Miller, Faber b. 1905

William Holdridge b. 1610

/ Kirstin Miller

William Holdridge 11th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

William Holdred or Holdridge was born in London, England in 1610. In 1635 he sailed on the Elizabeth to America. He lived in Ipswich until 1640 when he married Isabelle, last name unknown, and they moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts. He was in Haverhill, MA in 1650, and Exeter, New Hampshire by 1671. William was a tanner, he turned animal skins into leather. He was also a planter, landowner, farmer. He and Isabelle had 9 children. His life story is big with lots of movement, land deeds, purchases and sales, appearances in court for different reasons some good some not so good.

  • 1635 Wm Holdred age 25, a tanner


Most fascinating is his parish in London, St Alphage, built in the 1100s. The parish was built right on the London Wall, a defensive wall built by Romans between 190 and 225 in Roman Britain. Through the centuries St Alphage changed names, was built up and torn down, damaged in WW1 and WW2 and now the remaining ruins are in between two modern concrete, steel and glass office buildings. In 2018 the ruins were opened to the public with new garden areas and walkways: St Alphage Garden.

  • St Alphage Garden

Sources

Sarah Bulkeley b. 1640

/ Kirstin Miller

Sarah Bulkeley 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Sarah was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1640 to Thomas and Sarah Jones Bulkeley. Both grandpas were pastors, VIPs of their time, their writings, lives, arrival, all documented in detail. In 1640s Concord there was trouble, disagreements about religion, Sarah’s grandpas were on opposite sides. Sarah’s family was one of several that followed Pastor Jones and joined Pastors Davenport and Eaton in New Haven, Connecticut. Sarah’s dad Thomas was in his dad Peter’s will so even though Thomas chose the Jones side instead of the Bulkeley side he was still family. Sarah married Eleazer Brown in 1663, they had 7 children and stayed in New Haven. Sarah’s mom died in 1683, her will left books to her daughter Sarah: Graham’s Works 3 vols. Walker’s God’s Providence, and A View of False Christianity.
Sarah and Eleazer were most likely buried in what is no the Center Church on the Green Churchyard. This burial place has changed over the years, their headstones aren’t there anymore. There’s a memorial plaque at the site. “From the Settlement of New Haven 1638 to 1796 the adjoining ground was occupied as a common place of burial the a new burying ground was opened and divided into family lots and city squares. In 1813 this church was placed over the monuments of several whose names are engraved on tablets in the vestibule. In 1821 the remaining monuments were by consent of survivors and under direction of the city removed to the new ground. In a moment in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump.(et) The dead shall be raised”.  The current church has a crypt, in the basement burials and headstones and they offer tours and a few photos here: https://centerchurchonthegreen.org/history/crypt/ .

Sources

Leydia Connable b. 1795

/ Kirstin Miller

Leydia Connable 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.
Leydia Connable was born in Bernardston, Massachusetts on April 23 1795. She was the third of John and Sarah Dewey Connable’s 8 kids. She also had 5 siblings from her dad’s first marriage. Leydia married Obed Gaines in 1815. They have 2 marriage records. One dated August 10 and another dated September 23. The August record was probably an ‘intention of marriage’.

By 1820 Leydia and Obed had 5 kids, 3 of them triplets. So Leydia was caring for 3 infants, a 2 year old and a 4 year old- all at the same time! The 1820, 1840 and 1850 censuses show Leydia and family in Cazenovia, New York, then Steuben, Indiana, then Van Buren, Indiana. Leydia’s 6th child William Gaines, great grandpa of Faber Miller, was in Bremer County, Iowa in 1850. In 1854, probably in August, most likely in a covered wagon with a coupe horses, Leydia, husband and 2 kids made the 500 mile trip to Iowa. They would have traveled 10-20 miles per day probably for about 37 days. When the family entered Iowa they’d traveled 1,200 miles and 6 states.

Connable, Leydia d.1854

Headstone Leydia wife of Obid Gaines

A Connable family history book tells that Leydia died of cholera October 23, 1854. Her death date is verified in Iowa Cemetery Records. She is buried in Old Barclay Cemetery near Dunkerton, Iowa. Leydia is the only Gaines buried in the cemetery. Her family would have arranged a funeral, buried Lydia, then kept moving on to son William’s location about 50 mile north near Plainfield, Iowa. When Leydia was buried in 1854 Iowa was 80% native prairie. Barclay township was founded in August 1854, so the town was just beginning when Leydia was buried there.

Rebecca Brown b. 1676

/ Kirstin Miller

Rebecca Brown 7th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Rebecca Brown was born in New Haven, Connecticut in 1676 the youngest of 7 kids. Her mom’s dad and both grandpas were pastors who founded churches in Concord, Massachusetts- Peter Bulkeley and New Haven- John Jones. In 1703 Rebecca married Benjamin English.

Brown, Eleazer and Sarah Bulkeley, children

Eleazer Brown, Sarah Bulkeley, their children

Benjamin was a widow from Salem. He and his cousin William Punchard arrived in New Haven in 1701 or so and they married sisters: Benjamin married Rebecca Brown and William married Hannah Brown. Rebecca and Benjamin stayed in New Haven and had 8 children. One daughter, Mary English, had a son John Connable who had a daughter Lydia Connable. Lydia married Obed Gaines and in the 1850s journeyed about 1,245 miles to Iowa where in 1878 the Mary Ella Gaines and James Miller married and had a son William Miller who had a son Faber Miller who married Gladys Cable.

Sources

 

Benjamin English b. 1705

/ Kirstin Miller

Benjamin English 7th great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Benjamin was born February 3, 1705 in New Haven Connecticut, British America. He lived through the early days of the Revolutionary War and died towards the end of it, murdered in the Invasion of New Haven. This July 5, 1779 invasion is in lots of sources. Benjamin’s daughter in law Abigail provided a first hand account of his death in court. It’s sad and tragic but makes a reader appreciate all that went in to making America a free country 240 years ago.

Map of Hew Haven invasion

Drawing of 1779 Jul 5 invasion of New Haven

Benjamin was named after his dad, the 2nd of seven children. He married Sarah Dayton, “Benjamin English and Sarah Daton both of New Haven were Joined in marriage to Each other the 25th day of Sept:1735 Isaac Dickerman Justice of Peace.” Benjamin and Sarah stayed in New Haven and had at least 5 children. They named their first son Benjamin, he was s a Captain in King Philips War.

Sources

William Plaise b. 1571

/ Kirstin Miller

William Plaise 10th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

William was born in 1571 in England. On July 19 1596 he married his first wife Margerie Smith at St. Botolphs church. The church was first built in the 1100s then rebuilt in the 1500s and again in the 1700s. It’s still there in London.

Snapshot of the parish record of their marriage, “July Anno 1596. William Plasse and Margerie Smith weare married the 19 day in Anno Domino” [?]. William and Margerie are last on this snapshot of a 2 page document image.

Plaise, William and Margerie Smith 1596 marriage

William and Margerie 1596 marriage

William was a widow in 1618 and married Phebe Manning, also a widow. In 1637 William and family sailed to America and settled in Salem, also known as Naumkeag. William was a gunsmith in London and also in Salem where his skills were highly valued in the new colony. When he requested 10 acres of land, he received it in May, 1637. “ Willm Plaise requested a ten acre lott and it is granted’.

William was 66 when he came to America, he lived 10 more years and stayed in Salem. He shared his gunsmith skills and tools with Richard Waters, 2nd wife Phebe’s son. In William’s estate papers an inventory included: one feather bed, two feather bolsters, one great Bible, one psalme book, one chest, and ‘tools that Richard Walters [Waters] hath’. William died in 1646 his burial place is unknown.

Sources

Lydia Archer b. 1601

/ Kirstin Miller

Lydia Archer 10th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

This person’s name may or may not be Lydia Archer, all that is really known is that she was a wife of Francis Sprague and mom of Mercy Sprague. Francis Sprague was a Pilgrim in Plymouth colony. He sailed with Mercy Sprague and Ann Sprague in 1623. It’s proven that Mercy Sprague was his daughter. Ann Sprague could have been a daughter or could have been a wife, could have been the mom of Mercy or not. There’s nothing to show who ‘Lydia Archer’ was. 

A great source, New England marriages prior to 1700 by Clarence Torrey, has Lydia as a wife, with questions. “SPRAGUE, Francis & [?Lydia]/?Anna ____; by 1621 in Eng; Plymouth/Duxbury/Dartmouth “

The Great Migration, another solid source, shows no info on Francis’s spouse(s) and a note, ‘there are very few dates for this family and many unanswered questions’.

In the ‘cattle division’ of 1627 Francis, Anna and Mercy Sprague are listed, same 3 from the passenger list of 1623. It doesn’t seem possible that Francis was a widow caring for 2 daughters on his own, for 4 years.

Sprague family 1627

Francis, Anne and Mercy Sprague 1627 ‘cattle division’

So it’s possible Lydia died in England then Francis with 2 daughters sailed to America and married a 2nd wife in Plymouth. Or it’s possible Lydia sailed with her husband and 2 daughters, made it to Plymouth Colony and died shortly after. Then Francis married a woman, probably recently widowed, whose name was never recorded. Lydia Archer’s story is speculative, hypothetical, ’thrown together’ or made up with no proof for names, dates, relationships.

Sources

  • Volume 2 page 1425, New England marriages to 1700 database at American Ancestors
  • Volume 3 P-W, page 1725-1728, Great Migration Begins at Ancestry
  • Page 95. History of Plymouth County, Massachusetts: with biographical sketches at HathiTrust

Elizabeth Harter Bair b. 1836

/ Kirstin Miller

Elizabeth Bair 3rd great grandma on RootsMagic

Elizabeth was born in July, 1836 in Plain Township, Stark, Ohio. She was the oldest child of George and Margaret Bowman Harter. Elizabeth’s middle name ‘Harter’ was her maternal grandmother’s maiden name. Both the Harter and Bair families were pioneers in Plain, Elizabeth’s great grandparents some of the first settlers.

Bair, Elizabeth and family 1850 census

1850 Plain Township, Ohio census, Elizabeth Bair and family

On the 1850 census Elizabeth is 13. The Bair family is on page 45 of 53. The 53 pages with 20 or fewer person on each page contain Elizabeth’s future husband’s Druckenbrod family, the Henry Miller family, future in laws of granddaughter Fianna and lots of ancestors: Miller, Bair, Harter, Druckenbrod, Malone, Kryder and Shuler families. Also in laws by marriage: Grubb, Essig, Troxel, Christ, and Bishop families. And no relation: Kissinger, Trump and Pence families too, all in this tiny township with population at 896 people in 1820 then 2277 people in 1850.

Population in Plain Township, Ohio from 1855 map

Population from 1820-1850

Elizabeth married Samuel Druckenbrod around 1854. They lived on a farm, and had 12 children. Elizabeth was 24 when the Civil War started. 320,000 Ohio men were drafted in to the war which was covered in the local newspapers: Stark County Democrat and Stark County Republican.  Elizabeth could have read Mrs. Samuel Stover’s eyewitness account of ‘the march of Lee’s rebel army into Pennsylvania; also of the retreat of the remnant of said army to the Potomac’ in the Republican and details of the battle in the Democrat.

Sources

Polly Ann Howard b. 1813

/ Kirstin Miller

Polly Howard 4th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Polly was born on October 17, 1813 in Indiana, not yet a state. Her mom Phoebe was from Kentucky and her dad Elbert from Georgia. Polly was the only sister with four brothers. In 1833 Polly married Benjamin Swain. By 1837 Benjamin, Polly and Polly’s parents and brothers were in Lake, Illinois. In Lake, IL Benjamin was known as Yankee Swain- the only resident not recently from England, Germany, Ireland, Poland, etc. Polly and Benjamin had 4 children. Polly was suddenly a widow in 1847.
In 1849 she married Jacob Montgomery he was also a widow. The 1850 census showed Jacob, Polly and their kids. Next door were Charles and William, Jacob’s sons from his first marriage. Polly’s dad and brothers were also nearby, married with families. By 1855 Polly Howard Swain Montgomery with Jacob, his kids, her kids, their kids, Polly’s dad and her Howard brothers, they all moved to Floyd County, Iowa where they owned land. And they attended church, the Howardville Church is still right there today. Polly’s dad Elbert held services in his home as the church was being built. A couple sources state Howardville or Howard Grove Township is named for the Howards.

Polly, 45, and her brother Sanders, 36, both died in 1858 and are buried in Howardville Cemetery.

Howard, Polly headstone closeup

Polly Howard Swain Montgomery headstone closeup

Sources

Lydia Parrish b. 1687

/ Kirstin Miller

Lydia Parrish 8th great grandma on RootsMagic

Lydia was born in Groton, Massachusetts on April 20, 1687, the daughter of John Parrish and his 2nd wife Mary Wattles.

Parrish, Lydia 1687 birth register

Lydia’s family moved from Groton to Ipswich, Massachusetts, then to Preston, Connecticut. In Preston on May 20, 1705 Lydia married Christopher Tracy.

Lydia’s brother and sisters also married into the Tracy family. Benjamin P. married Mary T., Sarah P. married David T. and Elizabeth P. married Frencis T. All these Tracy and Parrish families stayed in the Preston, New London Connecticut area. Lydia and Christopher had 9 children. Lydia was a widow in 1725 and the executor of her husband’s estate. After her husband’s death Lydia probably lived with a daughter and family, and probably died around 1745.

Sources