Week 27 of the #52Ancestors Challenge - "Independence"

​On the 14th of March, 1776, the Continental Congress passed a resolution, recommending that all persons "​who are notoriously disaffected to the Cause of AMERICA, Or who have not associated, and refuse to associate, to defend by ARMS, the United Colonies, against the Hostile Attempts of the British Fleets and Armies." be disarmed.

In response to this, the Committee of Safety in New Hampshire passed a resolution on 12 April, 1776, requiring the selectmen of each town to gather signatures from all males above 21 years of age, excepting "Lunaticks, Idiots and Negroes", and to report to the Committee or the General Assembly all those who refused to sign. Those opposing this ASSOCIATION TEST were not necessarily pro-British, but included ministers and Quakers whose religious beliefs were anti-war. Some men who were currently serving in the army may have been missed as well, and the reports for some towns are fragmentary or missing (or never turned in).

Below are the names of my ancestors found in these Association Test lists. Some were already veterans of the war, and others would later enlist. A lack of information and/or common names will prevent me from knowing what, if any, service, the others may have been involved in.
​

BARRINGTON - John Blake (1716-1816), my 7th Great-Grandfather

BRENTWOOD - Samuel Lock (Locke), my 6th Great Grandfather (1740-1818)

HAMPTON - John Taylor (1711-1796)

NEW CASTLE 
Christopher Amazeen, 5th Great Grandfather (1737-1823)
David Mitchal (Mitchell) Jr, 5th Great Grandfather [a "Jr", but his father David isn't seen on the list]
Isaac Pridham, 5th Great Grandfather (1746- )
Benjamin Yeaten (Yeaton), 5th Great Grandfather (ca 1724-1785)
Richard Yeaton and son Richard Junr (under list of refused, but he was serving in the army at the time)
[Missing from the list are 6th Great-Grandfather Henry Tredick, and 5th GGF Joseph Amazeen (ca 1736-1825)]

NORTH HAMPTON - "Frances" (Francis) Page, 6th Great Grandfather (1724-1802). Son Coffin Page would have aged 21 at this time, so should have been a signer. He had already served in the army, and would reenlist.

NORTHWOOD - William Blaake (Blake), 6th Great Grandfather, and son of John Blake (on Barrington list above)

PORTSMOUTH - Nathaniel Lear

WAKEFIELD - Only one "Joseph Leavitt" was found on the list of this town, so the other one (either the father or son) was probably still in Exeter (listing for this town not complete), or was serving in the army.

Sources:
New Hampshire Provincial and State Papers, Volume 30 [on archive.org]
Wilson, Emily S. Inhabitants of New Hampshire, 1776. Baltimore, MD, USA: Genealogical Publishing Co., 1993 [on Ancestry.com, this is same data as above NH State Papers, but listed in alphabetical order by surname]

WEEK 25 of the #52Ancestors Challenge - "Same Name"

"JOHN TAYLOR", of the Hampton, New Hampshire family, had a daughter Sarah, who is seen in records [Desc. of Jasper Blake] as the wife of William Blake of Epsom, Northwood, and Barrington, NH. Their daughter Mary (or Molly) Blake would marry Simon Dow of Rye, Hampton and Gilmanton, NH, and they would name one of their sons:

JOHN TAYLOR DOW, first of his name, was born in Hampton, New Hampshire on 18 May 1788. He died in North Hampton, NH on 9 June 1851, and was buried there in the East Cemetery. With first wife Deborah Page, whom he married on 10/18 Dec 1807 in North Hampton (also recorded in Gilmanton, NH town records), they had six children, including son:

​JOHN TAYLOR DOW, born 31 Mar 1812 in Gilmanton (or Hampton) NH. He was married to Martha Ann Locke in 1835, and would later move to Newington, NH. He died of pneumonia on 12 Apr 1874 in Newington [NH VR], burial place unknown, but perhaps the Newington Cemetery. They had only one known child:

JOHN T. H. DOW (unknown what middle initials stood for), born about June 1842 in Newington, NH. He died in Hampton, NH on 12 Apr 1904, and was buried in the "Hampton" (probably High Street) Cemetery [NH VR]. He had married, on 29 July 1866 in Newington, to Mary Ann (Riley) Leavitt. They had 2 children, daughter Ida May and son:

JOHN TAYLOR DOW, born 8 Nov 1869 in Portsmouth, NH [NH VR]. He had nine children with his wife Dorothy (Yeaton), who he married in 1889, and all of them grew to adulthood, except one:

JOHN TAYLOR DOW JR, who died of whooping cough on 23 July 1910, aged 11 months, nine days [NH VR]. He was first buried in Harmony Grove cemetery on 26 July [Ports. Herald, 7/27/1910], but his death record filed by the New Castle, NH clerk on 17 Aug shows him being buried in that town's Riverside Cemetery on that later date.

Of John T. and Dorothy (Yeaton) Dow's children, seven of them were sons. Only one would have a male child born unto them, and this son was so named to honor the elder John T., who had passed away a couple of years earlier.

Though the naming pattern slightly changed with the next generation (that would be me), I revived the old family name when my son was born, some 200 years having past since the first John Taylor Dow was born. 

[note: no dates posted for my living relatives, though a genealogist can probably figure it out :)]