Chapter 63 - Our Hallock Ancestry

Suffolk County, England

While there are no historical records that can be found, it is generally believed that our first Hallock ancestor to immigrate to the "New World" was a man named Peter Hallock (abt 1585- abt 1640), my 11th great grandfather. Peter is believed to have married my 11th great grandmother, Elizabeth Youngs (or Yonges) (Abt 1589-Abt 1616) in Suffolk County, England around the year 1610. While the exact number of children born to Peter and Elizabeth is unclear, what is believed is that only two of their children survived before Elizabeth's early death in 1616, their son William Hallock (1615-1684), my 10th great grandfather, and his younger sister Elizabeth Hallock (1616-?). My great grandmother Elizabeth is reported to have died rather tragically along with her brother and 20 others when they drowned following a boating accident off the eastern coast of England near the town of Southwold in Suffolk County. Unfortunately we have been unable to confirm for certain that Elizabeth Youngs was actually the wife of Peter Hallock, and that the date of her death was in 1616. Elizabeth's father is believed to have been the Rev. Christopher Yonges (1575-1626) whose records show that he had a daughter named Elizabeth who drowned. Strangely perhaps, her name is listed in the drowning records as Elizabeth Yonges and not Elizabeth Hallock which certainly might suggest that this Elizabeth was not married at the time of her downing.  Another negative is that when Christopher Yonges died in 1626, his will mentions only two of his grandsons but does not mention his supposed grandson William Hallock who would have been around 11 years old at the time of his alleged grandfather's death. One final problem that we encountered was that some records indicated that Elizabeth was born in either the late 1590s or possibly as late as 1602. Both dates of course would suggest that she was unlikely the mother of William Hallock who was definitely born in 1615.  While it is not clear whether or not Peter Hallock and Elizabeth Yonges were husband and wife, it is clear that Peter Hallock lived in the same area as the Yonges family and that he was a friend of Elizabeth's brother, the Rev. John Yonges/Youngs (1598-1672). We will explain this in the subsequent paragraphs.

Mary Anne to America in 1637

Peter Hallock remarried sometime after 1632 a woman whose maiden name is believed to have been Margaret Jane Forsone (1603-abt 1660). Margaret had lost her first husband, John Howell, in 1632 but not before she had given birth to a son, Richard Howell, and a daughter, Margaret Howell, both of whom were quite young when they went to live with their new "father". It also appears that Peter Hallock may have remained good friends with his former brother-in-law, his first wife's brother, the Rev. John Yonges or Youngs, since they both moved to Hingham in Norfolk County, England shortly following John Youngs being denied the right to immigrate to America in the year 1634 apparently because he was a Puritan minister. As we have mentioned many times in previous chapters in this blog, Puritans during this period of English history were the "enemies" of both the Church of England and the English crown and hence many fled from the civil and religious oppressions that they faced in England. Both Peter Hallock and the Rev John Youngs were both very zealous Puritans and apparently Hingham was populated largely by members of the Puritan faith. It was here in Hingham, at least for a short period, that the Rev John Youngs was the minister of the local Presbyterian Church. The record of the Rev John Youngs' emigration to America along with his family seems to be well documented as they departed on the ship Mary Anne in 1637 and upon arriving in America they settled for a short period in Salem, Massachusetts and then soon moved to New Haven, Connecticut where John again served as a minister. Unfortunately, there are no records that show that Peter Hallock accompanied his former brother-in-law on the Mary Anne although this would seem to make sense. Another very confusing and perhaps controversial issue, is that many documents describing the life of Peter Hallock write that he apparently left his wife and his children and step-children back in England when he first departed for America and then he later returned to England and brought them all back to America. We really doubt that this was the case but then who knows and there are no clear records of his behavior one way or the other.

Connecticut controlled much of Long Island

 including Southold in early years.

One thing that is known is that in October of 1640, the Rev John Youngs along with twelve other men and their families including our Peter Hallock, left their homes in New Haven, sailed across the Long Island Sound and soon landed at the far eastern end of Long Island and then founded the town of Southold. Southold is now acknowledged as the first permanent English settlement on Long Island and in the future State of New York. The Dutch of course were the original settlers, settling in New Amsterdam at the western end of Long Island. What we find truly fascinating is that of these original thirteen settlers of Southold, seven of them including both Peter Hallock and the Rev John Youngs are my great grandfathers. In a subsequent listing of the early Southold settlers named in a history book describing the founding of Southold written back in 1902, of the 51 founders' names listed in the book, 16 of them are my great grandfathers including of course both John Youngs and Peter Hallock. Considering the rather small number of original settlers in Southold, Long Island, it should not be that surprising that so many of them were my ancestors as obviously sons and daughters would marry their neighbors' sons or daughters and hence in a rather small community soon many families would be related.  That said, it should also not be surprising to learn that Peter Hallock's only son William Hallock, my 10th great grandfather married his step-sister and the daughter of his father's second wife, Margaret Howell (1622-1707), my 10th great grandmother. The exact date of their marriage is not known although most sources agree that it occurred shortly after their arrival in America. The exact date of Peter Hallock's death is also not known for certain although it is believed to have possibly been as early as 1660 or maybe as late as 1689 which although unlikely would have made him over one hundred years old.  Obviously we do not know a great deal of real facts about the life of my 11th great grandfather, Peter Hallock. 

Peter's son William Hallock and his wife Margaret Howell Hallock lived the rest of their lives in the Southold area or more accurately in an area just west of Southold now known as Mattituck. Unfortunately we really know very little about their lives other than William must have been a successful farmer and a fairly wealthy man as he apparently owned a large amount of land based both on his tax records and on the quantity of land that he left to his sons in his final will. Some of the land of course, he would have inherited from his father or was granted to him by his father during his father's life. William and Margaret had four sons and five daughters together before William's death in 1784. Their fourth child and second son, Thomas Hallock (1660-1718), is my 9th great grandfather. The Hallock family lived during an interesting period of history on Long Island during the 17th century. Following the settlement of Southold in 1640, the eastern half of Long Island started a rapid population growth by English settlers as compared to a much slower growth of the Dutch settlement at the western end of the island. The Dutch on the other hand and despite the English population growth had always maintained that they controlled all of Long Island. In 1664 however, the English military attacked and took control of New Amsterdam. It undoubtedly must have come as a quite a surprise to all of the English settlers on the island including our Hallock family, when the British government was then forced to yield control of the entire island back to the Dutch in 1673 following a successful Dutch counter military attack. When the eastern English towns including Southold refused to yield any control of their area to the Dutch, the Dutch military warships attacked the village of Southold. The English colonists however, fought back and ultimately forced the Dutch to back off. Then in the following year 1674, all of Long Island once again was brought under British control following stronger British counter attacks. Whether or not any of our Hallock ancestors took part in any military action is unknown but it would seem highly unlikely based on William's older age and his sons younger ages. It is probably a safe assumption however, to believe that at least a few of my many ancestors who lived in Southold during this time period would have at least helped to fire a canon or a British shotgun at the Dutch ships trying to take control of their city. Great speculation. My great grandfather William died around the age of 64 on 28 September 1684. His wife and my great grandmother Margaret out lived her husband by many years finally dying on 9th day of May in the year 1707. Exactly where they are buried is a mystery.

Their son and my 9th great grandfather, Thomas Hallock, married my 9th great grandmother, Hope Comstock (1660-1732) in 1680 most likely in the local Presbyterian Church in Southold with dozens of their family members present.  On the other hand, Hope's parents and her brothers and sisters were all born and raised in New London, Connecticut as was Hope, so at first we were a little confused as to how she ended up meeting and later marrying a young man from Southold over on Long Island. We soon discovered however, that Hope's older sister, Mary Comstock, had recently married a man named Samuel Youngs, a descendant of the Youngs family over in Southold, and we quickly concluded that Hope may very well have met her future husband Thomas Hallock while either attending her sister's wedding or visiting her sister later in Southold.

Like so many of the families during this time period in history, Thomas and Hope Comstock Hallock had a large number of children and by some records as many as nine or ten including my 8th great grandfather, Zerubabel Hallock (1696-1761). Unfortunately however, we know little to nothing about the life of Thomas and Hope. He was undoubtedly like so many others in his community, a farmer or possibly even a fisherman which was a very common industry during this period of Southold history. He was also a likely strong Puritan and deeply religious. We also could not help but enjoy a hopefully accurate historical record noting that when Thomas was granted money in the death will of his wife's father, Daniel Comstock (1630-1683), my 10th great grandfather, he turned down the money and asked that it be given to his mother-in-law, Palthiah Elderkin Comstock (1630-1712), my 10th great grandmother. If this is an accurate fact, Thomas Hallock and obviously his wife Hope, were truly wonderful people.

Hallock State Park Preserve

Zerubabel Hallock was around 22 years old when his father died in March of 1718 and less than a year later in January of 1719 he married Esther Osman (1695-1773), my 8th great grandmother. One of the interesting things about my great grandmother Esther Osman was that her great grandfather on her mother's side, a man named Matthias Corwin (1590-1658), also my 11th great grandfather, was also one of the original settlers in Southold joining many other of my ancestors as we previously mentioned. Zerubabel and Esther were to have around ten children during their married lives including their oldest son, Zerubabel Hallock (Jr) (1722-1800), my 7th great grandfather. In the final will of Zerubabel Jr's father written on 3 March 1761, he writes in part "I leave to my wife Esther the improvement of my now dwelling house for life , to improve as she sees fit and 1/4 of the grain raised on my land, and all the provisions, and 3 cows, a riding chair, and a horse, and all household goods (except a feather bed), and a negro slave and . . . " We were naturally quite surprised to learn that he owned a "negro slave" but that fact alone would suggest that he had wealth. We also learned during our research of our Hallock family that they lived and owned a large amount of land in Mattituck that as we mentioned earlier was just west of Southold. Zerubabel had inherited land from his parents and grandparents and later he had willed land to his sons and grandsons. What was truly remarkable to learn as a Hallock ancestor was that some of the land once owned by the Hallock family is today part of a large public park named the Hallock State Park Preserve that consists of 225 acres sitting on the Long Island Sound and located just a few miles west of the present day city of Mattituck. We wonder how many visitors of this state park know anything about the history of our Hallock ancestors?  Another interesting thing to learn was that Zerubabel Hallock's grandfather, William Hallock, had a home built on what today is named Hallock Lane which sits along the eastern border of the Hallock State Park Preserve. We could not help but be very jealous when we discovered that today one of the homes currently for sale on our great grandfather's former property on Hallock Lane is for sale for just under $5 million dollars. Anyway, William's oldest son Thomas, inherited his father's home as did Zerubabel Hallock when his father Thomas died. Then unbelievably, Zerubabel Hallock Jr. also lived on Hallock Lane through most of his life.  My 8th great grandparents Zerubabel and Esther Hallock are both buried in the Old Bethany Cemetery in Mattituck.

Zerubabel Hallock Jr married my 7th great grandmother, Elizabeth Swezey (1722-1806) in December of 1743. She, like so many others in the Southold/Mattituck area, was a descendant of many of the earliest settlers of Southold. Her great, great grandfather (and my 11th great grandfather), John Swezey (1595-1686) while not one of the original settlers of Southold in 1640, he did arrive shortly thereafter. Another of Elizabeth's many great grandfathers was the original founder of Southold, the Rev. John Youngs who though a different line in my family tree is my 10th great grandfather. Like we said earlier in this story, many of the children and then their children, married and thus many of the descendants of the early settlers of this area of Long Island are related to multiple families of the earliest settlers. Zerubabel Hallock lived during an important period in our American history, the Revolution War. While the beginning battles of the Revolutionary War began in the Boston and the Massachusetts Bay area, nevertheless in 1775 numerous men in the Suffolk County area including many members of the Hallock family, signed a petition called the "Form of Association" which basically was a pledge of support to the new Continental Congress. In the following year they all formed a regiment of minute men and our Zerubabel Hallock was listed as a sergeant. Unfortunately in August of 1776, General George Washington who led the American forces, was defeated by the British at the Battle of Long Island (in Brooklyn) and thus the British maintained control over Long island for the remainder of the war. Whether our grandfather Zerubabel Hallock ever engaged in any of the battles is unknown and it is also unlikely, but to his benefit following the war he was granted the title of Captain Hallock. During the war he remained at his home in Mattituck and he and his family apparently managed to coexist with the British occupation and generally kept his mouth shut one way or the other. Many of his friends on the other hand had left Long Island and joined forces with the American army in Connecticut. Following the war with many of the patriot families having left the Long Island area, Zerubabel Hallock was able to buy up much of the abandoned farmland in the area thus dramatically increasing his wealth and land holdings. It probably would not be a good idea to try and use Zerubabel Hallock as your Revolutionary War soldier ancestor as your means of joining either the Sons or Daughters of the American Revolution. Well, at least it is not wrong to call him Captain Zerubabel Hallock and in his defense we might note that near the beginning of the war in 1775 he was 53 years old which is a little old to be engaged in a battle and around 10 years older than their leader, General George Washington (1732-1799).

Zerubabel and Elizabeth Swezey Hallock  had as many as twelve children including their 4th son and my 6th great grandfather, John Hallock (1751-1842). All of their children were born before the start of the Revolutionary War. We did not do a lot of research on his male children although we have to believe that most of them were soldiers during the Revolution. We also believe that my grandfather John Hallock spent about twenty-two months in the military in years 1776 through 1778 although somewhat strangely, an application for a membership to the Sons of the American Revolution listing his name as the ancestral soldier was turned down apparently for lack of evidence as to his service. Unfortunately we were unable to locate a copy of the will prepared by his father Zerubabel Hallock but we have to believe that he left to his wife and children a great deal of land, goods, and money.

Minisink was at western end of Orange County

John Hallock married my 6th great grandmother, Mehitable Aldrich (1752-1828) around the year 1775 which makes us wonder why he would have spent two or three years away from his wife fighting in the American Revolution. We did note however, that their first child was born around 1776 shortly after their marriage but their second child was not born until the year 1779, a fact that clearly suggests he may have been away from his wife serving as a soldier. In Chapter 22 of this blog titled "My Revolutionary War Ancestors Part 2", the individual in this chapter described as Patriot #32 is our John Hallock. If you are interested in reading about John Haddock's service during the war this chapter is a fairly detailed outline. A short summary of his service during this period is as follows. When the British landed at the west end of Long Island, John and the other men in his local militia marched westward to join with George Washington's forces. As the total American troops were greatly outnumbered by the British forces they soon retreated following the Battle of Long Island which took place on 27 August 1776. Subsequently many of the militia troops were then disbanded including John's militia.  He then returned home to his wife and recently born child and they rapidly left their home in Mattituck and leaving almost everything behind, they moved to Blooming Grove in Orange County located about  60 miles north of New York City and by land around 135 miles from Mattituck. John Hallock was shortly thereafter drafted into the Orange County militia where he served for the next several years although fortunately for my great grandfather his militia was focused more on constructing fortresses along the Hudson River than they were in engaging in any major battles against the British. Sometime near the end of the war, John and Mehitable Haddock moved and settled in the town of Minisink in Orange County where they remained for the rest of their lives. While the exact number of children born to John and Mehitable is not known for certain, most informed sources list a total of four children only, which seems to be confirmed by John Hallock's last will and testament written on 28 December 1838. The birth year of their daughter Sarah "Sally" Hallock (? - 1844), my 5th great grandmother, is usually listed as sometime between 1785 and 1790 although with Sarah's first child being born in 1799, even a birth year as early as 1785 would seem unlikely.

The Old Hallock Family Cemetery

Orange County, New York

It is not clear what John Hallock did for a living following the war although most likely he was a farmer. Also as he is often referred to in some of the historical writings as the "Deacon" John Hallock, he obviously was deeply involved with his local church. My great grandmother Mehitable Aldrich Hallock died in the year 1828 at the age of around 72. Her husband John lived to the remarkably old age of 91 years old, finally dying in the year 1842. They are both buried in the very old Hallock Family Cemetery located near the town of Ridgebury in Orange County, New York.

Sarah "Sally" Hallock married my 5th great grandfather, Joseph Smith (Abt. 1778 - 1846) around the year 1799 or 1800 and they are recorded as having ten children including my 4th great grandmother, Maria Smith (1804-1897). One of the most interesting things about this ancestral family is that Joseph and Sarah moved along with most of their children to Elmira in Chemung County, New York in the year 1834. Why this is most interesting is that my father, Charles Asbury Baker (1916-2000) was born in Elmira which means that this side of my family lived in Elmira for at least six generations.  My family tree from this generation down is as follows:

5th Great Grandparents:  Joseph Smith  m  Sarah Hallock
4th Great Grandparents:  Maria Smith   m  Henry Wisner 
                                      (1804-1897)        (1801-1862)
3rd Great Grandparents:  Clara Wisner  m  Henry Spaulding
                                      (1822-1906)       (1812-1902)
2nd Great Grandparents: Charles Spaulding  m  Mary Catherine Sly
                                      (1841-1875)              (1844-1917)
Great Grandparents:        Henry Spaulding  m  Elia Reynolds
                                       (1863-1889)           (1963-1935)
Grandparents:                 Helen Spaulding  m  Charles S. Baker
                                       (1887-1937)               (1885-1952
Parents:                          Charles A Baker  m  Marian Patterson
                                       (1916-2000)              (1916-1973)
Living Generation:            Charles A. Baker Jr.
                                       Anne Baker Fanton
                                       Joan Patterson Baker

And so ends another story. . . . .