Category: Mayflower Genealogy

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My Father’s Cousins’ Ancestry Thru-Lines: Part 2 – Bradford

I would like to look at my father’s cousin Joyce’s Bradford Thrulines. Our most recent Bradford ancestor was Hannah T Snell:

Hannah was born in Wareham in 1838 and married Isaiah Snell. This family lived in Rochester, MA where I grew up. The DNA that Joyce shares with these people is half Snell and half Bradford.

Harvey Bradford ThruLines

Harvey was born about 1808 in Plymouth, MA:

Harvey only had two children. Patricia is my second cousin on another line. These relationships are fairly close, so no evealuation is needed.

Samuel Bradford 1755

By the third set of Bradford ThruLines, we are already back to 1755. Harvey was the youngest son of Samuel. Samuel is important as the link between him and Harvey is weak. There is no known birth record for Harvey. Harvey is linked to Samuel through land records.

Robert and Joyce have a 9 cM match. In the expanded view, Ancestry is suggesting I evaluate Robert’s mother and grandfather:

The link between Barbara and her son would be a little difficult to prove. I assume he knew who his mother was. He and his brother are mentioned in an obituary. Barbara is listed as 11 months old in the 1920 Worcester, MA Census:

That is a little at odds with her posted birth of 1917. Here is her birth record:

This also shows that her father was born in Boston:

Oscar Bradford

Someone helped me out by saving this record:

This shows Oscar’s father as Alexander O Bradford. Here is the family on Washington Street, Boston in 1900:

I like how someone did a great job researching this family:

Here is Alexander the father in 1870 in Cambridge:

Too bad all my research isn’t this easy:

Now we have a middle initial and are getting back to Stephen Bradford and Hannah as parents to Alexander.

Here is Alexander W in 1850 in Duxbury:

Stephen Bradford was a cooper. I believe that Stephen’s father Samuel took over his father-in-law Stephen Churchill’s cooper business. So then he likely passed it down to his son Stephen. Here is a record I transcribed:

So easy with all the research others have done. As I mentioned above, Stephen is very important as being the brother of my ancestor Harvey Bradford. Here is some information I already had for Stephen on my own tree:

That confirms the ThruLInes between Joyce and Robert. The genealogy holds together. The DNA adds evidence that nothing got messed up along the way.

I should note that my cousin has a competing ThruLine that traces the lineage up through Harvey Stetson Bradford. I will probably look at that at some time.

Heading Up a Level to Josiah Bradford Born 1724

This is interesting:

Joyce shows 2 DNA matches through William Bradford and 10 DNA matches through an additional Samuel Bradford. That sounds confusing. That implies to me that 10 people got their genealogy wrong or that Joyce matches 10 people that descend from a different Samuel and Ancestry connected the trees in the wrong way (or perhaps a combination of the two).

Starting with William Bradford Born 1749

This looks like the easy part:

This shows that Liz is and Michael are 2nd cousins to each other and that they both match Joyce. Liz and Michael share a common ancestor of Josiah Bradford with Joyce. Ancestry would like me to evaluate these two lines. I’ll start with Liz and create my own tree for her:

Above is the family in Colleton, South Carolina. I’ve got to get them back to Bradford in Massachusetts. Richard’s mom above is supposed to be a Bradford. Here they are in 1880:

According to this Census, both of Amanda’s parents were born in South Carolina. That’s OK, it is still a while to get back to 1724. Here Richard is transcribed as Harven. I suppose for his middle initial.

Amanda’s death certificate is important as it gets us back to Bradford and Plymouth, MA:

That means that the 1880 Census was probably not correct.

Here is the 1850 Census – still in Colleton, S.C.:

So apparently Jesse was the one making the jump from Massachusetts to South Carolina. I wonder where that put the children during the Civil War?

Here is a flowery obituary for Jesse:

Jesse Bradford Born 1790 and Maria

The tree that Liz created has Maria as a Thornton. An Ancestry suggestion has her as Lovell:

I think that I would tend to go with this record, but it doesn’t really matter as I’m trying to find out more about Jesse.

Here is where I have Jesse on my Ancestry Tree:

This is the information for William Bradford born 1749 in Plymouth. William was the brother of Samuel Bradford, my ancestor. The bad news is that there is not a lot of information out there about Jesse. The good news is that the DNA matches give supporting evidence for the trees that we do have.

Michael’s ThruLines

Michael’s tree is not as extensive as Liz’s tree:

The 1910 Census joins Frampton with the Liz’s Wichman family above:

Now, the Other Samuel Descendants on the ThruLines

It turns out that the other descendants, I already know about. They descend either from my great-grandmother Annie Snell Hartley or one generation back. The Mayflower Families, which is one of the best resources for Bradford genealogy, has no birth date for Samuel Bradford. So differences in his birth date would be expected. In either case, he is still the son of Josiah Bradford and Hannah Rider.

ThruLines to William Bradford Born 1686

Now this is going out a ways. But let’s try it:

This shows as two matches for Joyce, but really amounts to one. CH is related more closely through Hannah Bradford. It is just spelled differently in his tree. I’ll try PK’s tree. PK’s tree goes up to Mary Bradford:

I’m not sure if the DNA test goes with the daughter or granddaughter of Prescott. From the ThruLines, it looks like the daughter. This Thru-Line would also support that my line goes up through Harvey to Samuel to Josiah to William Bradford. The ThruLines shows PK as a half 6th cousin. Ancestry doesn’t always get the half relations right, so I’ll check that out also.

I get a bit stuck before 1860 with my own tree:

Here is Charles and his mother in Boston. The father is presumed dead by this time. One tree had this reference:

That same tree has reference to an Averill Family Genealogy Book:

Here is more from the same book:

Here is some more on Daniel Averill from that book:

The section on Daniel mentions no Mary Gardner and no Charles Averill born in Boston. In fact all these children of Daniel are born in New Hampshire. PK’s tree has Charles born in 1845 to a Daniel who was born 1762. That would make Daniel quite old at Charles’ birth. 83? I’ll pull the plug on this ThruLine. There may be a connection, but I don’t see it right now. Another way to look at it is from the top down. William Bradford born 1686 had a son William born 1726, but he died the same year according to the Mayflower Families Through Five Generations.

My Father’s Cousin’s Harvey Stetson Bradford ThruLines

I had mentioned above that my second cousin shows different ThruLines for the same ancestors. I would like to look at this. There are only two Harvey Bradford’s that could be our ancestors. I have one and she has the other. I think mine is right, so I would like to disprove hers.

Here Holly has her line going up through her father Maury to Harvey to Charles Bradford. In the ThruLines I looked at earlier in the Blog, I had this:

That means that they can’t both be right.

My guess in the match between Maury and David is that David’s tree may be right but Holly’s may be wrong. Here is David’s tree in more detail:

For some reason, both trees go through Harvey S Bradford. David’s actual tree stops at Anna Maria Bradford:

Ancestry put the rest together.

A Tale of Two Harvey Bradford’s

Findagrave.com has this information for Harvey Stetson Bradford:

Here is some more on Harvey Stetson Bradford:

Another cousin took this photo:

This is from the Sherman Cemetery in Rochester, MA:

It appears that both these Harvey Bradford’s were born in 1809. Hence the confusion. However, one was buried in Illinois and the other in Rochester, MA.

So I have proven that Harvey Stetson Bradford was not my ancestor. I still don’t know if David above descends from either Harvey. However, as my ancestor only had two children (Henry Clay and Hannah Thomas), I would say that David did not descend from my ancestor Harvey Bradford:

Summary and Conclusions

  • The most important ThruLine I looked at was between Joyce and Robert. They show a DNA match and a common ancestor with Samuel Bradford (born about 1755) who was the father of Stephen on Robert’s side and Harvey on Joyce’s side.
  • It was easy to show the connection from Robert up to Stephen and Samuel based on research that had already been done.
  • I tried to connect Joyce to PK who showed a potential common ancestor in William Bradford born 1686. However, I found too many problems with PK’s tree to make that connection.
  • Finally I looked at Thrulines connecting another of my father’s cousins Maury to David. This showed ancestry to Harvey Stetson Bradford. But I showed that that Harvey Stetson Bradford was not my anctestor. There were two Harvey’s born in 1809. Harvey Stetson Bradford was born in Maine and died in Illinois. My ancestor Harvey (not Stetson) Bradford was Born in Wareham, MA and buried in Rochester, MA.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Where Did David Hathaway (1744-1837) Live?

In a previous Blog, I looked at where my ancestor Joseph Hathaway lived. He was the son of David Hathaway. Here is David and family from the Wareham Town records.

If David left a will or went through probate, that will make things easier for us. I don’t see any such records yet.

David Hathaway in the Census

Here is a David Hathaway in the 1830 Census of Wareham:

There are quite a few Hathaway’s on this page. David is living near Salathiel and Salathiel Hathaway Jr. as well as John Gurney. Here are some more names on the next page of the Wareham Census:

However, the above David could not be the one born in 1744:

This was a man between 30 and 39 with a woman 20-29 and three children under 5 – two boys and a girl. I show later in the Blog that David sold all his Wareham property to the Town of Wareham in 1818. This could be David, son of David (1781-1864).

Here is the 1810 Census:

Here David is between Salathiel and Savary Hathaway. I might as well go back to 1790:

Here is a tax list from 1798. David has 90 or 98 acres of land:

I basically know that David Hathaway lived in Wareham, but I would like a more specific location.

This appears to be a deed for David Hathaway’s father Simon in Rochester:

But now I’m getting ahead of myself. This deed would have been close to when David was born on 14 October 1744. The question would be, if Simon bought a house in Rochester before David’s birth, why is David listed as born in Wareham?

Here are some more Wareham records showing David’s birth date:

Savery’s Will

It looks like Savery (or Savory), the brother of David, left a will:

This is likely the Savery listed next to David Hathaway in the 1810 Census. The will says that Savery was of Wareham. There was more of the will after this. Here is the real estate part of Savory’s inventory:

The total contains other items listed above and not reproduced here. I was hoping that there was a description of where the land was, but I didn’t see one.

To the Deeds

If there were Deeds for David Hathaway, that may be a help in locating where he was. Also I note in the records for Rochester there is a David Hathaway who dies in 1837 and one that dies in 1839. This could make life difficult. The first deed I found looks to be important:

This lists David as both a grantee and grantor which is confusing.

This deed shows that Savery and David were in Wareham and the other siblings were in Rochester. It also mentions that their father Simon had real estate in Rochester, Wareham and Plymouth. The next page relates to the dividing of the property among the three sons and describes that property:

The road that divides Rochester and Wareham must be present County Road:

That perhaps narrows down where to look. There were only so many houses shown along the red shading indicating County Road above. [Edit: I should have gone further down on the map above as the current day Marion was part of Rochester at the time of the above Deed.]

This page said they had it worked out with their father as to what son would get what property. Thomas Savery is mentioned along with a school house, the Hathaway homestead, the Sippican River and the Neck between Sippican and Chokaput Creek.

Here is a map from 1832 that shows a school – possibly the one mentioned in the above deed:

However, this school on a later map is also possibly the school from the Deed:

Father Simon had also previously bought some land from Simeon Wing. My guess is that Chokaput Creek could be the present Cohackett Brook. This seems to be the same as called Cohasset Creek later in the deed. If that is right, then the Neck may be the land between the Cohackett Brook and the Sippican River:

I do notice four Hathaway houses here:

Another interesting point is that the original homestead is said to be on the West side of the road.  So that would be extra credit in figuring out where that house was. Or if it was still standing at the time of the 1856 map above. From what I can tell, Savery gets the old homestead. The above deed was dated 20 April 1790 and recorded later.

The short story is that it appears that Savery gets the homestead and land. David and Simon get land. We don’t know whether any of these three lived in this area or not.

A year after this deed, my ancestor Joseph Hathaway (son of David) bought land and a house in the Pierceville area of Wareham on High Street.

Benson to David Hathaway Recorded 1803

This deed was dated 1797:

Cohasset Brook is mentioned again. That makes me think that David Hathaway was living in this area now. Perhaps this is the branch of the Cohasset? And perhaps the D. Hathaway was David the son of David Hathaway in 1856? [Edit: See later in the Blog. This was actually the home of David M. Hathaway and probably on the Marion side of the Road.]

1805 Deed Recorded 1806 Lettes Jenne to David Hathaway

Lettes Jenne sold land 56 acres of land in Rochester to David Hathaway of Wareham bordering on the land of Joseph Hathaway. I’m not really sure where this land was. Here is where I have Joseph Hathaway:

The Joseph Hathaway who was my ancestor and the son of David Hathaway lived at the top left of the Map above in the house marked R Hathaway (his daughter Ruth).

David Son of David Hathaway Deed to Savery and Alexander Hathaway 1809

This David lived in Vermont and sold land at Horse Neck (current Pierceville, Wareham) to Savery and Alexander Hathaway. This land was also near Joseph Hathaway (shown on the map above).

The next Deed is for a different (not closely related) David Hathaway who was a shipwright (and I believe a merchant) in Marion:

David Sells All His Wareham Land to the Town of Wareham 1818 for $1,000

Here is a Wareham Deed:

In a move that surprises me, David sells his house and land to the Town of Wareham:

There is specific mention of David’s Dwelling House, so it is clear that he lived at this location. He was also near a Brook, Philip, Alexander and Savory Hathaway’s land as well as Levi and George Gurney’s land. John Fearing’s land is also mentioned. This raises some questions:

  • Why would the Town of Wareham want this land?
  • What did David do with the money?
  • Where did David live after this?

Perhaps David went into retirement in 1818. He was born in 1744, so he would have been about 72 at this point. He likely lived with one of his children. However, as per later in the Blog, he may have stayed on where he was.

Here is another deed which is difficult to explain:

From what I can tell Joseph Jenne is leasing a farm where David Hathaway lived. He is also buying David’s personal property. In exchange for this lease and personal property of David Hathaway, Joseph is conveying to the Town of Selectmen a parcel of land. I don’t know if this was an unusual arrangement:

This Joseph Jenne seems like David’s old age plan, “I the said Jenne are to take David Hathaway of Wareham aforesaid and him lawfully bed and board and clothe both in sickness and health during his the said Hathaways natural land and that the said town of Wareham are not to know any expenses on account of said David Hathaway hereafter and furthermore.” This Joseph Jenne (or Jenney) must have been the husband of Meribah Hathaway:

This is likely Joseph in the 1830 Census in Rochester:

In 1830 Joseph would have been about 59 and David about 86. The fact that Joseph was in Rochester tells me he did not remain in the leased house in Wareham. It looks like Joseph should be around the corner from my house also at the Quaker Cemetery. I’ll have to pay a visit:

 

Joseph Jenney to Joseph Jenney Jr

This deed has potential:

…and the said Joseph Jenney also conveys to the said Joseph Jenney Junr the Improvement of a farm situated in the Town of Wareham which I hold by virtue of a lease from the Selectmen of said Town so long as I am entitled to said possesion in consequence of said lease…”

The elder Joseph moves off the leased farm and Joseph Jenney Junior moves in (and updates the surname while he is at it). Here is Joseph Jr in 1830 at age 29:

However, he is listed as living in Rochester. So who was taking care of the Wareham farm? In 1850, Joseph is listed as a sailor but in 1855 he is a farmer. Joseph dies in 1866 in Mattrapoisett and leaves a will, but it doesn’t appear to mention the Wareham farm.

It looks like Joseph Jr. unloaded the farm and other property to his youngest brother David Jenney on 1833:

So now I’m up to 1833, but don’t see a Jenney on the map of Wareham that names people. Also the deed does not specifically mention the Wareham farm, but alludes to it by reference of the previous deed. So what happens next?

Here are some deeds for David:

He is mostly on the receiving end (“EE”) until 1853. David dies in 1855. The last two transaction are for the Estate of David Jenney. David sold some land to John Briggs at the Great Neck in Rochester in 1851 for $3. The second sale to Simmons is for Joseph Jenney’s widow dower in or near the Old Landing in Marion. The third sale also mentions Great Neck.

I underlined the house of Mrs. D Jenney above. Here is the stone at the Old Landing Cemetery in Marion:

I’m following all this to try to figure out what happened to the David Hathaway farm. Did the farm go to Polly or did the lease just lapse?

The Will of David Jenney

I hope to find out more about the David Hathawy property here. This is all I see for real estate:

I’ve managed to lose the David Hathaway farm:

  • David Hathaway sells his land and farm to the Town of Wareham in 1818
  • David’s son-in-law Joseph Jenney who is married to David’s daughter Meribah leases the land from the Town of Marion about 1827
  • The lease goes to  Joseph Jenney Junior and then seems to get lost of lapses

David Son of Salathiel

This deed was with a different David Hathaway and involved the Northerly part of Wareham:

So that seems to be the end of deeds for the elder David Hathaway – my ancestor. There was probably no probate because he sold his house and lands to the Town of Wareham and his personal goods went to his son-in-law Joseph Jenney. For $600 Joseph sells to his son his Plymouth County real estate of every description including:

“…the improvement of a farm situated in the Town of Wareham which Should by virtue of a lease from the Selectmen of said Town so long as I am entitled to said possession in consequence of said lease…”

So, one more link in the chain of the David Hathaway house.

Summary of David Hathaway 1744-1837 So Far

David was born in 1744 to Simon Hathaway. Simon died in 1790 when David was 46 and left David and his brothers land. David’s older brother got the family house which was on the West side of present-day County Road in Rochester. Most of the land of Simon that wend to Savery, David and Simon was on the East side of County Road in Wareham. These lands were in the area of the Sippican River and Cohasset Brook which are probably the same as Chokaput Creek and today’s Cohackett Brook.

David lived to an old age. He sold his land and house to the Town of Wareham in 1808. I assume that he continued to live in this house. Around 1824, David’s son-in-law Joseph Jenne(y) leases the house and property and takes over David’s personal goods and the care of David though he seems to transfer part of that responsibility to his son Joseph Jenney Junior.

On to Simon Hathaway (1711-1790)

I’m starting to run dry on clues for David Hathaway. I’ll move on to Simon. I already mentioned the distribution of his land to his three sons above in 1790 following his death. Simon was actually born in Dartmouth and moved to Wareham before 1719. My notes say that his wife left a will.

The Will of Hannah Clifton Hathaway (1717-1808)

Hannah outlived her husband Simon by 18 years. Here is the first page of her will dated 1805:

Savery gets one? large something:

David gets 25 cents as do most of the other children or heirs of the children. Hannah was said to be of Rochester. I assume that she was still living in the home of Simon which was said to be to the West of County Road, so in Rochester – or possibly current-day Marion.

The last three mentioned seemed to get more:

  • Daughter Joanna gets half of her household stuff and 3/4 of her cash and notes
  • Daughter Dorothy gets the other half of the household stuff and 1/4 of her cash and notes
  • Philip Hathaway who was sole executor gets a cow. Philip Hathaway may be her grandson, son of her son Simon.

Simon Hathaway Deeds

Here are some pretty old deeds. This could take a while. The last deed mentions Simon Jr.

1742 Deed – That Sounds Old

This mentions that Simon was of Rochester but the land was in Wareham and bought for 130 pounds bills of Credit old Tenour.

“…a certain tract or Parcel of Land with the Haying Orchard and Fencing on the Same situate lying + being in Wareham in the County of Plymouth aforesd being the Homestead Land whereon Theophilus Doty formerly lived containing fourty acres be it more or less within the bounds following Viz. Beginning at a large Maple tree standing in a Branch of Cohasset Creek thence South by East Sixty Rods to a Stake thence West Sixty Rod to a white oak bush marked thence East by North about four Rod to a Stake by the East side of sd Way thence East by North fifty six Rods to a Pine saplin mark’d thence on a Straight Line to the maple tree first mentioned. To have and to hold the sd granted & Bargained Premises with all the appurtenances thereunto belonging unto him  …”

It is not clear to me if a house stood on the property or not. The mention of the Cohasset Creek is the most helpful part as it seems to put the property in the area of present-day Cohackett Brook or at one of its branches.

1762 Family Deed at the Great Cedar Swamp

Simon Hathaway’s wife was Hannah Clifton. This deed mentions a cedar swam lot in the Great Cedar Swamp near the Joshua Cowing Homestead being the 33rd Lot in number. Charles Sturtevant and Elizabeth his wife, Timothy Clifton and Simon Hathaway owned a property in common. This deed says how they were going to split it up.  Actually Sturtevant owned half and Clifton and Hathaway owned the other half.

1765 – Another Clifton Deed

Here Timothy Clifton deeds to Simon 10 acres for 40 shillings. This land was originally granted to John Cotton.

1765 – Two Deeds in a Row

In the next deed, Benjamin Johnson of Middleborough sells Simon 57 acres for 51 dollars. This deed must be for land near the original land that Simon bought in Wareham:

Bounded as follows lyning Between Theophiluy Doty’es and William Hunter’s land or land that was theirs Beginning at a pine tree old marked Near the North East Corner of Theophilus Doty’s land and then South Twenty Three degrees East Eighty five Rods to a crooked pine Tree old marked on four sides and from thence East thirteen Degrees North till we come to the Corner of Lemuel Clagon’s(?) and then Ranging by his land While We Come to a White oak Tree near the Brook the ranging as the Brook Runneth Northward to a maple Tree marked and from thence West to a Hake thence North fifty one Rods to a Hake Thence West While We come to the said Clagon’s Corner and then Ranging By his land While We Come to the pine first mentioned

This deed doesn’t mention the name Cohasset Brook, but it appears to be the same brook.

1776 A Revolutionary War Deed

In 1776 Simon purchased a wood lot in Plymouth. This appeared to be just under 180 acres. It was described as Lot 14 and belonged earlier to the heirs of Joseph Bartlett Junior.

The 1798 deed was the one that set off his land to his three sons after his death. The following deeds appear to be for Simon Hathaway Junior as they are after 1790.

More Maps Needed

Here is a portion of a map I had in my cellar from 1855 of Marion:

This is the area that I have been focusing on. In 1855, there was a David M Hathaway living on the Marion side (previously Rochester) and two Hathaways on the Wareham side of the road.

The 1855 Census shows him as a 41 year old farmer:

David M would have been born about 1814. Rebecca Hathaway would have been born about 1788.

The 1850 Census

Here is David M in 1850:

Here is the next page of the Census:

This shows that Rebecca was likely Savory Hathaway’s wife. Here is my 1855 Map again:

In 1850, Savory Hathaway was probably living in the house where J Dean was living in 1855. Savory or Savery was David M Hathaway’s father.

Savery’s father was also Savery and the brother of DavidHathaway, my ancestor. So it could have happened that the house passed down somehow from SImon to Savery to Savery to David M Hathaway. That ‘s the theory.

Here we see David M is the Executor:

The Second Savery Hathaway Will

I looked up Savery in the Probate Index:

Short story, Savery wants his wife taken care of. His house goes to David M Hathaway. The other children get $2 each. He wants his single daughters to have a home to live in. The judge approved this will as no one appeared to disagree with it.

I feel like I’m getting pretty close to finding out where Simon Hathaway lived. One thing that was throwing me off is that the 1858 wrongly shows D. Hathaway on the Wareham side of the Road:

It always helps to have more maps. If Savery willed his house to David M Hathaway, then he must have lived in it previously.

A Closer Look at Savery Hathaway Senior’s Will

The will is confusing as it seems to divide things evenly between the two sons Savery and Alexander. However, in the part where he gives the half to Alexander, he seems to slip in that the house would belong to Savery.

“…+ to live with my Son Savery in the old part of my Dwelling house…”

Here is Alexander’s stone along with his wife’s stone:

I haven’t looked into, but a comment on another photo said that Alexander was a Quaker preacher. I have a feeling that this cemetery is just around the corner from where I live.

That means that:

  • I found David M Hathaway on a map dated 1855
  • He was the son of Savery Hathaway who left the house to David M. Hathaway in his will. This Savery died 1855.
  • The Savery who died in 1855 was the son of another Savery. This Savery Hathaway died in 1811 and wished his wife to live in the old part of his house with his son Savery after the elder Savery died.

Connecting Savery to Simon Hathaway

It was my sense, earlier in the Blog that the Simon Hathaway who died in 1790 left his house to Savery. Savery was the oldest son, so the house should go to him, but where does it say that?

It may help to try to write out the deed:

“We all of us proceeded to Divide the Same as we all acknowledge to have been verbally Directed by our Said Honoured father as follows, first we Began at a Stake and heap of stones standing on the East Side of the Road that parts the Town of Rochester and Wareham and to the Southward of Barn and from there Ranging East Twelve Degrees North Eighty one Rods and an half to a stake and heap of stones in the Corner of a Ditch fence, thence North thirteen Degrees East fourty four Rods to a Stake and heap of Stones which the Southwest Corner of the part hereafter set of to said David Hathaway, and thence Ranging northerly as the fence now Stands between Said David + Savery untill it comes to the Land our Said Brother Simon Bought of Thomas Savery and then Westerly by Said Simon and Said Thomas Savery Land untill it comes to the aforesaid Road, and then Bounded by Said Road to the first bound. All the Land in these Boundaries is set off and assigned to said Savery Hathaway and allso a Small piece of Wood Land on the Northerly part of the Homestead bound from the Southwesterly Corner of a Survey of Land formerly Laid oiut to Savery Crosston, thence a Straight Line to a Stake Bound of Thomas Savery Land a Little Southward of the School house and that part of the homestead Lying northward of Said Line to belong to Said Savery and also a piece of Land Lying Adjoining to Sippican River, in the Neck between Said River + Chokaput Creek Bounded from an apple tree by the Road at the Southerly End of the Barn going into Said neck, thence on a straight Line to Long Stone Standing in the Bank a bound Between two Lots of Meadow, thence Bounded by the Meadow to David Haskell’s Land and by Said Haskell’s Land to the aforesaid Road. and thence by the Road to the first Bound, all of Which Land Meadow, thence Westerly across Said Meadow + Creek to the upland, thence Bounded Bound by the Meadow taking in all the upland in Said neck up to Said Savery Hathaway Land and also a Small tract of Land near to Isaac Savery’s which our Said father Bought of John Busley Bounded as Described on the property Record all of which is Set of to Said Simon Hathaway as his Hole part of portion of Said Estate and we the…”

I’m still having trouble parsing this deed out. It appears that the first part describes the land allotted to David. The middle part starting with “and thence ranging” describes the land plotted to Savery and the homestead which belongs to Savery. The third section appears to start with “and also a piece” which is to be Simon’s allotments. I assume that Simon’s is portion is the furthest South due to mention of the Sippican River. It also appears that there is a North – South boundary between David and Savery’s properties which is difficult to picture. I don’t know how long this North – South  property portion is. Also it may be that the first part doesn’t describe David’s property. It seems to follow a Northern route and then runs into a Southwestern corner of David’s land. That would make me guess that Simon has the Southern parcel, David has the Northern one and Savery has the one in the middle with the house.

Here is my guess:

More on Simon Son of SImon

According to findagrave.com, the younger Simon Hathaway died in 1799 and was buried at the Quaker Cemetery near my house in Marion:

I’ve gone this far, I might as well keep going. When the above Simon died, Philip was the oldest son and didn’t want to break up the land, so he buys out the siblings and his mom basically. That means that the land went to him. However, the land that went to him appears to have been in Rochester, not in Wareham as I would have guessed.

Simon Leads to His Son Philip

Philip died in 1841:

This s getting too complicated. While out of a run I thought of a potentially better approach.

Present to Past Approach

While out on a run, I was thinking of giving up on this Blog, but then came up with a better approach. I’ll look at the Assessor’s Maps for Wareham and perhaps Marion and then go back from there.

Here is the Wareham Assesor’s Index:

The part I want should be around the green box. The West border is County Road. The straight line going North to South must be the railway alignment. This map shows a reservoir:

That reservoir is probably from a Branch of the Cohackett:

Here is Map 65, the next Map going South:

This shows the Cohackett Brook going roughly West to East and North to South in different places. From here, I could look at one of the larger Lots. Lot 1006 is a little over 47 Acres, so I’ll start there. Now I have to figure out how to find that Lot on the Assessor’s Database. If I put in 65 for Mblu (whatever that is), I get Map 65.

I just have to track Eagle Holt Company back through time. Also I note that Ellen Harju is a popular name. There are too many Eagle Holt listings at the Registry. Hereis one for Ellen:

Ellen got the land for back taxes. This is Lot 1009 on Map 64 or 370 County Road:

 However, that was very recent. I’d like to try an older record. I’ll try Lot 1008 on Map 65:

Turns out this was also taken by the Town for non-payment of taxes. The notice mentions book 22390, page 209 at the Registry. All I have to do is find that. I think I found it and it referred to a Plan book 7 page 31. However, that document was a transfer from:

It took a while to figure this out, but I find this useful as it shows abuttors:

 

I just noticed that to the North of the property it says Formerly David Hathaway. The land marked as 2.22 acres was the Lot 1006 that belonged to Eagle Brook that I gave up on. That means that the former David Hathaway Property is Lot 1003, Map 65:

Also on the Barros Deed, they did mention where the Town Line crossed County Road. I can see that on this Assessor’s plan.

Here is Lot 1003:

That appears to go back to this deed:

The Deed mentions a brook in the eastern part of the property. It also mentions Book 8599, Page 349 at the Registry of Deeds:

Patricia got the property from the Resource Financial Group:

One problem is that the above document says the property is at 270 County Road and the Assessor’s Office says it is at 340 County Road.

Resource Financial got the property from Richard DeBord:

This refers to Book 7021 Page 114. I finally figured out how to view a Plan referenced also:

This shows I’m still looking at the right place. This is taking too long. I’m going to pull the plug on this avenue of research.

One ‘Last’ Idea

My last idea is to figure out who the others were living around David M Hathaway. I had good luck in figuring out who David M was. My 1855 Map of Marion shows:

R.F. Hathaway to the NE of David M and A Hathaway to the SE of David M. They should be on the 1855 Wareham Census. The Plymouth County Map shows it differently:

Here is the 1860 Census for Wareham:

The R.F. in the first plan could be Rufus F. Hathaway. Here is the 1855 Census:

In 1855, Rufus is shown living under Alexander Hathaway. Andrew was living under Nancy Hathaway. So that shows two Hathaway houses in Wareham, not three. Joshua Dean is the next one shown on the map going South to the Sippican River.

Here is Rufus:

I borrowed from other people’s trees. Apparently his middle name was Fish. Rufus was the son of Alexander. Alexander was the son of Savery. Savery was the eldest son of Simon and got the family homestead and let’s say 1/3 of the land. Perhaps Savery gave some of his land to Alexander to build a house on.

That leads mean to Savery’s will

Savery Hathaway’s (1739-1811) Will Revisited

Savery was said to be of Wareham at the time of his death. That means that if he lived in his father’s house in what was then Rochester, by the time of his death he had moved across the Road to a different house. Here is the homestead in the inventory:

This was a brief mention, but I assume that it includes all the land associated with the homestead and was a considerable amount for 1811. Another detail is that the two sons lived in different Towns:

Marion Assessors

I notice that David M Hathaway lived adjacent to the narrow area of Marion:

That should be on Marion Assessor’s Map 21:

Here is map 21 with the orientation changed:

There must have been a very large lot 6 as now it goes up to Lot 6Z. My search for County Road gave me this:

My search must have just given me County Road Lots with no numbers I assume that Block is the same as Lot? A search at the Plymouth Registry of Deeds gave many entries for 341 County Road in Marion. By the dimensions given in the deeds, this must be Lot 5:

This works also as it is in the general area I am interested in. Here is part of an 1989 deed:

This refers to a deed from 1972 and an earlier parcel referenced in 1936. Here is the 1936 deed:

This deed refers to a deed of Elizabeth F Hathaway dated March 31, 1938. The later deeds refer to the NE portion of the First Parcel in this deed. At this point I need to look for a deed or a will for Elizabeth F Hathaway. Or the 1920 Census:

Here is Elizabeth on County Road with her husband David F Hathaway, 71 – living in Wareham.

Here is the Deed:

This mentions two parcels. The first is in Wareham and has no house. The second is across the County Road and has a house. I assume that this is where Elizabeth lived.

The 1850 Census for Rochester closes the loop:

This David F Hathaway was the son of David M Hathaway from the 1855 Plan of Marion. Marion was part of Rochester until about 1855, so David M and David F are shown as being born in Rochester. Their Rochester neighbor is Oren Vose.

David F closes the loop as far as people goes and implies a closed loop as to the inheritance of the land, but it would be a good idea to look at David M Hathaway’s Probate. I couldn’t find any but there may be deeds:

This seems to be the only one in the correct time-frame.

First I note that this deed is for Rufus F Hathaway Junior, so apparently the son of the one in the 1855 map. That explains why this Rufus is from Middleborough

Second, I note that David M Hathaway’s mother Rebecca B Hathaway is still alive at this time. Well, this could go on forever, so I’ll stop now.

Summary and Conclusions

  • I set out to find out David Hathaway’s house location. I didn’t find a specific place but narrowed it down to an area of Wareham
  • I did find what appears to be Simon Hathaway’s house location on a map. Simon was David’s father and my 6th great-grandfather (1711-1790).
  • That location was County Road on the then Rochester (now Marion) side. On my 1855 Marion map it was likely the house marked then as David M Hathaway.
  • The use of maps was most helpful in finding house locations. I found comparing maps to be helpful as not all maps are accurate.
  • My ancestor David Hathaway made tracking him difficult by selling all his Wareham lands to the Town of Wareham and giving away all his personal posessions to his son-in-law Joseph Jenne(y). As a result, David had no will and no probate.
  • Tracking David through deeds was helpful, but there were more than one David Hathaway in the area
  • I tried started with current deeds and going back but gave up
  • Given a lot more time and analysis, it may be possible to narrow down David’s house location more precisely.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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A Trip to the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds Part 1

I was off to the Plymouth County Registry of Deeds to record my mortgage discharge. While there, I though I’d check out some genealogical land records for my Bradford and Snell ancestors. In this Blog I’ll look at one of my Bradford ancestors and land they held across from the Training Green in Plymouth.

Harvey Bradford and the Plymouth Training Green

Harvey Bradford born about 1809 is the weak link between myself and Governor William Bradford of Pilgrim fame. One of the best records I have for him is in a land deed. That 1816 land deed connects him to the Training Green in Plymouth:

In my transcription above Harvey was listed in the sale of a house from his family to Henry Bartlett, Jr. This house was on the North side of the Training Green. To the West of the house was a way leading from the meeting house in the Third precinct. To the East was Deacon Lot Harlow Land. It seems with all that description I should be able to find where this house was. I assume that this was Harvey’s father Samuel’s house and where Harvey grew up.

On the way to the Registry, I passed the Green:

Technically North of the Green is at the intersection of N Green and Sandwich. However, the fact that there is a North Green leads me to believe that North could have been to the upper left of the map above.  There are only four houses on North Green Street, so my thought was that the Bradford house could be the one on the corner of North Green and Pleasant.

It was clear to me that this house was a newer one or seriously rebuilt:

I did walk from the bottom of the street to the top. The house at the bottom was the Benjamin Bartlett House from 1726. The next house up was listed as the Jesse Harlow House from about 1800. There were no plaques on the top two houses.

Next, I checked a Fire Insurance map from 1885:

This map shows no house on the corner of Pleasant and N. Green, so the house there now was built some time after 1885.

Also no house there in 1879:

Here’s an 1857 Map of the area:

Now we are back up to four houses on this little Street. That means that the Bradford house disappeared sometime between 1857 and 1879. One interesting thing is that there is a S Bradford at the corner of Commercial and Sandwich. He is surrounded by Churchill’s [possibly Samuel, son of Samuel Bradford?]. I have that Harvey’s father Samuel Bradford married Lucy Churchill. The name on the map above associated with the house I think was my ancestor’s looks like W Straffin or Straflin. This could be the W Straffin:

Looks like he got property from Daniel Gale. From there I go back to 1818:

I picked the Bates to Gale deed because the Street name was blank on both. Now I’m getting lost. [See later in the Blog for the correction.]

The Bradford House Going Forward

I tried going backward from an 1857 Map and got lost. The Bradford House and Land near the Training Green was sold in 1816 to Henry Bartlett Junior. On my trip to the Registry of Deeds I saw that Henry Bartlett Junior turned around the next year and sold the land in 1817 to Joseph Avery.

Hopefully the answer would be in one of these deeds:

However, I wonder if Joseph dies after 1824. Then the land could have been conveyed by inheritance. According to the deed I got at the Registry, this Joseph Avery was a bookbinder.

Deacon Lot Harlow Land Next to the Samuel Bradford Land

I did find a deed on-line for Deacon Lot Harlow from 1805. He was Samuel Bradford’s neighbor:

This was a family transaction:

Short story: this lot was between my ancestor Samuel Bradford on the West and Lazarus Harlow on the East. So I am back to 1805, but no mention of Jesse Harlow. Apparently this house used to belong to Deacon Lot Harlow’s father John Harlow.

How Did Samuel Bradford Get His Land Near the Training Green?

Samuel got this property from Nathaniel Ripley:

Here’s the whole 1793 deed. Only 226 years old:

Apparently Nathaniel Ripley and Samuel Bradford were both mariners. The Bartlett name is here also:

Samuel paid 8 pounds, so this was before the time of the dollar.

Here we learn that this property previously  belonged to Abigail Bartlett who had died. She was the wife of Benjamin Bartlett and received that property after Benjamin died. The wives of Nathaniel and Joseph are also mentioned:

Here is some more on the Bartlett/Ripley connection:

It looks like Nathaniel Ripley was a Captain married to Elizabeth Bartlett, daughter of Benjamin and Abigail. Here is a Reference from the Mayflower Descendant Richard Warren Book (Vol 18, part 2):

I assume that this was the widow’s dower mentioned in the Samuel Bradford deed.

This is also interesting in that there was no house on the property in 1793. Benjamin Bartlett is mentioned in this deed. He is likely the one who built this house on the lower corner:

The garden to the Bartlett house mentioned in the deed must have been to the left of the house. This Bradford deed gives me more certainty that I have been on the right track.

Tracing 7 North Green from Present Going Back in Time

One tedious way to look at this is starting with the Plymouth Assessor’s Office and going back through deeds:

The lot that Samuel purchased was fairly small. This lot is 0.075 acres, so would be a good match. I traced this back to 1948:

There was a hint on this deed:

I’m glad that this deed mentioned a previous deed as Bumpus is not mentioned on the previous deed. So this deed gets us back to Hannah T Weston in 1896. I feel like I am getting closer:

This deed references an earlier deed in Book 409, pages 230-231:

Here I am getting a bit stuck. I’m having trouble finding this Book and Page. Hannah was the wife of George:

This was probably Hannah T Chase:

Fortunately, FamilySearch also has records. Here is Volume 409, page 230:

Page 231:

This page mentions William Straffin which is back where I was a while ago. This was the W Straffin on the map that showed occupants’ names.

Back to the Straffin Deed

This Straffin/Gale deed where I got stuck should be found in Book 164, page 104. A closer read of this deed shows that this is the wrong property. This must be the right one in 1857:

The Straffin/Spear deed shows that Straffin bought this property at auction for $8.50.

Turns out Spear is the administrator for Hannah Bartlett. This could get us back to the Bradford/Bartlett deed. For some reason, this house that Straffin bought was already called the Straffins house in 1857.

I assume that this Straffin house was the one originally occupied by my ancestor Samuel Bradford.

The Bartlett/Straffin Connection

On 21 November 1811 Henry Bartlett married Prudence Straffin. My guess is that this was Henry Bartlett Junior.

Avery/Bartlett Connection

There was a connection also between Avery and Bartlett. On 8 October 1816 Henry Bartlett Junior sold Joseph Avery a house for $1,350. That was quite a bit in those days. Henry’s wife Prudence agrees to give up her dower in the house. In that deed mention is made of Joseph’s mother:

More On Hannah S Bartlett

Hannah apparently died in 1855. A William Harlow applied to be her administrator because Hannah owed him the most money, but the administrator role was awarded to William H Spear. A note on the record refers to her as a:

More On Henry Bartlett, Junior

The Samuel Bradford house on the Training Green in Plymouth got sold to Henry Bartlett Junior in 1816. This Henry Bartlett the second may be the same person here:

It appears that he died in 1827 and Ezra Finney was named administrator. This was probably the same one who sold to Joseph Avery.

That means that I am missing something between 1817 and 1857.

More on Joseph Avery

Joseph Avery was a bookbinder in Plymouth. His father, also Joseph Avery was apparently a clergyman in Holden.

In Joseph Avery’s Inventory of Real Estate, I don’t see the property by the Training Green:

Avery’s Pew

In a custom that has not carried to this day, pews in the Church were sold. This Registry of Deeds record describes Avery buying a pew from Stephen and Lucy Churchill:

This is interesting because Stephen and Lucy Churchill were the parents of Lucy Churchill who married Samuel Bradford. If I have the right couple, they would have been quite old as Stephen was born in 1743 and Lucy in 1745. I don’t have death dates for either person, so this document could narrow things down.

Other Churchill Deeds

This has me wondering if there were other Churchill deeds around this time. Here is one where Stephen sells his cooper shop to Samuel in 1813:

 

However, was this Samuel the father born about 1755 or Samuel Bradford the son born 1788?

It turns out that Samuel’s father-in-law Stephen Churchill was also his second cousin:

Other Legal Documents for Samuel Bradford

I mentioned above that it appeared that Samuel bought the cooper’s shop from his father-in-law Stephen Churchill in 1813. In this 1819 court document, it appears that Samuel Bradford has passed away if I am reading it right. It looks to me that Samuel has an administrator named Bartlett Bradford. I can make a guess as to who these other Bradford’s are. Samuel’s eldest was Lucy. She married Bartlett Bradford in 1807 at First Church, Plymouth. Bartlett’s father was James Bradford. It looks like Bartlett was going after money owed to his deceased father-in-law.

This says Samuel Bradford, but a case near it was in 1825 (vol. 14, p. 62), so possibly Samuel, the son of my ancestors Samuel.

Telling the Story of Samuel and His Property at the Training Green

According to the Mayflower Families Bradford Book, Samuel was the fourth of nine children born between Josiah in 1754 and Charles who was baptized in 1756. That could put his birth in 1755. That birth order was likely derived from another deed:

Growing up, the family lived mostly in Plymouth, but for a while also in Middleborough. Samuel’s father Josiah was originally a mariner but mostly was a cordwainer. On 10 Jan 1757, Josiah Bradford and family were warned from Middleborough. In 1763 Josiah Bradford and family, from Middleborough, were warned from Plymouth. Warning was a way for a Town to get rid of someone they didn’t want – either bacause they were trouble or they needed Town support. The idea was that their home town should be dealing with them and that you couldn’t just move to another town if you were a liability. Here is one court case that mentions Josiah:

There is no date on this case, but it was probably about 1759. Here another case involving someone from “Plimpton”:

This must be the Warning from Middleborough:

No reason is given for the warning other than they are not inhabitants. Here is the warning from Plymouth:

I assume that this warning was ignored or appealed. This would have put the family in a Catch 22. They couldn’t be in Middleborough or Plymouth. This gives me the sense of an unstable home life for the family. Samuel’s father Josiah died in 1777 during the time of the Revolutionary war.

Eight years later, Samuel married Lucy Churchill in 1785. She was one of nine children of Stephen Churchill and Lucy Burbank. Perhaps Samuel was working at Stephen’s cooper shop when he met Lucy. At any rate, Samuel changes his profession from mariner to cooper.

On 26 April 1777, Samuel’s father, Josiah dies. This was an interesting time as it was during the Revolutionary War. That brings up the question of what Samuel was doing during the Revolutionary War. I haven’t found any obvious record of his service in that War. Samuel was listed as a mariner, but apparently got into the cooper business through his father-in-law Stephen Churchill. Samuel married Lucy Churchill in 1785.

Here is some Samuel Bradford family chronology:

  • Samuel Bradford born about 1755
  • 1757-1759 Samuel appears to be living in Middleborough where his father is listed as a cordwainer. Was Samuel’s birth not recorded because they weren’t supposed to be living in Middleborough?
  • 1763 or 1765 – The Mayflower Families Book says that Samuel’s father Josiah was warned from Plymouth in 1763. However, the transcription above says this happened 12 Feb 1765 and that they moved to Plymouth from Middleborough the previous May (1764)
  • 1772 – Samuel’s father Josiah given eighty acres of land by his mother Elizabeth Finney Bradford. The land is to the East of Gunner’s Exchange Pond
  • 1773 Samuel’s father Josiah buys land from Henry Richmond near South Pond where his house is already located
  • 26 April 1777 – Samuel’s father Josiah dies
  • 26 Oct 1777 – Samuel’s mother Hannah becomes a member of the Plymouth Church
  • Lucy Bradford born 1787
  • Samuel Bradford born 1788
  • 19 May 1790 – Samuel’s mother Hannah Rider dies

Other Samuel Bradford Deeds

At this point, I went looking for more records for 1790 and found another deed:

This deed names William Bradford, Cordwainer, Samuel Bradford, Charles Bradford, Zephaniah Bradford, Married Hannah Bradford, Betsy Bradford, Lois Bradford, Mercy Bradford, spinsters all of Plymouth. [But where is Josiah, son of Josiah?] They sold land for 5 pounds to Rosseter Cotton. This land was near South Pond, Plymouth and was 1-1/2 acres. Further mention is that their father Josiah had bought this land from Henry Richmond on Sept 14th 1773.

Here is South Pond which is also a village in Plymouth:

Here is the earlier deed reference:

This is actually quite interesting. The question is why a mariner would buy land from a ‘Husbandman’. The answer is within the deed:

…one acre and a half more or less of land lying near South Pond in said Plymouth being part of my [Henry Richmond’s] homestead, and is the piece of land where said Bradford’s House stands and is all included within fence and is twenty Rods long and sixteen Rods wide at one end and eight Rods at the other end. Being the easterly Part of my said Homestead Lands. – To have and to hold the same, with all the priveledges and appurtenances thereto belonging, (the Dwelling House being his before,)…

The deed suggests a few issues:

  • Why was Josiah Bradford’s house on Henry Richmond’s Land?
  • The deed does not state which side of the Pond the property was on.
  • Why is there no mention of the Bradford house in the 1790 deed?
  • I assume that Josiah Bradford’s children were raised at this dwelling house.
  • I don’t see this deed mentioned in the Mayflower Descendants Books, so in a sense this is ‘new’ evidence’. Or you might say one good deed leads to another.

Here is something on Henry Richmond:

It looks like Henry Richmond had something in common with Josiah Bradford, in that they were both warned out of Plymouth in 1765. This Henry was in Court a lot as a lot of people were trying to get money that Henry owed them.

The following deed is mentioned in the book, William Bradford of the Mayflower:

I had previously transcribed that deed:

I now see Zephaniah Bradford as Mariner (not married). This is for the sale of land to the East of Gunner’s Exchange Pond in Plymouth. Gunner’s Exchange Pond is to the Southeast of South Pond:

This was an important deed. This land was given to Josiah by his mother Elizabeth Finney Bradford in 1772. That deed refers to an earlier deed dated 6 Jun 1727. I haven’t looked up that deed, but apparently Elizabeth’s two brothers gave the land to their three sisters at that time.

Back to Samuel Bradford’s Chronology

  • 1791 – Stephen Bradford born
  • 1793 – Samuel buys land near the Training Green. Was he looking for a shorter commute for his Mariner profession? Samuel apparently has a house built around this time on this property.
  • January 1797 – Samuel and family sell to Joshua Wright and Joseph Samson 80 acres of land that their grandmother Elizabeth Bradford deeded to their father Josiah Bradford to the East of Gunner’s Exchange Pond.
  • August 1797 – Ellen Bradford born
  • 1800 – Hannah B Bradford born
  • 1809 – My ancestor Harvey Bradford born. His mother Lucy was about 41 at the time.
  • 1813 – Stephen Churchill, father-in-law of Samuel, sells his cooper shop to Samuel [probably the elder] Bradford
  • The Bradford house and land near the Training Green is sold on 8 October 1816 after Samuel’s death. That puts Samuel’s death at some time not too long before this date.

Summary and Questions

  • Looking at deeds and legal documents gave a lot more information on the Bradford family, food for thought and future research
  • I feel like I have the right property for the Samuel Bradford House on the Corner of Pleasant and North Green.
  • Samuel bought the land and apparently built a house there sometime after 1793. Samuel’s first three children Lucy, Samuel and Stephen were born before this time. Ellen, Hannah and Harvey were perhaps born in this house.
  • Samuel dies and the house is sold to Henry Bartlett Jr, in 1816 when Harvey is only about 7 years old
  • The next year the land is sold to bookseller, Joseph Avery. He dies in 1822, but there is no mention that he owns this property.
  • What happened to the Bradford family after the death of Samuel Bradford?
  • Looking at deeds gave more information on the Samuel Bradford family and the family of his father Josiah Bradford, including places where Josiah and family had lived