sailed on the Bevis in 1638. The Littlefields were in Boston, then left for Wells, Maine where they were among the first settlers on the Webhannet River.

At age 29 Hannah married Peter Cloyes. Hannah and Peter stayed in Salem, they probably had 10 children. Hannah had died by 1683 when Peter married Sarah Towne, also a widow.

Hannah was named in her mom and dad’s wills. Her dad Edmund leaves her 15 pounds, her mom Annis leaves Hannah a bed and bolster, woolens and linens and Annis leaves son in law Peter acres of land.

Sources

Martha Bulkeley b. 1572

/ Kirstin Miller

Martha Bulkeley 11th great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Martha was born in Odell, Bedfordshire England in 1572. Her father and then her younger brother Peter were pastors at All Saints Parish in Odell. Martha would have been baptized and married in the church which was built in the 1400s and is still standing. Martha married Abraham Mellows around 1595. In 1630s England, Martha, her husband, her brother Peter and other friends and church members left England for America specifically for religious freedom. The Mellows arrived before 1633 when they were admitted to the First Church of Charlestown, Massachusetts.. “Abraham Mellows and Martha his wife and Edward Mellows their son … were admitted to Charlestown church on August 19 1633.”. The family stayed in Charlestown and Martha and Abraham had at least 8 children. Their son Edward was the first husband of Hannah Smith 9th great grandma.

  • Source
    Charlestown (Mass.). Records of the First church in Charlestown, Massachusetts, 1632-1789, Boston Printed for J.F. Hunnewell, by D. Clapp and Son 1880
    http://tinyurl.com/y66jzuk6

 

Humphrey Blake b. 1494

/ Kirstin Miller

Humphrey Blake 15th great grandpa on RootsMagic Tree

Humphrey Blake was born about 1494 and died about 1558. Humphrey was the 2nd son of William and ‘seated himself’ at Over Storey, Somerset, England. He married Ann, her last name is unknown, they had several children. Humphrey was a clothier, he turned wool yarns into textile, cloth for clothing, draperies and what not. Humphrey leased a manor Plainsfield, his son John bought the manor. The Blake family church was nearby, St Peter and Paul, there are parish records with births, marriages and burials of the Blake family. The church still stands. The manor, Plainfield in 1890 or so was rented by a tenant and probably just crumbled away. Humphrey’s will dated November 1558 was destroyed in the bombing of England 1940-41 but an abstract or summary survives. He left money to the church for repair and ornament. The will named his children and wife and gave money and/or possessions to each.

Humphrey was buried on December 28, 1558 at St Peter and Paul Church. In the middle passage of the church there is a monumental tablet for Humphrey and Ann. The inscription reads: “Here lyeth the bodye of Humfry Blake of Overstowey clothier deceased, who was buried the 20 day of March Anno Domini 1619 Also Ann, the wife of Humfry Blake, was here interred December ye 11, 1645”. A photo is on this genealogy website: Somerset – Over Stowey, Combe St. Nicholas by Mary Mettler at California Genealogical Society, CaliforniaAncestors.org

Sources

Annis Austin b. 1596

/ Kirstin Miller

Annis Austin 10th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Annis was born in Exeter, England on February 1, 1596. In 1614 she married Edmund Littlefield, they were parents of 8 kids. Before 1638 Edmund and an older son sailed for America. In 1638 Annis went to America. She sailed on the Bevis with her younger kids and a couple servants. Annis’s brother Richard Austin with his family and a servant were on this same ship which landed in Boston May of 1638. (Annis’s brother Richard is the 3rd great grandfather of Stephen F. Austin, who founded Texas). Annis Edmund and family stayed in Boston for a short time then moved on to Wells, Maine where Edmund built the first sawmill and gristmill near Webhannet Falls. Annis with her family farmed and cleared the way for other English settlers. “With the aid of his large family, he (Edmund) prepared the way for the habitation of man”.

Annis was a widow in 1661 and wrote her will on December 12, 1677. She mentions each of her children and leaves land, wools, linens and a bed to daughter Hannah and husband Peter Cloyes- 9th great grandparents.

Austin, Annis on the Bevis closeup

Annis and children sailed on the Bevis 1638

Bevis_Passengers_1638

List of passengers 1638 on the Bevis

The history of Wells and Kennebunk from the earliest settlement page 77 

Richard Austin on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Austin_(colonist)

The ship Bevis on Wikipedia with image of handwritten list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevis_(ship)

The Wells, Maine PD has a post on their Facebook page with a photo of the Littlefield marker: The Bridge of Flowers at Webhannet Falls.

Richard Risley b. 1709

/ Kirstin Miller

Richard Risley 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Richard was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut on July 24, 1709. On September 24, 1729 he married Hannah Smith. They had 8 or 9 children and lived in Bolton, Connecticut. Richard was a widow in 1785 then married Mary Smith. On the 1790 census Richard is head of house living, probably, with a son with 2nd wife Mary.

Richard died in 1792. There’s no record of his will. His probate was on August 7, 1792 with Joseph Carver (no clues on who this person was) and Mary the widow as executors. The inventory of Richard’s estate included: One great coat, one bed with pillows and bolsters, 16 runs of linen yarn, a trunk, a chest of drawers, a tea kettle, pewter plates and cups, some livestock, 20 acres of land. An estate sale was held on April 18, 1793. Handwritten inventories of the 1600 and 1700s seemed to include every thing the person owned from buttons and seeds to land and livestock.

Risley, Richard estate papers page 4

Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 at Ancestry

Sources

Hannah Judd b. 1681

/ Kirstin Miller

Hannah Judd 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Hannah was a middle child of Benjamin and Mary Lewis Judd. She was born, then baptized on March 13, 1681 in Farmington, Connecticut.

Judds and Smiths 1700 CT records

Marriage of Gershom and Hannah, children’s births

On May 4 1710 Hannah married Gershom Smith he was from nearby Glastonbury, Connecticut. Gershom and Hannah’s records show only 2 kids: Hannah the oldest and Gershom a son who died at 16. The Smith family stayed in Glastonbury. Gershom died in 1747 at age 67 and is buried there. Widow Smith (Hannah) moved to her daughter’s home. Hannah’s daughter, also Hannah, was married to Richard Risley and living in Tolland, Connecticut about 30 miles northeast.

Hannah is on a land record dated 1756: “On 3 Nov. 1756, Richard and Hannah Risiey, with Widow Hannah Smith, all of Glastonbury, sold land where said Risley now dwells”. Hannah was 75. There’s no record of her death or burial. Husband Gershom has a headstone at Glastonbury, Hannah may be buried there or may be buried in Tolland with her daughter’s Risley family.

Sources
At American Ancestors. The American genealogist volume 25 page 130. New England marriages to 1700 database Volume 2 page 1391.

At FamilySearch.org. Connecticut Marriages, 1640-1939 FHL 001316154 Digital Folder 007730404 Image 00087 (87 of 784) marriage of Gershom and Hannah, children’s births

 

John Drake b. 1585

/ Kirstin Miller

John Drake 12th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree.

John Drake was born in England about 1585. Past research on John Drake connected him to King Henry the 8th, Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake, but it’s all been proven very unlikely. So John was born in England where he married Elizabeth and they had 5 children. In 1630 the Drakes arrived in America, sailing on the Mary and John. The passengers on this ship are considered the founders of Windsor, Connecticut. They lived in Dorchester first then the whole group moved to Windsor, Connecticut. John was a woodworker, a farmer and was active in town services. He was on several juries and on December 1, 1645 one of the constables in charge of gathering up knapsacks filled with powder and bullets, delivering those knapsacks to a Mr Talcott and keeping a written record of the ‘particulars so delivered’.

John died in an accident. Driving a cart full of corn ‘Something Scard the Cattle and they Set a running, and he Labouring to Stop them, by taking hold on the mare, was thrown’.

He wrote his will in 1659 and mentions each of his children.

John’s burial is unknown but his name is on the Founders of Windsor Monument at Palisado Cemetery in Windsor, Connecticut. The monument reads, “To the founders of Windsor and the First Congregational Church in Connecticut which came to America in the Mary and John with its pastor John Warham May 30, 1630, Settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts and migrated to Windsor in May and October 1635.”Snapshot for the Windsor Historical Society. 3 ancestors of Faber Miller are on the monument: John Drake, Thomas Dewey and Henry Wolcott

Sources

John Pierce b. 1639

/ Kirstin Miller

John Pierce 9th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree.

John Pierce was born about 1639 in America or England. His last name could have been Pierce, Pearce or Pearse or any variation. He was in Boston in 1659 where he married Isabel her last name is unknown. John was a bricklayer and mason in Boston. Mary Pierce (8th great grandmother) had a birth record in Boston: Mary ye Daughter of John Pearse and of Isabell his wife borne 13 March 1661 or 62. The year is listed as 1661 or 1662 because of the worldwide switch from the Julian, of Julius Caesar, to Gregorian, of Pope Gregory 13, calendar. The calendar switch made some years Old Style or New Style, double year dates show this.

John wrote his will April 8 1690 and probably died soon after this. A lot of unknowns.

Pierce coat of arms

Dixit et Fecit: He said and he did.

The Pierce coat of arms shows Three Ravens. The Crest is a Dove with an olive branch.

Sources

John Connable b. 1650

/ Kirstin Miller

John Connable 8th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree.

John Connable was born in England about 1650 or so. An Ancestry source “US Craftperson Files 1600-1995” shows his occupation as carpenter, joiner, artisan. This craftsman source leads to a 30 page paper “The Seventeenth Century Case Furniture of Essex County, Massachusetts, and Its Makers”. Author Benno Forman researched ‘the origins of the joined chest of drawers’ in early America. The conclusion, “only one man John Cunnable could have brought this style to Boston’. The author includes the ‘Garvan’ chest at Yale’s Art Gallery as evidence.

Connable chest of drawers

The Garvan chest at Yale

Connable, John joiner

Then only one man, John Connable, could have brought the style to New England.

Connable, John signature

John Cunabell, joiner of London

Besides his skills in woodworking John married 3 times, had a large family, fought in King Philips War, took the Oath of Allegiance, was a freeman and for several years a ’tithing man’ responsible for arresting travelers on Sunday – travel was forbidden on the Sabbath.

His death is recorded in a diary of the time, “10. On ye 10 in ye morning about 5 old Mr. Connabell, ye joiner, dyed and buryed on ye 13 day aged 74 years 3 months 15 days”.

Online
The Garvan chest at Yale Art Gallery

The article Seventeenth Century Case Furniture
image 14 of 31
Catalog page http://www.jstor.org/stable/1180998?origin=JSTOR-pdf

“The drawers of the Garvan chest and the SPNEA chest (fig. to), in contrast to those in all the joined furniture known to have been made elsewhere in Massachusetts before 1675, are held together with dovetails, as opposed to the usual, rural Anglo-American technique of nailing flushcut drawer sides into rabbets planed into the sides of the drawer fronts”

At Archive.org
Volume 15 page 201 Diary of Jeremiah Bumstead of Boston 1722-1727 in The New England historical and genealogical register 1861 Volume 15.

At Ancestry
U.S., Craftperson Files, 1600-1995

At HathiTrust
Volume 1 page 9 several pages. Genealogical memoir of the Cunnabell, Conable or Connable family.

Samuel Tefft b. 1643

/ Kirstin Miller

Samuel Tefft 9th great-grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Samuel was born near Kingstown, Rhode Island in 1643. His parents were John and Mary, he had a brother Joshua and 2 sisters. Samuel moved to Providence RI his first record there in 1676 when he’s named guardian of brother Joshua’s son. Joshua was accused of treason in the Great Swamp Fight of King Philips War and put on trial for fighting with the Narragansett tribe against New England colonies. Joshua was found guilty and hanged. That’s when Samuel and Jireh Bull (husband of Godsgift Arnold) were named guardians of Joshua’s son Peter.

In 1676 or 77 Samuel married Elizabeth Jenckes, daughter of Joseph, sister to Gov’r Jenckes. Samuel was a freeman in 1677 and by 1687 the Teffts had moved to Kingstown Rhode Island by 1687. Samuel wrote his will on March 16, 1725. He put his widow Elizabeth in charge of the estate and she received all moveables, the dwelling house, orchards, and more. Samuel’s kids and grandkids are named in this will. He owned a lot: lands, livestock, housewares, a sword and 2 linen wheels, 2 spinning wheels, a pair of worsted combs and yarn.

Samuel Tefft and Daniel Williams elected the Grand Jury, 1679

Samuel Tefft and Daniel Williams elected the Grand Jury, 1679