Immigration: Thomas Lord, 1635 ~ 52 Ancestors #7

 

This week's theme is Immigration.

 

I have previously shared a list of some of my Great Migration ancestors who arrived in New England between 1620 and 1635, though the Great Migration period covers twenty years from 1620 to 1640, when the political situation changed in England. The Wikipedia page for the Great Migration has a summary.

One of those ancestors was Thomas Lord, one of the founders of Hartford, Connecticut. There is a lineage society for these descendants, but I am not a member. Thomas's son-in-law, Thomas Stanton, was also a founder of Hartford.

Long Lines of Stantons ~ 52 Ancestors #3

This week's theme is Long Line. I have a lot of colonial New England ancestors and I thought I'd share my Stanton lines in a "Surname Saturday" styled post.

Generation 1: Thomas Stanton (1617-1677) married Anna Lord (1614-1688) about 1636 probably in Connecticut.

Stonington within New London, Conn.
image courtesy Wikipedia

Thomas Stanton has been written about extensively. He likely arrived in Massachusetts in 1635 and was in Hartford, Connecticut by 1636, as one of its original settlers. About 1651, he and his family moved to New London, Connecticut, and a few years later, moved to the area now known as Stonington, Connecticut. He and his family owned land on both sides of the Pawcatuck River which now divides Connecticut and Rhode Island. Many descendants were recorded as living in Stonington, but a few were recorded as living in Westerly, Rhode Island.

One of Thomas's special skills was that he mastered Indian dialects very quickly, which made him very helpful in negotiating with Indians. In 1643, he was appointed Indian Interpreter for all of New England by the Commissioners of the United Colonies.

There is a Thomas Stanton Society which is an organization with membership for those who can show that they descend from him and has a separate membership for those who cannot meet the pedigree requirement. (I am not a member.) Their website provides a lot of information about him and offers many resources for research.

Thomas Stanton died December 2, 1677, and is buried in Stonington. His FindAGrave memorial has additional information about him, as well as the memorials of his ten children linked to him (even though they don't all have burial locations).

Thomas and Anna had ten known children, and I descend from their sons Joseph, Robert, and Samuel.

Sunday's Obituary ~ Mary Stanton Willet, 1834

In doing additional research on my fourth great-grandfather, Jedidiah Willet, I came across a couple of brief death notices for his second wife, my fourth great-grandmother.

The first is from a newspaper in Georgia:

November 13, 1834, Macon Weekly Telegraph, from GenealogyBank.com

In this county on Thursday the 6th inst. Mrs. Mary
Willet, consort of Jedediah Willet, aged 63 years.
Mrs. Willet was a native of Rhode Island, a member
of the Baptist Church. She died strong in the faith
with assurance of a blessed immortality beyond the
grave.

~~~~~~~

Frances Stanton Willet - 52 Ancestors #18

For this week's 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks writing challenge from blogger Amy Crow Johnson of No Story Too Small, I am writing about my third great-grandmother, Frances Stanton Willet who was born on January 20, 1807, either in Connecticut or in Massachusetts (depending on the source).

The 1951 privately published Pyle, Smith and Allied Family Histories states that her parents are Jedidiah Willet and Mary Stanton. The frustrating thing is that I have found no primary source that confirms the birth place. (Her birth date is on her tombstone.) There is no record of a birth of Frances Willet in Ancestry.com's Massachusetts, Town and Vital Records, 1620-1988, nor in the Connecticut Town Birth Records, pre-1870 (Barbour Collection). I do find, in Norwich Vital Records, record of her father's first marriage to Frances Rogers, and the list of their children. This first wife died in 1805.

It appears that she grew up as the youngest sister of several half-siblings, some much older than her. I don't know if she had any full siblings, or if she was her mother's only child.

There is an 1806 newspaper wedding notice for her presumed parents, Jedediah Willet and Mary Stanton, which I shared here.

At not quite 21 years old, Frances (possibly named for her father's first wife?) married Joseph Rose, Jr. on October 23, 1827, most likely in New York City. (Joseph's obituary refers to their golden wedding anniversary celebration in 1877.)

Frances and Joseph had six children:
  Frances Adelaide Rose (1829-1870)
  Josephine Rose (1832-1920)
  Joseph Rose (1835-1905)
  George Lodowick Rose (1837-after 1920)
  William Rose (1840-????)
  Cordelia Maria Rose (1845-1927)

Wedding Wednesday ~ Jedediah Willet and Mary Stanton (1806)

January 28, 1806, issue of the Connecticut Herald (GenealogyBank.com)

MARRIED

At Lisbon, Mr. Jedediah Willet, of Norwich, to Miss Mary Stanton, for the former place.

I believe these are the parents of Frances Stanton Willet (1807-1893), the subject of this week's 52 Ancestors post.