#52 Ancestors - John Crowe II (~1639 - 28 Jan 1689)

 Week # 9  - John Crowe II (<1639 - 28 Jan 1689)

An ancestor a week for 52 Weeks!   #52ancestors

Lots of discussion on the spelling of this family name.  It seems it was once Crowe but then when the II was added for John Crowe 2d, the spelling changed to Crowell.  

John Crowe II, our 7th great-grandfather, son of John and Elishua, was born before 1639,[1] and married Mehetable Miller by 1662.[2] She was born at Roxbury, July 12, 1638, the daughter of the Rev. John Miller.[3] They resided at "Nobscussett [now called Dennis]." John was called, after the death of his father [in 1673], "Senior", to distinguish him from John Crow, son of Yelverton Crowe.[3] He died 28 Jan 1688-9. Mehitable died 23 Feb 1714-15, age 76.[4] Although the record of their children's births is lost, John's estate was settled at the Prerogative Court  [an ecclesiastical court exercising probate jurisdiction] held in Barnstable, and his children then living were named in the settlement. You can see below that we are descended from two of John Sr's children.

In keeping with the theme of writing about children of our ancestors who were part of the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640) we see that John 2d's father, John Sr., mother and two oler siblings embarked 8 May 1635 on the "Hopewell" under Master John Driver from Weymouth, Norfolk, England. "Family" most likely included Elizabeth and Yelverton, and perhaps Nasare.[6]. They migrated to Charlestown, Massachusetts, and then moved to Yarmouth in Plymouth Colony.[4] There are extensive sources on this family which can be found at Wikitree[5].

Probate once again provides great insight. 6 March 1688/9  "John Crow the Eldest Son ... to have and Injoy the house and all the Lands...after the death of his mother mehittable Crow and the sd mehitable Crow to have and Injoy the third part there of during her natural Life. ...mehittable Crow and Lidya Crow the Daughters of sd deceased having had alredy considerable of theirs the other two thirds of his personal estat to be equally devided between his Children Samuel Crow Jeremiah Crow Elizabeth Crow Susanna Crow and Hannah Crow.  

It sounds like daughters Mehitable and Lydia had already received a "dowery" since they were married before John's death.  Without the will we would have difficulty proving who the children were.

Children order uncertain:

1-John, [our 6th great-grandfather] eldest son, born 1662, married Bethia Sears, 1684

2-Samuel

3-Mehitable, mar. Thomas Tobey Jr. about 1675

4-Lydia, married Ebenezer Goodspeed, Feb. 15, 1677-8.

5-Elizabeth, [our 6th great-grandmother] poss. married Thomas Clark 1689

6-Jeremiah, born 1670, married Hannah Rider 1705

7-Susannah

8-Hannah, born April 1, 1677, married Joseph Studley April, 1706.

One of my favorite places on Cape Cod is Crowe's Pasture on Quivet Neck in East Dennis.  It is bounded by Cape Cod Bay on the north and Quivet Creek on the south. It has now become a conservation area, part of the Dennis Conservation Land Trust.  I haven't found a detailed description of the source of the name for this parcel but I sure think it is tied somehow to the Crowell family.  It was a favorite place for us to park and walk out to the salt flats at low tide to dig sea clams.  You can be sure our ancestors knew all about harvesting the various kinds of clams in this area: sea, razor, quahog, little neck, steamer, etc.  Our great grandfather would go down to Quivet Creek of an evening to dig steamers and bring them back fresh for dinner. Our most recent direct "Crowell" ancestor is Hannah Crowell, (1725-1802), fourth great-grandmother. The prevalence of this name in Cape Cod lore and marriages between Sears and Crowell families shows that we can find a cousin connection with just about anyone in the Crowell family. It's often referred to as pedigree collapse or consanguinity. You can read more here where you can see 300 people named Crowell living in Dennis in 1880.[7]

[1] C.W. Swift, "The Crowell Family of Yarmouth, Descendants of John," Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy, Pamphlet #72, (Yarmouthport, Mass: Register Press, 1913) https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/viewer/191896/

[2] Clarence A. Torrey, compiler, New England Marriages Prior to 1700 (CD version) (Boston, MA: NEHGS, 2001), p. 401, citing MD 2:208, 270, 10:189; Barnstable Co. Prob. 1:53; Cape Cod Lib. 72:1, 103:5; Crowell 21; Foster Anc. 123; Hodges 13; Goodspeed 104; Fallass 153; Harris (,12) 13; Goodhue Anc. 157; Sv. 1:479; Bassett-Preston 73, 74, 189

[3]Amos Otis, "The Crowell Families of Yarmouth," Library of Cape Cod History and Genealogy, Pamphlet #103, (Yarmouthport, Mass: C.W. Swift, 1910) https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/177739-redirection

[4]Anderson, Robert Charles, Great Migration: Immigrants to New England, 1634-1635, 7 vols., (Boston; NEHGS, 2001), 2:245-8  https://www.americanancestors.org/DB115/i/0/245/0

[5]John Crowe Sr wikitree profile https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Crowell-164

[6]Peter Wilson Coldham's "The Complete Book of Emigrants; 1607 - 1660", Vol 1, pg 144.

[7] The Cousin Factor - https://searsr.com/1880Dennis/index.html

#52 Ancestors - Hosea Joyce (1642 - bef. 1712)

 Week # 8  - Hosea Joyce (1642 - bef. 1712)

An ancestor a week for 52 Weeks!   #52ancestors

Hosea Joyce, our 6th great-grandfather, is my ancestor of choice for week 8 of this great challenge.  I am studying the children of those involved in the Puritan Great Migration. Hosea is the son of migrants John Joyce and Dorothy Cotchet. John Joyce is one of the first men to settle Sandwich on Cape Cod in 1637. He took the oath of fidelity and was on the list of those 16 to 60 able to bear arms in Sandwich.[1] This same year, 1643, he removed to Yarmouth, Massachusetts where he also appears on the list of men able to bear arms.  When John arrived in Yarmouth I am sure he had the good fortune of attending church with our 7th great-grandfather, Richard Sears and his family.

All able bodied free men between the ages of 16 and 60 comprised the colonial militia. Service in the militia was an obligation as a citizen and militiamen were not paid. The town militia companies would muster for training on a regular schedule. “The frequency of training varied. In the early seventeenth century it could be as frequent as once a week in Massachusetts … but decreased as time went on, to a few days throughout the year.”  A 1693 Massachusetts law specified Regimental musters "but once in Three Years.” That must have been a sight to see in Barnstable village!  I can just picture John and son Hosea lined up in the ranks practicing his Majesty's Manual Exercise, an extensive ritual of 35 steps including: Poise your firelock. Cock your lock. Present. Fire! Half-cock your firelocks. Handle your cartridge!?  

One requirement for you to be "able bodied" was to have at least one tooth on top of your jaw and one in proximity on the bottom jaw to allow you to tear the powder cartridge open during loading of your firelock.  One fellow on Yahoo says gunpowder tastes sharp and peppery, with a definite metallic flavor.

John and Dorothy had four children and Hosea was their only son.  Hosea was probably born in Sandwich about 1642 when his father is about 27 and mother, Dorothy, a little older.  

There is a great article in the The American Genealogist, 1967, which includes Hosea's will.[3] Hosea was a constable in Yarmouth in 1672 [4]. "It is said he was a man of influence and means in Yarmouth and it would seem likely that this is true."  However his will describes him as Yeoman rather than Mister. A yeoman was someone who was settled, staid, married and engaged in earning a living from the soil.[5]  A gentleman, called Master (abbr. Mr.), had the ability to live without manual toil, usually ministers, landowners or successful merchants.

Hosea is in Yarmouth at the time of his death and again, his will, written 24 Jan 1712 is preserved in the old Plymouth colony archives at the Barnstable courthouse.[6]  Hosea's first wife, Martha dies when their first child is only 3 years old.  Hosea marries second, Elizabeth Chipman (subject of last week's profile), and they have ten more children. You might recognize the name Chipman as Elizabeth is the oldest of eleven children of John and Hope (Howland) Chipman.  Elizabeth is granddaughter of Mayflower passengers, John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley.  As mentioned last week, when Hosea dies he requires his sons to pay their mother £10 yearly. Son Thomas is our 5th great-grandfather and his contribution to his mother's allowance is only 30 shillings.  Thomas gets his mother's part of the house when she dies along with several small parcels of land near the house and with his brother, Samuel, the barn, barnyard and stockyard.  I hope they were good friends and able to share the homestead. 

You may wonder why the Joyce surname is not common on Cape Cod? Two of Hosea's sons died without issue.  The Joyce family name "daughters out" when the other two sons combine to have seven daughters and one son, who also dies without issue.  Hosea ends up with 58 grandchildren, 50 of them born to his six daughters. In total, 31 granddaughters and only 17 grandsons but only one with the family name, Joyce.

The vital records of Yarmouth say that "Hoseah Joyce of Yarmouth departed this life some time in February 1711."

[1]John Joyce profile https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Joyce-78

[3] Maclean W. McLean, "John Joyce of Yarmouth, Mass. (ca. 1615-1666)" TAG v.43 p. 7(1967) https://www.americanancestors.org/databases/american-genealogist-the/image?volumeId=11857&pageName=5&rId=23577549 

[4]Ply Col Recs 5:91 https://archive.org/details/recordsofcolonyo0506newp/page/n103/mode/2up

[5]Titles as Symbols of Prestige in Seventeenth-Century New England: The William and Mary Quarterly Vol. 6, No. 1 (Jan., 1949), pp. 69-83 https://www.jstor.org/stable/1921860

[6]Hosea Joyce profile https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Joyce-43

#52 Ancestors - Elizabeth Chipman (1647 - ~1712 )

 Week # 7  - Elizabeth Chipman (1647 - ~1712 )

An ancestor a week for 52 Weeks!   #52ancestors

This is probably the most consistent blog I have done, ever!  I am on week #7 of #52ancestors as I study our ancestors who were children of migrants from England during the period 1620-1640; also known as the Puritan Great Migration (PGM).  During this period, 20,000 people migrated to English colonies in America.  Another 20,000 migrated to West Indies, a third 20,000 to the Netherlands and wrapping up the 80,000 PGM migrants are the 20,000 who went to Ireland. Elizabeth Chipman's parents were John Chipman (1621-1708) and Hope Howland.[1]  Hope's father, John Howland, was a Mayflower passenger. John's wife was born in Plymouth Colony. John is evidently from Dorset on the south-central coast of England, not far from Southampton.

Elizabeth was born 24 Jun 1648 [2] in Plymouth, the oldest of 12 children. Elizabeth was christened in the old Barnstable church on 18 Aug 1650, probably the West Parish of Barnstable on Meetinghouse Way.  That church still exists and was erected in 1717, now one of the oldest church buildings in the US.  We lived not far from this church for a number of years.  Odd to think that my 6th Great-grandma was baptized at that site nearly 400 years ago.[3]  

Elizabeth was married in Yarmouth on Cape Cod about 1671 at age 23 to Hosea Joyce. She was his second wife. There is a nice profile based on her mother, Hope Howland, at Wikitree and Hope is buried at Lothrop Hill Cemetery about 4 miles east of the church.

Elizabeth died after 24 Jan 1712 when she was named in her husband's will.[4]  Elizabeth is also mentioned in her father's will- 15 Feb 1712 [5]  A beautifully transcribed will "Laſt Will and Teſtament of Elder John Chipman of Sandwich in ye County of Barnſtable in ye Province of the Maſsachuſetts Bay in New England.  I John Chipman being senſible of the uncertainty of this present life and being Desirous to ſett things in order...

..

It. I Will and bequeath to my Daughters Elizabeth Hope Lydia Hanah Ruth Merry Bethiah and Deſire; the hole of my movable estate in Sandwich and Barnstable ... to be equally divided [Btween] my sd eight daughters...

We are very fortunate that when the Barnstable county courthouse burned in 1827 that the probate records were saved. Most of the deeds were lost but many deeds were re-registered in the following years so that land sales could proceed.  Probate would probably never have been re-created.  There are still old wills in our families' personal records but nothing to compare with this wealth of nearly 400 years of the life of Cape Codders. We get a very good look at our ancestors through these wills.

In her husband, Hosea Joyce's will, 26 Feb 1712, he gives Elizabeth part of his dwelling house (to live in with her son Samuel) as well as furniture and livestock. His sons were directed to pay his wife £10 yearly.  Hmm, at 20 shillings per £ ~= 200 shillings a year, that's 4 shillings a week?  In London at the time, a 4-lb loaf of bread was 5 pence or about half a shilling. Beef cost 1 s. 6d. a pound.  Cheese was 3 s. 6d. per pound. A dozen mackerel cost 12 shillings.  So the loaf of bread, pound of beef and quarter pound of cheese would exhaust her allowance for a week.  A laborer made about 15 s. per day in that era.  Son Thomas (our 5th great-grandfather) is bequeathed his mother's portion of the house when she dies.  She didn't have to pay rent and I guess she could pool her 4 shillings a week with the family and garden to subsist.  There was no concept of "retirement" in 1712 so you can imagine Grandma Elizabeth was busy in her garden and raising 9 children throughout her 65 years.  She was the mother of John (1668), Dorcas (1674), Samuel (1676), Thomas (1678)[our 5th great-grandfather], Mehitable (1679), Mary (1680, Hosea (1682), Lydia (1684), and Dorothy (1690) who all lived to adulthood, and have a legacy of 35 grandchildren.

[1] Link to Elizabeth Chipman https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Chipman-56

[2] John Howland Mayflower book https://archive.org/details/johnhowlandofmay03whit/page/37/mode/1up

[3] Scituate and Barnstable Church Records, reprinted in Mayflower Source Records. Baltimore: New England Historical and Genealogical Register (1986), rv. 2007, p. 600.

[4] Barnstable Co Prob 3:346-50 Hosea Joyce.

[5] MD 3:181-84 and Barnstable Co Prob 3:228-31 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-53DC

#52 Ancestors - Hannah Carter (~1620 - 1657 )

 Week # 6  - Hannah Carter (~1620 - 1657 )

An ancestor a week for 52 Weeks!   #52ancestors

I am continuing to pursue information about my ancestors whose parents were migrants in the Puritan Great Migration (1620-1640).  In this case Hannah Carter is the daughter of Thomas and Mary Carter who immigrated about 1635 and settled in Charlestown, Massachusetts, basically one of the oldest neighborhoods of Boston. Thos. Carter was admitted to the Charlestown church on 8 January 1637 and was very likely made Freeman on 9 March 1637.  There are some other Thomas Carters in the colonies but this man appears to be a blacksmith and surveyor. His detailed will is transcribed on Wikitree.[1]   

I am most interested in Hannah, our 8th great-grandmother. Hannah was supposedly born about 1620 in Branscombe, Devonshire, England so she came over with her family of eight people on a boat about age 15.  We know from previous research the cost of that journey was about £35, a huge outlay for father.

Thomas Carter dies about 1652 but Hannah is not mentioned in her father's will.  We do see mention of his grandson John Greene AND, Thomas had recorded a deed of gift to "son-in-law" Wm Green half of 135 acres in Woburn, quite an extensive property.[2] The other half goes to Hannah's brother, "Uncle John."  Hannah married William Greene about 1642 and it appears he died 7 Jan 1654 in Woburn.

In December of 1640, William was one of the original subscribers to "town orders" for the founding of Woburn (incorporated in 1642). These original founders were exempt from taxes for the first two years, so the first year we find William paying taxes is 1645.

Using the old style dating- Hannah's husband, William Greene, writes in "The 6th of the 11 mo. 1653 [6 Jan 1654]" leaving all of his movable goods to his wife Hannah. His inventory indicates he accumulated £200 in his 14 years in the colonies so researchers believe he was an educated man who brought means with him from England.

Hannah dies very young, about age 38, 20 Sept 1657, not long after her first husband's death. She seems to have married a second time to Thomas Brown about 1654 but no children from that marriage.[3]  

Since the five children were young it is possible they grew up in their Uncle John Carter's house or one of the other three Carter uncles, all brothers to Hannah, living nearby in Charlestown and Woburn. Hannah's oldest son, John, writes- "yt I John Green sonne to William Green late of Woburne in New England doe acknowledge ye receite of all that estate willed unto me by ye sd William Greene my father I say received ye sd estate of my much respected unkell John Carter senr of Woburn he being one of ye overseers of the said estate 4th of ye 2d 1671. [4 Apr 1671]"[4] 

At this point John Green is 22 and able to manage his own affairs. Do you suppose the children were split up?  Uncle John also had five children. The uncles have a petition in Middlesex court saying their brother died "leaving Wife and five small children." [18 Oct 1659]

Mary (1645) is twelve when her mother dies; Hannah (1647); John (1649); William (1651) [our 8th Great-Grandfather]; and Ebenezer (1653).

It is amazing to me how well this family is documented and the detailed court proceedings involved in transfer of property to the children even years after the death of the father.  William and Hannah's oldest daughter, Mary seems to do very well marrying John Snow about 1667 and having 7 children. On 21 Jun 1672, about the time her second son, Zerubbabel, is born, is a record "I John Snow, of Woburn acknowledge to have received of my uncle Jno. Carter of the same town £34 6s. 11d. as the full of my wife's portion by her father William Green."[5]  It must have been wonderful that Mary had a sort of dowery from her father to bring to this marriage.  Uncle John seems to have kept detailed records and been very faithful to his brother-in-law's wishes even 20 years after William's death.

It's sad to think that Hannah never knew the legacy that she had begun. I am sure she had wonderful hopes and dreams looking on the faces of those five little children. It is a similar case with our more recent ancestors as my Great-grandfather, Elkanah Howes Sears, died at age 65, in 1914 but his first grandchild was not born until the following year. Ten grandchildren that he would never know.

[1] https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Carter-936

[2] NEHGS digitized court abstracts for Middlesex County, Massachusetts- misc.. probate book 181

[3] https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89067408831&view=1up&seq=125

[4] Middlesex Deeds Book 4 Folio 424.

[5] https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=wu.89066291154&view=2up&seq=32