was an American pioneer

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

 

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.

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.

 

Thomas Burnham b. 1617

/ Kirstin Miller

Thomas Burnham 10th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Thomas was maybe  a passenger on the Angel Gabriel in 1635. Thomas’s uncle Robert Andrews (mother’s brother) was Captain. The ship sailed from England directly into the strongest hurricane ever to hit Massachusetts. The Great Colonial Hurricane of August 25-26th, 1635 was a Category 3 (like Katrina 2005).  Governor Bradford wrote of a 20′ tide slamming into Boston. The Angel Gabriel was tossed and turned, passengers began throwing possessions overboard, lightning their load, hoping to make it to the (now) Pemaquid, Maine coast. All but perhaps 100 passengers made it safely to the colonies. A trunk survived- it belonged to John Cogswell and is on display at the Colonial Pemaquid State Historic Site, Bangor Daily News has a story. Some genealogy books tell of the Burnham brothers losing all their possessions during the storm.

Once safely settled in America Thomas was involved in civic affairs. He was a constable and also a lawyer. His most famous case was defending teacher Abigail Betts who called Jesus a bastard and was charged with blasphemy. Thomas defended Abigail by proving England did not consider blasphemy a crime so America, England’s colony, could not consider blasphemy a crime. Thomas then had to defend himself for defending Abigail. He called for “Justice according to Law” and the separation of the church and the state. Thomas may have lost his citizenship for awhile and he could no longer appear in the courts of the time. Before his death he had deeded his land to his children. He may have written a will, it was never found, maybe his wife Ann Wright refused to share it?, his will was recreated through witness testimony. Much detail here at HathiTrust page 121 of Genealogical Records of Thomas Burnham, the emigrant.

Francis Sprague b. 1590

/ Kirstin Miller

Francis Sprague 10th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree

Francis, along with daughters Anna (most likely a daughter, could have been a wife) and Mercy sailed on the Anne in 1623 from England to the Plymouth Colony. It was a summer voyage lasting about 3 months.

Wikipedia article, Passengers of the ships Anne and Little James 1623 has more detail. “From these statements … the reason so many of the first arrivals disappeared from Plymouth … many of the emigrants on the Anne and Little James would eventually be sent back to England as unfit for the task of living and working in a harsh colonial environment.” William Bradford’s history tells of his dismay at some of the passengers sent. “And some were so bad, as they were faine to be at charge to send them home again next year.”

Francis Sprague got to stay. He was a freeman, an innkeeper licensed to sell liquor and he owned land.

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Snapshot from Memorial of the Sprague family by Soule, Richard page 30 at HathiTrust

Godsgift Arnold b. 1658 and Jireh Bull b. 1659

/ Kirstin Miller

Bull, Jireh and Godsgift house

Godsgift Arnold 1st cousin 9 times removed from Elizabeth Speedy who married Stanley Roose Sr.

Godsgift was born on 27 Aug 1658 in Newport, Rhode Island, USA to Benedict (11th great uncle) and Damaris Westcott Arnold, the governor. Benedict Arnold who joined the British Army was her great grand nephew. Godsgift married Jireh Bull, their grandfathers William Arnold and Henry Bull were original Rhode Island settlers in the 1630s. Godsgift and Jireh lived in Newport, Rhode Island in a home still standing, now known as The Captain John Maudsley House. In 1952 it was discovered that the house was actually built by Jireh Bull. The August 27, 1952 Newport News tells the house’s history, I haven’t found the actual source. The Library of Congress has photos and floor plans of this house that Jireh started building in 1680. The house is still standing and privately owned today, at Wikipedia . 

The photo is from early 1900s. Jireh began building in 1680.  At the Library of Congress: John Maudsley House, Other Title Jireh Bull House.

William Flood in Civil War 1862

/ Kirstin Miller

William Flood, 3rd great grandfather, married to Delia Angell, was a Civil War soldier in the Iowa 32nd Infantry. He registered after Governor Kirkwood on July 9, 1862 made a proclamation calling for 300,000 Iowa men to join the war effort. At HathiTrust in the Roster and record of Iowa soldiers in the war of the Rebellion, Volume 5 (William’s info is on page 57) there is a 10-20 page description of the the soldiers’s battles and movements. They walked from Iowa to Nashville, Arkansas, Missouri, Alabama. They walked in soldier’s uniforms with their supplies on their backs.

Today in Iowa it is 90 degrees, heat index 104. I carried out the garbage/recycling in a tank top, flip flops, shorts with no gear on my back. I broke a sweat- WTF? Were these ancestors of mine a different species? How in the world did they do what they did, everyday.

Frerichs family emigrates in 1883

/ Kirstin Miller

In 1883 Enno Frerichs (2nd great grandfather) and family sailed from Bremen, Germany to Baltimore, Maryland. From Baltimore they would have taken a train to Freeport, Illinois joining friends and family already settled in America. Railroad companies produced pamphlets many in  German, advertising the lands for sale in the Plains: Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska. Local agents were listed along with details about crops, social life, religion and the financial make up of the specific towns. Railroads and the Making of Modern America University of Nebraska Lincoln is an educational site with plentiful sources.