More Puritan Ancestors-Edmund Rice Family and Allied Families

 Marker of the House of Edmund Rice in Sudbury, MA  (By Innapoy (talk) 23:01, 18 November 2010 (UTC) - I created this work entirely by myself. Released to public domain 24 Mar 2009., Public Domain, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22116588)


It has been so long since I posted here!!  It is June and this is the 1st Post of 2019! There are 2 main reasons-the 1st is that my circumstances have changed at work, so not as much time to write.  The 2nd is that I am quickly running out of ancestors!!  At least ancestors that I know enough about to write an entry on;  I may know names and dates and places, but little else.

It seems lately that every time I shake the Family Tree, another Puritan falls out!  I had no idea we had so many Puritan ancestors...I should have had, given the New England location and the time frame.  I just never gave a thought to the fact that these folks were Puritans!  I have never been a huge fan of the Puritans-what with the Witch hunts in Salem, hanging Quakers in Boston, not to mention the Regicide of King Charles I in England!  (A bit of a Royalist Romantic, I am...all those books I read in High School about the Stewart Kings, especially my favorite Charles II, the Merry Monarch!)  I blamed all their troubles on William of Orange, and earlier, The Lord Protector (who was a cousin of mine, turns out) Cromwell and his Roundheads.  Of course, I realize now that the Stewarts and their insistence on the Divine Right of Kings and other issues, like a Catholic heir,  were more to blame.  (Still  have a fondness for Charles II, however!)



The Puritan movement in Britain began in response to the Church of England, founded by King Henry VII.   It is very involved and complicated and lasted in Britain from the reign of Henry VII and the Protestant Reformation in England (1530's) thru the reigns of his children, Edward VI (1547-1553),  Mary (Bloody Mary)  (1553-1558) and Elizabeth I (1558-1603).   It continued during the reigns of the Stewart Kings, James VI and I (1603-1625), and Charles I (1625-1649)Beheaded.   The English Civil War (1642-1651) which pitted the Puritans (Roundheads) against the Royalists (Cavaliers) culminated in the beheading of King Charles I.     It reached its apex with the reign of Oliver Cromwell, The Lord Protector.  It was followed by the Restoration of Charles' son as King Charles II, and after he was succeeded by his brother King James II of England (VI of Scotland)they did not appreciate James' Catholicism.  This came to a head when James' young, Catholic  2nd wife gave birth to a male Catholic heir.  The supporters of King James, known as Jacobites, mostly Scots, but many English Catholics as well,  rebelled against his removal from the throne.  The conducted several rebellious battles against English and Protestant supporter of William and Mary who had replaced her father King James on the throne.   The 2 most important were in 1715 and 1745.  There is a concise and very good History of this at https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/11494490/Outlander-amazon-prime.html.. (And yes, Claire's Jamie was a Jacobite)

There is also an article on English Puritanism worth reading at https://digitalcommons.whitworth.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1003&context=th314h

The Puritan History in America begins with the Pilgrim Separatists who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620.  The Puritans later in 1629 founded Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The Pilgrim Separatists were not truly Puritan although both were Calvinistic sects which had developed out of hatred for the English Church as they felt Henry VIII had not gone far enough in removing the Catholic elements from his new Church.  The Pilgrims wanted to Separate from the English Church while the Puritans, wanted to purify it-rid the Church of England of its retained elements of "Popery" or the elements it had retained from the original Catholic Church.



The first family I want to explore here is the Puritan Rice family of Sudlow, Massachusetts, then we will move on to some of the associated families. The progenitor was Edmund Rice, (b. c. 1594  d.  3 May 1663).  (Keep in mind that he was born 27 years before the Pilgrims sailed in the Mayflower, and he died more than 100 years before The American Revolution-just to set the stage in the right era!).  Edmund Rice was my 9th Great Grandfather.

The line of descent is me, my Father Robert W. Wright (B 1927 Rock Island, Rock Island, Illinois-D 1978 same location);  his Father, Robert B. Wright ( B 1898 Seaton, Mercer Co, Illinois-D 1975 Moline, Rock Island Co, Illinois) his Mother,  Kate Pattison Wright (B 1856 Pensacola, Santa Rosa Co, Florida-D 1922 Seaton, Mercer, Illinois): her mother,Josephine Cushman Pattison (B 1832 Fort Gaines, Clay, Georgia- D1885 Ohio Grove, Mercer, Illinois);  her Father, Ira Harvey Cushman (B 1799 Barnet, Caledonia Co, Vermont-D 1849 Geneva, Geneva Co, Alabama);  his Mother,  Catherine Grout Cushman (B1744 Charlestown, SullivanCo, New Hampshire-D1837 Barnet, Caledonia, Vermont): her Mother, Mary Willard Grout (B 1735 Lunenburg, Worcester Co, Massachusetts-D 1786 Charlestown, New Hampshire);  her Mother, Kezia White Willard (B 1696 Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts-D 1739 Lunenburg, Worcester Co, Massachusetts);  her Mother, Mary Rice White ( B 1656 Sudbury, Massachusets-D 1733 Lancaster, Worcester, Massachusetts): her Father, Thomas Rice (B 1626 Massachusetts-D 1681-Sudbury, Massachusetts);  his Father, Edmund Rice (B 1594, Suffolk England-D 1663 Marlboro, Middlesex Co., Massachusetts).  (Goodness!!  That was not easy!!)

 Edmund Rice was born around 1594 in the East of England, in Suffolk County, possibly in the Village of Stanstead.  I have also seen Horsmonden, Kent listed as a birthplace as well as Birkhampstead, Hertfordshire.  Suffice it to say, no one is sure where Edmund Rice was born!  In fact, the Edmund Rice Association states that his ancestry and parents are unknown despite the efforts of acclaimed Genealogists.  https://www.edmund-rice.org/ancestors.htm

 On 15 Oct. 1618, Edmund married Thomasine Frost  of Stanstead at Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.  The couple had 10 children, only the youngest was born in Massachusetts.  The Rice family immigrated to Massachusetts in about 1638.  Thomasine (Tamazine) died in 1654.  Edmund remarried Mercie Hurd (The Widow Bringham) and had 2 daughters with her. 

Sudbury, Massachusetts 1885

 Edmund is consider one of the Founders of the town of Sudbury, Massachusetts in the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1639.  It was the 3rd permanent Inland community in the Colony-the 1st being Concord, founded by another Grandfather Simon Willard, (whose Great Granddaughter, Mary Willard {see above paragraph delineating the line of Grandparents} married Elijah Grout and their daughter married into our Cushman Family); the 2nd inland community was Dedham.

Saltbox style home of Edmund Rice in Sudbury, Massahusetts.  Apparently this stayed in the family from 1643 when it was built until 1910, when it burned.  Edwin Rice - Original in archives of Edmund Rice (1638) Association.

The town of Sudbury has an interesting history-it is the home of the Wayside Inn which was used by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow for his book of poems "Tales of the Wayside Inn"-one of which began "Listen my children and you shall hear, of the midnight ride of Paul Revere".  (One of my favorite poems as a child!)

The Wayside Inn, Sudbury, MA     By John Phelan - Own work, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10055811

It is also the home of the Redstone School which is believed to be the school in the poem "Mary had a Little Lamb".           https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/the-redstone-schoolhouse-sudbury-massachusetts



Edmund served as a Deacon in the Puritan Church and was active in local politics.  He also served in the Great and General Court of the Colony, for several years.

Sumner Chilton Powell wrote, in Puritan Village: The Formation of a New England Town, "Not only did Rice become the largest individual landholder in Sudbury, but he represented his new town in the Massachusetts legislature for five years and devoted at least eleven of his last fifteen years to serving as selectman and judge of small causes."

Edmund also later was instrumental in the founding of  the Massachusetts town of Marlborough, Middlesex County.
 Rice and 13 other colonists settled there in 1657; the town was incorporated in 1660 and Edmund was named a Selectman.   Apparently he and the other settlers had become unhappy with the type of land allotment practiced in Sudbury which was Open field or Communal farming.   Using this system-a left over from the Medieval period, the arable land in a community was held in common and was divided into strips which were then alloted to each eligible man according to his standing in the community, marital status etc.   Rice and his fellow dissenters preferred the more modern Closed field system whereby land was bought and sold and owner operated.  This Closed field system led to the Enclosure Movement in Britain whereby small farms and crofts were consolidated and sold and then usage of it was restricted by the owner.  Land was becoming a sought after commodity.

Edmund also served as a Deacon in the Puritan Church-he was ordained in 1648, while living in Sudbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony.  There is one artifact owned by Edmund Rice and his 2nd wife (not our Grandmother).  A Tudor period Bible Box is at the Worcester Massachusetts Museum.  The Bible Box pictured below while not the Rice artifact is similar to the one owned by Rice.  The top of the box was slanted like a podium to facilitate reading the large heavy tome.

By Bradshawhall at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3757731

Edmund and his first wife Thomasine had 8 children who survived to adulthood, 2 more also from Mercy, his 2nd wife.  His son Thomas (1626, Stanstead, Suffolk, England-1681, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts  Bay Colony) was our 8th Great Grandfather.  Thomas married Mary King (1630, Dorset, England-1715, Sudbury, Middlesex, Massachusetts Bay Colony)  Thomas and Mary had 14 children and he died in 1681 in Sudbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony.

The oldest child of Thomas and Mary King Rice was another Mary born in 1653 in Sudbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony.  She married, in 1678,  Josiah White born in Wenham and was baptised in Salem, Massachusetts B. C. in 1643.  Josiah was the son of John White and Joan West White; the Whites moved to Lancaster shortly after Josiah's birth.  

Josiah and Mary Rice White were our 7th great Grandparents.  Together they had seven children, the youngest being our 6th great grandmother Keziah White born in 1697 in Lancaster, Middlesex County, Massachusetts Colony. After the death of Keziah's father Josiah in 1714, her mother Mary remarried a man named Thomas Sawyer.  Five years later in 1719, Keziah married Jonathan Willard.  From the Willards, the line goes to the Cushman Family.  I will cover the Willards in a later post.  


It is uncertain where Edmund Rice is buried but there is a Memorial placed by the family on the site of the First Sudbury Meeting House.    

George Soule-a Mayflower Ancestor and His Many Relations

To paraphrase the Bard...Oh what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice...Genealogy!!

I want to write next about George Soule,  one of our 8th great grandfathers who came to the New World on the Mayflower.  In doing a bit of reading/research on George, I am discovering that the main problem is that no one is one hundred percent certain of George's parentage or place of origin.
This is not for lack of trying...many researchers have been searching for the "real George Soule".
 I want to look at some of this work that has been done on George.  Then we can explore the theory of his history that to me makes the most sense.  If my favorite theory is the correct theory, George had ties  to several of the Mayflower families   Later, through his sons' wives, we can add other distinguished families.  It gets very complicated!  I want to see if I can sort through these relationships in a logical fashion.  We had several heretofore unknown Aunts, Uncles and cousins on the famed ship-if George was who I think he was!!

If you are interested in George, or descended from him I would highly recommend the Soule Kindred Website https://soulekindred.org/.  This is a great site!  According to this website, in 2002 a Project led by famed Genealogist, Historian and Mayflower expert Caleb Johnson, began to look at all the known Englishmen named George Soule (various spellings) who were born in the time frame set for George's birth date: 1595-1599.  This time period was chosen by the facts known-that George signed the "Mayflower Compact", thus having reached the age of majority, 21 years, by 1620 and by the fact that he was an Indentured Servant.  This period of Indentured servitude, usually ended at age 25, so when the  Mayflower sailed, George would have been younger than 25, but at least 21.   Because George's "Master" was Francis Winslow-Mayflower passenger, it has apparently long been assumed that George's family was from the same place that Winslow was-namely Eckington, County Worcester so Johnson began his search there.

There were 3 George Soules of the approximate age, including the most popular choice on ancestry.com Public Trees, George Soule, son of Robert of Eckington.  Johnson eliminated all of these English George Soules-because they were too old, too young, too well-to-do to have been an Indentured Servant or were found on the public and church records after 1620 when the Mayflower set sail.

Caleb Johnson's next step was to widen his net to the surrounding counties of Worcester: Gloucester and Hereford and look at Wills and Probate records.  At the end of the report on this investigation, Johnson states

https://soulekindred.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/GSouleResearchPart2.pdf

Johnson then turned to Bedfordshire, specifically to a George Soule who was Baptized in Tingrith, Bedfordshire on 9 Feb 1594/95.  This man was born within the correct time frame to be our George...furthermore, his Father died while the children were still minors so they had a good chance of being apprenticed or indentured to provide their support.  Also, this George of Tingrith, seems to disappear from the Public record after his father's death in 1611.  And there is a possible tie with other Mayflower families.  There was a William Soule, possibly the older brother of George of Tengrith, who married in the nearby town of Henlow, Bedfordshire.  It was Henlow where our Tilley family and 2 other Mayflower families worshiped.  This possible proximity to other like-minded Separatists make this George of Tengrith a good candidate to be "Mayflower George Soule."

  

On the con side, our George Soule did not name  his children using any of the names (except George and Mary (the  name of our George's wife) used in the family of George of Tengrith-namely William-the name of George of Tengrith's Father, and older brother, nor Joan, his mother, nor his sister's names. Naming patterns are circumstantial evidence at best, but it can be helpful to look at them.   The age of George of Tengrith  (baptized in 1594/95 ) was not exactly correct either as he would have been rather old to be an indentured servant.  

The George I feel is the best choice to be our George was not English at all!  It seems odd to think of an iconic "Plymouth Pilgrim" to not be  English but the Calvinist ideology was widespread in Europe.   According to this, my favorite theory,  he was a Walloon from Wallonia, the southern province of Belgium.  This George was the son of Jan (John) Sols and Mayken ( Mary) Labus.  His parents married in London, but he was probably born in the Low Countries.  This Theory was 1st proposed by Louise Walsh Throop, M.B.A. who compiled the latest edition of the Mayflower Families in Progress book on George Soule, published by the General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2015.  

A brief history of the Walloon Huguenots can be found here https://soulekindred.org/vol-46-no-4-fall-2012/  in the Newsletter of the Soule Kindred.  It is a fascinating theory and given George's connection later with the family of Phillip Delano (DeLannoy) it makes perfect sense to connect him with this Huguenot family!

If this is the correct George Soule who was a passenger on the Mayflower,  it provides family connections to another passenger, Francis Cooke-as Phillip Delano (whose daughter (H)Esther married George's son, John and they became our 7th great Grandparents)) was the son of Marie Mahieu.  Francis Cooke was the husband of Hester Mahieu, Marie's sister.  All of these folks worshiped at the Walloon Church in Leyden, where the Pilgrims had settled after leaving England.

This woman was originally thought to be Marie Mahieu DeLannoy (Delano), Mother of Phillipe DeLannoy, but has since been shown not to be.  Cool picture anyway. 

George Soule (whichever one he was!) married Marie Bucque (Mary Bucket/Becket) who arrived on the ship Anne in 1623; also on this ship was Hester Mahieu Cooke and her children who were joining their Father,  Francis Cooke, who had arrived 3 years earlier, with George on the Mayflower.   I believe that this Walloon Huguenot is the correct George Soule  because so many of the other families that he was connected to also had French/Walloon names.  His own wife Marie Bucque,    Pilgrims Hester Mahieu (Mayhew) and her husband Francois Coek (Francis Cooke), who was also the Aunt of Phillipe DeLannoy (Delano),  (his Mother was Marie Mahieu), his son's future Father-in-Law. (Got that??!)

And to check the naming pattern-Jan (John) Soule and Maecken (Mary) Labis Soule (Walloon George's parents) had several other children who were all baptized in the Walloon Church in Leyden.  Among them was a sister Susanna.  George and his wife Mary had a son John, a daughter Mary, a son George and a daughter Susanna.

It was George and Mary's son John who may have married into the Delano family.  This also gets pretty sticky-but according to the Society of Mayflower Descendants...Esther Delano is believed to have been the 2nd wife of John Soule and thus our 7th great Grandmother. His 1st wife was Rebecca Simmonds, by whom he had 9 children.

I have a copy of the Mayflower Society's George Soule of The Mayflower and his Descendants for Four Generations, published by General Society of Mayflower Descendants 2015.   It discusses the controversy of whether the wife of John Soule was Ester Delano or Esther Nash-for certain she was the 1st wife of Samuel Sampson. By Sampson, she had 2 sons and possibly a daughter.
The Mayflower Families in Progress book does state that more proof is needed to show that Esther, wife of John was a Delano, but that is is "quite unlikely" that she was Esther Nash.

     (Just to clarify, the 2nd Samuel Sampson mentioned in above clip-was the son of Samuel Sr and Esther Delano, therefore the stepson of John Soule)

John and Esther had 3 children together-Twins, Joseph (our 6th Great Grandfather) and Josiah, and a son, Joshua.
Joseph, born in Duxbury on 31 July 1679,  married Mary Peterson, his 1st cousin and the daughter of John Peterson and Mary Soule Peterson; she being a daughter of George and Mary Bucque.  One of the daughters of Joseph and Mary Peterson Soule,  another Mary Soule, married Joshua Cushman in 1732/33.  The Cushman Family Immigrant Ancestor was not on the Mayflower but they descended from the Allerton and the Howland Immigrants who were.  You can read more about the Cushmans and Isaac Allerton and John Howland in other blog entries.

I recently added George Soule as a supplemental ancestor in the Society of Mayflower Descendants.  I originally joined under Isaac Allerton,  my brother, under Isaac's daughter Mary Allerton Cushman,  and his two daughters joined under John Howland and his wife Elizabeth Tilley so the Soule Line was the last line to be proven.  It is fascinating to me to see the connection to other passengers, through blood or marriage.

Pilgrim Couple, John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley

So...we are back to the Pilgrims.  We will cover 4 of our ancestors that arrived on the Mayflower-John Howland and his wife Elizabeth Tilley and Elizabeth's parents John and Joan Hurst Tilley.  

From me, going backwards to the Mayflower, the line is  Me (1); Dad, Robert Wayne Wright 1927-1978 (2);  Grandpa, Robert Burns Wright 1898-1975, (3); Great Grandmother, Kate Pattison Wright 1856-1922, (4); Great Great Grandmother Josephine Cushman Pattison 1832-1885 (5); 3 Great Grandfather, Ira Harvey Cushman, 1799-1849 (6); 4 Great Grandfather, Clark Cushman 1759-1851 (7); 5 Great Grandfather, Paul Cushman 1741-1808; 6 Great Grandfather,  Joshua Cushman 1708-1764 (7); 7 Great Grandfather, Robert Cushman 1664-1757 (8); 8 Great Grandmother Ruth Howland Cushman  1637-1726 (9); 9 Great Grandparents John Howland 1593-1672 and Elizabeth Tilley Howland 1607-1686, (10); 10 Great Grand[parents John Tilley 1571-1621 and Joan Hurst Tilley 1568-1621 (11). 

John was born in Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire (part of Cambridgeshire) England.  He was Christened in 1603 at Holy Trinity, Ely, Cambridgeshire.  His parents were Henry and Margaret Howland; he had 2 brothers, Henry and Arthur who also journeyed to and settled in the New England area (Massachusetts Bay Colony) but they came later, not on the Mayflower.  John was listed as an Indentured servant to Governor John Carver.  He may or may not have been a member of the Separatist group although he was with them in Leiden, Holland.  He may not have come to the New World seeking religious freedom but rather because he was indentured to the Carvers.   John signed the Mayflower Compact in 1621 so he was most likely at least 18 at that time.  This would place his Birth year at about 1603 which was the year of his Christening.

John is probably best known as the Pilgrim who fell off the Mayflower during a storm.  He managed to grab hold of a trailing rope and fortunately for his more than 2 million descendants, was pulled to safety.  http://www.scmp.com/news/world/article/1884045/meet-john-howland-lucky-pilgrim-who-populated-america-2-million

Elizabeth Tilley Howland

Elizabeth Tilley journeyed on the Mayflower with her parents John Tilley and his wife Joan Hurst Tilley.  Also travelling with them were her Uncle Edward and Aunt Agnes Cooper Tilley. Both parents and the Uncle and Aunt died during the 1st Winter when approximately one half of all the Travelers died from illness and a combination of little food, the cold  and the difficult journey.  Elizabeth, about aged 13, was taken in by the Carver Family.  John Carver with whom John Howland also lived, died that Spring in 1621-his wife shortly after.  The Carvers had no legal heirs; their children had died in Holland while the Separatists were living in Leiden.  Quite possibly John Howland inherited the Carver Estate.  In this year, his Indenture ended and he was made a Freeman of Plymouth Colony.  John and Elizabeth Tilley married in 1624.  They had 10 children and 88 grandchildren, from whom have descended many well known people and many many lesser knowns.

Chart showing a few of the better known descendants of John Howland, in the middle and of his brothers, Arthur and Henry.  Our line, of course is not shown but we descend from the daughter of John and Elizabeth Tilley Howland, Ruth who married into the Cushman line.

John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley married in 1624, she was 16. They lived initially in Plymouth, moved to Duxbury for a time and then to Kingston.  Here they had a farm called Rocky Nook.  The Rocky Nook land is still owned and maintained by the Pilgrim John Howland Society, as is the Jabaz Howland House in Plymouth.  In 1672 John died and three years later, during King Phillip's War, Rocky Nook was burned to the ground.  From many years after, Elizabeth resided in the home of her son Jabez in Plymouth.  He sold this home in 1680 and Elizabeth spent the  last 7 years of her life living with her daughter Lydia Brown in Rhode Island.  John is most likely buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth while Elizabeth is buried in East Providence, Rhode Island.

Jabez Howland Home...looks like a nice big home until you realize that they had 10 children, 2 parents and the Husband's mother living there!

 The ninth known child of John and Elizabeth was Ruth Howland-she married Thomas Cushman, son of Thomas Cushman and Mary Allerton at Plymouth on 17 November 1664.  Source: Anderson's Great Migration Begins.

Thomas and Ruth Howland Cushman contributed 3 of the Howland's 88 Grandchildren-the eldest Robert was born 4 October 1664.  He and his 1st wife Persis Lewis would be my 7th Great Grandparents.

Rachel and the Elusive Baxter Family

I have decided, I think, to write about Rachel Baxter who married Andrew McKenrick  This might prove too difficult and I may change my mind, but here goes...

We really know next to nothing about Rachel Baxter-we do not know who her parents were, where she was from, when she was born nor where; nor do we know when she died nor where....That's it.  End of story-

Actually what I kind of plan to do, is to write about what we do know from the records; then what we think we might know, what has been conjectured and try to discover the truth or fallacies in those conjectures.  I want to try to figure out why  one theory or another might work and might not.

One thing that we do know, because we have the Record of it... is that Rachel married Andrew McKenrick in the Conewago Chapel in Hanover, Conewago Township, Adams County, PA.  They married on 27 May 1817.

"May 21 1817 Andrew McKenrick married together with Rachel Baxter Witnesses John Dillon and Nelly Timmons"

We next see her in the Church Records when they had their 1st child Charles baptized at the same Chapel where they married.  There apparently was a group Ceremony that day as there were several babies baptized.  Andrew and Rachel were Godparents to the child of George Starner and Magdalene Noel.  John Dillon and his wife were Godparents to the McKenrick's son.  (Do you remember my proposed connections between Andrew and the Starners, Noels and Dillons?  If not read my Blogpost "A Mother and Child Reunion"  https://wrightmckenrick.blogspot.com/search?q=mother+and+child )

"(Birthdate) July 12 1818 (Bapt. date) Nov 15 1818   (Child) Rachel (Parents) George Starner and Magdalene Noel Sponsers Andrew and Rachel McKenrick
(Birthdate) May 1 1818 (Bapt. date) Nov 15 1818 (Child) Charles (Parents) Andrew McKenrick and Rachel Baxter  Sponsers  John and Polly Dillon"

Their next child Margaret was also baptized at Conawago-in October 1820.  The surname here is spelled McKarnick and Andrew and Elizabeth Noel were Godparents.

Son John, also Baptized at Conawago...name on this one is McHenry (which is what McKenrick means)  but they got Baxter right this time.  John's Godparents were John Unknown (maybe Walter?) and Anna Noel.

Son, Andrew, who was the 1st McKenrick to come West and settle in Camanche, Clinton Co, Iowa, was Baptized at Conawago in Feb 1829.  The surname now is spelled McHenricks; Godparents were Andrew Noels and Maria Dillon.

So, we have the 1st, 2nd, 5th and 6th children baptized at the Conewago Chapel.  the other 4 we have no Baptism Records for.  Most likely they received this Sacrament at St Ignatius Church in Ortanna.  Most of their records have been lost due to fire.

We do show Rachel listed on some Death records as the Mother of her children.  We have Death certificates for Andrew, Theresa, Mary and Samuel Baxter-each listing Rachel Baxter or just Baxter.


Now we will look into some of the theories about Rachel.  Many of our cousins have Rachel listed as the daughter of Samuel Baxter and Sarah Chenoweth of Maryland.  That her father's name was probably Samuel (because her son was named Samuel Baxter) is a good place to start.  There is no Samuel Baxter living in Adams County listed on the 1800 (supposedly when Rachel was born)  Census for Adams and surrounding Pennsylvanian Counties.  The only Baxters listed for Adams County in 1800, are a Phillip and a David.  Phillip is 26-44 with a female 16-25,  David is a male 16-25 with a female of the same age and a female 10-15.
Could this be our Rachel??  She is a bit older than what we have listed for Rachel-she would have had to be born in 1790 at the latest.  But this family lived in Menallen!!  This is where Andrew and his family lived for a good part of his life. Just based on proximity alone-this last, David would be our most likely candidate to be Rachel's father!

There are several Baxter families living in York County (this is the County that was further divided in 1800, to form Adams County.  We have a George Baxter-single male over 16. a Jonathon with 3 males under 16, one over and 4 females.  There is a Joseph, 1 male over 16 and 2 females.  Then there are 2 Williams, also in York-one with 2 males over 16 and 3 females and the other with 2 males over 16 and 2 females.  Our Baxter family could be any or none of these!!

 There is a Samuel Baxter however, on the 1790 Census.  He does not live in Adams County, but in Washington County, which is in the far Southwest of Pennsylvania.  There are 3 Free White males 16 and older living in this household and 6 free, White females, (no ages given for the females-not even an age range, just Females). This could be the right family, but there is no way to know without more information.
On the 1810, however,  when Rachel would have been about 10 years old, there is still a Samuel living in Washington County.  He is over 45 as is his wife, there are 2 females age 16-25 and 1 male under 10 years of age.  If Rachel were born by 1794-she would be 16.  The usual birth date given for her is 1800.  I do not know if this is documented somewhere that I have not located or if it a rough guesstimate-given Andrew, her husband was born in 1794 and she may have been a bit younger than he.  This could possibly be her family but how did she meet Andrew way over in Adams County?  People were not as mobile back then, most never left their township let alone travel several counties over.  And, if we guess that the family moved to Adams-this would be a west-east migration which would be against the normal migratory patterns.  Most families leaving Washington County would travel east to west and end up somewhere is Ohio or Indiana.  That is not to say that it was never done but it is not the Norm.  Samuel and his wife, both now over 45 are both still living in Fallowfield, Washington County, PA.  There are also a couple of other families of Baxters  living in Washington County so we can now guess that the family did not migrate to Adams.  This means Rachel would have traveled to Adams without her family.  This would have been highly unlikely.                                                   
Samuel Baxter and his wife Sarah Chenoweth of Maryland, did have a daughter named Rachel...I do not believe that she is the same Rachel as our Grandmother. This family is pretty well documented...one of the Daughters of the 3rd Lord Baltimore (from whence the name of the City) married into the Chenoweth family.
Samuel and Sarah with their daughter Rachel and son Samuel and other children moved west sometime before Samuel Jr's wedding in 1823 in Muskigum, Ohio.  Perhaps they left, according to one respected McKenrick Genealogist, as early as 1803.  Rachel would have been about 3 years old.  I cannot find them on a census earlier than 1840.  Both parents Samuel and Sarah had died and so Samuel is the Head of the Household.  he is listed as being age 40-49.  There are 2 females listed at 30-39.  One of these would  be his wife-the other, most likely his sister Rachel.   On the 1850 (Yay!!  Finally women and children have names and ages!) Samuel is again Head of Household-his wife Actus is listed as is his sister Rachel-their ages are a bit screwy but it is they.  She is missing from the 1860 Census but in 1870, her brother Samuel has died-she and Samuel's wife Actus are living with Actus' and Samuel's son, Charles, now in Henderson, Knox Co, IL.

This Rachel died in 1880 of Pneumonia and was buried in Galesburg, Knox County, Illinois.  I believe our Rachel died before 1840 (her last child James was born in 1833 and she does not appear on the 1840 Census.)  I do not believe she left Andrew and her 8 children and resumed her Maiden name(!!!???) and traveled west.

This is the most recent information that I have come across regarding Rachel and the Baxters...this was in the October 6, 1945 Gettysburg Compiler...

This may account for the family rumor that Rachel was connected somehow to the Dillons and Noels.  These families were intermarried  for several generations and we see above in the Baptismal records that many Dillons and Noels and Starners served as godparents to the children of Andrew and Rachel.

Isaac Allerton-the Original Yankee Trader

Isaac Allerton's signature on The Mayflower Compact 1620

I have decided to look at each of the Mayflower families that were our ancestors.  All told we had 8 Grandparents who arrived on the Mayflower, in 1620. (If we count Aunts and Uncles  there were a total of 14 relatives of my family, 2 of those being by marriage only)
 The list of Grandparents include Isaac Allerton, his wife Mary Norris, his Daughter Mary Allerton Cushman (her husband arrived on the 2nd ship The Fortune, in 1621), John Howland, his wife Elizabeth Tilley Howland, her parents John and Joan Hurst Rogers Tilley, and George Soule (his wife arrived on the 3nd ship The Anne in 1623).  Isaac's brother, John was also a passenger (our 11th Great Uncle) and Isaac's 2 other children, Bartholomew and Remember would be our 10th Great Uncle and Aunt.  Isaac's sister Sarah (our 11th Great Aunt) was married to passenger Degory Priest; she came on a later ship.  John Tilley also had a brother Edward and his wife aboard ship; they would be our 11th Great Uncle and Aunt.

I have chosen Isaac Allerton and his family to start this discussion.  He is the ancestor that I used to join The Society of Mayflower Descendants.  The reason I chose him is because he was our most direct male Mayflower ancestor.  (At that time one could not join under the women passengers!)  His daughter and her husband Thomas Cushman gave rise to a family line that was direct male ancestors from the Mayflower to the birth of our Great Great Grandmother Josephine Cushman Pattison in 1832.

Isaac was the son of Edward Allerton and Rose Davis or possibly of Bartholomew Allerton and his unknown wife.  (The fact that Isaac's oldest son was named Bartholomew leads me to believe this was probably his Father's name)  There is an early record of an Isaac Allerton, son of Bartholomew,  being taken on as an apprentice to a Blacksmith in 1609.  .    He was possibly born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England in 1586.  Isaac's oldest son Bartholomew who was a Mayflower passenger returned to England and settled in Suffolk, so perhaps his family had lived there previously and he had relatives in that area.

 Isaac left England with a group of English Calvinist Separatists who separated from the Church of England and moved to the Netherlands.  Here in 1611, he appears in the records when he marries Mary Norris in Leiden, South Holland.  According to the Marriage record, Mary was born in "Newbury", most like in Berkshire.  Her birth year is usually given as 1590.
The Allertons had 3 children while in Leiden, Bartholomew, Remember and Mary.  A fourth child who died without a name was buried in that Dutch city.   You can read more about the Pilgrims in Leiden at this website:    http://www.leidenamericanpilgrimmuseum.org/Page31X.htm
 Isaac worked as a tailor, in the textile business, not as a Blacksmith.   However,  interestingly Bartholomew, Isaac's Perhaps Father, was a Tailor.   Many of the English Separatists were involved in the textile Industry,  as weavers, fullers and carders

In 1620, Isaac and Mary and their three children along with many of their friends and relatives in Leiden felt they needed to leave Holland. They were afraid that their children were loosing their English cultural ties and were becoming more Dutch than English.  They also feared that they would begin to drift away from their strict Calvinist faith.  To this end they decided to journey to the New World.
Isaac was in his mid-30's when the Separatists travelled across the Atlantic, landing at what they called Plymouth in  Dec 1620.   He became a widower during the dreadful First Winter of 1620-21, when approximately half of the Mayflower passengers died.  His wife Mary had given birth to a still-born child aboard the Mayflower while it was anchored in Plymouth harbor.  Dwellings were being built ashore for the settlers and for five weeks, they had to continue to live in the cramped ship.  The men made several trip to reconnoiter and to hunt, but the women and children for the ,most part, remained aboard the anchored ship.  Mary died on 24 Feb 1621 and was buried in an unmarked grave on Burial Hill.   Isaac was left with three children ages approximately 8, 5 and 4.

Signing of the Mayflower Compact, aboard the ship, on 11 Nov 1621

Somewhere between 1623 and 1626, Isaac married again; this time to Fear Brewster, the daughter of William Brewster, an Elder and leader in the Colony.  Together they had 2 children, Sarah and Isaac.  Fear had died by 1634, reportedly of a fever.

William Brewster

Isaac served as Assistant to John Carver, the 1st governor of the Colony. He served as such from 1621-1625.  In 1626, he became involved in the financial affairs of the Colony and things begin to get a little murky.

John Carver

Apparently Isaac and other Colonist assumed some of the Colony's debt to the men back in England who had footed the bill of their New World adventure.  Eventually, the Colony's  monies and his became somewhat intertwined...he also was setting up fur trading posts and going into competition with Plymouth Colony whose money he was managing.  Perhaps, Isaac was consumed with making money or maybe he miscalculated his ability to pay the Colonists back the monies he had "borrowed".  His fellow Plymouth settlers,  at least in the beginning, thought he meant well and his heart was good.  However, he tried their patience once too often.  Several of them had to go into personal debt to assume the Colony's debt caused by Isaac's wheeling and dealing.

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Eventually, in the 1630's,  he was asked to leave the Colony and he moved to the New Haven Colony and also maintained a home in New Amsterdam, a Dutch colony-today Manhattan in New York City.  He was influential in New Amsterdam, serving on the council of Eight Men, elected officials who governed the Dutch Colony.  He owned property that was not far from the late World Trade Center buildings of our time.  It today is known as Peck's Slip and was the site of a ferry that operated before the Brooklyn Bridge was built over the East River.  http://untappedcities.com/2012/11/14/history-of-streets-the-secrets-of-the-slips-on-the-lower-east-side/

Peck Slip, right in Center, future site of the Brooklyn Bridge, once owned by Isaac Allerton  (1850 Map)

Isaac Allerton became a wealthy man because of his dealings...he traded up and down the New England coast and had invested money in a Caribbean sugar plantation.  He truly was the original Yankee Trader!!

Isaac's 2nd wife Fear Brewster had died in 1634.  About 10m years later he married for the 3rd time in New Haven This wife was named Joanna Swinnerton.  She and Isaac had no children together.  She outlived him by many years.

Isaac died in February 1658 and is buried in New Haven, CT.  His wife Joanna and son by his 2nd wife,  Isaac Jr,  were appointed Executors and Beneficiaries of his estate.  His eldest son Bartholomew had returned to England long ago and raised his family there.  His Daughter Remember married Moses Maverick, Founder of the beautiful seaside town of Marblehead, MA.

Isaac's younger daughter by his 1st wife Mary Norris, married Thomas Cushman and became our 9th Great Grandparents.  

Neglected Families in the McKenrick Line

Susan Elizabeth Bart McKenrick

I tend to neglect these families-I am not sure why.  I think because I am so obsessed with Andrew McKenrick's parentage, I forget that Susan's family are our Grandparents as much as Andrew and Rachael Baxter are.   And, the female line always tends to be neglected a bit.  So, we are going to correct this!  I am going to revisit my Maternal line and explore the "Neglected Families"-the Barts, Bradys and Driscolls.  (Maybe next time, we will try to discover more about Rachael Baxter!!)

Susan Bart (1837-1894) was our Great Great Grandmother, wife of Samuel Baxter McKenrick.  She was also the Daughter of the Anna Brady Bart, (The Widow Bart), 2nd wife of Samuel's father, Andrew McKenrick and her 1st husband, Jeremiah Bart.  This makes Anna and Jeremiah Bart our Great Great Great Grandparents.

On the Left, you see our Great Great Grandparents, I haven't counted them, but there should be 16.  Jeremiah and Anna are the couple directly tied to Susan (her parents).   Jeremiah's and Anna's parents expand out from there and so on.  Each column represents a generation and you add a "Great" for each generation moving Left t Right.  Thomas Brady, hanging out there all alone would be our 6th Great Grandfather.   

(Just an FYI-there are Leaves {hints} on almost every person on the chart.  I am not ignoring them but they are for Public user's Trees.  I usually look at these but do NOT use them as sources as they usually have unproven information)

Susan's father Jeremiah died at about age 41-in 1841.  The 1st Census he appears on by name and actually the 1st record we have of him is 1830.  He is living with a female of his age so I must assume this is Anna Driscoll Brady, his wife.  I cannot find a Marriage Record for this couple.
 Prior to that time (1830),  he must have been living in his father's household-remember, women and children were not listed by name until the 1850 Census.   In 1831, he is quoted in the Gettysburg newspaper The Star, on the occasion of a Fourth of July Festival.  He made a Volunteer Toast.

The article describes a party held by residents of Hanover which is in York County-the next County to the East of Adams.  This is of interest because the family I believe Jeremiah belonged to was from Hanover. 

Front page of The Star Tuesday July 19, 1831

The above article and quote appeared on Page 2 which was labeled THE STAR ANTI-MASONIC AND REPUBLICAN BANNER


W next find Jeremiah mentioned in the Baptismal Records of his children.  Interestingly, the 2 girls,  Adele Susanna and Susan Elizabeth Bart were baptized Catholic in 1833 and 1837.   The only son Jeremiah Jr.  to survive was baptized  in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hanover.  Apparently Jeremiah was raised Lutheran and Anna Catholic and this was how they reconciled the difference.  Whatever works.  

The above is the entry for our GG Grandmother Susan Bart McKenrick's Baptism at St. Ignatius Catholic Church.  It roughly translates:  2 April 14th May 1837 Baptism was  accomplished for Susan Elizabeth, legitimate daughter of Jeremiah Barrh (sic) and Anna Brady.  Margaret Somebody was Godmother (the 1st date given was her Birth date, the 2nd, the date of the Sacrement)

The Baptism record for Jeremiah Jr.  is much easier to read!

I believe there were 5 children born to this couple, there was a son John but I think he died as an child as I can find no records-these are the 4 that were living when Anna Brady Bart married Andrew McKenrick and who survived to adulthood.  Adel married John Hall and died in her 70's, Susan, of course married Samuel Baxter McKenrick and Jeremiah Jr. married Agnes Young and died in 1911 in the County Poor House.  

Jeremiah died in 1841 so there are really only about 10 years of his life of which we have records. 

We do not know for certain who Jeremiah's parents were but I have a really good candidate.  John Bardt  ?? (1778-1855).  John ?? may have been an immigrant, we do not know-his last name is spelled  in the German  manner and he is buried in St Matthews Evangelical (German) Lutheran Churchyard but I find no record of his Immigration so I assume he was born here.  There are several  Bardts in Hanover where this John ?? lived and where Jeremiah and Anna lived on the 1830 Census.  There also are several other John Bardts (Barth, Bartz) etc.  in Adams and York and Franklin Counties.  I have John on the 1790 Census and then not on another until 1850.  He may have been one of the other Johns that I do find on other Censii, but I have no proof and he and his wife were buried in Hanover, York County...so I can't assume they  moved around.  John ?? was married to a woman named Susannah ??.  The 1st record we have of Susannah ?? is the 1850 Census with her Husband, John ??.  They are 68 years old and have a woman, age 39, Mary Bart living with them.  She is probably a daughter.  Jeremiah and Anna named their oldest son John and both their daughters were named Susan -after his Mother?- Adele Susannah and Susan Elizabeth.  John and Susannah Bardt ?? are buried in the St Mathew Evangelical Lutheran Church in Hanover, York, PA.  

Susan's mother was Anna Driscoll Brady.  She married Jeremiah Bart in 1831 in the Conewago Chapel.  His death was in about 1841 and on 3 Sept  1849, she married Andrew McKenrick also in the Conewago Chapel.  I have a copy of the Marriage Record for Andrew and Anna but cannot find Anna and Jeremiah Bart listed at all.  Not sure what that is about. I have the Marriage records for Conawago for 1831 but they are not listed.   I don't think they would have married in the Lutheran Church and have been able to Baptize the girls Catholic.

Roughly translated: "September 3 Andrew McKenrick and Anna Brady formerly Bart were joined in Matrimony"  I cannot figure out who the Witness were.  The last name Dietz must have been the Priest as the initials S.J. follow.  This is Society of Jesus

Anna was the daughter of Samuel Brady and Marie Driscoll Brady.  She was born in Berwick Township, Adams County, which is just across the County line from Hanover, York County where Jeremiah was from.  The 1st time we see her in the Public Records is on the 1850 Federal Census shortly after her marriage to Andrew.  The original copy is so light it is impossible to read so we look at the Ancestry.com record.  We see Andrew and Anna, then the McKenrick children still living at home followed by the Bart children.  We see Samuel McKenrick age 19 and his future wife Susan Bart  age 14.  This is also the Census with Margaret Sterner (Andrew's Mother Presumptive) living with the family.  

Anna Driscoll Brady Bart McKenrick died on 22 May 1858.  She is buried in St Ignatius Church yard in Ortanna, PA-no one knows where her husband Andrew is buried.  

Anna's parents were Samuel Brady and Marie Driscoll Brady.  Samuel was born in the city of York in York County, Pennsylvania.  (Did you  know that York was the 1st Capitol City of The United States of America??  I didn't either!  Nice little article here    http://www.yorkcity.org/about/history/)

Samuel and Marie Driscoll (Driskle, Driskell etc) were married 24 Oct 1802 also at the Chapel at the Sacred Heart Basilica in Conawago.  

24 October 1802 Samuel Brady  married Marie Driskle witnesses Charles Driskle, Marie Brady

Samuel appears on the 1810, 1820, 1830 and 1840 Censii-he died in 1847.  He was a land owner-owning 95 Acres in York County in 1798. 

Samuel Brady is buried in the St Ignatius Churchyard

  Samuel's  father was Thomas Brady who appears on the 1800, 1820 and 1830 Censii for Adams County.  We do not know the name of his wife.  The records get pretty murky about here-Thomas' father may have also been named Thomas ?? and it appears he was an Immigrant from Ireland-as they were Catholic, probably not from the Protestant North.  There are many records for Thomas Brady from Pennsylvania-one of them served in the American Revolution, one in the War of 1812.  I cannot tell which is which, if either,  as there are no identifiers other than Name and Pennsylvania.  These Thomas Bradys could be one of these 2 men or neither of them; there is no real way of knowing.  I do have a listing of the soldiers of the 10th Pennsylvania regiment which contains both a Thomas Brady Sr and Jr.  (Jr would have been about 25 and Sr. about 45 so this is possible)  It does not say what Counties the men were recruited out of.  None of the familiar Adams County names are on the list.  

It does appear that one of these Thomas Bradys is buried in the Conewago Cemetery.  

A page from the Register of the Sacred Heart Basilica Graveyard in Conewago, PA; Thomas Brady Lot #39. (No dates are given)

There are Immigration Record for  Thomas Bradys, who arrived in 1746,  both on the ship Delaware.   One of these may be our Thomas Brady-or not.  One was assigned an Apprenticeship in Chester County, the other on Philadelphia.  I lean towards the 1st one, but that may just be because he was a Weaver!   

Anna Driscoll Brady's Mother was Marie Driscoll (Driskell, Driscall, Driskle, etc).  She was the daughter of James Driscoll and possibly Jane Pierson  ??. A James and Jane were married in Cumberland County on 29 Oct 1768 in a Reformed German-Swiss Church.  (Protestant and Calvinist).  This obviously is not a Catholic family, and we have no way to know for sure that this James is the James found later in York, then Adams County.  The age is right, but James Driscoll is a fairly common name.  (Things get much easier after 1850 when wives and children are listed on the Census by name!!) 

I thought I would include a County Map of Pennsylvania.  County lines may be a bit different now, but this gives you an idea of where these people lived.  These counties are all in South Eastern and central PA.  

Sometime before 1800, James and Jane ?? moved to Adams County and here Marie was born

 and married Samuel Brady.  

I hope you all now know more about Susan Bart's side of the family...I certainly do!! 

 That is one great thing about doing the Blog...it gets me to research and organize information

 on families I haven't visited for a while!  Next time, we will return to Dad's side.

  I am thinking of doing an in-depth look into each of our Mayflower ancestors and their families.