September 8, 2022
“Where There’s a Will”
Number
of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 119 (up from 118 last chronicle)
Number of pages in basic Descendant Report: 174 (up from 171 last chronicle)
Francis
Holmes is # 1. I am now # 281.
Matthew
Williams, Jane William’s grandson, is last at # 393, and his son is # ii.
This
should change weekly, if I’m doing my job.
If I
made a Descendant Chart today, it would take 336 pages of 11 x 8.5” pages of
paper
and I
don’t know how many rolls of scotch tape.
“But who? When? Why?
Whence? Wither? Was it some fisherman? Was it an explorer? Was it, perchance,
the man who called Cape Split Capo Fendu and thus gave rise to that
mysterious name of the Bay of Fundy?” “Blomidon Rose” by Esther Clark Wright.
That’s a different take (to me, anyway) on the 5 Ws.
From whence is this photo? I took this photo
on the edge of the Bay of Fundy in 2018.
.JPG) |
| Alma, on the Bay of Fundy. |
On Friday, I took my
dear friend, Rossanne, on a driving tour of my haunts – Portage Vale,
Petitcodiac, Cornhill and Hill Grove. We couldn’t have asked for a better day –
nice, crisp, breezy, and sunny. She is obviously not a country girl, not even a
part-time country girl like me. She doesn’t share my love of cemeteries, so we
went directly to the stones of our ancestors. She worried about ticks, so I
didn’t dilly-dally when we got out of the car and into the grass. Before we
stopped at the Cedar Café for lunch, I took her to the Cornhill Farmhouse. This
is a 19th century salt-box style farmhouse. It’s rough, but safe and cozy. Heather,
the owner, sells by consignment all manner of crafts and baked goods from
people of the area or somewhere in New Brunswick.
Rossanne purchased a
pair of earrings and some baked goods. I purchased Plum Chutney and brown
bread so fresh and warm that it could not be packaged in a plastic bag.
We dined al fresco,
which she didn’t appreciate as much as I’d hoped. She didn’t care for the soup
she ordered (but did enjoy the sandwich) and hornets were attracted to her,
moreso than to me. We headed down to “the farm,” and as we climbed into the car
she said, “smell that.” It was my raisin brown bread. What smells take you
back? I have to say, it tastes as good as it smells. I haven’t opened the
chutney yet.
No photos of our
adventure, but here’s a photo of our orchard in 2020 – nary an apple. I look
forward to a Peters apple crisp next fall. Tree on the right is the Peters tree.
~
I wanted something for
this month’s News and Notes, the newsletter of my genealogy group. I know I’m
late, and I don’t know if it will get there in time for the September issue. I
wrote it based on my last week’s chronicle. I have been trying to think of a
theme for this year’s eight articles, and I chose this:
“Where There’s a Will.”
It will be based on odd
or helpful things I’ve found in old wills. They are so descriptive, some of
them. Next month, maybe I’ll choose John Bell who was killed by the church
bell. Or, the short, sad, hastily written wills of Thomas Stevens and the
ancestor of many of us, Simon Hoyt, who probably died in an epidemic of sorts.
I’ll have to be on the watch for five four more. Oops, too late for the
September issue.
It's out for editing now.
Here’s an update. Sometimes what I say is clear as Petitcodiac River mud. Thanks
to Jeanni for reading and sharing your thoughts and pointing out my faux pas.
It looks much different than it did.
I think it is polished
enough, but if you see something amiss, let me know. You get a preview. Here it
is, ready to submit to the editor of News and Notes.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL
Israel Smith
1733 - 1774
The names Smith and
Holmes are thick on the ground. [This means they were plentiful.] They appear
in my family tree, not as direct ancestors but in a collateral line – many
times grand-uncles and aunts. In this first of a series, I will introduce you
to Israel Smith and his two wives. My aim was to prove that I had found the
correct second wife for Israel Smith. The proof was not in obvious bold print,
but tucked into a Distribution Agreement and an old will.
I am working on creating
a five-generation descendant chart for my immigrant ancestor, Francis Holmes
(c. 1600 – c. 1675). He came to the American colonies from England c. 1635, and
settled in Connecticut some time before 1648. Israel Smith entered the fifth
generation of the Holmes family when he married Abigail Holly in 1757.
·
Abigail Holly – Elisha Holly and Rebecca Bishop – Elisha
Holly and Martha Holmes – Stephen Holmes and Martha MNU (maiden name unknown) –
Francis Holmes and unknown wife.
Abigail Holly (1736 –
1758) was born and died in Stamford, Fairfield County, Connecticut; she married
Israel Smith of Stamford. She gave birth to their daughter, Abigail, in Stamford
in 1758, and died there shortly thereafter.
Israel Smith (1733 –
1774) was born in Stamford to Ezra Smith and Mary Weed. At the approximate age
of twenty-five, he was a widower with an infant to raise, a common enough issue
in that era. In 1762, he married, in Stamford, Deborah Holmes. I am always on
the lookout for Holmes family members in Connecticut, especially in the
pre-Revolutionary war era. This Deborah was in the lineage of our immigrant
ancestor, Francis Holmes, through his son, Stephen Holmes.
·
Deborah Holmes – John Holmes and Rebecca Bell – John Holmes
and Mercy Bell – Stephen Holmes and Martha MNU – Francis Holmes and unknown
wife.
Deborah Holmes was one
of six children and heirs mentioned in a Distribution Agreement of the Estate
of John Holmes of Stamford, dated 1785.
“. . . & Deborah
Smith of Poundridge in West-Chester County & State of New York . . . the
said John Mercy Deborah Rebecca Martha & Hannah, all being children &
Heirs of Mr. John Holmes late of Stamford decd . . .”[1]
I generally start with
Ancestry and branch out from there in my research. I was particularly interested in any Israel
Smiths of Connecticut, and I found several. Times were changing, however, and I
must keep an open mind. Perhaps, like many individuals of that time and place,
they ended up in another location. I found birth and marriage records in
Connecticut Town Records (Barbour Collection) for Israel and Abigail, and a marriage
record for Deborah. Although those are generally accurately transcribed in index
format, there are so many individuals with the same name that we must be
careful. At Find A Grave, I found five Israel Smiths who died in Connecticut.
Of interest to me at first was an eighty-four-year-old Israel Smith who died in
Hartford County, husband of Sarah. Did our Israel marry a third time? His dates
were 1715 to 1799, so I didn’t think so, but I did a brief follow-up before
setting him aside.
In Ancestry hints, I
located a Last Will and Testament of an Israel Smith who died in Pound Ridge,
Westchester County, New York. The will intrigued me. I knew that we had
descendants who removed to Westchester County, so he looked promising. He left
a wife, Deborah. Was she the same Deborah as the daughter of John Holmes? Her
parents were not mentioned in Israel’s will, of course; only eight children.
Not finding much information on any of his children, I still could not definitely
tie these individuals together, although I was at the point of believing I had
found my connection. I needed to prove it.
Near the end of the
will: “. . . I make ordain my Loving Wife Deborah Smith and my loving
Brother Ebenezer Lockwood Esq. to be my lawfull Executors of this my last Will
and Testament . . .”[2]
I now knew from John
Holmes’ will that he had a daughter, Deborah. But, why did Smith have a brother
named Lockwood? Could I connect Ebenezer Lockwood to the Smith family? If so, I
felt I could clinch my case.
I recalled reading that
often, in the colonial era, people didn’t use the “in-law” term. Those who married
in were often just referred to as family members. Perhaps Israel had a sister
who married a Lockwood?
Indeed, he did. Israel’s
parents, Ezra and Mary Smith, had a daughter, Hannah, born in Stamford in 1742.
She married Major Ebenezer Lockwood, born at Stamford, in 1737. He died at
Pound Ridge, New York, in 1821. The source I used, “North America, Family
Histories, 1500 – 2000,” states that Ebenezer Lockwood, who was born in Stamford
and died at Poundridge, married Hannah Smith of Stamford on February 16, 1761.
She died in 1787 at age 45. This compares to the Stamford Town Records (Barbour
Collection) date of birth for Hannah. Some Stamford records, such as town and
probate, have been faithfully transcribed. They are not as readily available
for Westchester County.
Dates, places, and families
of all individuals line up to convince me that Israel Smith married both
Abigail Holly and Deborah Holmes, who are in my collateral lines. I am
confident that these three individuals are paper proven to belong in my Francis
Holmes Family Tree.
·
Israel Smith, son of Ezra and Mary Smith and husband of
Abigail Holly and Deborah Holmes, was born and married twice in Stamford, CT.
He died in Pound Ridge, NY.
·
Abigail Holly, daughter of Elisha and Rebecca Holly and first
wife of Israel Smith, was born, married, and died in Stamford, CT.
·
Deborah Holmes, daughter of John and Rebecca Holmes and
second wife of Israel Smith, was married in Stamford, CT, and was a resident of
Pound Ridge, NY, at the time of her husband’s death, as well as her father’s.
Her date and place of death is unknown to me.
·
Hannah Smith, daughter of Ezra and Mary Smith, sister of
Israel Smith, and wife of Ebenezer Lockwood, was born in Stamford, CT. Although
I have the date of her marriage, I do not have the place. She died in Pound
Ridge, NY.
·
Ebenezer Lockwood, son of Joseph and Sarah Lockwood and husband
of Hannah Smith, was born in Stamford, CT, place of marriage unknown to me, and
died in Pound Ridge, CT.
All sources I used for
this article can be found at Ancestry. I used Israel Smith’s Last Will and
Testament; John Holmes’ Distribution Agreement; Stamford Town Records, pre-1870
(Barbour Collection); Connecticut, US, Church Record Abstracts, 1630 – 1920; Find
A Grave; “North America, Family Histories, 1500 – 2000;” Tombstone Records of
eighteen cemeteries in Poundridge, Westchester County, N.Y.”; and “Connecticut,
U.S., Hale collection of Cemetery Inscriptions and Newspaper Notices, 1629 –
1934.”
~
I spent the rest of my
research week working on the genealogy. The family of the week was Eliphalet
Holly and Rebecca Bishop: their children and grandchildren. I am getting there,
slowly but surely. I found a Loyalist in the Stephen Holmes line – our many
generations ago cousin, Ebenezer Holly. There aren’t many; most of the
Loyalists were in our ancestral John Holmes line.
Eliphalet Holly – Elisha
Holly and Martha Holmes – Stephen Holmes and Martha MNU – Francis Holmes, our
immigrant ancestor.
[1] Ancesry.com. “Distribution (an Agreement), Est. John Holmes,
Stamford – 1785. https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/9049/images/007627982_01294?pId=1582128
[2]Ancestry.com. “Last Will
and Testament of Israel Smith.” https://www.ancestry.ca/imageviewer/collections/8800/images/005512806_00071?pId=4698787
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