Chapter 45 - My Howell Ancestors

My reason for choosing my Howell ancestors as the subject of this chapter is somewhat silly, at least initially. My 9th great grandfather, Edward Howell, married my 9th great grandmother, Frances Paxson, (which is sometimes spelled "Paxton") in England in the year 1616. Her Paxson/Paxton surname immediately got me wondering if perhaps Frances was a distant ancestor of my neighbor, friend, and golfing-buddy, Robert (Bob) Paxton. After many hours of research I finally concluded with an almost 100% certainty that Frances and Bob were from a common Paxton line which would then mean that my friend Bob and I are distant cousins. As family therefore, it should not be unreasonable for me to expect that on ocassion Bob should allow me to win a round or two of golf. This makes sense, but now to the story.

Westbury Manor (recent photograph)

The general consensus seems to be that the earliest of our Howell ancestors originated in Wales in the first century and that some of them may have even been early Kings of Wales. While this may be true, I am somewhat skeptical as to the accuracy of the few Howell family trees that I found that trace the line that far back. In the case of our Howell family tree, I would like to begin our story with William Howell, my 11th great grandfather, who was born in Buckinghamshire, England sometime around 1515. It is unclear but it is believed that William Howell was the first Howell proprietor of a large estate in the Village of Marsh Gibbon in County Buckinghamshire that has long been called the Westbury Manor. The estate is believed to have been originally constructed back in the eleventh century and it was purchased by William in 1536 during the reign of King Henry VIII. The size of the home and the land on which it sat reflected the wealth of my 11th great grandfather. Considering William's young age in 1636 it is clear that he inherited his wealth and he undoubtedly came from a long line of English nobility. Shall we refer to him as "Lord" William Howell?

County Buckinghamshire, England

Buckinghamshire

The year of William's birth is unknown but the consensus seems to be that he was born around 1515 in the Village of Weedon in County Buckinghamshire, England located about 15 miles southwest of his later home in Marsh Gibbon and about 50 miles west of the City of London. Around the early 1530s, William married the widow Maude Duncombe whose husband, William Duncombe, had recently died and left her with young children. While there are no actual records of the marriage of William and Maude, one has to suspect that it was an arranged marriage which would not have been that unusual during this period of history. Maude was at least five years older than William and from what we can deduce, she inherited considerable wealth from her husband. Sometime before her early death around 1550, her daughter Agnes (Duncombe) Page and Agnes's husband Thomas Page sued William and Maude Howell probably because they believed that Agnes had been cheated out of her expected inheritance after her father's death. The results of their lawsuit are unknown. As far as we can determine, William and Maude had only one son who survived to adulthood, a boy whom they named John Howell who was born in the late 1540s. It is possible that Maude died as a result of the childbirth although we could find no documentation as to the cause or the actual date of her death.

What is known is that William Howell married his second wife, Anne Eyre, my 11th great grandmother, shortly following the death of his late wife sometime in early 1549 or 1550. It is recorded that Anne Eyre was born in 1527 which would have made her somewhat younger than her husband and thus capably of given birth to upwards of nine children prior to William's death in 1558. These births would include the birth of their oldest son and my 10th great grandfather, Henry Howell who was born in 1552. Poor Grandma Anne must have been continuously exhausted considering that she was pregnant most of her married life. Fortunately considering her husband's wealth, it is likely that their household was filled 24 hour a day with servants to care for the children, clean the house, and prepare the food.

Church where it is believed that William is buried 

William Howell's last Will and Testament written on 30 November 1557 tells us a lot about my 11th great grandfather and in particular it shows us that he was deeply religious as well as very generous with his wealth. He not only gave money to multiply church parishes in his area when he died (and probably during his life as well) but he donated money to help the poor in at least six different parishes including Marsh Gibbon. He also left money to all of his family members but surprising he also left a "legacy" to his first wife's daughter, Agnes Page, the very one who had sued he and his first wife, her mother, a decade or so earlier. William's will clearly revealed that he owned multiple properties for he left his oldest son John his home and land in Marsh Gibbon and to his wife Anne he gave the use of the property in Marsh Gibbon until the children were grown as well as the use of additional property, a home, and a farm in another area of Buckinghamshire. My 10th great grandfather, Henry, William's second son, was to inherit the land held by his mother upon her death and he was to receive the home and land in Marsh Gibbon in the event that his older brother died without issue, that is without a son. William was only in his mid-40s when he died and considering that he wrote his will at least eight months before his actual death, it would seem that he knew that he was dying. In his will he requested that his body be buried in the chancel before the high alter of his church which according to his will was located in the Village of Wingrave in County Buckinghamshire. My great grandmother Anne died sometime after the year 1566, probably still in her early 40s.

Marsh Gibbon showing Westbury Manor and St Mary the Virgin Church

Henry Howell, their son and my 10th great grandfather, was around seven years old when his father died and he was probably in his late teens or early 20s when his mother died. While it is believed that he was born in Wingrave, he undoubtedly spent most of his early life living with his parents at Westbury Manor in the small Village of Marsh Gibbon. With his mother's death, Henry now a young adult may have left Marsh Gibbon, for at this point Westbury Manor was now the legal home of his step-brother John Howell per the terms of their father's will. It is possible however, that he may have continued to live in Marsh Gibbon. In either case, step-brother John Howell died without a male heir in 1575 when Henry was 23 and again, per the terms of their father's will, Henry suddenly became the owner of Westbury Manor. Unfortunately a lawsuit occurred that challenged Henry's ownership of Westbury Manor with the claim that Henry's father William had not legally acquired the title to the property in 1536. The lawsuit was ultimately settled in Henry's favor in 1587.

Interior of St Mary the Virgin Church

The next we hear of Henry Howell in the historical records, is when he married  22-year old Margaret Hawten, my 10th great grandmother, in May of 1583. Their marriage took place near Margaret's home in Swalcliffe, in County Oxfordshire, located about 22 miles northwest of Marsh Gibbon. Apparently Henry and his new bride Margaret moved back to Marsh Gibbon for in July of 1584 their first child, a son named Edward Howell, my 9th great grandfather, was baptized probably at the St Mary the Virgin Church in Marsh Gibbon. The location of both the church and their Westbury Manor home are shown on the map above.(Clicking on the map will enlarge it.)  Marsh Gibbon would be a wonderful place to visit with so many very old buildings including the home of three generations of my family ancestors.

There is no evidence during the long life of Henry and Margaret Howell that they converted to Protestantism or Puritanism and away from the authority of the Church of England. During most of their lives, Elizabeth I was Queen of England and it was during her reign that England saw the emergence of Puritanism and its demand that the Church of England reform and move away from the original Roman Catholic manners of the church. As far as we can determine all seven of the Howell's children were baptized in the local St Mary the Virgin Church in Marsh Gibbon between the years 1584 when Edward was baptized and 1598 when their last child was baptized. It would seem that conversion to Puritanism and the rebellion against the Church of England first appeared among the children of Henry and Margaret and we know that at least two of their children, their oldest son Edward, my 9th great grandfather, and his brother Henry, moved to America. Their hope was undoubtedly to escape from the persecution of the Puritans in England or at the very least, to find a place outside of England to worship in a manner that was not forced upon them. As far as we can determine however, Edward Howell was not a radical Puritan nor a leader of the Puritans, nor did he place his family in a position where they might face foreclosure of their home and lands.  Edward's father, Henry Howell, lived a long life finally dying at the age of 75 in the year 1625. His wife Margaret, my great grandmother, outlived her husband by over a decade finally dying in Marsh Gibbon before or around 1638. Their home Westbury Manor in Marsh Gibbon was left to their oldest son Edward who was finally granted the full ownership of the house and land on his mother's death.

St James Church in Barton Hartshorn

where Frances Paxson was likely baptized

Edward Howell married Frances Paxson in April of 1616 in a parish church in Odell in County Bedfordshire, England located around 38 miles from the Howell home in Marsh Gibbon. It is not clear why they married so far from Edward's home nor is it clear where Frances' actually lived or even the names of her parents. What is well know is that Paxson families lived in and near Marsh Gibbon for a number of generations during this time period and at the time of Edward's and Frances' actual marriage there was a Paxson family living in Barton Hartshorn located only eight miles from the Howell's home in Marsh Gibbon. Some of the family trees online show Frances as having been born in Barton Hartshorn and being the daughter of a Francis Paxson (1566-1630) and the grand-daughter of Edmund Paxson (1502-1597). We were unable to determine the accuracy of this family line and the fact that her father, Francis Paxson, was not listed in his alleged father's will, might suggest that the line is false. What is highly likely however, is that Frances Paxson Howell was a granddaughter of one of John Paxson's four sons one of whom was Edmund Paxson. John Paxson (abt 1480-1558) was likely the progenitor of all of the Paxson families who lived in the Marsh Gibbon area during this period of history and he was the likely great grandfather of our Frances Paxson. John Paxson is, besides being my 12th great grandfather, also the 12th great grandfather of my friend, neighbor and golfing-buddy, Robert Paxton, who we now have determined is my 13th cousin.

Edward and Frances Paxson Howell were to have seven children before Frances' untimely death in June of 1630. Her age at her death is not really known although we suspect she was younger than her husband and possibly still in her 30s. She was buried on July 2nd in the graveyard of St Mary's Church. The burial service was undoubtedly attended by her large family and friends including her mother-in-law, Margaret Howell, who was still living with her son and his family at Westbury Manor. Edward not surprisingly as was the custom at the time, remarried a woman named Eleanor Maier shortly after his wife's death and together he and Eleanor had three more children the last being born in 1633. Edward was now in his late 40s.

King Charles 1 of England

It is no wonder based on the actions of King Charles 1 of England that as many as 80,000 emigrants left England between the years 1629 and 1640 including Edward Howell and his entire family. Around 20,000 of these departing English made there way to America and New England. In 1629, King Charles 1 dissolved the British Parliament which at the time was composed of numerous Puritans. He then proceeded to increased his efforts to neutralize his enemies, the Puritans, by making changes to the church next to impossible, and then since Parliament had been dissolved, he was able to dramatically increase the taxes on the wealthy landowners many of whom including Edward Howell, were Puritans. There were other issues as well, all of which combined resulted in many educated and financially well-off individuals like our Edward willing to risk losing everything by leaving England and emigrating to America.

New England Settlements as of 1639

When Edward's mother died sometime in the mid-1630s, Edward gained full control over Westbury Manor in Marsh Gibbon per the terms of his father's 1625 will. Historical records are absent that tell us exactly when Edward, his wife, and his seven surviving children actually set sail for America. What is known however, is that in June of 1638 he sold his home and land holdings in England and therefore it is likely that shortly thereafter they set sail for America. By the time that the Howell family arrived in Boston, large tracts of good land near Boston were no longer available. With the large influx of immigrants into the New England area beginning back in 1630, families had already made settlements beyond the Boston area and into Connecticut beginning in Hartford in 1636 and into the Rhode Island area also in 1636. Edward was able to obtain a large grant of land up near Lynn, Massachusetts (Saugus Territory) north of Boston and south of Salem but the land was not what he had hoped for as the soil was poor and rocky, and the land hilly and densely covered by forests. He also quickly discovered that many of the existing residents and their church leaders both in Boston and Lynn were strict and inflexible Puritans and not to his liking. While Edward took the oath of a freeman in Boston in March of 1639, we suspect that he may have already been considering possible options to find land for settlement outside of the greater Boston area. My great grandfather Edward was at this point 55 years old, wealthy, probably very opinionated and used to getting what he wanted, plus some of his children were nearing adulthood, and he was just not ready to settle into new land that did not meet his expectations.

Edward Howell lived near Water Mill located by

Mecox Bay in Southeastern Long Island

Fortunately for Edward he was not alone in his thinking and he was soon able to gather a group of men and their families together who like his family wanted to find a better place to settle. This group (often referred to as the "Undertakers") consisting of eight men all currently living with their families in the Lynn area, purchased a tract of land at the southeastern end of Long Island near what is is now called the Mecox Bay just east of what is now the City of Southampton. We were surprised to discover during our research that of these eight men, four of them including Edward Howell were my great grandfathers (one on my mother's side and three on my father's side) although two of the men were father and son (See Chapter 13, The Sayre Family in this Baker Family Blog). Anyway, these man invested in a small sailing sloop and in July of 1640, they and their families sailed to the southeast coastline of Long Island. They were soon joined by other families making the original group of settlers around twenty families. Edward Howell is typically listed in historical accounts of this new settlement as their leader and their largest investor which somehow we do not find surprising.

For the next fifteen years until his death at the age of 71 in 1655, Edward Howell played a major role in the early development of Long Island. In 1644, he constructed a water-powered mill on a small stream that flowed into the Mecox Bay that was used by all of the local residents to grind their grain, rye, and wheat. Portions of his original grist mill still exist today in the Village of Water Mill. (See map above and the photograph). Edward is further credited with being on the Governor's Council for Colonial Connecticut from 1647 until 1653 and a member of the Connecticut Legislature from 1647 until his death in 1655. During this period of history, Long Island was considered a part of Connecticut.  Edward Howell was also a local magistrate for his community then called Mecox, and he helped compile many of the local rules and regulations for their colony, some of which still exist today on paper in his own handwriting.

It was obviously a very sad day when Edward Howell died shortly before the 6th of October in 1655.  Where he is buried is unknown but a memorial gravestone marks his life and death and sits in the Old Southampton Burial Ground in Southampton. After the death of Edward, his second wife Eleanor Maier Howell is believed to have married again in 1656 to a man named Thomas Sayre who was also one of the original eight men along with Edward who had emigrated from Lynn to Long Island in 1640. Thomas Sayre just happens to be my 8th great grandfather on another family tree but that is another story. Sadly however, Eleanor died a year later in 1657.

It was truly remarkable when we discovered that possibly three of the children of Edward and Frances Paxson Howell were our great grandparents although admittedly there is some controversy as to the accuracy of these family trees. Their oldest daughter, Dorothy Howell (1620-1670) is believed to have married a man named Richard Woodhull (1620-1691) in 1644 and together they had around ten children. Their son Richard Woodhull Jr. (1649-1699) was the beginning of this branch of our family line to my grandmother on my father's side, Helen Mary Spaulding (1887-1937). My great grandfather Richard Woodhull was a prominent citizen on Long Island during his lifetime.

Dorothy's younger sister, Margaret Howell (1622-1707) was also one of our great grandmothers. Sometime in the early 1640s she married a man named John Moore (1620-1657) and together they had at least five children including their son Joseph Moore (1651-1724) who was my 7th great grandfather. This branch of my family tree carries down to my great grandfather, Charles Spaulding Baker, husband of Helen Mary Spaulding. Little is known about John Moore although like his in-laws he was a very early resident in the Southampton area of Long Island and an active member of their early governing body. He is referred to in most of the historical documents as the Rev. John Moore as apparently he and his family later moved and help found what is now the city of Newtown in Queens County (near New York City) where he became the leader of the local church. After his death in 1657, Margaret married a man named Francis Doughty and they moved into New Amsterdam where she and her 2nd husband eventually died. Incidentally, one of the descendants of my great grandparents Margaret Howell and John Moore is a man named Clement Clark Moore (1779-1863), who is my 3rd cousin 6x removed and the author of the forever lasting poem "The Night Before Christmas."

Dorothy's and Margaret's younger brother, John Howell (1624-1693) was also one of my great grandfathers. John married my great grandmother, Susannah Mitchell (1627-1711) around 1647 and together they had over ten children including my 8th great grandfather, John Howell Jr. (1648-1692). My great grandfather Charles Schenck Baker is also a direct descendant of John Howell. John Howell Sr. spent most of his life in the Southampton area where he filled many important positions both in the military as well as the government. The story of his life would definitely fill another interesting chapter in our family history blog.

There is one final relationship that probably should be mentioned although it is not a direct line in our family tree. The son of Edward Howell and his 2nd wife, Eleanor (not our great grandmother), a man named Edmund Howell (1632-1706) married a girl named Hannah Sayre. Hannah's father who it turns out was Thomas Sayre (1597-1670), and our 8th great grandfather and one of the original founders along with Edward Howell of our first English colony on Long Island. We mentioned him earlier. There is a great deal that we could write about all of these closely related ancestors who were early residents on Long Island, but, our story is now long enough and we must wait for another day.

Chapter 44 - Isaac Allerton, Mayflower Passenger - Autobiography

I wish to personally thank my 10th great grandson, Charles A. Baker Jr., for giving me this opportunity to post my autobiography on his family history blog. I have been writing and then waiting for this chance to tell my side of my life story for over 300 years and at last my time has come. I have tried in my writing not to bore you with too many irrelevant details especially with respect to the numerous business ventures that I engaged in over my life span. Fortunately, these business ventures left many historians having to admit that I became the wealthiest of the original "Pilgrims" who arrived in America on the Mayflower in the year 1620. But then I digress, let me begin my life story.

Early Life:

My parents died when I was very young and as a result I am not positive that I was born in the year 1586 as is often reported in your history books. We did not have birth certificates back then nor any recorded birth documents like you have today and I never saw the church records of my birth. When we were young my siblings and I after the death of our parents were moved to the greater London area where at a young age, still in my early teens, I was apprenticed as a tailor. My younger sister Sarah, who was born around 1588 and our younger brother John who was born around 1590, were also apprenticed but fortunately we all lived and worked in the same neighborhood and we were able to see each other on a regular basis. We were also fortunate as we grew up to receive a good education by the English standards of the early 1600s.

I was only 23 years old when I moved, perhaps escaped is a better word, with my sister, her new husband, John Vincent, and my brother to Leiden in the Netherlands in the year 1609. I suppose it was our youth that allowed us to get so angry about our church's absolute refusal to address our complaints that they had radically deviated from the basic teachings of the Bible. Unlike the children of your generation Charles, who are allowed to express their liberal beliefs by protesting and marching in the streets without facing arrest and imprisonment, when our group protested or even refused to attend a Church of England service, King James I and his cohorts had us arrested and thrown in jail. But we were all young and whether or not it made sense, our beliefs that the church had to change were so strong, that rather than face arrest and imprisonment, we left England for a new life in the Netherlands. It was here where we hoped we would be free to worship as we pleased. There were in the end around 100 of us that originally moved to Leiden and almost all of us were under the age of thirty at the time of our departure from England. John Carver, my friend, and who eventually became the first governor of Plymouth Colony was only 25 when he moved. Another friend, William Bradford, the second governor of Plymouth Colony was only 19 years old when he escaped to the Netherland in the year 1609. Unfortunately, in the end life in Leiden was not as wonderful as we all had hoped it would be. But we were young, optimistic, and perhaps naïve.

Our home in Leiden was small and very crowded with all of our small family living in only three rooms but we were fortunate in that we lived near our church known as the Pieterskert (St. Peter's Church) and near the University of Leiden, where some of our new English friends found employment. I was soon able to obtain a job working as a tailor's helper and many of my other refugee friends found employment in Leiden's extensive cloth industry. Everything was going as expected until my sister's new husband died suddenly. She was understandably devastated but sudden deaths were not uncommon in our lives. Considering that none of us could yet speak fluent Dutch and we rarely mingled with the Dutch citizens other than sometimes while working, it is fortunate that both Sarah and I were able to find someone whom we wished to wed. In my case, I feel in love with and married a young English girl named Mary Norris who like us had left England. We were married on 4 November 1611. On the same day my sister Sarah married her second husband Degory Priest, also an English emigrant, a hatter from London. Incidentally Charles, Mary Norris is your 10th great grandmother, and she was lovely and she immediately made my life better.

Early Leiden

Over the next five years Mary and I had three children who survived: Bartholomew who was born in 1612, Remember born in 1614, and your 9th great grandmother, Mary, who was born in 1616. When we arrived in Leiden most of the newly arrived English were strangers to us although some of them had immigrated as a group from Scrooby in County Nottinghamshire, England including a few important"Pilgrim" leaders such as William Brewster and William Bradford. I guess it was my hard work and my deep and active involvement in our community and in our church that by 1615, I was granted by the City of Leiden with an honorary citizenship to their city. This was quite an honor and very rare within our group. I am sure that it helped that I had quickly learned to speak the Dutch language and I was not afraid to get involved with the affairs of the local Dutch citizens as well as with our own English group. This was definitely not the case with many of our friends from England who preferred to remain aloof from their Dutch neighbors. Unfortunately for all us who had come over from England, life in this foreign country was not what we had hoped it would be. For one thing, it was next to impossible to find jobs that paid decent wages and developing and growing an independent business was impossible. These limitations meant that it was difficult to find upscale places to live outside of our own small English community.  Another major concern for all of us and in particular my wife Mary, was that our children were quickly loosing their English identities. They were speaking Dutch and unfortunately thinking of themselves as Dutch. At least half or more of our younger ones here in Leiden had never been to England and even those who had been born in England, after a decade of growing up in Holland, their memories of their birth land were completely forgotten.

There was however, another very important reason that our group of English "Separatists" believed that at some point we might have to abandon our new home in Holland. There had been for many years beginning in 1566 a war between Spain who controlled much of north-west Europe and the Dutch who were seeking independence from Spain. In 1609 a truce had been signed between Spain and the Dutch rebels which gave the Dutch control over parts of Holland which included our home city of Leiden but the truce was set to expire in 1621. We all feared probably for good reason, that if a war began again and Spain successfully invaded the area currently under Dutch control, then our somewhat radical Protestant group would likely be targets of the Spanish Catholic armies. Obviously there were many good reasons why we thought that it might be best if we found a more welcome place to call home.

Talk of leaving Leiden and Holland began seriously in 1617. By now there were around 180 of us living in Leiden many of whom were living in near poverty as good paying jobs were at this point very difficult to find. I must admit that I did not play a major role in organizing our departure from Leiden although I was a strong and active supporter of our doing so. We sent two of our community leaders, John Carver and Robert Cushman, both of whom were deacons in our church, over to England to attempt to get permission from the Crown for our group to emigrate to America. They also needed to find a way of raising the necessary funds to pay for our passage to America. Without going into a lot of details, we did by 1619, obtain permission to emigrate to the Virginia Colony, and Mr. Carver and Mr. Cushman made an arrangement with a group that called themselves the Merchant Adventurers to finance our voyage and early settlement. The terms of this deal required us to ship goods from our new colony back to them for resale in England (primarily fish I am told) wherein we hoped that they would make a profit and our debt to them for the cost of the voyage would eventually be paid back. The second condition was that we were required to allow additional paying passengers from England to accompany us on the voyage to help offset the cost..

Here again, I am not going to go into any detail about the voyage since this story is well known to most readers other than to say of the roughly 102 passengers onboard the Mayflower only around half of us were "Pilgrims" from Leiden and many of us were just children. Unfortunately many of our English friends were left behind in Holland in large part because they could not financially or physically afford to make the voyage plus of course, there was limited space onboard the ship. The hope was that many more would follow in subsequent years. Mary and I and our three children and the other passengers and crew of the Mayflower arrived in America after two miserable months at sea in early November 1620. Unfortunately we landed at what would later be called the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts well off our planned destination of landing near your present day New York City at the mouth of the Hudson River which was then considered part of the Virginia Colony. The weather when we arrived was cold and awful and there was no talk of sailing south to our original planned destination. We had to make due with where we were if there was to be any hope of survival.

I guess it is well known that the winter of 1620/21 was an absolute disaster. Almost half of our original 102 passengers died over this first winter from the cold, from the lack of shelter, and from diseases. Among the dead were my wife Mary, my brother John, as well as my sister Sarah's husband Degory Priest. I was devastated and heart broken as were most of us. We all knew that the voyage would not be easy but such a disaster was beyond our wildest dreams.  Of the 18 adult women onboard the Mayflower, many of whom like my Mary were mothers, 13 died over this first winter. Another terrible loss for our new community was the death in May of 1621 of our recently elected governor, John Carver. John had been one of the primary organizers of our trip to the new world and with his personal wealth he had helped pay in part for the voyage. Furthermore, he was the author of the Mayflower Compact that we all signed when we first arrived in America, and he was our first elected governor.

Following the death of John Carver, my friend William Bradford soon became the new governor of our new colony and quite to my surprise I was elected as the assistant governor. I was now 35 years old and after years of active involvement in our community both in Leiden and now here in Plymouth, I was finally being rewarded. It was about time. I was by far the most accomplished businessman as shown by my active and successful tailor business in Leiden. Furthermore, my understanding of finances and private investments well overshadowed the abilities of our new governor who was if anything Charles, a complete socialist by the standards of your present day. Our Governor William Bradford was not an advocate of private ownership of land plus he and many of his close associates believed that even food, clothing, and housing should all be shared in common. Fortunately in the end, they were overruled by the majority, although even Governor Bradford finally admitted by 1623 that socialism in Plymouth simply would not work. There simply would not be enough food produced under a system where hard work was not being rewarded. This failure under a socialistic system is still true today.

William Brewster

I served as the Assistant Governor until 1624 and then I was appointed to the colony's civil affairs council which also gave me authority over our colony's finances, the Treasurer in affect, which from the beginning of our settlement had been mostly out of control much to the displeasure of our financiers back in England, the Merchant Adventurers. By the year 1626 after six years in our new community, we had failed to make a single payment against our debts and it became so serious that I was selected in 1626 to sail back to London to attempt to renegotiate a new agreement with the Merchant Adventures or possibly even try to buy them out. Earlier in this same year, prior to my departure, I had the good fortunate to marry for the second time a beautiful young girl named Fear Brewster, who was the daughter of William Brewster our religious leader here in Plymouth Colony. Fear had been left behind in Leiden when her parents and two older brothers had sailed to America on the Mayflower. Fear and her sister sailed to Plymouth to be with her parents on the ship Anne in 1623.  When we married, I was 40 years old and Fear was only 20. I was probably not Fear's first choice as a husband, but I was unmarried and in a senior position in Plymouth Colony and Fear's parents gave her no choice to decide whether or not she would marry Isaac Allerton. We learned prior to my departure to England, that we would be welcoming a new child sometime in early 1627, hopefully after my return. One obvious advantage of my marrying was that my new wife would be around while I was away to watch over my three children, although when we married, Fear was only six years older than my son Bartholomew who was then only 14 years old.

Fur Trading with Indians

I should mention that prior to my departure to London, England a few of the more prominent citizens of Plymouth including myself and William Bradford, had agreed to assume all of our colony's debt to the Merchant Adventurers. In exchange for assuming the debt, it was agreed that our little group would be granted a monopoly on the fur trade in our part of America. Getting socialist leaning William Bradford and a few others to agree with this arrangement was a hard sell but I finally convinced them that the deal would in the end make it easier to pay off our debts, that is assuming that we could make a deal with the Merchant Adventurers. So I left for England. Unfortunately, settling our vast debts with the Merchant Adventurers proved to be very difficult and I ended up sailing to and from England on multiple occasions in years 1626, 1627, 1628, and 1630. We did however, begin slowly paying down the debt and the trips also allowed us to bring back to the Colony from England much needed supplies and livestock.

I was shocked when after returning from my latest trip to England in 1630 to learn from Governor William Bradford that I was to be fired as our Colony's treasurer and liaison with our lenders in London.  I was accused of dealing dishonestly with the Colony (particularly by my old friend William Bradford and less so by others) and that I had been mixing their money earned from the sale of furs with my own money on some personal trading deals. While I have to admit that they were technically correct that I had mixed some funds, my intentions had been to try and make some money for all of us and that had not some of my dealings failed, I would have more than paid them back. I suppose the fact that I failed to return from England in 1630 with the Colony's badly needed supplies, exposed my (our) losses in my investments. It did not help when it was later reported that we still owed the Merchant Adventurers a tremendous amount of money and that my efforts over the past five years had accomplished little. During my time as the Colony's financial manager, I had also on behalf of the Colony obtained a land grant and a patent from the English for land in Kennebec, Maine as well later in Pentagoet, Maine where we set up trading posts with the local Indians to enhance our fur trading business. When I went ahead and set up my own trading posts near our Colony's posts a few years later, which I assumed would be acceptable, I was strongly accused of creating a conflict of interest. It did not help that later in 1635, by treaty the control over our land in Pentagoet was returned to the French and the Colony's business was taken from us by force. In all honesty, I believe that all of my hard work and time away from my home and family was not appreciated especially by William Bradford who had no understanding or talent whatsoever in business and financing and as I said previously, he was a socialist and a man intolerant of others who do not shares his views. Sorry Charles, I realize that Bradford is another one of your 10th great grandfathers but facts are facts. It should also not be forgotten that years later in 1646 when I finally sold my land and goods that I still owned in Plymouth, I gave to Bradford and the others all of the money that they claimed I owned them back in 1630. Fortunately by this point I was one of the wealthiest individuals in New England.

Modern day Marblehead, Mass

Breaking away from my leadership responsibilities in Plymouth Colony in the long run worked to my advantage. While I retained a house in Plymouth that I called home until the death of my wife Fear in the year 1634, she died from a plague that hit the area that year, I had been away from Plymouth much of the time prior to her death.  Following her death I did not hesitate to move away from Plymouth permanently to a place called Marblehead located across the bay from a city later known as Salem. It was here that in 1632, I had started up a fishing business that soon became very profitable. The demand for fish in England was great as were the profits from their sale.  I owned eight fishing boats and had up to five full time employees. By this point my oldest son Bartholomew had moved back to England traveling with me on one of my past visits. My daughter Remember moved with me to Marblehead where she met and married her future husband. My youngest daughter Mary remained in Plymouth where she married Thomas Cushman in 1636. My son Isaac by my second wife Fear, also moved with me to Marblehead. He was at the time around 17 years old. Our fishing business was so good that in 1633 I had also opened another operation up in Machias in Maine but an attack by the French military and their Indian allies and their burning of our facilities forced us to close our operations about a year later. It was undoubtedly my aggressive personality that got me in trouble again here in Marblehead for the local religious leaders very upset with my liberal religious views, got their local civic leaders to order me to move from the area. I finally accommodated them in 1635 leaving behind my business to be run by my new son-in-law and Remember's husband, Moses Maverick.

New Amsterdam around 1640

Moving to Dutch controlled New Amsterdam was a natural thing for me to do for some obvious reasons. First of all, New Amsterdam was not under the control of the Puritans who generally frowned on my business interests. In fact, the city was well known as a mecca for international trade even back in the early 1600s as the city was originally chartered in 1621 by the Dutch West India Company, a huge trading company. Finally, while the city was under Dutch control many of their citizens were not of Dutch descent. The fact that I spoke Dutch and had lived in Holland for over a decade made me a welcome resident. I very quickly learned after relocating to New Amsterdam that one of the most profitable industries in America was in the transporting of tobacco and other items grown or caught (animal furs) in America over to England and Europe for sale or in exchange for goods that we then brought back to America for resale. Over the next decade I owned and managed a large shipping and trading business that included the ownership of many ships. The business required me to travel up and down the American coastline and eventually even to the West Indies setting up multiple trading deals. With New Amsterdam our headquarters, we owned a large two story warehouse that was located right on the East River about a mile north of the tip of Manhattan on what I understand is today known as Pearl Street.  The business prospered even after I left New Amsterdam in the year 1646 and moved full time to New Haven, Connecticut. I was familiar with New Haven as a port city since we had set up operations there only a few years earlier and as I was at this point around 60 years old, I thought that it would be ideal to get away from the rut of New Amsterdam and settle in a slower and more attractive environment. There was another and perhaps even more important reason as to why I moved to New Haven. In 1644, I met and married in New Haven a woman by the name of Joanne Swinnerton who had recently lost her husband of many years. Joanne had been living in New Haven and preferred not to move from this lovely community. She did agree however, to travel with me back to New Amsterdam until I could pass along some of my business management responsibilities to others although even after moving fulltime to New Haven, I had no intention of giving up the ownership of our operations in New Amsterdam. My son Isaac, now 19 years old, moved with me to New Haven.

Early New Haven

My trading operations continued after my move to New Haven and on numerous occasions I had to leave home both to visit our warehouse operations in New Amsterdam and to make trading deals in various settlements along the coastline including New Sweden and Virginia. As the years continued by however, I remained home more frequently and let others manage the operations. I was proud that my son Isaac began attending Harvard College in 1650 and then later helped me manage the business in New Haven after his graduation.  As an experienced and lifelong seafarer, I was very proud of the home we had built near New Haven. Our large two story home with four wide  porches sat on the side of a sloped hill that eventually dropped down to the waters of the bay below. From our house we could see below the growing town of New Haven, the large bay of water, and on a clear day we could see the shores of Long Island off in the distance. It was a wonderful setting to retire.

It is said that I died at the age of 72 in the last part of 1658 or early in the year 1659. It is also said that I died of the plaque but I have no such recollection. My will which I had prepared earlier, simply listed my debts and the names of those who owed me money. The remainder of my hard assets I had previously given to my family including our home in New Haven which I left to my wife and then following her death to my son Isaac. I am buried or so I have been informed, in the churchyard of Center Church on the Green in New Haven. My wife Joanne, outlived me by over 20 years but she currently is buried alongside my grave and we speak occasionally. Fortunately I lived a long and prosperous life and from what I knew at the time of my death all of my children were well taken care of.  I understand that years later following my death it has been written that I was the wealthiest of all of the original Mayflower passengers and I was the only one of the original adult Mayflower passengers who lived and was buried away from Plymouth Colony. One other thing that I must mention, is that while I left Plymouth Colony under the cloud that I had cheated the Colony out of money, I was never ever accused of such a thing in any of the other places that I lived and worked and in fact in all of these locations I was a very highly respected citizen. With that said, I will end this brief story of my life and thank you again grandson for allowing me to include my story in your history blog. Hopefully we will soon see each other again, although perhaps "soon" has a different meaning for you than I intended, and if so, I apologize.

Isaac Allerton

               

         

Chapter 43 - Our Cushman Ancestors

Robert Cushman, my 10th great grandfather, was born about 1577 in County Kent , England and he died of the plague in London in the spring of 1625. One of his best known descendants besides myself of course, was President Franklin D. Roosevelt, his 6th great grandson. It is believed that Robert Cushman was onboard the Mayflower when it departed from London in July of 1620 headed for America. He was also one of the most influential of the original "Pilgrims" living in Holland but because he was ultimately not onboard the Mayflower when it finally landed in America in early November of 1620, his name is mostly unknown alongside such famous Mayflower passengers as William Bradford and Myles Standish. The photo above displays two very important historical individuals. The man on the left is King James I, King of England during the period of the Pilgrims' emigration to America. The individual on the right is supposed to be our Robert Cushman who according to the description under the pictures was the man "who organized the Mayflower's voyage."  If this is accurate it would suggest that my great grandfather, Robert Cushman, might well deserve to be the subject of another chapter in this blog about the history of our family's ancestors.  So let us begin his story.

The amount of research about the family histories of each of the Mayflower passengers and their supporters like our Robert Cushman is truly amazing although not always accurate. Robert is believed to be the son of Thomas and Elinor Couchman and there is a record of their son being baptized at Rolveden, County Kent on 9 February 1577/78. Their son Robert (Couchman) is also mentioned in his father's will dated 1585/86. Whether or not our Robert is a son of these individuals is hard to verify although it is interesting that Robert named his first son Thomas, possibly after his father. In December of 1597 there is a more reliable record of my grandfather, Robert Cushman, in the Parish of St. George the Martyr in Canterbury, County Kent. Canterbury is around 30 miles from Rolveden so Robert's move to Canterbury would not have been that unusual. The record also mentions that Robert was an apprentice of a man named George Masters who operated a grocery store and was a tallow candle maker. Based on the belief that Robert Cushman as the son of Thomas Couchman was born around 1577/78, a number of biographies concluded that he was 18-years old when he started his apprenticeship with George Masters in 1596/97 and if the apprenticeship lasted seven years, he then completed his training in 1603/04 at the age of around 26. Unfortunately this is probably not accurate since most apprenticeships during this period of history started at a much younger age, usually around 14, and younger if the parents were poor. Furthermore if Robert's father died back in 1585/86, it would seem very unlikely that his son's apprenticeship would have been delayed for a decade. If Robert was not eighteen in 1596/97 then it is very unlikely that he was the son of Thomas and Elinor Couchman. I guess we may never really know.

Robert Cushman grew up in a very interesting time in England and particularly in Canterbury in the late 16th and early 17th century.  Religion during this period of history had a far greater influence than it has today and the English Crown pretty much determined how the majority of English citizens were required to worship. King Henry VIII in the year 1535 because the Roman Catholic pope had refused to condone his divorce and second marriage, removed the pope and appointed himself as the head of the Catholic Church in England. His son, Edward VI, was a Protestant and following his father's death in 1547 he basically locked up the Catholic bishops and declared all of England to be Protestant. Following Edward's death in 1553, the new Queen Mary I reversed her predecessor and demanded that all churches must once again worship as Catholics and she had many Protestants "burned at the stake." When Queen Elizabeth I assumed control of the English crown a few years later in 1558, she returned churches once again away from Catholicism. It was clearly understood at this point, that by law everyone was suppose to belong to the Church of England who in turn determined when and how everyone was expected to worship. During Elizabeth's reign however, she was fairly tolerant of the religious views of others and it was during this period in the late 1500s that the growth in the number of individuals wishing to reform the church by getting rid of many of the old Catholic rituals and superstitions rapidly increased. The many individuals wishing to change the church were called the Puritans and many of them lived in and around the Village of Canterbury, home of our Robert Cushman. It is not surprising therefore that a young and intelligent man like Robert Cushman was quickly caught up in this new movement to reform the church.

The Map of Old Canterbury: (Click to Enlarge)

Since the onset of Robert's apprenticeship with George Masters beginning around 1596 he had been living at the Masters' home located within the old walled city of Canterbury. The Masters' home and their business was located just south of the St. George the Martyr Church near the St George Gate in the central eastern part of the walled town. In 1596 the town was filthy by any standards. Just east of their home and outside the wall was the cattle market with the stench of cow shit permeating the air night and day. To their west were the slaughterhouses with dead meat hanging from poles and the blood of cattle and sheep everywhere. George Masters' tallow candles were made from the fat obtained from the nearby slaughtered cows. To offset this appalling setting were numerous parish churches where the local citizens could escape for a least for a brief period. While the Church of England and the English Crown determined how and when people worshipped, Canterbury differed slightly from other parts of England in that a fairly large portion of the population were French Protestants who had immigrated to England and Canterbury to escape persecution from the French Roman Catholics. These citizens were less inclined to follow the mandates of the church and crown and their behavior in this regard undoubtedly had an influence on some of the younger citizens of Canterbury like our Robert Cushman.

Whether Robert Cushman was closer in age to fourteen or eighteen when he started his apprenticeship, it is obvious that the George Masters' family must have treated him like a son as Robert was highly educated as he reached adulthood and his leadership ability had obviously been advanced during the period of his apprenticeship. Furthermore he had clearly developed strong opinions about the frailties of the Church of England and he was apparently not afraid to express them. In 1603, Robert along with a group of his friends got themselves into trouble with the church for posting handwritten notices (written by Robert) on numerous church doors wherein they were critical of the church. One of these friends was Peter Masters, son of George Masters, Robert's employer, who apparently innocently turned Robert into authorities by revealing his name. Robert Cushman was immediately arrested and hauled before the Diocesan Court of High Commission where he and his friends were ordered to pay fines and were warned to conform. Robert and two of his friends were sentenced to a day in prison at Westgate, which was located over one of the gates leading into Canterbury (see the painting of Westgate above).  According to historical documents the young men were sent to the prison for providing negative answers and probably arguing with their examiners.

Apparently our great grandfather Robert Cushman continued in his defiance of the church by failing to attend church services on a regular basis and on 16 January 1604 after again refusing to change his behavior, he was excommunicated. Perhaps he had second thoughts or he was strongly advised to quiet his behavior, for apparently he later acknowledged that he was wrong or at least he apologized, and he was absolved on 15 October 1604 and allowed to attend and again be a member of the church. Unfortunately Robert continued his "libels" against the church for he was once again excommunicated on 12 November 1604 but again he was granted a reprieve and his sentence was lifted on 7 July 1605. By 1605 Robert Cushman  had completed his apprenticeship and he became a "freeman." At this point he continued in the grocery business but now he was finally in a position where he was being paid for his services.

Two of Robert Cushman's old friends and compatriots who shared with Robert his desire to change or leave the church, were brothers by the names of Thomas and Hilkiah (Helkias) Reader. On 31 July 1606, Robert married Sara Reader, the sister of Thomas and Hilkiah. Despite Robert's disagreements with the church, it would seem that he had no choice but to get married in one of the local parish churches, St. Alphege Church (see sketch), and then when his son Thomas was born in 1607/1608, their son was baptized in one of the local parish churches. The record of the baptism of Robert and Sara's child in 1607/08 is the last known record of the Cushman family in Canterbury before the family moved to Holland.

Some of the biographies on the life of Robert Cushman mention that he was one of the original founding members of a Puritan Congregation in Scrooby, England along with other Pilgrim leaders such as William Bradford and William Brewster who became organized as a group prior to their move to Holland in 1608. There is no evidence to support this belief that Robert was part of this group especially as Scrooby is around 200 miles north of Canterbury. We believe that Robert and Sara Cushman and their son Thomas moved to Holland possible as late as 1611 or early 1612 and that he was never part of the group of leaders who had originally organized the move to Holland. Undoubtedly one of the reasons that there are no historical records in England of Robert Cushman after 1607 is that the intolerance of religious dissenters like the more radical Puritans was quickly increasing and as a result Robert and his fellow Puritans had to keep their activities quiet. This was particularly true after the death of Queen Elizabeth I and the rise of her successor King James I in 1603. Eventually it became obvious to Robert Cushman as it did with many of the other Puritans who would eventually leave England, that there was no hope that the Church of England and the British Crown would change or that the Puritans would be allowed to worship in the manner that they pleased. This more radical group of Puritans who eventually departed England were later to be called the Separatists.

Robert Cushman's name first appears in historical records in Leiden, Holland when he purchased a small house in October 1612 on a narrow alley street just off the Nonnensteeg that bordered the University of Leiden. The location of their home was very close to his soon-to-be Pilgrim compatriots and to the Pieterskerk (St Peter's), the church where the Pilgrim congregation worshipped and where many of them are buried including Robert's wife and my 10th great grandmother Sara Reader Cushman. We have to believe that it was no coincidence that Robert Cushman lived in close proximity to the other Pilgrims. Their escape from England in 1609 must have been a well known fact in England and the subsequent writings of the Pastor of the "Pilgrim Fathers," John Robinson, writing from Leiden wherein he justified their separation from the Church of England, would have become well known to Robert Cushman at his home in Canterbury. Whether Robert Cushman came over to Holland with the initial group of Pilgrims in 1609 or later in 1611 or 1612 is really of no consequence. What is really important is that he was quickly recognized as a leader and an organizer. He was educated and a man who could speak and write with clarity. He was also recognized as a man with a business acumen although jobs in Leiden were limited especially for English speaking immigrants and the best job that he could find was that of a "woolcomber", a cloth maker. Our great grandfather Robert Cushman was also somewhat older than many of the other Pilgrim leaders. For example, he was more than a decade older than William Bradford and Edward Winslow both of whom were only in their twenties when they arrived in Leiden. It is not surprising therefore, to learn that Robert Cushman soon became a deacon of their Leiden congregation.

Life in Leiden, Holland did not always bode well for the Cushman family. While Robert and Sara welcomed two new baby daughters to their family after moving to Leiden, both of their baby daughters died in 1616 as did their mother whose death was possibly related to the birth of their second daughter.  All three are believed to be buried under the Pieterskert Church. On a plaque on the exterior of the church it lists the names of many of the early Pilgrim residents who died before the Mayflower sailing including  "Robert Cushman's wife and children - 1616".  It does not come as a surprise that the quote on the plaque "But now we are all, in all places, strangers and pilgrims and sojourners . . ." is credited to our Robert Cushman.

It was very common during this period of history for men and women who had lost their spouse to remarry soon after the death of their spouse so in June of 1617 we find that Robert Cushman married Mary Clarke Singleton, the recent widow of Thomas Cushman's friend Thomas Singleton. It is hard to believe that the marriage could have been much more than a marriage of convenience since shortly after their marriage, Robert Cushman along with Deacon John Carver were selected by their Leiden Congregation to go to London to negotiate for a charter allowing their group to relocate to America. While the English Separatist group living in Leiden, Holland had now grown to around 200 individuals, it seems that there was much discontent among them with life in Leiden.  Not only were good paying jobs hard to find and total freedom to worship as they pleased not entirely what they had expected, but they were finding that the Dutch culture was overtaking their children. They were losing their own culture and identities.  All of these issues combined left them wanting to move to a new location and moving to America as others had done to Virginia in 1607, seemed like the ideal solution to their problems. It was quite an honor for our great grandfather Robert Cushman to be appointed one of the two men to handle the negotiations and he and John Carter departed for England not long after Robert's marriage to his new wife who was undoubtedly left behind in Leiden along with his then 10-year old son Thomas.

Robert Cushman and John Carter were in England until late November 1617 but after long and tedious negotiations with both The Virginia Company who had been appointed by the Crown to encourage and negotiate settlement terms for land on the James River in Virginia, as well as with one of the King's principal secretaries, they returned back to Leiden with an agreement but one that lacked specific language that allowed their congregation the religious freedom of worship. The terms of the agreement were quickly rejected by the Pilgrim leaders. In December of 1617, Robert Cushman and John Carter again returned to England with a letter from the Pilgrim leaders but the letter and their return visit again failed to gain acceptance by the English authorities of their specific requests relating to their freedom to worship as they chose. Unfortunately as time rolled on during the year 1618 the Leiden Congregation grew increasingly impatient with the lack of progress and with their life in Leiden, so in early 1619 they again sent our great grandfather, this time with William Brewster, back over to England. Final after many months of back and forth discussions they arrived at another agreement that was ultimately accepted by all parties.

Robert Cushman was not yet finished as there was much work yet to be done: how would they get to America and who would finance the trip. Fortunately for the Pilgrims, Robert Cushman was a skilled businessman and negotiator. He helped form a joint stock company that they called "The Merchant Adventurers" who then sold stock in the company to raise the necessary capital to pay for the trip. The incentive for buying the stock was the promise of future profits made from the sale of goods (like fur and fish) that would be shipped back to England by the new colonists for resale. In June of 1618 a vessel was obtained in Holland by the name of the "Speedwell" for the purpose of transporting the Pilgrims living in Leiden over to Southampton located on the southern coast of England.  In the meantime, our great grandfather, Thomas Cushman, hired a much larger ship than the Speedwell, by the name of the "Mayflower," that he then had sail from London over to Southampton to meet up with the Speedwell. The two ships loaded with passengers meet up in late July of 1620. On board these two ships were around 67 passengers from Leiden including Robert Cushman's wife and his son Thomas, and approximately 53 passengers from England most of whom were unrelated to the members of the Leiden Congregation.

On August 5, 1620 the two ships set sail for America. Onboard the Speedwell were Robert Cushman, his wife, and his son Thomas. Unfortunately, soon after leaving Southampton the Speedwell began leaking and the two ships were forced to sail into the port of Dartmouth on August 12th for the needed repairs. Finally by August 23rd the two ships again set out to sea but here again the Speedwell started leaking (some say it was being sabotaged by the ship's crew who did not want their ship to sail across the ocean), and the two ships once again returned to port, this time in Plymouth, England. At this point it was decided that the Speedwell should be abandoned. After a lot of confusion we suspect, it was agreed that around 100 of the original passengers on both ships would continue on to America on the Mayflower and the remainder, which included our Robert Cushman and his wife and son, a total of around twenty in all, would return to London on the Speedwell. There are some writings that suggest that Robert Cushman was sick and thus was forced to return to London and while this may be partially true, the majority opinion seems to suggest that because he was one of the major organizers of the voyage, he felt that there was more work yet to do in London with respect to the new colony's future business and thus he felt it was important that he stay in England. Finally on September 6, 1620 the Mayflower left England heading out into the open sea and to America.

Robert Cushman heard nothing about his compatriots who had sailed to America until the Mayflower returned to England on May 6, 1621. Undoubtedly he was satisfied that the settlement had been a success despite the change in its location and the death of almost half of the passengers and many of the crew members during the harsh winter of 1620-1621. Nevertheless Robert worked hard to charter another voyage to the new colony by hiring another ship, the "Fortune," and by arranging to transport another thirty-five passengers including himself and his son Thomas (now age 14) to the Plymouth Colony. Apparently, although the records seem to be missing, Robert's second wife Mary must have died sometime before the voyage of the Fortune which sailed from London in early July of 1621. Weather delays resulted in the Fortune not arriving in Cape Cod and Plymouth Colony until early November of 1621 shortly following the Pilgrim's first Thanksgiving feast that they shared with some of the local Indians.

It would appear that Robert may never have intended on staying in Plymouth despite his arduous and long voyage on the Fortune. His plan it would seem was to get the colonists to sign a new agreement with the Merchant Adventures that they had refused to sign before leaving for America the previous year. He was successful in this regard particularly because the Pilgrims had greatly softened their positions after the hardships that they had suffered over the past 12 months. They were also greatly in need of supplies from England and needed the help of their original investors. On December 12, 1621, our great grandfather, Robert Cushman, boarded the Fortune headed back to England. Quite surprisingly he left his young son, Thomas Cushman, who also was my 9th great grandfather, behind in Plymouth Colony in the care of the then Governor William Bradford (who also happens to be another of my great grandfathers.) It would appear that Robert Cushman probably intended to return to Plymouth Colony once his work was completed in England but he had determined that it was in his son's best interest to grow up with the other Pilgrims. Unfortunately as it turned out, Thomas' father never returned to America.

The Fortune landed back in England in February of 1622 and Robert Cushman again worked with both the Merchant Adventurers and the Pilgrims to their mutual advantage. He helped arrange for more members of the Leiden congregation to relocate to Plymouth Colony (the "Anne" and the "Little James" in 1623 and the "Charity" in 1624) as well as making sure that supplies were sent to the colonists and that furs and fish were sent back to the Merchant Adventurers for resale. Unfortunately, Robert Cushman died in 1625 before his job was completed and before he could return to Plymouth colony and "retire" with his son and his associates who undoubtedly held him in high esteem. There is no record of exactly when Robert died or where he is buried although it is believed that he died during the great plague which is said to have killed as many as 35,000 people in the London area in the year 1625. (Thanks to a recent email from "Cousin" Judith Lee Howard Shea we now know when, how, and where our great grandfather died. Robert was apparently visiting relatives who lived near Benenden in County Kent located around 60 miles southeast of London, when he died of a heart attack on 6 May 1625. He was only 48 years old. His burial is believed to have taken place at the St. George Parish Churchyard in Benenden although to our knowledge his gravestone has long ago been lost.)  There is no question in my mind that without the tireless and unselfish acts of our Robert Cushman there might never have been a Plymouth Colony and a great part of our American history might never have taken place.

Thomas Cushman, Richard's son, was around seventeen when his father died and he had not seen his father for four years when he finally learned of his father's death. His mother had died when he was only eight so he had very few memories of her and his young life back in Leiden. He was now as of 1625 fully integrated into the Plymouth community and into the William Bradford family. It is somewhat surprising that William Bradford had agreed to watch over young 14-year old Thomas in the absence of his father despite the fact that Robert Cushman and William Bradford were close friends.  Bradford was only thirty-two years old in 1621 and he was a widower as his wife had died only a year earlier having drowned after falling off the Mayflower into the ice cold waters of Cape Cod Bay. His only son John Bradford was only three years old in 1921. William Bradford had also recently assumed the role of governor of the New Plymouth Colony so he hardly seemed to be in a good position to assume the additional role as a guardian. Fortunately, based on what we know of Thomas' father, Robert Cushman, we have to believe that young Thomas Cushman was probably mature for his young age and already well educated. William Bradford married his second wife, a woman named Alice (Carpenter) Southworth, in August of 1623. Alice had two children by her first husband and together Alice and William Bradford had three children. Obviously our Thomas Cushman by the time he was a young adult and had become a "Freeman" in 1634 at the age of 26, he had grown up in a large family and he was undoubtedly thought of as the older brother. Thomas was obviously highly respected by his new family for when William Bradford died in 1657, Thomas Cushman was appointed the principal witness to his surrogate father's Will as well as being responsible for inventorying William Bradford's estate.

In 1635 Thomas Cushman married 20-year old Mary Allerton, daughter of Isaac and Mary Allerton all of whom had been passengers on the Mayflower. It would seem from all the historical records, that their life together was very wonderful. They were married for 56 years until Thomas' death in 1691 at the age of 83. Mary died eight years later in 1699 at the age of 83. Together they had eight children including my 8th great grandfather Isaac Cushman who was born in Plymouth in 1648. In the year 1649 Thomas Cushman was appointed to the office of Ruling Elder of the Church at Plymouth, a position that had become vacant by the death of William Brewster. Thomas held this venerable position for almost 43 years until his death. A review of Thomas Cushman's Will indicates that besides living a highly spiritual life he must have also lived a highly successful temporal life for he died a fairly wealthy man owning a considerable amount of land at the time of his death. Thomas Cushman and later his wife are both buried on Burial Hill in Plymouth in a prominent location overlooking the Plymouth Harbor. The 25 foot monument that was erected in 1858 in their honor and currently stands at their gravesites, is possibly the most conspicuous monument on Burial Hill.

Isaac Cushman was the fifth child of Thomas and Mary Allerton Cushman and while he is not as well known as an historical figure like his father and grandfather, he did largely follow the patterns set by his forbearers both politically and spiritually. Thanks probably to his parents, Isaac is credited with being highly educated. In 1675 at the age of 27 Isaac married, although somewhat surprisingly there is confusion about the maiden name of his new bride.  Most historians however, believe that his new wife was 21-year old Rebekah (Rebecca) Harlow. Together Isaac and Rebecca had six children including their oldest son and first child, Isaac Cushman, my 7th great grandfather who was born in Plymouth in 1676.

Until around 1695 Isaac and Rebecca and their children lived in Plymouth where Isaac was like most other residents a farmer. In 1685 he was honored by being elected as a Selectman in Plymouth and in June of 1690 and again in August of the same year he was elected a deputy to the general court as he was again in subsequent years until 1692 when Plymouth Colony was united politically with the Massachusetts Bay Colony. In 1694 Isaac was honored by being nominated as a church elder in Plymouth, however, rather than accepting the position, the family moved to nearby Plympton where Isaac accepted the position as the 1st Minister of the new Church of Plympton. He remained as the church minister for a period of 37 years until his death at the age of 84 in 1732. From what we have determined he was a very successful minister and he was loved and respected by all.

Isaac Cushman (1676-1727) the son of Isaac Cushman and Rebecca Harlow lived his entire life in Plympton, Massachusetts. He was a lieutenant in the militia, a selectman, a surveyor, and for 16 years the local town clerk. He married Mercy Bradford, great granddaughter of William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth Colony and a Mayflower passenger. (See Chapter 14)

Their daughter Priscilla Cushman married Israel Holmes, great grandson of Mayflower passenger Edward Doty.  They lived their entire lives in Plympton, Massachusetts. (See Chapter 42)

Priscilla Holmes, daughter of Israel and Priscilla Holmes married Ephraim Buell. They eventually moved to Ohio after the American Revolution but not before living in Ithaca, in central New York State.

Elizabeth Buell, daughter of Ephraim and Priscilla Buell, remained in Ithaca, New York after her parents moved to Ohio where in 1790 she married Silas Hutchinson, a Revolutionary War veteran from Connecticut.  

Mosely Hutchinson, son of Silas and Elizabeth Hutchinson, was born in Ithaca and married Elizabeth Boardman Hall in Ithaca. They moved around 1825 to the Village of Cayuga, New York located at the north end of Cayuga Lake. (See Chapters 34 and 40)

Mary Rebecca Hutchinson, daughter of Mosely and Elizabeth Hutchinson was born in Ithaca although apparently at the onset of the Civil War she moved to southeastern Pennsylvania where she met and married David Dewees Ferree in 1860. Following David's early death in 1869, Mary returned to the Village of Cayuga with her two young children.

Eugene Hutchinson Ferree, son of David and Mary Ferree and my great grandfather, married Marian Coapman in 1890. Following his wife's early death in 1895 he moved with his three children to Lockport, New York where he started up a very successful leather business. (See Chapters 6 and 19)

Florence Adaline Ferree, daughter of Eugene and Marian Ferree and my grandmother, married my grandfather, Douglas Ross Patterson in Lockport, New York.  My grandfather was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia but at an early age had moved to Lockport. (See Chapter 5)

Marian Coapman Patterson, daughter of Douglas and Florence Patterson and my mother, married my father Charles Asbury Baker in Lockport, New York in 1939. My father was born in Elmira, New York and met my mother while they were both students at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. (See Chapter 10)

So ends my story of my Cushman ancestry.