Uncle Peg’s Chronicles
February 2, 2023
“At The Waterside”
As I mentioned in our Facebook group, there is no
chronicle today. At least, not one as we know it. I decided to share with you
my Reader’s Digest version of “Where There’s a Will” for my genealogical
society newsletter. Later on, I will expand it for our journal, Generations.
What I am doing is this: I write the main article first, and then I cut cut cut
it for the newsletter. No personal stories, no telling adjectives, just the
facts needed to prove my purpose statement.
It is finished. Jeff will edit it for typos. Otherwise,
I have no time to make major changes – but if right away you see a big blooper,
let me know and I’ll pass it along to the editor of the newsletter. I use
Francis Holmes and Frances Homes interchangeably, depending on the context.
What is in the will is transcribed exactly, and I cannot change the spellings
of 1645.
I thought a few of you might be interested in what I
learned about Francis Holmes from this will.
WHERE THERE’S A WILL
“Thou goest thine, and I go mine – many
ways we wend;
Many days, and many ways, ending in one
end.
Many a wrong, and its curing song; many a
road, and many an inn;
Room to roam, but only one home, for all
the world to win.”[1]
My
boat, you need to go to my boat at the Waterside, do not forget. William Wells squeezed
his hand and assured him that they would tend to his boat, and William Lotham
relaxed. It won’t be long now. I feel it. My boat should take care of my
debts and leave an inheritance for John and John.
William Lotham is
not my ancestor, and I cannot locate much information about him. As far as I
can see, he left no family. He left his inheritance to John Clarke and John Ogden.
Why, then, would I select William Lotham as a subject for my series? I believe
his probate provides a clue to the whereabouts of my immigrant ancestor,
Francis Holmes, prior to 1648. Applying the Fan Club method of genealogical
research to William Lotham’s records, I hoped to locate Holmes’ residence in
1645.
The Last Will and Testament of William
Lotham:
A document written in third person.
“Wheras on the other side herof ther is
prticulers of the debts & creditts and goods of Williā Lothā, wch
apeares best vnder ech prticuler matter, and therunto as his memory
may be [ ] being now visited by the
hand of the almighty Jehouah, wth sicknes, haueing in prsence
of vs whose names are hereunder subscribed, declared his mynd and will to be,
that in case a period be put to his days before alteratiō hereof, then his just debts
being defrayed out of his prsonall estate, the remaynder hereof is
by him giuen & bequethed to John Clarke and John Ogden, whō he maks joynt
executors of this his last will and Testament, equally to be deuided betwixt
thē. Witnes my hand the day and yeare wthin written.
In the prsence
of vs,
Will’ Wells, Ed: More,
Isacke Nicholls, George
Allsoope.
SEPTēBER THE 27th, 1645.[1]
You can read the entire document at images 489 and 490 of
https://www.cga.ct.gov/hco/books/The_Public_Records_of_the_Colony_of_Connecticut_1665.pdf
Much of what I
have found on the internet about Francis Holmes is misinformation. What does appear
to be true, until now, is the common statement that there is no mention of my
ancestor before 1648. I hope to change that. He did not appear in the original
lists of early settlers of the new town of Stamford, Connecticut, between 1641
and 1648. In
Lotham’s probate, I found an earlier reference to one Frances Homes. Although it
is only three years earlier, it is a step backwards in time. I have not located
any other Francis Holmes in New England in this time frame. What is known, from the Stamford Town Records, is that
Francis Holmes was in Stamford, Fairfield, Connecticut, in 1648. There are 27 men mentioned in the probate of William
Lotham. I hoped to find Holmes’ previous location by doing a search of the men
mentioned in the probate. Could I find a common location for them in 1645, thus
proving that Holmes also lived in that location? To
avoid confusion, I made a list of all the men and their purpose for being there.
This proved invaluable in my search. I abbreviated it to the few that I will
mention.
- Burchwood, Thomas: appraiser and
witness of inventory – AKA Birchwood, etc.
- Clarke, John: executor and heir of
Lotham.
- Homes, Frances; in the inventory;
owner of iron at the Waterside; AKA Francis Holmes.
- Lotham, William: the decedent.
- Ogden, John: executor and heir of
Lotham.
- Poste, Stephen: appraiser and
witness of inventory. Aka Post.
- Tappens, Mr.: in the inventory;
owner of iron at the Waterside - AKA Tappings,
Toppings, etc.
- Wells, William: witness to will of
Lotham; viewer of the boat on morning of Lotham’s death.
I inserted each
name, the date (1645), and the place (Hartford County, Connecticut) in the
Ancestry search box. I looked unsuccessfully for Hartford Town Records on line.
I referred to websites and history books. When a man was called Mr. or Goodman,
I looked for immigrant ancestors. I found one consistent detail: most of them
were on the move, and many ways they wended. It seems that most had left or had
not yet been to Hartford in 1645. Hartford
was situated near the Connecticut River, called the Great River on a map of
1640.[1]
Rivers were a frequent means of travel at the time. Lotham had a boat, equipment,
and a skiff. Several men owed Lotham money for various items. Could it be that
they did not all live in the same vicinity, as I had assumed? Did Lotham stop
in various ports, returning home to moor his boat at the waterside of a Connecticut
town? This is the best answer I can come up with. This record
appears in a book of Hartford County probates. The only clue to Lotham’s location
is in the inventory: “at the Waterside.” On any map of Connecticut, you will
see that “at the waterside” could be many places. Most men were associated with
Wethersfield at one time or another. It is only six miles from Hartford. As well
as coming from or removing to Wethersfield, some of the men also lived in Farmington,
Guilford, Milford, New London, Saybrook, Stamford, and Long Island. Did my
ancestor live in Wethersfield? Lotham must have been a trader, working
with individuals and merchants, and delivering goods with his boat. In his
inventory, he was owed money for tobacco, two butts of sack (wooden casks of
wine), soap, and iron; also, for delivering a prisoner to an island. He had, as
part of his inventory, iron at the residences of Frances Homes and Mr. Tappings.
“A prticuler
of his goods, as followeth:
Imprs: 3500 of Planke, 6000
Trunnels, 500 of iron, part att Frances Homes, part att Mr. Tappings, the rest
in a grapnel lying att the Waterside.”
Francis Holmes, a
blacksmith, owed Lotham 1£ for 36 pounds of iron. Thomas Tappens had 1£ 9s on his
account, about double the amount of that of Holmes. Assuming that Mr. Tappens’
account was for iron, the amount of iron at the residences of Holmes and
Tappens was a mere 108 pounds, leaving 392 pounds in the grapnel. Holmes and
Tappens may have been acquainted, but were they smithing associates? Although
the iron was stored at Mr. Tappen’s property, this was his only reference to
iron. Captain Thomas Tappings,
baptized Toppyn in England, lived in Wethersfield, Connecticut, before 1639; moved
to Milford, Connecticut, by 1639; and was in Southampton, Long Island, before
1666. Although Tappen’s biography is interesting, his place in 1645 is elusive.
His name is on a 1640 map of Wethersfield, but by that time he was helping to
settle Milford. He served as a Southampton deputy to the General Court in Hartford
between the years 1651 to 1663.[1]
His last move was to Brantford, Connecticut, where he was a magistrate
and died in 1687. I see no reference to him being a blacksmith. Did
my ancestor live in Milford? Thomas Burchwood and Stephen
Poste appraised and witnessed the inventory of William Lotham. They probably
lived in Hartford, so I feel that Lotham likely lived there, too. As appraisers
and witnesses of Hartford, it makes sense that they lived in close proximity to
the decedent. Thomas Burchwood, spelled Birchwood
on the Founder’s Monument in Hartford, was an original proprietor. He was baptized
Bycharde in England. I traced his journey from England to Roxbury,
Massachusetts, where he was made freeman in 1637; to Hartford by 1639; to the Saybrook
Colony, Connecticut, by 1651, where he served as deputy to the General Court.
He still owned land in Hartford. He then appeared in the records of Edgarton
and Martha’s Vineyard in Massachusetts; and was in Norwalk, Connecticut by
1682.[1]
Stephen
Poste was baptized in England, and lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1634.
He was a proprietor of Hartford, where he served as constable in 1642. He
removed to the Saybrook Colony by 1649, and was a proprietor of that town. He
died there in 1659.[1] Important to William Lotham were
John Clarke and John Ogden, for to them he left his estate, to be divided
equally. John
Clarke was baptized in England and arrived in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1632. Clarke’s
early residence was Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he became freeman in 1635.
He was a landowner in Hartford by 1637, and owned land there in 1640. He
removed to the Saybrook Colony by 1647, and from there, served as a deputy to
the General Court until 1664. He was admitted to the church in Milford in 1665,
and died there in 1674.[1] John Ogden first appeared in the
records of Stamford, Connecticut, where he remained until he left with a group
of Stamford settlers to settle Hempstead, Long Island. Long Island remained
part of Connecticut until 1644.[1]
By 1647, he helped to found Southampton, Long Island. He served as a magistrate
in Southampton in 1662. He helped in settling Elizabethtown in New Jersey by
1665, and died there in 1682.[1]
Did my ancestor live in
Hartford, as did Burchwood, Poste, and Clarke? Or, did he never live there,
like Ogden?
In
the will, inventory, and probate of William Lotham, I stumbled upon a reference
to my ancestor, Francis Holmes, and wrote about it in my research journal in
April, 2022. I listed all twenty-seven men associated with Lotham, hoping to
find a common residence for them in 1645, the year in which Lotham died. Holmes
owed money to Lotham; Lotham owed money to Holmes. These details were in his
inventory. At this time, I am
not satisfied that I have found Francis Holmes’ residence in 1645. I originally
thought I would find these men in the town of Hartford. After studying an early
map of Wethersfield[1]
and skimming some old books, I thought he may have lived in Wethersfield. I
looked at the early settlers of Milford, where some of these men lived. I did
not find a consistent location for a majority of the men and nowhere, besides
this document, did I find further mention of Francis Holmes. I am satisfied
that Stamford in 1648 is no longer the first known reference to Francis Holmes
in New England. I believe that he was in Connecticut by 1645, on a property
close to a waterside, three years prior to his previously known first residence.
[1] MacDonald, George. Phantastes. London: Victor Gollancz
Ltd. 1962. Originally published 1858. Page 164.
[1] Trumbull. “The Public Records of the Colony of Connecticut.” Hartford:
Brown & Parsons. 1850. Image 490.
https://www.cga.ct.gov/hco/books/The_Public_Records_of_the_Colony_of_Connecticut_1665.pdf
[1] “Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford.” 1640
Map. https://www.foundersofhartford.org/1640-hartford-map/
[1] Wikipedia. Thomas Topping. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Topping
[1] “Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford: “Thomas
Birchard, Hartford Founder. Compiler: Timothy Lester Jacobs.
https://www.foundersofhartford.org/the-founders/thomas-birchard/
[1] “Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford:” Stephen
Post, Hartford Founder. Anonymous.
https://www.foundersofhartford.org/the-founders/stephen-post/
[1] “Society of the Descendants of the Founders of Hartford:” John
Clarke, Hartford Founder. Compiler, Timothy Lester Jacobs.
https://www.foundersofhartford.org/the-founders/john-clarke/
[1] WikiTree; Profile managers Ellen Smith, John Miller, United
States Project WikiTree. John Ogden I (abt. 1609 – bef. 1682). https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ogden-588
[1] Wikipedia: John Ogden (colonist). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Ogden_(colonist)
[1] “Connecticut Historical Society Museum
& Library.” 17th Wethersfield, Connecticut. http://emuseum.chs.org/emuseum/objects/17185/17th-century-wethersfield-connecticut;jsessionid=7307D70C017574BE97A8C1C675458759
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