Like many of you, genealogy is my guilty pleasure. I find hours of enjoyment digging through vital records, family genealogies, and town histories uncovering the lives of my ancestors. It was during one such search, that I uncovered not only my Tilley/Howland line, but also my ‘propositus’ [the one from whom a lineage descends] in the Society of the Cincinnati. It could be said that I ‘commune with the dead’ when I’m engaged in family research. I ‘hear’ ancestors calling to be discovered and … if I don’t listen … they keep me up at night until I finally do. My maternal grandfather’s line was no exception. This family line was relatively easy to research having inherited the family bible dating to the early 1800’s. I didn’t need to unearth many generations before I found my connection to the Cobbs, then the Vaughans, and finally Hope Chipman, the daughter of Hope Howland, the daughter of John Howland & Elizabeth Tilley, the daughter of John Tilley and Joan Hurst. [cue the heavenly music and an image of the Mayflower’s landing] But one ancestor’s spirit would not let me sleep: my 6th great grandfather, John Sawyer, the great grandson of Hope Chipman, haunted me. Somehow, the photo of John’s gravestone appeared every time I opened my laptop. Staring at that photo, I could not ‘hear’ what it was telling me. That is, until December of 2017 when I finally ‘listened’. The U.S. Gov’t issued white marble headstone read: John Sawyer, QM, 8 Mass Vols. Rev. War. John was not a minuteman, but a Continental Officer. He served as Lieutenant and Quartermaster at Valley Forge, and fought in the Battles of Trenton & Princeton. The Society of the Cincinnati later confirmed that not only was John was an eligible officer, but that no one in over 200 years had claimed him as their propositus. No wonder he kept me awake at night. John wanted his legacy to be acknowledged & remembered. The Anderson House, headquarters of the Society of the Cincinnati, in Washington, D.C hosts a Master Teacher Seminar every summer, through the American Revolution Institute, the educational branch of the Society. The Anderson House also houses their library that contains the world’s most comprehensive collection of Revolutionary War materials. Last summer, I had the honor of being accepted into their program as one of their master teachers. It was an incredible experience – not only as a teacher, but as a member as well. Working with teachers from around the coutnry to research & create lesson plans to be used in U.S. History classes coast to coast was inspiring. I held an original copy of Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, as well correspondences from Hamilton and Washington… in my bare hands. Talk about touching history! Following my week at the MTS, I traveled to Buxton, Maine, the hometown of Lt. John, to visit Nancy Sawyer Pierce, my first cousin (5x removed), who lives in the home that John built when he returned home from the war. Nancy shared documents pertaining to John’s war service, including the transcript of a letter to ‘His Excellency, Gen. Washington’ explaining John’s reasons to ‘leave service’. John needed to return home to run the farm [below] as his father’s health was failing. During my visit, I walked the land he farmed, and ‘surveyed’ the fields, as I’m sure he often did. In 1973, the barn was struck by lightening and burned to the ground. Nancy suspects that any of John’s personal items, which might have been stored in the attic, were lost as well. The exact location of John’s grave has been lost over time, but today his white marble headstone stands next to the church he once attended: a memorial to a life not forgotten. This appeared in the Spring '19 edition of the Evergreen Log of the Washington State Society of Mayflower Descendants
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It’s Memorial Day weekend and I’m sitting in my back yard on the park bench that once belonged to my mother, while our dog, Jezzie, sleeps at my feet dreaming of dog adventures, I’m most certain. Two monarch butterflies dance among the gardens: One, an herb garden, bears a marker ‘1692’ in honor of my 9th gr grandmothers, Rebecca Nurse and Susannah Martin, both hanged during the Salem Witch Trials. The other, blooming with white roses, foxgloves, hostas and coral-bells, honors my ancestors who signed the Magna Charta. The royal ‘standard’ flies gracefully over the flowerbed. Growing up, Memorial Day was a time for honoring the past – those who served our country, as well as those who had ‘gone before.’ Those last weeks of May would find my mother chauffeuring her parents to local cemeteries, tending the graves of their parents, grandparents, and even great-grandparents. The dead were made ‘alive’ through long treasured stories shared while tending their graves. Stories of love, loss, and sacrifice instructed me early on of life’s ‘grit’, as well as the traits of the souls that formed the bedrock of the life I had inherited. As a genealogist, the dead are never far. Like a ‘cloud of witnesses,’ they inform me about the world around me. I find myself trying to understand my ancestors’ lives, as if I were searching for the words of a long forgotten song. As Society members, history is alive to us in our present, not merely as pages from the past, but as the lives of our foremothers & forefathers. Those of us who were able to attend the Annual Meeting heard from the Governor General the efforts to preserve the Meetinghouse in Plymouth for future generations. The Meetinghouse is the spiritual bedrock of our nation. Tangible evidence of both the Pilgrims’ journey itself, and the writing of the Compact: religious freedom and a ‘civil body politic’ held together these last four centuries by stone and mortar. We have the opportunity to preserve that monument for future generations, continuing to tell the stories of a group of Saints and Sinners, on a less than ideal vessel, who sailed across the Atlantic following their principles and ideals to establish a new colony. Like those two butterflies dancing among the flowers, we move between the stories of the past – our own past, and that of our ancestors. Stories that remind us of the life we have lived, as well as those whose lives shaped our own, through their fervent beliefs and democratic ideals, forged through blood, sweat, and tears. This appeared in the Summer '18 edition of the Evergreen Log of the Washington State Society of Mayflower Descendants I love ancestry. I love knowing the stories, saying the names, and finding connections to places and events that could seem distant and unrelated ... but were, and are, part of my story. This morning I came across the following story - but my connection to it is what excites me.
I am a descendant of Deacon Samuel Wheelock - [on my father's maternal mother's side] - the first European family to settle in Shrewsbury, my hometown. Samuel had two sons: Gershom who built the first home in town, and his brother Samuel, Jr. from whom I descend. Samuel, Jr. married Huldah Rice from Westborough, the neighboring town. Samuel, Jr. and Huldah had a son whom they named Nabor, who is my 7th gr grandfather. Nabor is named for his maternal uncle, Nabor Rice, who was killed in an Indian raid in Westborough in 1704. Nabor's brothers Silas, age 9, and Timothy, age 7, along with his cousins Asher, age 10, and Adjoniah, age 8, were kidnapped by the Indians and taken to Canada, where they were converted to Catholicism and were assimilated into Native American Culture. Asher was the only one who ever returned home. Timothy loses his ability to understand English, and requires a translator to communicate with Europeans. Eventually, the Governor of Massachusetts asks Timothy, who was by now a Kahnawake clan chief who went by the Iroquois name Oughtzorongoughton, through his translator Mr. Tarbell, also a captured European, to intervene with the Native populations to ask them to not join forces with the British during the American Revolution. www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/four-rice-boys-captured-indians-1704-three-rice-boys-decide-stay/ Lieut. Nathaniel Harrington (1742 – 1831), son of Francis and Prudence (Stearns) Harrington, was born (date/month unknown) 1742 in Worcester, Massachusetts. On 2 July 1776, at the age of 34, he married Ruth Stone, daughter of Deacon Jonathan and Ruth (Livermore) Stone in Worcester. Upon his marriage, his father gave ½ of the family farm as a wedding gift.[1] His Revolutionary War service began as 2nd Sergeant of the Company of Minute Men, under the command of Captain Timothy Bigelow; Colonel Artemas Ward’s regiment, marching from Worcester to Cambridge on the Alarm of 19 April 1775. His service at the time was 5 days[2]. He served as 1st Sergeant in Captain Jonas Hubbard’s company; Colonel Jonathon Ward’s regiment, beginning 24 April 1775, at which time he served three months and 15 days. He served in the same capacity, in the same company & regiment at Dorchester, dated 7 October 1775, length of service not given. He served in Captain William Gates’ 1st Worcester Co. Company; Colonel Samuel Denny’s regiment and was commissioned as 2nd Lieutenant on 5 April 1776. Later he served in Captain Joshua Whitney’s company in the 5th Worcester Co. regiment of Massachusetts militia, being commissioned as 1st Lieutenant on 5 June 1777. At the end of the same month, he was commissioned as Lieutenant of Captain Jesse Stone’s company; Colonel Job Cushing’s regiment, marching to Bennington, per order of Brigadier General Warner on 27 July 1777, a service of one month and nine days; including 6 days (120 miles) travel home. He is listed as discharged on 29 August 1777.[3] Nathaniel returned to life in Worcester, his occupation listed as a farmer and a hog reeve. Nathaniel and Ruth had three children, all born on the Harrington Farm; Captain Francis, born 15 May 1777; Jonathan, born 31 October 1779; and Sarah, born 14 August 1786. In 1781, his father conveyed to him his pew in the Old South Meeting House and 120 acres of land for the price of 400 pounds. Upon the death of his father in 1793, he inherited the remainder of his father’s farm. On 25 December 1796, Nathaniel, and a number of his neighbors, purchased a ‘triangular piece of land’ for the purpose of erecting the first schoolhouse in this sector of Worcester. [4] He was elected a Selectman (1803-1809), a member of the school committee for eight years, as a surveyor of highways and a collector of taxes (1790-1808). Upon his death on 28 February 1831, at the age of 89 years old, his estate had grown to over 450 acres, the largest farm in Worcester,[5] and was divided between his two sons, Francis and Jonathan. He was buried beside his wife, who died on 24 August 1817, in the Mechanic Street Burial ground. His grave was relocated, [6] along with many others, to Hope Cemetery circa 1878. [1] Weis, Frederick Lewis, Th.D. Early Generations of the Family of Robert Harrington of Watertown, Massachusetts 1634 and Some of His Descendants. Worcester, MA: Privately Printed, 1958. Print. [2] Lincoln, William. History of Worcester, Massachusetts; from Its Earliest Settlers to 1836. Worcester, MA: Charles Hershey, 1862. Print. [3] Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War: A Compilation from the Archives. Vol. 7. Boston: Wright and Potter Print., State Printers, 1896. Online database. [4] Bouley, Charles Henry. A Narrative History of the Harrington Family in Worcester, Massachusetts. Worcester, MA: Privately Printed, 1963. Print. [5] Weis, p 29. [6] O'Flynn, Thomas Francis, B.S. The Story of Worcester, Massachusetts. Boston: Little, Brown, &, 1910. Print. Submitted by Rev. Bruce David Harrington, SAR# 194981 5th gr. grandson of Nathaniel Harrington 24 July 2015 |
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