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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

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

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

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

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

Jacob Bair and Barbara b. 1750

/ Kirstin Miller

Jacob Bair and Barbara 4th great grandparents on RootsMagic tree

Jacob Bair and Barbara – last name unknown- were born around 1750, probably in Maryland. Their parents are unknown, it’s likely  their parents migrated from Germany. Jacob and Barbara  married around 1780 and moved from Maryland to Pennsylvania where they had at least 7 children. By 1820 the Bair family had traveled 350 miles  west to Stark County, Ohio.  In Stark County they joined hundreds of other German immigrants that moved from Pennsylvania to Ohio: Bair, Bowman, Druckenbrod, Essig, Fryberger, Fuchs, Grubb, Harter, Kryder, Miller, all moved together.

Barbara died in  Stark County around 1820. Jacob lived 20 more years. Jacob’s estate was brought to the county court on December 18, 1840. On January 5 1841 an inventory and legal papers were presented.  Peter Loutzenheiser ‘a venerable pioneer’ was the overseer and “Abraham Bair, Jacob Bair and John Bair sons of said Jacob Bair” are mentioned in the will. Jacob’s inventory included: A tea kettle, a plough shovel, an auger, a psalm book, a pair of sheep shears, pewter dishes and plates, a light body coat, a pair of pantaloons, 2 shirts, 1 flannel shirt, 2 pocket books, yarn & threads and weavers reeds & shuttles.

Jacob’s will, Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998

Jacob and Barbara are buried in Henry Warstler Cemetery, Plain Township, Stark, Ohio, United States, their headstones long gone. In the Henry Warstler country church cemetery there are 62 Bair burials. In Stark County 442 Bairs are buried.  Jacob and Barbara’s 2nd great granddaughter Fiana Druckenbrod married William Miller, they moved to Bremer County, Iowa. In the summer Fiana returned to Stark Co. for Bair family reunions. Fiana and William’s daughter Lola kept in touch with her Stark Co. relatives, they visited her in Greene, Iowa.

Sources

  • Jacob’s will, Ohio, U.S., Wills and Probate Records, 1786-1998 at Ancestry
  • Early records of Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Canton, Ohio at FamilySearch
  • Find a Grave memorials
  • Bair family, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Mennonite Vital Records, 1750-2014 at Ancestry

David Gaines and Prudence Risley b. 1732

/ Kirstin Miller

David Gaines and Prudence Risley, my 6th great parents on RoostMagic tree

David Gaines was born on June 25, 1732 in Glastonbury, Connecticut. Prudence Risley was born September 26, 1735 in the same place. The Gaines family came from England to America in 1637, the Risley family in 1633.

David and Prudence married in 1754 in Glastonbury, Connecticut, officially Glastonbury, Hartford, Connecticut Colony, British Colonial America. Prudence’s 2nd great grandpa Richard Risley built the colony with Thomas Hooker, a Congregational minister who broke with the Puritans in Massachusetts. David and Prudence had 5 sons and 2 daughters and they moved north from Glastonbury to Northfield, Massachusetts to Guilford, Vermont.  Guilford is on the Vermont and Massachusetts border, southern Vermont in between … Sweet Pond and Satan’s Kingdom … One source states the Gaines farm was “near the state line”.  Guilford was the biggest town in Vermont from 1791-1820, today it’s population is about 2000 people.

David’s dad Nathaniel died in 1755 and David and his brothers inherited land, David signed the will. The family was on the 1790 US Federal Census, the first federal census. On this first census one name, the head of house is recorded. Others in the house were recorded by age and gender. In the image, column 1 is males 16 and older,  column 2 males younger than 16, column 3 is females. David Gaines is 2nd in the snapshot with 2 males, and 4 females.

Gaines family 1790 United States census at FamilySearch.org
David and Prudence Gaines 1790 census

David died July 31, 1813 and Prudence died April 15 1816. They are buried in Maplehurst Cemetery in Guilford- with matching headstones. Gaines family burials are 32 of the 235 burials in this small country cemetery.

Sources

  • 1790 United States census at FamilySearch.org
  • Find a grave memorials 21747459 and 21747457
  • The New England historical and genealogical register Volume 85, page 52 Descendants of Henry Gaines of Lynn Mass.
  • Vermont Vital Records, 1760-1954 at FamilySearch.org
  • Guilford , Vermont map at Google

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