Tag: Massachusetts

52W Mark II – Week 42: Friends

I’ve really struggled with this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge theme of “Friends”. I have not had a scintilla of inspiration. I tried to tackle the topic from a new perspective. No Dutch ancestors with the surname “Vriend”. No Quaker ancestors. No one that I could think of who were members of a fraternal organization. Finally, I settled on a bit of a thought experiment: people who might have been friends, or at least who might have known each other.

My wife and I have very little in common genealogically. My lineage is largely Dutch, Germans from Russia, and adherents of the Mormon church from its earliest days. My wife has incredibly deep roots in the Maritimes, mostly of Irish descent. She also has a branch of her family that originated in Ontario, likely of English background. There is very little overlap.

One thing we each have in common is a Mayflower ancestor. Mine is Francis Eaton, hers is Richard Warren. Outside our Mayflower ancestors, we both have other branches that reach well back into 17th century colonial New England, including not only Massachusetts but also Connecticut. I have come across names in both our trees of people who lived in the same place at the same time many times. Needless to say, I would not be surprised if some of my ancestors knew my wife’s ancestors. Who knows (absent further research!) if any of them might have been friends?

However, not only I have never found a common ancestor between the two of us, I have yet to find any connection between our trees, such as distant cousins. Of course, somewhere out there a connection exists. As our eight-year-old repeatedly says, “after all, everyone’s related!”

52 Weeks – Week 47: Wrong Side of the Law

Absent any very well-kept family secrets, I don’t have a lot of possibilities for this week’s 52 Ancestors Challenge theme, “Wrong Side of the Law”. For the most part, I have more ancestors who have been on the correct side of the law.

The only ancestor who readily came to mind who had any significant legal problems was my Great x5 Grandmother, Hannah Newland of Norton, Massachusetts. Today her problem – if it would even have been a problem had she been able to do as she wanted – would have been more of a social than legal issue and, frankly, one that would be no one else’s business.

48. John Watterman residing in Norton and Hannah Newland, both Norton. Entered February 15th, 1777, and cryed one time and forbid by the Selectmen.

Hannah’s problem arose from her relationship with a John Watterman (often described as Watters due to the legibility of the records). It seems that John may have been a Hessian mercenary who fought for the British during the American revolution, but later who joined with the rebels. In February 1777, Hannah and John declared their intention to marry. However, the Selectmen of Norton, Massachusetts denied them permission to do so.

While not well documented, one account was because of John’s “questionable” German background. If so, that is somewhat ironic, given that Hannah ultimately ended up marrying another Hessian mercenary, my Great x5 Grandfather, “Chris John Burgess”. Despite this rather English-sounding name, Chris John was born Johann Christian Borges (or Burges) in Prussia. Like John Watterman, Chris John also came to America to fight for the British, only to change sides later in the war. The legend is that he changed his name after doing so, in order to better fit in with the colonials.

However, what is more likely is that Hannah and John had conceived a child out of wedlock. The child, Benjamin Newland, was born in August 1777, six months after Hannah and John declared their intention to marry. A copy of an extract of a court record that I have shows that Hannah was fined five shillings for “fornication and having had a bastard child born of her body”, as well as paying the cost of the prosecution. John was in attendance at the court proceeding and essentially acknowledged paternity. The court ordered John to pay for the maintenance of the child. It appears clear from the court record that the order was less for social welfare purposes and more to prevent the town from bearing the cost of supporting an unwed mother.

The death warrant for Rebecca Nurse

Of course, after completing this post I remembered an ancestor who was infamously on the wrong side of the law. My Gx10 grandmother was Rebecca Nurse, who was one of the women of Salem Village executed on the false accusation of being a witch. While on the wrong side of the law – albeit through a mockery of the law, even by the standards of the day – Rebecca certainly was on the wrong side of what constitutes justice.

Suffice to say, one need not necessarily be a scoundrel, ne’er-do-well, or criminal to be on the wrong side of the law. Just make sure you don’t live in the wrong era, depending on what you do.