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Must Comply with Law

11/1/2020

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Week 50 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge - "Naughty"
I still have a few entries unfinished from my 2018 run of this challenge, so thought I'd post this quick one.
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The above was found in the Portsmouth Herald newspaper, printed on 5 May 1902 (pg 6). It seems my Great-Great-Grandfather JOHN KNIGHT got himself in trouble for keeping one of his children out of school, probably to work on the farm. The fine of $10 and his court costs were suspended, though. Considering that the local police departments took part in many annual summer outings held at his farm out on Fox Point, things may have been a bit awkward for the parties when the next event came around.
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Here is the family in the 1900 Newington, Rockingham, New Hampshire census, on 15/16 June (pg 8B). Annie would have been 16 years old in May 1902, so it was likely one of the boys.
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Joseph Amazeen of New Castle, NH

12/2/2018

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"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:
He was frozen to death one stormy night losing his way, within a few rods of his own door, having worn a path in a circle round a tree in the snow trying to keep warm, date unknown.
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].  
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New Hampshire Gazette, 11 Jan 1765

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]

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Town Records of New Castle, NH

11/19/2018

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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]
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Sports

10/14/2018

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Week 41 of the 52 Ancestors Challenge - "Sports"

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"John Knight Meets George
Duntley on the Islington
Street Alleys
"

This newspaper clipping is from the Portsmouth Herald, dated 13 August 1914, which involved my Great Great-Grandfather John Knight, in a bowling alley challenge against George Duntley. The latter was a Greenland painter, and was aged 56 at this time. John Knight Sr. was a 70-year-old farmer (representing Newington, though he had already moved to Portsmouth by then), but apparently could hold his own on the alley.

Thankfully, I have a photo of John Knight in his farming clothes (though taken at least a decade earlier than this event), so it is amusing to picture him tossing the candlepin balls down the lane in his overalls while wearing his "heavy pair of boots".

I've no clue if a score of 156 for three strings is any good, but HE WON!
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John Knight Sr, with son Billy (date unknown but ca 1900)
Note:
There is a possibility that it was John Knight Jr who was the bowler, but he would have been only 25 in 1914. As competing against someone (Mr Duntley) twice his age wouldn't have seemed right, I believe it was the John Sr. who ruled the lanes that day.
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The Fishermen of New Castle, N.H.

9/3/2018

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"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:
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​These are the 64 names from the above "memorial", with additional notes added:
​
Joseph J. Amazeen
Richard Bickford
John Tarlton
John T. White
Edward Curd (Card)
Thomas Tarlton
Edward T. Yeaton
Joseph Yeaton
Christopher Amazeen
Henry T. Frost
Thomas F. Foye
Robert White
Thomas Tarlton, 2d
John Bickford
J.M.T. Vennard [Jonathan M.T.]
James N. Tarlton
Rufus Preble
Edward Martin
John Yeaton  [3rd Great-Grandfather]
John Amazeen
William Yeaton
Benjamin Batson
John R. Yeaton
Benjamin White
William Kimean (Kinnear)
Henry T. Tarlton
John Martin
Nathaniel J. Yeaton
Nathaniel White
Theodore W. Frost
William Tarlton
​Robert M. White

Joshua Bickford
Benjamin Amazeen
William Amazeen
B. Yeaton  [Barnabus Yeaton - 4th GGF]
Jonathan Locke
John Tarlton, 3d
John Trefethen
Benjamin Yeaton
William Amazeen
J.W. Bickford [Joseph W.]
Ephraim Amazeen
Calvin Davis
Samuel Batson
John Campbell
Zacheus Vennard
John White
Nathaniel Baker
Nathaniel B. White
Benjamin Curtis
William Wilson
Richard Neal
Charles Cole
Nathaniel Lear
Alfred Amazeen
Philip Yeaton
George Tarlton
Benjamin Bell
William B. Amazeen
Joseph F. Amazeen
James Hanscom
Benjamin Oliver
​William B. Gerry

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.   
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