Miller, Faber b. 1905

Job Drake b. 1622 and Mary Wolcott b. 1622

/ Kirstin Miller

Job Drake, 11th great grandfather married Mary Wolcott. Job was b. in Devon, England 1622/3. Mary was born in Tolland, England 1622/3. They both arrived at Boston in 1630 on the “Mary and John”. Job was 7, not sure who he arrived with. Mary was 8 and came with her family. [Source listed on Ancestry.com for these facts: SPEAR, BURTON W. “Passengers Aboard the Mary & John.” In The Second Boat (Pentref Press, Machias, ME), vol. 1:2 (Aug. 1980), pp. 4-8.]

It’s a coincidence they arrived in America on the same ship. Mary’s family ends up in Connecticut by 1636. Job’s family location is not known. On June 25, 1646 they marry, probably in Windsor, Connecticut. I wonder if they ever knew they arrived together in America- did people of those times talk about things like that in getting to know each other?

An even bigger coincidence is that this husband and wife die on the exact same day: September 16, 1689. Their double headstone is at FindAGrave in the Palisado Cemetery,
Windsor, Connecticut: Mrs. Marih Drake, Mr Job Drake.

Sources

U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s Place: Boston, Massachusetts; Year: 1630; Page Number: 8. Listed as source for this $ source: “Passengers Aboard the Mary & John.”  by Spear, Burton, -at Ancestry $ 

U.S., Find A Grave Index, 1600s-Current, free via Ancestry. The Drakes

Joshua Tefft b. 1650 treason, maybe

/ Kirstin Miller

Joshua Tefft (10th great uncle) was tried for treason, “The fact that he was known not to have attended church, a considerable offense to the strict Puritan sensibility of the United Colonials, was also used against him at his trial.” The United Colonials were loosely Massachusetts, Plymouth and Connecticut. These Colonials made a plan to take Rhode Island and the Narraganset tribe’s land as their own. Somehow this all gets mixed up in King Philip’s War and Joshua, living on his farm in Rhode Island with his son- his wife dies 2 days after giving birth- attempts to defend his farm, is captured by the fighting Narraganset tribe and held as a slave. That’s one story.

Or Joshua, living peacefully with his family was somehow wronged and left the family and colony to take up with the Indians whether out of spite or pride. He rose in rank to become an advisor to Metacomet, King Philip.

Or, according to some United Colonial Soldiers, Joshua Tefft’s deceased wife was of the Wamponoag tribe and Joshua joined forces with the Narragansets and Wamponoags and fired 20 shots against the colonists.

Definitely Joshua was taken to court. Roger Williams recorded Joshua’s court statements, most court records have been permanently lost. Joshua was definitely convicted of treason, hanged, drawn and quartered. Facts are scarce and it appears the verdict then January 1676 and today is still somewhat undecided. Joshua was the only person executed for treason in New England history. John Tefft (1oth great grandfather) is described as ‘losing his head’ at his son’s execution. John was either beheaded, overwhelmed with grief or could not recover Joshua’s actual head which was supposedly mounted on a stake or used ‘for sport’.

Joshua’s son Peter was about 6 years old when his uncle Samuel (9th great grandfather ) and Jireh Bull were appointed guardians to oversee Peter and his inheritance. Peter lived and grew up with Samuel and Elizabeth Jenckes Tefft. Joshua’s orphan son marries Sarah or Mary Witter they have children and hopefully a happy life.

Sources

Rhode Island Renegade: The Enigma of Joshua Tefft by Calloway, Colin in Rhode Island History. Vol. 43 (November 1984) PDF here pages 136 – 145 image 22 of 38. (This source provides a lot more sources including) 

The Narragansett Historical Register: a Magazine edited by Arnold, James N, Volume 3 pages 164 – 169 at HathiTrust.

 

 

Sarah Towne b. 1658

/ Kirstin Miller

Unrelated (2nd wife of 9th great grandfather) but what a story, Sarah Towne on RootsMagic tree.

Sarah Towne Bridges Cloyes, had 2 sisters Rebecca and Mary, who were tried and  jailed during the Salem witch trials. After defending her sister Rebecca Nurse and being so frustrated by the implausibility or stupidity of the situation, she walked out of the church and purposefully slammed the door– most likely never, ever done before or since? After slamming the church door Sarah is also accused of being a witch.

All three sisters: Sarah Towne Cloyes, Rebecca Towne Nurse and Mary Towne Easty are put in jail. Rebecca, 71 and Mary, 58 were both hanged in 1692.  Ann Putnam, age 13, had accused 62 women of witchcraft. In 1706 she publicly apologized for her lies, her actions and specifically the harm she caused for the Towne sisters and their families. The Towne family forgave Ann Putnam.

Sarah’s husband Peter either helped Sarah escape from jail or he paid for Sarah’s release, details are sketchy. Sarah and Peter went southwest to Danforth’s Plantation, now Framingham. They probably knew this was a safe place and later on received land from Deputy Governor Thomas Danforth who released 800 acres to families fleeing Salem. There is so much history to the Salem witch hysteria. A person could spend years reading the surviving primary documents and research on those involved. 

Author Nathaniel Hawthorne’s book Young Goodman Brown refers to Sarah Cloyes. Word is the author changed the spelling of his name so he wouldn’t be associated with John Hathorne, his great great grandfather and the only judge not to apologize or question his role in the horror of the Salem witch hysteria. screenshot.png

The home of Sarah and Peter Cloyes built ca. 1690 is still standing and currently going through majors restoration. The house is at 657 Salem End Road, Framingham, MA; visit the restoration website.  *update* The restoration site is still there but as of Feb 2019 this house is redone and on the market for $900,000. *update* On the outside the house looks about the same, inside it looks like any other newer home, bright and shiny, but maybe lacking character.

At Wikipedia Salem witch trials:

The episode is one of Colonial America’s most notorious cases of mass hysteria.

It has been used in political rhetoric and popular literature as a vivid cautionary tale about the dangers of isolationism, religious extremism, false accusations, and lapses in due process.

John Crandall b. 1612 taxes got too high in 1991

/ Kirstin Miller

Newly added John Crandall (10th great grandfather) was a Baptist elder, very vocal in his beliefs and ideas of fairness. He was summoned and fined by the courts for holding religious meetings, resisting authority, sedition and rebellion. Oddly he was also Deputy Commissioner and Statesman. In 1661 Crandall purchased land from the Narragansett tribe in Rhode Island. This tribe’s language was studied and recorded by Roger Williams in his book A Key Into the American Language.

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Forward to 1991, Crandall descendants Arlene and Irving Crandall return the land  (about 350 acres) to the Narragansett tribe. The 1991 Crandalls were behind in property taxes and nervous that the marshland, forest and swamp would be auctioned off  then developed into concrete, buildings and things. So the Crandall’s returned the land to the local tribe. Full story here: Taxes got too high they gave it back to the tribe.

 

Thomas Burnham b. 1617

/ Kirstin Miller

Thomas Burnham 10th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Thomas was maybe  a passenger on the Angel Gabriel in 1635. Thomas’s uncle Robert Andrews (mother’s brother) was Captain. The ship sailed from England directly into the strongest hurricane ever to hit Massachusetts. The Great Colonial Hurricane of August 25-26th, 1635 was a Category 3 (like Katrina 2005).  Governor Bradford wrote of a 20′ tide slamming into Boston. The Angel Gabriel was tossed and turned, passengers began throwing possessions overboard, lightning their load, hoping to make it to the (now) Pemaquid, Maine coast. All but perhaps 100 passengers made it safely to the colonies. A trunk survived- it belonged to John Cogswell and is on display at the Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site, Bangor Daily News has a story. Some genealogy books tell of the Burnham brothers losing all their possessions during the storm.

Once safely settled in America Thomas was involved in civic affairs. He was a constable and also a lawyer. His most famous case was defending teacher Abigail Betts who called Jesus a bastard and was charged with blasphemy. Thomas defended Abigail by proving England did not consider blasphemy a crime so America, England’s colony, could not consider blasphemy a crime. Thomas then had to defend himself for defending Abigail. He called for “Justice according to Law” and the separation of the church and the state. Thomas may have lost his citizenship for awhile and he could no longer appear in the courts of the time. Before his death he had deeded his land to his children. He may have written a will, it was never found, maybe his wife Ann Wright refused to share it?, his will was recreated through witness testimony. Much detail here at HathiTrust page 121 of Genealogical Records of Thomas Burnham, the emigrant.

Francis Sprague b. 1590

/ Kirstin Miller

Francis Sprague 10th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Francis, along with daughters Anna (most likely a daughter, could have been a wife) and Mercy sailed on the Anne in 1623 from England to the Plymouth Colony. It was a summer voyage lasting about 3 months.

Wikipedia article, Passengers of the ships Anne and Little James 1623 has more detail. “From these statements … the reason so many of the first arrivals disappeared from Plymouth … many of the emigrants on the Anne and Little James would eventually be sent back to England as unfit for the task of living and working in a harsh colonial environment.” William Bradford’s history tells of his dismay at some of the passengers sent. “And some were so bad, as they were faine to be at charge to send them home again next year.”

Francis Sprague got to stay. He was a freeman, an innkeeper licensed to sell liquor and he owned land.

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Snapshot from Memorial of the Sprague family by Soule, Richard page 30 at HathiTrust

Israel Dewey b. 1738

/ Kirstin Miller

Not many details on Israel Dewey (8th great uncle) b. 16 Sep 1738, d. 1806 in Connecticut. Israel may have asked his brother  David Dewey (8th great grandfather) to be his guardian in 1753. Israel’s Probate (on Ancestry.com  Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999) contains 32 pages or images. There’s a cover page, inventory, assorted notes and this is image 13:

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Israel may have been a deacon and may have been married to Bethiah, still searching.