The above clipping from the Hartford Courant makes reference to my 4th great-grandfather, Bildad Fowler, witnessing a bill of sale for the purchase of a slave (Pegg) in 1761 in Hartford, Connecticut. Bildad was a local farmer who later served in the Revolutionary War, he was not a slave owner. Just how and why he was present at the time to witness the signing of this document is not documented.

At the time of the American Revolution, Connecticut had more enslaved Africans than any other state in New England. In 1784 Connecticut passed an act of Gradual Abolition, which stated that those children born into slavery after March 1, 1784 would be freed by the time they turned 25. It did not free the mother, the father, or any other adults. (From the State Historian: Connecticut’s Slow Steps Toward Emancipation)

The bill of sale, donated to the Hartford Library, was in the papers of William Lloyd Garrison, a leading white abolitionist and founder of the influential American Anti-Slavery Society “In defending the rights not only of enslaved Americans in the 19th century, but also women and Native Americans, William Lloyd Garrison modeled activism that just as easily applies to the 21st century. “(Article on the Saturday Evening Post) Quote by Garrison – Connecticut “the Georgia of the North”

Who’s Who in the Bill of Sale?

Caleb Turner (Sold Pegg to Benjamin Payne) – Records indicate that Turner owned at least 5 slaves in Hartford during this time period.

Benjamin Payne (Purchased Pegg) – Benjamin Payne is also on record in 1772 as selling to Samuel Forbes of Canaan in the colony of Connecticut one Negro woman by the name of Minnah, about twenty-one years old, for the sum of fifty-two pounds, ten shillings (right. bill of sale). Payne, a lawyer, was a deputy to the Connecticut General Assembly, clerk for the House and the Governor, and during the Revolutionary War was a member of the Council of Safety, Committee of Correspondence and Committee of Prisoners. Below is an reward issued by Payne for the return of a capture British soldier.

Connecticut Courant Newspaper – May 12, 1777

Runaway: Michael Burn, Hartford, CT. Reward: Not Specified

Transcription:  Escaped from the barrack at Hartford last night, one Michael Burn, belonging to Col. Brown’s brigade in the British service, lately taken at Danbury: He is a native of Ireland, about 35 years of age, 5 feet 8 inches high, sandy short hair, […] on the fore part of his head, grey eyes, a little glaring, red complexion, thin visage, large nose, a weaver by trade, speaks very harsh, pretends to a smattering of Latin and Greek, has a comfortable number of books with him, among which are Homer’s Illiad, Ovid’s Metamorphosis, Lillia’s Grammar, &c. He wore off a snuff colour’d coat and vest, white drilling […]. Whoever apprehends said deserter and returns him to Hartford, shall receive a proper reward, and necessary charges paid, by BENJAMIN PAYNE, Committee for Prisoners. Hartford, April 9, 1777.

Valentine Vaughn (Witness) – The only reference to Valentine that I discovered was from May 1766. To celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act, “a number of young gentlemen were preparing fire works for the evening, in the chamber of the large brick school house, under which a quantity of powder granted by the Assembly for the purposes of the day, was deposited. Two companies of militia had just received a pound a man, by the delivery of which a train was scattered from the powder cask to the distance of three rods from the house, where a number of boys were collected, who undesignedly and unnoticed, set fire to the scattered powder, which was soon communicated to that within doors, and in an instant reduced the building to a heap of rubbish (six dead), and buried the following persons in its ruins, …Valentine Vaughn had his skull terribly broken. (A Celebration Turned Tragic)

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

Recently, I shared a humorous exchange with friends about boys (or families) in the neighborhood who your parents encouraged you to not to hang out with, in this case the Murphy, Reilly and Dugan boys.  What is true today was true in mid-17th century Ipswich, Massachusetts where my 7^th great-grandfather, Joseph Fowler, was known as “a lawless and defiant disturber of the public peace.” (Source: Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts Volume 1)

A brilliant blog post entitled, “Drunkards, liars, a hog, a dog, a witch, disorderly persons and the innkeeper” (Historic Ipswich Blog), notes that “the real trouble-makers in town (were); Joseph Muzzy (a great-uncle), Mark Symonds, Thomas Cooke, Thomas Scott, and especially Joseph Fowler (my 7^th great-grandfather).” I encourage you to read the entire post to get a full picture of Ipswich in the mid-17th century. (Excerpt below)

_{Joseph Fowler“a lawless and defiant disturber of the public peace.”}

Those are the words of Thomas Franklin Waters in Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Waters noted that Joseph Fowler was sentenced to pay a considerable fine or sit in the stocks on lecture day, for saying there were seven or eight liars in the church and asking why they were not cast out, and for saying “if one would lye soundly he was fit for the church.”

Joseph Fowler was problematic even in his military training, which was a requirement of all young men in those early days. Waters wrote that “More than once, irrepressible Joseph Fowler was disrespectful to the haughty (General) Denison, and for each offense in 1647 and in 1648, he was summoned to the head of the company, and then and there made humble acknowledgment in such terms as the Major required.”

(Joseph Fowler (b.1626) died on May 19, 1676 at the Battle of Great Falls/Massacre at Peskeompskut (now Turners Falls, Massachusetts) during the King Phillip’s War)

Bonus – The post also tells us about John Bradstreet who was convicted of witchcraft based on claims that he had “familiarity with the devil” and for “bewitching a dog.”  John was the nephew of my 10th g-grandmother Bridget and Joseph Fowler’s cousin.  By the way, Bradstreet was charged with witchcraft based, in part, on testimony provided by —–Joseph Fowler! The dog was hung as a witch (Bewitched Dogs), John escape to New Hampshire.

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

I recently posted a story entitled, The Shot Heard Round Buckman Tavern that chronicled my family connection to the famous tavern on Lexington Green in Massachusetts. This story is about my 10^th great-grandfather Roger Mowry (1610-66) who ended up owning and operating a tavern and inn in Providence, Rhode Island.

In 1628, Roger sailed from England aboard the ship Abigail, a small sailing vessel with only 13 passengers, arriving in Massachusetts Bay and then residing in Salem.

In 1636/7, Roger was appointed by the town of Salem to serve as a neat-herd! Pray-tell us, what is a neat-herd?

In 1649, Roger and his wife Mary (Johnson) moved to Providence, in the Colony of Rhode Island, were they joined Puritan minister Roger Williams. By 1640 nearly 40 families were living in Providence, where they by oath declared that religious freedom and separation of church and state would be among their guiding principles. (Liberty of Conscience)

In 1653, the Court of Providence appointed him to keep an inn and tavern. The Roger Mowry House/Tavern was the gathering place for town meetings and where tradition says Roger Williams held prayer meetings. Below is a description of the Roger Mowry House.

Note: Roger Williams blamed my 9^th great-grandfather John Cotton for his banishment from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.

My 3rd great-grandfather, Abiram Spencer (1812-1871) has been the subject of several of these posts. One area that I had not previously touched on was his involvement in politics. In the spring of 1860, Abiram was elected to serve on the Hartford City Council. (Left: Hartford Courant, April 9, 1860, p. 1)

Wherever the fight is hottest, there is their post of duty, and there the Wide Awakes are found.”

On March 5, 1860, presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln stopped in Hartford to give a speech denouncing the spread of slavery in the western territories and advocating for the right of workers to go on strikes. A handful of store clerks who had just organized a local pro-Republican political group attended the speech and volunteered to escort Lincoln back to his hotel room by torchlight, sparking the birth of a new political movement called the Wide Awakes. July 26: The “Wide Awakes” Rally for Abraham Lincoln in Hartford (Today in Ct. History)

It is amazing to think that Abiram Spencer was present at this speech by presidential candidate Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps as a Republican candidate for the City Council, he even had the honor to meet and shake the hand of the future president!

Later that same month (March 27), the Hartford Courant announced “A Grand Display of Torch-lights – The Hartford Wide-Awakes – Fireworks.” and listed Abiram Spencer as an appointed Marshal for the event. The featured speaker was former Ohio Governor and Senator Tom Corwin. After Lincoln was elected, he appointed Corwin as Minister to Mexico, a post that he held from 1861 to 1864.

What was the impact of the the Hartford Wide-Awakes and the Wide Awakes movement?

“It is clear, however, that the Wide Awakes fundamentally altered the tone of the campaign. They took a muddled political environment and turned it into one of the most excited elections in American history. Through marches, speeches, editorials, advertisements, cartoons, jokes, and brawls, the Wide Awakes triggered massive popular enthusiasm in the summer and fall of 1860.”Wide Awake In 1860 America: In Search of Young Men For Voting and Fighting.

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

The header for my blog features a painting by American academic realist painter Don Troiani and is titled “Lexington Common.” The painting captures the emotions of the local militia as they prepared to meet the British in Lexington, Massachusetts on the 19th of April 1775. (Mr. Troiani kindly gave me permission to feature his amazing work).

I choose the painting to honor my 5th great grandfathers Joseph Simonds and Joel Viles, two of the seventy-seven men of Captain John Parker’s Company of Lexington Militia who stood bravely before the vanguard of 800 advancing British regulars.

As the British advance guard assembled on the Lexington Common, Captain Parker, vastly outnumbered, ordered his company to disperse. A shot was fired (historians debate who fired the shot) and the British then fired several quick volleys killing 8 and injuring 10 militia. This brief skirmish is regarded as the first exchange of gunfire in the Revolutionary War.

Buckman Tavern – In this later print of the Battle of Lexington (above), Buckman’s Tavern can be seen in the background (left-middle) on the edge of Lexington Green. The initial construction of the tavern was started between 1709-13 by my 7th great-grandparents John Muzzy and wife Elizabeth Bradshaw on land conveyed to him by his father Benjamin. Following is a brief history of Buckman Tavern, which is still standing and a furnished historic site with audio tour and exhibit space managed by the Lexington Historical Society.

The Buckman Tavern is most renowned for its role in the events of April 19, 1775. However, the site is important in other ways. It has been a notable presence in Lexington since it became a tavern in 1713, shortly after it was built. As a “Public House of Entertainment,” the Tavern was faithfully tended by John Muzzy from 1713 to about 1755, *Samuel Stone from 1764 or earlier to 1768, John Buckman from 1768 to 1784, **Joseph Simonds from 1784 to 1794, and Rufus Meriam from 1794 to about 1815 when the building ceased to be used as a tavern. (Source: Historic Structure Report – Buckman Tavern, Lexington Historical Society)

*Samuel Stone, my 6th great-grandfather, married to Jane Muzzy, the daughter of John.

**Joseph Simonds, my 5th great grandfather who fought in the Battle of Lexington, married to Elizabeth Stone, the daughter of Jane and Samuel Stone.

Side Note: After Samuel Stones death, his wife Jane sold the tavern to John Buckman (hence Buckman Tavern) who was the husband of Ruth Stone (who I am guessing was her sister-in-law?)

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

Huguenots were French Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries who followed the teachings of theologian John Calvin. France and other European counties during this period were seeking to forcibly convert Protestants back to Catholicism. To escape persecution, many members of the Protestant Reformed Church of France and southern Belgium (Wallonia) fled to the United Provinces of the Netherlands. French speaking Protestants from southern Belgium are commonly referred to as Walloons.

The Huguenot merchant referenced in the excerpt above is my 11th great-grandfather Jesse de Forest. Jesse was born in 1576 in France, fled to the Netherlands and died in the Guianas (north-central coast of South America) in 1624. His life was full of hardship, adventure and a quest for religious and economic freedom.

It is very likely that Jesse knew and met with the Pilgrim Fathers (Plymouth Colony) while he was residing in the municipality of Leiden in the Netherlands. He is also recognized as the the force behind the settlement by 30 Huguenot/Walloon families of present-day Manhattan by the West India Company in 1624.

The following excerpts weave an amazing story about the life of Jesse de Forest.

The petition mentioned in the excerpt above is referred to as the ‘Round Robin for Freedom‘. (Translated: “We promise my Lord Ambassador of the Most Serene King of Great Britain to go and inhabit in Virginia, a land under his Majesty’s obedience, as soon as conveniently may be, and this under the conditions to be carried out in the articles we have communicated to the said Ambassador, and not otherwise, on the faith of which we have unanimously signed this present with our sign manual.”

Jesse Departs the Netherlands for South America

Additional resources:

The De Forests and the Walloon Founding of New Amsterdam. By Lucy Garrison Green · 1924

Protestantism in Belgium (Musee Protestant)

© David R. French and French in Name Only, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

In about 1685-6, my 8th g-grandparents Cornelis and Jannetje Doremus, emigrated to America from Holland, and settled at Acquackanonk (now Paterson), New Jersey.  Below is a brief biography details the life of Cornelis Doremus and his link to my paternal family line.  This is a new branch that has unearthed a number of new names for me to research: Van Voorhees, Romeijn, Lutkens, Berban, Jans, Terhune, Westervelt, Bogart, Van Houten, and Matthyseen. Many of the records that enabled these families to be identified are documented in the Records of the Reformed Dutch Church of Bergen, N. J. (now Jersey City). 

Cornelis Doremus and Jannetje Van Elslant My 8th paternal great-grandparents

7^th great-grandfather – Joris Doremus b. 1693 in Passaic, NJ d. 1733 in Preakness, NJ (Married Marretje Berdan)

6^th great-grandfather – John (Johannes) Doremus b. 1720 in Preakness, NJ d. 1784 NY (Married Maria Lutkens)

5^th great-grandmother – Maritje Doremus b. 1743 in Hackensack, NJ d. 1813 in Red Mills NJ (Married Albert Van Voorhees)

4^th great-grandmother – Ellen Lenah Van Voorhees b. 1784 in Arcola, NJ d. 1857 in New York (Married Lewis L. Conklin 1771-1828)

3rd great-grandmother – Maria Conklin b. 1818 in Bergen County, NJ d. 1899 in Milton, CT (Married Rev. Richard Thompson)

2nd great-grandmother – Ellen Jane Thompson b. 1845 in New Jersey d. 1924 in West Avon, CT (Married Edward G. Fowler)

Great-grandmother – Minnie Fowler b. 1868 in Bloomfield, CT d. 1957 in Bloomfield, CT (Married Samuel Spencer)

Paternal Grandmother  – Gladys Spencer b. 1898 in Bloomfield, CT d. 1984 in Hartford, CT (Married George French)

My Father – John S. French b. 1931 in Hartford, CT d. 2014 in Walnut Creek, CA

Comments, corrections and and suggestions appreciated.

Copyright © 2020. All Rights Reserved by David R. French.

While scant information is available, history shows us that Effie MacPherson MacLeod was certainly made of sterner stuff.  Effie is my paternal 4th Great Grandmother. In 1803, six-year old Effie came from the Isle of Skye, Scotland to Prince Edward Island, Canada with her family.

Later, with her husband Robert MacLeod, she moved to Lake Ainslie, Pleasant Bay, Cape North and finally Victoria, Nova Scotia. In 1828, she made the trip from Pleasant Bay to Cape North in an 14-foot open boat.  According to family lore, during that perilous voyage, Effie gave birth to her son Angus MacLeod while in Aspy Bay.

Effie was a midwife and was for a time the only doctor in the Cape North area. According to a history of the region, Effie journeyed on horseback and snowshoes to reach those in need of her services.

Marie-Henriette LeJeune Ross (1762-1860)

In researching Effie, I came across another pioneer midwife who lived in north Cape Breton during the same period.  In Nova Scotia, the story of Granny Ross is widely known and she is considered to be a “trail- blazer in the world of women in science.”

During the early years of her adult life, Marie-Henriette became aware of her gifts as a healer and midwife. The legend of Granny Ross began in Little Bras d’Or, where she cared for and saved the lives of many settlers during a smallpox epidemic. Since she had already contracted the disease, she was immune to its effects.

Note: The source for the map at the top of this post (Carte de L’Isle Royale 1744) is the Beaton Institute, Cape Breton University and is being used for personal or non-commercial use.

© David R. French and French in Name Only, 2020. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Canton (CT) High School – 1948

Below is a wonderfully story written about Dennis and George Maloney (my 4th and 3rd great-grandfathers) by Jim St. Clair, a teacher and historian who resides in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. I had the pleasure to communicate with Mr. St. Clair and just missed an opportunity to visit with him during a memorable family vacation to Nova Scotia in 2013.

(Link to my post: From Scotland to Nova Scotia – A post about the MacEachern, MacLeod and MacPherson families).

A Young Man in Search of Home – Victoria Standard – September 2013

© David R. French and French in Name Only, 2019. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.