King Charles 1 became King of England in the year 1625 and in the year 1629 he disposed the British Parliament, and perhaps as a result of his having married a Roman Catholic woman, he soon became a strong opponent of such "reformed" religious groups as the English Puritans. It is not surprising therefore, to learn that around 80,000 Puritans left England for other countries between the ten year period between 1630 and 1640 including around 20,000 Puritans who moved to New England in America. Their departure from England eventually slowed down considerably following King Charles's loss of power in the early 1640s and in fact it is written that as many as 7% to 10% of the Puritans actually returned to England following the defeat and departure of King Charles 1. We mention all of this because it helps us understand and believe that our first Hoag ancestor moved to New England around the year 1636 and not in the year 1640 as reported by some family historians.
1st Church in Boston, 1732 |
Early apprenticeship |
We do not know exactly when John Hoag moved about 30 miles north of Boston to a village now known as Newbury, but it was probably shortly following the conclusion of his apprenticeship and it was probably where he first either started up his new business or more likely went to work for an existing company. With his parents long gone by that point, it is very unlikely that he had any financial networth which would have made it very difficult to start a new business much less even purchase property. The town of Newbury was originally settled in 1635 so by the time of John's arrival about 30 years later, it was probably a fairly well developed village with a population of at least 300 or more residents who were described on one website as being "staunch middle class" citizens.
One of the earliest settlers of Newbury was a man by the name of John Emery (1598-1683), my 9th great grandfather, who with his brother Anthony Emery, and their families arrived in Boston on the ship James on 3 June 1635 and soon after settled in the new town of Newbury. With John Emery was his wife Alice Grantham (1599-1647) and their four children. Alice was not my great grandmother. John Emery was quite active in his community during most of his life in America including serving on a number of juries, being a constable, a town officer, and generally accepted as a "solid citizen." He was also noted as being fairly wealthy although his jobs as a carpenter and as an innkeeper might suggest that he was not really that wealthy but better described as being reasonably well off. John's wife Alice died in early 1647 and less than a year later John married a woman named Mary Shatswell (1606-1694), my 9th great grandmother, who like her new husband had just recently lost her spouse, a man named John Webster. Not surprisingly perhaps, Mary brought her six (or so) children with her when she married John and most likely she also brought with her some property and a certain amount of wealth. Together, Mary and John had two children including my 8th great grandmother, Ebenezer Emery (1648-1694), who was later to become the wife of our John Hoag. Ebenezer Emery and John Hoag were married in Newbury on 21 April 1669 and undoubted her parents, and her step-brothers and sisters, all attended the wedding.
One controversy that we believe should be pointed out is that many family trees and other Emery family history stories state that Ebenezer Emery is actually the daughter of John Emery's first wife, Alice Grantham and not his second wife Mary Shatswell. We can well understand the confusion considering the lack of historical records and dates of deaths and marriages, however, in Mary Shatswell Emery's last will and testament written in 1694, she writes "to my daughter Ebneser the rest of my wearing clothes" which we doubt would have been stated in her death will had not Ebenezer actually been her birth daughter. Furthermore, the other children listed in her will were not the children of John Emery and Alice Grantham but her children from her prior marriage.
Quite honestly, we could not uncover a lot about the history of our great grandfather John Hoag. We know that he became fairly successful and prominent in his community and for awhile he served as a County Magistrate and Judge. Historical records informed us that his role as a judge occurred during the period of the Salem Witch Trials and while we could not find the exact date and details of the trial in which he participated, we know that it occurred sometime between February 1692 and September 1693. We have gained a lot of respect for our great grandfather when we learned that his outspoken opposition to the Witch Trials resulted in him losing his job as a judge. One family historian wrote the following" "John Hoag was a man of fine natural abilities and filled the place of Side Judge in the County Court until the accusations and arrests of folk for witchcraft which he opposed with such steadfastness and resolution that he lost his seat." In the end at least 19 were found guilty of witchcraft and hanged including 14 women and 5 men, plus at least 200 others were accused of being witches and imprisoned until ultimately released when the whole concept of witchcraft lost public support. We must praise our great grandfather John Hoag for his opposition to these absurd actions on the part of some of our early American settlers.
We do not know for certain the number of children born to John and Ebenezer Hoag although most family historians list somewhere between ten and twelve. Part of the problem with counting the number of children born during this time period, is that far to many children died shortly following their birth and some before they were given names and were baptized and thus no records were recorded. Their second child, a boy named Jonathan Hoag (1671-1747) is my 7th great grandfather. One of the interesting things to read about the Hoag family at this point is that many of their children became Quakers including their son Jonathan, and thus departed from their Presbyterian or Puritan upbringing. The Quakers differed from the Puritans primarily in the fact that the Quakers opposed the central church authority and they did not believe that it was necessary to attend formal church services. They were also opposed to slavery and they believed in sexual equality. Initially the Puritans attacked the Quakers beginning around the year 1650, and even several Quakers were hanged, but by the time that the Hoag children began to convert around the 1720s, Quakers had their own meeting houses and were allowed to openly worship as they chose without being persecuted by the Puritans. We found it somewhat interesting however, that the Hoag parents did not formally convert along with their children, at least not until John Hoag made the decision to become a Quaker not long before his death which occurred at the age of 85 in the year 1728. There are no records that we could find showing that my great grandmother Ebenezer ever agreed to convert although her father got in trouble once for entertaining Quakers in his house as early as 1663 so obviously her family was not opposed to Quakerism. Unfortunately, we have no idea when Ebenezer died as her death dates are all over the place beginning as early as 1694 and as late as 1729.
Jonathan Hoag, my 7th great grandfather, married my 7th great grandmother, Martha Goodwin (1685-1747), on 15 September 1703 most likely in her hometown of Amesbury, Massachusetts located around 10 miles north of Jonathan's hometown of Newbury. Despite the distance between the cities, the Hoag and Goodwin families had probably gotten to have known each other quite well as Martha Goodwin's twin sister, Sarah Goodwin, four years later in 1707 married Jonathan's younger brother, Joseph Hoag (1676-1760). These were good marriages for both of the Hoag brothers, as our Goodwin ancestors were quite well known and financially successful. Martha's and Sarah's grandfather, a man named Edward Goodwin (?-1672), my 9th great grandfather, is believed to have landed in the Boston area from England in or just before the year 1640 and we suspect that he was quite young at the time of his arrival. His first marriage was to a young girl believed to be named Joanne Hart, my 9th great grandmother, which took place we believe in the year 1653 around 13 years following Edward's arrival. Their first and only son and my 8th great grandfather, Richard Goodwin (1654-1729) was born a year or so following his parents' marriage. Unfortunately, Joanne died soon after or at least before giving birth to additional children, and Edward later followed with a second marriage in 1668 to a widowed woman named Susanna Stowers. Together Richard and his second wife Susanna had at least two children.
Early boat ferry in Boston Harbor |
"Shipwright" - ship construction |
Their son, Richard Goodwin was only 18 years old when his father died in 1672 and as the oldest child and son he ended up inheriting his father's property and his father's shipwright business. Five years later on the 14th of November in the year 1677 he married my 8th great grandmother, Mary Fowler (1650-1729). Quite interestingly, Mary's father, Samuel Fowler (abt 1618-1711), my 9th great grandfather, had come to America with his parents at the age of only 16 years old in the year 1618 onboard the ship "Mary and John" and like his future son-in-law, he too is listed as having been a "shipwright" and it is certainly possible that he and his future son-in-law, Richard Goodwin, had known each other prior to Richard's eventual marriage to his daughter. Samuel is known to have purchased land in Amesbury in 1673 and was a known to be a resident of nearby Salisbury, Massachusetts.
Richard Goodwin and Mary Fowler Goodwin had at least five children together including their youngest daughter Martha Goodwin who was born on the 9th day of June in the year 1688 probably in their home in Amesbury in Essex, Massachusetts. As we previously mentioned, Martha married Jonathan Hoag on 15 September 1703 and over their lifetimes they had as many as twelve children including their second child and my 6th great grandfather, a boy named David Hoag (1712-1785). As far as we could determine they spent their entire lives living in Newbury, Massachusetts although some family trees incorrectly record their death locations as Hampton Falls, New Hampshire. This mistake was probably caused by the fact that one of their sons named Jonathan Hoag, obviously named after his father, married a girl named Elizabeth Dow and for awhile they lived in Hampton Falls.
Unfortunately we know very little about the life of my great grandfather Jonathan Hoag. His older brother, John Hoag, most likely inherited their father's business but we could uncover nothing that mentioned what Jonathan may have done as a business other than he was most likely a farmer. As previously mentioned in a prior paragraph, Jonathan joined his brothers in becoming a Quaker around the 1720s although prior to this major change, he is recorded as having served in the "2nd Company" militia for a period of only 11 days in the year 1708. His militia company was obviously engaged in the Queen Anne's War that took place between the years of 1702 and 1718, wherein the British and American troops battled the French and Indians. Fortunately for our great grandfather, there is no evidence that his militia company ever actually engaged in any battles. We did find one other interesting historical fact that recorded that in the year 1722, Jonathan Hoag was fined "for refusing to train" meaning that since he had by that point concerted to Quakerism, he was no longer interested in training for the military. There is a little confusion as to the actual year of Jonathan Hoag's death although most historians have it listed as the year 1747. My grandmother, Martha Goodwin Hoag, is listed as having died in the same year as her husband. Again, who knows if this is accurate, nor do we know, unfortunately, exactly where they are buried other than it was most likely in a cemetery near Newbury.
David Hoag, my 6th great grandfather, married my 6th great grandmother, Keziah Jenkins (1714-1758) on the 11th day of October in the year 1734 (although there is some controversy about this date as we will explain below.) Keziah grew up in the Village of Dover in Strafford County, New Hampshire located around 40 miles north of David's home in Newbury, Massachusetts, and we could not determine how they would have meet each other considering the distance between their homes. It is possible of course, that their marriage was arranged by their parents all of whom were Quakers. Keziah at the time of her marriage was only 19 years old which certainly would suggest an arranged marriage. Anyway, our research of the ancestors of our Keziah Jenkins yielded us a lot of very interesting history about this side of our family.
Map showing location of Richmond Island, Maine |
It is unlikely that their son Stephen Jenkins inherited any money or land from his parents as his father was not wealthy and typically the largest inheritance was given to the oldest son which was not our Stephen. Stephen married my 8th great grandmother, Elizabeth Pitman (1660-1687), in the year 1678. She was only 18 years old when she married. Her father, William Pitman (1632-1682) arrived in America in Boston in the year 1653 and shortly after his arrived he married Elizabeth's mother, Barbara Evans (1634-1660). Unfortunately my 9th great grandmother Barbara Evans died shortly following Elizabeth's birth in 1660. Elizabeth was her fourth child. Her father remarried two more times and had at least eight more children before he died in the year 1682 at the age of only 50 years old. In his final will he left his daughter Elizabeth only 15 shillings. Apparently his service as a blacksmith did not yield him a lot of wealth.
We do not know exactly when and for that matter why, Stephen Jenkins moved with his family from their home in Kittery, Maine to an area then known as Oyster River Plantation and now known as Durham, New Hampshire, a distance west of around 14 miles. The Oyster River Plantation had originally been settled back in 1635 although it is likely that Stephen Jenkins was attracted to the rather rural area because large acres of land could be purchased at a rather low price. Unfortunately things did not go well for our Jenkins family. For whatever reason, my grandmother Elizabeth Pitman Jenkins apparently and deliberately drowned herself in the Oyster River in the year 1687. She was obviously not satisfied with her life. To make matters even worse, during the King William's War, on July 18, 1694 our ancestors' village was attacked by around 250 Abenaki Indians and 45 of the residents were killed including our Stephen Jenkins and one of his daughters and 49 other residents were captured and taken to Canada. Another history story claims that 104 residents were killed and only 27 taken captive. Most of the homes and crops in the area were burned to the ground and all of their livestock were killed. Included in those captured was Stephen Jenkins second wife, Ann Tozier and Stephens' surviving children including my 7th great grandfather, Joseph Jenkins (1685-1777) who was at the time around 9 years old. Fortunately Ann Tozier was able to later escape from the Indians along with the captured children and some of the other residents.
There are no historical records that support the likelihood that young Joseph Jenkins was among those captured by the Indians following the death of his father other than a later statement by his stepmother claiming that her husband's children were also taken by the Indians. All that is really known is that in 1704 Joseph married my 7th great grandmother, Hannah Merrow (abt 1669-1743) apparently in the village of Dover in Strafford, New Hampshire where their family eventually lived for many years. Considering that Hannah grew up in Reading, Massachusetts around 70 miles south of Dover, how they actually met is a total mystery although several of Hannah's siblings eventually ended up in Stratford. What we find quite interesting assuming that their birth dates are accurate is that Joseph was only around 19 years old when he married Hannah who was then about 35 year old. If her birthdate is accurate, she gave birth to her youngest son when she was 45 years old, which frankly seems highly unlikely back in 1715, but then, who knows. Anyway, Joseph and Hannah had six children including their daughter and my 6th great grandmother, Keziah Jenkins (1714-1758) who was born on 1 November 1714. My grandmother Hannah Merrow died in 1743 at the age of around 74 year old. Her husband, my grandfather Joseph Jenkins, remarried shortly following Hannah's death, a woman named Tabitha Weymouth. He lived for many more years working for a long period as a preacher "among the Friends" until finally dying in the year 1777 at the age of 92 years old, quite remarkable at that time of our history.
We mentioned in a prior paragraph that my 6th great grandmother Keziah Jenkins married my 6th great grandfather David Hoag in the year 1734 and that she was 19 years old at the time of their marriage. We did find it confusing however, that in the last will and testament of her older brother Joseph Jenkins that was dated 26 Jan 1730, she is listed as already being the wife of David Hoag which definitely tells us that she was already married by the year 1730. If that is accurate and her birth year was actually 1714, then she was married by the age of 16. Unfortunately this just shows how hard it is sometimes to research the facts about our ancestors. Anyway, one of the very interesting things that we learned about our David Hoag and his family is that sometime around the year 1640 he joined with a large number of other Quakers in his area who had left their home and moved around 200 miles southwest into a new community later known as Quaker Hill located in Dutchess County, New York. Around the time of their arrival the community was populated by around 40 to 50 other Quakers families, the majority of whom had recently moved from the New England area. Joining David in his move south besides his wife and their two recently born children were at least two of his brothers and one of his cousins and their families. From this point forward we were unable to uncover much about the life of our David Hoag. We know that he had a total of around nine children with most of them born in Quaker Hill (sometimes called Oblong) including my 5th great grandfather and their fourth child, Samuel Hoag (1744-1841).
Oblong Friends Meeting House |
Their son, Samuel Hoag, married my 5th great grandmother Anna Haviland (1769-1793) on the 24th of May in the year 1768. Not surprisingly, Anna's family were also Quakers going back for many generations and we have to believe had this not been the case, their marriage would not have taken place. Her great, great grandfather and my 9th great grandfather, a man named William Haviland (?-1697) came over to America from England sometime around 1639 or 1640 and soon settled in the town of Newport, Rhode Island. It was here that he met and married my 9th great grandmother, Hannah Hicks (1638-1688) in the year 1653. What is quite interesting about Hannah's parents and my 10th great grandparents John Hicks (abt 1612-1672) and Herodias (last name unknown) (1623- before 1705) is that around four years following Hannah's birth they got divorced and some historians report that their divorce was "the first divorce in the New Colonies." We are not sure that if this is true that we should be proud of our great grandparents for their historic first American divorce. Anyway, other than this brief and very goofy description of Anna Haviland's ancestry, we have decided to forgo a detailed description of her ancestry and save it for another chapter.
Samuel and Anna Haviland Hoag had around ten children born between the years 1769 and 1789 including their third child and my 4th great grandmother, Jane Hoag (1772-1849) who was born on 25 September 1772. Here again, we were unable to learn much in the way of details about the life of Samuel Hoag. He was, like his ancestors and the ancestors of his wife, a Quaker, which meant that despite his relativity young age at the time, he refused to become a soldier during the American Revolution. During our research while trying to learn more about Samuel we came across Samuel's name in a book titled Quaker Hill written by a man named Warren H Wilson and published in 1907. In the book it is written that a "Samuel Hoag is appointed to take care of the (Oblong) Meeting House and to keep the door locked and windows fastened, and to nail up the hole that goes up into the Garratt." Apparently what the local Quakers were trying to do at the time was to keep the local Tories from hiding in their meeting house and the Quakers wanted nothing to do with the them or the Revolutionary War that was currently taking place. The Tories during the American Revolutionary War were American colonists who supported the British side. Unfortunately for the local Quakers and despite their efforts to stay as far away from the war as possible, their meeting house was later seized by the American soldiers and turned into a hospital for wounded American soldiers.
Samuel Hoag was undoubtedly a farmer during most of his life as were most of his friends and neighbors although some may have been blacksmiths, shoemakers, candlemakers, cabinetmakers and the like. One very surprising thing about both my great grandfather as well as my great grandmother is that they both lived to remarkably old ages. Anna Haviland Hoag lived to the age of 79 years old passing away on 26 April 1818. Her husband Samuel died at the age of 97 years old outliving at least four of his children. The records show that they are both buried in the Quaker Cemetery in Dutchess County, New York undoubtedly located not far from their home.
My 4th great grandmother, Jane Hoag, was around 69 years old when her father died. She had married my 4th great grandfather, Gilbert Titus (1762-1847) when she was 20 years old and by the time of her father's death she had given birth to around 10 children. Jane and Gilbert moved away late in their lives from their home in Dutchess County to a new home in Cayuga County, New York located just east of Cayuga Lake now part of the Finger Lakes in Central New York State. Both Gilbert and Jane Hoag Titus were Quakers so their move away from the Dutchess County area is a little confusing other than it is generally recorded that by the time of the moving, Dutchess County had become somewhat over populated and the Quaker faith was on the decline. A brief description of our Titus ancestry is told in Chapter 19 in this blog titled Ancestors of Marian Coapman. Our relationship to our Hoag ancestors is as follows:
5th Great Grandparents: Samuel Hoag m Anna Haviland
(1744-1841) (1748-1828)
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4th Great Grandparents: Jane Hoag m Gilbert Titus
(1772-1849) (1762-1847)
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3rd Great Grandparents Lydia Titus m Jacob Coapman
(1810-1874) (1803-1847)
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2nd Great Grandparents: David Coapman m Elsie Ann Yawger
(1844-1910) (1844-1918)
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Great Grandparents: Marian Coapman m Eugene H. Ferree
(1867-1895) (1866-1952)
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Grandparents: Florence Ferree m Douglas Patterson
(1891-1938) (1888-1979)
|
Parents: Marian C. Patterson m Charles A. Baker
(1916-1973) (1916-2000)
|
Charles A. Baker Jr.
Anne R. Baker
Joan P. Baker
And so ends another story . . . .
2 comments:
Charlie...you have been busy! I hadn't tapped the Emery line as yet. I keep getting sidetracked as you can imagine. In the next few weeks I am going to the Hazard Library in nearby Swarthmore and bringing the list of our Quaker ancestors. I hope to find a great deal in the Meeting records and whatever else the archives hold. Hope you are well!
Cousin Deborah
Charlie, you have been BUSY! I hadn't pursued the Emery line as yet. As you can imagine, it is easy to become distracted when we have so many ancestors. In the upcoming weeks I will be researching Quaker records at the Hazard Library in nearby Swarthmore. I have a list which includes our folks from NE and Long Island...and, of course, the Hudson Valley. I will be in touch with new data. Meanwhile...be well!
Cousin Deborah
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