Nathaniel Croade & Elizabeth Marshall

Nathaniel Croade, my wife's 5th Great Grandfather and father of Elizabeth Croade, was born August 4th, 1706 in Halifax which was part of Plymouth Colony until the late 1600's when the Massachusetts Bay Colony united with it to form the Massachusetts Commonwealth.  Halifax had a population of about 500 in the 1734 when it was incorporated as a town.  Nathaniel married Elizabeth Marshall on December 29, 1742.  Elizabeth was born Jan 2, 1718 in Halifax.  I believe she was married previously to Benjamin Carter and had a child, Benjamin.  That marriage was May 27, 1736.  What happened to Benjamin is unknown.  It's hard to imagine they were divorced in the early 1700's in puritan Massachusetts.  I assume that he must have passed away.  The evidence for her previous marriage is thin.  There is a record of Elizabeth Marshall marrying Benjamin Carter (1736), and an Elizabeth Carter marrying Nathaniel Croade (1742).  From those records it is not clear whether they are the same Elizabeth.  However I did find a fragment of a record from Plymouth that says:

Halifax: Nathaniel Croade "of Plimoth...Hatter [who] Came from Plimoth into ... Hallifax with his wife and one Son Nathaniel and his Wife's son Benjamin Carter and hath Since Resided in Said Town," and John Hicks, "a Transient Man Come from Duxborough," 12 June 1751

I have no record of what sort of work Nathaniel did, perhaps he was a hatter.  The above record is part of a list of "warnings" published at the time to give the locals a heads up that people who had no means of support had come into town.  So Nathaniel and Elizabeth may have been especially poor.

They had five children;  Elizabeth (b. May 31, 1743 d. Sept 17, 1744) , Nathaniel (b. Sept 5, 1745), Mary, John, and Elizabeth(1756-1846).  Benjamin Jr also lived with them.

Nathaniel died March 6, 1789/90.  He is buried in Tomson Cemetery in Plymouth.  Elizabeth died in October 28, 1798 and is buried in the North Burial Grounds in Warren Mass.

A word about Colonial life in Massachusetts....
A 1600’s or 1700’s American breakfast could consist of a mug of beer or cider, bannock or hoe cakes, and a bowl of porridge, and often a cornmeal pudding called mush, pap, Indian pudding or hasty pudding. The pudding would be eaten with milk poured over it or maple syrup or molasses. When butter became a possibility it was added too.
The pudding took hours to cook, it would be begun the night before, and left in a covered kettle, to simmer slowly. It had to be stirred often and the stirrers were called “porridge paddles”.
Although today we think of oatmeal porridge, there were many kinds of porridges in colonial days. Suppawn, samp, hominy and succotash came from corn. Suppawn was a thick porridge of cornmeal and milk cooked together. This was a favorite of the Dutch and southerners. Samp was a coarse hominy, made by crushing the kernels in the mortar, and boiling them up, and eaten cold or hot with milk or butter. 
A favorite in New England was bean porridge. It was cooked in bake ovens in large quantities, and some of it would be set aside for freezing. When taking a journey, the family would chop off a portion to carry with them.

It became a custom to eat bean porridge with a brown bread made from corn meal on Saturdays and Sundays. On Saturdays around noon time the village baker would go around the village gathering up the pots of beans and he would then cook them in his oven. On Sunday morning he’d return the beans with the brown bread to his customers. In some towns the pots were collected on Saturday morning, and returned in time for supper Saturday night.
Porridge could also contain meat or other vegetables. Gruel is what you ate when you were so poor that you had to water down your porridge to make it last longer......(for more go to link: http://colonial-american-life.blogspot.com/2009/08/early-american-food-and-drink.html )

Cyrus Taber & Ruhamah Hathaway

View of Wareham at Onset Bay Grove 1885

Cyrus Taber, my 5th Great Grandfather and father of Matilda G. Taber, was born in Wareham, Massachusetts in 1795.

Wareham, Mass., originally called Agawam, is located at the entrance to Cape Cod on Buzzards Bay, and was purchased from the native owners in 1665 for 24 pounds 10 shillings, then becoming part of the Plymouth Colony.  The settlers have been active in ship building, iron working, and salt production at various times over its 350 year history.  Cyrus was a boy and young adult during the high point in iron working.

Cyrus married Ruhamah Hathaway May 23, 1819 in Wareham.  Ruhamah was born March 15, 1801 also in Wareham.

Their children were Matilda, Cyrus (who was a sailor), Salathiel H. (worked in a saw mill), and Adelaide.

Cyrus died about between 1840 and 1845 (their last child, Adelaide, was born in 1840, and Ruhamah was remarried in 1845).

Ruhamah's second husband was Richard Withington.  They are listed on the 1865 Massachusetts State Census, but have not found her afterwards.

Alpheus Worcester & Hannah S. Bubier

Alpheus Worcester was my 5th greatgrandfather and father of Alpheus Worcester (Jr).  He was born in Spencer, Massachusetts in 1785.

Spencer is about 60 miles west of Boston and in 1785 was a stop on the Old Boston Post Road.

The Boston Post Road was a system of mail-delivery routes between New York City and Boston that evolved into the first major highway in the United States.  Pictured is one of the stone markers that still survive from the 18th century.

Alpheus married Hannah Bubier on Feb 12, 1811 in Boston, Mass where she and her family resided. Hannah was born on September 4, 1794 in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

They had at least six children; Christopher Gore, Abby Sarah, John, James Madison, Alpheus, and Isaac W.

Alphas died in October of 1834.  Hannah died in 1875 and is buried in Norwich, Connecticut.

Most of the above was taken from, "The Descendants of Rev. William Worcester with a brief notice of the Connecticut Wooster Family"

The descendants of Rev. William Worcester with a brief notice of the Connecticut Wooster family

Ruben Lovell & Mary Hall

Quaker Meeting House

Reuben E. Lovell, my 5th great grandfather and father of Mary Ann Lovell, was born in 1803 in Sandwich Massachusetts. 

Sandwich is the oldest town on Cape Cod established in 1637.  It was part of the Plymouth Colony.  Pictured is the Quaker Meeting House, built in 1658.

He married Mary Hall Sept 24th 1729 in Sandwich.  Mary was born Sept 5th, 1813 in Dorchester, Mass.

Ruben engaged in farming in Sandwich for the entirety of both their lives.   They appear on the 1830, 1840, 1850, 1860, and 1870 censuses.

Their children were Emma, Mary Ann, Lydia, Reuben P., Sarah, Eunice, Dorothy, and Henry.

Reuben died March 25th 1879 of "Paralysis" (probably had a stroke) at 76 years of age.

Mary died of Paralysis as well on Aug 23rd 1877.

Reuben E. Lovell and William Henry Lovell were brothers, both the sons of William Lovell and Dorotha Eldredge.  On the 1830 census are listed Dorothea Lovell (in her 70's), William Lovell (in his 40's) and Reuben Lovell (in his 30's).  in 1840 Dorothea has passed away and is no longer listed, Gorham (William's son appears) and Reuben is still listed.  1830 and 1840 only list head of household and the approximate ages of the residents.  In 1850 and beyond, all family members are listed William's son Gorham now appears, William is gone and Reuben is still there.  Additionally the death record for Reuben lists his birth year as 1803 and his parents as William and Dorothia.  This close proximity of these people, the death records, along with the correct ages convince me that they are all related as described.

William Lovell & Dorotha Eldredge

William Lovell, my 5th great grandfather and father of William Henry Lovell was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts April 20th, 1753.  William married Dorotha Eldridge March 20th, 1779 in Harwich, Mass.  Dorotha was born in 1766 in Harwich.  Harwich, on Cape Cod, was settled in the 1650's by families from the Plymouth colony.  A year later  (1780) William enlisted in the continental army in Nathaniel Freeman's Company.  

From the "History of Harwich, Massachusetts":

Capt. Nathaniel Freeman of the North Precinct commanded a company, mostly made up of Harwich men, in Col. Enoch Hallett’s regiment, raised to reinforce the Continental army this year. His lieutenant was Reuben Snow of the same precinct. They entered service July 15, and served until Oct. 31, the same year. Among the soldiers from Harwich were: Huckens Paine, Josephy Mayo, Scotto Hopkins, Watson Mayo, Benj. Berry, Samuel Smith, Joshua Gage, Gershom Hall, Eben. Eldridge, Isaiah Chase, Jesse Cahoon, Seth Maker, Nathaniel Cahoon, William Lovell and Thomas Eldridge. The company was disbanded Oct. 31. The troops belonged to what was denominated the “new levies.” They were on duty at Rhode Island.

(Eben. Eldridge was likely Dorotha's brother)

William and Dorotha had six children, Ezekiel, Benjamin, Reuben, William Henry, Eldridge, and Susan.

William died in Sandwich, Mass, on December 30th, 1821.  Dorotha died in 1830 also in Sandwich.  Gravesites are unknown.

John Mckinnon & Susannah Anderson

John McKinnon, my 5th Great grandfather, and father of John McKinnon (jr), was born in Argyll Scotland on March 5th 1769.
Argyll (or Argylshire) is located on the west coast of Scotland.  The original inhabitants were Scots, Irish, and Norse peoples that first inhabited the region in the 2nd century.  The McKinnon (MacKinnon) clan's progenitor was Findanus, the youngest son of King Alpin (9th century AD), and the first lands of the clan were Mull and later Skye.  The clan tartan is pictured.

John married Susannah Anderson on August 24th 1797 at Dunoon and Kilmun, Renfrewshire, Scotland.  Susannah was born November 17th, 1772 in Argyll.  The Andrew clan is also known as the MacAndrew clan and originally took the name to signify devotion to St. Andrew.

John and Susannah had a son, John, some family trees indicate other children but their information is limited.  Have no information on John or Susannah's deaths.

Samuel Lawrence and Rhoda Russell

Typical Ship in the mid 1850's seen along the coast of Maine

Samuel Lawrence, my 5th Great Grandfather and father of Rhoda R. Lawrence, was born July 6th 1766 in Yarmouth, Cumberland county Maine to Joseph and Abigail Lawrence.

Yarmouth is a town just north of Portland Maine along the coast.  At the time of Samuel's birth, Yarmouth was in a time of peace.  Fighting with the local indians had lasted a hundred years until 1756.  Afterwards the town flourished in the years before the Revolution.

Samuel married Phoebe Rhoda Russell on October 25th, 1787 in Cumberland, Maine.  Phoebe was born March 10th, 1770 also in Cumberland Co. Maine.  They had a total of 14 or 15  children, 6 in Cumberland.  About 1790 the family moved to Temple, Maine, where they had another 8-9 children.  After 1815 they moved again, this time to Massachusetts.

Samuel died at the age of 57 on April 1, 1824 in Boylston, Mass.
Phoebe died December 13th 1852 in West Boylston, Mass. of "Old Age"