Miller, Faber b. 1905

Samuel Connable b. 1717

/ Kirstin Miller

Samuel Connable 6th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Samuel Connable was born April 7, 1717 in Boston, Massachusetts and died December 3, 1796 in Bernardston, Massachusetts. His parents were Samuel and Mary Wilson Connable and he was the 2nd generation of his family born in America, his grandparents came from England. Samuel married Mary English in 1740, they had 2 sons, 5 daughters and stayed in Bernardston.

Samuel was an inventor, engineer, mechanic and bridge, church and mill builder. Books of family and local history state that Samuel invented a method to pull maple syrup from trees, “The process in Bernardston … a large tree, they box it … prepare a trough extending from the trunk … obtained thirty gallons in a day … produces a sugar equal to the Jamaica sugar, as pleasant to the taste; and the makers insist that it is as medicinal”.

The annual register, or, a view of the history at HathiTrust

Samuel designed and built in Bernardston the meeting house, his house which ‘shows the ingenuity of the builder’; first bridge ‘in 1741 over Fall River, another in 1750, one in 1760 over the river at the saw mill’. He was a private in the Lexington Alarm (Paul Revere’s ride) and took care of his sisters when their husbands were away at war, “At the blockade in Boston Mr. Connable went to get his sisters”.

Samuel was a widow in 1791. He died in 1797. Samuel and Mary are buried at Old Cemetery in Bernardston, Franklin County, Massachusetts. Their spectacular hand carved headstones are still right there.

Sources

Deborah Tracy b. 1722

/ Kirstin Miller

Deborah Tracy, my 7th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Deborah was born on April 20, 1722 in New London County, Connecticut. Deborah’s mom and dad were Christopher and Lydia Parish Tracy. Deborah had 11 siblings. The Tracy family came to New London, CT around 1670.

History of the First Congregational Church Stonington, Conn. 1674-1874 at Archive.org

Deborah was admitted to the First Congregational Church of Stoningtonin in New London, “Admissions during the ministry of Rev. Nathaniel Eells, Full Communion Aug 2 1741 … Deborah Tracy” with others. A few weeks later, in the same church Deborah married David Dewey on September 28, 1741. Deborah and David had 11 children, all born in New London. Three sons were in the Revolutionary War: David Jr was a minuteman, Jabez died in the Battle of Harlem Heights, and Christopher was a fife-major in the War of 1812.

Deborah was a widow in 1790 and in that same year was on the first US federal census. On the 1790 census she was head of the home with 3 males 16 and older, 2 males under 16, and 3 females living in her house. New London County’s total population in 1790 was about 33,000. Deborah is also on the 1800 and 1810 US censuses. The 1810 census is her last record, her death date and burial place are unknown.

Sources

Gershom Smith b. 1679

/ Kirstin Miller

Gershom Smith 8th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Gershom Smith was born on November 30, 1679 in Hartford, Connecticut. Gershom’s dad Johnathan came to America from England around 1640, his mom Margaret Bushnell was born in Salem, Massachusetts.


Connecticut marriages 1640-1939 at FamilySearch

Gershom married Hannah Judd: “Gershom Smith of Glastonbury and Hannah Judd the daughter of Benjamin Judd of Farmington was married on the 4 day of May announced Dom 1710.” They had 2 children, a son Gershom Jr who died young and a daughter Hannah who married and had a family. Gershom’s older brother Richard wrote a will in 1725, on Valentine’s Day, that named younger brother Gershom as executor (manager) of the estate. Richard never married, had no kids. Gershom died before Richard so Richard ’s estate went to court on 6 June, 1749. Gershom’s daughter Hannah had married Richard Risley who was named executor of his wife’s uncle’s estate.

Gershom died August 28, 1747 in Glastonbury. His widow Hannah went to live with daughter Hannah Smith Risley and her family. Gershom, with his son are buried at Green Cemetery in Glastonbury.

Sources

  • Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection) at Ancestry
  • Connecticut marriages 1640-1939 at FamilySearch
  • Headstone photo at Find a grave memorial 194149478 “Added by Margery Bogus 16 Oct 2019”
  • The American genealogist database at American Ancestors.
  • A digest of the early Connecticut probate records volume 3 at HathiTrust
  • Find a grave memorials 203140948 and 16547820

Anna Maria Fuchs b. 1743

/ Kirstin Miller

Anna Maria Fuchs was the 6th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Anna was born on January 1, 1743 in Berks County, Pennsylvania. Her grandparents came to America from Germany. Anna was baptized in the Lutheran church of Berks County. On the record, “Fuchs, Anna Maria, b. Jan. 1, 1743; bap. Jan. 15, 1743. Sponsors, John Nicolaus Holder and wife.”

Anna’s dad Jacob Fuchs of Northkill is on the record and 2 of her sisters have the same record. Northkill, Pennsylvania was the 1st official Amish settlement in America, established in 1740 by Swiss and German Protestant Amish immigrants. Followers of Jakob Ammann, they rejected ‘modern technology’ and respected simplicity, practiced pacifism. Anna’s dad was from Northkill, possibly his religion was Amish then at his marriage he joined the Lutherans.

Anna married John Kryder around 1760 and they had 2 sons and 3 daughters. Anna was a widow at age 60 and lived 18 more years. Both Anna and John are buried at Aaronsburg Reformed Cemetery in Aaronsburg, Centre County, Pennsylvania.

Sources

Mary Wilson b. 1690

/ Kirstin Miller

Mary Wilson 7th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.
Mary was born November 4, 1690 in Boston, Massachusetts. Her parents were William and Mary Pearce Wilson, they were both from Boston. Mary’s first husband was John Diamond in 1709, he died within 3 years. Mary’s 2nd husband was Samuel Connable, he was also a widow, they married July 23, 1713 in Boston at the Second Church. Cotton Mather was the pastor on the record, famous for his actions in the Salem witch hysteria and promoting the new smallpox vaccine.

Mary and Samuel had 6 sons and 4 daughters, all born in Boston. Samuel had a business, probably a distillery at Distal House Square now Bowker Street. The Connable family lived on Cross Street a couple city blocks east, all in the North End area. Businesses, houses and meadows are long gone. The Old Statehouse is still there, a couple city blocks south of the Connable home. The original statehouse from 1657 burned in the Fire of 1711, this one was built in 1712-13.


Massachusetts, U.S., Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988 at FamilySearch.org

Maybe this courthouse is where Mary presented her husband’s estate in 1746. Samuel died without a will. Mary with children made an agreement, “I Mary Cunnabell widow of Samuel Cunnabell as Exspressed in the foregoing Instrument do hereby Concent and agree to all that my Cheldren have agree’d upon in the afore written Instrument Relateing to my Decaced Husband and their Deceaced Fathers Estate In witness whereof I do hereunto Sett my hand and Seal this Ninteenth day of November anno domini 1746 In the twentyeth veair of his majestys Reigne.”

When Mary died in 1759 her and Samuel’s inventory were in the court, Their inventory included brass and iron kettles, a pestle and mortar, a frying pan, a ‘number of old books’, a featherbed and a chest of drawers, an old trunk, 4 swords and 3 silver spoons.

Sources

Jonathan Rawson and Bathsheba Tracy b. 1749

/ Kirstin Miller

Jonathan Rawson and Bathsheba Tracy, 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Jonathan Rawson was born March 15, 1749 in Mendon, Massachusetts.  Bathsheba Tracy was born  27 April 1752 in Preston, Connecticut. Jonathan and Bathsheba married on January 1, 1772 in Preston. They had three sons and three daughters born from 1773 to 1788. Jonathan is said to be a private in the American Revolution but there aren’t any records to prove this, only ‘REV WAR’ inscribed on his and Bathsheba’s headstones. Jonathan and Bathsheba joined their sons Solomon and William in Lyndon New York where, “The first settlement was made in 1808 by Solomon Rawson and his brother William. They came with their wives from Pennsylvania.” William ran a tavern, Solomon was a deacon of the church. “Rawson is[was] a postal hamlet near the northeast corner of the town, lying partly in Allegany county. It derives its name from Lyndon’s pioneer. Solomon Rawson.”

Bathsheba and Jonathan died around 1827 and both are buried at  Rawson Cemetery, next to Rawson Church  in Cattaraugus County, New York, USA. The cemetery is also known as Lyndon Cemetery and on the county line between Allegany and Cattaraugus counties. On Google maps the address is Rawson Rd, Cuba, NY 14727.

Rawson cemetery and church via Google maps https://goo.gl/maps/8TuXzSfb3N9AsTnp9

The Rawson family came to America from England in the 1630s, On my maternal side Francis Tracy married Elizabeth Parrish, their son Isaac Tracy married Mehitable Rude, their daughter Bathsheba Tracy married Jonathan Rawson their daughter Margaret married Joseph Benight, their daughter Clementina married Dexter Angell, their daughter Delia married William Flood, their daughter Matilda married Richard Mockford their daughter Philippa married Harve Speedy and had a daughter Elizabeth Speedy who married Stanley Roose, my grandparents.

The Tracy family came to America in the 1630s too. On my paternal side Jonathan Tracy married Mary Griswold, their son Christopher married Lydia Parrish, their daughter Deborah Tracy married David Dewey, their son David married Sarah Witter, their daughter Sarah married John Connable whose daughter Lydia married Obed Gaines, whose son William married Sarah Swain, their daughter Mary Ella married James Miller their son William is the dad of Faber Miller who married Gladys Cable, my grandparents

Sources

Nathaniel Gaines and Elizabeth b. 1705

/ Kirstin Miller

Nathaniel Gaines and Elizabeth b. 1705, 7th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree

Nathaniel was born in Galstonbury, Connecticut around 1705. His mom and dad were Samuel and Rebecca Couch Gaines. His grandparents Henry and Jane Partridge Gaines migrated to American in 1637. In 1728, Nathaniel married Elizabeth, her last name, parents aren’t known. Elizabeth was probably born around the same time. Nathaniel and Elizabeth had 4 sons and 1 daughter. The family stayed in Glastonbury, right in the middle of Connecticut, near the Connecticut River.

On June 9, 1749 Nathaniel is mentioned in his dad Samuel’s will, “for love and affection” to “my son Nathaniel Gaines of Glastonbury” 22 acres “the land whereon I now dwell.”

photo via Waste Not, Want Not: The Colonial Era Midden
“Various personal items from the Goodsell site: a plain brass shoe buckle, a fragment of a silver shoe buckle frame with a repair, a 1746 George II halfpenny, a child’s small thimble, and part of a brass jackknife handle with a rococo design – AHS, Inc., Storrs”

Nathaniel died in 1755. Elizabeth wasn’t in Nathaniel’s will so she died before. In 1755 they were both in their 50s. Nathaniel’s will was presented in court, with an inventory of his estate, on April 28th. The inventory was a page and a half and included an old great coat, a Holland shirt, a pair of shoe buckles, 2 blankets, a chest of drawers, 9 wooden plates, 2 forks and 2 knives, an iron pot and a frying pan, an axe, a pitch fork, livestock and land. Older sons Nathaniel Jr and Joseph Gaines oversaw the estate and made an agreement with their siblings on July 3 1759 when the youngest sibling was still a minor. Middle son David moved to Vermont where grandson Obed Gaines was born in 1793. Obed and his family went west to Iowa where granddaughter Mary Ella Gaines married James Miller- they were grand parents of Faber Miller born in 1905.

Sources

Clement English b. 1646

/ Kirstin Miller

Clement English 8th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Clement was born in Massachusetts in 1646. His parents aren’t known but it’s likely they migrated from England during the ‘great migration’ of 1620-1640. Clement married Mary Waters in Salem, on August 27, 1667. Mary’s family was part of Salem’s colonial beginnings, so it’s likely Clement English’s family was too. Marriages in the 1600s were rarely random, but planned within churches, communities, families.

Clement and son Benjamin in Massachusetts Town Records

Clement and Mary had 3 sons and 3 daughters. The family stayed in Salem where Clement was a merchant in one of the busiest ports in colonial America. In 1668 Clement and his brother in law William Punchard were two of many who signed petitions against taxes or imposts. “Seventhly Whether customs though layd on wine, tobacco and things not Essentiall to life were euer wont to bee layd on corne and such necessaries wthout which wee Cannot possibly subsist.” The courts didn’t repeal the taxes but did reduce the taxes.

Petition against taxes 1668

Clement had a short life, he died at age 36 on October 23, 1682. There is a summary “Abstracts from will, inventories etc. on file in the office of the clerk of courts Salem, Mass. Clement English, 4th mo., 1683. An Inventory of the estate of Clement English, taken 24th of May, 1683. Amount L43 04s. 6d., and Administration granted unto Mary, the relict. 29 June, 1683, mentions for the bringing up of the children.” But the actual papers of the Clement’s will, the inventory, probate are gone, missing.

Clement and family lived during one smallpox epidemic which reached Salem in October 1678. William Lord of Salem had small pox, he and family had to “keep within their house, and that they do not offer to sale any of their ware, viz. bread, cake, gingerbread and the like, and that they suffer none to come to their house but what necessity requires.” July 10, 1679 Salem courts ordered a fast day or day of prayer to help stop the spread, “in respect of that most dreaded contagious disease, wherewith sundry places have been sorely visited.” Because Clement died young, age 36, it’s possible smallpox was the cause, no proof & no facts- it’s speculation.

Sources

Mary Waters b. 1646

/ Kirstin Miller

Mary Waters 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Mary Waters was born in Salem around 1646. Her parents, Richard and Rejoice Plaisse Waters, had migrated from London to Salem, Massachusetts 10 years earlier in 1636. Mary was in a big family with 10 siblings who all stayed in the Salem area, some as neighbors, their whole lives. On August 27, 1667 Mary married Clement English. Clement was a merchant. He and Mary had 6 children.

In 1671 Mary’s dad Richard’s will left lands & money to his kids. “Allso my will is that the rest of my children viz Abigail punchard Mary English Susana Pulsiver and Hanah Striker who neither of them haue had any pt. or portion of my estate already as my fore mentioned Children have had, shall haue the rest of my estate.”

Mary [Waters English] Stephens house in Essex Antiquarian at American Ancestors.

Mary, her married sisters and a brother all had homes on Cat Cove, part of Salem Harbor, about 1 mile northeast of Salem Commons. Mary’s husband Clement built a “dwelling house and a little cowhouse” on the land. The map snapshot shows Water family land, bottom then clockwise, Hannah Waters Striker, Abigail Waters Punchard, Ezekiel Waters 2, Mary Waters English Stephens. The Google map shows the area today. Mary’s house was still there in 1702, gone before 1742.

Mary was a widow in 1682 and married John Stephens, a fisherman, who helped with her with her husband Clement’s estate. The family stayed in Cat Cove, “Historically the Salem Harbor was the site of one of the major international ports in the colonies.”

Sources

Mary English b. 1715

/ Kirstin Miller

Mary English 6th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Mary English was born December 29, 1715 in New Haven, Connecticut. Her parents were Benjamin and Rebecca Brown English and she was a middle child of 8. Her grandparents came to America in the mid 1600s  her 2nd great grandpas Peter Bulkeley and John Jones were two of the first pastors in the new world. A disagreement between the pastors brought Mary and her family to Connecticut, “The trials and discouragements at Concord (Peter Bulkeley’s church) continued, and in 1644 Mr. Jones and several families removed to Fairfield. Conn. With them went Mr. Bulkeley’s sons, Thomas (Mary’s great grandpa) and Daniel, the former married to a daughter of Mr. Jones (Mary great grandma).”

In New Haven, CT 1740 Mary married Samuel Connable. There is a family story in a published genealogy that Mary’s robin egg blue wedding dress was still preserved by family members in 1886. Another family story tells that Mary and Samuel left for their new home in Fall Town, Massachusetts they rode together, shared the same horse, Mary carrying a bag of housewares. The stories may or may not be true but were shared through the generations then published in 1886.

Map via Genealogical memoir of the Cunnabell … at HathiTrust

Mary lived to age 86, she died a few years before Samuel. They’re buried in Bernardston nearby where they lived. Their headstones are still right there. Near Old Cemetery is Charity Farm, gifted to the city in the 1830s as “source of income to assist the industrious and deserving poor”. In Mary and Samuel’s time the area was Bald (Ball) Mountain today Bald Mountain Rd goes from Old Cemetery to Charity Farms, now a public park, dogs welcome, with walking trails and fantastic views.

Charity Farms via http://www.townofbernardston.org/index.php/8-uncategorised/52-charity-farm

Sources, free sources linked