Merry Christmas to you all. May this be a wonderful Holiday for you and yours.
I would like to update you with a few things. Finally, I am enjoying a break; my semester ended December 13th and will start up again January 9th. During my semester, I have had no time at all to do any research. I have met with Professor Gunther, who was recommended to me by Professor Tadros. Prof. Gunther is specialized in the studies of New England and its Colonies. He has recommended a huge list of books for me to read (Ph.D. reading requirement). In order to understand John Lewis of Westerly better, I have to go back to the beginning. In his case, I have to follow what has been said about him. Thus, I am starting in England, figuring out who came over to the New World when and why and what the similarities of those people were. I would like to recommend a book by Virginia DeJohn Anderson, who is doing a great job in taking apart each element and presenting it in a way that will provide a much better understanding as to what moved the people to come to New England, which, let's not forget, was a very different reason then for those that came to the other colonies some time earlier. Her book is titled "New England's Generation, the great migration and the formation of society and culture in the seventeenth century".
Within the book, she examines several families, such as familiar names of Roger Clap, Samuel Cole, Joseph Coleman, Benjamin Cooper, John Cotton, Davenports, Dixsons, Gaults, Samuel Gorton, Greens, Edmund Hawes, Hubbards, Johnsons, Kings, Mathers, Noyes, Paynes, Suttons, Tanners, Tildens, John White, Winthrops, and many many more. She writes about their situation on the ships, such as the Talbot, Abella, Little Neptune, Mary Anne, Hercules, James, Rose, Jewel, Weymouth, Confidence, Sandwich and others. You also find a very clear layout of her sources, which is something very important to me as one can follow those and hopefully end up with the primary source.
Next, as per your request, I will write out a list of names of a book page from the Seventh Day Baptist Church in Hopkinton, Rhode Island, which was the original SDB of Westerly, Rhode Island as I discussed in an earlier blog post. This list will show who belonged to this church in 1718 (perhaps 1728) and will be a help in confirming that certain people were present at the mentioned time in the mentioned "city". I would scan this page and place it in my blog, but I copied it from the original church book and it is not a perfect copy, so I will just transcribe it as best as I can. When something is unclear or not readable, I will mark it with [ ] and in some cases attempt transcribe within the brackets, but shall by NO means be taken as a fact. I will start with quotation marks and copy exactly as it is written, I will not make any spelling corrections. Do keep in mind that this is all handwritten and the person who wrote down the information was not always clear about the information given.
"A Table of the Names of the Brethren & Sisters belonging to the Church of Christ in Westerly observing the Seventh Day Sabbath Westerly 1718 it is in full communion [a different hand writing remarks: "this must have been taken in 1728 see page 26 for names in new list T.B.S. ]
X John Maxson Sr Edr | X Tobias Brand | Elizabeth Harris |
X Joseph Clarke jnr | Thomas Brand | X Bethiah Hiscox |
John Maxson jnr | X Samuel Beebee jnr | Mary Champlin |
X Joseph Clarke Senr | -James Cove | Susanna Babcock |
X Peter Crandall | X Edward Saunders jnr | Elizabeth Davis |
X Samuel Beebee | -Samuel Burdick jnr | Mary Babcock |
X Thomas Burdick | Zack[ ] Ren[ ] | -Lydia Babcock |
William Beebee | Samuel Babcock son of Wi[ ] | -Sarah Landphear x |
X Benjamin Burdick | William Beebee jr | Elizabeth Clarke |
X Joseph Maxson | Silas Greenman | Dorothy Cottrell |
X Francis Colegrove | Tho Wells | Elizabeth Gardner alias Cok[ ] |
X William Tanner | X John Ma[ccarter] was Baptized September the [ ] AD 1750 and under hands | Elizabeth Newberry |
X Israel Lewis | Sisters | Rebeckah beebee alias brown |
X James Halls | Mary Cove | Hannah beebee |
Samuel Clarke | Ann Colegrove | Rachel Roggers |
Nathanial Newberry | Mary Lewis | Judeth Roggers |
Georg Babcock | Judeth Maxson | Bethiah Maxson |
Georg Stilman | X Ann Lewis | Elizabeth Maxson |
Thomas Clarke | X Martha Burdick | Sarah Hall jnr |
Thomas Hiscox | X Charity Davey | Freegift Clarke |
John Witter | -Dorethey Clarke | Jane Loveless |
Samuel Burdick | Tassey Maxson | Mary Satterly |
X Edward Saunders | X Mercy Crumb | Ruth Beebee |
-Oliver Babcock | Ruth Landphear | Mary Rhoades |
X William Clark | Deborah Stillman | X Mercy Babcock |
Jonathan Roggers | Mary Burdick | Mary Brown |
X Georg Brown | Mary Clark | X Jane Clarke |
X Jeremiah Crandall | Mary Tanner | Isbell Bliven |
Benjamin Tanner | Constant Hall | Mary Wells |
X Theodo[fius] Landphear | Sarah Hall | Sarah Eneas |
X Thomas Greenman | Susanna Hall | Indian Betty |
X John Davis | X Priscilla Crandall | X Mary Greenman |
X Samuel Bayly | Mary Clark [jer:hr] wife | Elizabeth Lewis |
John Dodge | Joanna Lewis | Bathshua King |
X Joseph Maxson [jr] | X Elizabeth Davel | X Sarah Nyles |
John Maxson jr:son | Hannah Larkin | Sarah Tompson |
X Peter Barker | Rachel Lanphear | Sarah Lewis |
X John Enos [Sr] | -Mary Lewis | X Mary Crandall |
John Crandall | Elizabeth Brand | X Annah Clarke |
X Jonathan Maxson | Rebeckah Vaurs | X Jean Burdick |
Hubbard Burdick | X Sarah Witter | X Jean Shelly |
Robert Burdick | Elizabeth Larkin | Elizabeth Dodge |
Jean Tanner | ||
X Susanah Barker | ||
Content Maxson | ||
Rob[ ] E[ ] |
(it is read from first column down to second column down to third column down) I do not know what the "x" or "-" in front of some names stand for. I do know, however, that there is another book that goes with this list. I will contact the director of the SDB as he was very helpful some time ago and see if he is in possession of that book as it certainly holds more detailed information, but is not in the possession of the first Westerly (Hopkinton) church. Once I obtain that information, I will share it with you fine people right here via my blog. The next list I will type up is another list of names, however, this one contains maiden names and identifies females with their husbands. Stay tuned ! I will also continue with Jonathan Lewis, where my blog came to a halt due to lack of time.
Please remember, when you copy information off of my site and publish it elsewhere, i.e. Ancestry.com, Findagrave.com, familytree.com, your own blog etc.. , to cite me as your source (my name "Liane" and my blog address). If you would like to receive a copy of the above scanned page, please provide me with your e-mail address either here via a comment or via email to LianeLew@gmail.com. I have a lot more scans I will share openly as time permits. However, if you see a name familiar to you in the above list and wonder if there is more, please let me know and I will check all other scans of the original book. To those who have asked for the above information, I hope it helps a little more in your own research.
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU FINE PEOPLE !!!!
