The Capen Family of Dorchester

Modern day Dorchester, England

I spent much of last year studying my immigrant ancestors who arrived in Colonial America in the early 1600s. Included in this group are Bernard Capen, my 11th great-grandfather, Joan Purchase Capen, my 11th great-grandmother, and their son John Capen, my 10th great-grandfather. They emigrated from England to America together in 1633. 

The Capens lived in Dorchester, which is in Dorset in southwest England. Dorchester has existed since Roman times, and in the late 1500s there might have been about a thousand people living in and around the town. It served primarily as a market town, where surrounding communities would gather to buy and sell goods. These days, Dorchester is admired for its beautiful coastline, and known for being the birthplace of author Thomas Hardy.

Map of Dorchester & Fordington in Dorset England by John Speed, dated 1611

Bernard and Joan Capen and Their Children

Bernard and Joan were married in Dorchester in May 1596. Bernard's origins are not known, but by the time of his marriage, he was established as a a shoemaker in Dorchester. Joan was the daughter of Oliver Purchase and his wife Thomasin Harris, both of Dorchester. Bernard and Joan had nine children together:

1. Bernard Capen (b. 1597; d. 1661; m. Christiane)
2. James Capen (b. abt. 1599; d. 1628)
3. Ruth Capen (b. 1600; d. 1646)
4. Dorothy Capen (b. abt. 1602; d. 1675; m. Nicholas Upsall)
5. Susannah Capen (b. abt. 1602; d. 1666; m. (1) William Rockwell (2) Matthew Grant
6. Hannah Capen (b. abt. 1607; d. 1670; m. Robert Gifford)
7. Elizabeth (b. abt. 1611; d. 1678; m. Thomas Swift)
8. John Capen (b. 1613; d. 1692; m. (1) Redegon Clapp (2) Mary Bass
9. Honor Capen (b. 1616; d. 1680; m. William Hannum)

The Puritans in Dorchester

Of the eleven members of the Capen family, seven would ultimately leave England for America in the 1630s. They were not alone in this migration. In the early 1600s, Dorchester was an epicenter of Puritanical fervor, and many residents decided to emigrate to America to create a more godly society. Whole families often departed together and restarted their lives in the colonies.

Puritans were English Protestants who were committed to "purifying" the Church of England by eliminating all aspects of Catholicism from religious practices. [source: Khan Academy]

The religious atmosphere in England in the early 1600s was complex. Seventy years earlier, determined to annul his marriage to Catherine of Aragon, King Henry VIII had broken with the Catholic Church. Parliament made this separation official in 1534 by passing the Act of Supremacy, which established Henry VIII as the head of a new Church of England. Over the century that followed, the English people and clergy battled over competing belief systems, a difficult period known as the English Reformation. By the 1600s, most had renounced Catholicism and were committed to the Church of England, but tensions remained. The Puritans felt not enough had been done to totally eradicate Catholicism in England. There were also different degrees of Puritanical belief, with separatists being at the extreme end of the spectrum. Separatists believed that they must separate themselves from government-run churches and gather only in community-based churches. That led to groups of Separatists leaving England and temporarily resettling in Holland, with many later moving on to the American colonies. The dissatisfaction of the Puritans with the Church of England's status quo, and their growing belief that they were called to create a society founded upon God's law, culminated in mass emigration to the new American colonies.

The fate of the Capen family seems to have been largely shaped by Reverend John White, the rector of Holy Trinity and St. Peter's churches in Dorchester.

John White was Rector of Holy Trinity and St Peter's churches from 1606 to 1648. He was at the centre of the group that took control of the town after the great fire of 1613 and ran it with a vision of a godly community in which power was to be exercised according to religious commitment rather than wealth or rank. Dorchester became briefly a place which could boast a system of education and assistance to the sick and needy nearly three hundred years ahead of its time. White and his parishioners established the Napper's Mite almshouses and a brewery to help maintain them. Work was found for all the fit poor of the parish, and the profits of the brewery looked after the poor and disabled. He sympathised with the struggles of the Puritans for freedom of worship and was involved with the group that sailed on the Mayflower. In 1623 he personally organised a group that established a small trading post at Cape Anne. He worked hard, making many trips to London, not easy in those days, to get a charter for the Massachusetts Bay Company, and to create an alliance between wealthy London merchants and West Country seamen. This enabled a fleet of ships to sail in March 1630 with the first large party of English people to settle in New England. The first ship to sail was the Mary and John, which carried people from Dorset, Somerset and Devon personally recruited by White. In June 1630 they landed and founded the settlement of Dorchester Massachusetts. [source: Dorchester Anglican]

Rev. John White

Susannah and Dorothy Capen Leave England

The Capens were among those in Dorchester who became devotees of White's theology. In 1630, White organized a ship to take believers to the new world. At that time, sisters Dorothy and Susannah Capen were married women living with their husbands and children in Dorchester. They and their families signed on to White's voyage, making them the first Capen family members to emigrate. The Mary & John departed Dorset on March 20, 1630, and arrived at Nantasket Point, which is now the city of Dorchester, Massachusetts on May 30. This was two weeks before the arrival of the Winthrop Fleet, which carried a number of my other immigrant ancestors from Yarmouth, England to Salem, Massachusetts.

 

An illustration of the Mary & John in 1630

The Remaining Capen Siblings

There were three Capen sons, Bernard Jr., James, and John. Each had a very different fate. James died in 1628, at the age of 29, before anyone in his family emigrated to America. John, the youngest, went with his parents when they departed England. Eldest son Bernard took over the family shoemaking business in Dorchester from his father, and did not move with his parents and siblings to the colonies. Bernard and his sisters Ruth and Hannah were the only living Capen family members that did not emigrate. 

I looked to see if any of Bernard Jr.'s children followed their grandparents, aunts and uncles to America in later years, and found a very sad story. Bernard and his wife, Christiane, had six children in Dorchester. In 1646, when those children would still have been young, five of them perished within weeks of each other, presumably from a disease that swept through the family. Only one son survived, along with his parents. It's not known for certain what illness took those young Capens, but Smallpox, being extremely infectious and particularly deadly to children, may have been the culprit.

Interestingly, Ruth Capen, one of the other siblings that stayed in England, also died in 1646, possibly felled by the same disease. There seems to be little information about Ruth, and it's not known if she married or had children. Hannah, however, became a well-loved school teacher in Dorchester. She married Robert Gifford and they had at least six children together.

A rendition of the Elizabeth Bonaventure, a famous warship once commanded by Sir Francis Drake

A Second Group of Capens Leaves England

In 1633, Bernard, his wife Joan, and their two youngest children, Honor and John, departed Weymouth, England, bound for America. They left behind Elizabeth Capen, who had married Thomas Swift in 1630 and settled in Dorchester. I have read competing claims as to what ship the group sailed on, but it might have been the Elizabeth Bonaventure or the Recovery of London. Traveling with Bernard, Joan, John, and Honor were members of Joan's family, including her brother, Aquila Purchase, his wife, and their three children. George Way, Joan's widower brother-in-law, also made the journey to America. In fact, it is believed that up to 10% of the boat's passengers were related to Bernard and Joan. Unfortunately, the voyage was not an easy one.

The ship they sailed on sprang a leak, which forced them to stay three weeks in the 'Western Islands' (known now as Azores) for repairs. The Portuguese islanders treated them well, but the extreme heat and rain brought disease upon them, and one of the ship's company died. (It is known that Aquila Purchase, brother in law of Bernard, died on the voyage, so it may have been Aquila who died in the Western Islands). They may have been on Flores Island, a sub-tropical location where highs of 85 degrees Fahrenheit in July have been recorded. Coming from cool and temperate England, they would not have been dressed for the weather they could have found there in mid-summer. [source: Reconstructing a Passenger List, Great Migration Newsletter Vol 3, page 9]

The Capens in the American Colonies

The Capens arrived in Massachusetts on July 24, 1633 and settled in Dorchester, Massachusetts, where Dorothy and Susannah Capen had been living since departing England three years earlier. Elizabeth Capen and her husband Thomas Swift joined them in 1634, sailing on the Discovery to reunite with their family in Massachusetts. Five of the eight living Capen siblings were now in the new world with their parents, Bernard and Joan.

He [Bernard Capen] is named among the first settlers of Dorchester, Mass. He was granted land in Dorchester 5 Aug. 1633 which is the date of the first appearance of his name on the records of Dorchester. He died there 8 d. 9 mo. 1638 aged 76, which makes his birth about 1562. He built a house, which is still in existence (1928) and considered by many the oldest house in New England. The original house, which was built probably in 1633, had a large addition made to it about a hundred years later and for upwards of three hundred years stood on the original site. In 1909 it was moved to Milton and set up on a hill in what is much like its original setting. [source: The Capen Family by Rev. Charles Albert Hayden and revised by Jessie Hale Tuttle]

The Capen House in Milton

Sadly, in 2006, a new owner decided to have the Capen House dismantled in order to build a modern home on the lot. The city of Milton had not designated the home as a historic property, although it was the oldest house in Milton, and was powerless to stop the demolition. Pieces of the house still exist in storage, but there is currently no plan to reassemble them.

The first mention of Barnard in the Dorchester records is Aug. 5, 1633 regarding a grant of four acres of land to both he and son-in-law Nicholas Upsall. His homestead was on what is now Washington Street, near Wheatland Avenue. The last land granted him was at South Boston in 1637. He was admitted freeman 25 May 1636 in Dorchester. [source: Wikitree]

Dorchester, Massachusetts in the 1600s

When Susannah and Dorothy Capen arrived on the land that would be renamed Dorchester in 1630, the area was inhabited by the Neponset people, led by their chief, Chickatabot. Chickatabot died of Smallpox brought to America by English colonists in 1633, the year the Bernard and Joan arrived in Dorchester with two of their children. Chickatabot was succeeded by his brother, Cutshumaquin, but he was not the strong leader that Chickatabot had been.

This chief (Cutshumaquin) appears to have been a mere tool in the hands of the colonial government, used for the purpose of deeding away Indian lands, and acting as a spy upon the movements of neighboring Indians. [source: History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts (Clapp)]

The group of colonists that arrived in 1630 aboard the Mary & John toiled to settle the land that became Dorchester, but by 1633, when the rest of the Capen family arrived, it had developed into a prosperous town. In 1633, two members of a visiting delegation described Dorchester as follows:

The following is Wood's description of Dorchester in 1633. "Dorchester is the greatest town in New England, but I am informed that others equal it since I came away; well wooded and watered, very good arable grounds and hay ground; fair corn-fields and pleasant gardens, with kitchen gardens. In this plantation is a great many cattle, as kine, goats, and swine. This plantation hath a reasonable harbour for ships. Here is no alewife river, which is a great inconvenience. The inhabitants of this town were the first that set upon fishing in the bay, who received so much fruit of their labours, that they encouraged others to the same undertakings."

The following is Josselyn's description of the town: "Six miles beyond Braintree lyeth Dorchester, a frontire Town pleasantly seated, and of large extent into the main land, well watered with two small Rivers, her body and wings filled somewhat thick with houses to the number of two hundred and more, beautified with fair Orchards and Gardens, having also plenty of Corn-land, and store of Cattle, counted the greatest Town heretofore in New England, but now gives way to Boston; it hath a Harbour to the North for ships." 

[source: History of the Town of Dorchester, Massachusetts (Clapp)]

The Deaths of Bernard and Joan Capen

Bernard Capen died five years after his arrival in Dorchester, on November 8, 1638, at the age of 76. He is buried in the Dorchester North Burying Ground. Joan lived another fifteen years. She died on March 26, 1653 at the age of 75.  She is buried with Bernard.

The grave marker for Bernard and Joan Capen [Source: FindAGrave]

John Capen and His Children

My 10th great-grandfather, John Capen, worked as a church deacon in Dorchester, and spent fifty years in the militia, much of that time serving as captain. John also acted as a Selectman in Dorchester for sixteen years (1666-81), and was repeatedly named Deputy to the General Court and Town Recorder. He was elected as a Representative in 1671 and again from 1673-1678.

On October 20, 1637, at the age of 24, John married Radegon Clapp. Radegon was born in Sidbury, Devon, England in 1609. Her parentage is not confirmed, but it is possible that she was the daughter of Nicholas Clapp and his wife Elizabeth Young. Elizabeth died in England in 1631, and Nicholas died in 1632. Their seven presumed children, including Radegon, all died in Massachusetts, so they likely emigrated as a group, or in several smaller groups, in the years immediately following their parents' deaths. 

Regarding Radegon's name, I have seen it alternately spelled Redegon, Radigon, Redigan, and Radigan. This is not a common English given name, and I had never actually heard it prior to discovering this ancestor. I was immediately skeptical that it was correct, especially given that her presumed siblings have very traditional names: Jane, Prudence, Barbara, Thomas, Nicholas, and John. However, this marriage and this name are documented in multiple places, including Early New England Families, 1641-1700 (Williams), A Sketch from the Early New England Families Study Project: John Capen in American Ancestors Magazine, Volume 14.2, and Great Migration Begins: Immigrants to N.E. 1620-1633, Vols. I-III (Anderson). There is a St. Radegund who is the patron saint of a handful of English churches, and Radegund appears to have had some popularity as a name in Cornwall, as a result. Cornwall is also in the southwest of England, so it's possible the Capens would have met others who gave their daughters this name. However, I'm having difficulty imagining the Capens, staunch Puritans, naming a child after a Catholic saint. This continues to be a mystery.

John and Radegon had two children together. Joanna Capen was born in October 1638 and died six weeks later. John Capen, my 9th great-grandfather, was born on October 21, 1639. He survived, and would go on to marry Susannah Barsham and father nine children, including my 8th great-grandmother, Susannah Capen.

Radegon died in 1645 at the age of 26. It's not clear whether she and John did not have any more children, or if they did and those children did not survive, but at the time of Radegon's death, John Capen, Jr. was her only living child.

The grave of Samuel Bass in Quincy, Massachusetts

In 1647, John, now aged 34, remarried Mary Bass. She was the daughter of Samuel Bass, the first church deacon of Braintree, Massachusetts, and his wife Ann. Mary was born in 1628 in Saffron Walden, Essex, England, and emigrated to Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1632 with her parents and several siblings. John and Mary were married for 45 years, until John's death in 1692. They had nine children together.

Joseph Capen

John and Mary's youngest son, Joseph Capen, was born in 1658. In 1682, at the age of 24, he moved from Dorchester to Topsfield, Massachusetts to become the minister of the Topsfield town church. He's a well-known historical figure in Topsfield to this day. His home in Topsfield, now known as the Parson Capen House, was built in 1683 and still stands. Fortunately, it has been preserved by the Topsfield Historical Society. 

Joseph Capen was involved in the Salem Witch Trials of 1692, when his former parishioners Mary Eastey and her sister Sarah Cloyce, who had moved to Salem, were accused of witchcraft, along with their sister, Rebecca Nurse. In a petition to the court, Mary and Sarah wrote that Joseph Capen was willing to testify on their behalf, as he "had the longest and best knowledge of us being persons of good report." It is not clear that Joseph was given the opportunity to testify, however. Mary and her sister Rebecca were convicted and executed. Sarah was convicted and kept in prison for months, until the governor put a stop to further trials and executions. A number of other Topsfield residents were involved in the witchcraft trials, both as accusers and accused, and Joseph Capen tried valiantly to mediate disputes and ease hysteria. He "appears to have been a calm and reasonable voice during the dramatic and tragic events. He was a contributor to Cotton Mather’s Return of Several Ministers written in June of 1692, written after Governor Phipps consulted the congregational ministers for their input on their legal view of witchcraft under the new charter. The contributing ministers cautioned against the use of spectral evidence and folk tests as proof of guilt." [source] In 1703, Joseph Capen, along with a number of other ministers, signed an address to the general court that requested that those accused of witchcraft be formally cleared of the accusation. More information about Joseph Capen and his involvement in the events of 1692 can be found at SalemWitchMuseum.com.

The Parson Capen House in Topsfield, Massachusetts

The Capen Legacy

John Capen died on April 4, 1692, at the age of 80. Upon his death the Dorchester church entered in its record: “4th of April 1692 Deacon John Capen a military officer 50 years at length a Capt: & Deacon of ye church 34 years in His fourscoreth Year Rested from His Labors & Slept in ye Lord.” Mary lived another twelve years, dying on June 29, 1704, at the age of 72.

Given that five Capen siblings settled in Dorchester, and all had many children, the number of Capen descendants at this point in history is vast. Susannah, Dorothy, Elizabeth, John, and Honor Capen are the ancestors of a number of well-known people. Descendants of Elizabeth Capen and Thomas Swift include writer Tennessee Williams (8th great-grandson). Descendants of John Capen and Mary Bass include U.S. President Calvin Coolidge (8th great-grandson). Susannah Capen and William Rockwell win the trophy, though, as their descendants include Admiral George Dewey (5th great-grandson), writer Edgar Rice Burroughs (7th great-grandson), actor Henry Fonda (8th great-grandson), painter Norman Rockwell (8th great-grandson), and actor Rainn Wilson, of The Office fame (11th great-grandson).

I descend from John's granddaughter, Susannah Capen. Susannah married Andrew Hall. Four generations later, their Hall descendant married into my Smith line. 

It's been fascinating to learn about another family in my tree with such an interesting immigration story. 

James Stevens and the Salem Witch Trials

A map of Gloucester harbor drawn in 1613 by explorer Samuel de Champlain

I've been writing a series of posts about my maternal ancestors in Salem, Gloucester, and Lynn, Massachusetts. This includes the Eveleth, Coldham, and Norwood families. Another family group living in the area, and deeply interconnected with the others, was the Stevens family.

James Stevens was my 10th great-grandfather. He was born in England in 1631 to William Stevens and his wife Philippa. Philippa's surname is not conclusively known, and I have variously seen Grant, Gaunt, Bitfield/Bitfylde, and Chicke family names associated with her. It is likely, although not absolutely proven, that the Stevens family lived in the Stepney area in east London. James and several other of his family members may have been baptized at St. Dunstan in the East, a church that dates from the 1100s and was ruined during The Blitz in World War II.  I visited St. Dunstan in the East with my family last year during a trip to England.

The ruins of St. Dunstan in the East, London, 2022

William and Philippa moved their families to the American colonies sometime before 1656 and settled in Essex County, north of Boston. They were living in Gloucester in 1656, when their son James Stevens married Susannah Eveleth. Susannah was the daughter of Sylvester Eveleth and the sister of Joseph Eveleth, who I recently profiled. Joseph famously served as a juror in the trial of John Proctor at the height of the Salem Witch Trials, a moment in history retold in The Crucible by Arthur Miller.

James was about 24 when he married Susannah, and they went on to have eleven children between 1658 and 1679, eight of whom survived infancy. 

1. William Stevens (b. 1658; m. Abigail Sargent; d. 1701)
2. James Stevens (b. 1660; d. 1660)
3. James Stevens (b. 1661; d. 1688
4. Isaac Stevens (b. 1664; d. 1664)
5. Samuel Stevens (b. 1665; m. Mary Ellery; d. 1756)
6. Isaac Stevens (b. 1668; d. 1668)
7. Ebenezer Stevens (b. 1670; m. Elizabeth Colcord; d. 1746)
8. Mary Stevens (b. 1672; m. Francis Norwood; d. 1724)
9. Hannah Stevens (b. 1675; m. (1) Joseph Sargent (2) Joseph Harraden; d. 1725)
10. David Stevens (b. 1677; m. Hannah Sargent; d. abt. 1709)
11. Jonathan Stevens b. 1679; m. Mary Sargent; d. abt. 1709)

James served his community as a church deacon and a lieutenant in the local militia. He had a sister, Mary Stevens, who was born about 1637 in Salem, Massachusetts. Mary married John Coit in 1652 and they had five children together. John died in 1667, and the widowed Mary soon remarried John Fitch. In 1692, at the height of the witch hysteria in nearby Salem, Mary fell ill. She was 55, and there could have been any number of reasons for her sickness. In the climate of the time, however, witchcraft was instantly suspected.

The essay The Geography and Genealogy of Gloucester Witchcraft, written by Jedediah Drolet as undergraduate coursework at Cornell University, provides a thorough and helpful account of how Gloucester was enveloped by witchcraft claims in 1692. Some excerpts pertaining to the Stevens family are below.

Gloucester in 1692 was still an isolated farming community, not yet the thriving port and fishing town it would soon become. It had survived a series of factional conflicts earlier in the seventeenth century and attained the kind of stable, harmonious equilibrium Puritans expected of their communities. And yet, this model New England town produced nine witchcraft accusations during the crisis, more than any other community except for Andover, Salem Village and Salem Town.

... James Stevens was an important figure in town. He was a deacon of the church and a lieutenant in the militia. His father William Stevens had been one of the early settlers of Gloucester and was a noted shipbuilder. James may have followed in the trade. He married Susannah Eveleth, daughter of Sylvester Eveleth, in 1656 and in 1658 received a grant from the town of land on Town Neck, near Trynall Cove... He probably inherited all of Eastern Point below the Great Pond from his father, who was apparently granted it by the town, since it was in the possession of his son Samuel Stevens in 1697.

When Mary Stevens Fitch fell ill, accusations of witchcraft were at a fever pitch in Gloucester and surrounding communities. There had already been six women jailed in Gloucester for supposed infliction of injury via witchcraft. James Stevens enlisted women from Salem Village who had claimed to be affected by witchcraft if they could find out who was harming his sister. One of the women enlisted was 17-year old Elizabeth Hubbard, who I mentioned in a recent post about my 11th great-grandfather Clement Coldham. Elizabeth Hubbard was a primary instigator of the Salem Witch Trials, and Clement Coldham testified in her support during a witchcraft trial.

A group of girls ranging in age from 12 to 20 were the main accusers in the Salem witch trials. This group, of which Elizabeth Hubbard was a part, also included Ann Putnam Jr., Mary Walcott, Elizabeth “Betty” Parris, Abigail Williams, Elizabeth Booth, Mercy Lewis, and Mary Warren. [Source: Wikipedia]

Elizabeth Hubbard and the other young women James asked to assist in tracking down the witches harming his sister provided three names: Esther Elwell, Abigail Rowe and Rebecca Dike. 

The arrest warrant for Esther Elwell, Abigail Rowe, and Rebecca Dike for "sundry acts of witchcraft against the body of Mrs. Mary Fitch."

Abigail Rowe was 15 years old at the time of the accusation. Her family, prominent landowners from Good Harbor in Gloucester, had already been impacted by witchcraft hysteria. Her mother and grandmother had both been charged with witchcraft in separate incidents. 

Rebecca Dike and her husband owned substantial land adjacent to the Eveleth family property. Rebecca's father, Samuel Dolliver, owned the largest herd of cows in Gloucester, according to History of the town and city of Gloucester, Cape Ann, Massachusetts by James R. Pringle. Rebecca was in her forties and the mother of ten children. 

Esther Elwell came from a prominent family and had married a wealthy man. Esther's case was featured on the television show Who Do You Think You Are, because she is an ancestor of actress Sarah Jessica Parker. In the 2022 book Esther's Testimony: Accused Witch Esther Elwell of Gloucester, Massachusetts, Esther's descendant Evelyn Elwell states that 53-year old Esther was likely a midwife and herbalist, a person who would have treated the ill in her community. She may have come under suspicion if she had tended to the sick Mary Fitch.

Jedediah Drolet's paper expands on the accusation of Rowe, Elwell, and Dike. 

Unlike the other cases involving Gloucester residents, the accusation of these three women followed a pattern unique to the events of 1692. In late October or early November Lieutenant James Stevens, a highly-regarded member of the Gloucester community, sent for the "afflicted girls" of Salem Village to find the culprit responsible for the bewitching of his sister Mrs. Mary Fitch, much as Joseph Ballard had done in Andover in July. The girls named Rebecca Dike, Esther Elwell and Abigail Rowe as the witches, and Stevens, his son William, and Mrs. Fitch's son Nathaniel Coit subsequently filed a complaint with the magistrates. A warrant for the three, the last arrest of the crisis, was issued November 5.

Among the little surviving evidence in this case is the testimony of Mrs. Fitch's brother James Stevens about his sister feeling a woman sitting on her when he saw nothing, dated November 8. There is also a deposition of Betty Hubbard, one of the "afflicted girls" of Salem Village, against the three women with the same date. These scraps tell little about the subsequent experience of the three suspected witches, but it seems they were probably not indicted, since they would have been tried under the new courts convened in 1693 to replace the dissolved Court of Oyer and Terminer and there would be some record of their trials.

Like the witchcraft accusations and trials in other, nearby communities, the arrests in Gloucester seemed to be motivated in part by personal grievances or association with others who had been previously accused. As Jedediah Drolet explains, Esther Elwell, Abigail Rowe and Rebecca Dike, "were tangentially connected to the [Gloucester] women already in jail. Thus the accusation, listing three women not particularly connected to one another but part of the large social group that already had several more prominent members accused." He further expands on why these particular women may have been charged.

Abigail Rowe was probably accused because her mother and grandmother already had been, Esther Elwell's mother Ruth Dutch had been accused of witchcraft together with William Vinson's first wife, and Rebecca Dike seems to have had no clear connection to past suspicions at all, at least from extant records, but she lived near the Eveleths, in-laws of the Stevenses, who may have had their problems with her.

One final note about these accusations is that all the people involved were of high social and economic status. The Gloucester accusations involved no singling out of poor, marginal women, as was often true of witchcraft accusations (in Salem Village, for example). All of the estates of these families that were recorded were valued at more than 200 pounds. Furthermore, this is true of both the accusers and the victims. They all had comparatively large holdings of land and held many town offices. From a comparative perspective, this is perhaps the most striking aspect of the Gloucester accusations. The cases seem to have been based on fear and suspicion among the upper class against a backdrop of paranoia throughout the county.

Fortunately, the accusation and arrest of Esther Elwell, Abigail Rowe and Rebecca Dike happened in the later stages of the witchcraft hysteria and the women were able to avoid trial and execution.

Art depicting the trial of George Jacobs in Salem

Mary Fitch died of her illness in 1692. Her brother James lived another four years, dying in 1696 at the age of 65. Susannah Eveleth Stevens predeceased her husband, dying in 1688 at the age of 56, four years prior to the witchcraft trials.

I am curious if there were any consequences for James Stevens after he initiated a search for witches that led to the arrest of Esther Elwell, Abigail Rowe and Rebecca Dike. The accusation of nine prominent Gloucester women in 1692 must have ripped their community apart. The families accusing and accused were neighbors and business associates; people who saw each other in church and at town meetings. Did James get any blowback for his decision to accuse these women? The historical records do not leave clues. Joseph Eveleth, James's brother-in-law, publicly apologized and expressed deep regret for his role as a juror in the trial that convicted John Proctor. There is no such surviving sentiment from James Stevens.

When I started researching the Eveleth, Coldham, Norwood, and Stevens families, I had no idea that they were involved in the witchcraft hysteria of 1692. Because they largely lived in Gloucester and not Salem, it had never occurred to me that they might have been caught up in this moment in history. It wasn't just Salem, however. Many Essex County communities took part in witchcraft accusations and trials, and Gloucester had its own, unique experience in 1692. It forever changed the legacy of James Stevens.

I descend from James' daughter Mary, who married Francis Norwood, the son of Francis Norwood, Sr. and Elizabeth Coldham, daughter of Clement Coldham. Mary and Francis Norwood's daughter, Hannah Norwood, married Samuel Thompson of Newbury, Massachusetts. Hannah and Samuel's daughter, Elizabeth Thompson, married John Martin of Lunenberg, Massachusetts. From there, my line descends through the Martin family to the Hall family. The Hall and Smith families joined in 1827 when my fourth great-grandparents Mary Hall and Samuel Belding Smith married in Fitchburg, Massachusetts. From there, the family moved west. Samuel Belding Smith settled in Bunker Hill, Illinois, and his son, Walter Samuel Smith moved to Los Angeles, possibly following his cousin Alvin Jared Howe's family to California.

 

The Complicated Norwood Family of England and Massachusetts

698 Washington Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts.
This new house stands where the Norwood home once did.

When I lived in Los Angeles, there was a commonly held idea that a person could arrive in L.A. and completely reinvent themselves. It was a place where one's past didn't necessarily matter. You could create a stage name, an exotic backstory, and remake yourself into whatever persona you desired. This isn't completely true, of course, especially in a modern era with a digital footprint, but the sense of this possibility lingers. I thought of that while researching my 10th great-grandfather, Francis Norwood. After much reading about this man, he remains an enigma to me, and I have no concrete proof of who he was or where he lived before he arrived in Colonial Massachusetts. Was Francis Norwood even his real name? Was he peddling a story about his life that had anything to do with reality, or did he use his emigration as an opportunity to reinvent himself and create mystique?

The man known to his neighbors as Francis Norwood was born in England and emigrated to the American colonies in the mid-1600s. He first appears in records in Lynn, Massachusetts in the 1660s. At that time, he was a witness to an indenture, and he apparently ran a tavern. Given this, Francis would seem to be a humble man. However, if you Google Francis Norwood, or search his name in genealogy databases, the stories that pop up suggest he was a nobleman, born to a great and important English family, was possibly the heir to the Leckhampton Court estate in Gloucestershire, and the descendant of Joan Plantagenet, the daughter of King Edward II. Now, I always roll my eyes when public family trees loudly proclaim royal connections, because most of the time they are rubbish and there is no actual proof attached to the claims. The names and titles attached to Francis Norwood's supposed ancestors do raise an eyebrow, however. If Francis was indeed so esteemed, what was he doing running a tavern in Lynn?

He [Francis Norwood] purchased six acres of land in Gloucester on 23 Mar 1664: “Given unto Francis Norwood at the Towne meeting, six akers [sp] of upland liinge [sp] bye Goose Cove." He built a house there by August, 1664. He would eventually accumulate 170 acres. The family residence at 698 Washington Street was passed down the family line until 1878 when it was purchased by Alpheus Hyatt. Alpheus [a highly regarded zoologist and paleontologist] started a marine biology research center in the house which later moved to Woods Hole. (source)

Goose Cove was the childhood home of Francis' wife Elizabeth Coldham, daughter of the much reviled Clement Coldham. Francis and Elizabeth married on October 15, 1663 and had at least ten children together in Gloucester. 

As mentioned in my recent article about Clement Coldham, there has been a suggestion by modern historian Christine Heyrman that Clement was relieved of his militia rank due to negative feelings about his son-in-law, Francis, and the role the Norwood family may have played in the English Civil War. However, it's just as likely that Clement's fellow militia officers just didn't like him, as by all accounts he was a difficult individual. The idea of Norwood political missteps in England seems to swirl around Francis, though. I hoped to get to the bottom of this. 

An engraving depicting Leckhampton Court, by Johannes Kip, 1712

Many accounts of the Norwood family suppose that Francis was the son of Francis Norwood, Sr. and the grandson of Richard Norwood, all of whom were born at the Norwood estate, Leckhampton Court. While this is often believed to be true, there's no actual proof of it beyond a surname. Before discussing the possible parentage of Francis Norwood, here is some history related to Leckhampton Court, which looms large in the imagination of Norwood descendants. The earliest version of the house dates to the 11th century, and it passed through the Despenser and Giffard families, while also being used as a monastery for a time, before becoming the home of the Norwoods. 

When... John Giffard dies in 1486, the manor passes to his daughter Eleanor, who marries the wealthy John Norwood, who is credited with building the timber-framed southern wing, and possibly the stone cottage-like building at the end of the northern wing, with twisted red-brick Tudor chimneys.

The Norwoods retained their wealth and connections, and one Henry Norwood was to marry Katherine Throckmorton, daughter of Sir Robert Throckmorton and Muriel Berkeley, the daughter of Thomas Berkeley, 5th Baron Berkeley. This marriage gave the family connections at court, as the Throckmortons were a powerful family, and were relations of Catherine Parr, the sixth and final wife of Henry VIII, Catherine, Henry Norwood's wife being a first cousin, once removed, of the queen. (Wikipedia)

Part of Leckhampton Court in the modern day

These Norwoods were royalists during the English Civil War. When their cause was defeated and King Charles I was executed, they suffered for having chosen the losing side. The family ran into serious financial difficulties. Francis Norwood, Sr. could no longer afford to keep up Leckhampton Court and sold it to his cousin Henry Norwood. Henry Norwood was a soldier and a staunch royalist during the English Civil War. When the royalists were defeated, Henry continued to be involved in Royalist uprisings, and as a result, spent years imprisoned in the Tower of London before fleeing England for Virginia. He was able to purchase Leckhampton Court from his cousin Francis, and when the monarchy was restored and King Charles II took the throne, Henry returned to England and returned the glory to his family name, becoming the Mayor of Gloucester in 1672, and a Member of Parliament in 1675. Henry had no children, though, and when he died, Leckhampton Court returned to the possession of Francis Norwood Sr.'s branch of the family. Francis had also died in the intervening years, so the estate passed to his sons. My tenth great-grandfather was already in America at that time, so even if he was the son of Francis Norwood, Sr., he would not have been in England to inherit the estate.  

That is one version of the story. 

An English genealogist named G. Marion Norwood Callam wrote a three-volume set of books entitled "The Norwoods," and in it she claimed that Francis Norwood was the son of Captain Thomas Norwood, Thomas was a part of the Leckhampton Court Norwood family, but on a different line than Francis Norwood, Sr. 

The execution of King Charles I at Whitehall in 1649.

There is another possibility, as well.

In the early 1800s, Francis Norwood's descendant Ebenezer Pool wrote a letter to his grandson explaining the Norwood family's history. In it, he claimed that Francis' father was a judge and a "regicide," a term used for someone involved in the killing of a monarch. This story was that Judge Norwood was one of the advisors who decided to put King Charles I to death after the royalists lost the English Civil War. When the monarchy was restored and Charles II took the throne, Judge Norwood was imprisoned and his Essex estate was confiscated. His family fled England, fearing for their lives, and having lost all their property. If this is correct, then Francis was not the son of Francis Norwood, Sr., for that Francis was a royalist and not a judge. He was also not the son of Captain Thomas Norwood, another royalist associated with Leckhampton Court.

This third version of events is supported by author John J. Babson in History of the Town of Gloucester: Cape Ann, Including the Town of Rockport:

Francis Norwood, according to a tradition in the family, fled from England with his father, at the restoration of Charles II, on account of the trouble in which the father feared they might be involved for the part he had taken in the civil wars of that period.

While this version of events makes sense, there is no direct evidence of it. In fact, no Norwood appears on the official lists of those involved in the execution of Charles I. There were 59 judges who signed papers condemning Charles I to death, and many associates who also faced consequences when the monarchy was restored. None of them were named Norwood.

The arrival of DNA research in modern times has further complicated (or perhaps clarified) the matter. This discussion on Geni.com explains the testing that has been done in some detail on groups of Americans with the surname Norwood. Of all the different family groups that were tested, only one, the descendants of William Norwood of Virginia, appear to have a connection with the Norwoods of Leckhampton Court. The result:

We have several unrelated families and some researchers want to show they have a common ancestor and they do not. At least seven different families in America descend from an ancestor that took the name Norwood independently. But the genetic evidence proves that they are not descended from the same Norwood ancestor and the genealogy is incorrect.

Francis Norwood was almost certainly not the son of Francis Norwood, Sr. of Leckhampton Court, given the DNA evidence. So, who was he? It's possible he was the son of a judge with the surname Norwood, but almost certainly not a judge who sentenced Charles I to death. It's possible he was descended from some other, less notable, Norwood. It's also plausible that he simply adopted the surname Norwood and created a tale around it, happy to let his Massachusetts neighbors believe he had a more colorful ancestry than he actually did. At this point in time, there's no way to know. Francis Norwood arrived in Lynn, Massachusetts from England, ran a tavern and raised a family in Gloucester, and his backstory is lost to history.

A modern view of Gloucester, Massachusetts

Francis married Elizabeth Coldham on October 15, 1663 in Gloucester, Massachusetts. This would have been a socially advantageous marriage for Francis. His new father-in-law and his family had established strong roots in Gloucester and were serving in leadership roles in their community. For Francis, who had arrived in the New World alone and with questionable roots, marrying a Coldham gave him a little more legitimacy. 

In 1664, Francis bought six acres of land in Goose Cove and built a house there. He and Elizabeth had ten children between 1664 and 1689.

1. Thomas Norwood (b. 1664; m. Mary Brown; d. 1755)

2. Francis Norwood, Jr. (b. 1666; m. Mary Stevens; d. 1709)

3. Elizabeth Norwood (b. 1668; m. John Potter; d. 1709)

4, Mary Norwood (b. 1672; m. Samuel Sargent; d. 1718)

5. Stephen Norwood (b. 1674; m. Elizabeth; d. 1703)

6. Deborah Norwood (b. 1677; m. (1) Benjamin Harraden (2) Joseph York; d. 1742)

7. Hannah Norwood (b. 1679; d. 1679)

8. Joshua Norwood (b. 1683; m. Elizabeth Andrews; d. 1762)

9. Caleb Norwood (b. 1685; m. Alice Donnall; d. 1735)

10. Abigail Norwood (b. 1689; m. Nathaniel Elery; d. 1711)

Nine of Francis and Elizabeth's ten children lived to adulthood, and all of those surviving Norwoods married. This means Francis and Elizabeth have many, many descendants. Perhaps the true story of the Norwood origins passed down along one of those branches and will someday be shared. It's also entirely possible that Francis Norwood arrived in America determined to reinvent himself, and the truth of his origins died with him.

Francis Norwood passed away on March 4, 1709, at the age of 74. Elizabeth survived him, dying two years later, in 1711. 

More Notables: The Brits & Scots

This post concludes a series I've been writing for my children, highlighting notable ancestors in their family tree. It turns out that my kids aren't actually more intrigued by these accomplished ancestors than they are by the more humble relatives, at least at this moment in their young lives. They appear largely disinterested in all aspects of family history, to be honest, but I hope they'll develop a curiosity about it as they grow.

Here, I will provide brief summaries of some of our noteworthy ancestors of English and Scottish descent. My family is largely English, Scottish, and Irish. My husband's family is largely English and German, so there are a wide variety of early English and Scottish notables to choose from in our trees. Once again, a lot of these connections are very far back in history, and I'm never entirely comfortable with records that old, so let's consider all of this for entertainment purposes only.

King James IV of Scotland

King James IV of Scotland, my 12th great-grandfather

Yes, children, you are directly descended from kings... on an adoptive line with some questionable sources and illegitimate descendants. My great-grandfather George Rutherfurd's adoptive father, Malcolm Oliver Rutherfurd, definitely descended from a multitude of Scottish nobles, most likely including King James IV. I am always leery of such early records, so I put a big asterisk by all of them, but this connection is actually pretty plausible. Of all the kings to be related to, James IV is a pretty good one. 

"James IV is generally regarded as the most successful of the Stewart monarchs. He was responsible for a major expansion of the Scottish royal navy, which included the founding of two royal dockyards and the acquisition or construction of 38 ships, including the Michael, the largest warship of its time. James was a patron of the arts and took an active interest in the law, literature and science, even personally experimenting in dentistry and bloodletting. With his patronage the printing press came to Scotland, and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the University of Aberdeen were founded. He commissioned the building of Holyrood Palace and Falkland Palace, and extensive building work at Linlithgow Palace, Edinburgh Castle and Stirling Castle. The education act passed by the Parliament of Scotland in 1496 introduced compulsory schooling. During James's 25 year reign, royal income doubled, the crown exercised firm control over the Scottish church, royal administration was extended to the Highlands and the Hebrides, and by 1493 James had overcome the last independent Lord of the Isles. Relations with England were improved with the Treaty of Perpetual Peace in 1502 and James's marriage to Margaret Tudor in 1503 (the marriage led to the Union of the Crowns in 1603)." (Wikipedia)

King James IV was killed at the Battle of Flodden, after an ill-fated alliance with the French and invasion of England. His son, King James V, was crowned king after his father's death. James V was the father of the famous Mary, Queen of Scots. We descend from King James IV's illegitimate daughter Margaret Stewart, his child with Margaret Drummond. 

Thomas Rutherfurd "The Black Laird," my 11th great-grandfather

There are many, many fascinating Rutherfurds in our tree. They include John Rutherfurd, my 6th great-grandfather, who was twice elected member of Parliament for the shire of Roxburgh in Scotland. He was also the son of a knight and Parliamentarian. After trading his seat for an Army company, he moved to New York and was killed in action at the battle of Fort Ticonderoga. However, my favorite Rutherfurd has always been Thomas (1550-1615), because being known as "The Black Laird" is just awesome. 

"Thomas Rutherfurd, commonly styled the “black laird” of Edgerston, was the terror of the borders, his exploits against the English being numerous and daring. At the battle of the Red Swire, 7th July 1575, -- the last skirmish of any consequence fought on the borders, -- at the head of his followers and the men of Jedburgh, he was mainly the cause of the victory being secured to the Scots." (The Scottish Nation, Vol. 3)

The Rutherfurd family seat was at Edgerston, south of Jedburgh, just across the border from England. The Rutherfurds, like other border clans, were in the unique position of having to constantly deal with the English, whether that be in defense of Scottish lands from the English, the brokering of fragile peace deals with the English, or just in outright looting of English persons and estates due to a myriad of offenses. Those engaged in these back-and-forth skirmishes were called Border Reivers.

"The story of the Reivers dates from the 14th century and continued through into the late 17th century. It concerns the border between the two sovereign countries of England and Scotland. In those days, this Border displayed all of the characteristics of a frontier, lacking law and order. Cattle rustling, feuding, murder, arson and pillaging were all common occurrences. It was a time when people owed their tribal or clan loyalty to their blood relatives or families. And it was common for these families to straddle the Border. The Reivers were the product of the constant English-Scottish wars that would often reduce the Border area to a wasteland. The continuing threat of renewed conflict offered little incentive to arable farming. Why bother planting crops if they may be burned before they could be harvested? The reiving (raiding or plundering) of livestock was however a totally different matter, and so it became the principal business of the Border families." (historic-uk.com)

Thomas Rutherfurd was notorious enough in his day to earn a very cool nickname, which is something to which we all should aspire.

George Cubbitt, 1st Baron Ashcombe, husband of my 1st cousin, 5x removed

George Cubitt (1828-1917) was the son of Thomas Cubitt, a British master builder, notable for developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury. George was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He later became a Conservative Member of Parliament for West Surrey. In 1892, he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Ashcombe, of Dorking, in the County of Surrey and of Bodiam Castle, in the County of Sussex. He also served as Honorary Colonel of the 5th Battalion, Royal West Surrey Regiment, and Deputy Lieutenant of the counties of both Surrey and Middlesex. He was a founder and lifelong benefactor of St. Catherine's School in Bramley, Surrey. 

George married Laura Joyce of Hitcham, Buckinghamshire, my 1st cousin, 5x removed. Laura was the granddaughter of Robert Brakspear, the founder of the Brakspear Brewery in Henley-on-Thames. Robert is my 5th great-grandfather, and I've been to Henley and toured the brewery, which remained a family business until just a few years ago.

George Cubitt and Laura Joyce had nine children, from whom descend another very famous British relative, Camilla Shand, now known as Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, who is the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, heir to the English throne. Per the current queen's wishes, Camilla is likely to be known as the Queen of England in the near future. Camilla is my 5th cousin 1x removed. Despite this, we are unlikely to be invited to the coronation.

Sir Edward Neville, my 13th great-grandfather

Edward Neville (1471-1538) was the son of George Neville, 4th Baron Bergavenny, and was descended from a long line of barons. "The story of the Neville family is a fascinating one. From their inconspicuous beginnings in Lincolnshire after the Norman Conquest, by the fourteenth century the Nevilles of Raby were among the most influential groups in the north of England, virtually ruling the area by means of the royal offices they held, and their political power reached its zenith in the fifteenth century with Richard de Neville, earl of Warwick, the so-called Kingmaker." (Boydell and Brewer)

Edward was a courtier and good friend of King Henry VIII. The Nevilles and their cousins the Courtenays supported Catherine of Aragon's marriage to King Henry VIII and the Pope's authority in England, which threatened to alienate them from King Henry VIII when the king sought a divorce from Catherine and started the Church of England in defiance of the Pope. 

Edward managed to stay on Henry's good side despite their differences, but he couldn't survive Thomas Cromwell. Early in 1538, Henry VIII's chief minister Thomas Cromwell was warned that Edward Neville was secretly trying to obtain the estates of Moatenden Priory, which had been recently dissolved. Cromwell wanted the property for his own. He had Neville arrested for conspiracy and charged him with high treason. Neville was sent to the Tower, tried at Westminster, and beheaded at Tower Hill in 1538.

Walter Devereux, 8th Baron Ferrers of Chartley, my husband's 15th great grandfather

Walter Devereux (1432-1485) was a member of the English peerage and a loyal supporter of the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses. He was the son of Sir Walter Devereux (1411-1459), who was Lord Chancellor of Ireland from 1449-1451, represented Hereford in Parliament over many years, and served as sheriff of Herefordshire in 1447. His mother was Elizabeth Merbury, the daughter of Sir John Merbury, Chief Justice of South Wales.

Walter was appointed knight of the shire for Herefordshire in 1450. As a Yorkist, he held many offices under Edward IV, with whom he was close. Among other posts, Walter was made commissioner of array for Herefordshire, Shropshire, Gloucestershire, and Worcestershire.

"In December 1460 Walter Devereux accompanied Edward, Earl of March, to Wales to raise an army to counter a Lancastrian rebellion led by the Tudors. On 30 December, Richard, 3rd Duke of York, was killed at the Battle of Wakefield, and a Lancastrian army moved south towards London. Devereux fought on behalf of Edward, now the 4th Duke of York, at his victory in the Battle of Mortimer's Cross on 2 February 1461, and commanded his left wing. He remained at the side of the future Edward IV on his advance from Gloucester to London. The Lancastrian army marching south was again victorious at the Second Battle of St Albans on 17 February, and recovered Henry VI here. On 3 March 1461, Walter Devereux was present at the council held at Baynard's Castle where it was resolved that Edward would be made King, and rode at his side to Westminster where Henry VI was deposed in absentia and Edward IV proclaimed King of England." (Wikiland) Walter Devereux fought at the Battle of Tewkesbury in 1471 and was at the king's side when he entered London in triumph afterward. He was one of the Lords who swore in the Parliament Chamber at Westminster on 3 July 1471 to accept Edward, Prince of Wales, as heir to the crown. Walter later became a supporter of King Richard III, and was killed at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485, fighting for his king. 

Lord Howe on the Deck of the 'Queen Charlotte', 1 June 1794, by Mather Brown

General William Howe, 1777

Admiral Lord Richard Howe, 1st Earl Howe, and General William Howe, 5th Viscount Howe, my husband's 3rd cousins, 9x removed

In the musical Hamilton, the characters gather on stage to mark the beginning of the Revolutionary War with the song Right Hand Man, in which they sing, "British Admiral Howe’s got troops on the water. Thirty-two thousand troops in New York Harbor." Admiral Howe was Richard Howe, my husband's 3rd cousin, 9x removed. He was a great naval commander who led fleets in multiple wars, including the American Revolution, the Seven Years War, and the French Revolutionary Wars. 

Richard's brother, General William Howe (5th Viscount Howe), was Richard's equal in military prowess, and while Richard commanded the seas for the British forces, William was on land leading the Redcoats against the American Colonists as the Commander in Chief of the British forces. While he had many great victories, including the Battle of Long Island and the capture of Philadelphia, William did not succeed in subduing the Americans and was eventually forced to resign his post. 

Richard Howe did indeed have about 32,000 troops in New York Harbor. Captaining the largest assembly of British Naval might in history, Admiral Howe was able to overpower New York and temporarily take control of the city. "In 1778, France had entered the war on the colonists’ side and a French fleet, commanded by the Comte d’Estaing, sailed to New York where it came to blows with the British. Outnumbered, Howe achieved a stunning victory over the French. When reinforcements arrived in the form of Admiral John Byron, Howe headed back to England." (Battlefields) 

Richard and William were two of the sons of Emanuel Scrope Howe, 2nd Viscount Howe, a prominent public official who served as a Member of Parliament for Nottinghamshire, and later the Governor of Barbados. Their mother was German-born Mary Sophie Charlotte von Kielmansegg, Countess of Darlington and Countess of Leinster, who was a half-sister of King George I.

A 16th century portrait of Edward North, 1st Baron North of Kirtling, Cambridgeshire

Edward North, first baron of Kirtling, my husband's 13th great grandfather

Edward North, 1st Baron North (1504-1564) was an English peer and politician who served as Clerk of the Parliaments and Lord Lieutenant of Cambridgeshire. He was the stepson of Sir Ralph Warren, Lord Mayor of London. He was also a lawyer of much renown, and after being made 1st Baron North, he took a seat in the House of Lords.

"In 1546 he was made a member of the Privy Council of England, received some extensive grants of former abbey lands, and managed by prudence to retain the favour of his sovereign, although on one occasion towards the end of his reign Henry VIII was induced to distrust him, and even to accuse him of peculation, a charge of which he cleared himself. North was named as one of the executors of King Henry's will, and a legacy of £300 was bequeathed to him. On the accession of King Edward VI, North was induced, under pressure, to resign his office as chancellor of augmentations. He continued as a Privy Councillor during the young king's reign, and was one of those who attested his will, but his name does not appear among the signatories of the deed of settlement disinheriting the Princesses Mary and Elizabeth. North was among the supporters of Lady Jane Gray." (Wikipedia)

Edward's sister, Joan North Wilkinson, was the silkwoman to Anne Boleyn, importing silk and fine threads and turning them into garments fit for the future queen.

Diana, Princess of Wales

Diana, Princess of Wales, my 11th cousin, my husband's 14th cousin

Born Diana Frances Spencer at Althorp in Northamptonshire, Princess Diana (1961-1997) captured the world's imagination upon her marriage to Charles, Prince of Wales, becoming one of the most famous women in modern history. In addition to being the ex-wife of the future king, Charles, she was also the mother of the future king, William. 

While I have long known of my relation to Diana's nemesis, Camilla Shand, now the second wife of Charles, Prince of Wales, I did not realize I was also related to Diana until recently. Our common ancestor is Sir George Neville, 4th Baron Bergavenny, the father of Sir Edward Neville mentioned earlier in this post. My husband is also connected to Diana via his Goodwin line. The Goodwins married into the Spencer family in the 1500s.

Winston Churchill in 1946, by Douglas Granville Chandor

Winston Churchill, my husband's 8th cousin, 1x removed

"Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (1874-1965) was a British statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945, during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955. Best known for his wartime leadership as Prime Minister, Churchill was also a Sandhurst-educated soldier, a Boer War hero, a Nobel Prize-winning writer and historian, a prolific painter, and one of the longest-serving politicians in British history. Apart from two years between 1922 and 1924, he was a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1900 to 1964 and represented a total of five constituencies. Ideologically an economic liberal and imperialist, he was for most of his career a member of the Conservative Party, which he led from 1940 to 1955. He was a member of the Liberal Party from 1904 to 1924.

Widely considered one of the 20th century's most significant figures, Churchill remains popular in the UK and Western world, where he is seen as a victorious wartime leader who played an important role in defending Europe's liberal democracy against the spread of fascism. He is also praised as a social reformer." (Wikipedia)

My husband is connected to Winston Churchill via his Wheeler/ Sherman line.

The Smiths

To get started, I’d like to give a quick overview of our Smith heritage, which I’ll then discuss in detail in future posts. 

Our earliest confirmed* Smith ancestor is Henry Smith, my 10^th great-grandfather.  Henry was born in 1588 in Norwich, Norfolk, England.  Norwich is about a two and a half hour drive northeast of London and is marked with a green A on the map above.  Around the time of Henry Smith’s birth, Norwich was one of the largest towns in England, with a population of about 16,000.  Despite devastating fires and outbreaks of plague in the 1500s, Norwich was prospering by the late sixteenth century.  Our ancestor, Henry Smith, was a reverend in Norwich.   In 1635, Henry Smith, his wife and their six children sailed from England to Boston, Massachusetts.  The Smiths lived briefly in Charlestown, Massachusetts before settling in Wethersfield, Connecticut.

After this, our Smith ancestors spent several generations living in Hadley, Massachusetts, Northfield, Massachusetts and Winchester, New Hampshire.  They seem to have been largely prosperous, prominent and controversial.  Henry Smith, our immigrant ancestor, is credited with creating a political division in Wethersfield that saw many families decamp to another settlement.  Several generations later, our ancestor Capt. Samuel Smith of Winchester, New Hampshire, was charged with Toryism during the American Revolution.

In the mid-1800s, our Smith ancestor Samuel G. Smith settled in Bunker Hill, Illinois with his wife, Ellen Partridge.  Samuel’s son, Walter Samuel Smith, then moved to Los Angeles, California, possibly because some of his cousins, the Howes, had already relocated to Southern California.  He arrived in Los Angeles sometime in the 1890s, and the Smiths have been in Southern California ever since.

* There is still debate as to Rev. Henry Smith’s origins and parentage, which will be discussed in a future post.