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#SelfCareSunday Family History Oddysey

September 10, 2017 — 2 Comments

Price Tower

Inn at Price Tower Bar

You may wonder why I am making family history the theme of today’s self care post. Many of you know I am an avid fan of genealogy study. I have been involved since 2008 with ancestry.com. My parents were both dead when I began my quest. I am including this advice to you on self care because if your ancestors are still living you have an opportunity to excavate their memories before it is too late. The elders crave attention and are often neglected socially. Asking them questions about their youth and their ancestors is not only a great way to include them socially, but learn and grow in the process. Pictures, stories, and either video or audio interviews will become priceless tools for future generations. Once you know what your own family did in history, you have a much better sense of world events.

I was able to gather some photos and direct information form my uncle by marriage. His wife, my father’s sister, had left behind some old photos. His kids were adopted, so nobody really wanted the pictures. He gathered up some boxes and an overnight bag, and we hit the road in Kansas. I picked him and the photos up in Wichita at his apartment. We drove to Bartlesville, OK to spend the night at the Inn At Price Tower, in Frank Lloyd Wright’s only executed skyscraper. We rented a two story very swanky apartment with loads of copper furniture and accents. There is so much copper in the construction of the building, inside and out, that they cannot get wifi to work at all. We rode the tiny copper elevator up to the copper cocktail lounge for a drink. After dinner on the town we sat in our living room on the first floor of our suite to review the photos. He told stories about most of them, and I chose the ones I wanted to take. It was a fun time for both of us. After breakfast with a view we left the Tower before the tour of the gallery and building, which I am sure is excellent.

Uncle Paul and I were off next to Independence, KS, where my father was born. There was a library and courthouse in town with genealogical information. I found some good material, including my maternal great-grandmother’s entire probate file, which was at the courthouse. I chose the pages I wanted, and the clerk of the court made copies and mailed them to me for a small fee. I learned a lot from reading the entire file, but selected pages with important facts or handwriting of my great-grandmother. Uncle Paul and I visited Coffeyville, KS and the vicinity where my family had settled, right next to the Cherokee Nation. Since he had lived around there most of his life, my uncle had lots of stories to tell about the past. It was fascinating, even when it did not involve my direct ancestors. The Cherokee Strip, which is the name of this area on the border of Kansas and Oklahoma, was the wild wild west, and my ancestors were part of it.

After I dropped my uncle back in Wichita he was able to stay in his own apartment only a few months longer. His health deteriorated to the point that he needed constant care. His daughter is a nurse, lived nearby, and was able to handle his care with the best possible circumstances. She got a job as a supervisor at the facility where he lived. After he passed away she moved to Arkansas, where she was born and my grandparents both died. There was some kind of full circle there. I will always be happy I went on that adventure seeking my ancestors. You don’t need to take a road trip to interview somebody in your family. Pick up the phone and learn more about your heritage and history by asking your elders, before it is no longer possible. I wish I had done more of that.

The act of reaching out to your elders to learn about the history of your family can be healing as well as enlightening to all participants. I advise that you consider this because photos and stories will be lost forever if nobody collects them. Take care of family history to take care of yourself. You can do this on line with digital records, and if you are lucky you can also do it with living relatives. If you are super lucky you can go in person to the places your ancestors lived in the company of someone who knows a lot about the place.

Elizabeth Cheney, 17th Great-Grandmother

May 5, 2017 — 2 Comments

St Augustine, Broxbourne, Herts

Elizabeth Cheney (1420 – 1473)
17th great-grandmother

Elizabeth Tilney (1450 – 1497)
daughter of Elizabeth Cheney

Lord Thomas Howard (1473 – 1554)
son of Elizabeth Tilney

Lady Katherine Howard Duchess Bridgewater (1495 – 1554)
daughter of Lord Thomas Howard

William ApRhys (1522 – 1588)
son of Lady Katherine Howard Duchess Bridgewater

Henry Rice (1555 – 1621)
son of William ApRhys

Edmund Rice (1594 – 1663)
son of Henry Rice

Edward Rice (1622 – 1712)
son of Edmund Rice

Lydia Rice (1649 – 1723)
daughter of Edward Rice

Lydia Woods (1672 – 1738)
daughter of Lydia Rice

Lydia Eager (1696 – 1735)
daughter of Lydia Woods

Mary Thomas (1729 – 1801)
daughter of Lydia Eager

Joseph Morse III (1756 – 1835)
son of Mary Thomas

John Henry Morse (1775 – 1864)
son of Joseph Morse III

Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of John Henry Morse

Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse

Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse

Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse

Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse

Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Elizabeth Cheney (April 1422 – 25 September 1473) was an English aristocrat, who, by dint of her two marriages, was the great-grandmother of Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, and Catherine Howard, three of the wives of King Henry VIII of England, thus making her great-great-grandmother to King Edward VI, the son of Henry VIII and Jane Seymour, and Elizabeth I, the daughter of Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Her first husband was SirFrederick Tilney, and her second husband was Sir John Say, Speaker of the House of Commons. She produced a total of nine children from both marriages.
Born in Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire in April 1422, she was the eldest child of Laurence or Lawrence Cheney or Cheyne, Esq. (c. 1396 – 1461), High Sheriff of Cambridgeshire and Elizabeth Cokayn or Cokayne[1] She had three younger sisters, Anne, wife of John Appleyard; Mary, wife of John Allington; Catherine, wife of Henry Barley, and one brother, Sir John Cheney who married Elizabeth Rempston, by whom he had issue. Sir John Cheney and his wife are ancestors of U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney. She had two half-brothers by her mother’s first marriage to Sir Philip Butler.

Her paternal grandparents were Sir William Cheney and Katherine Pabenham, and her maternal grandparents were Sir John Cockayne, Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Ida de Grey, the daughter of Reginald Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Eleanor Le Strange of Blackmere.[2]

Anne Boleyn, granddaughter of Elizabeth Tilney, eldest daughter of Elizabeth Cheney

On an unknown date, Elizabeth Cheney married her first husband Sir Frederick Tilney, of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, and Boston, Lincolnshire. He was the son of Sir Philip Tilney and Isabel Thorpe. They made their principal residence at Ashwellthorpe Manor. The couple had one daughter:

Elizabeth Tilney (before 1445 – 4 April 1497), married firstly in about 1466, Sir Humphrey Bourchier, by whom she had three children; and secondly on 30 April 1472, Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, who later became the 2nd Duke of Norfolk, by whom she had nine children. These children included Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth Howard, mother of Anne Boleyn, and Lord Edmund Howard, father of Catherine Howard.
Sir Frederick Tilney died in 1445, leaving their young daughter Elizabeth as heiress to his estates. Shortly before 1 December 1446, Elizabeth Cheney married secondly Sir John Say, of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, Speaker of the House of Commons, and a member of the household of King Henry VI. He was a member of the embassy, led by William de la Pole, which was sent to France in 1444 to negotiate with King Charles VII for the marriage between King Henry and Margaret of Anjou.[3] Her father settled land worth fifty marks clear per annum upon the couple and their issue before Candlemas, 1453. They made their home at Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.

Sir John Say and Elizabeth had three sons and four daughters:

Sir William Say (1452- 1529), of Baas (in Broxbourne), Bedwell (in Essendon), Bennington, Little Berkhampstead, and Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, Lawford, Essex, Market Overton, Rutland, etc., Burgess (M.P.) for Plympton, Knight of the Shire for Hertfordshire, Sheriff of Somerset and Dorset, 1478–9, Sheriff of Essex and Hertfordshire, 1482–3, Justice of the Peace for Hertfordshire, 1486–1506, and, in right of his 1st wife, of East Lydford, Radstock, Spaxton, Wellesleigh, and Wheathill, Somerset, and, in right of his 2nd wife, of Wormingford Hall (in Wormingford), Essex, Great Munden, Hertfordshire, etc. He married (1st) before 18 November 1472 (date of letters of attorney) Genevieve Hill, daughter/heiress of John Hill, of Spaxton, Somerset. She was still alive in 1478. He married (2nd) shortly after 18 April 1480 Elizabeth Fray, widow of Sir Thomas Waldegrave, by whom he had two daughters, Mary Say and Elizabeth Say.
Mary, the eldest daughter married Henry Bourchier, 1st Earl of Essex and 6th Baron Bourchier, by whom she had one daughter, Anne Bourchier, 7th Baroness Bourchier.

Thomas Say, of Liston Hall, Essex.
Leonard Say, clerk, Rector of Spaxton, Somerset. See Testamenta Eboracensia, 4 (Surtees Soc. 53) (1869): 86–88 (will of Leonard Say, clerk).
Anne Say (died 1478/1494), married Henry Wentworth, K.B., of Nettlestead, Suffolk, Goxhill, Lincolnshire, Parlington and Pontefract, Yorkshire, and of London, Esquire of the Household, Knight of the Body, Sheriff of Norfolk and Suffolk, 1481–82, Sheriff of Yorkshire, 1489–90, 1492, Knight of the Shire for Yorkshire, 1491–92, by whom she had issue, including Margery Wentworth, mother of Jane Seymour.
Mary Say, married Sir Philip Calthorpe, Knt., by whom she had issue.
Margaret Say, married Thomas Sampson, Esq.
Katherine Say, married Thomas Bassingbourne.

Fen Ditton from River Cam

Elizabeth Tilney, 16th Great-Grandmother

May 3, 2017 — 8 Comments

Elizabeth Tilney

Elizabeth Tilney, Countess of Surrey, was an English heiress and lady-in-waiting to two queens. She became the first wife of Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey. She served as a lady-in-waiting to Queen consort Elizabeth Woodville, and later as Lady of the Bedchamber to the Queen’s daughter, Elizabeth of York, consort of King Henry VII of England. She stood as joint godmother to Princess Margaret Tudor at her baptism.
She was the mother of Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk. Through her daughter Elizabeth she was the maternal grandmother of Anne Boleyn, and through another son, Edmund, the paternal grandmother of Catherine Howard, both queens consort of King Henry VIII. Elizabeth’s great-granddaughter was Queen Elizabeth I of England.
Elizabeth was commemorated as the “Countess of Surrey” in John Skelton’s poem, The Garlande of Laurell, following his visit to the Howard residence of Sheriff Hutton Castle.

Elizabeth Tilney was born at Ashwellthorpe Hall sometime before 1445, the only child of Sir Frederick Tilney, of Ashwellthorpe, Norfolk, and Boston, Lincolnshire, and Elizabeth Cheney (1422–1473) of Fen Ditton, Cambridgeshire. Sir Frederick Tilney died before 1447, and before 1449 Elizabeth’s mother married as her second husband Sir John Say of Broxbourne, Hertfordshire, Speaker of the House of Commons, by whom she had three sons, Sir William, Sir Thomas and Leonard, and four daughters, Anne (wife of Sir Henry Wentworth of Nettlestead, Suffolk), Elizabeth (wife of Thomas Sampson), Katherine (wife of Thomas Bassingbourne), and Mary (wife of Sir Philip Calthorpe). A fifth daughter died as a young child. Henry VIII’s third queen consort, Jane Seymour, was the granddaughter of Henry Wentworth and Anne Say, and thus a second cousin to Henry VIII’s second and fifth queens consort, Anne Boleyn and Katherine Howard.

Elizabeth’s paternal grandparents were Sir Philip Tilney and Isabel Thorpe, and her maternal grandparents were Sir Laurence Cheney of Fen Ditton and Elizabeth Cockayne, widow of Sir Philip Butler. Elizabeth Cockayne was the daughter of Sir John Cockayne, Chief Baron of the Exchequer and Ida de Grey. Ida was a daughter of Welsh Marcher Lord Reginald Grey, 2nd Baron Grey de Ruthyn and Eleanor Le Strange of Blackmere. Through her mother, Ida was a direct descendant of Welsh Prince Gruffydd II ap Madog, Lord of Dinas Bran and his wife Emma de Audley.

Elizabeth was co-heiress to the manors of Fisherwick and Shelfield in Walsall, Staffordshire by right of her descent from Roger Hillary, Chief Justice of the Common Pleas (d.1356).

Elizabeth married her first husband, Sir Humphrey Bourchier, the son and heir of John Bourchier, 1st Baron Berners, and his wife Margery, in about 1466. The marriage produced a son, John Bourchier, 2nd Baron Berners and two daughters. Following her marriage, Elizabeth went to court where she served as lady-in-waiting to Queen Elizabeth Woodville, whose train she had carried at the latter’s coronation in May 1465 at Westminster Abbey. Elizabeth accompanied the Queen and her children into sanctuary at Westminster Abbey when King Edward IV had been ousted from the throne, and was present at the birth of the future King Edward V. She remained with the Queen until Edward IV was restored to power.

Sir Humphrey was killed at the Battle of Barnet on 14 April 1471 fighting on the Yorkist side. On 30 April 1472 Elizabeth married Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey, a marriage arranged by the King. In 1475, Elizabeth inherited her father’s property of Ashwellthorpe Manor. Her second husband was a close friend and companion of Richard, Duke of Gloucester who was crowned king in 1483. Elizabeth was one of Queen Anne Neville’s attendants at Richard’s coronation, while her husband bore the Sword of State. On 22 August 1485 Thomas’s father John Howard, 1st Duke of Norfolk was killed at the Battle of Bosworth while fighting for Richard III; like his son, John was also one of King Richard’s dearest friends. Thomas Howard was wounded at Bosworth and imprisoned in the Tower for several years, and the dukedom of Norfolk was forfeited. Elizabeth was fortunate that Thomas’ attainder stipulated that she would not lose her own inheritance. On 3 October 1485, she wrote to John Paston, who was married to her cousin. The letter, which she had written from the Isle of Sheppey, mentioned how she had wished to send her children to Thorpe, pointing out that Paston had pledged to send her horses as a means of transporting them there. She continued to complain that Lord FitzWalter, an adherent of the new king Henry VII, had dismissed all of her servants; however, because of the stipulations in her husband’s attainder, FitzWalter was unable to appropriate her manor of Askwell. In December 1485 she was living in London, near St Katharine’s by the Tower, which placed her in the vicinity of her incarcerated husband. After Thomas was released from prison and his earldom and estates were restored to him, he entered the service of Henry VII. In November 1487, Thomas and Elizabeth attended the coronation of Henry’s consort Elizabeth of York, who appointed Elizabeth a Lady of the Bedchamber. Elizabeth was further honoured by being asked to stand as joint godmother to the Princess Margaret Tudor at her baptism in late 1489.

Her second marriage produced nine children, including Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Elizabeth Howard, mother of Queen Anne Boleyn, and Lord Edmund Howard, father of Queen Katherine Howard.

Elizabeth Tilney died on 4 April 1497 and was buried in the nun’s choir of the Convent of the Minoresses outside Aldgate. In her will, she left money to be distributed to the poor of Whitechapel and Hackney. By licence dated 8 November 1497 Thomas Howard married as his second wife her cousin, Agnes Tilney, by whom he had six more children.

Lady Elizabeth Tilney was governess to 1st Princess Mary Tudor and then later to Princess Elizabeth Tudor.

Elizabeth Tilney (1450 – 1497)
16th great-grandmother
Lord Thomas Howard (1473 – 1554)
son of Elizabeth Tilney
Lady Katherine Howard Duchess Bridgewater (1495 – 1554)
daughter of Lord Thomas Howard
William ApRhys (1522 – 1588)
son of Lady Katherine Howard Duchess Bridgewater
Henry Rice (1555 – 1621)
son of William ApRhys
Edmund Rice (1594 – 1663)
son of Henry Rice
Edward Rice (1622 – 1712)
son of Edmund Rice
Lydia Rice (1649 – 1723)
daughter of Edward Rice
Lydia Woods (1672 – 1738)
daughter of Lydia Rice
Lydia Eager (1696 – 1735)
daughter of Lydia Woods
Mary Thomas (1729 – 1801)
daughter of Lydia Eager
Joseph Morse III (1756 – 1835)
son of Mary Thomas
John Henry Morse (1775 – 1864)
son of Joseph Morse III
Abner Morse (1808 – 1838)
son of John Henry Morse
Daniel Rowland Morse (1838 – 1910)
son of Abner Morse
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Daniel Rowland Morse
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse
I am the daughter of Richard Arden Morse

Ashwellthorpe

Nicholas Morris, Virginia Colonist

November 2, 2016 — 10 Comments

Immigrant to Virginia Colony

My eighth great-grandfather Nicholas Morris “the Immigrant” was born in England in 1605. He died in St Stephens Parish, Northumberland Co. Virginia on 20 Jan 1663. He was a Justice of the Court by profession. His wife, Martha, was born in England about 1609. She remarried after Nicholas died.

Nicholas Morris owned land on the Great Wicomico River before 1651. His near neighbor and associate was John Mottram, an English Protestant who had frequent visitors among those who had been banished from the colony of Maryland.
Nicholas and his wife, Martha (poss.Mottram) were living in the Virginia Colony by 1641, and first lived on land leased from John Upton. By April 1652, Nicholas was well-established in Northumberland County and was appointed a justice along with John Haynie.
Will probabted, in Virginia, data from familysearch.com per Ancestral File, ver. 4.19. According to Tidewater Virginia Families by Virginia Lee Hutcheson Davis, his will was presented in court in Northumberland Co.,VA on 20 Jan 1664, so he had to have died previous to that. He left his son, Anthony Morris, the plantation on which he lived, containing 550 acres and his wife, the land called “ye Island, being 506 acres”. He also bequeathed to his daughter, Jane (Morris) Haynie, one cow and to each of his three grandchildren, Martha, Elizabeth and Richard Haynie, one yearling heifer.
Martha Morris later married Thomas Lane, a wealthy land owner of Northumberland Co.
She signed her Morris inheritance over to her son, Anthony, on 15 July 1665.
Children:
Thomas Morris
John Morris
George Morris
Abraham Morris
Mary Morris
Elizabeth Morris
Edward Morris b. Bet. 1626 – 1652
Nickolas Morris b. Bet. 1626 – 1652
William Morris b. Bet. 1628 – 1642
Jane Morris b. About. 1630 in VA
Anthony Morris b. 1645 in Northumberland Co., VA m.Dorothy Samford (Wife) Marriage: 1665

Nicholas Morris (1605 – 1664)
8th great-grandfather
John Morris (1633 – 1713)
son of Nicholas Morris
William Morris (1659 – 1727)
son of John Morris
Thomas Morris (1678 – 1741)
son of William Morris
Thomas Morris (1730 – 1791)
son of Thomas Morris
Joanna Morris (1762 – 1839)
daughter of Thomas Morris
John Samuel Taylor (1798 – 1873)
son of Joanna Morris
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

Nicholas Morris served as a Justice of the Northumberland County Court eighteen times between 10 July 1652 and 21 Feb 1658/59 (Northumberland County Order Book 1650-1652, p. 64 and 1652-1665). He also signed the Great Oath (Northumberland County Order Book 1650-1652 p. 139b) VIRGINIA GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY NOV 1986. When he died, he left and estate of 1000 acres in his 1664 will.

Eight Years of Genealogy Studies

October 13, 2016 — 1 Comment

1900 Census

My grandpa Ernie

I will soon celebrate my anniversary as a student of my family history. I joined Ancestry.com during the financial crash of 2008. I had just inherited some stocks and bonds when they began to vanish into thin air before my very eyes. I was watching a website following the stock market when I saw an ad for the Ancestry site. I decided to take the free offer of two weeks because I was sure I could learn everything I needed to know in that two weeks. I had not planned to stay on for the paying contract. The first piece of evidence I found was the 1900 census taken on Indian Territory in Oklahoma. My grandfather lived there with his father and step mother. The census taker recorded him and his brother Ed as children of this Cherokee woman who was my grandfather’s second wife. This lady, Annie, turned out to be a relatively famous Cherokee con woman. In this census she says she was born in New Mexico in 1854. That is pretty suspicious since she says her parents were born in Georgia and North Carolina, a place where the Cherokees originated. She would be under very special circumstances to be born as a Cherokee in New Mexico in 1854. Later she says in other census records that she was born in Florida. She did have a reputation within the Morse family as a witch. I did not know any of this when I saw this record of my grandpa on the Cherokee Nation at the age of 10. I started searching madly to learn more about him and all my other ancestors. I became fascinated with all the history I learned and the puzzle of matching up the data with the tree. When the two weeks had passed I signed up for a permanent membership, and never looked back.

Now that I am a relatively sophisticated investigator of my ancestry I would urge beginners to follow some simple guidelines in order to have the best results:

Be very careful to verify records of all kinds
Don’t take other people’s research as factual
Be aware that spelling was a very loose discipline in old records
Triple check the identity of relatives with common names like John Taylor
There is specious data printed in many places, including history books
Travel to the physical places your ancestors lived can be revealing
Be willing to admit mistakes and go about corrections when you find them
Read and study about the places and times in which they lived for depth

There are more records available all the time. Since I joined the DNA study at Ancestry I have found new information and connections. My yearly subscription to this vast database is the best entertainment value for my dollar. I thought I would be done in 2 weeks, but now I know I can’t quit until I reach Adam and Eve. Have you ever looked into your own family history, gentle reader? What surprised you?

DNA, History, Connections

September 11, 2016 — 2 Comments

My Ethnicity Map

REGIONAPPROXIMATE AMOUNT
Europe 99%
Great Britain 85%
Europe West 6%
Trace Regions 8%
West Asia < 1%
Trace Regions < 1%

I have studied my ancestry since 2008, and have made much progress. There are several dead ends that seem kind of hopeless. My maternal grandmother was an orphan who was adopted right after the Civil War in Mississippi in a county where the courthouse burned to the ground with all the records. I know who her adopted parents were, and that she had a brother named Fidel who was adopted by the same family. My paternal 2nd great-grandfather was part of a Swiss/Pennsylvania Dutch family. I know who his nephew was because I have written notes form my own great-grandmother. I can trace his nephew back to Virginia, and then to Switzerland, but I can find no record of his birth. I have not found his parents out of all the Petersons scattered all over the Midwest. I hold a grudge against the state of Indiana for this oversight/problem, because that was the state of his birth. I desperately want to hook up the data, but can’t find the hard evidence to do so.

The big problem with records of all kinds is that they were created by human beings. There are errors for all kinds of reasons. Since all these cases are extremely cold I have no way to verify anything I might find in writing beyond a shadow of a doubt. I have made errors because of common names like Taylor, Smith and Morse in my tree that can easily be mistaken for another person with the same last name. Still, I do learn a lot about the history of the times even when I am proceeding along an erroneous lead. When I find errors sometimes I can rebuild with accurate data easily, but often I am back to square one without a clue.

I sent my DNA sample to Ancestry.com when the service was first available. With few folks in the study my DNA was described as 99.9% from the British Isles. Now the a few years have passed and more comparison DNA has been added I am only 85% from Britain. I have not paid too much attention to this data, only checking in infrequently. The impressive part of this data is that I now have 540 4th cousins or closer in the site’s database. I have started looking at this as a new way to trace the connections because I was recently contacted by an adopted man looking for his birth parents. His closest DNA match is a 2nd cousin of mine. He and I do not show any match, but male DNA, containing the y chromosome, has more detailed information, as I have recently discovered. I began to research more about how these tests work and what we can discern from them. My relative in search of his roots informed me that a match can go back for up to 12 generations. Finally all my research may be useful to solve this adopted man’s mystery. He has turned my attention to this fascinating element of genealogy research that I had not really used. I don’t think I will solve my brick walls (as we call the dead ends in family trees), but it does give me a new way to discover my connections to all my relations. I am grateful all these 540 people felt curious enough to send in DNA samples for our mutual benefit. Have you examined your DNA, gentle reader? Any surprises?

Samuel Wilbore, Pioneer Wheeler Dealer

May 30, 2016 — 13 Comments

Central Burial Grounds Boston

My 10th great-grandfather was banished from the colony of Massachusetts, and signed the Portsmouth Compact. He did not stay in Rhode Island for very long, but returned to live in Boston, where he was one of the citizens who purchased the Boston Common and donated it to the town. I am not sure how he became un-banished, but his case is not the only un-banishment in our family. He kept his property in Rhode Island and had extensive holdings in Boston as well. He was in the wool business.

Portsmith Compact

Samuel Wilbore and wife Ann, came to America before 1 December, 1633 and lived in Boston. May have come 4 September, 1633 on ship “Griffin” He was a merchant, had a ship, probably sold cloth and lumber and was in the wool business.
He and 6 men under him guarded the gate at Roxbury. He sold his home on what is now Washington St. to Samuel Sherman. In 1634, he and William Blackstene bought “Boston Commons” and gave it to the town. Made “Freeman” 4 March 1633/4 and with John Porter and Philly Sherman bought Aquidneck Island, (Rhode Island). He was banished from Boston 30 August 1637, and disarmed 20 November 1637 and went to Portsmouth, R.I. because of his association with a religious group lead by Anne Hutchinson, Mr. Wheelwright and possibly Roger Williams. Anne Hutchinson was the unauthorized Puritan preacher of a dissident church discussion group.
Rhode Island had become a haven for persecuted religious sects. These people, called Antinomians, believed that the moral laws as taught by the Church of England were of no value and that the only law that should be followed was that of the Gospel. Quakers, who eventually merged with the Antinomians, established a meeting house on Aquidneck in 1657.
11 January 1638/9 he was constable at Portsmouth. He owned land at Nt. Wolliston (now Quincy). With Ralph Earle he built a planing mill at Portsmouth,1640. By 1645 was back in Boston, though he kept his Portsmouth and Taunton land, and lived on Mill Street. He was wealthy and gave to the 1st free school in America. The early spelling was “Welleboro”, a Norman name. In 1626 he was a “juror” in Sible Hedington, Essex, England.

Samuel Wilbore (1595 – 1656)
10th great-grandfather
Dorothy Wilbore (1617 – 1696)
daughter of Samuel Wilbore
Elizabeth Albro (1646 – 1720)
daughter of Dorothy Wilbore
Benjamin Congdon (1676 – 1756)
son of Elizabeth Albro
William Congdon (1711 – 1755)
son of Benjamin Congdon
Frances Congdon (1738 – 1755)
daughter of William Congdon
Thomas Sweet (1765 – 1844)
son of Frances Congdon
Valentine Sweet (1791 – 1858)
son of Thomas Sweet
Sarah LaVina Sweet (1840 – 1923)
daughter of Valentine Sweet
Jason A Morse (1862 – 1932)
son of Sarah LaVina Sweet
Ernest Abner Morse (1890 – 1965)
son of Jason A Morse
Richard Arden Morse (1920 – 2004)
son of Ernest Abner Morse
Pamela Morse

Samuel Wilbore was born in Jan 1595 in Sible Hedingham, Essex, England. He died on 29 Sep 1656 in Boston, Suffolk, Massachusetts. Samuel married Ann Smith on 13 Jan 1619/1620 in Sible, Hedingham, Essex, England.

Samuel Wildbore, said to have been born in 1585, came to Boston not later than 1633, and was admitted to the First Church of Boston on December 1/1633. His house was on the neck of land between the island and the mainland, now called Washington St. and later Milk Street. In 1634 Samuel and others bought the Boston Common for the town, from William Blackstone whose ownership was acknowledged by an entry in the Town Records as early as 1633 by which it was agreed that William Blackstone shall have 50 acres set off to him near his house in Boston. The Town Records have the following statement in reference to Samuel Wildbore’s share in the purchase of the Common. “The 10th day of the 9th month 1654: Item, Edmund Quinsey, Samuel Wildbore, William Baulston, Edward Hutchinson the elder, and William heesborough, constable, shall make and assess all the rates, viz, a rate of œ30 to William Blackstone”. Blackstone sold the whole parcel of land except 6 acres immediately adjoining his house. On August 6/1635, Samuel gave œ10 towards a free school, the first in America. Governor Winthrop gave a like amount, and none other gifts exceeded this amount. Samuel also had a piece of land on Essex St., near where the Touraine Hotel now stands. Samuel married in 1620, at Sibley Hedringham, England, Ann Smith. Most genealogies wrongly give her name as Ann Bradford. Samuel was made freeman on March 4/1634. He bought much property in Taunton and likewise possessed considerable holdings in Boston, evidently dividing his place of residence between the two places. While in Taunton, he with others, embraced the “dangerous doctrines” as they were then called, of Cotton and Wheelwright, for which in 1637 he was banished from the Massachusetts Colony. Acting upon the advice of Roger Williams, he and seventeen others fled to Providence, R.I., where they purchased the island of Aquidnec, (now Rhode Island) from the Naragansett Indians, and early in 1638 moved his family there and formed a colony on March 7/1638. Full details of the purchase and history of this action is contained in the Genealogies quoted, but too long to insert here. He did not remain in Rhode Island for long, and returned to Boston in 1645 and built the first iron furnace in New England at Taunton, now Raynham, on the main road from Tilicut to Taunton. He was clerk of the town board in 1638, Constable in 1639, Sergeant in 1644. He married, 2nd, before November 29/1645, Elizabeth Lechford, widow of Thomas Lechford. Date of his second marriage and date of death of his first wife Ann are not known. Samuel died July 24/1656. After his death Elizabeth married, 2nd, on December 20/1656, Henry Bishop who died in 1664: Elizabeth died in 1665. Samuel was a man of wealth and he was of very respectable standing in society, exerting a wide influence in each of the places he dwelt. His will was dated April 30/1656.

Ann SMITH-8832 was born on 13 Jan 1598 in Sible, Hedingham, Essex, England. She died on 24 Sep 1636 in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts. Ann married Samuel WILDBORE-8833 on 13 Jan 1619/1620 in Sible, Hedingham, Essex, England.
They had the following children.
MiSamuel WILBORE-8830 was born on 10 Apr 1622. He died in 1697. MiiWilliam WILBORE-8838 was born on 21 May 1630. He died on 15 Apr 1710.

Born Farming

December 9, 2012 — 5 Comments

I was a born farmer, entitled to play with everything on my grandparent’s farm. While my parents pitched in to help, I was given free reign of the place. My grandparents, Olga and Ernest Morse lived and farmed in Lincoln, Arkansas at the end of their lives after careers in teaching (my grandmother had a masters in education) and oil well drilling ( my grandfather drilled for oil before the rotary bit was invented). I did not know them before they had the farm, so I always think of them as farmers.

Pam and flowers 1953

Pam and the Fam on the farm

Here is my look in 1960, on Christmas at my grandparents’ farm in Arkansas…very American Gothic in my opinion:

A girl and her farm

Christmas 1960 Pam & Father

I met my cousin Mary in Tulsa a couple of years ago to trace the heritage of our mutual great grandmother. We did not remember that we had met in 1964 at her grandfather’s house in Iowa. Our grandfathers were brothers who followed different paths. They both did migrant labor as very young boys, traveling to work picking corn in Iowa and beyond.