The Chandler and Brown Families in Colonial America

In the last several years, I've been especially interested in the lines of my family that intertwine in New England in the early-to-mid 1600s. On a recent trip to Boston, I visited American Ancestors (formerly The New England Historic Genealogical Society) and was able to spend a rainy afternoon in the stacks researching some of these families. In particular, I've been wanting to learn more about my Chandler ancestors, who are on my Dickson/Bellangee line, and married into the Brown family.

Immigrant Ancestors: William Chandler and Annis Bayford

My 10th great-grandparents, William Chandler and Annis Bayford, were from Bishop’s Stortford in Hertfordshire, England, a market town that served as a major coach stop between London and Cambridge/Newmarket. The primary industry in Bishop's Stortford in the early 1600s was malting, the process of steeping, germinating, and drying grain to convert it into malt for use in brewing and distilling.

A contemporary view of Bishop's Stortford, England [source: Bishop's Stortford Town Council]

 

William was the eldest son of Henry Chandler, a glover, and his wife (Anne or Agnes), and was baptized at Bishop's Stortford on October 12, 1595. On January 29, 1622, William married Alice Thorogood. They had two daughters together, Elizabeth (1622-1636) and Sarah (1624-1626). 

Alice died in June 1625 and William married Annis Bayford later that year, on November 6, 1625. Annis was the daughter of Francis Bayford and his wife Johan. At the time of the wedding, William was the father of two young girls from his first marriage. Sadly, young Sarah died at about age two, just a year after his marriage to Annis. William and Annis had seven children together, six of them in Bishop's Stortford before they departed for Massachusetts. Only their youngest, also named Sarah, was born in the American colonies. 

1. William Chandler, b. 1626, d. 1633
2. Thomas Chandler, b. 1628, d. 1703, m. Hannah Brewer
3. Hannah Chandler, b. 1629, d. 1711, m. (1) George Abbot (2) Francis Dane 
4. Henry Chandler, b. 1632, d. young
5. John Chandler, b. 1634, d. 1703, m. Elizabeth Douglas
6. William Chandler, b. 1635, d. 1678, m. (1) Mary Dane (2) Bridget Henchman
7. Sarah Chandler, b. 1638, d. aft. 1713, m. (1) William Cleaves (2) (first name unknown)Wilson (3) Ephraim Stevens (4) (first name unknown) Allen 

William's eldest child, Elizabeth, died in 1636, and two of his children with Annis, William and Henry, also died young. When the Chandler family left England, the children who sailed with them were Thomas, Hannah, John, and William (this was a second William named for his late brother).

The red pin marks the location of Bishop's Stortford in England

The Chandlers in Roxbury

William and Annis Chandler were Puritans who were associated with Reverend John Eliot, a minister from the neighboring parish of Widford. Eliot left England for Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1631 and later became known as the “Apostle to the Indians” for his dedication to converting Native American tribes to Christianity. In modern times these efforts are regarded through a less complimentary lens, but in his own time, Eliot was widely revered for the sixty years he ministered at Roxbury and his interactions with local tribes.

For over 60 years Eliot served the [Roxbury] congregation faithfully and during that time became one of New England's most respected ministers. His duties in Roxbury brought Eliot into close contact with the Native Americans in the area, and he decided in the early 1640s to attempt to convert them to Christianity. Before this undertaking could begin, however, Eliot had to master the Algonquian language. In the absence of phonetic guides and printed vocabularies, this was no easy task. Undeterred, he studied the language diligently for several years under the tutelage of Cochenoe, a Long Island native whom the Puritans had taken captive during the Pequot War of 1637. By 1646 Eliot became sufficiently fluent to begin proselytizing.

Eliot preached to the native tribes for the first time at Nonantum (later Newton), Massachusetts on October 28, 1646. Although he began with a prayer in English, he conducted the major portion of the three-hour service in his listeners' own language. This initial effort was a great success, and within a short time Eliot had converted a number of natives. In addition to preaching and attracting missionaries and funds for future proselytizing efforts, Eliot sought to convert more natives by making Christianity available to them in printed form. In 1654 he published a catechism that served both to summarize Christian religious beliefs and to familiarize the native peoples with his written version of their language. In 1650 he began a translation of the Bible into an Algonquian language. Published in 1663, Eliot's Indian Bible was the first Bible printed in North America. [Source]

In 1637, William and Annis left England with their children and followed Rev. Eliot to Roxbury, where William’s name appears in a record titled “ye Estates and persons of ye inhabitants of Roxbury,” compiled between 1638 and 1640. This inventory notes that he owned 22 acres located near what are now Bartlett and Washington Streets in modern Roxbury. 

In Roxbury records, William’s trade was listed as “point maker," a craftsman producing metal tips for laces that were used to fasten garments before the widespread use of buttons. These were also known as "aglets." 

This is an example of the points, or aglets, produced in William Chandler's time.

William Chandler died on January 26, 1642 of consumption (now called tuberculosis), after a prolonged illness of nearly a year. His widow, Annis Bayford Chandler, remarried twice, first to John Dane on July 2, 1643. 

When he married Annis, John Dane was about 53 and a widower who had already raised four children. Annis was 40 with five children still living at home. In looking at the historical records, it's not clear if this marriage was a great deal for John Dane, as William Chandler apparently left behind a financial mess when he died. In 1649, Dane petitioned the court in Roxbury to settle Chandler’s estate upon him, noting he had “paid more debts of Chandler than ye house and land was worth, and also brought up ye children of Chandler.” John Dane died in 1658, at the age of 71. The Chandler and Dane families remained close. In 1658, Annis' son William Chandler married John Dane's granddaughter, Mary Dane. At the age of 75, having been twice widowed, John Dane's son Francis Dane married Annis Chandler's daughter Hannah, who was then a widow of 60. These Chandler and Dane families settled primarily in Andover, Massachusetts, and were embroiled in the witch trials there in 1692. This will be the subject of a future post.

After the death of John Dane, Annis Bayford Chandler married for a third time, to John Paraminter, on August 9, 1660. Annis was 57 and John was 72. He died in 1671 at the age of 83. Annis lived another twelve years, dying in Roxbury on March 15, 1683, at the age of 80.

The Next Generation: John Chandler and Elizabeth Douglas

William and Annis' fifth child, John Chandler, was my 9th great-grandfather. John was baptized on July 27, 1634 at St. Michael's Church in Bishop's Stortford. He was only seven years old at the time of his father’s death and was then raised by his stepfather, John Dane. 

St. Michael's Church was originally built in the early 1400s, on the site of a 7th century church. It looks much the same today as it would have when John Chandler was baptized in 1634. 

On February 16, 1658, John married Elizabeth Douglas, the daughter of William Douglas and Anne Mattle. William Douglas was born in 1610 in Scotland and Anne was born the same year in Ringstead, Northamptonshire, England. The Douglases settled in Northamptonshire and had three children there before immigrating to Massachusetts in 1640. They lived first on Cape Ann, where Elizabeth was born in 1641, before settling in Boston. William worked as a cooper (barrel maker) and was a member of the First Church of Boston. When he died on July 27, 1682, at age 72, Rev. Simon Bradstreet, the son of Governor Simon Bradstreet and the poet Anne Bradstreet, wrote that Douglas had been “an able Christian, and this poor church will much want him.” 

Elizabeth was sixteen when she married John Chandler in 1658. He was twenty-four. They settled in Roxbury, on a lot adjacent to John’s mother, Annis.

John and Elizabeth Chandler had eight children together:

1. John Chandler, b. 1659; d. 1659
2. Elizabeth Chandler, b. 1661; d. 1688; m. Robert Mason
3. John Chandler, b. 1665; d. 1743; m. Mary Raymond
4. Joseph Chandler, b. 1667; d. 1668
5. Hannah Chandler, b. 1669; d. 1692; m. Moses Draper
6. Mehetabel Chandler, b. 1673; d. 1758; m. John Coit
7. Sarah Chandler, b. 1676; d. 1711; m. (1) William Coit, (2) John Gardner
8. Joseph Chandler, b. 1683; d. 1749; m. Susanna Perrin

Their first child, John, lived only nine months. Around this same time, Elizabeth’s parents and most of her siblings, except her sister Anna, moved from Massachusetts to the growing settlement of New London, Connecticut. Today, Roxbury and New London are two hours apart by car, but it would have been a much longer and more difficult journey in the 1600s. Elizabeth likely did not see her parents and siblings often after this time.

Elizabeth Douglas Chandler was literate and well educated. During her life, she wrote extensively, including a 64-page autobiography entitled "Meditation, or Poem, being an Epic of the Experiences and Conflicts of a Poor Trembling Soul in the First Fourty Years of Her Life." This document survives in the archives of the Yale University Library.

In 1686, John Chandler and his eldest son, John Jr., decided to relocate the family from its longtime home in Roxbury. They were among the first settlers of New Roxbury, which was later renamed Woodstock and became part of Connecticut. They received Lot No. 10 in the first division of land. In 1688, two years after their arrival in Woodstock, Elizabeth moved the younger children from Roxbury to join them. Woodstock was still an hour away from her siblings in New London, but much closer than she had been in Roxbury.

John Chandler died in Woodstock on April 15, 1703. He is buried at Woodstock Hill Cemetery.

After John's death, in 1704, Elizabeth went to live with her daughter Mehetabel Chandler Coit in New London. She also had siblings and many nieces and nephews nearby. Elizabeth died in 1705 and is buried in the old cemetery in New London.

The Chandlers in Connecticut

John and Elizabeth’s youngest child, Joseph Chandler, born June 4, 1683, was my 8th great-grandfather. He was born in Roxbury, before the family moved to Woodstock.

On June 22, 1708, Joseph married Susanna Perrin, the daughter of John Perrin and Mary Polley. Susanna was named for her grandmother, Susanna Bacon Polley, who had immigrated from England aboard the ship Increase in 1635. Her father, John Perrin, had originally lived in Braintree, but at some point moved the family to Roxbury, where the Perrins likely met the Chandlers. After their marriage, Susanna and Joseph settled in Pomfret, Connecticut, just a few miles south of Joseph's family's home in Woodstock.

The Thomas Goodell Homestead/ James Ingalls Tavern in Pomfret was built in 1707, just a year before Joseph and Susanna were married and settled in Pomfret. It shows the style of colonial home that was typical at that time.

Joseph Chandler was made a selectman in Pomfret in 1716 and was admitted to the church on April 20, 1719. That same year, he served on the Committee for the Division of Land in Pomfret. City records from 1726 note that he was a collector of taxes. 

Joseph and Susanna had twelve children, all born in Pomfret:

1. Joseph Chandler, b. 1709; d. 1709
2. Joseph Chandler, b. 1710; d. 1780; m. Elizabeth Sumner
3. David Chandler, b. 1712; d. 1796; m. Mary Allen.
4. Susanna Chandler, b. 1713; d. 1801; m. William Sabin
5. Peter Chandler, b. 1716; d. 1733
6. Dorothy Chandler, b. 1718; d. 1773; m. (1) John Mason, (2) Jonathan Curtis
7. Hebzibah Chandler, b. 1720; d. 1810; m. (1) Bryant Brown
8. Stephen Chandler, b. 1722; d. 1752
9. Josiah Chandler, b. 1724; d. 1798; m. (1) Freelove Carpenter, (2) Lydia Richardson, (3) Mary Blanchard
10. Eunice Chandler, b. 1726; d. 1769; m. Josiah Burlingame
11. Daniel Chandler, b. 1729; d. 1790; m. Violet Burnham
12. Peter Chandler, b. 1733; d. 1816; m. (1) Mary Hodges, (2) Abigail Wales

Joseph died on January 5, 1749 at the age of 65. Susannah died on January 22, 1755 at the age of 75.

The Brown Family and the American Revolution

Joseph and Susanna’s daughter Hepzibah Chandler was born in Pomfret, Connecticut on August 12, 1720. In 1742, she married Bryant Brown, the son of Nathaniel Brown and Deborah Bryant of Killingly, Connecticut. The Browns descended from John Brown of Reading, Massachusetts, who was the family's immigrant ancestor. Hepzibah and Bryant lived for a short time in Ashford, Connecticut, but in 1745 moved to Thompson, Connecticut and settled on a farm given to Bryant by his grandfather. At that time, Thompson was a parish within the town of Killingly, Connecticut, and in 1785 became an independent town.

Hepzibah and Bryant Brown had eleven children together:

1. Jesse Brown, b. 1741; d. 1818; m. Experience Hughes
2. Mary Brown, b. 1743; d. 1772
3. Bryant Brown, b. 1745; d. 1798; m. Mary Dunbar
4. Deborah Brown, b. 1747; d. 1831; m. Eliakim Robinson
5. Joseph Brown, b. 1749; d. 1810; m. Elizabeth Gary
6. Peter Brown, b. 1751; d. 1756
7. Chloe Brown, b. 1753; d. 1756
8. Solomon Brown, b. 1755; d. young
9. Peter Brown, b. 1757; d. 1759
10. Chloe Brown, b. 1759; d. 1814; m. Solomon Wakefield
11. Solomon Brown, b. 1761; d. 1850; m. Betty Wheston

The gravestone of three of the Brown children who died young, located in the West Thompson Cemetery in Thompson, Connecticut. Inscription:
Brown, Peter son of Brant & Hepsibah died Sept 11, 1756 age 5years 5mos
Brown, Peter son of Brant & Hepsibah died Set 15, 1759 age 2years 4 mos
Brown, Chloe daughter of Brant & Hepsibah died Sept 14, 1756 age 3 years

Throughout the 1760s and 1770s, as Bryant and Hepzibah entered middle age, tensions between the American colonies and England steadily escalated. Protests over new taxes such as the Stamp Act of 1765 and the Townshend Acts of 1767 gave way to open conflict by the mid-1770s, marked by events like the Boston Tea Party (1773) and the first shots of the Revolutionary War at Lexington and Concord (1775). In 1774, Bryant served as a member of a Killingly committee that sent relief to Boston during during the British blockade.

The Boston Port Act, passed in March 1774 closed the Port from all commerce and ordered the citizens of Boston to pay a large fine to compensate for the tea thrown into the river during the Boston Tea Party. This Act helped unify the Thirteen Colonies in anger against the Crown, and the First Continental Congress met to coordinate a response to this and the other Intolerable Acts. [source: American Battlefield Trust]

As revolution loomed, Bryant was too old to take up arms, but his sons were at the right age to enlist in the fight. While I have not been able to determine if Bryant and Hepzibah's eldest son, Jesse Brown, and their youngest son, Solomon Brown, fought during the Revolutionary War, two of their sons, Bryant Jr. and Joseph, definitely did.

Bryant Brown, Jr. served as a sergeant in the response to the Lexington Alarm in April 1775. This was the first battle of the Revolutionary War, preceded by Paul Revere's famous ride to spread the alarm, and the moment of "the shot heard round the world" on Concord's North Bridge. Immediately following this incident, groups of volunteers were organized in Connecticut to go north to support American efforts in Massachusetts. Following the Lexington Alarm, Bryant served as a sergeant in the 3rd Connecticut Regiment from May 10 - December 16, 1775. This regiment was reorganized, and for the entirety of 1776, Bryant was an ensign in the 20th Continental Regiment under Colonel John Durkee. The 20th Regiment, and presumably that included Bryant, was at Fort Lee when the Americans were defeated by the British under the command of Lt. Gen. Cornwallis (as directed by Gen. William Howe, my husband's 3rd cousin, 9x removed). From January 1, 1777 to April 11, 1777, Bryant was a second lieutenant in the 8th Connecticut Regiment under Col. John Chandler. Col. John Chandler was Bryant's cousin, the son of his mother Hepzibah's brother Joseph Chandler. Bryant resigned from service on April 11, 1777, having served for two years in pursuit of American independence.

A painting entitled North Bridge, Concord, 1775, painted in 1909 by Frank T. Merrill

Joseph Brown, my 6th great-grandfather, also responded to the Lexington Alarm, in a group organized by John Elwell. It's quite likely that he and his brother Bryant headed to Connecticut in the same group of volunteers. At this time, Joseph was recently married to Elizabeth Gary, the daughter of Josiah Gary and Sarah Sprague of Pomfret, Connecticut. The wedding ceremony was performed on March 3, 1774, by Rev. Putnam, likely of the local Congregational Church. Joseph and Elizabeth's first child, Joseph Jr., was born in January 1775, just months before Joseph began his military service.

In May 1775, Joseph enlisted in the 3rd Connecticut Regiment, like his brother, where he served from May 1775 to November 1775. The 3rd saw action at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the Siege of Boston. While this battle ended in American defeat, the British lost more soldiers than they anticipated and were sobered by the fierce fighting from the lesser-equipped Americans. 

...the Connecticut 3rd... served with such distinction and brilliance at Bunker Hill and during the succeeding campaign. A large part of this Regiment was retained as guard at headquarters during the Bunker Hill Battle, but a detachment of Killingly men struck in at the last and helped cover Prescott's retreat. [source]

I don't know for certain where Joseph served between November 1775 and October 1777, but the fact that his second child, Randolph Brown, was born in April 1777 indicates that Joseph spent at least part of 1776 at home with his wife, Elizabeth. By October 1777, he had returned to the American forces, and that month he fought in the Battle of Germantown, an American defeat near Philadelphia, under the command of George Washington. Having survived this battle, Joseph was assigned to the brigade led by Brigadier General Jedidiah Huntington, composed largely of men from Connecticut. After the Battle of Germantown, Huntington's brigade joined Gen. George Washington's army at Towamensing, Pennsylvania, around October 11th and then moved with the army to the Valley Forge area for the winter encampment. Huntington's men helped construct earthworks to defend the encampment. The winter encampment at Valley Forge is, of course, a legendary moment in the Revolutionary War, and it's incredible that my 6th great-grandfather was there with George Washington during those months of cold, hunger, and suffering. Following Valley Forge, Joseph was assigned to the 5th Regiment in the Connecticut Line, part of the Continental Army. He served through 1779.

"The March to Valley Forge" by William Trego, 1883

Once Joseph was home, he and Elizabeth had seven more children together. Sadly, their first three children died in infancy, but the latter seven survived to adulthood.

1. Joseph Brown, b. 1775; d. 1775
2. Randolph Brown, b. 1777; d. 1777
3. Randolph Brown, b. 1779; d. 1779
4. William Brown, b. 1780; d. 1868; m. (1) Bridget Palmer (2) Sarah Loomis
5. Bryant Brown, b. 1782; d. 1814
6. Joseph Brown, b. 1784; d. 1877; m. Abigail Morse
7. Abigail Brown, b. 1786; d. 1849; m. Benjamin Seamans
8. Elizabeth Brown, b. 1788; d. 1868; m. (first name unknown) Manchester
9. George Brown, b. 1792; d. 1823
10. Samuel Brown, b. 1794; d. 1822

This brings us to my fifth great-grandfather, William Brown, and then my fourth great-grandmother, William's daughter Amelia Brown, both of whom I've written about before on this blog.

The Legacy of the Chandler and Brown Families

Like many early colonial families, William Chandler and Annis Bayford founded a lineage that extends across centuries of American history. The Chandlers helped build the towns and institutions of early New England, and their descendants went on to shape communities and industries throughout the nation. Among their many descendants are several notable Americans:

• U.S. President Rutherford B. Hayes - The 19th President of the United States, Rutherford B. Hayes descends from William and Annis Chandler's son Thomas Chandler and his wife Hannah Brewer. William and Annis were his 5th great-grandparents. Rutherford B. Hayes is my 5th cousin, 6 times removed.
• Zachariah Chandler - Zachariah Chandler was a four-term U.S. Senator from Michigan and served as the Secretary of the Interior under President Ulysses S. Grant. He was also a noted abolitionist. He descends from William and Annis Chandler's son William Chandler, Jr. and his wife Mary Dane. William and Annis were his 5th great-grandparents. Zachariah Chandler is my 5th cousin, 6 times removed.
• John Chandler - John Chandler was a state senator and a U.S. Congressman from Massachusetts. He descends from William and Annis Chandler's son Thomas Chandler and his wife Hannah Brewer. John fought in the Revolutionary War as a teenager, and then served in the War of 1812 as a Brigadier General. After the war, he moved to Maine, where he was elected a U.S. Senator from that state. William and Annis were his 4th great-grandparents. John Chandler is my 4th cousin, 7 times removed.
• Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr. - Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr. was an astronomer famed for his discovery of the Chandler Wobble, an off-center motion exhibited by Earth as it rotates on its axis. There is a crater on the moon named after him. Like me, Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr. was descended from William and Annis Chandler's son John Chandler and his wife Elizabeth Douglas, and their son Joseph Chandler and his wife Susanna Perrin. William and Annis were his 5th great-grandparents. Seth Carlo Chandler, Jr. is my 4th cousin, 5 times removed.
• Harry Chandler, Norman Chandler, and Otis Chandler - Three generations of Chandlers owned the Los Angeles Times between 1917-1985 and their surname is well known in Los Angeles. Norman Chandler's wife, Dorothy Buffum Chandler, was a notable arts patron in Los Angeles, and the Dorothy Chandler Pavillion, one of the largest performing arts centers in America, was named in her honor. Like me, Harry, Norman, and Otis Chandler descended from William and Annis Chandler's son John Chandler and his wife Elizabeth Douglas, and their son Joseph Chandler and his wife Susanna Perrin. William and Annis were Harry's 6th great-grandparents. Harry is my 5th cousin, 4 times removed. Norman is my 6th cousin, 3 times removed. Otis Chandler is my 7th cousin, 2 times removed.

While I don't know of any famous descendants from the Brown line, when I think of this family, I think of their dedication to their country and community. Joseph Brown, my 6th great-grandfather, served in the Revolutionary War alongside his brother Bryant, and endured one of the most famed hardships of that war, the winter camp at Valley Forge. Joseph's son, William Brown, my 5th great-grandfather, was the town doctor in Mendon, New York, and he provided care to his neighbors during a long and devoted medical career. The way they each served their communities makes me very proud to be their descendant.

The many branches of this particular tree are fascinating, and next up, I'll share details about the Chandler family in Andover, Massachusetts during the 1692 witch trials.