#52Ancestors: Dr. Comfort STARR 1589-1659, England to Massachusetts

 Another post in the year-long challenge, #52Ancestors by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. I am behind, but every post is another post! Today I am writing about Dr. Comfort STARR, in the RICE line of my ex-husband [and his brother], his 9th great-grandfather, our children's 10th, grandchildren's 11th great-grandfather. Online trees on various sites list several generations back plus additional children, aunts and uncles, but this is a fairly new-to-me ancestor and more research will be taken up later this year. His surname is spelled occasionally as STAR or STARRE. 

A major resource was the Ashford Parish Register, in Kent, England. Note the red ink Tudor rose under the green crown on the left side, with E and R on either side of the rose. A beautiful book with careful writing. A challenge still to read because of the way letters were formed back then, but at least they were tidy! A secondary source was the Tyler Indexes for Kent County, handwritten abstracts. Both found on FindMyPast.

Comfort STARR was baptized 6 July 1589, in Cranbrook, Kent, England of Thomas jr. and Susan STARR. Baptism shown above. The Thomas STARR family were Dissenters, strongly Separatist re their religious practices. See St Mary the Virgin church in Ashford, here. 

Siblings of Comfort [eldest child] were Moregifte [son], William [son], Suretrust [dau], Mercie [dau], Standwell/or Standfast [dau], Judit [dau], Truth-Shall-Prevail [dau], Joyfull [son], Constance [dau], and Beloved [son].  I believe there might be one or two more children whose baptisms I have yet to find, and several died young. 

Comfort became a chirurgeon [physician/surgeon], and on Oct 4th, 1614 he married Elizabeth MITCHELL, in Northiam, Sussex, England, a nearby town.  Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas Hayward MITCHELL and Margaret.  Comfort and Elizabeth appeared to move to Ashford, Kent, shortly after their marriage; Ashford was a bustling town with particular success in textiles manufacturing. 

The family - Comfort, wife Elizabeth, and their children plus Comfort's sister, Truth-Shall-Prevail, travelled to Massachusetts from the port of Sandwich Kent, on the Hercules in 21 Mar 1634/35. This was a time called "the Great Migration" when many people left because of extreme unhappiness with the Church of England and its "popishness" and more. It is likely that others on the ship were well-known to Comfort and his family.

Children  (10) of Comfort and Elizabeth - all but 1 were baptized in Ashford, Kent in St. Mary the Virgin; not all details of all children have been researched as yet: 

    1.  Thomas, bap 31 Dec 1616, d 25 Dec 1658 Yarmouth MA; m. abt 1639
             to Rachel Harris in Massachusetts, 3 boys known
    2.  Judith, bap 11 Jan 1617/18, d. by 25 Aug 1622, Eng.

    3.  Mary, [ancestor], bap 16 Apr 1620, d. 22 Apr 1659 Sudbury
             Middlesex, MA; m. abt 1638 to Thomas AXTELL from Berkhamstead,
             Hertfordshire, Eng; 1 known, others not yet found

    4.  Elizabeth, bap 3 Jun 1622; m. 1642 to John Fernside

    5.  Comfort [jr], bap 11 Apr 1624

    6.  John, bap 25 Oct 1626

    7  Samuell, bap 2 Mar 1627/28, d. by 16 Apr 1633, Eng.

    8.  Hanna, bap 22 Jul 1632

    9.  Liddia, bap 22 Mar 1634 

  10.  Ruth, est bap 1637 in Cambridge MA

In 1638, Dr. Comfort STARR and family removed to Duxbury, Plymouth, MA, and they resided there until 1646. He was well regarded, and was a member of the General Court in 1642. At that point, they moved to Boston, Suffolk, MA, and remained there. In addition, he was a Charter Fellow of Harvard College in 1650, and his son was also active in the College. For more information and details, I am hoping to do more research on the NEHGS site, AmericanAncestors.com, within the coming year. 

 His wife, Elizabeth, died in Boston 25 Jun 1658; by this time all children were of adult age, and several were married, as can be seen in the list of children above. 

Dr. Comfort STARR wrote out his will 22 Apr 1659, and died within the year; probate is dated 2 Jan 1659/60.    

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day!!

#52Ancestors: Gualter MERWIN 1593/4 - abt 1642, England

Another post in the year-long challenge, #52Ancestors by genealogist Amy Johnson Crow. I am a little behind, but every post is another post! Today I am writing about Gualter MERWIN, the father of an early New England settler to Connecticut., Miles MERWIN, who arrived before 1648. Gualter, is an old version of spelling for Walter; Merwin has been found spelled with different first vowels: Merwin, Morwin, Murwin.

Much of the information I was able to glean online came from several books: (a) The English Ancestry of the Merwin and Tinker Families of New England, 1995, v.149; pp.301-302, Douglas Richardson; and (b) The English Ancestry of Miles and Elizabeth (Powell) Merwin, published by the Miles Merwin Association. Note, the 2nd book is available to download as a pdf from FamilySearch. 

First off, I need to say I have very few verified data points for Gualter MERWIN - which is not surprising as few paper documents survive from late 1500s in England. When I started researching this family, I joined The Miles Merwin Association which provided some genealogical information - very useful. The first unverified information I have is that Gualter was baptised in Amersham, Buckinghamshire, England on 3 Mar 1593/94, naming his father as Nicholas MORWIN [variant spelling].  I have not as yet found the baptism register in Buckinghamshire online. St Mary parish church registers need to be examined.  

The  next point is Gualter's marriage in nearby New Windsor, Berkshire, England, on 12 January 1617/18, to Margaret TINKER, daughter of Robert TINKER & Ann/Agnes BERRINGTON. I found a transcription done by the Berkshire Family History Society showing the date, place, bride and groom, and the church:  St John the Baptist parish church image here is from early 1800s, before a complete rebuild in 1822.  This church is down the long road to Windsor Castle - yes, that Windsor Castle! 

Gualter and Margaret had 10 children that I have been able to find any information on, all of whom were born in New Windsor, Berkshire, England, not all baptisms found: 

    1.  Thomas, b. abt 1620, d. 28 Nov 1622

    2.  Benjamin [twin], bap 19 Nov 1621, d. 28 Nov 1622

    3.  Joseph [twin], bap 19 Nov 1621, d. 28 Nov 1622

    4.  Miles [ancestor], bap. 1 Feb 1623, d. 23 Apr 1697 Milford CT;
            m.1) abt 1647 to Elizabeth POWELL [d. 10 Jul 1664 CT], 7 children;
            m.2) abt 1664 Sarah Platt [d.15 May 1670 CT], 4 children; and, 
            m.3) 30 Nov 1670 Sara [unknown], no children.
    5.  Anthony, b. abt 1625, d. 8 Feb 1634 aged 9 

    6.  Rhoda, b. abt 1627-35

    7.  Nicholas, b. abt 1627-35

    8.  Mary, b. abt 1627-35

    9.  Sarah, b. abt 1630; m. 3 Feb 1649/50 to  John Rowlett 

  10.  Joseph, bap 20 Nov 1636, died infant.

Gualter apparently was buried 8 Feb 1642/43 in New Windsor, Berkshire.  His wife, Margaret, was buried a month later, 11 Mar 1642/43. The Prerogative Court of Canterbury Index [transcribed/typed] shows his eldest son Thomas as administrator of his estate, dated 11 March 1643.  I have not found any further information, nor his actual will, only this index. More research to be done... 

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If these are your ancestors, I am happy to share what little I have on these ancestors. And if there are errors, please do let me know, via calewis at telus dot net, or in the Comments below and I will get back to you either by email or in the Comments. I appreciate the opportunity to correct any issues in these family trees.

Blogger - or my computer - is still not letting me "reply" to your comments, for some unknown reason. If I don't reply to your Comment, please know that I'm totally thrilled you came to read my post and commented!  You truly make my day!!