The 52 Ancestors Challenge, Week 43: "Cause of Death"

​THOMAS CHAMBERLAIN of Groton, Massachusetts, a miller, was my 9th Great-Grandfather. He was killed in Chelmsford on the 11th of May, 1709, assaulted by Israel Procter (Proctor) of Chelmsford, who used a bayonet (then spelled baggonett) or short sword to inflict several mortal wounds against Chamberlain on his side and groin area, who died instantly.

Proctor was subsequently arrested, and pled not guilty. The case went by quickly, as jurors entered a judgment on July 28th of the same year. 

Israel Proctor was found guilty of manslaughter, and sentenced to receive thirty stripes upon his naked body, while being tied to a cart's tail, this following him having been tied to the gallows for an hour, with a rope around his neck. He was also ordered to pay (the amount not readable on the paper) to the widow of Chamberlain for her support.
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30 stripes from a whip, and monetary compensation, for the killing of a man. There must be more to this court case, though I've been unable to find the minutes from this case (there are files available online, but this one was not among them). Two filed testimonies were found: One, by Samuel and Isaac Barnes, who were in the company of Thomas Chamberlain and Israel Proctor (along with Samuel and Joseph Chamberlain, Timothy Adams, and John Read) that day, and testified that there was peace among the two men at the time they departed for home. The other item involved the finding of a piece of neck cloth, one that matched the torn piece found bloodied under the body of Thomas Chamberlain, they being a match to the one that Mr Proctor was wearing that day.

Israel Proctor, the son of Robert Proctor of Concord and Chelmsford, Massachusetts, died 9 June 1755. He was the brother of Sarah (Proctor) Chamberlain, the deceased Thomas' mother.

The widow ABIGAIL (NUTTING) CHAMBERLAIN was six months pregnant at the time of her husband's murder. She gave birth to daughter SARAH CHAMBERLAIN, my 8th Great-Grandmother, on 4 Aug 1709, a week after the verdict was announced. Abigail died some time after 1713 [Middlesex County Probate, File 4200]. ​

NOTE: Of interest is the punishment of "30 stripes" on his naked body, for the charge of manslaughter. There are numerous cases in the early Massachusetts court books [see Record of the Court of Assistants, pg 70, for an example] where people, having only been convicted of adultery (of even found not guilty, but guilty of acting in such a way) would receive 39 stripes from the whip while tied to the cart's tail, lay up in prison, and then receive 30 MORE whippings on the way back to the court house, where they were then discharged. 

Sources:
-Suffolk County Court: File #7783 (on Family Search)
- Court Record #7713 (warrant for holding Proctor in jail), #25013 (bill of constable Jonathan Hill of Chelmsford, who arrested and delivered Proctor), #27946 (Barnes testimony),  #28051 (testimony on a piece of neckcloth)
- Superior Court of Judicature, 1700-1714 (film 945843): pages 239-240 (Family Search)
- A genealogy of descendants of Robert Proctor of Concord and Chelmsford, Mass (pg 5, 8)
- Memorials of the Descendants of William Shattuck (pg 372: Chamberlain Memorials)
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Week 32 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge: "Youngest"

I started his blog entry back in 2014 but never finished, and as it fits so well with the "youngest" theme​, I will now complete the page.

​While working on my WAITE (ie WAIT, WAITT, WAYTE) line, retracing the names and finding the proper sources for all the data (much of which was handed down to me when I was young), I began to notice a trend. For four generations, my direct ancestor was the youngest born in the household, with their parents being well into their 40's in each case. Viewing it on a pedigree chart, it almost looked like there was a generation missing in between the names. However, after filling in the births of all the other known children in each case, the family data looks more solid, and I just happened to have ancestors who were the last to be born in their households.

My WAITE relatives are as follows:

Emily's father, OLIVER WAITT (WAITE/WAIT), was himself the youngest child in his family, the only son of Edward and Rebecca (Oliver) Waitt, born in Chelsea, MA on 9 Jan 1796. He married in Scituate on 3 Mar 1821 to HANNAH ELMS (ELLMS/ELMES), who was born 24 Nov 1794 in Scituate, MA. Oliver died in Malden on 27 May 1863 from old age and paralysis. He was 67 yrs, 2 mos old. Hannah died in Malden on 7 May 1881, aged 86 yrs, 5 mos, 12 das.

EDWARD WAITE, who was born in 1740, didn't marry until he was 42 years of age, with wife REBECCA SALE  being just 20 days shy of her 33rd birthday. When her son Oliver was born, she was 47 years old and her husband was nearing 56. Not sure why they married "so late" in age, but their first child being born five months after their wedding may have had something to do with it. He may have been the Edward of Chelsea who served in numerous enlistments from 1775 to 1782 throughout the Revolutionary War.

ROBERT WAITE, the father of Edward, and son of JOHN and SARAH (MUZZY) WAITE, was also a youngest child. If he was born ca 1695, as the genealogy shows, he was 45 years old when Edward was born. The birth year of his wife MARTHA BREEDEN is not proven, but she may have been the one born 24 Feb 1696/97 [research still needed on this line].

The research continues...

This family has been in print, in the New England Historical and Genealogical Register in 1878, and as its own book (from the same author as the article) in 1913, both of which are available on archive.org:
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New England Historical and Genealogical Register, Vol 32 (April 1878)
Corey, Deloraine P. The Waite Family of Malden, Massachusetts. Malden: 1913.

"Another Language" is the #52Ancestors challenge for Week 20. For me, searching through the Irish Catholic Parish records, LATIN is that other language. 

One of my Irish ancestors, JOHN CONDON, was born in County Waterford in March 1834, according to his own statement on his naturalization application [Rockingham County Sup Jud Crt, Oct 1866]. With that information, along with the names of his parents (Pat. and Hanora on 1st marr rec; Patrick Condon and Hannah Helant, on his 2nd marr rec; death rec says Patrick and Hannora Helar), it was off to search the Parish Registers!

With the records written in Latin, normal name searches didn't work well, but luckily, surnames aren't latinized, so a broad search could still be done. The above image was found in the Parish records of Cappoquin, in the Diocese of "Waterford and Lismore". It is a baptism for "Joannem" (John) on 23 Martii (March) 1833. Though a year off from his own stated birth date, the parents names of Patritii (Patrick) and Honorae (Honora) are a match, and the mother's surname of Hyland can certainly be misconstrued as Helar or Helant.

​I know that John had at least two sisters, Ellen (b. ca 1832) and Hannah (b. ca 1838-1842), based on Lowell, MA VR. I have yet to find either in the same parish registers for Cappoquin. I did find an Ellen baptised in 1830, but her parents were listed as Patrick and Honora Flynn. Nothing for Hannah has been found yet. There may also be a sister "Mariam", who was baptised in 1828, her mother shown as Honora Heelan (indexed as Keelan, though there are other Heelan names mentioned in same community).

No marriage records for a Patrick Condon and a Honora Hyland (Helar, Helant) has been located. 

Below are two records showing the spelling variations of Hannora's maiden name.

​Links:
National Library of Ireland: Catholic Parish Registers
NLI: Diocese of Waterford and Lismore: Cappoquin
​Other blog entries on the Condon family:
Family of Patrick Condon
Condons of Creek Street, Portsmouth, NH 

"The Old Homestead", Week 13 of the #52Ancestors Challenge

​While I have researched many locations where my ancestors once lived, with some of the old homes still standing to this day, I will write about an early family in my genealogy, as I was working on these maps when this challenge was announced.

The section of land in Chelsea, Massachusetts that would become Revere and Winthrop was known in the late 1600's as "Pullen Point", and was a part of Boston until 1739. James Penn, an early settler, owned this property by 1643. In his will, dated 29 Sept 1671, he left his land on Pullen Point (as well as other holdings) to PENN TOWNSEND, who was the son of Hannah (Penn) and William Townsend (my 9th Great-Grandparents), Hannah being James' sister.

Penn Townsend, in turn, would will this property (and other real estate) over in 1721 to his two daughters: Sarah, wife of Ebenezer Thayer, and Ann,  the wife of JOHN SALE. They actually only had a "life interest" in this land, and a house on Tremont Street, as the land would pass to their children after their decease, according to Penn Townsend's will. This prevented them from selling the property, and there were several court cases involving this from 1739 to 1742, when they were finally allowed to sell the Tremont St house, the funds to be used in repairing the farm in Chelsea.    

The land no longer being held by any of my direct ancestors, I haven't researched any deeds involving John Sale and his children, so I do not know for how long the former land of my 8th Great Grandfather Penn Townsend stayed in the family.

Below is a current map of the Revere, MA area, showing the approximate area (in red and blue) of the old PENN estate of 1643(?) to 1671, TOWNSEND estate of 1671-1721, and SALE estate of 1721-1830's. With so much of the wet lands now filled in, it is difficult to get an exact outline (and I can't draw curvy lines too well in Paint), but it is close.

EMILY JANE BROWN, my Great Great-Grandmother, was born in Kittery, Maine on 14 June 1864, the daughter of James W. and Emily (Waitt) Brown. Her parents had just married a year prior in Malden, MA, and they returned there after their daughter's birth. It was here that she likely married JOHN KRAMER on 28 Mar 1889 [date in family p.work, rec not yet found]. He was a widower, and had four young children, having moved up to Malden from Colchester, Connecticut, to find work at the Boston Rubber Shoe Co. Following the birth of their first daughter, he and Emily returned to his home town, where they would have five more girls born to them (one would die at birth).

Some time between 1898 and 1900, Emily returned to Kittery with her five daughters, and John remained behind in Colchester. She lived with her parents and sister, May Brown, at Locke's Cove. 

She came down ill in Nov. 1909, according to the local newspaper, and she would die from tuberculosis on 8 Dec 1909 at her parents home in Kittery. She was only 45 years old. She would be buried in Orchard Grove Cemetery.

The above photos were taken at Oak Bank, or Locke's Cove, in Kittery, Maine [note: these pictures were received by me in low resolution, so it is not possible to zoom in and try to identify who is who]. Aunt May Brown is likely one of the adults, and perhaps Emily is the other older female in the boat. 

The children of John and Emily (Brown) Kramer were:
i. Estelle Maude Kramer, born 8 Jan 1890 in Malden, MA
ii. Martha Louise Kramer, b. 9 Jul 1891 in Colchester, CT
iii. (daughter) Kramer, b and d. 20 Aug 1892 in Colchester, CT
iv. Helen Kramer, b. 4 Sept 1893 in Colchester, CT
v. Verna Brown Kramer, b. 31 Oct 1894 in Turnerville (Hebron), CT
​vi. Hazel Irene Kramer, b. 7 Oct 1897 in Colchester, CT

Earlier blog pages:
Brown - Locke's Cove
​The immigration of George Kramer and Mary Fedder (John Kramer's parents)