From the Records of the US Customs Service (film 4719444) : Portsmouth, New Hampshire Crew Lists
​
The Brig FIDELITY, under Master William J. Amazeen, sailing from Portsmouth, NH to Bermuda, carried the following crew members, as reported to the customs collector (J. Ladd) on 9 January 1816.

Six of the eight men were from New Castle, NH, including my 4th Great-Grandfather, 37-year old Nathaniel Pridham. The others were:
Master William J. Amazeen; John Frost; Benjamin Kinnear, age 24; Joseph Amazeen 3rd, age 21; William Fernald, age 28; Enoch Carter of Newtown, age 30; and Richard Perry of Kittery, age 22.
​  

​Link to full image on Family Search: Fidelity (10 Jan 1816)

"WINTER" is the Week 49 prompt of the 52 Ancestors Challenge

​JOSEPH AMAZEEN was my 6th Great-Grandfather, and he perished during a winter storm, lost close to his home in New Castle, New Hampshire one evening. The New England Historical and Genealogical Register [Vol 9, pg 221 July 1855], in a follow-up to an earlier article on the Brown family (Joseph married Hannah Brown), printed the following about the incident:

No source was given for this story, and this 1855 recollection is the earliest I have seen it in print. Perhaps it was family lore, passed down through the generations.

While the above note lists his date of death as unknown, the town records of New Castle, New Hampshire do narrow it down. The annual town meetings, when officers were voted into service, took place the first week of March. In 1754, Joseph Amazeen was elected constable and he was later presented with the tax lists, dated the 20th of August, 1754, from which he needed to collect the province and parish taxes from the inhabitants. In November (on the 4th and 7th, respectively), both he and son Joseph Jr were listed in the 1754 abatements [NCTR, Vol 7, pg 40], though no monetary amount or reason was listed. He may have been deceased by then; if not, he was so prior to 1 February, 1755, when the final tax collection was due [the back side of this sheet of paper also listed him as deceased - NCTR Vol 6, pg 50]. When the new constable/tax collector was voted in for the year, he also received a list of the rates "remaining uncollected from Constable Joseph Amazeen" [NCTR Vol 6, pg 41,43]. His wife, Hannah, would be listed as a widow on the 1755 tax list [NCTR, Vol 7, pg 56].

Joseph probably didn't own any land in New Castle, as no deed has been found in his name. In his father's will [link in notes below], Christopher wrote that his son "shall dwell & enjoy the apartments of house he now dwells in", keeping the place until sons John and Ephraim came of age [Joseph was also supposed to be executor of this will, which was dated 2 years prior to his death]. The widow Hannah Amazeen, in tax lists for several years following, was listed with a son and "a place", though the latter was stricken off the original lists, and she was abated for her taxes. She would later be seen, in a 1777 inventory listing, with just a cow. There is no probate for Joseph, though a newspaper ad printed in January of 1765 by Abraham Trefethen and Mescheck Bell of New Castle, asked those with claims against "Joseph Ammazeon" (and Jonathan Martin) to come forward. Perhaps there was a court case involved for the collection of his bills, though I have yet to check those records [not available online as of this writing].  

JOSEPH AMAZEEN, the son of Christopher Amazeen [see note 1], was born about 1709 [1725 Tax List of New Castle, "Xtopher and son" taxed]; died between 8/20/1754-2/1/1755. He was married, on 27 Jan 1732 [Hist of Hampton, pg 619], to HANNAH BROWN, dau of Samuel, of Hampton, NH. She died circa Sept 1798, aged about 85 years, at New Castle [NEHGR: Vol 9, pg 221].

Four known children, all listed in will papers of their grandfather Christopher [note 2]:
i. JOHN AMAZEEN, baptized 30 Sept 1732 [NCTR Vol.7, pg 17]; died in 1818, aged 85 [NCTR: Vol 3, pg 272]. Married MEHITABLE (surname unknown), b. 1736; d. 1792, aged 56 yrs [NCTR: Vol 3, pg 272].

ii. EPHRAIM AMAZEEN, b. abt 1734 [based on 1750 Tax List, when Joseph was taxed for himself and two sons]; d. bet 13 Oct 1804 (date of will) and 20 Feb 1805 (will proved) [Rock County Probate, Vol. 36 pg 78]. Married 24 Nov 1756 to ABIGAIL JONES [NCTR: Vol 3, pg 250].

iii. JOSEPH AMAZEEN, b. abt 1737; buried 16 June 1824, aged 87 years [NEHGR: Vol 83, pg 30]. Marr 1st to DORCAS (surname unknown); Marr 2nd to Mrs SUSANNAH SHANNON, 24 Nov 1799 [NCTR V.3 pg 274]; 3rd to LYDIA THOMPSON, 21 Dec 1821 [NH VR] 

iv. CHRISTOPHER AMAZEEN, bapt'd 24 Apr 1737 [NCTR: Vol 7, pg 17]; died abt 15 Mar 1823 [Portsmouth Journal, 3/15/1823 "In New Castle, Mr Christopher Amazeen, aged 82"]. Married MARY TREDICK, probably prior to 1762.

​Notes:
​1. In March 1717-18, Christopher Amazeen and James March were in court "for living with and entertaining those women by whom they have had bastard children" [Gen Dict ME & NH, pg 457]. Martha Moore/More was summoned into court, and was living with Christopher in 1720 [GDMNH, pg 488]. I haven't looked into court case yet, but she is said to have been the mother of Joseph Amazeen.
2. If there were any daughters born to Joseph and Hannah, they are currently unknown. The will of Christopher Amazeen [NH State Papers, Vol 34, pg 212] list none. Unfortunately, there is a 10-year gap in the New Castle records for marriage notices (ca 1759-1769) so, had there been female children, they likely would have married around this time (as Joseph, with wife Dorcas, probably did, and her maiden name remains unknown).
​
Links:
[NCTR] ​New Castle, NH Town Records [I listed the volumes in this earlier blog post w/ links to Family Search pages]
New England Historical & Genealogical Register [Vol 9 on Google Books]
New Hampshire State Papers (40 volumes) - numerous copies hosted on archive.org [UNH scans here]

Week 47 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge - "Thankful"

​THANKFUL, I truly am, for the availability of records that are online these days! Gone (for the most part) are the days of driving up to Concord, hoping to find an empty metered parking spot (good luck with that if the State House was in session), and signing up to use a microfilm reader at the State Library. The race was then on to find and copy as many records in the allotted usage time, with hopes that no one else will arrive and want to use the same machine, if the others were also taken.

One of my key research areas was the town of New Castle, New Hampshire, where a great many of my ancestors had resided. With there being a large amount of records pertaining to this town on microfilm, I spent a great deal of time copying or printing out hundreds of pages of tax lists and town meeting notes. These same films are now available for viewing on Family Search, making the process of revisiting these old families much easier! 

That said, I made myself (well, and anyone else that comes across this page) a listing of the volumes of records available for New Castle, with links added for ease in finding the different books contained on the films. Currently only browseable, perhaps they'll be indexed online some day. Now, THAT would save time!
​

NEW CASTLE, New Hampshire Town records, 1690-1899  [Family Search]

Volume 1 is a transcript of
vol. A town records 1693-1707
vol. C town records, lot layouts for 1709-1725

Volume 2:
vol. M fragments of town records 1696-1829
vol. B fragments of town records 1698-1735 [begins on pg 47]
vol. O town records 1699-1839 [page 305]
vol. L town records 1715-1829 "on 160 slips of paper" [page 355]

Volume 3:
vol. D town records, 1756-1807; vital statistics 1805-1854 [begin on pg 118]
vol. I vital statistics 1762-1858 [pg 240]

Volume 4:
Vol. N town accounts 1701-1849 
Vol. E town accounts 1770-1815 [starts on pg 191; with Thomas Bell account book, 1774]
Vol. F town records 1809-1839  [starts on pg 353]

Volume 5:
vol. G inventories and tax records 1812-1822
vol. H inventories and tax records 1823- 1825 [begins on pg 624]

Volume 6:
vol. K tax records 1690-1770 ("333 loose papers", numbered in chrono order and entered into book)
The date listed in front of volume is wrong, as records extend into the 1820's on this film

Volume 7:
vol. P tax records and inventories 1700-1836
vol. J town accounts 1712- 1826 [begins on pg 223]

"Work" is the subject for Week 36 of the "52 Ancestors Challenge"

Many of my ancestors lived on the small island of New Castle, New Hampshire, at the entrance of the Piscataqua River, a community made up primarily of mariners and fishermen.

I found this interesting "memorial" or petition, sent to the United States Congress on 15 February 1839, from the citizens of New Castle [Congressional Serial Set Vol. 340]. At that time, there was a law in place which paid a bounty to vessels engaged in the cod fisheries, the funds paid to help offset the costs of business (including the long periods of time at sea and the costs of the salt needed to preserve the fish). In 1839, Congress had a proposition to repeal this law, which would have greatly affected the livelihood of the local fisherman here. So, the townspeople signed and sent off the following:

​These are the 64 names from the above "memorial", with additional notes added:
​

NOTES:
- According to the 1840 census, there were 742 persons living in New Castle, far less than the "nearly one thousand" as written in the opening paragraph. Of this number, the occupations of the work force were listed as: "navigation of the seas" - 95; "agriculture" - 16; "commerce" - 5; "manufacturers and traders" - 9; "learned professions and engineers" - 1.
​- Absent from the list are any Pridham or Meloon names, both surnames represented in town by direct ancestors of mine (and were mariners).
- The Amazeen and Yeaton families, having been on the island since the 1600's, are all related to me in one way or the other, whether it be a "5th Great-Uncle" or "1st cousin, 5x removed"", etc. Intermarrying with the other early settlers, probably 3/4 of the list are blood relatives and are somewhere in my family tree.   

"Cemetery" is the Week 17 challenge for #52Ancestors.

Since the passing of my grandparents in 1979 and 1980, I had always accompanied my family on many trips to the Riverside Cemetery in New Castle, New Hampshire, to visit their graves and refresh the flowers kept there. Having not yet delved into my paternal ancestry at that time, I had not known that many of my ancestors were buried there, and I had been walking by them for so many years. 

The following are the grave stones of my direct ancestors which currently stand in Riverside Cemetery. There are other relatives here that do not have stones, nor are their plots known. The amount of cousins buried here number in the hundreds, with the family names of AMAZEEN, LEAR, MELOON, PRIDHAM, and YEATON being a part of this community since the 1600-1700's.  

Nathaniel and Keziah Lear, my 5th Great-Grandparents.  He died on April 5, 1824, Aged 57. She died April 6, 1844, Aged 78. Considering the dates of death, they were likely buried elsewhere, perhaps on their old property, and moved to this cemetery after it was opened.
See also: Nathaniel Lear of New Castle, NH 

My 4th Great-Grandparents:
William A. Meloon, 27 Nov 1795 - 27 Nov 1842
The son of Abraham (Abram) and Elizabeth (Marden) Meloon
Mary (Lear) Meloon, his wife, 25 June 1800 - 28 Feb 1873
The daughter of Nathaniel and Keziah (Amazeen) Lear

Note: ALL of these photos were taken by me, between 2008 and 2012, and I have posted many of the same ones onto "Find a Grave", and also to my Flickr account. Some of them have since found their way onto Ancestry family trees, which is fine, so long as an original source is indicated. So, to my cousins who have found their way here, I say "Hello!"

Update: Since starting this page two weeks ago, I traveled down to New Castle, and revisited the cemetery. Glad to see the Barnabus Yeaton stone is upright again!