Genealogical Genesis

Gathering Peas on Sunday

Marcia's great grandfather Aquila Chase began a life of crime assisted by family members way back  in 1646.  Migrated to Hampton NH by 1640, Aquila, his wife Ann Wheeler and her brother David Wheeler drew the rancor of local authorities in Hampton for harvesting peas on a Sunday.  Chase and the family gang haad absconded to Newbury Mass where they cane to justice.  Chase was admonished in court, but the fine was excused.

Aquila Chase appears to be the first man to pilot a vessel past the bar at the mouth of the Merrimack River in what is now Newburyport Mass.  Chase owned lands at Plum Island off the Newburyport coast.

At the left is the plaque dedicated to Aquila Chase found in the Newburyport Mass library.

Ancesters in a Generation

King Edward III Plantagenet, 19th GGF of GRG

The fun of genealogy rests with discovering interesting ancestors, including nobility.  Everyone loves to discover a Duke or an Earl in the family tree.  However, an important question is: just how many ancestors are in your tree?

A great site called 'Number of Ancestors in a Given Tree' looks at the math of genealogy.  The mathematical equation is 2ⁿ = x, where n is the number of generations back and x ia the number of persons in that generation (grandparents).  (Each generation is 20 years).

Therefore, in the first generation, a person has 2 ancestors, called parents; In generation 2, 4 ancestors or grandparents.  Following the equation a person has 8 great grandparents in generation 3 (2³ = 8).

The number increases exponentially quickly.  A person has 256 6th great-grandparents in generation 8, 1024 8th great-grandparents in Gen-10, and 1,048,567 18th great-grandparents in Gen-20.  A person has 2,097,151 cumulative grandparents in Gen-20.  Clearly someone of those million or so great-grandparents is likely 'famous'.

The numbers increase out of control quickly:  over 2 million 19th great-grandparents in Gen 21, over 4 million 20th great-grandparents in Gen 22, and in Gen-25 (750 years) you have over 33 million grandparents.  A person is likely to have some stinkers too by then.  If you started in 1950, that would mean in 1200, roughly 8% of persons living on earth were your great-grandparents (33 million great-GPs/ 400 million population of the earth)

For instance, if you trace back one of our trees (or maybe both) through Joseph Loomis, one can get to Edward III King of England Plantagenet.  That's right the 19th great-grandfather of GRG, some 21 generations back was King Edward the IIIrd.  He and 2,097,151 other 19th great-grandparents.  How is that for name dropping?

 

 

 

 

Eleanor Newton, Pilgrim

One of the original pilgrims on Plymouth was Eleanor Newton Adams Winslow.  She is found in many of the books and papers studying the colony at Plymouth, including The Women of the Mayflower and Plymouth Colony.

Was Eleanor a Newton of our family?  Unlikely unless she was born a Newton in England or married into the family.  Her English background is unclear.

On the Mayflower she is listed a Mrs. Eleanor Newton, indicating she was married, and therefore widowed.  Eleanor's birth is at Clayton le Moors, Lancashire, England, which is on the west coast of England, a distance from Little Ilford, the home of the Newtons. 

Some say her father was Peter Wordon, which makes little sense.  Wordon was also an immigrant to Plymouth.  Furthermore, her birth is then listed as occurring in Plymouth which is inaccurate.

Eleanor, as a widow survived the Anne's journey.  As with all Pilgrims she was given one acre and a cow in Plymouth, the very definition of 1600s hot.  It is recorded she married John Adams, who lived for a couple years in the colony, dying in about 1623.

Eleanor then married Kenelm Winslow, brother to Massachusetts Governor Edward Winslow.  She is buried in the Winslow compound in Marshfield, Plymouth, Mass.

Regardless of her ancestry, what incredible courage did it take for this women to venture across the Atlantic Ocean on her own to a land where over 50% of the settlers did not survive the winter.  Her descendants (which include Presidents Adams, I believe) certainly made their mark on America.

 

Billington Redux

Yesterday we discussed the epic story of the bad boys of the puritans, the Billingtons, John and Eleanor (Ellen or Elinor).  But, wait one minute, Oscar....

First, this author opines that the Billington lads are saddled with an undeservedly bad reputation.

...say much maligned because one author in Mourt’s Relation saw fit to mention them by saying, “The fifth day [of December, 1620] we, through God’s mercy, escaped a great danger by the foolishness of a boy, one of Francis Billington’s sons, who, in his father’s absence, had got gunpowder, and had shot off a piece or two, and made squibs; but there being a fowling-piece charged in his father’s cabin, shot her off in the cabin; there being a little barrel of [gun] powder half full, scattered in and about the cabin, the fire being within four foot of the bed between the decks, and many flints and iron things about the cabin, and many people about the fire; and yet, by God’s mercy, no harm done.”

Boys will be boys; who hasn't set off fireworks to celebrate an event?

Young John Billington, lost in the woods for 5 days, needed native help to find his way home.  However this introduced an entire new cache of friends to Plimouth colony:

Francis’s brother John also gave the Pilgrim leaders some headaches. In July 1621, the 16 year old lost his way in the woods. For five days he wandered aimlessly until he stumbled on the Indian village of Manomet, some 20 miles from Plymouth. He was passed onto the Nausets of Cape Cod, who had attacked the Pilgrims during the first encounter back in December and from whom the Pilgrims had taken corn and disturbed graves. When he heard of the news, Bradford ordered a party of 10 men to go for the boy with Squanto and another Indian as guides. They met with the Nausets in present day Eastham and promised to replenish their corn. More than 100 warriors armed with bows and arrows watched the discussion and John was carried in one of the men's arms, looking none the worse for wear, wearing a string of shell beads around his neck. The Nauset sachem Aspinet was presented with a knife and peace was declared.

Lastly, the entire 'murder' thing might just be trumped up.  Appears that John Newcomen was a 17 year-old neighbor of Billingtons, who liked to poach on the Billington's 4 acre land.  Although warned several times, Newcomen continued to hunt on Billington land.  On the fateful day of the shooting, it is reported John Sr was about to warn Newcomen again, when the teenager hid behind a tree.  Billington may have been firing a warning shot, at precisely the time Newcomen peered around the tree.  Oops, shoulder shot.

Billington quickly summoned assistance and helped the injured man into the village to get medical care. It was a wound but survivable.  It may have been Newcomen’s own carelessness that he caught a cold.  From there a major infection developed and then gangrene. After several days Newcomen died.  Governor William Bradford then had Billington arrested and held on a murder charge.

 

The charge stated that Billington “waylaid” the young man and maliciously shot him in the woods.  Both a grand jury and a petty jury heard the case against Billington. John Billington stated he took aim against Newcomen with regret, yet was found guilty of Newcomen’s murder.

A cartoonist even characterizes the family as above.

The Redux is:  Poor misunderstood Billington family.

The First White Trash in the Americas

With Thanksgiving coming up, attention in some quarters will turn to the Pilgrims, one of the most intensively studied colonial groups in history.  Debate continues about Pilgrims and Puritans holding the first 'American', or New England thanksgiving, when (1621, 1623, 1631) and where (in Plymouth or in Boston).

It is much clearer who was convicted of 'Ameria's first murder':  John Billington of Plymouth.  (although some object to this characterization; see Billington Redux)

BIllington immigrated to Plymouth in 1621, with his family: wife Eleanor, and children John and Francis.  Billington may have been born in in 1580 around Spalding, Lincolnshire, England.  Eleanor (Ellen) may have been a Newton (thus the connection to us), or a Longland.  A Francis Longland from Lincolnshire named two heirs:  Francis Billington and Francis Newton (the thinking that Elleanor was a Newton who married Billington; she could have been a Longland too).

The Mayflower overcame incredibly horrible conditions to approach land in November 1620, near Cape Cod; John Billington signed the Mayflower Compact that day.  

Upon sighting land, young Francis Billington fired off a musket on the ship, apparently near the powder magazine.  (He also discovered the Billington Sea later).  Although many of Plymouth's women and children died the fist winter, all of the Billingtons survived.

John Billington the younger went missing for several days in the woods, to be brought home by natives from Nauset on Cape Cod. 

Ellinor (Ellen, Elleanor) spend time in stocks, where she was whipped for slandering John Doane.

John Billington the elder caused particular problems.  He was known to be a malcontent on the mayflower.  He was implicated in the Oldham-Lyford Scandal in 1624.  He frequently stirred up trouble for other colonists.

in 1630, Billington was arrested, tried and convicted of the murder of John Newcomen.  Billington's sentence was carried out when he was hung in September 1630.

Wife Eleanor remarried Gregory Armstrong in 1638, she died in March 1642.

http://www.plimoth.org/media/pdf/billington_john.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Billington

http://mayflowerhistory.com/billington-john/

Major Dennis Clapsaddle at the Battle of Oriskany

Speaking of veterans, the story of great uncle (5th, GRG) (Augustinus) Dennis Clapsaddle comes to mind.

Dennis Clapsaddle was born at Mohawk, NY in 1739 (although one source says Germany in 1735/6).  His sister Catherine Clapsaddle is a 5th GGM.  Clapsaddle lived in Tyron County, Mohawk Valley, New York, when the call of the revolution came.  The mostly German and English settlers of upstate New York divided up into Loyalists (to the English crown) and Colonists.  Clapsaddle was appointed as a Major in the colonial militia, answering to General Nicholas Herkimer.

In 1777, Herkimer, with a force of 800 men, and a party of Oneida Indians attempted a relief of Fort Stanwix, a Patriot fort in New York.  Herkimer met British light infantry, Hessians (Hanau Jager) and a detachment of Sir John Johnson King's Royal Regimen; a contingent of Mohawk Indians accompanied the British force along with Indian Department Rangers.

Herkimer was ambushed six miles from Fort Stanwix, near Oriskany  New York.  The Patriots lost 450 casualties while the Loyalists and Mohawks lost 150.  Herkimer was wounded, upon which he refused to be carried off the field of battle (painting right).  General Herkimer died from his wounds, as did Dennis Clapsaddle; The Tories took the field that day.  However, the victory was blunted when a Patriot party from Fort Stanwix counter-attacked later.

The action at Oriskany was part of the broad attack by British General -- Gentleman Johnny -- John Burgoyne, sweeping down the Hudson from Canada.  General Herkimer was the head of (now defunct) Tyron County's Committee of Safety.  His band of poorly trained farmer militia faced Hessian and highly trained British regulars.

This relatively obscure battle was actually one of the more bloody battles of the Revolutionary War.  Tyron County was renamed Herkimer County in honor of the General who died there.  The action was memorialized by Walter D. Edmands in "Drums Along the Hudson", which was made into a movie staring Henry Fonda in 1939.  In honor of the patriots. the aircraft carrier the USS Oriskany was launched in 1945.

Clapsaddle's widowed wife (Barbara Wentz)saved the family when the invading Tories/Mohawk burned her house to the ground; they were described as destitute without shelter, food, and clothing.  However she endured.

Veterans Day

11-Nov-2013 is Veterans Day in the US.  Roots of the US Veterans Day lie with Armistice Day. the ending  of World War I.  (Humorously the PA announcer at the Iowa-Nebraska Omaha basketball game called the day 'Amethyst Day')  My mother (b 1925) referred to the holiday as Armistice Day.  Armistice, the end of the Great War took place in a railroad car at Compiegne, France on the 11th hour, of the 11th day, of the 11th month in a railroad car.

Like any family several members of our family served in the armed forces.  Perhaps the oldest was Capt James Newton (b. 1655).  Captain Newton served with the first company of Colchester CT.  His son Major Israel Newton (1694-1745) served in the French and Indian War.  Israel was a member of the General Assembly of Connecticut, a Selectman of Colchester CT, and Justice of the Peace.  He inherited the leadership of 1st Company of Colchester from his father.

George II declared war on France and Spain in 1744.  As part of the buildup to war, Duquesnel, the French Governor of Louisberg, Cape Breton fortified the town, which was called 'The Gibralter of the America".  From this fortress, the French launched privateers to prey on British shipping.

Newton was appointed Major of the forces from Connecticut to be sent to Cape Breton.  (from the public records of Colchester CT)

March 14, 174 4-5, "This Assembly grants to Israel Newton, Esq., Major of the regiment to be raised for the expedition to Cape Breton, the sum of sixty pounds, old tenour bills, or equivalent in other bills to provide his tent, bedding, table and other necessaries" (P. 95, Vol. IX, Ibid). 500 men were to Voluntarily enlist themselves to proper officers and if each man would "Provide himself with a good fire lock, sword, belt, cartridge box and blanket to the acceptance of the Military officers who shall enlist them" they would receive 10 pounds old tenour bills as a premium and the articles at charge of the Colony to be returned to Colony when they returned. One month's wages were paid before embarkment and after discharge equal share in the plunder. The Colonial sloop Defence, built in Middletown three years before, was equipped as a convoy with the transports to "joyn other forces from neighboring Governments." The Connecticut forces were to be under their own officers and were to be brought back to New London. Of the forces, Connecticut raised 516 men.

Newton serving under Col Andrew Hale was killed at the engagement; he supposedly is buried at Point Rochefort.

List of Family Veterans:

WW2:

2nd Lt Robert Gaffney, Corp of Engineers, Korea and Asia

1st Class Petty Officer William Phelan, aboard the USS San Jacinto (CVL-30) in the Pacific Theater

Civil War:

Wallace, Eber and Butler Newton served with Illinois units at Vicksburg and into Tennessee.  Living in Jo Davies county they were in various cavalry and infantry divisions.  Butler Newton died at the Battle of Chattanooga in 1863.

Issac Chase (Marcia 3rd GGF), Vermont

Philip Gafney, New York (2GGF, GRG)

Revolutionary War:

Asahel Newton (son of Israel; 6th GGF, GG) served with the 3rd Regimen, Connecticut, under Capt Ell, Col Wyllys.

Jehiel Hull (6th GGF, Marcia): Served with Connecticut

Ephriam Wetherbee (5th GGF Marcia); May have served at Bunker Hill and Lexington.

Abel Chase (5th GGF, Marcia): in Capt Harry Haskell's Minutemen; in Col James Prescotts regiment, which marched on April-19-1775.

Jonathon Elliot (6th GGF, Marcia):  in Samuel Baldwin's Company of Mass Militia; under Col Nicolas Dike.  A Minuteman who fought at the Battle of Concord.

Maj Augustinus Dennis Clapsaddle (GRG GUncle) died with General Herkimer at the Battle of Oriskany NY.

French and Indian War:

Lt. Samuel Beebe (6th GGF, GG), Second Regimen, Connecticut, 1760.

Joseph Moyers (Meyers, Myers, 5th GGF GG, father of Catherine Myers) lost a leg in the French and Indian War; he also served on the frontier as a member of the Militia in Herkimer County, New York.  Moyer's wife was Elizabeth Clapsaddle, sister of the war hero Dennis Clapsaddle.  Maj Augustinus Dennis Clapsaddle died with Gen Herkimer at the Battle of Oriskany NY.

Major Israel Newton died 24 MAY 1745 in Flat Point, Louisburg Harbor, Cape Breton, Nova Scotia, during the Seige of Louisberg.