Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Mystery #11: William and Mary

William Hincksman resided in Marshfield, Massachusetts during the 1650's. He appears in Town Minutes in 1658, around the same time that an Edmund Hincksman disappears from those minutes. Most Hincksman family researchers have identified this William as the son of Edmund and as the husband of a Mary Philberd.

According to Boston records, a William Hinckesman and a Mary Philberd were married on 20 November 1652. That couple had two known children, born January 1653 and December 1665 in Boston.
[Records relating to the early history of Boston; Boston Registry Department, pp. 39, 41, 51.]

The names and dates of birth of the children of the Marshfield couple were: Hannah (Sept. 1658), Joseph(Feb. 1660), Fortunatus (July 1663), Elizabeth (Oct. 1665), Elnathan (Jan. 1670), and Edmund (Apr. 1670). (Obviously the dates for Elnathan and Edmund are incorrect.)
[Source: Mayflower Descendant: a quarterly magazine of pilgrim genealogy and history, vol. 2; pp. 4, 7, 111, 112, 182. Massachusetts Society of Mayflower Descendants.]

Could this be the same William and Mary? It is quite logical to assume that this is the same couple for at least three reasons: 1) colonial people seemed to move around quite a bit, 2) there were a number of Hincksman individuals living in Boston at the time, and 3) no such marriage is found in old Marshfield records. However, when one notes that the the Marshfield William and Mary had a child born October 1665 and the Boston couple had a child born in December 1665, it certainly would appear that this was two different couples. Unfortunately, the old Marshfield records are of very poor quality and many, including (apparently) the marriage of William and Mary have been lost.

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Maybe a Clue about John Beagle?

From the Revolutionary War Widow's Pension Papers she signed in 1838, Lavintyea (Winche) Van Nosdall Beagle, wife of Revolutionary patriot, John Beagle, stated that her (maternal) grandparents, John and Fanny Vermilyea, were present at the wedding in 1785. (There was no mention of her parents being there.)

Using an online depository of old newspapers, I checked for articles about the surname Vermilyea. Two advertisements concerning sales of land were found in 18th century New York newspapers.

An ad, posted by Isaac Vermilyea on March 20 and 27, 1769 in the New York Gazette and Weekly Mercury, described a farm "situate near King's Bridge..." Among the articles included in the purchase was a "Quantity of Weavers Utensils."

Another ad, written by a Philip Vermilyea, Cortlandt Town, March 14, 1794 and posted in Greenleaf's New York Journal on March 26 and 29, 1794 described "A very Convenient place and good stand for a mechanic, whether Weaver, Black-Smith, Tanner, or Currier, being situated on the banks of the Hudson...about two acres of land...There is on the premises, a new framed house...and a log building, which has been improved as a weaver's shop."

It appears that at least a part of the Vermilyea clan was engaged in the craft of weaving. Did a member of that family teach John Beagle the weaver's craft? Is that the Dutchess County connection I have been searching for?