52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #18 : Freelove MITCHELL, b.1755, Rhode Island

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 19th installment, for Freelove MITCHELL (1755-1834), my ex-husband's 4th great-grandmother on his mother's line.

I am fascinated by the various names given to children in the 1700s, and here is another one:  Freelove MITCHELL. How does someone name a beautiful little baby girl "Freelove"?  Apparently, it was a relatively common name in this time. Who knew?

I have lots of research still to do on this particular Freelove. I meant to do it earlier, but here we are, and I'm diving in with what I have found to date.  The Olin Family Society has 'webcards' for families of the Olin line, online, apparently linking to various sources. However until I can get at the sources, these cards can only be considered as clues requiring further research on my part.

Freelove MITCHELL was born 21 Nov 1755, on Block Island, Rhode Island. Mitchell is a familiar name on Block Island, and various Mitchell men were made Freemen in the late 1600s and early 1700s.  

A number of men's names are mentioned, but not details of their families, in a book titled "A History of Block Island: from it's discovery, in 1514, to the present time, 1876"  by Rev. Samuel Truesdale Livermore, published 1877; p.336.

On 15 Jan 1775, Freelove married Caleb OLIN, and they moved to Shaftsbury, Vermont fairly soon afterwards. All of their 11 children were born in Vermont. About 1814, the parents moved with their youngest son, Soloman, to the Canton area of New York state, where both parents died within a few years of each other. (Caleb is one of the sons of Henry Olin whom I wrote about as #16 in this series, by the way.)

Children of Caleb & Freelove:

1.   Naomi, b. 15 Sep 1777 Shaftsbury VT; d. 12 Aug 1864 Addison VT; m. Daniel Smith
2.   Thomas Dickens, b. 25 Apr 1779 Shaftsbury VT; d. 20 Aug 1860 Canton NY; m. Experience Miller Conkey
3.   Rebecca, b. 9 Jul 1782 Addison VT; d. 8 May 1862 Canton NY; m. Jonathan Day
4.   Joseph* [direct line], b. Mar 1784 Addison VT; d. 27 Jan 1873 Nicholville NY; m. Huldah B. Smith, 9 children
5.   Benjamin, b. 29 May 1786 Addison VT; d. 5 Dec 1853 Canton NY; m. Sarah Egbert/Edgebert
6.   Justin, b. 11 Apr 1788 Shaftsbury VT; d. 18 Nov 1864 Dartford WI; m. Polly Tower
7.   Caleb [Jr.], b. 30 Oct 1789 Shaftsbury VT; m. Polly Moore
8.   Henry, b. 3 Sep 1793 Shaftsbury VT; d. 8 Dec 1874 Birmingham MI; m. Polly Stewart/Stuart
9.   David, b. 16 Jan 1795 Addison VT; d. 8 Aug 1860 DeWitt MI; m. Anna Edgebert
10.   (Dr.) Soloman, b. 5 Mar 1798 Panton VT; d. 5 Apr 1865 South Sodus NY; m. Hannah Moore
11.   Sarah, b. 16 Jun 1800 Shaftsbury VT; d. 30 Apr 1884; m. Harvey Healey

There may be a few clues in these names which might assist in researching and identifying Freelove's correct parents.  The "Dickens" as middle name of Thomas, their first boy, may relate to either parents' mother's maiden name, for example, a working assumption that needs further research.

Note that parents married just towards the end of the Revolutionary War, and there are several military records indicating that (as one example of a son in the war).  Caleb served  in Shaftsbury VT with Capt Cyprian Downey's company.

Freelove died several years before her husband, in July 1834, in Canton, New York.  She was 79 years of age.

If you have information about Freelove Mitchell and her family, please do not hesitate to contact me via email calewis at telus dot net, or in comments below.

(Almost) WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - Two James TERWILLIGERS

My 2nd great-grandfather, & his son, my great-grandfather, two James TERWILLIGERS; through my maternal lines.
I particularly appreciate the visible differences in clothing and hair styles of these two men, with photos taken about 30 years apart.  Both photos found in the younger son's TERWILLIGER SOUVENIR ALBUM.

Taken in approximately 1860-1865, the photo to the right is of James M. TERWILLIGER, likely as a formal photo for the Senate.  James would be in his 40s here.  I would love to know what on earth his middle name is, as I have yet to see any document with his full name.
Born on 30 January 1825, New Scotland, Albany, New York; and died 18 October 1909, Roselle, Union, New Jersey, at the home of his elder son, below.

This is James Grover "Grove" TERWILLIGER, the eldest son of James M. TERWILLIGER, above;  the photo taken approximately 1885-1890.
Born 27 May 1856, Syracuse, Onondaga, New York; and died 17 March 1929, Syracuse, Onondaga, New York.

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #17: the wrong Moses JACKSON

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 17th installment, for Moses JACKSON, my 7th great-grandfather on my maternal lines.  However it now seems with new research, that this is NOT my 7th great-grandfather.  Instead, I seem to have been following the wrong JACKSON.  

The following begins what I found on a Moses Jackson - whom I believed to be the correct person. HOWEVER, SOME DETAILS DEFINITELY APPEAR TO BE FALSE, and definitely confusing. That is, it appears that I have been following - as others did - a SECOND Moses Jackson.  

I will be spending a chunk of time over the coming weeks trying to clarify my steps back to my known facts: an Elizabeth JACKSON b. abt 1695 in Fairfield who on 6 Mar 1716/7 married Michael JENNINGS b. 3 Dec 1693 in Fairfield, whose daughter Beulah JENNINGS b. abt 1722 who on 26 Oct 1743 married Samuel TREAT b. 13 Aug 1714 in Milford.  

Oh my.  I'm back to the drawing board indeed.  

Below are the details I had found over seven years ago when I was first beginning research on the TREAT line.  Clearly some steps are quite wrong. I am printing this however, to help others if they hit this page, to see the errors, and NOT reprint the errors in their own trees! 

WRONG BEGINS HERE, note that some details are clearly correct for a Moses Jackson, but not for his wife Hannah Trowbridge:
Moses was born approximately Jan or Feb 1647/8 in Connecticut, likely Fairfield, where his father, Henry JACKSON was building a gristmill. It is not clear who his mother was, his father's will does not name her; several family histories state her name to be Mary Abbott.  Henry's wife was alive at the time of his will dated 11 Nov 1682, several years before he died in 1686.

Moses apparently married 24 Oct 1672 in Fairfield, to Deborah.  Deborah's surname is listed as HUBBELL in Barbour's transcriptions of vital records in towns of Connecticut, but is listed as HYATT in Clarence Torrey's well-known book on New England Marriages before 1700.  Deborah died after the birth of her 2nd or 3rd child, sometime after 1678.  

His second wife, married in New Haven on 6 July 1688, may have been Hannah TROWBRIDGE, b. 6 Jul 1668.  The Trowbridge family is well-known in early settlers' records, having arrived from Taunton, England, in 1634.  Hannah's parents were William TROWBRIDGE (1633-1690) and Elizabeth LAMBERTON (1632-1716).  

The children of Moses and Deborah, 1st wife, appear to be:
  1. Rebecca, b. abt 1674
  2. Deborah, b. abt 1678

The children of Moses and Hannah, 2nd wife, appear to be the following:
  3. Gershom [son], b. 1689, died young
  4. Thankful, b. 1693 [this child is not proved]
  5. *Elizabeth [ancestor], b. abt 1695/ m. 6 Mar 1716/7 to Michael JENNINGS, 4 daus.

More records and histories need to be researched for clarification of Moses' wives and children. There may be a third wife as well.  Either Deborah or Hannah may have had several more children as well.  It is confusing since there appears to have been another Moses Jackson in Connecticut, who could have been an uncle or cousin perhaps.

Moses died at the age of approximately 64 years, on 13 Nov 1712, in Fairfield, Connecticut; his wife Hannah had died about 1697. Some records state he died in Stratfield, which is a neighbourhood on the eastern side of the town of Fairfield. Land records may show where Moses might have been living in the late 1600s to early 1700s. 

THIS ENDS MY WRONG SECTION ON MOSES JACKSON, SON OF HENRY JACKSON.

If you have comments or further information about this confusing situation, do let me know via email at calewis at telus dot net, or below.  I welcome all bright spotlights on my tree-in-progress!  
  

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #16: Henry OLIN

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 16th installment, for Henry OLIN.  Henry is my ex-husband's 5th great-grandfather, on his mother's line (Rice).  

Henry OLIN was born approximately 1719, in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. East Greenwich is one of the oldest towns in Rhode Island, legally established in 1677. The first OLIN known to settle in the area was his father John OLIN.  There is an Olin Family Society, also on Facebook [closed group], and their society's 'webcards' genealogy with various OLIN family tree lines, which I have not investigated as thoroughly as I need to. And there are several books published about this very early settler, available through Internet Archive. 

Henry apparently had 4 wives (sequentially, of course), with a total of 16 children. The records are not clear as to which wife was the mother of which children, specifically the mother of our direct descendant, his son, Caleb, b. in 1753. 

One can see several breaks in the children's births which may indicate the death of a wife, and a subsequent marriage:  (a) after #2, John's birth;  (b) after #7, Henry's birth; (c) after #8, Sibil's birth. The birth years are not listed for daughters Susannah and Rebecca, who are listed in published works as born between son Pelig's birth and son Caleb's birth.  

Henry's children by his various wives : 

1. Justin,  b. 17 Jul 1739; d. 7 Jul 1821, Liecester, VT
2. John, (3rd), b. 17 Sep 1741; d. 24 Sep 1831, Shaftsbury, VT
3. Pelig Olin, b. 20 May 1746; d. Cambridge NY [son]
4. Susannah, b.?
5. Rebecca, b. ?
6. **Caleb [ancestor], b.8 Dec 1753, Old Warwick, RI; m. 15 Jan 1775 to Freelove Mitchell; 11 children
7. Henry, b. abt 1754, d. young
8. Sibil, b. abt 1758  [dau]
9. Paris, b. 1765, d. bef 1780  [son]
10. Hannah, b. 1767
11. Sarah, b. 1770
12. Ezra, b. 1772
13. Phoebe, b. 1774
14. Henry, b. 1776
15. Nancy, b. 1779
16. Joseph, b. 1781

We know more about Henry's father, than we do about Henry.  Henry's father, John OLIN, was originally from Wales, pressed on board a British war vessel, before 1678. Only 14 years of age, he apparently managed to leave the ship in Boston Harbor and settled in East Greenwich RI in about 1678. John married Susannah Spencer in East Greenwich on 4 Dec 1708; the Spencer family were also originally from Wales. They had at least four children: Joseph, John, Henry, and Eleanor.  John was known to be a farmer in RI.  Interestingly, John is described in one record as being of medium stature and with red hair. 

Henry lived to be over 100 years of age, with a death date of 7 July 1821 (102 years).  He is said to have died in Leicester, Vermont, where others of his family had also settled. 

I clearly have a great deal of research still to do on this line.  My mother-in-law had a brother whose middle name was OLIN, which I thought unusual and got me started researching the Olin line.  

If you have any information or questions about any of the above details, do contact me via calewis at telus dot com, or leave a comment below.  

"National Siblings Day" -? Okay - here's mine!

1947:
I'm on the left, big sister on the right, well-loved baby brother in the middle, raring to get down those steps and go-go-go!!

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY - 1963

Almost Wordless...

My mother's mother, Marguerite Josephine TERWILLIGER Kuhn, whom we called "GrandPete" (and variations), with two of her three daughters: my two Aunts Barbara Russell and Dot (Dorothea) Mathieu. My mom was the baby of the family, and the shortest.  

I'm amused to see both my aunts smoking cigarettes, as did my mom all her life. I think the photo must have been taken in California, from the background. In 1963, GrandPete is 83, Barb is 51, Dot is 49.

This photo was in my personal photo album which Mom made for us three kids one Christmas - it took her most of the year, and she typed each label.  She scrounged for photos from neighbours and relatives, and made slightly different ones for each of us.  Later, we went through our respective albums, and copied more of each others' photos.

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS, #15: Vincent MEGGS / MEIGS

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 15th installment, for Vincent MEGGS/MEIGS, my 10th great-grandfather on my maternal side.

Vincent is another immigrant settler from the south of England, apparently from the parish of Chardstock in Dorset.  Luckily the Bishop's Transcripts of the parish [1579-1641] were found in 1991 and copied by a researcher, providing excellent confirmation of 3 of his children, plus the name and details of his wife.  

Vincent's surname is recorded as  "also known as Vincent LOVE" in a record of being landlord of the Angle Inn, in Axminster. This AKA surname might indicate he was an illegitimate child.  

Note that the surname MEGGS comes from 'Margaret's son': i.e., Megs/Maggs as a nickname for Margaret.  It is spelled many ways; John, Vincent's third child, apparently changed the spelling to "Meigs". 

Much of my information comes from Rick Meigs' detailed genealogies of the Meigs brothers, online at http://meigs.org/Vincent.htm  as well as from a book by Henry Benjamin Meigs, who published in 1901 "Record of the Descendants of Vincent Meigs, who came from Dorsetshire, England to America about 1635." pub Baltimore, MD, John S. Bridges & Co. [available online].  I am very grateful for the work done by many individuals on these early settlers to America.  

Vincent is believed to have been born about 1583 in Dorset, and married Emma Strong about 1608 in the parish of Chardstock.  Emma's parents were William & Margaret; Margaret's will in 1621 confirms Vincent as Emma's husband.  We do not know Vincent's parents' names or details.  Interestingly there is another will from Axminster (adjacent parish) of a John Maggs 1632, listing children and wife, and also listing "overseers: Vincent Maggs, Thomas Lovinge".  However the relationship of this John to Vincent is not clarified.  A father? brother? uncle?

Vincent and Emma had 4 children that we know of, the younger 3's christening records were detailed from the parish of Chardstock:

1. Vincent, b. bef 14 Dec 1608; no marriage/children known of; d. 3 Nov 1700, New London CT
2. Mary Ann, b. bef 16 Apr 1610
3. *John, [direct ancestor], b abt 29 Jan 1611/2; m Thomasina FRYE abt 1632; 5 children
4. Mark, b 25 Aug 1616; m. Avis ___ about 1658; at least one child (Hannah)

Vincent is first found at Weymouth MA in 1641, but the family made plans in 1643 to leave and settle in Rehoboth MA [with Rev. Samuel Newman].  Several years later, the family appears in New Haven, CT, in 1646.  By 1658, Vincent appears to have moved to live with his son John in Hammonasset [Madison], New Haven, CT. 

Vincent made his will, dated September 2, 1658 "on his deathbed", witnessed by son John, which was probated on December 2, 1658.  Local tradition has it that Vincent was the first to be buried at the Hammonasset Cemetery, Madison, New Haven, CT, as the cemetery grave yard opened in 1658.  However any gravestone or exact location is unknown at this time. 

 

If you know more information on the MEIGS/MEGGS family, I would be pleased to hear from you; contact me directly via calewis at telus dot com, or in the comments below. 

52 ANCESTORS in 52 WEEKS: #14, William LANE

Following the challenge of writing 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks, issued by Amy Johnson Crow, here is my 14th installment, for William LANE, the immigrant settler, my 10th great-grandfather.

Born in the Dorset area in England in the late 1500s (1575?), William LANE was known to be in Dorchester about 1635, and settled in Hingham by 1637.  Question marks about his marriage show the following (p.450, C.A. Torrey's "New England Marriages Prior to 1700," rev. 1992):

Clearly there are more questions than answers about his marriage and birthdate on this record. Taken from the 1992 revision, note that all settlers and wives were listed, with information about birth, date, places, if known or identified. Unfortunately, this marriage item leaves me full of questions.  We clearly don't know if the woman with him was his 1st wife and mother of some or all of his children or, was his 2nd wife, possibly mother of any or none of his children.  His wife's name is not confirmed.  

The record of the Hopewell 1635  shows passengers "William Lane and family". The Great Migrations apparently describe the family as likely including : "William Lane of Beaminster, Dorset, who settled at Hingham, MA.  Family members: Agnes Farnsworth, wife;  Avis (Lane) Lincoln, 28, daughter, and her husband, Thomas Lincoln;  Andrew Lane, 24, son, and daughters  Mary and Elizabeth Lane."   

His children were as follows, all born in Dorsetshire, England between 1606-1619, not listed in any particular order :
 - Agnes/Avis/Anis, m. before 1635 to Thomas Lincoln "The Cooper"; settled in Hingham
 - *Andrew [direct ancestor] abt 1610, m. abt 1639 in Hingham to Tryphena [1612-1670]; Hingham
 - Elizabeth, m. Thomas Rider
 - George, m. Sarah _____
 - Mary, m. (1) Joseph Long, and (2) Joseph Farnsworth
 - William, 
 - Sarah,

He is known to have owned a number of parcels of land in Hingham area. He apparently worked as a farmer and also as a "felt-maker".  

William died before 6 July 1654, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, possibly where his daughter Elizabeth (Lane) Rider and family lived; this date is when his will was probated. The will was signed and dated "28. 12 mo  1650."  The following was taken from the Abstract of the will: 
 "William LANE, of Dorchester.  Inventory, prized by John Wiswall, Wm Clarke,  5 July 1654.
   Amt. 82. 10. 08 1/2.  Joseph Farnsworth deposed.  [Will, vol. V. p. 364.]  (See p.54)."  

His will lists his children with daughters' married names (note variant spellings), in transcribed Suffolk County Wills (p. 54 mentioned above).  Interestingly, in the will, he calls Joseph Farnsworth his "beloved brother", rather than ?brother-in-law. This does give some credence that his wife was indeed Agnes Farnsworth; however, it is still not proved. 

If you have questions or more information about William Lane and his family, I would love to hear from you.  Please leave a comment below, or contact me via calewis at telus dot net.