Uncle Peg’s Chronicles
December 8, 2022
“ A Prayer . . . to
the Judge of the Prerogative Court”
Number of pages in Outline Descendant Report: 146
(up from 141 last chronicle)
Number of pages in basic Descendant Report: 222
(up from 217 last chronicle)
Francis
Holmes is # 1. I am now # 320. # 317, where I was last week, is now Anne Marie
Holmes Gautreau.
Matthew
Williams, Jane William’s grandson, is no longer last at # 458, up from # 449,
and his son is # ii.
#449
is now Blake Stephens.
Jonathan
Marquez (Frances Anne Holmes Ballantyne line) is now last at #460.
This
should change weekly, if I’m doing my job.
Something
new in stats, just for fun:
I put the
names of all descendants of Francis Holmes who are either in our Facebook group
or on my mailing list for chronicles, in a bag. Spouses and friends are not
included as they do not get numbered in the program’s default. Those who have
no descendants are also not numbered, but I’ll include them with their parent’s
number. I pulled out three names, and will follow them for two weeks. Next
week, I’ll draw three more. This is for fun, but the three names I drew were
not in my tree that I am using now. I inserted them and updated their families.
Win-win exercise.
The three I
drew last week are:
·
Matthew Moore is # iii, son of Paul Moore, # 321, up from #318 last
week. 318 is now Mary Jane Holmes Hamilton.
·
Janet Nolte is # 303, up from #300 last week. 300 is now Della Julia
Holmes Atkinson.
·
Trevor Oksen is # ii, son of James Oksen, # 365, up from # # 359 last
week. 359 is now Paul Worster.
New this week are:
·
Lyndsay Yee Brady, #368, is in the William N Holmes line. She is the
daughter of Patricia Yee, whom many of you know, and many of us met her at the
2016 reunion. She lives in Hawaii. Lyndsay is married to Sean Brady, and is the
mother of two elementary school age children, Tiga and Taj.
·
Phyllis ‘Phee’ Fogg Hanson, #397, is in the Charles R Holmes line. I was
so pleased to meet her and her sister, Jean, and brother, Dana, at the 2016
reunion. I’ve known about her for a long time, as Mum talked to me about her
family. And then, Brett told me about them. She is married to Brian Hanson, and
has two grown daughters, Elise and Madison. Several of us have DNA connections
to one of her daughters.
·
Julie Vasseur, #429, of the Charles R Holmes line, is familiar to me!
She is my daughter, and she and Marc Ray are the parents of my grandson, wee
Winston. She lives in faraway Ontario and misses her Atlantic provinces
immensely. She has a variety of interests, including hiking, pole dancing,
reading, and needle arts. She worked in conservation for several years, and now
works with Alzheimer’s patients in a special care home near her house.
FYI, this
takes a lot of time, but it’s kind of fun. I do it on Tuesdays rather than
Thursdays. Watch for your name.
~
News From Holmes
I’m not sure
of their whole story, but I do know they have been together since before the
2014 reunion. If I find an obituary, I’ll share it later. Harley had a stroke
many years ago, and Elizabeth has been his primary caregiver for most of that
time. And care she did, faithfully and lovingly. I know she wanted to attend
our reunions, but she would not leave him. She has shared photographs over the
years, and although I know there were challenges, he almost always wore a
smile. He is missed.
~
A nudge: I have a few Christmas
messages to include in the Christmas newsletter. If you plan to add your
greetings, or stories, or whatever, don’t forget!
~
I have been
diligently working on “Where There’s a Will: Uncle Richard and Aunt Sarah
Holmes,” my 8th great grand Uncle and Aunt. If you are of my
generation, they are your 8th as well, but some of you are a
generation earlier and a generation later than me, so your relationship could
be different. Might be 7th; might be 9th. This is one of
the most interesting projects I have ever worked on – the more I research,
write, and revise, the more I learn about our Uncle Richard and Aunt Sarah, and
the more questions arise. It has come along considerably since last week, and I
found my conclusion in a court document. Generally, those documents are cut and
dry, but this one includes a prayer, not to God, but to
the Judge of the Prerogative Court. It clinches my hypothesis, which is to
state what problems arose in the execution of this LW and T. It’s emotional and
raw. It makes me sad and happy at the same time: sad because they had to
include it, and happy that they had friends who cared enough to include it.
Justice was not done, but three somebodies cared enough to speak on behalf of
Mehitabel Warner, the niece of Sarah Grant Holmes. Perhaps she was Mehitabel
Olmstead at the time; the records give her date of marriage to Joseph Olmsted
in the index to the town records as married about 1700. However, throughout the
execution of the probate of the will of Richard and the inventory of Sarah,
Mehitabel is only called by her maiden name. That is not one of the challenges
I will address. I could write a book about this particular project. Instead, I
will adapt it to fit into CCC.
Here is an edited
version of the LWT of Richard Holmes, who died 1704 in Norwalk.
Norwalk, October 31, 1704
In the name of God, Amen. Know ye
that I, Richard Holmes of Norwalk, of more than sixty years and unwell, being
sensible of my mutability and mortality, and being still of my right reason and
perfect memory, see cause and good reason to make my will. To this end, I
dispose of my worldly estate before death, so that it may be to God’s glory and
my own peace and the comfort of those I shall leave behind. I declare this to
be my Last Will and Testament as follows:
Imprimis: I give and
bequeath my Soul to God and my body to the dust from whence it came. Give it a
decent burial. I dispose my worldly estate as follows:
I will and bequeath to
my wife, Sarah Holmes, my whole estate, and make her my sole Executrix and
Administrator. After paying my just debts, the remainder is to be and remain to
her proper use and benefit during her lifetime. At her decease, I will and
bequeath unto her near kinswoman (her niece), Mehitabell Warner, who now lives
with me - my house, home, lot, barns, orchards, with all privileges, at my
wife’s decease. Also, I give to the aforesaid Mehitabell, my ____ and meadow
lot below Pine Hill, my Little Salt Meadow lot near Rocky Springs that lies between
those of John [Fitch] and Joseph Gregory. Also, I give her annually one load of
salt meadow hay of my Half A Mile Island meadow. Also, I give Mehitabell
Warner, after my wife’s decease, all of my moveable estate within doors and
without, as well as my cattle, horses, sheep, swine, and household goods – my
Smith tools excepted. Also, I except some small legacies to be paid out of my
moveable estate at my wife’s decease as follows:
To Jonathan Stevenson,
the son of Jonathan Stevenson, who was my former servant whom I brought up from
his childhood, ten pounds; to Samuel Hayes, Sr. of Norwalk, forty shillings in
provision to be paid from my moveable estate; to Thomas and Richard Bouton, the
two youngest sons now of John Bouton Sr. of Norwalk, twenty shillings apiece.
To the aforesaid Mehitabell Warner, I give one half of my cow lot and the
remainder of my lands and meadows, either laid out to me or hereafter appertain
to me. I give and bequeath to the now living daughters of my brothers, John
Holmes Sr. of Bedford, and Stephen Holmes Sr. of Stamford, and their heirs
forever, to be equally divided between each of those daughters. I revoke and
make void and null all former wills. I make this my last Will, witness my hand
and seal set to the day and date above. I give my wearing apparel to my brother
John Holmes of Beford, if living; if not then to my brother Stephen Holmes. I
leave my Smith’s tools with my wife to dispose of as she sees good.
Signed
Sealed and (delivered) Richard
Holmes
In
presents of us witnesses his R
mark
Joseph
Gregory
His (?) mark
John
(Copp)
Here is the
decision of the court, Dec. 23, 1706.
The
administrator(s) of the estate of Sarah Holmes, late of Norwalk, deceased,
after exhibiting an inventory of her estate to the Prerogative Court in
Fairfield on Dec. 23, 1706, accept the said inventory and order it to be
recorded. The Court finds that the estate’s value is 12 pounds, 10 shillings.
The Court is informed that there are sundry children of Robert Warren, late of
Middleton, deceased, who are next of kin in equal degree to the aforesaid
deceased Sarah Holmes. The Court therefore orders that the said estate shall be
divided and distributed to the children of ye aforesaid and ____ in equal
proportion. The Court appoints Samuel Hayes and John Bouton to distribute the
said estate according to the above order of Court . . .
~
I put this
in the Facebook group, “Descendants of Connecticut Founding Fathers.” There
were only two comments, but lots of likes. I’ve told you already about the
first book. I thought I might read one of the 250 lectures, just to see if I
could, but I haven’t gotten around to it yet.
“I read somewhere, and I can't remember where, that
colonists of the 1600s and 1700s did not list the titles of books in their
wills and inventories. They mentioned Bibles and books, if they had them. It
seems to be true.
Therefore, I am pleased when I find mention of titles
of books in the old wills and inventories that I come upon, and I thought you
might be interested. I also want to keep a record of my finds. Perhaps I need
to resurrect my notebook of lists. Some are recent reprints, and probably
edited for ease of reading. I went looking for originals, just to see perhaps
what their books looked like.
I have found titles for four books so far.
1.
In the will of Richard, born
1690 in Essex, England; died 1748 in Lebanon, CT, I found mention of "Mr.
Willards body of Divinity." That led me to "A Compleat Body of
Divinity in Two Hundred Fifty Expository Lectures on the Assembly's Shorter
Catechism Wherein the Doctrine of the Christian Religion are Unfolded," by
Samuel Willard, 1640 - 1707.
https://archive.org/details/compleatbodyofdi00will/page/106/mode/2up
In the inventory of James Olmsted, born 1645 in Hartford, CT, died 1731 in
Norwalk, CT, I found mention of three books.
2.
"Precious Remedies" by Brooks. The complete title is "Precious
Remedies Against Satan's Devices; or, Salves for Believers and Unbelievers
Sores," written by Thomas Brooks, published 1705. It has been updated and
is available for sale, and I have not found an original copy to read on line.
Here it is for sale: (I won't be buying it.)
https://www.biblio.com/book/precious-remedies-against-satans-devices-salves/d/1354656515
3. "Heaven Opened;"
unfortunately the author is not named. I have found a book by that title
written by Rev. Father Collins published in the 1800s, but as Olmsted died in
1731, it had to be written before then.
4."Foxes Time and End of
Time." I think this was written by John Foxe, 1516 - 1587, birth and death
in England, and author of the better known "The Book of Martyrs."
Perhaps not one of his best-known books, and I'd like to verify that it was
written by the same Foxe. I see it at
https://books.google.ca/books/about/Time_the_End_of_Time.html?id=NlNHxwEACAAJ&redir_”
~
I threw
this together and haven’t time for a revision – hope it is okay. I have started
to receive Christmas cards and must get at that this week, although I don’t
send many anymore. As my cousin, Cindy, said to me recently, she is missing
writing notes to Mom and Aunt Phyl. Although my list is much shorter just
because, it also grows shorter as loved ones pass on.
I’ve been
thinking about Dad, Donald Malcolm Moore. Tomorrow would be my dad’s 100th
birthday! He passed on June 4, 2005 at the age of 82. Thankful for good
memories – how blessed I am.
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