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Knight Archetype
October 3, 2013
— 6 Comments
Chivalry is one of those double edged swords. Knights are loyal and honorable as an ideal; love and honor do not always triumph. The good knight is brave in service to a higher calling or just ruler. The shadow knight is romantically delusional and may serve a corrupt ruler. Self image is all important to the knight, since he needs to be seen as helpful and brave. He may find himself drawn into needless drama to save damsels and others who signal distress. This may become a pattern in life, endlessly saving others.
Today the knight may be spiritually correct, always defending worthy causes. His love of honor and his loyalty to cause or leader can be very confusing in this character. If the leader demands self sacrifice and self neglect, this archetype can feel self righteous about taking this shadowy path. Loyalty to destructive or greedy powers can be the undoing of the modern knight, just as it was in history. Romantic notions of service can be a cover for the absence of chivalry and honor. It is usually easy to spot the knight riding either a black horse or a white one that symbolizes intent. This archetype distinguishes itself from all the characters by being loyal as well as romantic. The knight displays his loyalty above all else, since it is the source of his identity. Do you know any knights in your life?
Humphrey Radcliffe
September 30, 2013
— 2 Comments
Humphrey and Isabella
My 14th great grandfather met his future bride in a very romantic return of her glove on his lance. They married and gave the queen their first born daughter. I find the gifting of the daughter to be a bit bizarre, but that is what they did.
is my 14th great grandfather
son of Humphrey Radcliffe
daughter of Edward Radcliffe
daughter of Lady Eleanor Elizabeth Radcliffe (Whitebread)
son of Elizabeth Whitbread
son of Thomas Spencer
daughter of Thomas Spencer
son of Margaret SPENCER
daughter of Moses Goodwin
daughter of Martha Goodwin
daughter of Grace Raiford
son of Sarah Hirons
son of John Nimrod Taylor
son of John Samuel Taylor
son of William Ellison Taylor
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
In the chancel of the old parish church of Elstow, near Bedford–so famous for its associations with the childhood of John Bunyan*— a monument recording Sir Humphry Radcliffe of that place, and his wife, Dame Isabella Radcliffe. As the name of the latter is not even mentioned in the extinct peerage of fir Bernard Burke, perhaps a short account of a little episode in the history of this worthy pair may not be without interest to my readers. It is hardly needful to say more about the Radcliffes or Ratcliffes–for the word was spelt both ways indifferently when writing was rare and printing was almost unknown–than that they are of undoubted Saxon origin, and that they took their name from the village of Radcliffe, near Bury, in Lancashire. We read that one, Richard de Radcliffe, of Radcliffe Tower, seneschal and minister of the royal forests in the neighborhood of Blackburn, accompanied Edward I. to Scotland, and received from that sovereign, towards the end of his reign, ‘a grant of free warren and free phase in all his demesne lands of Radcliffe.’From him were descended a variety of noble houses–as the Radclyffes, Lords Fitzwalter, and Earls of Sussex; those of Foxdenton, and of Hitchin; and the unfortunate Earls of Derwentwater, who forfeited their Northumbrian castle of Dilston, as well as their lives, in the cause of the ‘young Chevalier,’ and the luckless house of the Stuarts.
One of his descendants, Sir John Radcliffe, was summoned to Parliament by Henry VII., in right of his mother, as Baron Fitzwalter; he was also steward of the Royal Household, and acted jointly with Jasper Tudor, Duke of Bedford, as High Steward of England at the coronation of Henry’s queen, Elizabeth Plantagenet. But afterwards, being involved in the wild conspiracy of Perkin Warbeck, he was attainted, and lost his head on the scaffold at Calais.
His son, however, found so much favor with Henry VIII that he was restored in blood, and, having held the command of the van of the army sent to France under the Earl of Surrey, he was created Viscount Fitzwalter and Earl of Susses. He was a zealous supporter of the king in his quarrel with Wolsey and the Pope, and he found his reward in a life-patent of the office of Lord High Chamberlain, together with a grant of the noble abbey of Cleve, in Somerset, the ruins of which to the present day form one of the most beautiful features of the country near Minehead, and Watchet, and Dunster. He was thrice married, and on each occasion his wife was a noble dame; his first choice being a daughter of Henry Stafford, Duke of Buckingham, his second a Stanley, and his third an Arundell of Lanherne. The earl desired that Humphrey, the youngest son of his first marriage, should marry a wealthy heiress of a county family; but the son took a different view of the matter from that taken by his parents for him. Very naturally and very pardonably he said that he preferred to choose for himself.
King Henry had announced his intention of being present at a tournament in the tilt-yard at Hampton, and great preparations had been made for the occasion. As the king rode along the way from London, the windows and the balconies about Kensington were all hung with colored cloths and silks. Among the crowd of spectators in the balconies was a plain citizen of London, Edmund Harvey, along with his wife and their daughter Isabel. The ladies in the neighboring windows thought the latter nice looking, and even pretty; but no one ‘knew who she could be,’ as the old folks were but commonplace in appearance, and clearly had not been brought up in the regions of courts and cities. The father, as may be imagined, pointed out the nobles as they passed by with their trains and retinues; but Isabel had no ears for her father, and her eyes scanned each new arrival for the face of a youth whom she had met on a chance occasion, and who had professed an attachment to her, in spite of the fact that she was not the daughter of a courtier or a noble.
At length there rode along a body of knights, with their lances borne aloft and their colors flying in the wind; they were headed by the Earl of Sussex, who was attended by his son Humphrey, a fair and well-favored youth, who looked little more than twenty years of age. Isabel, however, had no difficulty in recognizing him and the black steed on which he sat, and which champed the bit and foamed beneath his rein. The truth is that they had met before at another tourney, when Sir Humphrey had incurred the scorn and displeasure of some of the king’s courtiers because of a slight civility and courtesy which he had shown to herself, her father, and her mother, whom none of the gallants knew by sight or by name, their names not having been entered by the Heralds on the rolls of the ‘College of Arms.’ Eagerly did Isabel lean over the balcony in the hope of catching his eye, and grateful did she feel for a sudden halt, which was occasioned by the pressure of the crowd.
The young knight, however, was too deeply engaged in thought to take notice of the gay and smiling occupants of the balconies above his head, for he little imagined that Isabel Harvey would be among the company. But as they moved on a few steps he was roused from his reverie by a start of his horse, caused by the fall of a glove from one of the balconies. Gallantry prompted him to pick up the glove and to return it to its fair owner. Upon looking up, his eyes met those of the fair Isabel; and as he returned to her the glove on the point of his lance, and she bowed her thanks, he felt that she was not insensible to his regard for he. He quietly watched his opportunity to fall back from the gay procession as it moved along, and guided his horse down a narrow side lane, where he remained till the pageant had passed by. His object in so doing was to prevent his father, the earl, from noticing Isabel; for he well knew the haughtiness of his temper, and his zeal for the dignity of his order, and his inflexible ambition to ally his son to the heiress of some noble house or other.
Having emerged from his retreat, the young knight came again beneath the window, and, after bowing in a courtly manner, addressed the father of Isabel, who was just about to leave the balcony. On their descending into the street, the young knight dismounted, and accompanied them back to the city, leading his horse, and entertaining them, as they passed along the Strand and through Fleet Street, by his lively and elegant conversation. On reaching their home near Cheapside, Edmund Harvey pressed the knight to join them at their meal, and he gladly closed with the invitation. So well indeed did be succeed in gaining the confidence of his newly-found friend, that ere they parted the knight confessed to him his love for the fair Isabel, and received her father’s permission to ask her band, if she had no objection.
The rest of this story may be easily imagined. On the morrow the knight accompanied them back into the country, and, representing himself to be only one of the gentlemen of the earl’s retinue, he espoused the fair Isabel a few days afterwards in the priory church of Elstow. For many months-indeed, it may have been years- -he did not disclose the full secret of his rank, nor did the fair Isabel know that she had a claim to be styled ‘My Lady; The secret, however, oozed out at length ; and in due course of time their union was blessed by the birth of sons and daughters, the eldest of whom became one of the special favorites of Queen Elizabeth.
Immediately on the accession of `her highness’ she made Humphrey Radcliffe a knight, and gave him a post at court near her person, and took his eldest daughter, Mary, as her ‘Mayden of Honor and Gentelwoman of the Privie Chamber’–a post which she filled `honorably, virtuously, and faithfully for forty years,’ as her monument tells us.
It was in the year 1566, on the 13th day of August, that Sir Humphrey Radcliffe died at Elstow, and he was buried a week later in the chancel, as stated above, by the side of his affectionate and faithful wife Isabel, and soon afterwards one of his sons erected to their memory the memorial already mentioned.
As for Mary Radcliffe, she suffered less than perhaps any other person about the Court from the whims and caprices of her royal mistress. Being possessed of great penetration and judgment, together with a high sense of honor and unshaken fidelity, she could not fail to command the esteem even of ‘the Maiden Queen.’ Although remarkable for her personal beauty, she was inaccessible to the flatteries of the fops and gallants by whom Elizabeth was surrounded, and many a smart repartee and rebuff was received by the courtiers who tried to turn the head and the heart of Mary Radcliffe. On one occasion, indeed, writes Sir Nicholas Le Strange in an anecdote communicated by Lady Hobart, ‘Mistress Radcliffe, an old courtier in Queen Elizabeth’s time, told a lord whose conversation and discourse she did not like, that his wit was like a custard, having nothing good in it but the soppe, and, when that was eaten, you might throw away the rest.`*
Throughout the long period of her services at Court, Mistress Radcliffe bore a character unblemished by a spot of evil fame or reproach. She looked upon herself, she would say, as a New Year’s gift, for it was on that day in 1561-2 that she was first presented by her father to the Queen’s Majesty, and accepted by her ; and never afterwards, to the end of her days, did she fail to give the Queen–who loved all sorts of presents, and did not think it ‘more blessed to give than to receive’–some kind of annual remembrance of that eventful morning.
As she was still living to make her yearly present on the new year of 1600, Mistress Isabel Radcliffe might very justly be called an old courtier of the jealous Queen, who was not very firm in her friendships, or very scrupulous about discharging those who failed to please her. The actual date of her death is not recorded by ‘the unlettered muse’ of Elstow.
Elizabeth Whitbread, 11th Great Grandmother
September 28, 2013
— 2 Comments
Elizabeth Whitbread
My 11th great-grandmother married into the Spencer family. Her son Gerard went to America.
Gerard Spencer, baptized at Stotfold, co. Bedford, 20 May 1576, died before 1646; married at Upper Gravenhurst, co., Alice Whitbread or Whitbred, who belonged to a family of some prominence. It seems quite possible that Gerard and his family moved from Stotfold some years before the emigration of his sons to New England; perhaps to London, where his brother Richard had become a prosperous haberdasher.
The English surname of “Spencer” derives from the Latin word dispensator, which means a storekeeper or shopkeeper. In medieval times, a feudal lord would employ a dispensator to have charge of his possessions and to oversee distribution and sale of supplies to the serfs, peasants, and tenant farmers who worked his land. In essence, a dispensator was something like a steward. This Latin term gave rise to the occupational family names of “Dispenser,” “Spencer,” “Spenser,” “Spence,” “Spens,” “Spender,” etc. Since there must have been thousands of dispensatori, there are naturally a large number of unrelated Spencer families. Even though he was the servant of a feudal lord or a king, a dispensator often himself would be of noble or knightly rank. The two best known medieval English families bearing a form of this surname were the Dispensers, Earls of Winchester, and the Spencers of Althorp, Northamptonshire, ancestors of the present Earls Spencer, who were the family of the late Diana, Princess of Wales, formerly known as Lady Diana Spencer. The Earls Spencer are also closely related to the Spencer-Churchill family, which includes the famous British Prime Minister Sir Winston Spencer-Churchill. During the Renaissance, an unscrupulous herald manufactured a spurious genealogy tracing the Spencers of Althorp back to the Dispensers of Winchester, but that fictitious genealogy was long ago debunked — there is no proof nor any reason to believe that the Spencers of Althorp had anything to do with the old Earls of Winchester.
Elizabeth Whitbread (1538 – 1599)
is my 11th great grandmother
Thomas Spencer (1571 – 1631)
son of Elizabeth Whitbread
Thomas Spencer (1596 – 1681)
son of Thomas Spencer
Margaret SPENCER (1633 – 1670)
daughter of Thomas Spencer
Moses Goodwin (1660 – 1726)
son of Margaret SPENCER
Martha Goodwin (1693 – 1769)
daughter of Moses Goodwin
Grace Raiford (1725 – 1778)
daughter of Martha Goodwin
Sarah Hirons (1751 – 1817)
daughter of Grace Raiford
John Nimrod Taylor (1770 – 1816)
son of Sarah Hirons
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of John Nimrod Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
6. Gerald Spencer 3 (Michael S.2, John1) was baptized on 20 Apr 1576 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng 3 and died before May 1646 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng 1.
Documented events in his life were:
1. Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; 17 Mar 1644/45; London, Eng 3. Cited as the father of Jarrard, Thomas, Michaell Spencer who each received �50 in the will of their uncle Richard Spencer. Also father of William Spencer, deceased, with the legacy going to William’s children.
Gerald married Alice Whitebread 1 5, daughter of John Lawrence Whitebread and Eleanor Radcliffe, in Upper Gravenhurst, Bedford, England 1. (Alice Whitebread was born between 1578-1583 in Bedfordshire, Eng 1 5 and died about 1646 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng 1.)
Children from this marriage were:
+ 15 M i. Ensign Gerard Spencer 1 2 3 was baptized on 25 Apr 1614 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng 3 and died on 29 Jun 1685 in East Haddam, Middlesex Co., CT 1.
16 M ii. William Spencer 1 3 was baptized on 11 Oct 1601 in Stotfold, Bedfordshire, Eng 3 and died on 4 May 1640 in Hartford, Hartford Co., CT 1.
Documented events in his life were:
1. Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; Bef 20 Nov 1628; Upper Gravenhurst, Bedford, England 5. Received legacy in the will of his grandmother Eleanor (Radcliffe) Whitebread.
2. Residence; Bef 7 Jan 1632/33; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 6. William Spencer is listed as an Inhabitant � no date given. but probably before the 7 Jan 1632 date given to items on p 4
3. Lands Recorded – Granted; 7 Jan 1632/33; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 7. Common Pales devided as ffollo:– William Spencer 12 Rod
4. Lands Recorded – Granted; 2 Mar 1632/33; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 8. Granted William Spencer the fwampe on the other fide the Creeke.
5. Oath of Freemanship/Allegiance; 4 Mar 1632/33; Massachusetts Bay Colony, MA 9.
6. Lands Recorded – Granted; 5 Aug 1633; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 10. Lotts granted for Cowyardes:– William Spencer 3 Roods
7. Town Office; 3 Feb 1633/34; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 11. James Olmfted & William Spencer chosen as two of the five men to order business for the town.
8. Town Service; 1 Sep 1634; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 12. ffurther it is ordered that George St^ [ ] William Spencer fhall measuer out al^ [ ] ^ranted by the Towne and have IIId the Ac^ [ ] [ ] fame.
9. Lands Recorded – Granted; 1 Dec 1634; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 13. Granted William Spencer that Corner of ground by Jofeph Myats between the Swamps to bee fett out by John Haynes Efqr.
10. Town Service; 3 Feb 1634/35; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 14. chosen to survey town lands: James Olmfted & William Spencer [plus 3 others]
11. Town Service; 8 Feb 1634/35; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 15. Townsmen present at the town meeting:– William Spencer.
12. Town Service; 20 Aug 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 16. It was ordered that William Spencer and George Steele fould meafuer all the meaddow ground and undeuided belonging to the Newtowne: and when it is Meafuered and deuided to euery man his proportcion there are to: meafuer every mans feuerally and Caufe ftakes to bee fett at each end and to haue three pence the Acker for the fame and whofoever fhall not pay for the meafueringe within one yeare then the ground to returne to them for meafueringe.
13. Lands Recorded – Granted; 20 Aug 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 16. ffurrther it is ordered that the fame [the meaddow ground and undeuided belonging to the Newtowne] fhalbee deuided acordinge to every mans seuerall proporcion herevnder written vntell it bee all difpoffed of viz:– William Andrews 2�
14. Town Office; 23 Nov 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 17. William Spencer chosen one of the nine men to �order busffiness of the whole Towne for the year following� also ordered that the Towne booke fhalbee at William Spencers house.
15. Town Service; 7 Dec 1635; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 18. Townsmen present at the town meeting:– William Spencer. William Spencer & Mr. Bambrigg to view the fence about the ground between the swamps [to be erected by land holders] and decide if it is sufficient.
16. Town Service; 4 Jan 1635/36; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA 19. Townsmen present at the town meeting:– William Spencer. William Spencer & Thomas Hofmer charged with seeing that a foot bridge is built over the Creek at the end of Spring street
17. Lands Recorded; 8 Feb 1635/36; Cambridge, Suffolk Co., MA20. The Names of Thofe men who haue houfes in the Towne at this prefent as onely are to be acconted as houfes of the Towne:– William Spencer – 2; also in the Weftend:– William Spencer – 2
18. Mention in Will, Inv. or Prob.; 17 Mar 1644/45; London, Eng 3. His children received a legacy in the will of his uncle Richard Spencer of London, England.
19. Probate; 24 Jun 1650; Hartford, Hartford Co., CT 21. This Courte taking into Consideracon the estate of William Spencer deceased with the Information of the ourseers In the presence of Thomas Spencer Brother to the said William, iwth the Consent of the wife of William Edwards: the doe Judge that 30� is as much as the estate heere will bare to be sequestred for the use of the Children, wch is to bee paid to them according tot he will of the said William Spencer, provided that suffitient security bee giuen in to the Satisfaction of the ourseers for the payment of the debts of the said William Spencer, and the aforesaid Sum of 30� to the said Children as aforesaid: And prouided allso that whatsoeuer Shall bee paid heere or in England of any Estate due to the wife of the said William Spencer while Shee was the wife of William Spencer, or that Shall Come from Concord: two thirds thereof Shall be and remaine to the propper vse of the Children aforesaid.
Congress, Creativity, Connessione
September 27, 2013
— 3 Comments
Watching the US congressional dramatists perform for the nation I wonder how these folks make contact with reality. Systems thinking, or connessione provides a holistic, integrated, well proportioned view. The interests of many networks can be connected for the good of the entire system. Our congressional employees seem stuck on the idea that hostile, unproductive bickering is what the taxpayers deserve. Fractured care for our precious resources is eroding the national confidence. Rather than forming natural helpful alliances bills are created with purposeful conflicts of interests from the get go. It looks as if these representatives of the people are on some kind of very bad bummer trip, unable to view any kind of broad picture for fear of heavy freak out. They use their imaginations and creativity to whip up disharmony rather than working to connect the whole.
How can we use our own creativity as taxpayers to force these clowns to get it together on behalf of the American people? Can we imagine them working for us rather than wasting our money? I find that difficult. In the season of Halloween let us consult history and the ancestors to learn from the past. How did our ancestors off insane rulers? There have been plenty of them. We must connect the dots to understand the deep lessons history teaches. We must find the strength and the will to create a congress that works for us. We are capable of balance, even if we are not witnessing it in our elected officials.
Thomas Redding, 9th Great Grandfather
September 26, 2013
— 6 Comments
Pequot War 1637-1638
Thomas Redding was an early settler of Maine. He and his wife left a five year old child in the care of another man and never returned for him. The court awarded custody of the boy to the guardian since the promised upkeep for the child was never paid.
RESIDENCE: 1644: Scituate, Ma [BRLp10, quoting Plymouth Colony Court Records relating to their leaving their 5y old son in the care of Mr Gowan White, & failing to return to pay for his keep. The court awarded custody of the child to Mr White, unless the parents returned and paid for arrears in support]
1653: Took oath of allegiance to Massachusettes at Wells, Me as being of Saco, Me. and relocated at Three Islands, Cape Porpoise Harbor, Me (being as “Thomas Redding who hailed from New Plymouth”); he lived on the Great Island (which was known as “Redding Island” into the 1800’s) and managed the fishing Trade there until he returned to Saco about 1653/7. [BRLp11, quoting, Wilbur D. Spencer’s 1930 “Pioneers on Maine Rivers”].
1665: rem. Westcustego (the Indian name for what we call Yarmouth) [BRLp11, quoting, Wilbur D. Spencer’s 1930 “Pioneers on Maine Rivers”].
NOTE: Cape Porpoise River is now [ca.1920] known as Mousam River.
1666: “Living near the Lane family … who were living on the ‘Cousin’s Place'” [by this do we infer what is today known as “Cousin’s Island”?]BIOGRAPHY:
Quoted from: “The Redding Family and Its Relatives” by Billie Redding Lewis, Donated by the author April 1983 to (and on file at) the General Society of Mayflower Descendants Library, Plymouth, Mass.:
“No evidence has been found to connect Thomas Redding, the progenitor of the author’s family to the Thaddeus Riddan with whom Thomas is often confused. Most researchers believe all early Reddings, regardless of spelling, both in New England and the Virginia colonies, to be related.
“Banks [17] has Thomas Redding entering New England about 1635 but unfortunately, has found no ship nor English origin listed.
“One researching descendant states that Thomas came from Barbados to New England as did “John and James Saunders, Thomas Lane, John Spencer, John Manwaring, John and Thomas Hill, and others, who are found as Mr. Redding’s neighbors in what is now the state of Maine.” [18].
“Thomas Redding’s name does appear on a list of those who in 1635-8 [19] owned ten or more acres in Barbados but there is no documented proof that the Thomas Redding of Barbados is the same Thomas Redding of New England. It is quite probable, on the other hand, since Thomas, in 1639, married the sister of William Pennoyer, a wealthy London merchant, who was not only a cloth merchant but also a prosperous sea-merchant owning a number of vessels and some sugar planatations in Barbados.
“In 1637, Thomas Redding is found in “New Plymouth” as a fisherman and a volunteer for service in the Pequot War [20].
“On 20 July, 1639, Thomas Redding married Ellinor Pennoyer, who is recorded in Plymouth Colony records as Elinor “Penny”. Thomas’s name is not found again in Plymouth records until 1644 when he and Ellinor are in Scituate, Mass. where it is thought they lived less than a year & left their five year old son to be cared for by Gowan White. On 4 June, 1 645, the Plymouth Court Records state. [23]” ‘Whereas Thomas Riddings, about ayear since, came to Scituate and depted (departed) thence, leaueing a man child about fiv yeares of age with Gowen White, pmiseing him to pay xviij d p weeke for his keepeing & dyetting of him, but hath hitherto payd him nothing; and the said Gowen White hath since found him meate, drinke, and cloathes at his own charge; the court doth order and appoynt that the said shalbe wth the said Gowen White vntill he shall accomplish the age tweny and foure yeares; but if his father shall come and desire to take him away before the end of the said terme, that then he shall pay he said Gowen White for the keeping of him for such tyme as he shall haue beene wth him; and so also if bee shalbe placed wth another man.’.
“Thomas’s leaving his son is still puzzling to genealogists. The child was probably Thomas and Ellinor’s first-born since he was five years old at the time, making him born in 1640, a year after their marriage. Why was he left? Did the parents go to Barbados but did not want to change the child’s environment, or is this the period of time in which they moved to Maine and possibly did not want to subject their son to the lifestyle that would be rougher than that in Plymouth County? If they moved to Maine, why then was there no contact with Gowen White? True, travelling was not easy in those days, but the pioneers did not seem to allow obstacles to impede them completely.
“This writer could find no record of Thomas between the time he left his son in 1645 and when he took his Oath of Allegiance to Massachusetts Colony in what is now Maine, on 5 July, 1653. [25]”
[17] Charles Edward Banks, “Tophgraphical Dictionary of 2885 Emigrants”, p.234 … Baltimore.
[18] Fred E. Crowell, “Redding -Miller”, Boston “Transcript”, 1929
[19] NHGS Register, Vol. 39, taken from “Memoirs of the First Settlers of the Island of Barbados” …
[20] Winslow’s “Journal”, and Plymouth Colony Records
[23] Plymouth Colony Records; Book 2, Page 86 [25] James Savage, “A Genealogical Dictionary of the First Settlers of New England”, Vol. 4, Boston,
Thomas Redding (1607 – 1673)
is my 9th great grandfather
Martha Redding (1633 – 1702)
daughter of Thomas Redding
Abigail Taylor (1663 – 1730)
daughter of Martha Redding
Martha Goodwin (1693 – 1769)
daughter of Abigail Taylor
Grace Raiford (1725 – 1778)
daughter of Martha Goodwin
Sarah Hirons (1751 – 1817)
daughter of Grace Raiford
John Nimrod Taylor (1770 – 1816)
son of Sarah Hirons
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of John Nimrod Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
William Chadbourne, Founding Maine
September 24, 2013
— 3 Comments
memorial
My 10th great-grandfather was a carpenter who agreed to go to Maine in 1634 to stay for 5 years. He agreed to build a sawmill, a gristmill, and tenement houses for his employer, John Mason.
As extracted from Everett S. Stackpole’s “The First Permanent Settlement in Maine’
In 1634 there was an important development of the colony. Carpenters and millwrights were sent over from England in the Pied Cow, led by William Chadbourne, to build a sawmill and a “stamping mill” at the upper falls. This was the first grist-mill in New England to run by water, though Boston had a wind-mill to grind corn, and Piscataqua sent a small shipload there to be ground, James Wall was one of the carpenters and he made a deposition the 21st of the third month, 1652.
William CHADBOURNE (1582 – 1652)
is my 10th great grandfather
Patience Chadbourne (1612 – 1683)
daughter of William CHADBOURNE
Margaret SPENCER (1633 – 1670)
daughter of Patience Chadbourne
Moses Goodwin (1660 – 1726)
son of Margaret SPENCER
Martha Goodwin (1693 – 1769)
daughter of Moses Goodwin
Grace Raiford (1725 – 1778)
daughter of Martha Goodwin
Sarah Hirons (1751 – 1817)
daughter of Grace Raiford
John Nimrod Taylor (1770 – 1816)
son of Sarah Hirons
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of John Nimrod Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
1. WILLIAM1 CHADBOURNE (RobertA), baptized Church of St Editha, Tamworth, Warwickshire, England 30 Mar 1582 (Tamworth parish register); died after his last appearance in Maine 16 Nov 1652 (qv); married Tamworth 8 Oct 1609 (ibid)ELIZABETH SPARRY, born perhaps about 1589, died after 1 Jun 1623 (birth of her last known child, Tamworth parish register). Her parentage has not been discovered; however, her surname is common in Staffordshire. William was the son of Robert and Margery or Margaret (Dooley) Chadbourne of Preston, Lancashire, and Tamworth, Warwickshire, England.
William arrived in New England aboard the Pied Cow 8 Jul 1634 (vide post) with James Wall and John Goddard. The three were under contract with Capt John Mason of London’s Laconia Company, a joint-stock company seeking profits in the new world. The purpose of the contract, dated 16 Mar 1633/4, was to build mills in Berwick. William was referred to as a housewright or master carpenter. The men began to build the first water-powered saw mill and grist mill in New England on 22 Jul 1634.
James Wall, carpenter and millwright, deposed on 21 May 1652 that about the year 1634 he and his partners William Chadbourne and John Goddard, carpenters, came over to Mason’s land on his account and their own, that Mr [Henry] Joslyn, Mason’s agent, brought them to certain lands at Asbenbedick Falls, as the Indians called the place, later the Great Works River in Berwick, where they carried on a sawmill and a stamping mill for corn three or four years. Wall built a house there and Chadbourne built another (Pope, The Pioneers of Maine and New Hampshire, 1623 to 1660, 218-19).
The house William built may be the one said by Stackpole in 1926 to be the oldest house in Maine. Part of its foundation is under the present house on the northwest corner of Brattle and Vine Streets on the road from the Lower Landing (Hamilton House) to the original mill site at Asbenbedick (later Great Works) Falls. William Chadbourne deeded the home to his son-in-law, Thomas Spencer, and a nice picture of it appeared in the Boston Evening Transcript of 25 Jun 1938. Other accounts suggest that the property occupied by Spencer was actually a second, later house, and that the early home stood in the northwesterly angle of the intersection of Brattle Street leading to the mouth of the Great Works River and the highway to Eliot.
The Asbenbedick Great Works was the site of a mill with nineteen saws built by the Leader brothers in the 1650s. The river was called Chadbournes River by many before and after, due to the Chadbourne dam and mill erected downstream in the late 1630s.
A copy of the Mason contract referred to above survives in the MA Archives 3:437. It stipulates that they were to stay five years and receive three fourths of the profits from the mills and own three fourths of the houses, which Mason was to furnish. At the termination of the contract they were to have fifty acres on lease for the term of “three lives” at the annual rent of three bushels of corn.
The articles brought on the vessel, which were taken from the company’s store were: one great iron kettle, for which Thomas Spencer was responsible, Irish blankets, one Kilkenny rug, one pair of sheets, one pentado coverlet, one brass kettle and seven spoons.
It is not clear when other members of William’s family arrived. His daughter Patience may have preceded him, since her husband Thomas Spencer came four years earlier and they may have had children between 1630 and 1634. Mason’s list of stewards and workmen sent contains the names “William Chadborn, William Chadborn, jun., and Humphry Chadborn,” but also indicates twenty-two women who are unnamed. It is known that the Pied Cow had made at least one crossing in 1631 and that the bark Warwick had made several early crossings, all for Capt Mason, but it is unlikely that William came on any of these trips, given the phrasing of Wall’s deposition which implies that he came in about 1634 (NEHGR 21:223-4).
Elizabeth is mentioned only in the couple’s marriage record. It is not known when or where she died. She may have come to Maine, for there is no burial record for her in Tamworth; however, no account of her has been found in the New World. Some have conjectured that William may have returned to England after deeding his Berwick homestead to son-in-law Thomas Spencer. No record of William’s death has been located in England or Maine.
In 1640, he and his sons were listed as NH residents (NHPP, Vol 1) before purchasing land in Kittery in those regions now called S Berwick and Eliot. Both William Sr and William Jr were in Boston in 1643 (LND, 134).
The Chadbournes, like the other people brought to ME by Mason, were not dissenters from the Church of England, emigrating for religious freedom, as was the case with most of the settlers in New England in this period. William’s father Robert, raised Catholic, professed to fear God as his reason for not attending the Church of England; but William’s family were members of the Church of England who perhaps intended to return to England after the terms of Mason’s contract were fulfilled. Indeed, that may be what William and Elizabeth Chadbourne did.
William Chadbourne, as a respected master carpenter and housewright, may have been contracted to build the so-called Great House at Strawbery Banke (now Portsmouth NH) used to house the Laconia Company’s stores and serve as a dwelling for the company workmen. The site of this building has recently been found, near the present Stawbery Banke village historic site. Claims have been made in published sources that the Great House was built by William’s son Humphrey circa 1631. Humphrey was said to have come on the Warwick in 1631, and no evidence has been found of William’s arrival before 1634. An error could have occurred because of a poorly-written paragraph in James Sullivan’s book, The History of the District of Maine , published in Boston MA in 1795, where William1, who built the Great House, and Humprhey2, who purchased land fromMr Rowles, are rolled into one. If Humphrey was baptized as an infant in 1615 he would have been sixteen at the time the Great House was built. He may very well have worked on it, although it is more likely that his father was given the contract for its building. The contract hasn’t survived and which of the Chadbournes was responsible for the building remains conjecture.
One William Chadbourne was admitted an inhabitant to the town of Portsmouth RI 25 February 1642[/3] (The Early Records of the Town of Portsmouth, Providence RI: The RI Historical Society, 1901, 19). He was granted land there in 1642 (ibid, 11), but the grant was not finalized, and it is doubtful he ever resided there. He was certainly gone by 28 Sep 1647 (ibid, 36). This may have been another William Chadbourne who is known to have come from Winchcombe (see discussion on this man in the Appendix).
On 3 Mar 1650/1, William and his sons, with others, were accused by Mrs Ann (Green) Mason, widow of Capt John Mason, of embezzling her husband’s estate. The claim was based on a contract which was not honored by either party because of the death of Capt Mason, and also based on the first recorded Indian deed in ME in 1643. The Chadbourne claim was upheld by the selectmen of Kittery and the Government of the Massachusetts Bay in New England.
On 4 May 1652, William Chadbourne was one of the chosen men assigned to a Kittery committee to pick a lot and build a meeting house. He was the first signer of the Kittery Act of Submission, 16 November 1652. We have no certain record of William after this date.
Fall Equinox
September 22, 2013
— 5 Comments
Does the fall equinox have special meaning to you? Native people around the world have marked and celebrated the night that is equal in northern and southern hemispheres in spring and fall for centuries. The balance of darkness and light, the nature of shadow, the harvest of what has been sown are celebrated at this powerful change of seasons. To enter winter with excess overhead or an insufficient supply has been a recipe for disaster since the first fairy tale was created. In both short and long terms fall is a time for risk assessment. The harvest is in, or soon will be, and it must last until new crops can be grown and harvested. Failure can mean starvation. Useless baggage must be jettisoned now to keep the boat afloat.
Today our supplies come from abroad and we don’t even know when and how harvests are made. Coal, natural gas, and petroleum are harvested to process, transport and refrigerate our food. The cost of the supply chain far outweighs the cost of the food itself. Our electronic devices are similar. They are harvested elsewhere and imported to us. Globalization demands that goods and services be produced at the lowest price and sold for the highest possible price. International business must take advantage of the lowest wages and least demanding labor forces. I believe that these imperialistic practices have caused a spiritual equinox. Forces that seem to be out of our control darken the skies and freeze out those with the fewest resources. Persephone returns to her husband Hades in the underworld every year as winter approaches. Her symbolic return in the spring celebrates light over darkness. As the days grow shorter and nights grow longer what seeds will you purposely germinate? Do you believe the violence and darkness being proliferated will be reversed?
fall color
change of season
Autumn
Captain Michael Pierce, 9th Great Grandfather
September 16, 2013
— 29 Comments
oldest Veteran’s memorial in the US
My 9th great grandfather was killed by my 11th great uncle. King Philip’s War was fought between the Wampanoag people and the colonists of Plymouth. This is the first, but not the last, war on American soil in which I had ancestors on both sides of the conflict. The memorial that commemorates this event is in preset day Providence, RI. It is the oldest Veterans memorial in the US. The vanquished native people were sent to the West Indies and sold into slavery. Nobody knows where the graves of my Wampanoag ancestors are.
Captain Michael Pierce was born in 1615 and died in1676. He and his descendants form the first American generation of Pierces in our family tree. Michael Pierce immigrated to the New World in the early 1640s from Higham, Kent, England to Scituate, in what later became Massachusetts. The ten year period from 1630 to 1640 is know as The Great Migration. During this period, 16,000 people, immigrated to the East Coast of North America.
Brother of famous Colonial Sea Captain, William Pierce. Captain Michael Pierce was the brother of the famous Colonial sea captain, William Pierce, who helped settle Plymouth Colony. Captain Michael Pierce played a significant role in the Great Migration. Historical records show that this one sea captain crossed the Atlantic, bringing settlers and provisions to the New World more frequently than any other. He had homes in London, the Bahamas and Rhode Island. He played a central role in the government of the early colonies. He was killed at Providence, one of the Bahama Islands, in 1641.
There were actually four Pierce brothers who made their mark on the New World: John Pierce (the Patentee), Robert Pierce, Captain William Pierce, and Captain Michael Pierce. All were grandsons of Anteress Pierce, and sons of Azrika Pierce and his wife Martha.
Marries Persis Eames. In 1643, Michael Pierce married Persis Eames of Charleston Massachusetts. His wife was born in Fordington, Dorsetshire England 28 October 1621. She was the daughter of Anthony Eames and Margery Pierce.
Pierce Family Moves to Scituate. Michael and Persis Pierce’s first child, a daughter, was born in 1645 and named Persis in honor of her mother. Unfortunately, their first child died in 1646 at one year of age. The new family settled first in Higham, but moved in 1676 to Scituate, where the Pierce family continued to reside for most of the next century. Scituate is located some 10 miles north of the original Plymouth colony. It was settled as early as 1628 by a group of men from Kent, England.
In 1646, Benjamin Pierce, their second child, a son and heir, was born. This son, Benjamin Pierce, fathered the second Pierce generation in this family tree. Twelve other children were born over the coming years: Ephraim, Elizabeth, Deborah, Sarah, Mary, Abigail, Anna, Abiah, John, Ruth and Peirsis.
Erected First Saw-Mill. Michael Pierce resided on a beautiful plain near the north river and not far form Herring brook. He assisted in erecting the first saw-mill. The mill was the first one erected in the colony. It is believed that Samuel Woodworth (1784-1842) wrote the song, “The Old Oaken Bucket,” concerning this river and mill in Scituate. Samuel Woodworth’s grandfather, Benjamine Woodworth, witnessed the signing of Captain Michael Pierce’s will, on January 1675. The lyrics to this classic American folk tune are given below:
How dear to this heart are the scenes of my childhood, When fond recollection presents them to view, The orchard, the meadow, the deep tangled wildwood, And ev’ry lov’d spot which my infancy knew. The wide spreading stream, the mill that stood near it, The bridge and the rock where the cataract fell. The cot of my father, the dairy house by it, And e’en the rude bucket that hung in the well. The old oaken bucket, the ironbound bucket, The moss-covered bucket that hung in the well. The moss-covered bucket I hail as a treasure, For often at noon when returned from the field, I found it the source of an exquisite pleasure, The purest and sweetest that nature can yield. How ardent I seized it with hands that were glowing, And quick to the white pebbled bottom it fell. Then soon with the emblem of truth overflowing, And dripping with coolness it rose from the well. The old oaken bucket, the ironbound bucket, The moss-covered bucket that hung in the well. How soon from the green mossy rim to receive it, As poised on the curb it reclined to my lips, Not a full flowing goblet could tempt me to leave it, Tho’ filled with the nectar that Jupiter sips. And now far removed from the loved situation, The tear of regret will intrusively swell. As fancy reverts to my father’s plantation, And sighs for the bucket that hung in the well. The old oaken bucket, the ironbound bucket, The moss-covered bucket that hung in the well.
Captain in the Local Militia Fighting the Indians. Unlike his famous brother, Captain William Pierce, Michael Pierce was not a sea captain. He attained the title, Captain, from the Colony court in 1669. Historical records show that he was first given the rank of Ensign under Captain Miles Standish, then later, in 1669, he was made Captain. These titles reflects his role as a leader in the local militia formed to protect the colony from the Indians.
Honored for Heroism in King Phillip’s War. Captain Michael Pierce’s memory is well-documented in American history. He is honored for the brave manner in which he died in defense of his country. The exact manner in which he died is repeated in more than 20 books and letters detailing the military history of the King Phillip’s War. This war took place between 1675 and 1676, and remains one of the bloodiest conflicts in American history. It was also a pivotal point in early American history. Although the English colonists were ultimately victorious over the Indians, it took the colonies over 100 years to recover from the economic and political catastrophy brought about by this conflict.
The battle in which Captain Michael Pierce lost his life is detailed in Drakes Indian Chronicles (pp. 220-222) as follows:
“Sunday the 26th of March, 1676, was sadly remarkable to us for the tidings of a very deplorable disaster brought into Boston about five o’clock that afternoon, by a post from Dedham, viz., that Captain Pierce of Scituate in Plymouth Colony, having intelligence in his garrison at Seaconicke, that a party of the enemy lay near Mr. Blackstorne’s, went forth with sixty-three English and twenty of the Cape Indians (who had all along continued faithful, and joyned with them), and upon their march discovered rambling in an obscure woody place, four or five Indians, who, in getting away from us halted as if they had been lame or wounded. But our men had pursued them but a little way into the woods before they found them to be only decoys to draw them into their ambuscade; for on a sudden, they discovered about five hundred Indians, who in very good order, furiously attacked them, being as readily received by ours; so that the fight began to be very fierce and dubious, and our men had made the enemy begin to retreat, but so slowly that it scarce deserved the name, when a fresh company of about four hundred Indians came in; so that the English and their few Indian friends were quite surrounded and beset on every side. Yet they made a brave resistance for about two hours; during which time they did great execution upon their enemy, who they kept at a distance and themselves in order. For Captain Pierce cast his sixty-three English and twenty Indians into a ring, and six fought back to back, and were double – double distance all in one ring, whilst the Indians were as thick as they could stand, thirty deep. Overpowered with whose numbers, the said Captain and fifty-five of his English and ten of their Indian friends were slain upon the place, which in such a cause and upon such disadvantages may certainly be titled “The Bed of Honor.” However, they sold their worthy lives at a gallant rate, it being affirmed by those few that not without wonderful difficulty and many wounds made their escape, that the Indians lost as many fighting men in this engagement as were killed in the battle in the swamp near Narragansett, mentioned in our last letter, which were generally computed to be above three hundred.”
Today, in Scituate, there is a Captain Pierce Road.
In Cumberland, Rhode Island, there is a monument called Nine Men’s Misery. A tablet near the monument reads:
NINE MEN’S MISERYON THIS SPOT WHERE
THEY WERE SLAIN
BY THE INDIANS
WERE BURIED
THE NINE SOLDIERS
CAPTURED IN
PIERCE’S FIGHT
MARCH 26, 1676
The monument is located in a dark, place in the woods, near a former monastery. The monastery is now a public library. The monument consists of little more than a pile of stones cemented together by a monk and marked with a plaque. However, this site is of major historical significance because it is concidered to be the oldest monument to veterans in the United States.
1. Captain Michael Pierce born 1615; died 3/26/1676.
married Persis Eames, 1643 (born. Oct. 28, 1621; died Dec. 31,1662). Micheal Pierce and Persis Eames had these 13 children:
2. Persis Pierce, born 1645. Persis died 1646 at 1 year of age. 3. >>>Benjamin Pierce, born 1646. 4. Ephraim Pierce, born 1647. Ephraim died 1719 at 72 years of age. 5. Elizabeth Pierce, born 1649. She married a Holbrook and gave birth to Captain Michael Pierce’s only two grandchildren at the time of his death who are mentioned in his will: Elizabeth Holbrook and Abigail Holbrook. 6. Deborah Pierce, born 1650. 7. Sarah Pierce, born 1652. 8. Mary Pierce, born 1654. She married Samuel Holbrook, 23 June 1675. Samuel was born in Weymouth, Mass 1650. Samuel was the son of William Holbrook and Elizabeth Pitts. Samuel died 29 October 1712 at 62 years of age. Mary Pierce and Samuel Holbrook had the following six children: Persis, Elizabeth, Bethiah, Samuel, Elizabeth, and Mary. 9.Abigail Pierce, born 1656. Abigail died 1723 at 67 years of age. 10. Anna Pierce, born 1657. 11. Abiah Pierce, born 1659. She married Andrew Ford. 12. John Pierce, born 1660. John died 28 June 1738 at 77 years of age. He married Patience Dodson 12 December 1683. 13. Ruth Pierce, born 1661. 14. Peirsis Pierce, born 1662. Persis 3 December 1695. She married Richard Garrett, 3rd, who was born in 1659. They lived in Scituate, Mass. and had three children: John (born 1706), Anna, and Deborah.
married Mrs. Annah James sometime soon after 1662. They had no children. Captain Michael Pierce remained married to Annah Pierce until his death. Annah Pierce is well provided for in his will.
Michael Pierce (1615 – 1676)
is my 9th great grandfather
Ann Pierce (1640 – 1655)
daughter of Michael Captain Pierce
Sarah Kinchen (1655 – 1724)
daughter of Ann Pierce
Philip Raiford (1689 – 1752)
son of Sarah Kinchen
Grace Raiford (1725 – 1778)
daughter of Philip Raiford
Sarah Hirons (1751 – 1817)
daughter of Grace Raiford
John Nimrod Taylor (1770 – 1816)
son of Sarah Hirons
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of John Nimrod Taylor
William Ellison Taylor (1839 – 1918)
son of John Samuel Taylor
George Harvey Taylor (1884 – 1941)
son of William Ellison Taylor
Ruby Lee Taylor (1922 – 2008)
daughter of George Harvey Taylor
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Ruby Lee Taylor
When I read that he’d died during the Great Swamp Fight, it peaked my interest so I bought a book called King Philip’s War The History and Legacy of America’s Forgotten Conflict, by Eric B. Schultz and Michael J. Tougias. The following is an excerpt from the book describing Michael Pierce’s involvement in the conflict.
KING PHILIP’S WAR
PIERCE’S FIGHT, CENTRAL FALLS, RHODE ISLAND
The ambush of Captain Michael Pierce and his Plymouth Colony soldiers
occurred on Sunday, March 26, 1676, in the present-day city of Central
Falls, Rhode Island. Sometimes attributed to the Narragansett sachem
Canonchet, this ambush was in many respects a textbook military operation.
Several friendly natives escaped the engagement, but only nine English
survived, and these nine men were later discovered dead several miles
north of Central Falls in present-day Cumbedand, Rhode Island, a site now
known as Nine Men’s Misery. Not only was the ambush deadly for Pierce
and his men, but it was devastating to the morale of the colonies which, on
the very same day, witnessed the murder of settlers in Longmeadow, Massachusetts,
the burning of Marlboro, Massachusetts, and the destruction of
Simsbury, Connecticut.
Pierce, a resident of Scituate, Massachusetts, had gathered in Plymouth
a force of Englishmen from Scituate, Marshfield, Duxbury, Eastham, and
Yarmouth, supported by twenty friendly natives from Cape Cod. Together,
this band marched to Taunton, then along the Old Seacuncke Road
(Tremont Street) to Rehoboth (now East Providence, Rhode Island).
There, they were joined by several men from Rehoboth, expanding their total
number to sixty-three English and twenty friendly natives.
Reports indicated that a large group of the enemy had gathered in the
area of Pawtucket Falls, an ideal location from which to catch alewives,
salmon, and shad, and a natural fording spot in the river.149Pierce and his
men set out in pursuit. On Saturday, March 25, they skirmished with the
Narragansett, perhaps north of the falls, where, historian Leonard Bliss
concludes, Pierce “met with no loss, but judged he had occasioned considerable
to the enemy.”
It is not unreasonable to think that Pierce had skirmished with a small
patrol sent intentionally to meet and test the English-an exercise broken
off by the natives once they had gathered information on the size and”
strength of their opponent. In any event, Pierce met no other natives and returned
for the night to the garrison at Old Rehoboth. Meanwhile, armed
with information from the skirmish, native leaders undoubtedly set to work
devising a trap for the English troops.
On Sunday, March 26, Pierce and his troops returned to the field, probably
marching from present-day East Providence, north along the Seekonk
River (which becomes the Blackstone River), back toward Pawtucket Falls.
It is said that as they marched, they were watched by Narragansett from
Dexter’s Ledge, now the site of Cogswell Tower in Jenks Park, Central Falls
(rough distance and heavily wooded terrain made this questionable).
Somewhere close to the Blackstone, perhaps near a fording spot where
Roosevelt Avenue now crosses the river, in what Bliss describes as an
“obscure woody place,” they spotted four or five Narragansett fleeing as
if wounded or hurt. Had a more experienced commander witnessed this
show, he might have immediately fallen back. However, Pierce and his
troops charged after the bait, suddenly finding themselves surrounded by
“about 500 Indians, who, in very good order, furiously attacked them.”
Pierce apparently met the ambush on the eastern side of the Blackstone,
but crossed to the western side, where the natives were engaged in force. A
contemporary account of the battle by an anonymous Boston merchant,
paraphrased by Bliss, made the English out to be as heroic as possible, but
the devastation was complete:
Our men had made the enemy retreat, but so slowly, that it scarce deserved
the name; when a fresh company of about 400 Indians came in,
so that the English and their few Indian friends, were quite surrounded
and beset on every side. Yet they made a brave resistance for above two
hours, during all which time they did great execution upon the enemy,
whom they kept at a distance, and themselves in order. For Captain
Pierce cast his 63 English and 20 Indians into a ring and fought back to
back, and were double-double distance all in one ring, whilst the Indians
were as thick as they could stand thirty deep: overpowered with
whose numbers, the said captain, and 55 of his English, and 10 of their
Indian friends were slain upon the place; which, in such cause, and
upon such disadvantages, may certainly be styled the bed of honour.
It is unlikely, of course, that nine hundred natives participated in the ambush.
Nor does it seem logical that eighty-three men, disadvantaged by surprise,
terrain, and numbers, would have much chance of forcing even four
hundred warriors to retreat. (Contemporary writers reported that Pierce
and his men killed 140 of their enemy, a figure undoubtedly inflated.)
However, if Pierce and his troops crossed the Blackstone near present-day
Roosevelt Avenue, the battle may have moved northward along the river to
a spot near present-day Macomber Field on High Street, where a commemorative
marker was placed in 1907. The marker reads:
PIERCE’S FIGHT
NEAR THIS SPOT
CAPTAIN MICHAEL PIERCE
AND HIS COMPANY OF
PLYMOUTH COLONISTS
AMBUSHED AND OUTNUMBERED WERE
ALMOST ANNIHILATED
By THE INDIANS
MARCH 26 1676
ERECTED By THE STATE OF RHODE ISLAND
IN 1907
A visit to this site today places the traveler in a heavily industrialized area
surrounded by factories and baseball fields. It is worth remembering, however,
that Central Falls was once the “North Woods” of Providence and
remained only sparsely settled throughout the eighteenth century.
Marching along, Pierce would have seen a wooded land of oak, walnut,
chestnut, and birch trees with three falls (Pawtucket to the south, Valley to
the north, and Central near the crossing at Roosevelt Avenue) supplying the
Narragansett with rich fishing grounds. ’59Bycontrast, present-day Central
Falls is so densely built that the Blackstone River is all but invisible from
nearby Cogswell Tower.
Not all of Pierce’s troops died in the ambush. Several of the friendly natives
devised ingenious means of escape. One blackened his face with powder
like the enemy and passed through their lines without incident.16oAnother
pretended to chase his comrade with a tomahawk, the two running past
their enemies and on to safety.161It appears also that nine English soldiers
escaped death during the ambush, though the details of their story are conjecture
only. One tradition holds that they had gone ahead of the main body
of troops and were chased into present-day Cumberland, where they made
their stand against a large rock and all perished.161
A more plausible explanation is that these nine survived the ambush,
were taken prisoner, and were marched northward about three miles to a
piece of upland surrounded by swamp known as Camp Swamp. Here, upon
a large rock, they were executed. It was several weeks before their bodies
were found, scalped and uncovered, on this rock. The men were buried
some seventy yards northeast of the rock in a common grave. Above this
grave a heap of small stones was used to construct a fourteen-foot-Iong
stone wall, some three feet high and one foot wide at the base. To this
day, residents know this place as Nine Men’s Misery.
In the early twentieth century a cairn of stones (since damaged) was
placed over the spot, and in 1928 a granite marker was set by the Rhode Island
Historical Society. The marker reads:
NINE MEN’S MISERY
ON THIS SPOT
WHERE THEY WERE SLAIN BY
THE INDIANS
WERE BURIED THE NINE SOLDIERS
CAPTURED IN PIERCE’S FIGHT
MARCH 26, 1676
The cairn and marker can be found near the former Cistercian Monastery
on Diamond Hill Road, about six-tenths of a mile south of Route 295 in
Cumberland. (These grounds are now home to the Hayden Library, the
Northern Rhode Island Collaborative School, the Cumberland Senior Citizens
Department, and other city services.) A dirt road, heading northnortheast
from the northeast corner of the grounds, leads directly to the
site, which requires about a quarter-mile walk. (Many residents walk and
jog in this area and are able to point a visitor in the right direction.)
Around the time of the American Revolution a physician dug up remains
from the grave, identifying one skeleton as that of Benjamin Buckland
of Rehoboth by its large frame and double set of teeth.r65 When the
Catholic Order of Monks purchased the land, remains of the men killed at
Nine Men’s Misery were dug up and given to the Rhode Island Historical
Society. During the 1976 bicentennial celebration, after the land had been
turned over to the town of Cumberland for its use, the bones were reburied
at their original site.
Science in the Basement
September 12, 2013
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- 841 Tenth St
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- sled hill
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- my room
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- sycamore
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- driveway
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- back yard
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- backboard
I spent a lot of time in the basement of this house in Oakmont, PA as a child. It contained a player piano, a bar, a collection of dress up clothing, a record player with records, bottles of pigment, some prisms, a Teslacoil, and some fluorescent lights. In the garage my dad kept bottles of crude oil he admired and chemicals he brought home from the lab to to experiments with me. I had to practice on the piano daily and I often played with my friends in the playroom downstairs and out in the back yard. We loved to play with the prisms, which my mom had made during WWII at an optics plant where she had worked. We also enjoyed grabbing the electric end of the Teslacoil and lighting up the over head lights with our other hand. How my parents decided that kids could play with the Teslacoil is a mystery, but they did not mind.
Before I left Oakmont I had a conversation with the doctor who presently lives in the house, Merrill D Bowan, O D who specializes in neurological optometry. He told me about his studies with brain injury patients using prisms. He has remarkable results helping people correct problems with proprioception and balance. His work all made perfect sense to me, although I had just met him in the driveway and asked if he minded if I took a picture in the backyard of the basketball backboard my grandfather put up over 50 years ago. When I looked around and stirred the memories I knew this was always a unique house in this neighborhood. Our house was special and different because my father was a mad scientist who enjoyed teaching me to make hydrogen bombs for recreation. The science energy is still there, alive in the brilliant and progressive mind of Dr. Bowan. It is somehow very natural. I am glad I had the chance to meet and talk to him.
September 11, Groundhog Day
September 11, 2013
— 4 Comments
In the United States we have post and future traumatic stress over the date September 11. We have built memorials, and have sacrificed lives around the world in reaction to September 11, 2001. Each year the date returns to mark our progress or our immersion in maya. The Yom Kippur War between Syria, Egypt and Israel is celebrating a 40th anniversary this year. This date represents heavy issues and memories to all players in that region. If we continue on the current path we should expect the future September 11th’s and Yom Kippurs to have a very creepy ring of dejá vu. This week in the Jewish calendar is set aside for paying debts and clearing the slate with confession and repentance. Each year there is a chance to forgive and be forgiven in a formal and conscious way in order to start the new year at peace. Each year we have used the dates to strengthen our resolve to take matters into our own hands and fix the universe. This is not our job. Our job is to be still and know that the same scene is being replayed in our lives for a liberating and educational reason. Our job is to shut up and get it.
mermaidcamp 