Speedy, Elizabeth b. 1917

Henry Mockford and Ann Farrant b. 1776

/ Kirstin Miller

Henry Mockford and Ann Farrant 5th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Henry Mockford was born in November 10, 1776, then baptized on February 9, 1777 at the church in Rottingdean, Sussex, England. The church was and still is St Margaret’s Church named for Margaret of Antioch who inspired Joan of Arc and possibly sliced the head off a dragon. In the church there are stained glass windows made by William Morris and Edward Burne-Jones. The stained glass is famous and considered some of the artists best work.

Photo by Luiza Serpa Lopes, Own work, Public Domain [screenshot, partial]

On April 8 1802 Henry married Ann Farrant, maybe in that same church. Ann was born in 1781, probably in Sussex where she and Henry stayed and had 3 sons and a daughter. In Sussex town and village names have changed through the years. The area today includes Brighton, Bishopstone and Seaford: 30 miles south of London, 30 miles northwest of France, across the English Channel with incredible coastlines.

In 1841 England took it’s first census. Henry had already died, Ann is on both the 1841 and 1851 census. In 1841 Ann was 60 years old and lived with her son Samuel and wife their kids Frederick, Henry and Phoebe. Robert Ann’s son, Samuel’s brother was also in the house. In 1851 Ann and Robert share a home. Robert is 30 and his occupation is agricultural laborer. Ann is 70 and her occupation is ‘Parish Relief” and widow of an ag. laborer. Ann probably received a small amount from the parish. On this census page all the men work as agricultural laborers. Occupations on other pages are: carpenters, blacksmiths, scholars, boatmen, gardeners, millers, stablemen, coast guards and bargemen. The first page lists the area covered, “The whole of the five parishes East Blatchington, Bishopstone, Denton, South Heighton, Tarring Neville and including the battery, the Coast Guards Station House and Blatchington Village … “

1851 England census showing town included

Henry died in 1834 at age 56. Ann died in 1857 she was 76. Son Richard stayed England until 1861 when he and his family left for Monroe New York in America. Richard’s son Henry (great grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy Roose) was already in Monroe, New York and had a home set up for his parents.

Sources

Sarah Whipple b. 1642

/ Kirstin Miller

Sarah Whipple 10th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Sarah Whipple was born on February 6, 1642 in Dorchester, Massachusetts. Her parents were John Whipple and Sarah, new to America in the 1630s. Sarah had 10 brothers and sisters. By 1658 the Whipple family was in Providence, Rhode Island where Roger Williams had set up a community.

John Whipple will in The early records of the town of Providence

In Providence Sarah married John Smith, known as John Smith (Miller), because he owned the town mill and there were a 2 John Smiths in the area, the other a mason. Sarah and John had 10 children. Two children, Sarah Smith m. Richard Clemence and Joseph Smith m. Lydia Gardiner, are 7th great grandparents of Elizabeth Speedy. In that small community the families were linked together through generations. Sarah Whipple’s sister Mary Whipple m. Epenetus Olney also 7th great grandparents of Elizabeth Speedy.

Sarah and family lived through King Philips War. “March 30, 1676, Providence was attacked … citizens had removed to Newport … leaving only 27 men to defend the town … the Indians burned houses, the mill, the tannery, and the miller’s house on Moshassuck river. John Smith [Jr] town clerk … the records were in his possession [and] thrown from his burning house into the millpond to preserve them … One wonders what part Sarah could have played in saving the records.”

Sarah’s husband John died in 1681. She and her son John Jr. were overseers of the estate. In John’s will. “I bequeath to Sarah my wife halfe the mill with ye halfe of ye land”. Lots of lands in the will: ten acres on a hill and valley where the house stands, land & meadow at the west River, the meadow at the Great meadow.

Sarah is in her dad John Whipple’s will of May 8, 1682, “I Give unto my three daughters (Namely) Sarah , Mary & Abigall unto Every of them Tenn shillings”.

Around 1684 Sarah married 2nd husband Richard Arnold, also a widow. Richard’s will of 1710 mentions Sarah too. “I Richard Arnold of Providence … Considering the uncertainty of this life, & not knowing how soone it may please God to take me out of this world … my last will … First I give to Sarah my wife for the Terme of her naturall life my two lotts in the Towne with the orchard & house upon them & also my meadow at the West River”. Sarah probably died a few years after 2nd husband Richard and at her death she had at least 20 grandchildren.

Sources

Stephen Angell b. 1705

/ Kirstin Miller

Stephen Angell 5th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Stephen Angell was born in 1705 in Providence, Rhode Island. His parents were John and Sarah Clemence Angell. His great grandpa, Thomas Angell, with Roger Williams was a founder of Rhode Island colony in 1636, both immigrated from England. In that small community the families are intertwined through generations. His grandparents, great grandparents descend from the small group in 1636.

Genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Angell at Archive.org

Stephen married Martha Olney, her family also original RI immigrant settlers.  They married in on May 16, 1728. Stephen and Martha had 10 children. They may have been Quakers (Friends). They lived in Providence for awhile then moved to Johnston about 5 miles west. Stephen is mentioned in a couple wills. The will of his grandma,  Sarah Smith Clemence  in 1725, “Item I Give to Every one of my Grand Children five shillings a peice in paper money”. The court named Stephen “bond to council for his administration” on his father’s estate  “administration of all singular … goods and chattels and credits of his father John Angell … year 1745”.  Stephen inherited the family farm.

Stephen wrote his will March 7, 1771. The inventory lists blacksmith, carpenter, cooper and farming tools. Daughters had received their portions at their marriages, older sons had received their portions earlier too. Son William received rights on Olney Mills, Daniel and William were in charge of their mom’s support. Their mom Martha Olney Angell objected to the will provisions at court,  the court approved the will anyway on July 25, 1772.

Sources, free sources linked.

William Crooks and Mary Weir b. 1715

/ Kirstin Miller

William Crooks and Mary Weir 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

William and Mary were born around 1715 probably in Pennsylvania. Names of their parents and their home country are unknown, they may have been born in America.  They  married on November 18, 1736 in Philadelphia at the First Presbyterian Church. They had 8 children and the family lived on a farm. Mary Weir has only her marriage record, nothing else. William’s records include a list of founders of Springfield Township in 1743, Bucks County, PA “Immigrants came rapidly into the township during the first years of its settlement, for we have the names of over thirty, probably all heads of families, who were living there, 1743, German and English: James Green, Stephen Twining, William Crooks, …”

William has several  ‘Pennsylvania Land Warrants’ showing acres of Pennsylvania land purchased at 15 pounds per acre in the mid 1700s. 15 ponds in 2020 is about $4000.

William’s will, Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999

William wrote his will in December of 1776 at age 61.  He died soon after. His will mentions wife Mary, sons Henry, Thomas and Robert, daughters Rosanne, Jeannette, Mary and Margaret, grandsons William Crooks and James Dagle. Widow Mary and son Henry are overseers of the will. William had called Mr. William Hopkins to come and help write the will. Hopkins got to William’s home and found William ‘sitting up in a chair and smoking his pipe’ and of sound mind and memory.  William died in 1776 or 77, Mary died about 4 years later.

Henry, overseer of the will, had a son Andrew whose daughter Elizabeth Crooks married William Stewart. Elizabeth and William travelled west to Shell Rock, Iowa where their youngest Elizabeth Margaret Stewart married Manford Speedy: dad of Harve, grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy.

Sources

  • Marriage, U.S., Presbyterian Church Records, 1701-1970 at Ancestry
  • Pennsylvania, Land Warrants and Applications, 1733-1952 at Ancestry
  • William’s will, Maryland Register of Wills Records, 1629-1999 at Ancestry
  • History of Bucks County, Pennsylvania at HathiTrust
  • Church photo, High Street, with the First Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia at Presbyterian Historical Society

Andrew Howlett and Margaret b. 1726

/ Kirstin Miller

Andrew Howlett and Margaret 6th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree.

Andrew Howlett was born around 1726. Margaret  -last name unknown, was born around the same time. Both their birthplaces, their parents names aren’t known. Andrew and Margaret  married in 1747 and had 2 sons and 5 daughters, all born in Maryland. It’s likely Andrew fought in the American Revolution. In 1778 he, son James and son in law Henry Crooks all pledged an Oath of Fidelity. At that time men over 16 were required to take this oath, pledging their loyalties to America and not to the King of England. 

Oath of Fidelity and Support
“I do sware I do not hold myself bound to yield any Allegience or obedience to the King of Great Britain his heirs or Successors and that I will be true and faithful to the State of Maryland and will to the utmost of my power, Support maintain and defend the Freedom and Independence thereof and the Government as now established against all open enemies and secret and traterous Conspriaces and will use my utmost endeavours to disclose and make known to the Governor or some one of the Judges or Justices thereof all Treasons or Treaterous Consperaces, attempts or Combinations against this State or the Government thereof which may come to my Knowledge so help me God.”

Andrew and family are on the 1790 US census in Harford County, Maryland, a family of six. In 1800, same location, with a family of seven.  Andrew made two land purchases in 1774: 15 acres which he named Howlett’s Triangle and 60 acres named Howlett’s Ambition.  In 1776 the Howletts lived in an area called Broad Creek Hundred- total population in 1776 was 342 people. An 1803 court record mentions the road “from William Ashmore’s mill for three or four miles towards the Pennsylvania line, near to the dwelling-house of a certain Andrew Howlett, has been found to be convenient and useful to the public”. The court ordered the road on Andrew’s farm be kept up, in good repair for the people.

Margaret died before April 30, 1809 when Andrew wrote his will. Youngest son John got all the lands. Andrew left his daughter and granddaughters money. John Howlett and son in law George Leamon were executors, the will was settled in 1810. Andrew’s inventory included 1 male slave, 17 years old, there in Maryland in 1810.

Sources

Grace Child b. 1689

/ Kirstin Miller

Grace Child 7th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Grace was born October 27, 1689 in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Benjamin Child and Grace Morris. Grace’s ancestors came to America from England and Wales in the early 1620-40s. Grace married Timothy Walker on May 14, 1713. Grace’s sister Mary married Timothy’s brother Peter Walker. in 1715. The Walker family ancestors were early colonial immigrants too. Grace and Timothy had 6 children, 5 daughters and a son. Grace and her family belonged to the original church in Rehoboth, today it’s the Newman Congregational Church, they practice and preach “radical hospitality”, established in 1624.

Grace died October 30, 1729, she was 40 years old and is buried at Newman Cemetery, a mile or so north of the Walker House where she and her family lived.

Snapshot of Grace Child’s ancestors, Ancestry family tree

Timothy started building the Walker House in 1724. The house is still there, open for tours and a house study site. Just announced at the site, it will be a farm again in Spring 2021. “When Philip Walker [Timothy Walker’s grandpa] died in 1679 his estate included 177 acres of land,” said Val Talmage, executive director of PRI. “By 1891, the farmland associated with the antique dwelling was 96 acres. And by 1960, the land was reduced to the current configuration of just over one acre. It’s so exciting that this most significant historic place will once again be a productive farm.”

Source

Timothy Walker b. 1687

/ Kirstin Miller

Timothy Walker 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree.

Timothy Walker was born on September 14, 1687 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts to Samuel and Martha Ide Walker. Timothy’s 4 grandparents came to America from England in the 1630-40s. Timothy was the 3rd generation to live on his family’s farm. He had an older brother and 4 younger sisters.

On May 6, 1713 Timothy published his intention of marriage to Grace Child and they married on May 14th. Grace and Timothy lived on the Walker family farm. In Rehoboth, Timothy farmed and worked at the family sawmill and inherited both when his dad and his brother both died in 1812. The farm and sawmill are long gone but at 432 Massasoit Ave., East Providence, RI the house Timothy built is still there: The Walker House. Timothy was a widow in 1729 and married 2nd wife Rachel Beverly on January 15, 1730. Timothy wrote his will in November 1744 and died in 1745. The will is 32 pages, it includes his children’s names, an inventory and his signature. Timothy is buried at Newman Cemetery about 1 mile from the Walker House, his house.

The Walker House is on land Timothy’s dad Samuel Walker inherited from his dad Philip Walker. The Walker House stayed in the family until 1812 and was donated to Preserve Rhode Island in 1984. “At the time of its erection it was considered a marvel of architecture. North of the house were apple orchards and outbuildings, including a barn, shed, carriage house, and chicken house.”

Philip Walker House building began in 1724

Major updates were completed in 2008 by Preserve Rhode Island, ‘The Statewide Advocate for Rhode Island’s Historic Places’. Today Timothy Walker’s house is a study house, “for architectural history and historic preservation students, who can benefit from first-hand observations of architectural features”. The website has photos, a field study PDF and an orientation packet PDF, 10 pages of detail about the house, its history and the Walker family. Virtual visit: https://www.preserveri.org/walker-house

Sources

Ephraim Child b. 1654

/ Kirstin Miller

Ephraim Child 9th great uncle on RootsMagic tree

Ephraim was born on February 27, 1654 in Roxbury to Benjamin and Mary Bowen Child. He was the first born of 12 children. Ephraim grew up in Roxbury and at age 21 he fought in King Philips War and died in a battle on September 4, 1675.

Capt. Beers and men killed in battle.
Soldiers in King Philip’s War at HathiTrust

King Philips War has an incredible history that changes as perceptions change. Metacom, English name King Philip, was the sachem, chief of the Wampanoag tribe following his dad Massasoit who aided and was friendly with the Mayflower Pilgrims. Metacom aided and was friendly with the New England colonists, tensions rose as the colonist moved further on to Wampanoag lands. In January 1675 there was a murder, 3 Wampanoag men were found guilty and hanged, Metacom was rumored to have plotted the murder. Wampanoag and Indians from other tribes began raiding towns, New Englanders gathered into troops and the war began. On both sides 1 of 10 soldiers was killed. On both sides homes, commerce and stored food were destroyed; citizens killed.

Ephraim joined up with Captain Richard Beers. On Friday, September 3, 1675 Captain Beers with thirty-six men headed for Northfield, Massachusetts to rescue townspeople after an attack. They camped overnight and on the morning of September 4 crossed Sawmill Brook where Indians had set up an ambush and the “company was most exposed, was furiously attacked in front and flank, and all were thrown into great confusion, but soon rallied and fought bravely for their lives, but were forced back by superior numbers some three-quarters of a mile to a narrow ravine on the south of a hill now known as Beers s Hill. Here a stand was made, and here the little band fought about their leader, with the courage of desperation, till their ammunition was exhausted and the captain with nearly every man had fallen”.

Sources

Grace Morris b. 1661

/ Kirstin Miller

Grace Morris 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Grace was born on February 17, 1661 in Roxbury, Massachusetts to Edward and Grace Betts Morris who both came to America from England. Grace was a middle child with 7 siblings. She and her sister Elizabeth married brothers from the Child family. In Roxbury, Grace Morris married Benjamin Child on March 7, 1683 and Elizabeth Morris married Joshua Child on March 9, 1685. Both families had 12 children and stayed there in Roxbury.

Grace died in December of 1723, Benjamin in January of 1724. They are buried in a tiny cemetery that’s now part of Arnold Arboretum of Harvard University. The cemetery is kind of hidden and has a few different names: Walter Street Berrying or Burying Ground, Peter’s Hill, Walters Street Cemetery.

Grace and Benjamin Child, Rose Lincoln /Harvard University Staff Photographer

From an article, Hidden Spaces, in The Harvard Gazette, “Under giant Hawthorn trees are the crude, chipping headstones etched with old New England names like Baker, Weld, and Child. One of the earliest markers is a double headstone for Grace and Benjamin Child, husband and wife. Nearby is the stone marking Benjamin’s brother, Joshua, whose wife Elizabeth is also buried in the area. (According to the 1961 edition of the Arboretum publication“Arnoldia,” Joshua and Benjamin were brothers, born a year apart and baptized the same day, and Elizabeth and Grace were sisters. Each couple had 12 children.)”

Inscriptions on Benjamin and Grace’s shared headstone
“Here Lyes Buried The Body of BENJAMIN CHILD Who Died the 24th Day of January 1724 In the 66th year of His Age.”
“Here Lyes the Body of GRACE CHILD The Wife of BENJAMIN CHILD Died Dec. ye 10th 1723 In the 63rd year of Her Age.”

Sources

Mehitable Child b. 1669

/ Kirstin Miller

Mehitable Child 9th great aunt on RootsMagic tree

Mehitable was born on June 29, 1669 in Roxbury, Massachusetts. Her parents, Benjamin Child and Mary Bowen, migrated to America and married in Boston. They had 11 children: 8 sons, 3 daughters. Mehitable and siblings grew up in Roxbury, today it’s a neighborhood of Boston.

Mehitable married Samuel Perrin who was born in 1671 near Roxbury. His parents came to America from England around the same time as the Child family. Mehitable and Samuel moved to Woodstock Connecticut where Mehitble’s uncle Henry Bowen lived. Mehitable’s younger bother John Child and his wife Abigail Morris went to Woodstock too. The Bowen, Child and Morris families are ancestors of Elizabeth Speedy, the Perrin family are in-laws. They all lived there in Woodstock. Woodstock lands changed acmes and boundaries, sometime New Roxbury, Massachusetts, sometimes Woodstock, Connecticut, all the same spot, today officially Woodstock, CT.

Woodstock homes and lands

On a map of the early days of Woodstock, Mehitable and Samuel are home no. 46, John Child and Abigail Morris are No. 35. with relatives all around. Their church was the First Congregational Church of Woodstock, still there today. Mehitable and Samuel are both buried next to the church, in Woodstock Hill Cemetery. This cemetery has 24 Perrin, 61 Child, 16 Morris and 57 Bowen burials recorded at Find a Grave. Samuel and Mehitable’s headstones are still standing and works of art, I think. Somewhere in a New England library is a dusty old book about the artist who carved these headstones.
Samuel’s headstone inscription: Here lyes Buried y Body of Mr SAMUEL PERIN Who Died March y 10th 1743 Aged 73 Years.
Mehitable’s headstone inscription: In Memory of Mrs Mehetable ye wife of Mr. Samuel perin died September ye 7d AD 1752. in ye 84th Year of her Age.

Sources