b. 1600

Daniel and Rebecca Rhodes Power Williams marry 1676

/ Kirstin Miller

Daniel is the second son of Roger Williams, Roger is credited with founding Rhode Island when banished from Massachusetts because of radical religious beliefs. Rebecca Rhodes is the daughter of Joanna Arnold and Zachariah Rhodes, she first married Nicholas Power (he may have died at sea) she married second Daniel.

When they married around December 1, 1676 King Philips War was just ending. Dated entries in Volume 8 of The early records of the town of Providence, trace the end of the war, understood by most to be the deadliest war of the colonies.  From the preface, “The period succeeding the time embraced in the last named volume was one of disaster to the town, for the Indian War which had raged with varying success throughout the New England Colonies was then brought within the confines of Rhode Island. During a part of this period, previous to March, 28, 1676, and for some time thereafter the town was practically deserted, its business well nigh suspended and a portion of it destroyed by the ravages of the Indians. The townsmen however carried on such governmental affairs as were actually necessary, and during this time Roger Williams held the office of Town Clerk.”

Daniel and Rebecca’s wedding is recorded (Volume 8, page 15)

Dan: Williams & ye Widow Rebekah Power were married ye 2 of 10th ye first Mariage since God mercifully restored ye Towne of Prouidence.

So this could be the most real wedding story ever. “Our town was completely destroyed by war, people fled or were killed until only about 30 remained. We persevered, made a commitment and married.”

In this same Volume 8 Daniel’s brother Providence (page 14) is credited with rescuing his mom and maybe the town?

by Gods Providence it seasonably came to pass ye Providence Williams brought up his mother from Newport in his sloop and cleared ye towne by his vessel of all ye Indians to ye great peace and Content of all ye Inhabitants

Source:

Providence (R.I.). Record Commissioners. The Early Records of the Town of Providence, V. I-XXI … Providence: Snow & Farnham, city printers, 1892 (there are assorted editions of this ebook)

John Parrish b. 1640

/ Kirstin Miller

John Parrish 11th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

John was born in 1640 probably near Braintree, Massachusetts. He first married Hannah Jewell, she died before 1685 when John married Mary Waddell. John and Mary were active in Groton, John holding many elected positions: selectman, town council, surveyor, constable.

  • 1669: Original proprietor in Groton, granted 5 acres of land
  • 1676 Mar 13: The couple lived in Groton when it was destroyed by Indian wars
  • 1677: John was on the committee to rebuild after the town evacuated then returned months later. The record from October 12, 1677, Pages 52, 53, The Early Records of Groton, Massachusetts: 1662-1707 at HathiTrust, “This is the last record of any meeting held before the destruction of the town by the Indians, March 13, 1676. The inhabitants then were compelled to forsake their homes, and did not return until the spring of 1678. …that those present would go up in the spring following, and begin to repair our habitations again… which agreement he signed”.
  • 1685 John received 10 acres of land in Groton. After rebuilding the town, John and probably Mary, both played a big part in getting a pastor and church to Groton.
  • 1691 Dec 21, “At the same day thay did apoint and by uoat daclare that sd Josiah parkar and sar John parish & Wiliam longly & sam James parkar should go down & fach up som meet parson to preach to us & the town is to bare the charg”.
  • 1692 March 21, “Groton at a genaral town meting legally warned the town did then by uoat datannan that thay would giue to master hancock the full som of sixtey pound one fourth part siluer for a yers salarey for Preaching in order to ordnation in dew time and the other three parts in pay corn or prouishon at comon pays and mr hancocock bored himself:  John Parish was chosen to dascors with mr hancock to see if he wil acs apt of the towns profr”.

groton-first-parish-meeting-house

Sources
Groton (Mass. : Town). The Early Records of Groton, Massachusetts: 1662-1707. Groton: [Town of Groton], 1880.

Parish, Roswell. New England Parish Families: Descendants of John Parish of Groton, Mass, And Preston…  Rutland, Vt.: The Tuttle Publishing Company, inc, 1938.

And some $ Ancestry sources, Marriages, North American Families.

Alice Ashton b. 1617

/ Kirstin Miller

Alice Ashton 10th great grandmother maternal, sailed from St Albans, England to Virginia in 1635, she was about 20. At HathiTrust a list of passengers, “x? Aug 1635 Theis underwritten names are to be transported to Virginea, imbarqued in the Safety, John Graunt Mr, almost 3 pages of names, Alice Ashton 20.” These lists are published in a book: The original lists of persons of quality, emigrants, religious exiles, political rebels, serving men sold for a term of years, apprentices, children stolen, maidens pressed, and others, who went from Great Britain to the American plantations, 1600-1700. With their ages, the localities where they formerly lived in the mother country, the names of the ships in which they embarked, and other interesting particulars. From mss. preserved in the State Paper Dept. of Her Majesty’s Public Record Office, England, by John Hotten  published in 1832. That’s the actual title, generally shortened to The original lists of persons of quality, which is kind of worse.

Anyway Alice is sailing, she is the only Ashton on The Safety.

  • 1635 April Alice’s sister Mary Ashton 10th great grandmother, sailed with her husband Thomas Olney, and kids: Thomas age 1, Epenetus an infant. The Olneys left St Albans, England on the Planter 2 Apr 1635, then arrived in New England maybe mid May of 1635.
  • 1635 June on the ship with Alice “a trunk and a desk, which my mother gave to me”
  • 1635 August Alice probably joins her sister Mary’s family in colonial Massachusetts.
  • 1635 October In Providence is Thomas Angell who escaped with Roger Williams and 4 others in a canoe in the dark of night 08 Oct 1635.
  • 1637 Thomas Olney is a freeman and holds several Civil positions. He is also a baptist and associated with Roger Williams so is banished from Massachusetts.
  • 1638 Olneys and Ashtons follow Williams to Providence.
  • 1646 Thomas Angell and Alice marry
  • 1668 Angells and Olneys are some of the original settlers of Rhode Island and founders, members of the First Baptist Church.

Alice and Thomas Angell have eight children and long lives in Providence. They die in the same year 1694, Alice age 77, Thomas age 78. Alice Ashton Angell writes her will  and gives the trunk and desk which sailed with her from St. Albans to her namesake daughter Alice Angell who is 45 and married to Eleazer Whipple. Eleazer and Alice Angell Whipple may have had 10 children. They lived and died in Providence, Alice lived to age 94. Both are buried in the Whipple Mowry Cemetery also known as Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Lincoln 15.

Snapshot from page 75 The Providence oath of allegiance and its signers, 1651-2 at HathiTrust

ashton-alice-will

Ashton Angell, Alice will 1694

Sources

The Providence oath of allegiance and its signers, 1651-2 by Bowen, Richard LeBaron page 75 at HathiTrust

The Original Lists of Persons of Quality: Emigrants by Hotten, John Camden page 123 at HathiTrust.

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.

 

 

Israel Smith b. 1689 and Elizabeth Arnold b. 1684

/ Kirstin Miller

The wills of Israel Smith and his wife Elizabeth Arnold Smith Hawkins (8th great grandparents) contain inventories along with written wishes. Israel was a yeoman or landowner. He died at 37 in 1726. His inventory included: books, livestock, tools, seeds, a gun, a feather bed, blankets, linens, clothing, kitchenware, including pewter platters, 10 pounds of woolen yarns, thirty eight pounds of flax, spinning wools, furniture, tobacco and candlesticks.

Elizabeth outlived 2 husbands, she died at 74 in 1758. She left specific items for her daughters and granddaughters. Naomi Smith Angell inherited a Square Table and five pounds old Tenor. Daughter Elizabeth received the Long Cloke, Deborah got the Kettle and divided the featherbed with Ruth. Elizabeth’s will directed that her best buttons were for her granddaughters, “My will is that my Grand Daughter Elisabeth Hopkins have my large Silver Sleeve Buttons. Item, I give my Grand Daughter Martha Smith my Small Silver Sleeve Buttons, my looking Glass.”

Elizabeth’s will was transcribed at Rhode Island USGenweb, part of RootsWeb, a goldmine of early online family history collaboration begun in 1996, a free collaborative site, then purchased by Ance$try with a promise of preservation. Some of RootsWeb exists, a lot is erased.

Sources

  • Providence, Rhode Island, Wills (1678-1916) and Indexes, Volume 3-4, 1726-1754, page 121, 122, 123, 124 at Ancestry
  • Broken link. Rhode Island USGenWeb Project, Rhode Island Reading room Wills page 4 public document transcribed at: http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~rigenweb/wills4.html

 

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.

Elizabeth Tilley b. 1607

/ Kirstin Miller

Jabez Howland house

Postcard. The Howland House, 1666, Plymouth, Mass.

I’ve added Mayflower passengers to my family tree. Elizabeth Tilley 10th great grandmother, at age 13 sailed on the Mayflower with parents John and Elizabeth Joan Hurst Tilley. The older Tilley children stayed in England. Both John and Joan died in the general sickness of the first winter, 1621. Orphaned Elizabeth was taken in by John Carver (Plymouth Colony governor). Carver had a man-servant or secretary John Howland. When both John Carver and his wife died in early spring of 1621, John Howland inherited their estate and Elizabeth Tilley became his ward, they soon married and had 10 children who all survived into adulthood, so today Tilley and Howland have millions of descendants -you could be one too.

Rocky Nook was John and Elizabeth’s home, it’s no longer around but the land is preserved with a monument and trees, a stone wall and cellars original to the Howland home. The Pilgrim John Howland Society and the Plymouth Archaeological Rediscovery Project share their findings which reveal much history: the Howland House Bake Oven and a 50 page report on 2015 excavations including an artifact catalog are 2 examples. More than 4750 artifacts have been uncovered on the lands.

John and Elizabeth’s son Jabez lived in a home at 33 Sandwich Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts. The home still stands today . John and Elizabeth lived with Jabez after their home burned. So a person could today walk through this Jabez Howland home in the footsteps of Mayflower passengers John and Elizabeth Tilley Howland. Fascinating.

The Jabez Howland House is the only existing house in Plymouth where Pilgrims actually lived. The original 17th century two-story timber framed house consisted of the porch, hall and hall chamber. John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley Howland spent their winters here with their son Jabez and his family.

Angell, Olney, Smith, Whipples 1640-1660 marriages

/ Kirstin Miller

In one place at one time ancestors -on my mom’s maternal side- the family became interconnected, I need to make a chart: Olneys, Smiths, Angells and Whipples in Providence mid 1600s.

From Ancestry.com’s New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635 ($), specifically Great Migration Begins, Vol 3, P-W p 1972. Birthdates are estimates.

  • John Whipple b. abt 1640 m. Mary Olney
  • Sarah Whipple b 1641/2 m. John Smith
  • Eleazer Whipple b. 1646 m. Alice Angell
  • Mary Whipple b 1648 m. Epenetus Olney
  • Joseph Whipple b 1660 m. Alice Smith
  • Jonathan Whipple b. 1662 m Margery Angell

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.

screenshot-3

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.