The writing prompt for this week is “Check it Out!” There are a few ways to take this, as in sharing something cool or neat, or something to do with libraries and books. I was inspired to write about my ancestor Rev. Thomas Shepard. His works are available at several brick-and-mortar public libraries and also in university libraries including Harvard University, due to my ancestor’s close historical connections with this university and with Cambridge, Massachusetts. Thanks to Google Books, the online library of today, and the Internet Archive, I will be able to share links to his works that you can read online for free.
The photo to the left of my ancestor is from a t-shirt available with his image from mediagratiae from their Puritan Collection! There does survive a sketch of my ancestor done in his lifetime, and the image is based on that sketch. I thought that was kind of cool, so check that out too! 😎
I have written about my ancestor in a prior blog entry I wrote last August in celebration of the 372nd anniversary of the death of my quite interesting and significant ancestor Rev. Thomas Shepard. That entry includes detailed biographical information about him, his life in England and America, his marriages, his descendants (including some famous ones!), and his religious and spiritual journey. To learn more about Rev. Thomas Shepard please read My Ancestor Rev. Thomas Shepard, an English and American Puritan Minister and Significant Figure in Early Colonial New England.
From The Works of Thomas Shepard re: the beliefs of the Puritans.
I often wonder what my ancestor would think of me, his eighth-great granddaughter. A cradle Roman Catholic who is also a student at Phillips Theological Seminary. If you read above what the Puritans believed, then no doubt my ancestor would have thought me a Papist in need of saving! Would he find my theological writings fascinating and sound? Would he even entertain reading my writings? I am guessing not. For not everyone had rights in Colonial New England. It’s no secret that the villages and towns were run by men and women had little rights if any at all. They weren’t permitted to attend town meetings and didn’t have any power in church decisions. The minister and church supported this concept as well, claiming that the soul consisted of two halves – an immortal half, which was the ‘masculine’ half, and the mortal half, which was the ‘feminine’ half. This belief extended even to childbirth, where it was believed that a woman would have a nice rosy complexion should she be pregnant with a boy, and a pale complexion should she be having a girl. (3) Just some things to ponder. 😮 But I would like to think I inherited my intellect and passion for learning from him and many other ancestors including those not as well known that were also ministers, as well as teachers, school principals, coopers, weavers, farmers, merchants, auctioneers, tailors, innkeepers (tavern keepers), vinedressers, blacksmiths, cobblers, milliners, dressmakers, and much more.
The Works of Thomas Shepard, First Pastor of The First Church, Cambridge, Massachusetts “has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it.” (1) This work is in the public domain in the United States of America.
Cover of the book The Parable of the Ten Virgins by Thomas Shepard.
The next work I want to share is The Parable of the Ten Virgins by Thomas Shepard. It is not found in The Works of Thomas Shepard sited above. The entire book can be found to read online via the Internet Archive: The Parable of the Ten Virgins by Thomas Shepard. This digital copy was sponsored by the Boston Public Library.
Partial review of the book:
Jesus Christ relentlessly divides the world into two. There are houses built on a rock, and on sand. There are sheep, and there are goats. There is wheat and there are tares. There are trees that bear fruit, and there are thorns and thistles. And, according to Jesus in Matthew chapter 25, there are wise virgins, and there are foolish virgins; and the one you are making all the difference here now, and in eternity.
At first, the size of the book and the language both make it appear that reading it may seem like a burdensome task, but I would like to propose that it shouldn’t be. Dr. John Gerstner in the foreword says, “Don’t read it. Study it, a few pages at a time; decipher it… It may not save you, but it will leave you in no doubt if you are saved, and even less if you are not!” We ought not try to just read through The Parable of The Ten Virgins. When your motive is to finish the book rather than understand it—it does become burdensome. But if your motive is to learn from the faithful expositions of God’s Word, and if your motive is to have assurance about the things of God, and if your motive is to fight to enjoy Christ here and to be prepared in the hereafter then this book is not a burden; it’s a blessing.
The book is a collection of Shepard’s sermon notes on the Parable of The Ten Virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13. He takes you verses by verse, sentence by sentence, and word by word. Though the work is a little over six-hundred pages, Shepard does not repeat himself. The points of doctrine always seem reasonable, and are never forced. It is never boring, especially when you realize his sermons are directed to you.
The Parable of the Ten Virgins is a parable that covers much of the Christian life. This is precisely the reason why Shepard has written so much concerning it. It affects how we view the church, sin, wasting our time, and assurance of salvation. It affects how we view the most important of things. (2) – Taken from a review of the book by Chadd Sheffield.
Theses Sabbaticæ. Or, The Doctrine of the Sabbath – by Rev. Thomas Shepard. This sold at auction with Sothebys for $2,772 US! It was published in 1649.
I was not looking forward to this week’s writing prompt. I have zero direct ancestors with a flower name, and not really any gardening stories to share of any ancestors I know about. So, I decided to branch out to cousins of my ancestors, and I found quite a few cousins named after flowers. The ones I considered were Daisy May Armstrong Tunis Diemart, my 1st cousin, 2x removed; Daisy Mae Marihugh Lewis, my 2nd cousin, 3x removed; and Daisy Delight Prindle Curtis, my 2nd cousin, 2x removed.
I decided to write mostly about my cousin Daisy Delight Prindle Curtis but will include a bit about the other two Daisys as well. I always loved her name! Named Daisy after the flower, her middle name Delight is delightful! I have not been able to locate very much information about the word delight used as a girl’s name, but I believe it was a name used by the Puritans. Her parents were not Puritans, she was born in farming country on the prairies of Clarksville, Merrick County, Nebraska on December 17, 1879, to Amos Prindle, a farmer, and his wife Susan Jane Moore.
Daisy Delight Prindle.
Within a year of her birth the family migrated to Orchard, Antelope County, Nebraska. The family are found in records between 1881 to 1888 living in Orchard, Neligh, and Glen Alpine, all places found in Antelope County. Her sister Clara Belle Prindle Harvey dies in March of 1888, and her mother Susan Jane Moore Prindle dies seven days later in 1888 in Glen Alpine and both are buried there. By 1895 her father had migrated to Arkansas City, Cowley County, Kansas, and is found there in 1898. In Arkansas City her father Amos remarried by 1895 to Lydia Rice, the widow of Henry Fast and Daniel Tooman. By 1900 he is living in Carthage, Jasper County, Missouri and lists himself as single, and I see that his wife returned to Arkansas City. I am sure there is a story there, but it has been lost to time. He dies in Carthage in 1910.
Daisy Delight Prindle did not migrate to Kansas with her father. On December 28, 1898, in Neligh, Antelope, Nebraska, she marries James Harry Curtis, the son of Albert Curtis and Mary Adelaide “Addie” Brownell. She and James had seven children. Five of which lived into adulthood.
Daisy dies at the age of thirty-two on May 30, 1912, in Elgin, Antelope, Nebraska, leaving behind five children all aged ten years or younger. Her last two children were a set of fraternal twins: J.C. Curtis, a boy, and a girl Muriel May Curtis, born on December 1, 1911. The girl Muriel May dies seventeen days later on December 18th. The boy J.C. dies a few days later on December 22nd.
I do not know much about Daisy or her life other than what I was able to find in records. Did she love daisies? Was she delightful as her middle name could imply? Possibly. She certainly was pretty, and I love her choice of hair comb in the photo.
Her father Amos Prindle was named after his grandfather Amos. He was the son of Adolphus Prindle and Sally ___. My ancestor, David M. Prindle, Sr. who married Hannah Elizabeth Greatsinger/Kritsinger, was a brother of Adolphus. They were both the sons of Amos Prindle and Esther Canfield.
Daisy May Armstrong.
To the left is Daisy May Armstrong, my 1st cousin, 2x removed. She was born August 22, 1875, in Benton, Butler County, Kansas. The daughter of Edward Eben Armstrong and Nancy Isabella Wallace. She married on February 10, 1897, at her parent’s home in Kansas to William Taylor Tunis. In 1910 they are found living in Van, Woods County, Oklahoma where are husband is farming. They did not have any children. In 1920 she is found in Walker, Lincoln County, Nebraska, living with her husband and living with them is a nephew Henry Long aged fourteen. She is working as a schoolteacher.
Her husband dies in January 1923 in Wichita, Sedgwick County, Kansas, and she returns home to Benton, Kansas. In 1930 she is found living there with her sister Elma Armstrong Pitcher, her brother-in-law, and a niece. She is working as a clerk in a grocery store.
Later that year in October 1930 she marries Glenn E. Diemart, a widower. She dies a little over six year later on 19 January 1937 in Towanda, Butler County, Kansas. To me Daisy May is a breezy, carefree name. Did she have a carefree personality? That information is lost to time. But her life was not an easy one, having no children of her own, being left a widow at the age of forty-seven. Maybe she enjoyed being a schoolteacher and working as a clerk in a grocery store? This was at a time that married women did not often work as schoolteachers. She was a widow by the time she was working at the grocery store.
Her father Edward Eben Armstrong and my great-grandfather George Pendleton Armstrong, who married Alice Elizabeth Nutick, were half-siblings. Edward was the son of Bradford Carroll Armstrong and his first wife Catherine Parker. George was the son of Bradford Carroll Armstrong and his third wife Martha A. Knight Lyons.
Daisy Mae Marihugh.
Pictured above is Daisy Mae Marihugh Lewis, my 2nd cousin 3x removed. We share ancestors Phineas Merchant and Submit “Mitty” French. She was born January 7, 1889, in Bay View, Skagit County, Washington, to Silas Wright Marihugh and Emily Merchant. Her mother Emily was a first cousin to my 3rd great-grandmother Cordelia Merchant Cole, who I wrote about last week. Daisy Mae Marihugh married July 7, 1912, in Skagit County, Washington to Grover Cleveland Lewis. They had five children born to this marriage. Two died as infants, one as a young child, only two lived to adulthood, Ray Andrew Lewis and Fern Nadine Lewis Coultas Scott Bullett. Both married and have descendants today.
Daisy Delight Prindle died rather young, when her children were quite young, and Daisy May Armstrong has no descendants. More is known about Daisy Mae Marihugh and her life, and I intend to reach out to her descendants alive today who would have known her before her death in 1967; so, I believe I will save writing about her in more detail for another day.
There are no references to list, all information is based on my own research.
If you’d like to learn more about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, please visit here:
BGC (Bard Graduate Center) Dutch NY Objects and Architecture. Photo Credit: New York Historical Society
My ancestor Maria Thomas Badie was a wealthy woman who was married three times. In surviving legal documents, Maria used Thomas or Badie as her surname, not those of her husbands. (1) In records, the most common variants of her name are:
Maria Thomas Badie
Mary Badie
Mary Badye
Mary Thomas
Maria Thomas
Maritie Tomas
She had 13 children, ten surviving to adulthood. All ten married and had children. Doing some quick math, easily, nearly 100,000 persons living today can claim ancestry. (1)
Pictured above is the gift of silver communion beakers that my ancestor Maria Thomas Badie gave to the church on October 3, 1684. She gifted them to the Dutch Reformed Church of Breuckelen (now Brooklyn) in celebration of the church’s 30th anniversary. The beakers were made by her son-in-law, Juriaen Blanck Jr. who was a silversmith, married to her daughter Hester van der Beeck. His father, Juriaen Blanck Sr. had also been a silversmith. The father had learned his trade in Amsterdam, Netherlands, and was the first documented silver and goldsmith to practice in New Amsterdam. (1)
Maria Thomas Badie and her husbands and her children are found in the church records for the Dutch Reformed Church in Breuckelen (Brooklyn) in New York.
Detail of a figure from the beakers gifted to Old First. Credit: New-York Historical Society
The silver communion beakers are engraved with female representations of Hope, Faith, and Charity, which I found quite fitting as we are celebrating Women’s History Month and our female ancestors.
Faith, Hope, and Charity represent the three great virtues. The symbols of faith, hope and charity are a large cross, a cross with an anchor and a heart. These three theological virtues are virtues that God puts into the soul. Charity is often called love and represented by the heart.
Faith, Hope and Love refer straight to God and symbolize the Holy Trinity.
The word Faith, from Latin fides, refers to one who trusts, who confides and relies on something. Faith is the Theological Virtue for which one believes in God. Hope, from Latin spes, is the Theological Virtue which responds to the attainment of Eternal Happiness of human beings. Love, used as a synonym of Charity, is the Theological Virtues that permits man to love God above all else and his neighbor as himself. Just as God loves any creature, Christians are invited to love their neighbors unconditionally, especially children, poor people and enemies. (3)
According to the Apostle Paul, Love is patient and kind, it does not envy or boast, it is not proud, it does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs, it does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth, it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres and it will never end because Love never fails.
And now these three remain: Faith, Hope and Love; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 (NIV)
First church ca 1654. Illustration: OF (Old First) Archives
The Dutch Reformed Church of Breuckelen (now known as Old First), was one of the first congregations in New York City. In 1654, Governor Pieter Stuyvesant established three “collegiate” churches in the towns of Breukelen (Old First), Flatbush and Flatlands. Through various changes in locations and configurations, the three churches have survived and celebrated their 350th anniversary in 2004. The congregations were serviced by Domine Johannes Theodorus Polhemus who traveled to all three on Sundays. (2)
The earliest worship services in Breuckelen were conducted under a tree, then in a barn. By 1666, the first church structure to be built in Breukelen was erected on a highway, now known as Fulton Street. (2)
It has been rebuilt and moved a few times over the centuries and the current location of that branch of the original church of Breuckelen, Old First, is located at Seventh Avenue and Carroll Street. Its first church structure was completed in 1886, a chapel on Carroll which still stands and is used for programming and community events. Around this time the church on Livingston Street was sold to developers and demolished. The iconic church now worshipped in as Old First was dedicated in 1891. (2)
My ancestor Maria Thomas Badie’s parents were Thomas Badie and Ailtje Braconie (aka Aeltien Brackhonge). The couple were French Huguenots living in Belgium, who emigrated to the Netherlands before embarking for New Amsterdam (New York). The family must have come to New Amsterdam early in the 1620’s if one follows a timeline relating to other events. (1)
Thomas Badie was Ailtje’s first husband and searching through records no other child has been found. When he passed, Ailtje inherited the estate. She married two more times, to Cornelis Lambertszen Cool and to Willem Bredenbent. While Lambertszen may have had other children, none seem to have survived, making Maria Thomas Badie the only heir, Ailtje having had no children by her third and last husband. Ailtje and Willem’s joint will in 1670 left everything to Maria. (1 & 4)
Maria Thomas Badie may have married her first husband, Jacob Verdon, before she arrived in the New Netherlands, or they may have met after her arrival. The records indicate that their two known children were both born in the New Netherlands. (5 & 6) Unfortunately, Jacob died shortly after the birth of their two children. Maria Badie was still in her 20’s and she married as her 2nd husband, Willem Adriaenszen Bennet. He was an Englishman, and a cooper by trade. About the same time that he married Maria Badie, he purchased, along with another man, 930 acres of land at Gowanus, from the Indians. The house he built there may have been the first house built by a white man in Brooklyn. In 1639 he purchased his partner’s interest. During the 1643 Indian raids on Long Island, the house was burned and destroyed (6) Maria’s husband, William, and her stepfather, Cornelius Cool, died, possibly in these Indian raids.
She married third to Paulus Vanderbeek. Actor James Van der Beek is a descendant of Paulus Vanderbeek and Maria Thomas Badie. There were children born to all three of her marriages. Maria inherited property from her mother, her stepfather and her husbands. She was a very wealthy widow when her last husband died. Some believe she was one of the wealthiest persons in New Amsterdam (New York).
Her death is recorded in 1697. Maria Thomas Badie Verdon Bennet Vanderbeek is buried in the Flatbush Dutch Reformed Church Cemetery. My direct line is through her daughter from her first marriage to Jacob Verdon, Magdalena Jacobs Verdon who married Adam (Adolph) Brouwer (Brouwer Berkhoven).
As noted, Maria’s parents were French Huguenots, so her ancestry goes back to France. Her husband Jacob Verdon was born either in La Rochelle, France or the Netherlands. He was Secretary of the Dutch West Indies Company. He is reputed to have made several trips back and forth to America. His ancestry would be French as well.
My direct line from Maria Thomas Badie:
Maria Thomas Badie and Jacob Verdon.
Magdalena Jacobs Verdon and Adam (Adolph) Brouwer (Brouwer Berkhoven).
Wilhelmus Adams Brouwer and Elizabeth Lysbeth Simpson (daughter of Pieter Simpson and Grietje ____).
Elizabeth (Lysbeth) Brouwer and Harman (Harmen Gerritse) Van Sant (son of Gerret (aka Gerret Stoffelszen) Van Sant and Elizabeth Lysbeth Cornelius Gerritz).
Catherine VanSant and Daniel Severns.
Elizabeth Severns and James W. Cooper (son of William Cooper and Mary Groome).
Rebecca Cooper and Thomas Barton (possibly the son of Thomas Barton and Mary Kimber).
Catherine Ann Barton and James W. Lyons (probable son of James Lyons, see notes below)
Martha A. Knight Lyons and Bradford Carroll “B.C.” Armstrong (son of John A. Armstrong and Sarah “Sally” Norris).
George Pendleton Armstrong and Alice Elizabeth Nutick (daughter of Eli Nutick (Emig/Emich/Emick) and Margaret (Margarethe) Weiss). – My great-grandparents.
The Brouwer (Brouwer Berkhoven) line goes back to Cologne, Germany. Pieter Simpson was most likely an Englishman and his wife Grietje ____ was of a Dutch family. Although I cannot confirm the parentage of Daniel Severns, he may have been the son of John Severns and Frances Elizabeth Betts.
The Cooper and Groome families were Quakers. The Cooper line eventually goes back to Stratford On Avon, Warwickshire, England.
The parentage of James W. Lyons (II) has been a huge headache brick wall (with strong clues). What I do know is that he had two brothers named Joseph (Joseph James) Lyons (he married Hannah White) and John Lyons (he married Elizabeth Wiley). I am a DNA match to numerous descendants of his brother Joseph (Joseph James Lyons) and also have several DNA matches to the descendants of his brother John Lyons. Some list the brothers as the sons of Aaron Lyon/Lyons and Johanna Hatfield.
Some list them as the sons of Samuel Lyon and Mary Lounsberry. This is based on an old U.S. Sons of the American Revolution Membership Applications and in that record, they are basing the descendancy on John Lyons being the son of Samuel Lyons and Mary Lounsberry, but with his wife named Sarah Smith via their son Isaac Dickinson Lyon. I have not really found much of a DNA connection to Samuel Lyons and Mary Lounsberry. DNA has shown that the brothers are connected to the Lyon(s) families of Elizabeth/Elizabethtown, New Jersey.
My great-grandparents George Pendelton Armstrong and Alice Elizabeth Nutick. He was the 7th great-grandson of Maria Thomas Badie.
“Editorial Iconoclastiana,” The New York Genealogical and Biographical Record, Volume 65, Issue 1, 1934, page 19. Reproduced on findmypast.com.nygbs.idm.oclc.org.
O’Callaghan, The Documentary History of the State of New-York, “The Roll of Those who Have Taken the Oath of Allegiance in Kings County,” “Thomas Verdon native”.
Marie Thomas Badie. AMERICA THE GREAT MELTING POT – Brooke Family Genealogy.
Banner image is photo of stained-glass window panel from Old First Church today. oldfirstbrooklyn.org
If you’d like to learn more about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, please visit here:
March is Women’s History Month. The writing theme for March is “Females” and for this ninth week it is “Female.” I have so many women in my family tree I could write about. And later in the month, I for sure want to include stories of Irish women in my tree in celebration of St. Patrick’s Day. But I decided this week to write about my 3rd great-grandmother Cordelia Merchant Cole. Her story is often a sad one, but I have always wanted to make sure her story was told, and she was not forgotten by her descendants and other kin.
My third great-grandmother Cordelia Merchant was born about 1810 in Otsego County, New York. She was the daughter of Phineas Merchant and Submit “Mitty” French. Her father Phineas Merchant was the son of Ezra Merchant and Catherine Northrup. His lines go back well into Colonial America in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Side note: I am descended from two Northup sisters, Catherine Northrup Merchant on this maternal line I am discussing, and her sister Mary Northup who married Pvt. David Canfield. My connection to Mary Northup and Pvt. David Canfield is also on my maternal side, but it’s a different line that is the ancestors of my maternal great-grandmother Anna “Cora” Prindle Cole.
Her mother Submit “Mitty” French was the daughter of Samson French and Lusannah “Lucy” Root. The French and Root (and related) lines are well documented and also go back deep into Colonial America in Massachusetts.
Cordelia Merchant had eight siblings: older maternal half-brother William Festus Morgan, older brothers Orlanzo Merchant and C. Merchant, and younger siblings Eliza Ann Merchant Cole, Sampson Merchant, Lucy Merchant Temple, Theodore George Merchant, and Clarissa Merchant Cole.
Her younger sister Clarissa would play a large role in affecting her life path. We’ll get to that in a bit.
Cordelia grew up in New York, in Worcester in Otsego County, and in Chenango in Broome County. The family made at least one trip back to Lowell, Middlesex, Massachusetts, where her brother Sampson was born.
When she was ten years old, her family is found in the 1820 US Census for Worcester, Otsego, New York. She with her parents came to live in Broome County, New York by 1825 and her parents are found the 1830 US Census living in Chenango, Broome, New York. Living fifteen miles away in Broome County over in Colesville was the family of Nathaniel Cole, Jr. Nathaniel Cole, Jr. is found living there with his second wife Catherines Bries and their children, as well as the children from his first marriage to Laura A. Fuller. Included in the children from his first marriage was a Lewis F. Cole.
The Cole family is well known in Broome County history, Nathaniel’s father Nathaniel Cole, Sr. has a park named after him there. There is much known about the Cole family.
Lewis F. Cole was born March 1807 in Hoosick, Rensselaer, New York, the son of Nathaniel Cole, Jr. and Laura A. Fuller. Lewis’ middle name is thought to have been Fuller, in honor of his mother’s maiden name. Nathaniel Cole, Jr. was the son of Nathaniel Cole, Sr. and Abigail Oviatt. The Cole and Oviatt families descend from families of Colonial America in Massachusetts, including several Mayflower Pilgrims.
Laura A. Fuller was the daughter of Matthew Fuller and Martha Arnold. Her parents were both of Bennington County, Vermont and spent time in Hoosick, Rensselaer, New York and Oxford, Chenango, New York and ended up by 1820 in Broome County, New York. Matthew Fuller was the son of Daniel Fuller and Mehitable Broughton. Martha Arnold was not the daughter of Stephen Arnold and Martha Gardiner, as some contend. They did have a daughter named Martha, but she married Benajah Douglass and is buried at the Congregational Church Cemetery in Brandon, Rutland County, Vermont. She may have been the daughter of Jacob (Jacobus) Arnold (Arnhout) and Anna Moak / Mook, but more research needs to be done. Her parentage, at the moment, is unproven.
Lewis F. Cole’s mother Laura A. Fuller died in 1810 sometime after the birth of her last child Asa Walker Cole. Lewis was only three years old when his mother died. His father remarried prior to 1815 to Catherine Bries, who had deep Dutch roots. We know that Lewis’ father left Hoosick sometime after his first wife’s death and we know he was back in Broome County, New York, living near his father, prior to 1815.
Broome County, New-York 1897 Map by Rand-McNally of Binghamton, Broome, New York.
How Cordelia Merchant and Lewis F. Cole met is lost to time. But the Cole family had kin living not only in Colesville, but in Windsor, Chenango, and other towns in Broome County, New York. I have been unable to find their marriage record, but they married prior to 1830 in Broome County. They were married before the 1830 census where her husband is found as Lewis Cole in Chenango, Broome, New York – 1 male aged 20-29 (Lewis) and 1 female aged 20-29 (Cordelia).
Lewis F. Cole. This is the only known photo to exist of him. It was posted online by Dale Smith. His wife is a descendant of Lewis Cole and Clarissa Merchant.
Lewis F. Cole and Cordelia Merchant had three children:
Ira G. Cole born 9 Dec 1831 in Chenango, Broome, New York, and died 2 Feb 1900 in Holley, Orleans, New York. He married first to Violetta Palmer and married second to Ella A. Day.
Clarissa Marie Cole born 27 Jan 1832 in Chenango, Broome, New York, and died 6 May 1894 in Clarendon, Orleans, New York. She married Abraham C. Frederick.
Loren Richard Cole born 9 Dec 1836 in Chenango, Broome, New York, and died 3 Feb 1908 in Wilmington, De Kalb, Indiana. He married Nancy M. Losure (the daughter of first cousins Joseph Losure and Sarah Lozier). They are my direct ancestors. You may learn more about the family of Nancy M. Losure by going to my blog post: My Lozier/Losure/Loser/Loeser Ancestors from Oberriexingen, Germany (and related lines).
Lewis F. Cole is found as L. F. Cole in the 1840 US Census for Chenango, Broome, New York – 2 males of 5 years of age and under 10 (Ira G. Cole and Loren Richard Cole). 1 male aged 30-40 (Lewis F. Cole). 1 female of 5 years of age and under 10 (Clarrisa Marie Cole), 1 female of 20 years of age and under 30 (Cordelia).
By 1839 Lewis Cole had begun an affair with Cordelia’s younger sister Clarissa Merchant. The first child of Lewis Cole and Clarissa Merchant, a son named William Liberty Cole, was born out of wedlock on 18 Aug 1840 in Broome County, New York. So even though he is living with Cordelia and their three children when the 1840 census was taken, he has a child with his wife’s younger sister in August 1840 in the same year of this census.
Photo above is of Clarissa Merchant. This photo was posted online by Dale Smith. His wife is a descendant of Lewis Cole and Clarissa Merchant.
Lewis Cole and his mistress and sister-in-law Clarissa Merchant had four children together out of wedlock between 1840 and 1849. All born in Broome County, New York.
After the birth of their child Sarah Ellen Cole in October 1849, Lewis Cole and Clarissa Merchant left Broome County, New York and headed to Indiana. To all accounts Lewis Cole could be uncaring and mean and sometimes feckless. As they were waiting to board the barge, Clarissa with young babe in arms could not find Lewis. She looked all over for him, carrying their infant daughter with their three other children in tow. She became frantic, crying, and could not locate him. He had been hiding from her the whole time, watching her look for him frantically. He finally appeared to her, laughing, thinking it was great fun to put her in such a state. (Paraphrasing of story told to my Cole cousin Joy, who is a descendant of Albert Jerome Cole, the youngest child of Lewis F. Cole and Clarissa Merchant).
He left his wife Cordelia and three children in New York to fend for themselves when he ran off with Clarissa to Indiana.
Lewis Cole is found in the 1850 US Federal Census for Newville, De Kalb, Indiana, living with his mistress and sister-in-law Clarissa Merchant. Although she is listed as Clarissa Cole in the census, all their neighbors knew the truth. They had two more children one in 1850 and one in 1854.
Finally at the insistance of his Christian neighbors Lewis Cole divorces his wife Cordelia in November 1856 in De Kalb County, Indiana. The record is found in the courthouse records for De Kalb County:
Record from courthouse list of divorces: Order Book 32. November Term 1856, Page 140, 141. Cole, Lewis. Cordelia Cole. Divorce.
He marries his longtime mistress and sister-in-law Clarissa Merchant on 25 Nov 1856 in De Kalb County, Indiana. Their last two children were born after their marriage.
His father Nathaniel Cole, Jr. dies in 1844. Lewis had been conducting his scandalous affair, carrying on with his wife’s younger sister Clarissa and having two children out of wedlock with her before his father dies. The distance between Coleville and Chenango is about 15 miles. But the whole community would have known about his sordid behavior, and it would have been a stain on the Cole and Merchant families and their relations. It is not a surprise that Lewis was not included in his father’s will.
How much he financially supported Cordelia and their children while he was still living in New York is unknown, or if he ever gave any financial support after he arrived in Indiana. There was some land that he owned in Chenango that he had lived on with Cordelia and their children. Cordelia eventually sells this land to help support herself.
Cordelia named her daughter Clarissa after her sister, so I must assume there had been some closeness between them, even though Clarissa was six years younger. I cannot begin to know how Cordelia felt when she discovered that her husband and father of her children was carrying on an affair with and had impregnated her younger sister. I am sure that Cordelia suffered great humiliation and shame.
By 1850 Cordelia had left Broome County and is found living in Clarendon, Orleans County, New York aged 40 with her three children: Ira Cole aged 19, Clarissa M. Cole aged 17, and Loren R. Cole aged 15. Ira and Loren are supporting the family, Ira working as a printer and Loren as a laborer.
It is a considerable distance between where Cordelia had been living in Chenango, Broome, New York, and Clarendon, Orleans, New York, it is 158 miles! I must assume she left Broome County in the 1840’s due to her husband Lewis’ affair with her younger sister Clarissa and them having children together while Lewis and Cordelia were still married. If I was Cordelia, I would not have wanted to endure the daily embarrassment and shame, having neighbors, townsfolk, and family knowing all about it.
By 1855 Cordelia is found in the New York State Census and is living with her son Ira Cole and his wife Violetta in Barre, Orleans, New York. Loren Cole, aged 20, is also living with them.
By 1860 Cordelia is no longer living with her son Ira. Why she did not continue to live with he and his wife is not known. But by then they had children and it’s often not a comfortable relationship between a mother-in-law and daughter-in-law. Why she did not go to live with her married daughter Clarissa Cole Frederick and her husband and children is not known either. But family dynamics are complex and looking back now, I have no way of knowing what was going on in each of their lives.
Cordelia Cole in the New York, U.S., State Census, 1865. Living in the Poorhouse.
Before 1858 Loren Richard Cole went to live in Indiana near his father. He was only four years old when his father had his first child with his Aunt Clarissa. When his father and Aunt left New York for Indiana, he was only twelve to thirteen years old at the time, and by then his mother had moved them to Orleans County, so how much contact he had with his father as a child is unknown, but I am guessing not very much. He was the only one of Lewis’ children with Cordelia that came to Indiana to live near him.
Marker for Orleans County Alms “Poor” House and Cemetery, 1833-1960.
The fate of Cordelia Merchant Cole is a sad one. By 1865 she is living in the Orleans County Alms “Poor” House in Barre, Orleans County, New York. She is listed as a “pauper”. She dies in the poorhouse before 1874 and is buried in the Orleans County Alms “Poor” House Cemetery aka County Home Burial Ground. There are only 46 cemetery markers, and they only have a number on them. Most of the early records were destroyed by a fire in the mid 1870’s. Thinking of what my third great-grandmother Cordelia Merchant Cole endured has often brought a tear to my eye during my research.
“The names of those who rest here are long forgotten, but their existence deserves respect and reverence. They no longer can speak for themselves. Hence, we must note that buried here is someone’s ancestor, a person once loved by those who cherished them in the rocking cradle and held trembling hand in sickness and old age at death’s beckoning. These bodies now dust, are lived worth remembering because of the interdependent web of existence and the inherent worth and dignity of every person.”
– Orleans County Historian C.W. Lattin, June 20, 2011.
Clarissa Merchant Cole. (Photo courtesy of my Cole cousin Joy Harber).
Above is another photo of Cordelia’s sister Clarissa, this one taken when she was much older. There are no known photos of Cordelia, she died before photos were more commonplace, and her later life would not have lent itself to having photos taken. Below is the only of the other Merchant siblings to have a known photograph, Orlanzo Merchant. He was the oldest of the Merchant siblings. We can get an idea of what Cordelia looked like based on the two photos of her sister, and this one of her brother.
Photo of Orlanzo Merchant. This photo was posted online by Deborah Bishop Branch, a descendant of Orlanzo Merchant and Sara Sabrina Chafee.
I have run into some descendants of Lewis F. Cole and Clarissa Merchant, often they are older in age, that do not want to accept the truth of the facts. Others tell me that Clarissa was a good Christian woman and loved by many when she died. That is probably true, the fact that as an old woman she was remembered as a much-loved Christian woman does not make the actions of her past when she was a younger woman untrue.
Side note: Asa Walker Cole (brother of Lewis F. Cole) married Eliza Ann Merchant who was the sister of Cordelia and Clarissa. So, two Cole brothers married three Merchant sisters.
Although Cordelia Merchant Cole is not a woman known in history in general or even in American history, but to me, she is an important woman in my family history. She was a woman of strength and courage who endured and persisted but eventually lived in and suffered a death in a miserable place. But I am only here because this strong woman existed. She is my kin, my third great-grandmother, and an important woman in the ancestry of my family line.
My great-grandfather Joseph Edward “Joe” Cole, the grandson of Lewis F. Cole and Cordelia Merchant.
There are no references to list, all information is based on my own research.
This blog post was updated on 4 January 2024.
If you’d like to learn more about the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks project, please visit here:
The writing prompt for this week is “Courting”. Either as in courting in the law or courting as in romance. I could write about the myriad of ancestors that are found in Colonial American court records, including the ancestor I wrote about last week, My Contentious and Quarrelsome (and litigious!) Mayflower Pilgrim Ancestor Edward Doty or The Courtship of my Ancestors William Durkee and Martha Cross – which was detailed quite well in court records. Or I could write about more recent ancestors, their siblings, and kin, that have had brushes with the law. But I chose to write about my Colonial Massachusetts ancestor Mary Wheldon Taylor.
Living roleplay reenactor at the Plimoth Plantation in Plymouth, Massachusetts.
And in doing so, I am writing about her accidental death and the jury of inquest that was formed to investigate it.
But first I want to tell you a bit about her life.
Mary Wheldon was born in 1621 in Arnold, Nottinghamshire, England, to Gabriel Wheldon and his wife Jane. She was baptized in the nearby parish of Basford on 23 December 1621.
The village of Arnold stands near Sherwood Forest. Basford and Arnold in Nottinghamshire, England, are now adjoining suburbs just north of Nottingham, and about 10 miles south of Sherwood Forest. Sherwood Forest is a royal forest in Nottinghamshire, England, famous because of its historic association with the legend of Robin Hood. It was the traditional homeplace to Robin Hood, some 400 hundred years earlier. (3 & 4)
Mary came to New England with her father and siblings. “Gabriel Whelden was one of the first settlers in what is now the Township of Dennis in Barnstable County on Cape Cod. He was given permission on 3 Sep 1638 by Plymouth officials to settle on Cape Cod, which included a land grant. At the time the area was called “Mattacheeset”. It was organized into Yarmouth in 1639. Gabriel appears in the Yarmouth records, 6 Oct 1639, so he settled in Yarmouth between Sep 1638 and Oct 1639.” (3)
Mary Wheldon married Richard Taylor “The Tailor” in Yarmouth, Massachusetts, between 1645-1647. Their first known child was born in December of 1648. Her husband was called Richard Taylor “The Tailor” due to his occupation and also to differentiate him from another man of the same name, Richard Taylor “of the Rock”, who was also living in Yarmouth. This other Richard Taylor was given this nickname “of the Rock” “either because his house was made of stone, or because he lived near the boundary stone between Hockanom and Nobscusset in the northeastern part of town.” (3) This other Richard Taylor “of the Rock” married Mary’s sister, Ruth Wheldon.
The children of Richard “The Tailor” Taylor and Mary Wheldon are listed below.
Ann Taylor born 2 December 1648 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died 1648 in Yarmouth.
Ruth Taylor born 11 Apr 1649 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died 28 Jan 1728 inBarnstable, Massachusetts Colony. She married Joseph Bearse (the son of Augustine Bearse AKA Austin Bearce).
Mary Taylor born 18 December 1650 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died 1 February 1718 in Massachusetts. She married Abishai Marchant (the son of John Marchant of Martha’s Vineyard). – My direct ancestors.
John Taylor born about 1652 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; Will proved 18 Jan 1722 at Chatham, Massachusetts. He married Sarah Matthews (the daughter of James Matthews of Yarmouth).
Elizabeth Taylor born about 1655 in Barnstable, Plymouth Colony; died 4 May 1721 in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She married Samuel Cobb (the son of Henry Cobb and Sarah Hinckley).
Hannah Taylor born 16 September 1661 at Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died 14 May 1743 in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She married Deacon Job Crocker (the son of William Crocker and Alice Hoyt).
Ann Taylor born about 1659 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died after 1679. She married Josiah Davis (the son of Robert Davis and Ann).
Joseph Taylor born 1660 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died 13 September 1727 in Marshfield, Massachusetts. He married Experience Williamson, of Marshfield.
Sarah Taylor born 1662 in Yarmouth, Plymouth Colony; died 31 July 1695 in Barnstable, Massachusetts. She never married.
On a winter day in early December of 1673, Mary found herself on a small boat, it is assumed she intended to go from Yarmouth to Duxbury or to Plymouth. On this day she was a woman in her early fifties and had been married to her husband Richard “The Tailor’ Taylor for about twenty-eight years. Her children were aged between eleven and twenty-five years old. Only her oldest two children, Ann and Mary, were married.
Map of Plymouth Colony from FamilySearch.org
You can see in the map of the Plymouth Colony above where she was traveling from at Yarmouth and going by water up to either Plymouth or Duxbury. At some point on her journey, most-likely when she was close to Duxbury Bay, her boat cast adrift, and she was found dead in the wrecked boat.
Mary’s death was quite tragic. Her body was found in a small, wrecked boat near Duxbury Bay. A jury of inquest was formed in Duxbury.
Meaning of an inquest: judicial inquiry by a group of persons appointed by a court. The most common type is the inquest set up to investigate a death apparently occasioned by unnatural means. Witnesses are examined, and a special jury returns a verdict on the cause of death. (1)
Coroners’ Inquests in Colonial Massachusetts: “Coroners had many duties. They officiated at inquests — lay jury investigations — not only into deaths but also into shipwrecks, felonies, housebreaks, and fires.” (2)
We do not know how long the jury of inquest lasted; it appears only a matter of days. But on 4th of December 1673, it rendered its verdict.
The following was their verdict: “The jury of inquest appointed to view a corpes found in a boate now racked, and being supposed to be the wife of Richard Taylor, somtimes of Yarmouth, and to make dilligent serch how the said woman came by her death, doe judge, that the boate being cast away, the woman was drowned in the boate.” (5)
Her husband died, grief stricken, within 9 days of hearing the verdict.
This sad tale of the death of Mary Wheldon Taylor was not the only grief engendered by drowning within the Wheldon family. Many years earlier in 1639, Mary’s sister Martha Wheldon also died by drowning at the age of seventeen.
We know about this because of a letter their sister Katherine Wheldon composed back to England reporting the death of her sister Martha. The letter is summarized in Thomas Lechford’s Note-Book as follows:
“A letter by Katherine Weelden to Mr. John Shanvat of Nottingham dated 29.4.1639. touching the Death &c. of Martha Weelden of Dedham who was Drowned about 12 Dayes before. She was a godly mayde by all probabilites in this letter testified.” (3, 6, & 7)
Side note: The surname Shanvat (or Shamvat) has not been found in English records reviewed. It is possible that the surname was actually Chamlet, and that the recipient of Katherine Wheldon’s letter John “Shanvat” was related to Gabriel Whelden’s aunt by marriage, Christobel (_) (Whelden) Hewitt . . . (7)
Mary Wheldon and Richard “The Tailor” Taylor are my ninth great-grandparents.
Famous Kin of Gabriel Wheldon (and wife Jane), Great Migration Immigrant 1638:
Edwin Grozier, Owner of The Boston Post.
Charles Dawes, 30th U.S. Vice-President.
Merrill C. Meigs, Publisher, Chicago Herald & Examiner.
American Artist Norman Rockwell.
Bill Richardson, 30th Governor of New Mexico.
Tennessee Williams, Author and Playwriter.
Sydney Biddle Barrows, The Mayflower Madam.
Priscilla Presley, Actress, Businesswoman, and ex-wife of Elvis Presley.
Orrin Hatch, U.S. Senator from Utah.
Annie Proulx, Novelist and Short Story Writer.
Sarah Palin, 9th Governor of Alaska & U.S. Vice Presidential Canidate.
Mizuo Peck, TV and Movie Actress.
Don Winslow, Author and Screenwriter.
Kristine Rolofson, Harlequin Novelist.
Lisa Marie Presley, Singer and Songwriter. Daughter of Elvis Presley and Priscilla Presley.
Avril Lavigne, Singer and Songwriter.
Ethan Hawke, Actor, Director, Screenwriter, and Novelist.
Mellen, Paul F., Coroner’s Inquests in Colonial Massachusetts. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Volume 40, Issue 4, October 1985, Page 462. https://doi.org/10.1093/jhmas/40.4.462.
Edward Everett Hale, Jr., ed., Note-Book Kept by Thomas Lechford, Esq., Lawyer, in Boston, Massachusetts Bay, from June 27, 1638 to July 29, 1641 (Cambridge, Mass., 1885; repr. Camden, Maine: Picton Press, 1988), p. 102.
A painting by Bernard Gribble of the Pilgrim fathers boarding the Mayflower in 1620 for their voyage to America. Photograph: Print Collector/Getty Images.
When I received the writing prompt for this week, Landed, I considered taking it in several various directions, I do have some British ancestors that were considered Landed Gentry, as well as owners of large amounts of land in early Colonial Maryland. I also have many stories I could share about my ancestors landing in America, including at least three Mayflower Pilgrim ancestors, including Edward Doty. But I decided to go in a different direction, as in landing a blow, inflicting (landing) a wound on another person via hand, sword, or dagger, etc. This invited a clear path to write about my contentious and often quarrelsome paternal ancestor Edward Doty who not only landed on Plymouth Rock but also landed many a punch and even a dagger blow! The Edward Doty Society calls him fractious.
Little is known of Edward’s life prior to boarding the Mayflower. His parentage is unproven and all we truly know of his origins is that he was English and of London, England. He traveled on The Mayflower as an apprentice – indentured servant – of Londoner, Stephen Hopkins. Hopkins was making his second journey to the New World as he had served about ten years prior under Capt. John Smith at Jamestown, Virginia Colony. We know that Edward was at least 20 years old on November 11, 1620, when he signed the Mayflower Compact. In August 1643, his name appears on the list of men, ages 16-60, able to bear arms, so he wasn’t born before 1583. Most sources believe he was a young man at the time of the Mayflower voyage from England to America, so probably not born much before 1599. The passenger lists indicate he was “of London” but it’s not known if this was his place of birth in England. (1 & 2)
Interesting genealogical side note: I am a descendant of Edward Doty on my paternal side, I am also a descendant of the above-mentioned Stephen Hopkins on my maternal side. Other Mayflower passengers that I descend from include Stephen Hopkins’ daughter Constance Hopkins Snow, and his second wife Elizabeth Fisher.
A bit about Stephen Hopkins:
Stephen Hopkins, Edward’s master, himself was a colorful figure. Historians believe that he was the same Stephen Hopkins who was aboard the Sea Venture in 1609, when it shipwrecked in Bermuda enroute to the new Virginia colony. (William Shakespeare based the plot of his 1610-11 play, The Tempest, at least partly on this event.) Thereafter, Hopkins eventually arrived and settled in Virginia. However, by 1617 he was summoned back to England by the death of his wife and the plight of his children, all of whom he had left behind. (3)
Hopkins remarried in Whitechapel, London, England to Elizabeth Fisher, and in 1620 he boarded the Mayflower with his pregnant second wife, small children, and two servants. He just could not stay away from the New World, it seems. Their son, Oceanus, was born during the voyage. Hopkins was a tanner by trade and a some-times leader of the Colony. Among other roles, he sat on the Board of Assistants until 1636. However, thereafter he became an innkeeper and from time to time he ran afoul of the law in connection with his sale of liquor. (3)
Le Duel a l’Épée et au Poignard (The Duel with the Sword and Dagger), from Les Caprices Series A, The Florence Set. 1617. Public Domain.
The Dueling Edwards:
Another indentured servant in the household of Stephen Hopkins was Edward Leister. On the 18th of June 1621, the two Edwards, fellow indentured servants Edward Doty and Edward Leister, fought the first (and only) duel in the Plymouth Colony. A challenge of single combat with sword and dagger. Both were wounded, the one in the hand, the other in the thigh. Historians have speculated that it was fought over one of Hopkins’ daughters. They were adjudged by the whole Plymouth company to be punished by having their head and feet tied together for twenty-four hours, without meat or drink. But within an hour of the punishment being inflicted, their master Stephen Hopkins took pity upon them, and their “great pains” and he made a “humble request, upon promise of a better carriage” and they were released by the governor. (3, 4, 5, & 6)
Reenactment Plimouth Plantation Living Museum. (3)
But Edward Doty did not always make good on that promise of “a better carriage.” He did not like to pay his servants, he just let his cattle kind of wander around, he got into fights and is found in the Plymouth Court records numerous times!
To say that Edward was notably a contentious man would be correct.
The post-1632 records of the Plymouth Court, which has no existing records prior to that year, has twenty-three cases over the 20 years between January 1632 and October 1651 that involve Edward Doty. The records include suits/countersuits, and charges such as fraud, slander, fighting, assault, debt, trespass, theft, etc. These included five counts of assault, three of them against George Clarke, 20 years his junior. (5, 6, 7, & 8)
On 2 January 1632/3, Edward Doty was sued by three different people: John Washburn, Joseph Rogers, and William Bennett. It all appears to have been a disagreement about a trade of some hogs; John Washburn’s case was thrown out; Joseph Rogers was awarded four bushels of corn. In William Bennett’s case, Edward Doty was found guilty of slander and fined 50 shillings. (9)
Two years later, on 24th of March 1633/4, Edward Doty was fined 9 shillings and 11 pence for drawing blood in a fight with Josias Cooke. (9)
On 28 March 1634, Edward Doty won a suit against Francis Sprague. (7)
On 7 March 1636/7, Edward Doty was found guilty of a “deceitful bargain” over a lot of land and restored the lot to George Clarke. The controversy continued when George Clarke won damages and costs from Doty on 2 October 1637, Clarke charging him with denying liberty to hold land for the term he had taken it. Things escalated, for that same day Clarke also charged Doty for assault and battery, and Doty was further fined. (7)
Doty was sued in less sanguinary encounters between 1638 and 1651 with Richard Derby, John Shaw, widow Bridget Fuller and John Holmes over debt and trespass, and lost them all. On 7 December 1641, he successfully sued James Luxford for trespass. (7)
On 1 February 1641/2, Thomas Symons charged “Edward Dotey” with carelessly allowing cattle put in his hands to “break into men’s com” endangering the cattle and other property, and Doty was ordered to put his cattle in a “keep”. (7)
He also sued his own father-in-law, Thurston Clarke, over money. But although Doty appeared before the court numerous times, he was never punished for criminal activities beyond small fines. So even though he was charged with fighting and was sued by many persons for fraudulent trading and goods sales, almost all were civil cases and were not of a criminal nature. And other than his duel in 1621, he never received any physical punishment that was commonly given for crimes such as theft, serious assault and adultery. He was quite fortunate in this regard as typical punishments at that time included whipping, branding, banishment and the stocks. (5, 6, & 8)
Even with his periodic court cases, in which he accepted the outcome of all such actions, Edward Doty lived a normal life as a freeman, paying his taxes and all his debts. He periodically received land grants from court as with other residents and received other property rights and benefits from being classed as a “first comer.” (5 & 8)
Records do not show that Edward Doty ever served on any juries or held any political office nor was ever appointed to any governmental committees, which was unusual for a Purchaser and early freeman. The only recorded instance of his involvement in anything of a community nature was from a town meeting of February 10, 1643, when he was assigned with George Clarke, John Shaw, Francis Billington and others to build a wolf trap in the town of Plain Dealing.” In March 1657 he was midway down the list of “those that have interest and proprieties in the town’s land at Punckateeset over against Rhode Island”. (5, 6, 7, & 8)
On the August 1643 Able to Bear Arms (ATBA) List “Males that are able to bear Armes”, his name appears as “Edward Dotey”. (6 & 8)
Photo from: Plimoth Plantation: A Living Museum of a 17th Century English Colony in America by KAUSHIK PATOWARY. www.amusingplanet.com
Fellow Mayflower Pilgrim William Bradford, and Governor of the Plymouth Colony, mentioned that Edward had a first wife, but said nothing more about her. Historians surmise that she might have arrived in the Colony in about 1630, married Edward soon thereafter, and died in an epidemic in 1633. No record of any children of this marriage ever has been found. (3 & 6)
He married Faith Clarke on January 9, 1635. Faith was the daughter of Thurston (Tristram) and Faith Clarke, having arrived on the ship “Francis” in 1634.
From the Plymouth Colony Records, Vol. 1, page 32: “January 6, 1634. Edward Doten and Fayth Clarke were married.”
Since several of Doty’s court cases involved Thurston and George Clarke, it would appear that some of his legal situations, including fights, were the result of in-law domestic problems. Bradford stated that Doty “by a second wife hath seven children, and both he and they are living.” They later had two more children. (8, 10, & 11)
Edward Doty made out his will on May 20, 1655, calling himself “sicke and yet by the mercye of God in perfect memory.” His will was witnessed by John Howland, John Cooke, James Hurst, and William Hoskins. Doty signed his will with a mark. This was how he signed all his property deeds as he never learned to write. (6 & 8)
Edward Doty Memorial Stone.
Doty died on August 23, 1655, in Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay Colony and was buried at Burial Hill Cemetery where there is a memorial stone (pictured above) for him.
After Edward Doty’s death, his widow Faith married John Philips on March 14, 1666/7, as his second wife. She moved to Marshfield and died there December 21, 1675. She was buried at Winslow Cemetery in Marshfield, Massachusetts. (6, 8, & 10)
Famous descendants of Mayflower Pilgrim Edward Doty and wife Faith Clarke:
Eliphalet Remington, founder of the Remington Arms Company; Lavinia Warren, Dwarf Circus Performer; Calvin Coolidge, 30th U.S. President; Actress Raquel Welch; Bill Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts; Actress Tuesday Weld; Actor Dick Van Dyke; Chairman and CEO Warren Buffett; Actress Jordana Brewster; and Actor Orsen Bean.
My direct line from Mayflower Pilgrim Edward Doty:
Edward Doty and Faith Clarke.
Samuel Doty and Jane Harmon.
Edward Doty and Sarah Davis.
John Doty and Mary ____ (Her full maiden name is thought to be Mary (Martjie) Schermerhorn).
Jeremiah Doty and Sarah B. ___.
Samuel Doty/Doughty and Mary Ann “Polly” Lamb.
Rev. John M. Doughty and Jane McGuire.
Maguire/McGuire Doughty and Mary Ann Gooden.
John Lewis Doughty and Cynthia Ann Barrett.
Mary Adalaide “Mame” Doughty and James Francis Fay (my great-grandparents).
Our Doughty line is accepted by The Mayflower Society.
Caleb H. Johnson, The Mayflower and her passengers (Indiana: Xlibris Corp., 2006), pp. 132–133.
Eugene Aubrey Stratton. Plymouth Colony: Its History and People, 1620–1691 (Salt Lake City: Ancestry Publishing, 1986), p. 264, pp. 283–284 p. 285, p. 336 & pp. 439–440.
Map of Bergen, from ‘Civitates Orbis Terrarum’ by Georg Brau (1541-1622) and Franz Hogenberg (1535-90) c.1571-1600
Above is a painting of an old map of Bergen, Norway. Hieronimus Scholaeus’ prospect of Bergen was painted about 1580 and published in Cologne in 1588 in a large atlas with pictures of “cities from the whole world” The Civitates orbis terrarum (Bergen, Norway), by Georg Braun & Frans Hogenberg. 1590 – the edition which is presented above was published in Amsterdam in 1657. Although the picture of the city is the same as on prospect from 1580, the original Hanseatic cargo ships are replaced with more up to date Dutch fløytskip, a flat-bottomed, three-masted trading vessel with an ample hull. The low houses portrayed here with the red roofs would mostly have had turf roofs. (1)
I was quite intrigued with the above map. If you click on it and view the larger image, you can see the key on the bottom left more clearly and see each one as it corresponds to the place on the map.
Commentary by Braun: “Most of the finest buildings in the city, be they houses of worship or domiciles, belong to the Hanseatic merchants, the Osterlingen, as they are called there. The rest are shoddily made, with walls of timber pieced together and roofed over with green moss. Nevertheless, the German merchants have a splendid outpost in Bergen because it is excellently suited for trade and commerce. For it encompasses a whole side of the harbour […]. They have separate trading posts corresponding to the diversity of their cities and countries of origin. Hence the merchants from Lübeck, Danzig, Cologne, Brunswick and Hamburg each have a site of their own by the shore, on which they unload the ships from their cities and load them again and send them back to Germany.” (2)
Bergen – the first royal residence city – has for centuries been Norway’s, and for long periods, Scandinavia’s biggest city. The historical monuments round the Vågen bay tell us that the city has been of national, historical significance. In the well-known view of Bergen from the 1580s by Hieronimus Scholeus we can recognize Håkonhallen’s characteristic stepped gables and feudal lord Erik Rosenkrantz’ proud building from the 1560s; what we today call the Rosenkrantz Tower. That is not so strange, because both buildings have been restored with that engraving as a model. Erik Rosenkrantz built together Magnus Lagabøtes castle gatehouse from the 13th century and captain Jørgen Hanssøns defense works into a powerful defense tower – a “donjon” – and equipped it with a Renaissance façade looking out over the city. Behind today’s construction at Bergenshus we can make out the contours of the medieval royal estate at Holmen, which at that time was linked to the mainland by a low, marshy neck of land. (1)
My quite recent interest in the town of Bergen, Norway is engendered by the recent discovery that I may be descended from Anneken (Annetje) Hendricks (Henriksen) Vanderbilt. I have several Dutch ancestors that were in New York very early in its settlement. It would have been assumed by later researchers that Anneken was Dutch except for the fact that in her marriage banns it states she is from Bergen, Norway. In her marriage banns in the Reformed Dutch Church, New Amsterdam (now New York), it states “Jan Arentszen Van der Bilt, j.m. en Anneken Hendricks, Van Bergen en Noorwegen.” She married Jan Arentszen Van der Bilt on 6 February 1650 in what is now Brooklyn, Kings County, New York. She was born about 1630-1632 and would have lived in Bergan in a time when it looked very much like the image above.
This led me to do a bit of research into Norwegian families in early New York. I had previously not even considered the fact that Norwegians may have migrated to America so early.
I found that Norwegians have been in New York since the 1600’s. Dutch ships trading and colonizing in what would become present day New York, had Norwegian sailors as part of their crews. Norwegians were considered some of the best sailors. (3)
General information about Norwegian immigration to America. There was a Norwegian presence in New Amsterdam (New York after 1664) in the early part of the 17th century. Hans Hansen Bergen, a native of Bergen, Norway, was one of the earliest settlers of the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam having immigrated in 1633. (See more about him below). Another of the first Norwegian settlers was Albert Andriessen Bradt who arrived in New Amsterdam in 1637. Approximately 60 persons had settled in the Manhattan area before the British take-over in 1664. Pieter Van Brugh, Mayor of Albany, New York was the grandson of Norwegian immigrants. His mother’s parents were Roelof Janse (1602–1637), born in Marstrandsön, a small island situated in Båhuslen province in Norway (ceded to Sweden in 1658) and Anneke Jans (1605–1663), born on Flekkerøy, an island situated outside the town of Kristiansand, Vest-Agder County, Norway. How many Norwegians settled in New Netherlands (the area up the Hudson River to Fort Oranje—now Albany) is not known. The Netherlands (and especially Amsterdam and Hoorn) had strong commercial ties with the coastal lumber trade of Norway during the 17th century, and many Norwegians emigrated to Amsterdam. Some of them settled in Dutch colonies, although never in large numbers. (4, 7, & 8)
One of the earliest Norwegian sailors to settle in Dutch New Amsterdam (New York) was Hans Hansen Bergen of Bergen, Norway. Hans Hansen Bergen emigrated to New Netherland in 1633 in a company with the Director-General of New Netherland, Wouter Van Twiller, and Bergen was initially known in early New Amsterdam records by various names, but chiefly Hans Hansen Noorman and Hans Hansen Boer. He was also sometimes referred to in early records as Hans Noorman, Hans Hanszen, Hans Hanszen Noorman, Hans Hanszen de Noorman, Hans Hanszen Van Bergen in Norweegan or simply Hans Hansen. A shipwright by trade, he became a large property owner in Brooklyn. He served as overseer of an early tobacco plantation on Manhattan Island, before eventually removing to Brooklyn’s Wallabout Bay, where he was one of the earliest settlers and founded a prominent Brooklyn clan. He married Sarah Rapelje – the first female of European descent born in New Amsterdam. Both family names live on as street names in Brooklyn. (4, 5, 7, & 8) His wife Sarah Rapelje was a sister of Jannetje Rapalje who married Rem Jansen (AKA Remsen) Vanderbeek – The Blacksmith.
Sarah and Jennetje were the daughters of Joris Jansen Rapalje and Catalyntje Jeronimus Trico. Some famous descendants of this couple are:
Arthur Ryerson – RMS Titanic Victim; Actress Paget Brewster; Actor Humphrey Bogart; Retired Politician Howard Dean; and Actor James Spader.
American socialite, and amateur soprano Florence Foster Jenkins is a descendant of theirs through their daughter Sarah Rapelje and Hans Hansen. Some may remember the 2016 biographical film Florence Foster Jenkins starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.
There was also Claes Carstensen (possibly originally Klaus Kristenson). Claes Carstensen’s name appears variously as Claes Noorman, Claes Carstensen Noorman and Claes Van Sant, the latter being the Norwegian name Sande in Jarlsberg, where Claes Carstensen was born in 1607. He came to America about 1640 and settled a few years later on fifty-eight acres of land on the site of the present Williamsburg. The ministerial records of the old Dutch Reformed Church in New York state that Claes Carstensen was married April 15, 1646, to Helletje Hendricks. (3, 5, 6, & 10)
Some have asserted that Claes Carstensen’s wife Helletje Hendricks may have been a sister to my ancestor Anneken Hendricks. Her husband was from Norway, but she was most likely Dutch. She is listed as Helletje Noomian in some records, but some argue it was because her husband was Norwegian. There is no note to be found in her marriage record indicating she was Norwegian, so she most likely was Dutch and not a sister of my Anneken Hendricks. Claes Carstensen died November 6, 1679. (5 & 10)
Albert Andriessen (Albert Andriessen Bradt) was twenty-nine when he made an agreement with Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, and it is assumed based on this information that he was born about 1607. Pursuant to the stipulation in the agreement, he sailed, accompanied by his wife, Annetje Barents of “Rolmers,” and as it would seem by two children, October 8, 1636, on the Rensselaerswyck,” which arrived at New Amsterdam March 4, 1637. In the following centuries Norwegian sailors and captains continued to be hired to sail to the area, and some of them stayed. (3, 5, 6, & 7).
By the year 1700 there were a number of families of Norwegian and Danish descent living in New York. In 1704 a stone church was erected by them on the corner of Broadway and Rector Streets. The property was later sold to Trinity Church, the present churchyard occupying the site of the original church. Prof. Rev. Rasmus Anderson, speaking of these people, says, that they were probably mostly Norwegians and not Danes, for those of their descendants with whom he has spoken have all claimed Norwegian descent. The pastor who ministered to the spiritual wants of this first Scandinavian Lutheran congregation in America was a Dane by the name of Rasmus Jensen Aarhus. He died on the southwest coast of Hudson Bay, February 20, 1720. (10)
So, who was Anneken Hendricks (Henriksen)? In addition to the sailors there were some Norwegian adventurers that accompanied Dutch colonists to New Amsterdam. As noted above in the case of Albert Andreesen, there were those that sailed with their wife and children. Her parentage is unknown, but I must assume she sailed with a family member or parent to New Amsterdam. Her surname gives some clues and most likely the name was actually the Norwegian surname Henriksen. Her surname indicates that she was descended from a man named Henrik. See note below, it appears she was a daughter or granddaughter of a man named Henrik. The surname Henriksen is a Norwegian surname (also found in Denmark).
Update: The above newspaper article in Norwegian was sent to me by a Norwegian DNA cousin (with a different connection to me) and it shows that Anniken’s Norwegian name was Anneken Henriksen. This section translated into English reads:
Norwegian. Anneken Hendricks, Anne Henriksen, was married to Dutchman from the city of Bilt. The family name was Van der Bilt. The family name was Van der Bilt, for the fathers [fore-fathers/ancestor] of the wealthy Vanderbilt family.
Here is another one above that she sent me. In English this section translated reads:
By marriage dated 6 February 1650 in new Amsterdam (New York), Anneken Hendricks from Bergen became a Hollander, whereby Norwegian blood came into a family that later and still is one of the most prominent American family names today. What family is it?
The question being asked at the end is in relation to what Norwegian family does Anneken Henriksen come from? A question that has yet to have an answer and may remain a forever mystery.
Side note: Hendricks and Hendrickszen/Hendricksen, are surnames found in Dutch church, land, and legal records in Colonial America. There are numerous brides and grooms with the name Henricks and some with Hendricksen in Dutch Reformed Church records in New York and some in New Jersey, but only Anneken Hendricks’ (Henriksen) marriage record has the note of her being Norwegian and from Bergen, Norway. Most have Dutch roots, and the families came from the Netherlands, with a few being English that intermarried with the Dutch. (11 & 12) But Henriksen is a uniquely Scandinavian surname. Henricks and Hendricksen are Dutch and German surnames.
Many have incorrectly listed her as the daughter of Dutch immigrant Jiles (Giles) Douwesz Fonda and his wife Hester Douwdre Jansen. There is quite a bit known about Jiles Douwesz Fonda, He was a brewer and a blacksmith’s assistant in Amsterdam, North Holland, Netherlands. After 1645 he was involved in the whaling industry in the Netherlands. He married Hester Douwdre Jansen on 10 February 1641 in Diemen, North Holland, Netherlands. He arrived in Fort Orange, New Netherland (now Albany, New York) in 1651. Jiles died in the year 1659 in Beverwyck, New Netherland Colony (New York). There is no record of him ever being in Norway, and his marriage takes place in the Netherlands at least ten years after Anneken Hendricks was born. I have seen no documentation as to why they are linking her to this couple, except that a few list the maiden name of Hester as Henricks. Anneken Hendricks (Henriksen) married in February 1650 in what is now Brooklyn, New York. She was living in New Amsterdam and married there prior to Jilies Douwesz Fonda even immigrating to America. Also, the Dutch very much listed additional information in their records if a person was not Dutch or from the Netherlands. The fact that they listed her as from Bergan, Norway is telling, it tells us that she was Norwegian and not Dutch. There is no evidence or historical records linking her to this couple. I believe that one person decided to incorrectly link her to them, and then multitudes of people have repeatedly shared the incorrect data.
Anniken is a Nordic girl’s name found in Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Her name is listed as Anniken in her marriage banns, in the baptism records of her children in the Dutch Reformed Church it is listed as the Dutch variant of the name as Annetje. One of the earliest recorded forms of the name Anneken, is found in a Swedish document from 1387, and listed as Anneken. This developed into the names: Anneke, Annecke and Anneka, and all four were used throughout the 15th century in Scandinavia, Germany and Holland. (9)
As noted in a prior paragraph, it is not known how many Norwegians settled in New Netherlands (the area up the Hudson River to Fort Oranje—now Albany). We know that Norwegians settled in Dutch Colonies, although never in large numbers. She would have been part of that unknown number of Norwegians that settled in New Netherlands (New York).
Part of Anneken (Annetje) Henriksen’s story has been lost to time. But what we know for sure is that she was from Bergen, Norway and came to be in the Dutch New Amsterdam (New Netherlands) Colony in America, in what is today, New York, and she married a man of Dutch stock named Jan Aertsen VanDerBilt (Vanderbilt).
Evjen, John O. (1916). Scandinavian Immigrants in New York, 1630–1674. K. C. Holter Publishing Company, Minneapolis, Minnesota. Including appendices on Scandinavians in Mexico and South America, 1532-1640, Scandinavians in Canada, 1619-1620, Some Scandinavians in New York in the eighteenth century, German immigrants in New York, 1630-1674 (Volume 2) online.
The theme for February 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks is Branching Out.
One way to take this week and month’s theme of branching out is to write about collateral relatives – those that share the same family descent as me but by a different line. I have many historical and famous kin that descend from collateral lines, but I chose to write about my lesser-known Cousin Percy Wenrich. He is my fourth cousin, three times removed. Meaning that he and my great-grandfather Abraham G. Kennedy were direct fourth cousins. We share ancestors Johann Matthias Wenrich (Weinrich) and Judith Schauer.
Although today most-likely only those that are fans of ragtime music or study music of this time period would recognize his name. He and his wife Dolly Connolly were Ragtime superstars in their own time! Actually, Percy Wenrich was a quite well-known composer of Ragtime and popular music of the time. When I discovered my kinship to him, I sought out his music. I am a fan of Ragtime music and remember playing Ragtime songs on the piano from the film The Sting. I have to say that I truly am a fan of his and I have a playlist devoted to the music of Percy Wenrich.
Perry Wenrich – 1910
Percy Wenrich was born on 23 January 1887 in Joplin, Missouri. He was later known as the “The Joplin Kid” due to his links to Joplin.
He was the son of Daniel K. Wenrich and Mary L. Ray. He came from a musical family. His father Daniel “according to a 1912 [Jopin] Globe article, [he was known] for his musical ability as a quartet singer and “composer of campaign songs in the days of President William McKinley.” Percy’s mother, Mary, was an accomplished pianist and organist and his first teacher.” (1)
Percy published his first piece, titled “L’Inconnu,” in 1897 when he was 17. He had a thousand copies printed, which he sold one at a time in the district. While he was busy working up music, he was employed as an assistant postal clerk by his father. He also performed for friends at the YMCA at 418 Main St. [Joplin, Missouri] in 1901. Young Percy began writing his own melodies for which his father provided lyrics. Many of these songs were used locally at political rallies and conventions. He continued to be interested in music and enrolled in the Chicago Musical College to be trained as a “serious” musician. Chicago Musical College was run by Florenz Ziegfield, Sr., the father of the Broadway producer Florenz Ziegfeld Jr. He continued his efforts in writing popular song and while in Chicago, succeeded in having two of his works published, Ashy Africa and Just Because I’m From Missouri. Interestingly perhaps, both titles were suggested to him by Frank Buck, a Chicago music publisher who went on to become a famous producer of African travel and adventure films. While in Chicago, he worked for McKinley Music Company writing melodies for lyrics sent to McKinley. He composed various works including waltzes, songs, intermezzi and rags. He also worked in a Milwaukee department store’s music department where he published another song, Under A Tropical Moon. He later noted that working in the department store kept him from working in “the district” — an area that was home to many brothels. (1, 2)
His first best-seller without lyrics was “The Smiler,” published in 1907. He subtitled it “A Joplin Rag” in honor of his hometown. As I write this, I am currently listening to “The Smiler” as played by Sue Keller below.
He met his wife Catherine Ann “Dolly” Connolly, a vaudeville singer, in 1905, and a year later they wed. Dolly lists her place of birth as Chicago, Illinois and Michigan in various records, but she was actually born in County Caven, Ireland. Percy and Dolly toured as a vaudeville song and dance act for fifteen years.
Dolly was considered by many to be the most beautiful of the famous ragtime singers and had marked out a steady career for herself in vaudeville when she met up and coming composer and accompanist Percy Wenrich, a handsome but rather shy and nerdy fellow who became a pop music genius. The unlikely couple hit it off instantly and became inseparable, living as well as touring together and Wenrich began to write music for her including the 1911 mega-hit Red Rose Rag which became one of Dolly’s signature songs along with Alamo Rag, also written by Wenrich. (3)
“As many successful songwriters did during that time, Wenrich teamed up with Homer Howard to form his own music publishing house, the Wenrich-Howard Company. Together they published a number of his songs, including, Kentucky Days, Whipped Cream Rag and Snow Deer in 1913. Within only a year, Wenrich gave up the publishing business as it was taking him away from song writing and performing. So, in 1914, he gave it up to devote all of his time to composing and performing with Dolly in vaudeville. He connected with Leo Feist that year as his publisher and that same year he scored what may be his greatest hit of all time, When You Wore A Tulip And I Wore A Big Red Rose. For several years, perhaps fifteen or so, Connolly and Wenrich toured vaudeville singing mostly his songs. Connolly’s success also carried over to recording and she became a huge star recording songs for Columbia.” (2)
Dolly Connolly
Dolly had a contralto voice which allowed her to go down for some rather low notes while still having considerable power and she also possessed a wide vocal range. She could sing melodies precisely and exactly on pitch which was essential for vocal versions of rags. She didn’t impose too much emotion in her songs and never did scat singing or even fairly simple deviations from the melody but preferred to sing the music as written, especially when written by her husband who was writing for her range and vocal character.
She also was stunningly beautiful and always dressed in the latest, most elaborate fashions of the time, similar to a Ziegfeld star such as Lillian Lorraine and was not above posing in a saucy manner smoking a cigarette and hiking up her skirt to show off a little leg. After her marriage to Wenrich she continued her career and actually expanded it as her fame grew and she and her husband became a major vaudeville attraction as either he or she or both put out hit after hit. In 1912 Wenrich and lyricist Edward Madden put out Moonlight Bay, which was an enormous hit and made the Connolly-Wenrich team an even bigger attraction in vaudeville. (3)
The [Joplin] Globe reprinted a Chicago Tribune review of their act from Aug. 27, 1912. “Seated idly at the piano at the Majestic this week is Mr. Percy Wenrich, a plump and pleasing young fellow who plays with great expression and effect the melodies of his own composition. These works include such musical necessities as ‘Moonlight Bay’ and ‘Put on Your Old Gray Bonnet,’ ‘The Skeleton Rag’ and ‘Rainbow,’ to say nothing of a score of other sentimental tunes, which insist on being whistled. (1)
Just back of Mr. Wenrich and the piano is Miss Dolly Connolly, an expert at the rhythmical rendition of Mr. Wenrich’s ballads. She sings most attractively while Mr. Wenrich helps out with the chords and both of them do about all that can be done for minor music. Ere the act is over, and while Miss Connolly is making one of her bewildering changes of costume, Mr. Wenrich plays a segment from each of his most popular ditties. Whereupon those in the audience applaud their favorites and Mr. Wenrich smiles benignly like a benefactor, which he probably is. (1)
In the 1920s Percy devoted himself to creating and contributing to Broadway shows both with and without Dolly with some success, the operetta Some Party, a strong performer in 1925 but without Dolly in the cast. Although Dolly had a successful career with Columbia Records and was continuing in vaudeville, her star had faded by the later 1920s (although she and Percy toured in vaudeville up to 1929 and Dolly and Percy hit Broadway with several shows in which she starred with mild success) with changing musical tastes and Percy also retired from composing and performing in the 1930s, apparently to care for Dolly who suffered from an undisclosed illness, apparently Alzheimer’s Disease, which caused Percy at first to limit their theatrical and radio performances and then to confine her to a sanitarium in 1947 where she stayed until his death in 1952. In 1939 Percy had put together a revue featuring classic songwriters which was called Songwriters on Parade but that seems to be his last venture into major entertainment. Dolly lived with her sister until her death in 1965 at age 77, by that time long forgotten by the general public. (3)
A few more facts about Percy Wenrich: He was the founding member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. And he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
My great-grandfather Abraham G. Kennedy with his mother, my great-great grandmother, Susan Palmer Kennedy – 1922.
Side note: My great-grandfather Abraham G. “Abe” Kennedy worked many years as a public-school teacher, then as a principal. But after he retired, he worked in a music store and a piano store. He was musical and I truly believe he would have enjoyed knowing that he and Percy Wenrich were cousins and shared an affinity for music. In the photo above is Abe with his mother Susan Palmer Kennedy. Susan would have been a direct third cousin to Percy Wenrich’s father Daniel K. Wenrich.
Percy Wenrich’s direct line:
Johann Matthias Wenrich (son of Balthazar Wenrich/Weinrich and Maria Elisabeth Magdalena ____) and Judith Schauer (daughter of Johannes Michael Schauer and Anna Magdalena ____).
Matthias Wenrich and Eva Ephrosina “Rosine” Schauer (daughter of Johann Hans Michael Schauer and Elisabeth Catharina Lauck/Laux).
Thomas Wenrich and Anna Margaretha Lingle (daughter of Thomas H. Lingle, Sr. and Anna Mary Feggen).
David Wenrich and Catherine Kinports (daughter of John Kinports and Barbara Huber).
David K. Wenrich and Mary L. Ray (daughter of William Ray and Elizabeth Jane Rodgers).
Percy Wenrich.
My direct line:
Johann Matthias Wenrich (son of son of Balthazar Wenrich/Weinrich and Maria Elisabeth Magdalena ____) and Judith Schauer (daughter of Johannes Michael Schauer and Anna Magdalena ____).
Maria Esther Wenrich and Johann Jacob Spatz (son of Lorentz Spatz and Anna Maria Kirchenbauer)
David Spatz and Hannah Hafer (daughter of Andrew Hafer and Elizabeth (Mary Elizabeth) Druckenmiller).
Mary Ann Spotts and John Palmer (son of Floyd Palmer and Barbara Wolf).
Susan Palmer and John Davis Kennedy (son of John Kennedy and Jane Williams).
Abraham G. Kennedy and Mary Elizabeth Price (daughter of James Price and Julia Ann Mateer/Meteer). My great-grandparents.
I thought as an ending note that I’d include below one of my favorites by Percy Wenrich “Peaches and Cream”.
Update of 29 August 2025: I spent a significant amount of time painstakingly going through many additional German church records, and as well as records found in Colonial America in the 1700s. My sixth great-grandfather’s surname is listed many various ways, making it a bit more work to locate him in all the applicable church records.
I discovered the parentage of my sixth great-grandfather Johann Jacob Gretzinger. He was the son of Jacob Gretzinger and Barbara Scheüchzer. His mother was the daughter of Samuel Scheüchzer. His parents married on 17 August 1702 at the Jerusalem Chapel in Berlin, Germany.
The surname Scheüchzer is a Swiss German name, and its origin is Swiss. The name is a variant of the Swiss German surname Schwyzer, which is a habitational name for someone from the city or canton of Schwyz in Switzerland. “Schwyzer” is a Swiss German dialectical term that means “Swiss person”. Over time, the name evolved into various forms, including Scheuchzer. A famous bearer of this name was Johann Jakob Scheuchzer, a Swiss natural scientist and physician.
How my Scheüchzer ancestors came to be in Berlin is unknown. It is a considerable distance from Berlin to the Swiss border.
The surname of Johann Jacob is found in church records in Germany as Gritzinger, Gretzinger, Ertzinger, Götzinger, as well as some other weird variations of the spelling of the name.
Johann Jacob Gretzinger and Barbara Scheüchzer had the following children:
Anna Barbara Gretzinger, baptized 1 October 1702 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany. In her baptism record the surname is misspelled as Jetsinger.
Johann Jacob Gretzinger was born 1 November 1703 in Berlin, Germany. In his birth record the surname is misspelled as Jetzinger. He married Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett on 30 November 1725 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany. (my direct ancestors). After her death, he married second to Eva Elisabeth Geschken on 13 March 1735 at the Jerusalem Chapel in Berlin.
Anna Barbara Regina Gretzinger was born 29 November 1705 in Berlin, Germany, and was baptized on 2 December 1705 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany. In her birth and baptism record the surname is misspelled as Jetzmeyer and Jotzingers.
Anna Maria Barbara Gertzinger, baptized on 29 June 1710 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany. In her baptism record the surname is listed incorrectly as Schirtzinger.
Johann Jacob Wilhelm Ertzinger, baptized on 5 July 1711 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany.
Johann Heinrich Ertzinger, baptized on 6 September 1713 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany.
Ursula Catharina Elisabetha Ertzinger, baptized on 25 May 1719 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany.
Anna Dorothea Elisabetha Ertzinger, baptized on 21 November 1720 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany.
Examining my fifth great-grandfather’s will and other documents led to some additional changes. Christian (Johann Christian) Greatsinger (Gretzinger) died on 14 March 1805 in Kingston, Ulster, New York, and is buried in the Freer Cemetery along with his first wife Anne Antje Anna Palmer and two of their daughters. I had previously found his marriage record to Susannah Myers, his second wife. They married on 10 November 1799 in Ulster Park, Ulster, New York. This means that all of his known children were from his first marriage. Anne Antje Anna Palmer is the mother to all of his children. After his death, his second wife Susannah Myers did migrate with family members to Elmira, Chemung, New York, and she is buried in the Greatsinger Cemetery. My fourth great-grandfather John (Johann) Greatsinger/Kritsinger and his wife Lea Litts are also buried in the Greatsinger Cemetery.
It was only last night that I located the marriage record for (Johann Christian) Greatsinger (Gretzinger) and Anne Antje Anna Palmer. Both their surnames were incorrectly spelled, which made for some creative research to locate the record! They were married on 19 July 1762 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Their names are listed as follows: Palmmar, Anna, Monmouth, and Christen Graten, Monmouth … 1762 July 19 (see image above).
Some have attached Emanuel Palmer, of Lancaster, Pennsylvania as the father of Anne Antje Anna Palmer. I have not found any records to support this link to him. Her parentage, for now, remains unknown. But I believe that she had at least one sibling, a brother, named Christian. According to New Jersey marriage records, Christian Palmer married in 1753 in Monmouth County, New Jersey, to Ann Williams. I have not been able to locate any additional information regarding Christian Palmer and, his wife, Ann Williams.
Via church records, I also discovered two additional children for Johann Jacob Gretzinger with his second wife Eva Elisabeth Geschken.
My Greatsinger (Gretzinger) and Bonnett ancestors are through my 3rd great-grandmother Hannah Elizabeth Kritsinger/Greatsinger (she married David Prindle, Sr.).
Her grandfather was Johann Christian Gretzinger (Greatsinger), who was the son of Johann Jacob Gretzinger and Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett. He was baptized 17 Jun 1729 in the Jerusalem Chapel (Church of the Archangels Michael and Gabriel) in Berlin Stadt, Brandenburg, Prussia, Germany.
Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett was the daughter of Francois Jean (Johann Frantz) Bonnet and Anna Dorothea Steiner.
Johann Frantz Bonnett is listed in German church records as Johann Franciscus Bonnet, Johann Frantz Bonet, Frantz Bonet, and with surname listed as both Bonnet and Bonnetts. On his marriage record his father is listed as Johann Bonnet. His French name was Francois Jean and his father’s French name was Jean.
History of the religious affiliation of the Jerusalem Church: United Protestant since its reconstruction in 1968, originally Roman Catholic, Lutheran from 1539 until deserted in the Thirty Years War, Calvinist (1658–1662), the Calvinists and Lutherans shared the church (1682–1830), Evangelical Protestant (1830–1941), Romanian Orthodox (1944–1945), then destroyed. (4)
Johann Jacob Gretzinger married to Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett married 30 Nov 1725 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany.
Johann Jacob Gretzinger and Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett had the following children:
Abraham Friedrich Gertzinger baptized 23 January 1727 at the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Germany. He may be the Friederich Gatzinger that came to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1749, who is found as Fredk Getzinger in the 1780 US Census for Northern Liberties, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and is listed as Frederick Gatzinger in probate records of 1793 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His name is also found in records as Gotzinger.
Christian Greatsinger Gretzinger (baptized Johann Christian Gertzinger) born 12 June 1729 in Berlin, Germany, baptized 17 June 1729 in the Jerusalem Church in Berlin, Gemany. He died 14 March 1805 in Kingston, Ulster County, New York. He married first to Anna Anne Antje Palmer (my ancestors) on 19 July 1762 in Monmouth County, New Jersey. Their names are listed as follows: Palmmar, Anna, Monmouth, and Christen Graten, Monmouth … 1762 July 19. They had 10 children. After her death he married second on 10 November 1799 in Ulster Park, Ulster, New York, to Susannah Myers.
Anna Dorothea Ertzinger baptized 20 August 1730 at the Jerusalem Church, Berlin, Berlin, Germany and died before 1738 in Berlin, Germany.
Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett died in December 1730 in Berlin, Germany. After her death, Johann Jacob Gretzinger married second on 13 March 1735 at the Jerusalem Chapel to Eva Elisabeth Geschken, the daughter of Daniel Geschken and Anna ____.
Johann Jacob Gretzinger and second wife Eva Elisabeth Geschken had the following children:
Anna Barbara Elisabeth Ertziner baptized 5 September 1736 at Neue Kirche (The New Church), Berlin, Germany.
Dorothea Louise Ertzinger born 4 June 1738 in Berlin, Germany, and died 8 November 1805 in Berlin, Berlin, Germany. She married Friedrich Willhelm Schellentrager in 1778. She had a least two children, a son and a daughter. The son has descendants. The surname Schellentrager was shorten to Schellin/Schellen. Some of their descendants immigrated to the USA at the end of the 19th century, but most stayed in Germany.
Jacob Benjamin Ertzinger, baptized on 12 June 1740 in Berlin, Germany. He went to South Carolina, where he married Maria Margaretha Marx. His daughter, Maria Magdalena Gitsinger / Gotzinger, married Barnerd Litz Lietz Leitz, a Litts/Litz cousin. He was the son of Barnerd Litz Lietz Leitz and Mary Magdalene Edon. The father, Barnerd/Bernard Litz Lietz Leitz, was born in New York and migrated to South Carolina and was the son of Daniel Litz Letts Litts Lietz and Femmetje Clerk/Klerk.
Johann Jacob Ertzinger was born about 1741 in Berlin, Germany. He married Dorothea Charlotta Kretschmann on 26 December 1763 at Evangelische Stadtkirchen Berlin (Brandenburg) – Evangelical City Churches of Berlin (Brandenburg). She was the daughter of Johann Christoph Kretschmann.
Anna Dorothea Louysa Ertzinger baptized 21 October 1742 at Neue Kirche (The New Church), Berlin, Germany.
Maria Elisabeth Charlotte Ertziner baptized 26 December 1745 Neue Kirche (The New Church) in Berlin, Germany
Photo postcard of the Jerusalem Chapel taken in 1906.
Bonnet Name Meaning
French: from the medieval personal name Bonettus, a diminutive of Latin bonus ‘good’. French: occasionally, a Gascon variant of Bonneau. English and French: metonymic occupational name for a milliner, or a nickname for a wearer of unusual headgear, from Middle English bonet, Old French bon(n)et ‘bonnet’, ‘hat’. This word is found in medieval Latin as abonnis, but is of unknown origin. In Germany the name was borne by Waldensians, of French origin, and French Huguenots. (1)
Gretzinger Name Meaning
One source states the Gretzinger surname means someone from any of the three places named Grötzingen (Old High German Grezzingun) in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Another source states it is a Swedish and German surname that was a locational name for a dweller on a pebbly or sandstone piece of land, or one who came from Gresse in Germany. (2) The name could also be related to the surname Kritzinger which originally was Kreutzinger and meaning “Living near the Cross” in German.
Johann Christian Gretzinger (Greatsinger) emigrated to the American Colonies before 1760 and settled in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey. He married Anne (Antje) Palmer. Most of his older children’s baptism records are found there in the Dutch Reformed Church Records in Freehold, New Jersey. He migrated to Ulster County, New York by 1774. After the death of his first wife, he marries second to Susannah Myers in Ulster County, New York.
Children of Johann Christian Greatsinger (Gretzinger) and Anna Anne (Antje) Palmer:
Catherina (Catrina) Greatsinger/Kritsinger, she married Johannes John Deyo
John (Johann) Greatsinger/Kritsinger, he married Lea Litts
Stephenus/Stephen Greatsinger, he married Deborah Litts
Susannah M. Greatsinger/Kritsinger, she married Benjamin Deyo
Maria Polly Greatsinger, she married Daniel Litts
Sarah Greatsinger, she married Isaac Sluyter
Anna Greatsinger, she married Ezekiel Rhodes
Eleanor Greatsinger, she married Johannes John Litz/Letts (Litts)
Rev. Christan Greatsinger, he married Anna Mariah Smith
William Greatsinger, he married Phebe Spencer
As you can see, many of the Greatsinger siblings married into the same Litts family, two married into the same Deyo family. One married into the Sluyter family, this is same Sluyter family that I am also descended from, for my ancestor Lea Litts mother’s maiden name was Sluyter (see below).
I am a DNA match to over 100+ people that are all descendants of Christian (Johann Christian) Greatsinger and his wife Anna Anne (Antje) Palmer.
My direct ancestor is John (Johann) Greatsinger, the son of Johann Christian Greatzinger (Greatsinger) and Anna Anne (Antje) Palmer. He was baptized 30 Apr 1764 in the Dutch Reformed Church in Freehold, Monmouth, New Jersey. I have not been able to find his marriage record yet, but he married Lea Litts, the daughter of Roelof Lits/Litts/Litz and Sara (Saartje) Sluyter. Roelof Lits/Litts/Litz was the son of Daniel Litz/Letts/Litts and Femmetje Clerk/Klerk.
Femmetje Clerk/Klerk was the daughter of Willem Klerk/Clerk and Hilletje in ‘t Veld (Hendricksen). Hilletje in ‘t Veld was the daughter of Roeloff Hendrick in ‘t Veld Hendricksen and Aeltje Lubbers. In the past, there were some that listed her maiden name as Van der Bilt, that is a misreading of her name in church records, it is clearly listed as in ‘t Veld, and once listed as van Veld, but never as Van der Bilt.
Roeloff Hendrick in ‘t Veld Hendricksen was born in Meppen, Coevorden, Drenthe, Netherlands. His parentage is unproven. But it appears he was the son of a man named Henrick. Aeltje Lubbers was born in Elburg, Gelderland, Netherlands. She was the daughter of Lubbert Jansen and Aeltje Wygerts/Wiggers, who were from Heerde, Heerde, Gelderland, Netherlands.
There are those that say Willem Clerk was the son of William Clerke of Leicester, Leics, England who died in Virginia and Mary Spenser. His parentage is unknown and unproven, what is known, based on his marriage record, is that he was born in England.
Roelof Litts married Sara (Saartje) Sluyter, the daughter of Edward Sluyter (Sluiter) and Lea Van Schuyven. My Sluyter ancestors were originally from Oldenburg, Niedersachsen, Germany, but Sluyter/Sluiter is exclusively a Dutch surname. Variants are Sluiters, Sluijter(s) and Sluyter(s). Literally meaning “one who closes”, it is an occupational surname, originating from people with the profession of doorkeeper, gateman, warden, jailor, etc. Prior to being in Germany, their roots no doubt were in the Netherlands, possibly in Groningen. My Van Schuyven ancestors were from ‘s-Hertogenbosch (now called Den Bosch), Noord-Brabant, Netherlands. The name Roelof is a given name of Dutch origin, it is the Dutch cognate of Rudolph. (3)
Pictured is my great-grandmother Anna Cora Prindle Cole.
My direct line:
Jacob Ertzinger Gertzinger Götzinger and Barbara Scheüchzer.
Johann Jacob Gretzinger Gritzinger Ertzinger and Loisa (Louisa) Antoneta Bonnett (daughter of Francois Jean (Johann Frantz) Bonnet and Dorothy Steiner).
Johann Christian Gretzinger Gertzinger Greatsinger and Anna Anne (Antje) Palmer.
John (Johann) Kristinger/Greatsinger and Lea Litts (daughter of Roelof Litts and Sara (Saartje) Sluyter).
Hannah Elizabeth Greatsinger/Kritsinger and David M. Prindle, Sr. (son of Amos Prindle and Esther Canfield).
Daniel Prindle and Sarah Jane “Jennie” Doman (daughter of Jacob Doman and Mary Ann Davison/Davidson).
Anna Cora Prindle and Joseph Edward Cole (son of Lorin Richard Cole and Nancy M. Losure). My great-grandparents.
This week in 52 Ancestors in 52 weeks, the prompt is “Favorite Find” – there are so many stories, photos, and other finds that I could use for this week, but I am deciding to re-blog my post about my ancestor William Durkee, the first Irish Catholic to settle in Massachusetts. He is one of my favorite finds. His courtship and marriage to Martha Cross, the daughter of the quite litigious and very Protestant Robert Cross, are chronicled in detail in Essex County, Massachusetts court records, which includes facts, hearsay, and lots of gossip as testimony!
My more recent immigrant ancestors were from in and around Gort and Peterswell Parish in Galway, Ireland, and from Klingenmünster in the Südliche Weinstraße(Southwest Wine Route) district in Germany. I have to go back an additional eighty-five years to find my next immigrant ancestors, they were Kennedy and Murray Scots-Irish that came to British Colonial America about 1770 from Ballintoy, Antrim, Ireland. I do have a few German ancestors that came from Germany in the 1750’s. And I have several additional German ancestors that came to British Colonial America via England in 1710. The English transported nearly 3,000 German Palatines in ten ships to New York in 1710. However, I have a huge amount of Colonial American ancestors that were here even earlier, including a few Mayflower Pilgrims. Although many of my Colonial ancestors were from England, I also have some that were from Scotland, Wales, Germany, The Netherlands, France…
I am an avid Genealogist. I am an ACDP - Associate of the Congregation of Divine Providence (Sisters of Divine Providence of Texas). If you are unfamiliar with what a Religious Associate (also called an Affiliate, Consociate, Oblate, Companion) is exactly, visit my about me page for more information. In community college, I majored in American Sign Language/Deaf Studies, and Interdisciplinary Studies when at university.
Anna's Musings & Genealogical Writings 