Category: DNA General

I thought that it would be fun to trace my propert back in time to see what I could find. Here is the Assessor’s Map:

I can tell my property as there is a long property behind it which was divided off at some point. Here is my house:

Next, I go to the Plymouth Registry of Deeds. I register myself and search for my name. There I find my deed. Here is the second page:

I am getting a watermark as I am not paying for an official copy. I suppose I have one somewhere already.

Next, instead of searching by name, I search by Book and Page. This is part of the first page of the deed:

I bought the propert from Mr. Southworth. He bought his from Mabel A.. Brunelle who died in 1975 (when I was in college). Note that this was part of the premises conveyed to Arthur L. Brunelle. So at some point the property was subdivided.

My Property in 1944

I will shortcut a little and look for Book 1866 page 210.

So the Brunelles buy the land and house which at that time went down the Sippican River and was a much larger property. I see that Arthur Brunelle had to pay unpaid taxes on the propert. It is also interesting to see who the neighbors were in 1944. I can’t say I have ever heard the name Archbow before. I believe that our house was built around 1934, so it was still pretty new then.

In 1950, Arthur was a Doctor living in New Bedford, so I suppose he rented out the property:

I had previously assumed that, as they were the owners, they lived here. But I see now that was not the case. I have tried to find out who lived here during the 1950 Census, but so far, I have not figured that out.

Archbow L. Hoyle

Archbow sold to Brunelle who was a New Bedford Doctor. Brunelle apparently bought the property as an investment. In fact, his two sons were real estate agents. One interesting thing about the previous deed is that Washburn and Ellis were neighboring owners as well as the ones who sold the property to Archbow.

I did find Archbow (transcribed as Archboro) in the 1930 Census on Rochester Road, Marion:

However, I believe that this would have been before my house was built. In addition, Archbow was Renting on Rochester Road. Another odd thing is that this Census skips all over. On this page are:

• Front Street
• Ryders Lane
• Water Street
• Vine Street
• Point Road
• Hiller Street
• Rochester Road
• Mill Street

Water Street is over 2 miles from where I live. Here is Archbow’s Mason’s Card:

I believe that the person who built my house was a carpenter, so perhaps this is the guy. Here is Archbow in 1940, recorded as Archibald:

If Archbow built the house in 1934, he would have been about 72 years old. That means he was born in about 1862. It looks like Archbow was renting a house nearby when he built the one I live in. The street is now listed as Front Street but with no street numbers. Listed 3 above Archbow is Ezra Washburn mentioned in the deed. Right above Archbow is the Dexter family. This could be from the Dexter Farm across from my house:

Living in a Genuine Archbow House

I do not believe that many people can say they live in a genuine Archbow house. So I will say a little more about Archbow. I will make a small Tree for Archbow to see if I get a little more information on him. Andrew is born in Webster, MA in 1871 and marries Hannah Fernald in Boston in 1892:

At the time, Archbow was a florist and Helen a violin teacher born in Milford, One thing I didn’t catch before was that Helen dies in the same year in Boston due to premature labor:

Three years later, Archbow marries Hattie Jache in Webster, MA.

MA. In 1900, the couple are living in Webster, MA:

Archbow or here Archibald was now a carpenter and Hattie was born in Germany. Here is Archbow in Webster earlier in 1880. Archbow’s father was a shoemaker:

In 1920, Archbow is listed as a lodger in Boston:

Probably, Archbow was originally an Archibald. Here is his birth record from Webster, MA:

Above, I showed that Archbow was Renting on Rochester Road, Marion in 1930, where I assume he built my house from once he purchased the land. In 1940 Archbow and his wife were living in his new house at age 78.

In 1950, Archbow has not aged much as he is listed as being 78 and living in Southbridge:

This brings up an interesting point:

When Archbow wa building our house in 1934, he was actually only 63 years old. That makes me feel better. According to my wife, she was told by one of our neighbors that the builder of our house was always borrowing tools to build the house from one of their relatives!

So that is the story of Archbow, perhaps a corruption of Archibald who is the likely builder of our house. I have no photos of Archbow, he has no known living descendants but his house remains.

1932: Pre-House

This brings us back to Ezra R. Washburn and Ella R. Barden. My guess is that Ella was perhaps a Washburn and married a Barden. Ezra was 64 in 1940, so that means he was born about 1876.

Washburn is certainly a local Marion name. Washburn Park is not far from where I live:

Favorite Place is where I live and the red arrow is the access road to Washburn Park.

From this familly tree at Ancestry, Ella must be Ezra’s sister:

I see that their grandfather was a Reverend.

This lot was part of a lot the was conveyed from Myra Handy.

Myra Handy Deed from 1919

This gets us back over 100 years ago:

Here we are at the age of the personal touch handwritten deeds.

If I read this right, Myra L. D. Handy is from Raisin California. She is married to Jabez H Handy.  Apparently Jabez was a carpenter as was Ezra:

Myra’s maiden name was Parlow. She married Jabez in 1894. Myra was probably born around 1867. Here is Myra in 1880:

Myra is living in Marion with her parents and her mother’s parents. Myra’s mother’s father is listed as a former sea captain.

I see the connection. Myra is Myra Parlow. Ezra and Ella’s mother was born in 1852 as Ella Parlow.

Other names I see on adjoining properties are:

• Paul W? Briggs
• Charles H. Briggs
• Jonathan Rider

One problem with this deed is that I do not see an earlier deed referenced. That makes tracing the land back past 1919 very difficult.

Anybody Dying to Give Myra Land?

If there was no transfer of deed mentioned, perhaps Myra inherite the land I live on. So far I have:

• Myra L. D. Parlow Handy transferred my land and more to Ezra Washburn and Ella R Washburn Barden in 1919.
• Ezra and Ella transfer the land to Archbow and Hattle Hoyle in 1932
• Archbow builds a house on the property, retires apparently and sells the house in 1944 to Dr. Brunelle of New Bedford. Dr Brunelle does not appear to live here.
• The Brunelles sell to the Southworths in 1977 who live at the property
• My wife and I buy the house from Southworth in 1996

So that is a short 77 year history of the property that started 107 years ago.

It would be best for me to start a short Washburn Tree to see what was going on in that family. The home person for my tree is Ezra Washburn:

Here I have not brought many of the Parlows in yet, but they seem important.

Here is Charles in 1900:

There is a lot of information on this page, but I see Ella B’s mother Almira Parlow. I see Paul W Briggs mentioned in one of the deeds and I see Jabez and Myra Handy living close by. Paul Briggs was born in 1832. I have a map of Marion that is dated 1855:

At the top right of the map there is a Grist Mill and Saw Mills. Also notice an E. S. Parlow. That must be the Ezra Parlow of the 1880 Census above (father of Myra). Ezra was 54 in 1880 so must have been born about 1826. In 1880, Ezra was an Agent for the Parlow Mills. I assume that could be the saw mills shown on the map. The Methodist Church apparently moved from where it was in 1855 to where Mrs. M. Briggs is shown on the map. I live across from the Dexter Farm, so that must be right across where Rufus Dexter is shown. So here I am getting a short history of North Marion.

Interestingly, someone at Ancestry posted this house for Ezra Smith Parlow’s profile picture:

This house looks familiar. I hope that it is still around. I finally found it right where it should have been on the 1855 map, facing County Road:

This is from Google Maps. So Myra, the daughter of Ezra Parlow, Parlow Mill Agent had a part in the ownership of the land I live on.

Now Almira dies around the time that Myra transfers the land to her nephew and niece, Ezra and Ella.

After looking at a lot of Probate Records, I went back to the Plymouth Registry Search web page and found this entry:

Here is an 1899 Deed from Almira Parlow to Jabez Handy:

I think that this 1899 Deed may be the one I was looking for. However, it is only 2 Acres and I think that the lot I am on was originally a lot more. This land, however, is bordered on the West by Rufus Dexter which I show as the Dexter Farm.

Here are some other deeds which mention Myra Handy:

Summary and Conclusions

• I thought that it would be fun to try to trace my property back
• I was able to get back to 1919 which is aboiut 15 years before my house was built.
• Before 1919, I ran into a dead end. That deed did not refer to an earlier deed and the Parlows and Washburns and Handys had many deeds.
• As part of the Blog, I found out some intersting history of North Marion where I live.

In my previous 3 Blogs on the 1926 Census, I looked mostly at my Frazer relatives who came from Ballindoon descending from George William Frazer and Margaret McMaster. In this Blog, I will check to see if I have missed any other relatives.

McMaster

Of these, all the siblings of my second great-grandmother Margaret died before 1926 except Hubert. In 1911, Hubert was living in Culnagneragh:

I think this was called Clarkwood in English.

Here is Hubert and family 15 years later:

Hubert is now 77 and his wife has died. There are still three children living on the farm. I assume that George and Mary J are married to each other. Unfortunately, I cannot make out where Mary J was born.

Here is my best guess:

This was likely not far from where my Clarke ancestors lived in Carrownacarrick:

I have that George had 4 children, but they must have been born after the 1926 Census:

When I compare the 1911 with 1926, this is what I get:

Eliza dies in 1923.

Here is a record for James:

James enlists in Sydney, Australia for World War I. According to someone else’s tree at Ancestry, James dies in WWI in France.

I am not sure what happened to Robert William. Here is a different Robert William – perhaps named after the earlier Robert William.

I think that I have met Dorothy before in England. It is tricky to keep track of all these relationships. This Robert William is the grandson of Jane who was a brother of the elder Hubert.

Margaret Lillie McMaster

I have that he married my great-grandfather’s youngest brother John Edward Frazer in 1917. I also have that she died in 1918.

John Edward had much tragedy in his life as his daughter dies at about age 1. These records were transcribed and sent to me from the Kilmactranny Church:

Add to this James McMaster who died in WWI in 1917:

McMaster DNA

I have built a McMaster DNA tree for DNA matches with many McMaster descendants:

I am not sure if this is up to date. From the yellow image above, I have matches with two descendants of George Ernest McMaster born 1894:

For my own ThruLines at Ancestry, I also match Karen and Matthew:

I did not put them on my McMaster DNA Chart because they are more closely related on my Frazer side.

I see my brother Jon has a match with Melissa:

This is a confusing one also as William McMaster who was my great-grandfather’s uncle, married my great-grandfather’s sister Catherine Clarke. That means that I cannot tell if I am related to Melissa on the Clarke or McMaster side!

What is interesting here is that William names Frances his daughter after his mother Fanny. Then Frances gives her daughter Joan as her middle name, the maiden name of her mother (Clarke).

Back to McMaster Genealogy

I wonder if Robert Hyde was any relation to Douglas Hyde, the first President of The Republic of Ireland?

Here is the family in 1901 in Cashty, Baronscourt, Tyrone, Ireland:

So soon after their marriage. I have this note from a researcher friend in Ireland:

Aug 06, 1899   Edward Wynne Frazer (Widower), of Carrondargrey, son of Archie Frazer

                                         Emma Martha Thompson of Carrandargrey, daughter of George Thompson

                                             Witnesses:  Robert Hyde, James McCormick (his mark).    Robert Hyde (from Cork) was recently appointed manager of the newly established Kilmactranny Dairy Co-operative with which the McMaster families were closely associated.     On June 29, 1899 he had married Frances Jane McMaster of Clarkwood who died the following year.

However, I do not think that the note is right concerning Frances Jane as she appears to be in the 1901 Census.

I wonder who the McMaster visitor was:

This must be Frances’ younger sister Margaret Lillie visiting. Here is Cashty:

Robert is listed as a Creamery Manager in 1901.

Here is the family in 1911, still on the move:

Frances Jane appears to rely heavily on her McMaster side for naming her sons (George Ernest, Hubert). Robert is still a creamery manager, now in St. Johnstown, County Donegal:

Robert and Frances stay put through 1926 and have another child:

Summary and Conclusions

• I was able to review, consolidate and expand my knowledge of the McMaster family of the Kilmactranny, Count Sligo area
• I was able to expand my knowldege of the Robert Hyde family. He married Frances Jane McMaster. A former researcher had thought that she died soon after marriage, but apparently not.
• Expanding the net could result in more information, but what I have is already a bit overwhelming.
• Robert Hyde was probably not a relative of Douglas Hyde. as Robert was born in County Cork. Douglas Hyde, the first president of the Republic of Ireland was the son of the Church of Ireland Rector who married my 2nd great grandparents George Frazer and Margaret McMaster.

 

 

The big news recently for genealogists is the 1926 Irish Census is out. Right away I go to see what my 2nd great-grandfather and family are doing in Balindoon, County Sligo:

Here is George, my great grandfather’s father. My great grandfather had moved to Boston as had most of his brothers at this time. This is the left hand side of the Census.

Here is what I have at one of my Frazer web pages:

George Frazer

When I went to Ireland, I was told he was known as old George. He is 94 in the Census which would put his birth roughly at 1832. Above, I have him born in 1836.

1901 Census – he is listed as 64, so that would be a birth date of about 1837

1911 Census – he is listed as 75 so that is a birth date of about about 1836.

The reason it makes a difference is that in the 1834 Tithe Applotment, there is a James Frazer – assumed to be the father of George Frazer who lived in Derrycashel. As a result, I have assumed that George was born in Derrycashel. In the 1926 Census, George is said to have been born in Kilbrian, County Roscommon. If George were born in Kilbrian, the family may have lived there at the time and moved to Derrycashel. However, my guess is that George was baptized at the Kilbryan Church as this was likely closer to Derrycashel.

Here is the Tithe Applotment for Derrycashel:

As for my theory that Kilbryan was closer than Ardcarn, that does not appear to be right:

Another interesting fact is that it appears that George’s sister Sidney was also born in Kilbryan:

I apparently got this from the 1911 Oxfordshire Census:

Sidney was living there as a widower with her stepson. Again, this could refer to the Parish of Kilbryan or they even may have been in the Parish of Ardcarn and mistakenly thought they were in Kilbryan?

When I look at the Tithe Applotments, there are either two James Frazers or one who had land in two places:

Unfortunately, I cannot find a place in Roscommon or Ardcarn called Culticonnor. But I did find some information when I searched for Culticonnor in association with Ardcarn Parish:

Here are Cootehall and Oakport:

Here is Ardconra:

Here is Errironagh:

So truthfully, I do not know if this James was my ancestor or another James Frazer. I also could not find a Townland called Culfaghna.

William Frazer

Let’s move on to the head of household, William:

William was a farmer of 30 statute acres. He was quite a bit older than his wife. His wife’s occupation was listed as domestic duties, but I can recall seeing a picture of her working on the farm also. William was my great-grandfather’s younger brother by one year.

Here is William on the left with my great-grandfather in the middle and another brother on the right. At one time there were four Frazer brothers living in the Boston, Massachusetts area. I should be able to put a little sketch together about William.

William was born in Ballindoon on 14 March 1868. He came to Boston in 1898. From what I understand, my great-grandfather helped to pay to bring his brothers over to Boston from Ballindoon. My great-grandfather came to Boston in 1887. William came to Boston in 1898 or 11 years later.

William was a cook in 1896 when he sailed from Queenstown to Boston. Queenstown was in County Cork.

I see, William brings his younger brother with him:

There is a lot of information in here and it is somewhat difficult to line up the information. It appears that William had been to Boston before for what appears to be 5 years. So maybe between 1890 and 1895. He is staying with James his brother at 51 Westminster St. Richard’s ticket was perhaps paid for by his brother (James?). I assume that William had saved up money before as it is said he paid for his own ticket. Confusingly, the 1910 Census says that William came to the US in 1870 which cannot be right. I am thiinking that it should have said 1890.

I just found William in the 1900 Census with his brother in Portsmouth, New Hampshire:

He was one of three cooks at a hotel. The third cook was Mary Feeney. This confirms my suspicion that William first came to Boston in 1890, so about three years after my great-grandfather came to Boston.

This may be where they probably worked at 96 State Street in Portsmouth, NH:

Of course, it would have looked a bit different 126 years ago.

Now I may have to revise the timeline already. Let’s look for a passenger list from 1890.

I did find this record:

This time William is bringing David to Boston in 1908:

This ship lands in New York City and the brothers travel on to Boston from there. William is listed as a non-immigrant alien:

I suppose this is because he immigrated already in 1890. I guess William did not mind making trans-Atlantic voyages. This must have been his 5th crossing.

Another Trans-Atlantic Trip in 1901

So perhaps Richard is homesick for the family after being in the US for 5 years. On this trip, William brings his brother Richard to collect another brother Hubert. That means that we are up to 7 trans-Atlantic crossings for William. I believe that this trip was from Queenstown to Boston.

This appears to be the ship:

This ship would have been quite new at the time and took about 7 days to cross the Atlantic:

Finally, here is William in 1890, with some of his traveling companions, but not relatives:

Looks like the ship name was Pavonia:

Some Pavonia passengers:

An Updated Timeline for William

I have this on my Frazer Web Page:

I was interested in his time in Mansfield as that is where my wife lived when I met her. Here is another issue from the 1926 Census:

Amanda Frazer is listed as having had 6 children. William is listed as having 4 living children. That means that I must be missing two children who died young.

Here are the four children: Albert, Elisie, Ruth and Walter. Ruth and Walter are born in Ballindoon. But actually, the eldest son, Edward George died in Ballindoon in 1925 at age 11. That means that I am only missing one child.

I will spend more time on the 1926 Census in a subsequent Blog.

Summary and Conclusions

• Looking at the 1926 Census lead me to review a lot of information I had
• It looks like William made 8 transatlantic crossings, many more than I had realized
• The family had an additional child that I did not know about. I did not find that additional child yet, but perhaps the child was born in Ireland after the family moved there.
• I was a little surprised that my 2nd great-grandfather gave his birthplace as Kilbrian. My thinking is that he was baptized at the Kilbryan church but was likely born in Derrycashel, but there are other possibilities. His sister Sidney gave the same place for her birth in a Census after she moved to England.
• I found out a bit more about Amanda Skoog (originally Skog) but have not written about that yet.
• I found a photo of building which was likely the hotel that William and brother Richard were cooks at in 1900 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

 

 

 

In my previous Blog, I looked at 4 of my ancestral lines with potential Revolutionary War Soldiers. One who was Nathaniel Hatch from Falmouth, Massachusetts. He probably served the least time at 3 days, but those were important days, including April 19, 1775.

The Ancestors

• The younger Anthony Snell served. The elder Anthony died before the War
• Like Anthony, he was from Dighton, Massachusetts. He served locally and in Rhode Island. He also served 3 months in support of the Continental Army. The appears to be a younger Benjamin Luther from the same area who also served.
• William Parker had extensive service including fighting at Fort Ticonderoga. He got sick during the war and died not long after his service. I am not sure if his son Isaac served or not, there were a lot of Isaac Parkers from his area who apparently served. There appears to be an Isaac Parker of Barnstable and one of Falmouth, but I believe that my Isaac was living in Nantucket when the other two Isaac’s had legal papers filed for Pensions.
• Nathaniel Hatch was serving April 19, 1775. Perhaps he never went to Lexington or Concord but was there for backup.

Bradford

My ancestor Samuel Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts was born in 1755, so of an age where he could have been involved. However, my Bradford web pages have him born 1761, so the same age as Anthony Snell who served in the Revolutionary War from Dighton.

I see that in the definitive book on Bradford from the Mayflower Society, there is no birth date for Samuel, but he is listed between Josiah born in 1754 and Charles born 1756. If the birth order is correct, it is likely that he was indeed born in 1755. Unfortunately, the main line in the Mayflower Book stops with Samuel’s father Josiah who died in 1777.

Here is a guess:.

However, there are many Soldiers listed in the Massachusetts book of Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War. In addition, if my ancestor Samuel Bradford was born in 1755, he would have been 25 in 1780. Perhaps he was born in 1761, or that there was another Samuel Bradford born in 1761. I also note that Samuel’s father Josiah was listed as a mariner from Plymouth in 1770. Much earlier in his life, he was listed as a cordwainer.

I have looked through the Mayflower Families Bradford Book and did not see any obvious Samuel Bradford born around 1761 from Plymouth, so that is a bit confusing. The closest that I could find was a Samuel Bradford born 9 August 1761 in Duxbury and baptized at New North Church, Boston. His father was a Captain of a schooner. However, the Revolutionary War Soldiers and Sailors mentions that Samuel Bradford was from Plymouth. One possibility is that Samuel, son of Job went off to live on his own and moved to Plymouth. I am thinking that I assumed that he was the seaman listed above and that is where I got the birth date of 1761. Bottom line is that now I am not sure that this is our man or not.

Stephen Churchill Born 1743

This is likely my ancestor Stephen Churchill:

That first statement is quite interesting: “Lieutenant, in command of a company of Minutemen, which marched April 20, 1775, in response to the alarm of April 19, 1775, to Marshfield.” Based on a recent talk I heard at my local historical society, this is what happened. There were some loyalists in Marshfield and some British troops were sent there to protect them. A ton of American troops marched up to Marshfield and the greatly outnumbered British troops fled.

Here is an AI overview which is concise but clumsily worded in sections:

On April 20, 1775, one day after the battles of Lexington and Concord, British troops stationed in Marshfield, MA, evacuated by boat, avoiding an “almost-battle” with gathering local militia. Over 600 patriot militiamen from nearby towns had gathered to confront the ~100 British soldiers of the 4th Regiment (King’s Own) stationed to protect Loyalists.

• • • The Evacuation: British troops, under Captain Balfour, had been in town for weeks. Knowing the patriots were mobilizing, they successfully escaped by boats up the Green Harbor River on April 20 to return to Boston, preventing a direct confrontation, say and.
    • The Alarm: On April 20th, Patriot militia in Marshfield signaled a full-scale mobilization, with Capt. William Thomas firing a pre-arranged alarm gun three times.
    • The Context: Marshfield was a Loyalist stronghold and one of the only towns other than Boston occupied by British forces.
    • The Aftermath: By April 21, hundreds of Patriot militiamen from Plymouth County had taken control of the town, but the British were already gone, resulting in the “almost-battle” described by. 

I think that this is a different Stephen Churchill, but I am not sure:

I found this record:

This is confusing as I have Stephen born in Plymouth. Here is a different record or abstract:

David Hathaway Born 1744

Ancestry has a record for the Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) for this David:

However, I think this is mistaken as the Soldiers and Sailors Book of the American Revolution has that David Hathaway as being from Dartmouth:

It is possible that my David Hathawy ancestor from Wareham could have been a Quaker. I do not see a military record for him from the Revolutionary War. I’ll remove the SAR reference from my Hathaway Ancestor.

Seth Cowing Born 1834 Rochester

Again, I have an SAR application record:

Here is another record:

This cemetery looks to be off the beaten path.

The Soliders and Sailors book seems to agree with the SAR application:

Summary and Conclusions

• Of the eight lines I looked at some Revolutionary War service was normal.
• The only line which apparently did not serve in my ancestry was Hathaway. This may have been due to religious beliefs.
• Some service was difficult to determine due to similar names living in similar areas.
• I would assume that those who served in the military were indeed convinced that they were doing the right thing.