Killers of the King

I just finished an interesting book called Killers of the King by Charles Spencer. It follows the history of the men who were directly involved in the execution of Charles I and what happened to them afterward. (Spoiler alert: they were mostly killed in horrible ways. To quote the immortal Omar Little, "You come at the king, you best not miss.") 

The book is interesting in its own right but I kept thinking about the relationship this history had to our own genealogy. A large chunk of our ancestors -- the Kinney line but also some on the Manary side -- came to New England through the Great Puritan Migration. That migration took place in the context of the English Civil War, the Protectorate, and the Restoration. After the Restoration, some of the regicides fled to the Massachusetts colonies where they were protected by the authorities and population alike. The colonists were mostly not big fans of the Stuarts. 

Wikipedia has a list of all the regicides here. They were all major supporters of Parliament in the Civil War and many of them were Puritans, so I ran the names through Wikitree to see if we're related to any of them. Not surprisingly, we are, although mostly not in the ways I had expected. Many of our colonial ancestors were 2nd-5th cousins of these men, but in most cases it was our ancestors in colonial Virginia, not Massachusetts. My guess is that is because our colonial Virginian ancestors (the Hancock line, essentially) was more "aristocratic" and the leaders of the Parliamentarians were still fairly aristocratic/wealthy, despite their opposition to the king. By marriage, however, we're more likely to be related to these men through our Kinney or Manary connections, since their family members often ended up moving to the Massachusetts Puritan colonies.

We're distantly related to many of the regicides, but here are a few who have closer ties:

General Edmund Ludlow was my 12th great-uncle and one of Cromwell's great supporters. Cromwell named him military commander in Ireland until he objected when Cromwell declared himself Lord Protector. Ludlow was a member of the jury that convicted Charles I and he signed the death warrant. His brother Gabriel's grandchildren moved to Virginia and became our ancestors. Ludlow fled England after the restoration and lived the rest of his life in Switzerland. He was the only regicide who is known to have survived long enough to see the downfall of the Stuarts. He kept chronicles and letters and so his work is one of the main sources cited in the Killers of the King. He's the only regicide with anything like a direct relationship to us. Sara Ludlow Carter, my 10th great-grandmother, who moved with her brothers to the Virginia colony sometime around 1660, was the great niece of Edmund Ludlow. Her descendants married into the Hancock family.

Edmund Ludlow

Colonel Adrian Scrope is a 2nd cousin many times removed, again through our relationship to Edmund Ludlow, who was his uncle (or maybe great uncle?). Cromwell appointed Scrope head of security during the trial of Charles I, and he signed the death warrant. He was hanged, drawn, and quartered at Charing Cross in 1660. Parliament had originally just fined him for his role in the trial, but was executed after Richard Browne, Mayor of London, testified that he had confessed that he was unrepentant. Browne, incidentally, was a distant relative of ours by marriage. We're related to his uncle's wife. 

Adrian Scrope

Adrian Scrope in more difficult times (he's being disembowled in the lower picture)

Edward Wallop, another signatory, was found guilty but sentenced to life in prison and to a trip by sledge to the gallows at Tyburn. The sledge ride was the foreplay to execution at that time period, but Wallop was merely dragged through the city on the sledge and shown the gallows before being returned to prison. He was also some kind of 2nd or 3rd cousin of Edmund Ludlow, and therefore of ours, but it doesn't seem worth figuring out the details since he's even farther from us than Adrian Scrope. Spencer quotes a Dutch visitor's letter about January 27, 1662, "We walked with thousands of people to Tyburn and saw there Lord Monson, Sir Henry Mildmay and Mr. Wallop lying in their tabards on a little straw on a hurdle being dragged through under the gallows, where some articles were read to them and then torn up. After that they were again dragged through the streets back to the Tower." (p. 245)

My husband and children are first cousins (many times removed) of the wife of Colonel John Dixwell. Dixwell escaped by claiming to be unwell and asking Parliament for an extension before he handed himself into the court. He was granted the extension but he used it to liquidate some assets and flee to Europe. He was mistakenly reported as dead to the Royalists so he moved again to the Americas and managed to live a long and happy life in Connecticut under the assumed named of James Davids. Joe and the kids to are related to Dixwell through his third wife Bathsheba Howe.

They are also direct descendants of Augustine Garland's brother in law, William Newbold. Augustine Garland was a lawyer and the first committee chairman for Charles I's trial. Surprisingly, he was granted life in prison, perhaps because he pleaded he had no real choice. In his own trial he told the judge, "My Lord, I did not know which way to be safe in any thing, without doors was misery, within doors was mischief" (Spencer p.244). He forfeited his estate and was transported to a prison in Tangiers where he died.

We're not really related to the Big Cheese, Oliver Cromwell, but we do have connections through marriage. The Manary line is descended from Sarah Bucknam Dexter, who lived in the Massachusetts colony in the mid-1700's. Her brother Samuel was married to one of Cromwell's sister's descendants, Deborah Sprague. Through that same connection to Cromwell's sister, Frances, we are related by marriage to two other signatories of the death warrant: her husband Colonel Edward Whalley and their son-in-law, Lieutenant William Goffee. Both had been powerful members of Cromwell's inner circle. Whalley and Goffee fled to Connecticut after the Restoration and lived in hiding for the rest of their lives.

Death warrant of Charles I

Stephen Deane and Elizabeth Ring (again)

Stephen Deane (sometimes Dean) was born around 1605, based on his date of marriage. He arrived in Plymouth in 1621 on the Fortune and was admitted as a freeman before 1633. 

By 1630, he married Elizabeth Ring. We've heard about her before because she married Josias Cooke after she Stephen's death. We're descendants of their son Josiah, too. Stephen and Elizabeth had three children, Elizabeth (born around 1630), Miriam (1632), and Susanna (1634). Elizabeth married William Twining of Eastham. Miriam married John Wing, and Susanna, our ancestor, married Joseph Rogers and, after his death, Stephen Snow.

Stephen Deane was well enough educated to sign his deeds and to own a bible and other books. As noted in the previous post, Elizabeth may also have been literate. Stephen owned a corn mill near Plymouth and bought Godbert Godbertson's house in 1633. He only served on one committee, the one to assess taxes in 1634. 

Stephen died before October 1634. 

Stephen Deane -- Elizabeth Ring
             - Susanna Deane -- Stephen Snow
                 - Bethia Snow -- John Smith
                     - Mercy Smith -- Nathan Kinney
                         - Nathan Kinney -- Sarah Nickerson
                             - Thomas Kinney -- Lydia Bartlett
                                  - Simeon Kinney -- Olive Doane
                                      - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                          - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock

References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Josias Cooke and Elizabeth Ring Dean

Josias Cooke was born around 1610, based on the age stated in his will. He arrived in Plymouth in 1633. He was admitted as a freeman in January 1636/7. He is not related to Francis Cooke, at least not closely.

In September of 1635, Josias married Elizabeth Dean, widow of Stephen Dean (who is also one of our ancestors) and daughter of widow Mary Ring. Her parents may have been William and Mary Ring of Ufford, Suffolk. Elizabeth already had three children with her first husband (we're descended from their youngest child, Susanna). She and Josias had three more: Anna, who married Mark Snow; Bethia, who married Joseph Harding; and Josiah, our other ancestor, who married Deborah Hopkins.

Both Josias and Elizabeth may have been educated. Josias had enough education to serve as town clerk. Both he and his wife had books mentioned in their estates at their times of death.

Josiah was a tavern keeper. He served on a number of juries, surveying and land purchase committees, and as constable of Plymouth in 1640. He moved to Eastham by 1647, when he served as the Eastham deputy to the Plymouth general court, and given a license to sell wine at Nauset (Eastham) in June 1648. He was on the 1643 list of men allowed to bear arms. He must have been well respected, given the number of times he served as deputy, selectman, or notary. He was not above spats, however. In March 1633, he was fined for fighting with Edward Doty (another of our ancestors). Doty, apparently, drew blood. He also involved in a number of petty lawsuits.

He died in Eastham in October 1673. Elizabeth outlived him. She died in Eastham in May 1687. At his death, his estate was worth 104 pounds, 17s, not including the real estate.

Josias Cooke -- Elizabeth Ring
- Josiah Cooke -- Deborah Hopkins
  - Deborah Cooke -- Moses Godfrey
     - Moses Godfrey -- Martha Collins
        - Joseph Godfrey -- Mehitable Hamilton
           - Sarah Godfrey -- Isaac Kenney
              - Mehitable Kenney -- Israel Doane
                 - Olive Doane -- Simeon Kinney
                    - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Elizabeth Houghton
                       - Julia Kinney -- Ernest Hancock

References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Francis Cooke and Hester Mahieu

Francis Cooke was born around 1583. He moved to Leiden before 1603, where he met and married Hester Mahieu. They had seven known children, six of whom survived to adulthood.

Francis and Hester were members of the Puritan congregation in Leiden, although they were not part of the original congregation that left England together. Hester was a French Walloon, and upon marriage Francis joined the Walloon church in Norwich and then Leiden. Either Francis or Hester probably had some level of education because upon Francis's death his estate included one Bible and four older books.

Francis came to Plymouth aboard the Mayflower with his eldest son John, who would have been around 13 at the time.  (I will note that Anderson gives John Cooke his own chapter, even though he was still a child in his father's household at the time of his arrival. No such courtesy was afforded to the Carpenter sisters or Mary Chilton, of course). Hester and their three other children, including our ancestor Jacob Cooke, arrived on the Anne in 1623. Jacob was the second son, born around 1618. He would have been a toddler at the time of the voyage. Later, he married Damaris Hopkins, the daughter of Stephen Hopkins, another Mayflower passenger.

Francis was listed as a freemen before 1633. Like most respectable men of the Massachusetts colony, Francis fulfilled a variety of offices, including committees for laying out land and highways. He was listed among the men able to bear arms in 1643. He died in Plymouth in April 1663, and his estate was valued at over 86 pounds. After his death, there were a number of court cases relating to the distribution of his land between his children.

Francis Cooke -- Hester Mahieu
  - Jacob Cooke -- Elizabeth Lettice
     - Sarah Cooke -- Robert Bartlett
        - Lemuel Bartlett -- Mary Doty
           - Lemuel Bartlett -- Hannah Tinkham
              - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                 - Simeon Kinney -- Olive Doane
                    - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Elizabeth Houghton
                       - Julia Kinney -- Ernest Hancock



References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Henry Cobb and Patience Hurst

Henry Cobb and his first wife, Patience Hurst, daughter of James Hurst, arrived in Plymouth in 1632. Perhaps it's better to say that both Henry and Patience were in Plymouth and married by that date. It's not clear from the documentation whether they married in Massachusetts colony or before arrival. Patience's father was also an early immigrant to the region (but I haven't reached the H book, yet, so I don't know how early).

Henry was born around 1607, based on his year of marriage. His background is unknown. He and Patricia had seven known children. We're the descendants of their eldest son, John.

Henry was a tavernkeeper. Although the family started in Plymouth, they had moved to Scituate by 1634 and to Barnstable by 1639. Most of our Kinney ancestry comes from the Barnstable area, which is out on the arm of Cape Cod. Interestingly, when the Cobbs left Scituate, they sold their lot and house to Manasseh Kempton, another of our ancestors, the husband of Juliann Carpenter.

Both Henry and Patience were members of the church. Henry was ordained a ruling elder in Barnstable in April 1670. He was a freeman before 1633. Henry had at least some education. He was able to sign his own name, as seen on some surviving documentation. His estate included 24s of books. Henry served a number of offices, including deputy and excise collector for Barnstable, and on a number of juries. While a Barnstable deputy, he was fined for "defect in appearance". He was also one of the men authorized to bear arms in 1643.

After Patricia's death, Henry married Sarah Hinckley in December 1649. They had seven children. Henry died sometime between February of 1678 and June of 1679. Patience was buried in Barnstable in May 1648. At his death, Elder Cobb's estate was valued at 80 pounds, including his house and land.

Henry Cobb -- Patience Hurst
  - John Cobb -- Martha Nelson
     - Ebenezer Cobb -- Mercy Holmes
        - Hannah Cobb -- Jacob Tinkham
           - Jacob Tinkham -- Lydia Dunham
              - Hannah Tinkham -- Lemuel Bartlett
                 - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                    - Simeon Kinney -- Olive Doane
                       - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Elizabeth Houghton
                          - Julia Kinney -- Ernest Hancock



References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Juliann Carpenter and Manasseh Kempton

Here's a real treat: one of the only women to be given her own entry in Anderson's The Great Migration Begins. Sort of.

There's a whole other blog post to be written about the way Anderson organizes his volume by the male head of household, with women as the afterthought, tucked away in the "married" section. Even when women came to the Massachusetts Colony as single, independent people, they don't all get their own entry. Take Juliann. She and her three other sisters are hidden away under their youngest sister Priscilla's entry. It's not clear why the other sisters don't get their own independent entries, since all but one was in Plymouth before 1633. The last of the five sisters may also have been there, I just don't have the documentation to know at this point. They're probably discussed in more detail under their husbands' entries.

Anyway, here's the story of five sisters: Juliann, Agnes, Alice, Mary, and Priscilla, all daughters of Alexander Carpenter, who probably arrived as single women at Plymouth, or perhaps married men who then came to Plymouth, or both. 

Alexander Carpenter was from Wrington, Somersetshire. His five daughters were born between 1583 and 1598, although all dates are conjectural. He moved his family to Leiden by 1611, along with many of the other Puritans. Alexander never came to Massachusetts, but his daughters did. William Bradford wrote a letter to Mary Carpenter of Wrington, who was his wife Alice's sister, in August of 1644 or 1646 noting that the Carpenter sisters' mother had recently died and invited Mary to join them in Plymouth. Although Anderson doesn't lay it out in detail, I assume this means a) the Carpenter sisters were close kin to Alice Carpenter Bradford; b) the Carpenter sisters' mother, who is unnamed at least in Anderson's book, had also come to Massachusetts. Anderson notes that all of the sisters seem to have married a little later than was the norm for women of the time. This seems consistent (to me, at least) with their independence in coming to the colony on their own.

Juliann, our ancestor, was probably the eldest sister. She married George Morton. After she was widowed, she married Manasseh Kempton before May 1627. We are descended from their daughter, Patience Kempton. The second sister, Agnes, married Samuel Fuller. Alice married Edward Southworth and after his death William Bradford (yes, the one whose wife was her kin). Mary never married but lived until 1687 (Go girl!). Priscilla married William Wright and then John Cooper.

Is this a good time to point out how ridiculously inbred the Puritans were? By 1633, the English population of the Massachusetts Colony was still pretty small. Plus, they'd followed a type of chain migration, bringing their brothers and sisters, cousins, and in-laws to the colony once they'd settled in, narrowing their matrimonial choices even further. It's no surprise that we are descended from so many people who are listed in Anderson's book. If you have any ancestry from the early Great Migration period, you most likely are related to a significant percentage of the very small, very endogamous community that perched on the edge of Wampanoag territory.

Juliann Carpenter -- Manasseh Kempton
             - Patience Morton -- 
                 - Thomas Faunce -- 
                     - Martha Faunce -- 
                         - Mary Doty -- 
                             - Lemuel Bartlett -- 
                                  - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                                      - Simeon Bartlett Kinney -- Olive Doane Kinney 

                                          - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                              - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock




References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Peter and Martha Brown (or Browne)

Here's another in my series of ancestors who are documented in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins.  Peter Brown is one of our Mayflower ancestors. He was born around 1600, based on his date of marriage. His wife, Martha, arrived on the Fortune in 1621. Her first husband, William Ford, died on the voyage. Martha arrived with their two children and gave birth to another child almost immediately upon landing. By 1626, she married Peter. She died in 1630 or 1631, after bearing him two daughters, Mary and Priscilla. Peter quickly remarried, to a woman named Mary (last name unknown), but he did not live much longer. He died sometime before October 10, 1633, when his estate was inventoried.

Peter was listed as a freeman by 1633. It's not clear if he was educated. The only book in his estate was a bible. His estate was worth over 100 pounds, but was complicated by the fact that his household included his own children from two different wives and his his wives each had children from a previous marriage. Our ancestor, Peter's daughter Mary, was placed upon her father's death in the household of John Doane, of Plymouth. She would have been around seven years old. John Doane is also one of our ancestors, as Mary's descendants eventually intermarried with his.

Peter had a brother, John, who also came to Massachusetts by 1632 and lived in Duxbury.


Peter Browne -- Martha (unknown) Ford
             - Mary Browne -- Ephraim Trinkham
                 - Helkiah Tinkham -- Ruth Cooke
                     - Jacob Tinkham -- Hannah Cobb
                         - Jacob Tinkham -- Lydia Dunham
                             - Hannah Tinkham -- Lemuel Bartlett
                                  - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                                      - Simeon Kinney -- Olive Doane  
                                          - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton
                                              - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock



References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

William and Mary Brewster

A page from the Brewster family Bible. http://mayflowerhistory.com/brewster-william/

William and Mary Brewster were founding members of the separatist congregation at the heart of the Mayflower voyage. They were in Scrooby until 1608, when they fled with other members of the congregation to Leiden, where William became an elder, teacher, and printer. They were a leading family among those who undertook that first voyage to Plymouth.

William was born around 1566, probably in Scrooby, Nottinghamshire. His father's name was also William Brewster. Mary's maiden name is unknown. They were married by 1593.

William was well educated. He entered Peterhouse, Cambridge, in 1580, although he did not graduate. At the time of his death, an inventory of his estate found nearly 400 books, in English and in Latin, worth 42 pounds.

The Massachusetts colony did not have a formal minister, so William took on many of those duties, including preaching. He continued to do so after the family moved to Duxbury, after Mary's death on April 17, 1627. William died in Duxbury, April 10, 1644. They had six children, one of whom died in infancy. The surviving children were: Jonathan (born in 1593, clearly named before his parents converted), Patience, Fear, Love, and Wrestling. We are descended from his daughter Patience.

William Brewster -- Mary (unknown)
  - Patience Brewster -- Thomas Prence
                 - Mercy Prence -- John Freeman
                     - Edmund Freeman -- Sara Mayo
                         - Ruth Freeman -- Israel Doane
                             - Edmund Doane -- Elizabeth Osborn
                              - Israel Doane -- Desire Nickerson
                                    - Israel Doane -- Mehitable Kinney 
                                        - Olive Doane Kinney -- Simeon Kinney
                                            - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                                - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock




References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

William and Elizabeth Bassett

The Reverend James Keith Parsonage, built in Bridgewater, MA in 1662. It would have been a substantial part of the town where William (and possibly Elizabeth) Bassett lived. Photograph by John Phelan, wikicommons.

I'm continuing my series of ancestors who are documented in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins. 

There was more than one William Bassett in the Massachusetts colony during the Great Migration. This particular William Bassett was probably born around 1600, based on his marriage age. He and his first wife, Elizabeth, came to the colony in 1621 on the Fortune. While they originally lived in Plymouth, they moved to Duxbury by 1637 and Bridgewater by 1656. William was a blacksmith and a freeman before 1632/3. He must have been educator for his estate included more than twenty books, mostly about theology. 

William served in a number of committees and offices, including on juries and as a constable for Duxbury. He was listed as one of the men allowed to bear arms in 1643. He had an estate of at least 100 acres, and the final inventory of his estate valued more than 123 pounds without the land. More than 9 pounds of that was books, and a substantial amount more were his blacksmiths tools. 

Like, apparently, all inhabitants of the Massachusetts colony, William had occasional run-ins with the law. In his case, he was fined in 1648 for "not mending of guns in seasonable time" and in 1653 for "neglecting to publish and make known an order directed to him from the council of war, prohibiting provisions for being transported out of the colony."

It is unclear when Elizabeth died. She is not mentioned in any documentation after 1627, but William did not remarry until after 1651. Sometime between 1651 and December 12, 1664, he married Mary Tilden Lapham, daughter of Nathaniel Tilden and widow of Thomas Lapham. They did not have children.

William gave an oral will on April 3, 1667, and presumably died soon after.

We are descendants of William and Elizabeth's second son, Nathaniel, born around 1630. He married Dorcas Joyce, the daughter of John Joyce. 

            - William Bassett -- Elizabeth (unknown)
                 - Nathaniel Bassett -- Dorcas Joyce
                     - Hannah Bassett -- Joseph Covell
                         - Sarah Covell -- William Nickerson
                             - Mercy Nickerson -- Heman Kenney
                                  - Isaac Kenney -- Sarah Godfrey
                                      - Mehitable Kenney -- Israel Doane
                                          - Olive Doane -- Simeon Bartlett Kinney
                                             - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                                 - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock


References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Robert Bartlett and Mary Warren Bartlett

Continuing my series on ancestors who can be found in Anderson's The Great Migration Begins (1995).

Robert Bartlett arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony, in 1623 on the Anne. He was a wine cooper, a freeman by 1632/3, and probably illiterate, since he signed all deeds with a mark. His origins are unknown, but it is estimated he was born in 1604, based on his date of marriage.

Highlights of his career in Plymouth include being summoned before the court on May 1, 1660, and convicted of "speaking contemptuously of singing of psalms". He also served on various committees, particularly those related to laying out or surveying highways and land. He was on the list of men in Plymouth who were permitted to bear arms in 1643. 

Before 1629, he married Mary Warren, the daughter of his neighbors Richard and Elizabeth Warren. Robert, Mrs. Elizabeth Warren (the mother-in-law) and his brother-in-law Thomas Little appear frequently in documentation pertaining to land and crops in and around Plymouth. He seems to have owned quite a bit of land. He received one acre upon arrival (as did all of Anne's passengers), but subsequent documents mention at least 100 acres of land.

Robert and Mary had eight known children: Benjamin, Rebecca, Mary, Sarah, Joseph, Elizabeth, Lydia, and Mercy. We are descendants of the second son, Joseph, who was born around 1639 and married Hannah Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope.

Robert gave a spoken will on September 19, 1676. In October, the inventory of his estate totaled 170 pounds, 16s, 6d, including 100 pounds in real estate, 2 houses and a barn.

Robert Bartlett -- Mary Warren
     - Joseph Bartlett -- Hannah Pope
          -Robert Bartlett -- Sarah Cooke
               - Lemuel Bartlett -- Mary Doty
                    - Lemuel Bartlett -- Hannah Tinkham
                         - Lydia Bartlett -- Thomas Kinney
                              - Simeon Bartlett Kinney -- Olive Doane
                                   - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Elizabeth Houghton
                                        - Julia Kinney -- Ernest Hancock


References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Edward and Rebecca Bangs, times two

I'm continuing my series of ancestors who are documented in Robert Charles Anderson's The Great Migration Begins. The history of Edward and Rebecca Bangs is much less salacious than that of Stephen Bachiler, but they are part of the reason that we are descended from basically everyone who lived on the outer arm of Cape Cod in the 17th and 18th centuries.

Edward Bangs was born in England sometime around 1591. He arrived in Massachusetts in 1623 on the Anne. He would have been about 32 years old. He initially lived in Plymouth where he was given four acres of land, which suggests his household consisted of four people. If the other three people were a wife and children, they must have died fairly early. By 1633, he married Lydia Hicks, who had also come to Massachusetts on the Anne. She was baptized at St. Mary Magdalen in Bermondsey, Surrey, September 6, 1612, so she would have been 21 or younger at the time of their marriage. The couple had one son, John, who was born sometime between 1631 and 1634. Lydia died soon after. By 1635, Edward re-married to Rebecca (her last name is uncertain) and they had nine children together. Rebecca may have been the daughter of Edmund Hobart, but there's no proof.

The Nauset Lighthouse in Eastham, Massachusetts, which is
only 300 years too young for Edward Bangs to have ever
seen it.

Edward and Rebecca Bangs moved to Eastham by 1645. Eastham is on the outer arm of Cape Cod. They owned land
around an area called "Warren's Wells". I have no idea where that would be. Edward was an innkeeper at least part of the time. At other times he is referred to as a "yeoman". In 1657 he was granted permission to sell wine and "strong waters" in Eastham, but only "for the refreshment of the English, and not to be sold to the Indians." In 1664, there is a record of him importing six gallons of liquor for his establishment.

Innkeeper Bangs was clearly an engaged citizens. He held a number of offices, including deputy to Plymouth Court for Eastham, serving on juries, and serving  many committees, including committees to divide land, assess taxes, and reunite Plymouth and Duxbury. He must have been known for his integrity or at least his willingness to serve.

It's not certain when Rebecca died, but she died before Edward because she is not mentioned in his will. Edward Bangs died between October 19, 1677, when he wrote his will, and March 5, 1677/8, the probate date. He was buried in the Eastham Cove Burial Ground, along with a large number of distant relatives.

We're related to Edward and Rebecca Bangs through two of their children. First, we're related through their eldest surviving son, Jonathan, not be be confused with John, who was the son of Edward's first wife, Lydia.

Edward Bangs -- Rebecca (unknown) Bangs
             - Jonathan Bangs -- Mary Mayo Bangs
                 - Mary Bangs Nickerson -- Thomas Nickerson
                     - Thomas Nickerson -- Lydia Covell Nickerson
                         - Desire Nickerson -- Elisha Nickerson
                             - Sarah Nickerson Kinney -- Nathan Kinney III
                                  - Thomas Kinney -- Lydia Bartlett
                                      - Simeon Kinney -- Olive Doane Kinney
                                          - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                              - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock


We're also related through Edward and Rebecca's daughter, Hannah Bangs Doane.

Edward Bangs -- Rebecca (unknown) Bangs
             - Hannah Bangs Doane -- John Doane Jr.
                 - Hannah Doane Collins -- John Collins
                     - Martha Collins Godfrey -- Moses Godfrey
                         - Joseph Godfrey -- Mehitable Hamilton Godfrey
                             - Sarah Godfrey Kinney -- Isaac Kinney
                                  - Mehitable Kinney Doane -- Israel Doane
                                      - Olive Doane Kinney -- Simeon Kinney
                                          - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                              - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock



References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Reverend Stephen Bachiler, a most notable crank

Bachiler coat of arms

Stephen Bachiler is my 13th great-grandfather. He led quite an interesting life.

He was born around 1560 in England and received a B.A. from St. John's college in Oxford in 1585/6. He was married four times, to progressively younger women, but Deborah was a daughter from his first wife, whose name might have been Anne, and who may have been the sister of Reverend John Bate. They were married by 1590 and she died before 1624.

Reverend Bachiler was frequently in trouble. Scandal and discord followed in his wake. He became the vicar of Wherwell, Hampshire, in 1587. He had puritanical leanings (in the theological sense) and was a notable nonconformist. In 1593 the Star Chamber cited him for making "lewd speeches tending seditiously" about Queen Elizabeth and her government. He was removed from his vicarage during a purge of Puritans in 1605, under James I. In 1614, he was once again before the Star Chamber when Reverend George Wighley accused him, his son Stephen, John Bate (who may have been his brother-in-law and/or cousin), of libeling and ridiculing him in verse. In the 1620s, the Bachilers moved to Newton Stacey a village in Hampshire. Somehow he incited his parishioners to act against the sheriff of the parish, who had to petition for aid to the King in Council.

Reverend Bachiler clearly knew other Puritans. Some of his children moved to the Netherlands, presumably to be part of the Puritan community there. In 1621, Adam Winthrop, father of Governor John Winthrop, made note in his journal of dining with Bachiler. Bachiler would have been well aware of the Puritan colony in Massachusetts.  In the 1630s he joined a group of London merchants to form the Plough Company, which sent two shiploads of settlers to New England.

Stephen Bachiler himself arrived in New England in 1632, aboard the William and Francis, the second of the Plough Company's ships. He was already at least 70 years old. His first wife, Anne, was already dead, and he had married twice more. It's not clear who came with him on this voyage, but his youngest daughter with Anne, Theodate Bachiler Hussey, was already in New England with her husband. Reverend Bachiler first settled at Lynn with her and tried to form a new church. However, there was constant unrest within the congregation. Furthermore, he didn't get along any better with the authorities in New England than he had in England. He is believed to have been the only dissenting vote among the ministers against the expulsion of Roger Williams, the founder of Providence. For these reasons, presumably, Bachiler was pushed out of his position as minister in Lynn by 1636.

He may have moved from Lynn to Ipswitch, but in 1637 he moved to Yarmouth. Rather, apparently, he walked there. In winter. Considering he was about 77 at the time, that's pretty impressive. He didn't stay in Yarmouth long. The next year he left for Newbury. Again, he did  not stay long and moved on to Hampton in 1639. Governor Winthrop noted that "Mr. Batchellor had been in three places before, and through his means, as was supposed, the churches fell to such divisions, as no peace could be till he was removed."

This is the Hussey-Bachiler chair. It is in the Met.
Reverend Bachiler once sat here.

In 1641, Bachiler was pushed out of Hampton when he "did solicit the chastity of his neighbor's
wife." The subsequent scandal kept him from finding employment in other parishes. He moved to Strawberry Bank, which is now Portsmouth. While living there, in 1648, he married Mary Magdalene Bailey, who was some 60 years his junior. Unsurprisingly, the marriage between the 26 year old widow and the 88 year old minister was...rocky. In 1650 they were brought to the Quarterly Court because, essentially, Mary was living with another man. In 1651, when Mary got pregnant despite being estranged from her husband, George Rogers was sentenced to 40 strokes for adultery. His partner, Mary,  "for her adultery shall receive 40 strokes save one at the first town meeting held at Kittery six weeks after the delivery and be branded with the letter A." Some scholars believe Mary Bachiler was the inspiration for Nathaniel Hawthorn's novel, The Scarlet Letter.

Reverend Bachiler returned to England, probably in 1651. He died and was buried in London on October 31, 1656. He was around 96 years of age.

Because some of his children stayed in New England, he counts a number of famous Americans among his descendants. These include Richard Nixon, Jennie Jerome (Winston Churchill's mother), Gerald Ford, H.H. Dow (founder of Dow Chemical), Meghan Markle (soon to marry into the British royal family), Daniel Webster, and John Whittier.

Our relationship to Reverend Bachiler (down to my great-great grandmother):
Stephen Bachiler -- Anne
     - Deborah Bachiler Wing -- John Wing
         - Daniel Wing -- Hannah Swift Wing
             - Lydia Wing Abbot Hamilton -- Thomas? Hamilton
                 - Daniel Hamilton -- Mary Smith
                     - Samuel Hamilton -- Bethia Stewart Hamilton
                         - Mehitable Hamilton Godfrey -- Joseph Godfrey
                             - Sarah Godfrey Kinney -- Isaac Kinney
                                  - Mehitable Kinney Doane -- Israel Doane
                                      - Olive Doane Kinney -- Simeon Kinney
                                          - Thomas Kinney -- Mary Houghton Kinney
                                              - Julia Kinney Hancock -- Ernest Hancock

References:

Anderson, Robert Charles 1995 The Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to New England 1620-1633. New England Historic Genealogical Society.

Stephen Bachiler on Wikipedia

Samuel Osborn, the Rebel Reverend, and the Cape Cod Calvinist Kerfuffle of 1717-1738

Gratuitously beautiful Cape Cod sunset

In my last post, I mentioned my interest in the Kinney line. Although my great-great-grandmother, Julia Kinney, was born in Nova Scotia, her family was originally from Massachusetts. While filling out some details of her ancestry, I came across the story of Samuel Osborn, the Rebel Reverend.

Let's be clear: by the strict standards of Puritan New England, it didn't take much to be a rebel. Still, my eighth great-grandfather was at the heart of a 20-year rumpus that I'll call the Cape Cod Calvinist Kerfuffle. The following description of his life comes most from the The Doane Family, written in 1902 by A.A. Doane, and based on the information given by Israel Doane, Samuel's grandson (and my sixth great-grandfather)(1). However, there are a number of other sources on his life, including a pamphlet he wrote stating his own side in the CCC Kerfuffle (2).

Samuel Osborn was born around 1685 in Scotland, although his parents were from Ireland. He was educated in Glasgow, then received an advanced degree from the University of Dublin. He arrived in Boston in 1707 with letters of recommendation from well-established church men in County Down. We don't know what he did to make a living those first few years, but we do know that he courted a young woman by the name of Mercy Norton on Martha's Vineyard because sometime in 1710 or 1711, she had a son she named Samuel Osborn Jr.

Despite modern usage of the word "puritanical", the Puritans were not opposed to sex, even premarital sex. In fact, premarital pregnancy was rather common (as many as 40% of women were pregnant or had children before marriage), and this may have been encouraged as a way of ensuring that a couple was both compatible and fertile. The assumption, though, was that the couple would marry before (or shortly after) the baby was born. Samuel Osborn did not marry Mercy Norton, however, claiming that she had been 'loose' in her behavior and that he had no reason to believe the child was his. It's worth pointing out, however, that a) most illegitimate children were not named after their fathers, if their fathers refused to admit paternity; b) Samuel Osborn was known to have spent time with the boy, because, he claimed, it was a normal, neighborly, totally not-awkward thing to do; and c) there is some evidence that Samuel Jr. came to live with Samuel Sr. and his family when his mother married.

So, yeah, totally not his son.

The Hoxie House, Sandwich, MA
home of Reverend John Smith

On January 1, 1710, presumably (possibly?) after he and Mercy had parted ways, Samuel Osborn married Jedidah Smith, my eighth great-grandmother. Samuel's choice of wife may have been an early sign of his 'radical' religious leanings. Her paternal grandfather, Reverend John Smith, was the minister of Sandwich, Massachusetts, one of the more liberal communities in the region. After attending Quaker meetings and listening to their community concerns, he lobbied for the repeal of colonial laws that prescribed the practice of their religion. The Hoxie House, one of the oldest surviving Cape Cod homes and now a museum, was his residence.

Jedidah's maternal great-grandfather, Reverend Thomas Mayhew, was the leader of the European settlement on Martha's Vineyard. He required all members of the settlement to buy their land properly from the Wampanoag who owned the land, he learned the Wampanoag language, and he set up a school teaching Native youth Greek and Latin. Because the relationship between the Wampanoag and the Martha's Vineyard European settlement was so good, it was one of the few peaceful places in New England during King Phillip's War. Relative to his contemporaries, Thomas Mayhew was practically a saint. In other words, he acted like a decent human being. (Granted, he tried to set himself up as a hereditary aristocrat but, hey, nobody's perfect. Perhaps in restitution, his great-great-grandson coined the phrase "No taxation without representation.")

Governor Thomas Mayhew of Martha's Vineyard

In marrying Jedidah Smith, then, Samuel Osborn was allying himself with a family that had a reputation for tolerance and mercy, admittedly only in comparison to the rather low standards of Puritan New England. The young couple began their life modestly. Samuel was a schoolmaster at Edgartown (near Sandwich) in 1712, in Harwich in 1713, and in Plymouth by 1715 or 1716. In 1717, he was called to serve as minister in the church at Eastham (Orleans), and so began the Cape Cod Calvinist Kerfuffle.

At heart of the Kerfuffle was the personal animosity of Reverend Nathaniel Stone, minister of Harwich (Brewster) since 1700 (3). Stone was not a well-liked man, described by contemporaries as arrogant, self-aggrandizing, and a toady. He was also not above attacking others for his own gain. Let's just say that Cotton Mather -- he of Salem witch trial fame -- described Stone as too quick to stir up trouble, and leave it at that.

Reverend Stone's congregation of Harwich was the nearest neighbor to that of Eastham, and although he had no authority there, he still objected to their new minister. The objections he gave were theological and moral, as well as national -- Irishmen were not well-respected in that time and place -- but one wonders what the personal relationship was between the men. Samuel Osborn had been schoolmaster in Harwich four years earlier, and his wife, Jedidah, was the first cousin once removed of Reverend Stone's wife, Reliance Hinkley.

Reverend Stone arranged for a letter protesting Samuel Osborn's ordination as minister, signed by three men and thirteen women (including Hannah Hobart Doane), and delivered by Hannah Doane's husband, John. (Note: John Doane was my first cousin, many times removed.). Osborn attacked the letter, particularly the implication that women should have any say in the running of the church. With his deacons, John Paine and Joseph Doane, he convinced all but one signer to withdraw their objection. The last, obstinate holdout was Hannah Doane, who having reached the age of fifty and loosing her son at sea, had no f-$!s left to give. She never did back down in her fight against Osborn and was eventually excommunicated for her "ungodly carriage" (i.e. unwillingness to shut up while possessing two X-chromosomes).

Quick genealogical/inbreeding note: Samuel Osborne's deacon, John Paine, was likely a relative of

Honest to goodness gold from an honest to goodness pirate
treasure chest, recovered from the excavations of the Whydah

some sort, since Paine was his mother-in-law's maiden name. His other deacon, Joseph Doane, the cousin of John Doane, was my 8th great-grand-uncle. The Cape Cod Calvinist Kerfuffle was no big deal to Joseph, who was known at the time for capturing nine pirates from the Whydah, the flagship of Captain "Black Sam" Bellamy. The Whydah was rediscovered and excavated in 1984. Both excavations and artifacts can be visited at the Whydah museum in Provincetown, Massachusetts, as can the original jail in Barnstable, where Joseph delivered the pirates.

By the end of 1718, it appeared that the Cape Cod Calvinist Kerfuffle was at an end. Reverend Osborn was permanently fixed in Eastham, and Reverend Stone was chewing his liver in nearby Harwich. But for people who raised their own food, built their own houses, created all their own household items, and bore about ten children each, they had a shocking amount of free time on their hands to snipe at each other. The two congregations spent 20 years competing for members and fighting over theological niceties, before Reverend Osborn was finally ousted by the local "squire" Nathaniel Freeman (yeah, I'm related to him, too, as first cousin ten times removed) and Deacon Joseph Doane, who had switched sides. Maybe he got bored by the lack of pirates in his life and wanted to stir the pot a little.

Samuel Osborn was removed on suspicion of Arminianism, which all Good Calvinists (like the Puritans) considered heretical. I'm not the best person to explain the theological difference here because a) I'm Catholic and I don't understand how any congregationalist religion can accuse someone of heresy when there's no structure to determine what is orthodoxy; and b) I don't care that much. But, basically, as I understand it: Good Calvinists believed in predetermination. In other words, people like Reverend Stone would go to heaven because that was God's will. Whomever God's will turned against was doomed to hell. (You'll be shocked to hear that God's will for individuals bore a strong resemblance to Reverend Stone's personal opinion of them.) Arminianists, on the other hand, allowed some measure of personal responsibility in a person's moral choices. A person could, for instance, reject God's mercy, thereby dooming themselves to hell when they were intended for heaven. That suggested there was no predetermination, which every Good Calvinist knew was a Lie of Satan deserving of Fire and Brimstone.

Samuel Osborn never again ministered to a congregation. He attempted to move to Maine, but Reverend Stone and his allies wrote letters to the congregations there warning of his heretical ideas, and they turned him away. Mercy and tolerance weren't just uncommon in Puritan New England, they were dangerous. Giving up on the ministry entirely, Reverend Osborn opened a school in Boston and taught there until he died in 1774. His reputation was redeemed by later generations, including Henry David Thoreau, who admired his practical, pastoral approach in teaching his parishioners how to dry and store peat for fuel (score one for the Irish!). The last laugh, of course, went to Reverend Osborn when, after Reverend Stone's death, his church became Universalist.


References:

(1) The book is available on-line through Google: https://books.google.com/books?id=qu5EAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA499&lpg=PA499&dq=reverend+samuel+osborn&source=bl&ots=tCxM3hS7TM&sig=3XpRXuMRQQTXmnBYhf3DPqyyd5M&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjG1KrD4q3MAhWos4MKHcj3B2wQ6AEIKDAC#v=onepage&q=reverend%20samuel%20osborn&f=false

(2) A Church of Christ Vindicated, published in Boston in 1724

(3) Most details of this conflict come from: Paine, Gustavus Swift, 1952, Ungodly Carriages on Cape Cod. The New England Quarterly 25: 181-198 http://people.brandeis.edu/~dkew/David/Swift-Cape_carriages-1952.pdf