Martha Ide b. 1656

/ Kirstin Miller

Martha Ide 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Martha was born October 1656 in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. At HathiTrust, page 649 Martha and siblings births in Vital record of Rehoboth. She was a middle child of Nicholas and Martha Bliss Ide, both born in England then living in Plymouth Colony by 1636. Martha would have lived on a farm and once old enough helped her mom with any number of jobs for most of the day. Martha married Samuel Walker in 1681, after the end of King Philips War -her husband was in that war. She and Samuel had at least 6 children and lived where The Philip Walker House is today: 432 Massasoit Ave East Providence, RI 02914.

Philip Walker House, East Providence, RI

Philip Walker House built in 1724

The house was known as the 2nd oldest in Rhode Island and it was accepted that Philip Walker and son Samuel built it in late 1670 or 80. Recent research shows the house was built with “mill sawn timbers” chopped down in 1724. Philip Walker owned the land, passed down to Philip’s son Samuel, then to Samuel and Martha’s son Timothy who built the house in 1724. The house is almost 300 years old and still standing. At Philip Walker House at Preserve Rhode Island the house is part of a study project.

Philip Walker House at Wikipedia

Humphrey Blake b. 1494

/ Kirstin Miller

Humphrey Blake 15th great grandpa on RootsMagic Tree

Humphrey Blake was born about 1494 and died about 1558. Humphrey was the 2nd son of William and ‘seated himself’ at Over Storey, Somerset, England. He married Ann, her last name is unknown, they had several children. Humphrey was a clothier, he turned wool yarns into textile, cloth for clothing, draperies and what not. Humphrey leased a manor Plainsfield, his son John bought the manor. The Blake family church was nearby, St Peter and Paul, there are parish records with births, marriages and burials of the Blake family. The church still stands. The manor, Plainfield in 1890 or so was rented by a tenant and probably just crumbled away. Humphrey’s will dated November 1558 was destroyed in the bombing of England 1940-41 but an abstract or summary survives. He left money to the church for repair and ornament. The will named his children and wife and gave money and/or possessions to each.

Humphrey was buried on December 28, 1558 at St Peter and Paul Church. In the middle passage of the church there is a monumental tablet for Humphrey and Ann. The inscription reads: “Here lyeth the bodye of Humfry Blake of Overstowey clothier deceased, who was buried the 20 day of March Anno Domini 1619 Also Ann, the wife of Humfry Blake, was here interred December ye 11, 1645”. A photo is on this genealogy website: Somerset – Over Stowey, Combe St. Nicholas by Mary Mettler at California Genealogical Society, CaliforniaAncestors.org

Sources

Annis Austin b. 1596

/ Kirstin Miller

Annis Austin 10th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Annis was born in Exeter, England on February 1, 1596. In 1614 she married Edmund Littlefield, they were parents of 8 kids. Before 1638 Edmund and an older son sailed for America. In 1638 Annis went to America. She sailed on the Bevis with her younger kids and a couple servants. Annis’s brother Richard Austin with his family and a servant were on this same ship which landed in Boston May of 1638. (Annis’s brother Richard is the 3rd great grandfather of Stephen F. Austin, who founded Texas). Annis Edmund and family stayed in Boston for a short time then moved on to Wells, Maine where Edmund built the first sawmill and gristmill near Webhannet Falls. Annis with her family farmed and cleared the way for other English settlers. “With the aid of his large family, he (Edmund) prepared the way for the habitation of man”.

Annis was a widow in 1661 and wrote her will on December 12, 1677. She mentions each of her children and leaves land, wools, linens and a bed to daughter Hannah and husband Peter Cloyes- 9th great grandparents.

Austin, Annis on the Bevis closeup

Annis and children sailed on the Bevis 1638

Bevis_Passengers_1638

List of passengers 1638 on the Bevis

The history of Wells and Kennebunk from the earliest settlement page 77 

Richard Austin on Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Austin_(colonist)

The ship Bevis on Wikipedia with image of handwritten list
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bevis_(ship)

The Wells, Maine PD has a post on their Facebook page with a photo of the Littlefield marker: The Bridge of Flowers at Webhannet Falls.

Margaret Denison b. 1657

/ Kirstin Miller

Margaret Denison 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree.

Margaret was born in 1657 in Connecticut. Her dad George’s family came to America in the 1630s from Hertfordshire, England. Margaret was the 8th of 9 kids and ‘the only one to marry outside of Stonington and move away’. Margaret married James Brown on June 5, 1678 in Swansea, Massachusetts then they moved to Barrington, Massachusetts, now part of Rhode Island, on the Providence River. Margaret and James may have had 12 kids.

Both Margaret and husband James’s wills survive and are printed in the Mayflower Descendent series. Margaret mentions her children including daughter Ann who married Samuel Hill. Margaret’s husband is the Mayflower Descendent: LIEUT. JAMES BROWN3, son of James and Lydia2 (Howland) Brown and grandson of John1 Howland of The Mayflower”.

Margaret Denison Brown is buried in Ancient Little Neck Cemetery in East Providence, Rhode Island. Her headstone inscription: In memory of Mrs. Margaret Brown Relict of Lieut James Brown, Who died on the 5th Day of May 1741 in ye 85th year of her age.

Denison, Margaret will snapshot

Widow Margaret Brown’s will 1733/4

At Archive.org. Page 24 Captain George and Lady Ann; the Denisons of Pequotsepos Manor, Margaret’s marriage.

At HathiTrust Their wills The Mayflower descendant, Volume 17 page 193 several pages.

Rhode Island historic cemetery database. Denison, Margaret ID 97022 Ancient Little Neck Burial Ground.

Mary Williams b. 1683

/ Kirstin Miller

Mary Williams 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Mary Williams was born in Providence, Rhode Island in 1683, the oldest child of Daniel and Rebecca Rhodes Williams. In 1709 Mary and Epenetus Olney married. They would have lived in the Stone Ender home Epenetus began building in 1702 or so. The Stone Ender home stayed in the Olney family from the time it was built till it was demolished around 1898. Mary and Epenetus had 9 children: James, Charles, Joseph, Anthony, Mary, Amy, Ann, Martha, and Freeborn. The family lived on a farm: “Here was raised in those early days beans. “turnops”. “wheate”, Indian corn. rye. “flex”, while in the orchard, through which passed the road leading to the Providence settlement, there were “Apple and peach tree, fruited deep”.

The current address for their farm is 370 Woonasquatucket Avenue, Centerdale, Providence County, RI. The farm and home stood for almost 200 years on the banks of the Woonasquatucket River about 6 miles northeast of Providence 41°50’45.1″N 71°28’37.5”W.

370370 Woonasquatucket Avenue Olney site

ON the banks of the Woonasquatucket River in Rhode Island

Roger Williams Family Association online: Genealogy, Daniel Williams, 27 i. Mary3 Williams, m. Epenetus Olney Jr. Mary and Epenetus’s daughter Martha is the mom of Marrtha Angell the mom of Asa Angell the dad of Dexter Angell the dad of Delia Angell the mom of Matilda Flood the mom of Philippa Mockford the mom of Elizabeth Speedy.

Olney’s Stone ender home at Library of Congress 

At Archive. org. A genealogical dictionary of the first settlers of New England Volume 3 page 313.

At HathiTrust. Early Rhode Island houses: Isham, Norman Morrison, 1864-1943, plate 33.  State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations Volume 3 page 627 – 630.

Richard Risley b. 1709

/ Kirstin Miller

Richard Risley 7th great grandpa on RootsMagic tree

Richard was born in Glastonbury, Connecticut on July 24, 1709. On September 24, 1729 he married Hannah Smith. They had 8 or 9 children and lived in Bolton, Connecticut. Richard was a widow in 1785 then married Mary Smith. On the 1790 census Richard is head of house living, probably, with a son with 2nd wife Mary.

Richard died in 1792. There’s no record of his will. His probate was on August 7, 1792 with Joseph Carver (no clues on who this person was) and Mary the widow as executors. The inventory of Richard’s estate included: One great coat, one bed with pillows and bolsters, 16 runs of linen yarn, a trunk, a chest of drawers, a tea kettle, pewter plates and cups, some livestock, 20 acres of land. An estate sale was held on April 18, 1793. Handwritten inventories of the 1600 and 1700s seemed to include every thing the person owned from buttons and seeds to land and livestock.

Risley, Richard estate papers page 4

Connecticut, Wills and Probate Records, 1609-1999 at Ancestry

Sources

Hannah Judd b. 1681

/ Kirstin Miller

Hannah Judd 8th great grandma on RootsMagic tree

Hannah was a middle child of Benjamin and Mary Lewis Judd. She was born, then baptized on March 13, 1681 in Farmington, Connecticut.

Judds and Smiths 1700 CT records

Marriage of Gershom and Hannah, children’s births

On May 4 1710 Hannah married Gershom Smith he was from nearby Glastonbury, Connecticut. Gershom and Hannah’s records show only 2 kids: Hannah the oldest and Gershom a son who died at 16. The Smith family stayed in Glastonbury. Gershom died in 1747 at age 67 and is buried there. Widow Smith (Hannah) moved to her daughter’s home. Hannah’s daughter, also Hannah, was married to Richard Risley and living in Tolland, Connecticut about 30 miles northeast.

Hannah is on a land record dated 1756: “On 3 Nov. 1756, Richard and Hannah Risiey, with Widow Hannah Smith, all of Glastonbury, sold land where said Risley now dwells”. Hannah was 75. There’s no record of her death or burial. Husband Gershom has a headstone at Glastonbury, Hannah may be buried there or may be buried in Tolland with her daughter’s Risley family.

Sources
At American Ancestors. The American genealogist volume 25 page 130. New England marriages to 1700 database Volume 2 page 1391.

At FamilySearch.org. Connecticut Marriages, 1640-1939 FHL 001316154 Digital Folder 007730404 Image 00087 (87 of 784) marriage of Gershom and Hannah, children’s births

 

Widow Walker b. 1600

/ Kirstin Miller

Widow Walker 10th great grandmother on RootsMagic tree.

Widow Walker’s first name is unknown, her last name was probably Brown. She was born in England around 1600, married, then was widowed by 1635 when her two older children Sarah and James came to America with their uncle the widow’s brother, his name may have been John Brown. The widow and younger son Philip came to America about 1640. Widow Walker is on land records in 1643, 1644 and 1646 then she disappears with no more records. By 1658, son Philip is on land records. So her estimated death is in 1658 at about age 58. There are theories on her Brown family ancestors and her husband’s Walker family ancestors, but not much is proven, except her land.

Land Widow Walker and Zachariah Rhodes 1644 screenshot

The history of Rehoboth, page 25

In Vital Records of Rehoboth on page 911: “At a Town Meeting, the 31st day of the 4th month 1644, lots were drawn for a division of the woodland, between the plain and the town. Shares were drawn to the number of 58 as follows”: Widow Walker is the only female on the list of 58 which included The Schoolmaster, The Governor and The Pastor. Thomas Bliss 8th great grandpa of Elizabeth Speedy is also on the list.

Sources at HathiTrust
The history of Rehoboth, Bristol County, Massachusetts, page 25 Widow Walker and Zachariah Rhodes of Seakonk alias Rehoboth.

Vital record of Rehoboth, 1642-1896, page 911, Widow Walker No. 52

The story of my ancestors In America, page 8 Widow Walker settles in Seekonk, Rehoboth, land grants

 

John Drake b. 1585

/ Kirstin Miller

John Drake 12th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree.

John Drake was born in England about 1585. Past research on John Drake connected him to King Henry the 8th, Shakespeare and Sir Francis Drake, but it’s all been proven very unlikely. So John was born in England where he married Elizabeth and they had 5 children. In 1630 the Drakes arrived in America, sailing on the Mary and John. The passengers on this ship are considered the founders of Windsor, Connecticut. They lived in Dorchester first then the whole group moved to Windsor, Connecticut. John was a woodworker, a farmer and was active in town services. He was on several juries and on December 1, 1645 one of the constables in charge of gathering up knapsacks filled with powder and bullets, delivering those knapsacks to a Mr Talcott and keeping a written record of the ‘particulars so delivered’.

John died in an accident. Driving a cart full of corn ‘Something Scard the Cattle and they Set a running, and he Labouring to Stop them, by taking hold on the mare, was thrown’.

He wrote his will in 1659 and mentions each of his children.

John’s burial is unknown but his name is on the Founders of Windsor Monument at Palisado Cemetery in Windsor, Connecticut. The monument reads, “To the founders of Windsor and the First Congregational Church in Connecticut which came to America in the Mary and John with its pastor John Warham May 30, 1630, Settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts and migrated to Windsor in May and October 1635.”Snapshot for the Windsor Historical Society. 3 ancestors of Faber Miller are on the monument: John Drake, Thomas Dewey and Henry Wolcott

Sources

John Whipple b. 1617

/ Kirstin Miller

John Whipple 10th great grandfather on RootsMagic tree.

John Whipple was born in Essex, England in 1617. John age 14 or 15 arrived in Dorchester, now part of Boston, late summer of 1632. A servant of Israel Stoughton, John would have agreed to work 4-5 years in exchange for travel to America. His arrangement with Stoughton didn’t start out so well. October of 1632 John and another servant, Alex, were brought to court and ordered to pay Stoughton a certain sum each, for the powder and shot they’d wasted. In 1640 John was a Freeman, he’d worked off his debt. In 1641 he married Sarah, her last name is not known.

By 1658 he lived in Providence and stayed through King Philipps War, one of 27. These 27 who ’ staid’ were rewarded with a servant, an American Indian, captured in the war. Depending on their age the captured servants worked a certain time then had their freedom again. The Puritans believed this was an OK arrangement compared to other colonies that killed Indians captured in King Philips War. Through the years John was a carpenter, farmer, tavern keeper and chosen for lots of town services: selectman, treasurer, surveyor, etc. He was also on several committees, even in colonial America there were committees and meetings.

John Whipple's will 1682

John Whipple’s will 1682

John wrote his will May 8, 1682 with all his children named and son Joseph as executor. “Be it known to all persons to whom this may come, that I, John Whipple of the town of Providence, in the colony of Rhode Island, and Providence Plantations, in New England (Sen.) being in good measure of health, and in perfect memory, upon consideration of mortality, not knowing the day of my death, and having many children, and to prevent difference that otherwise may hereafter arise among them concerning my worldly estate, do see cause to make my will and do hereby dispose of all my estate in this world and do make my last Will and Testament.”

John died May 16 and is buried in Providence at North Burial Ground. He and Sarah have matching headstones, dated from 1740, not the 1680s.

 

Records of the Governor and company of the Massachusetts Bay, Volume 1 page 100 John Whipple and another in court.

The early records of the town of Providence, Volume 8 page 12 27 who ‘staid’ And Volume 15, page 161 details 

Rhode Island historic cemetery database
http://rihistoriccemeteries.org/newgravedetails.aspx?ID=215026

The early records of the town of Providence Volume 6 page 124-135 John Whipple’s will, inventory, probate.