Ancestors What Shares My Birthday

Nellie Butterfield is descended from a long line of Colonial American ancestors, among them the Deans, who would found the town of Westmoreland, Oneida, New York.  Nellie's grandmother was a Dean - Thankful Dean, who married the physician, Amasa Harrington, and lived and died in Laurens, Otsego, New York.  In fact, Thankful Dean, is buried in the Laurens Village Cemetery, having died on her birthday - April 9th - in 1866.

However, I do not share a birthday with Thankful Dean.  Thankful Dean shares a birthday with my Norwegian great grandfather, Ole Martinsen Fjeld, and is one day short of sharing a birthday with my mother.

No, the Dean that I share a birthday with is Gaius Dean, Thankful Dean's father.  Gaius Dean was born 26 September 1755 in Salisbury, Litchfield, Connecticut, but he would not tarry long.  Most of his life, he bounced between Canada and New York, living in Montreal, Kingston, and the Newcastle District in Canada and in Hillsdale, Columbia and Westmoreland, Oneida, New York.  Gaius Dean died 15 February 1821 in Westmoreland, Oneida, New York.

Gaius Dean served in the American Revolutionary War, enlisting as a private in Captain James Spencer's Company of Albany, New York, a regiment of foot under the command of Colonel Jeremiah Hogeboom.  My great grandmother's great grandfather ended his military career serving as a captain under Brigadier General Robert Van Rensselaer in the Columbia County Militia of New York State.   Of Van Rensselaer's Brigade, it has been stated that "Everything except the soil is destroyed from Fort Hunter to Stone Arabia."

Other Ancestors who share my birthday:  my 3rd great grandfather, Knud Knudsen Stigen, born 26 September 1820 on Ager farm in Lunder, Norderhov, Buskerud, Norway.  But he's not a Tiffany Creek ancestor...

Tags: birthday, Dean, Stigen, Canada, New York, Revolutionary War

Powered by Qumana

Getting to Joseph Bartlett of Newton

I thought it would be helpful to publish a five generation pedigree chart leading to Joseph Bartlett of Newton, then a suburb of Boston, in Massachusetts:

http://www.scribd.com/doc/6213013/Am-as-a-Harrington-Pedigree

Am as a Harrington Pedigree - Upload a Document to Scribd

The line leading to Joseph Bartlett of Newton is highlighted.

Jehosephat Bartlett, Son of Robert Bartlett and Mary (Mayflower) Warren

Debunking Joseph Bartlett...

One such former ancestor is Joseph Bartlett, son of Robert Bartlett and Mary Warren and grandson of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren.  In fact, this is a common genealogy, which you can find on various sites online as well as in family history books.  Don't let me catch it in your family history book!

This particular mistaken lineage is everywhere.

One look at the most recent publication of Mayflower Families, Volume 18 (Descendants of Richard Warren) forever debunks this lineage and, once you have seen the true lineage of Richard Warren and son-in-law Robert Bartlett, there is no going back.

Mary Warren, daughter of Mayflower passenger, Richard Warren, did indeed marry a Robert Bartlett.  However, these are the children of Mary Warren and Robert Bartlett:

1. Benjamin Bartlett, born 1633


2. Rebecca Bartlett, born 1634


3. Mary Bartlett, born circa 1634


4. Sarah Bartlett


5. Joseph Bartlett, born circa 1639


6. Elizabeth Bartlett, born circa 1643


7. Lydia Bartlett, born 8 June 1648


8. Mercy Bartlett, born 10 March 1650/1

"What's the problem?" you say?  "Joseph Bartlett is child number five!"

The "problem" is the Joseph Bartlett born to Mary Warren and Robert Bartlett was born around 1639, five or six years earlier than our Joseph Bartlett.  Furthermore, the Joseph Bartlett born in 1639 was born in Plymouth and never left Plymouth.  Our Joseph Bartlett was a well-known early settler of Newton, Massachusetts, who was known to have been born in England.  Dorset, England, to be exact.  Our Joseph Bartlett lived in Cambridge Village, Newton, Massachusetts until his death on 26 December 1702.

Furthermore, Joseph Bartlett of Plymouth married Hannah Pope around 1662 and died in Plymouth on 18 February 1711/2.  Children of Joseph Bartlett of Plymouth and Hannah Pope are:

1. Robert Bartlett, born circa 1663


2. Joseph Bartlett, born circa 1665


3. Elnathan Bartlett


4. Hannah Bartlett


5. Mary Bartlett, born circa 1672


6. Sarah Bartlett


7. Benjamin Bartlett, born circa 1679


8. Thomas Bartlett, baptized 1683

Joseph Bartlett of Newton married Mary Mercy Waite and had a son, John Bartlett, who married Patience Cady and had a son named Nathaniel Bartlett, who married Sarah Thompson.

Children of Nathaniel Bartlett and Sarah Thompson are:

1. Patience Bartlett


2. John Bartlett


3. Mary Bartlett


4. Lucy Bartlett


5. Sarah Bartlett


6. Nathan Bartlett


7. Submit Bartlett

Our ancestor is child number 5, Sarah Bartlett, who married Ephraim Harrington, who fathered approximately twelve children, among them, the physician and surgeon, Amasa Harrington, who married Thankful Dean.  Amasa Harrington and Thankful Dean are the parents of W.C.D. Harrington, who married Mary Ann "Belle" Parker, who are the maternal grandparents of my great grandmother, Nellie Butterfield.

Jehosephat!

Powered by Qumana

Former Ancestors

I have literally thousands of former ancestors, most of whom I have never heard of I am sure - some of them waiting in the wings for their 15 minutes in the branches of my tree, others whose 15 minutes will find them on the branches of someone else's tree... lying in wait, with a single-minded and tenacious audacity of purpose, salivating over the opportunity for confounding yours truly and anyone else lured into their traps by an obsessive desire to put one more leaf on the tree, reaching into antiquity as the Tower of Babel reached into the Heavens.  The Butterfield tree is full of such creatures.  But....

Like the Tower of Babel, these former ancestors will be struck down!

With relish.

By me.

[Evil laughter in the background.]

Tags: ancestors, former ancestors, Tower of Babel

Powered by Qumana

Tea Leaves and Coffee Grounds

As you will see in the interests portion of my profile, I have an interest in "occult" subjects as well as in family history.  What better place to put an entry in the old folk practice of reading tea leaves and coffee grounds than in a genealogy blog?

Reading tea leaves and coffee grounds to predict the future was - and still is - generally practiced by women and, as it turns out, my great grandmother, Nellie Butterfield, used to read both.  Mother tells me her preference was for coffee grounds, though.

Apparently, the practitioners of this art use shapes formed by the coffee grounds or tea leaves to create a story about the drinker's future, once the drink itself is gone and the dregs remain, of course.  In my opinion, complete nonsense, but possibly an entertaining way to break the ice at a tea party or kaffe klatsche!

Powered by QumanaTags: coffee, tea, future, occult