The Cochecho Massacre and The Otis Family

The Cochecho Massacre as it is referred to by early English settlers took place in Dover, New Hampshire June 27-28, 1689.  An online search will detail the massacre by the native people and the historical events that preceded it and the aftereffects.  In tracing my family history, I found several of my ancestral families were living in Dover during this time. My Otis family line appears to be the most impacted by this attack.

The night of June 27, 1689, the Abenaki Indians sent two native women to each of the garrison houses at Dover, NH.  There only being 6 or 7 in the area known then as “Cocheco.”  They were allowed in at the Waldren’s, the Otis’ and the Heard’s.

Old photo of a Garrison house

During the night the native women opened the doors and gates the garrisons to allow the native men waiting outside.  They killed Mr. Waldren and his family and set his garrison house on fire.  They also attacked the Coffin Garrison. Mr. Tristram Coffin went out to see what was going and was captured.  His son inside the garrison would not let the Indians in, but as the native men threatened to kill his father unless he let them in, he relented to spare his father.  The natives ransacked the garrison, taking money and weapons and valuables, left the family and both Coffin garrisons.  

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THE OTIS FAMILY

Richard Otis, age 64 was living in Cochecho with his third wife Grizet (Warren) Otis.  His children including his son, Stephen Otis, age 37 and his family.  As the natives were being let in, Richard Otis was either shot getting out of bed to see what was going on or looking out a window to see the commotion.  Also killed was his son, Stephen and Richard’s young daughter, Hannah Otis. Richard’s wife and three daughters and two sons were captured to be taken to Canada as well as the wife and children of Stephen Otis.   The next morning after the attack, others from the surviving garrisons all gathered together.  A small group of men set out after the natives.  It was the native custom to split up into smaller groups as they traveled different routes back to Canada.  One group was overtaken at Conway, New Hampshire and some were rescued.

Below are the details of the Otis family members:

Richard Otis, age 64, killed in the attack on June 28, 1689.  He had married 3 times before his death.  His 1^st wife was Rose Stoughton.  His 2^nd wife was Shuah (Starbuck) Heard and his 3^rd wife below.

Grizel (Warren) Otis, age 29, 3^rd wife of Richard, was captured and taken to Canada where she was baptized in Montreal as Madeleine Hotese on May 9, 1693.  She married Philippe Robitaille and said to have had 5 more children. She died October 26, 1750, in Montreal, Canada.  She never returned to New England.  Many of the captives were given their freedom for converting to Catholicism but could never cross the border into the states. She became accustomed to living in the city of Montreal. She was quoted to saying to her daughter who wanted to return later in life to New England, “What do you know about living off the land, making butter, and caring for chickens?”  When all these things were provided in Montreal. 

Richard Otis Jr., age 39, son of Richard Otis and his 1^st wife, Rose Stoughton, escaped the 1689 attacked unharmed.  The 2^nd attack in Dover on July 26, 1698, when people were returning Church, he was wounded and died before January 1, 1700, when administration was granted on estate.

Stephen Otis, age 37, son of Richard Otis and his 1^st wife, Rose, was killed in the attack on June 28, 1689.  His wife and children were captured and taken to Canada. [see below]

Martha Otis, age 35 daughter Richard Otis and his 1^st wife, Rose, was the last of the daughters of Richard who captured and rescued.  She married John Pinkham.

Ann Otis, age 32, daughter of Richard Otis and 1^st wife, Rose, was captured and taken by a group of Indians who split up and were heading to Canada but overtaken by a group of men from Dover and rescued around Conway, NH and returned to Dover with two more of her sisters.  She married Thomas Austin in 1678.

Nicholas Otis, age 24, son of Richard Otis and his 1^st wife Rose, escaped the attack of 1689 by hiding in the nearby woods.  He was killed in the 2^nd attack on Dover, NH on July 26, 1698.  His son Nicholas was captured and taken to Canada and escaped around Penobscot County, Maine.

Experience Otis, age 23, daughter of Richard Otis and his 1^st wife, Rose, had married Samuel Heard, who died in 1687 and was returning from Portsmouth with her mother-in-law, Elizabeth (Hull) Heard and saw what was happening and escaped.  After her husband Samuel died, she married 2^nd Rowland Jenkins.  Experience unfortunately was scalped during the attack of July 26, 1698, but survived.  She lived to give birth to her last child but died from her wounds on February 8, 1699.

Judith Otis, age 22, daughter of Richard Otis and his 1^st wife, Rose, was one of the three daughters of Richard who were taken captive and being taken to Canada and rescued.  She married John Tuttle of Dover.

Rose Otis, age 10, daughter of Richard Otis and his 2^nd wife, Shuah, was captured and taken to Montreal, Canada and baptized in 1693 as Francoise Rose Otis.  She married Jean Putevin of Beauport, Canada on November 21, 1696, and never returned to New England and died in 1729.

John Otis, age 8, son of Richard Otis and his 2^nd wife, Shuah, he was captured on June 28, 1689, and said to have been tortured by having his ears cut off and his fingernails pulled out.  He was taken in by an elderly native woman, who had lost her own son in an attack and was given the boy to make up for the loss of her son who would have cared for her.  She healed him and kept him to provide for her until she got quite elderly and abandoned him when he was about 20 years old in Canada.  He made his way to Quebec and was baptized as Jean Baptiste Otis.  He joined the Seminary in Quebec in 1702 but married on November 4, 1703, to Cecile Poulin and later married 2^nd Marie Francoise Gagne on February 9, 1737, in Baie St Paul, Quebec, Canada.  He died on September 15, 1760, in Baie-Saint-Paul, Quebec, Canada.

Hannah Otis, age 2, daughter of Richard Otis and his 3^rd wife Grizel, was killed on June 28, 1689, and when a native dashed her head against a stairway.

Marguerite Otis, daughter of Richard Otis and his 3^rd wife Grizel, was an infant when she was taken with her mother to Canada on June 28, 1678.  She was baptized as Christine Otis on May 9, 1693.  She was placed in a nunnery in Montreal and educated until she was fifteen years old.  The Nun tried to force her to take the veil, but she refused.  She was then married to Louis Lebeau on June 14, 1707, in Montreal.  He died in 1713 leaving her a young widow with three children.  Also in 1707, she met another captive from Deerfield, Massachusetts, Thomas Baker.  A Frenchman intervened paid his ransom and Thomas was released to return home.  In 1714, now Capt. Thomas Baker returned to Canada with a commission to arrange ransom for English prisoners. Christine then desired to return to native land in New England.  Unable to take her children as the French would not allow it, she left them behind with her mother as well as her husband’s estate in Montreal.  She married 2^nd Thomas Baker in 1715.  She returned to Canada in 1718 to retrieve her children, but the priests would not allow it.  They instead encouraged her to return and embrace her Catholic faith which she would not. Christine and her husband moved to Dover, NH in 1734. Christine was granted permitted to operate a Public House of Entertainment or a Pub in Dover.  Thomas died in 1753 and Christine died February 23, 1773.

Family of Stephen Otis:

Martha (Pitman) Otis, age 32, wife of Stephen Otis, whose fate is unknown.  She may have been carried off to Canda or killed the night of the attack of June 28, 1689.  As there is no record of her of her after the attacked it is assumed she was killed.

Mary Otis, age 14, daughter of Stephen Otis and Martha Pitman, was born about 1675 in Dover, New Hampshire.  She was fourteen and carried away with other captives on June 28, 1689, but a posse formed with a nineteen-year-old Ebenezer Varney overtook a group of the captives around what is now Conway, New Hampshire.  Two years later they married in Dover, New Hampshire.  Her husband took control of Otis estate in 1696.  She died after 1725. [my 8th great-grandmother]

Stephen Otis, age 9, son of Stephen Otis and Martha Pitman, was captured in the raid on June 28,1689 and taken to Canada where he was sold and baptized at the Abenakis Mission at Saint Francois of Sales as Joseph Marie Hotesse.  He married in 1712 to Louise [Hubbard] Walbert, who was taken captive in the raids of June 27 & 28, 1689.  He was said to have lived with other captives in Lorette, Manitoba, Canada where his descendants remained.  His sons marrying Huron native women.  He did return to visit his sister, Mary in 1725 in Dover, New Hampshire, but preferred to remain in Canada with his family.

Nathaniel Otis, age 5, son of Stephen Otis and Martha Pitman was taken captive in the raid of June 28, 1689, and taken to Canada and sold to the French where he was baptized as Paul Hotesse with his brother.  Paul Hotesse applied for naturalization in Canada on October 30, 1706, and moved to Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1708 remaining there as a Catholic. He married 1) Elizabeth Hubbard, sister to above Louise on October 31, 1710, in Montreal.  It was during this time that the brothers signed deeds to give their rights to their father’s estate to their sister and brother-in-law, Mary and Ebenezer Varney.    Elizabeth died September 9, 1721, in Montreal.  He married 2) Madaline Toupis, October 20, 1721, at Montreal.  She died on August 28, 1722, in Montreal.  He married 3) Marie Ann (Caron) Pare on September 22, 1722, in Montreal.  He died on December 26, 1730, in Montreal, Canada. He never returned to Dover.  

In the aftermath, 52 colonists were killed or captured.  Several homes were burned as well as the mills on the river.

Revolutionary War Ancestors: Nicholas Rawlings and Enoch Strout

With 2026 being the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the American Revolution series by Ken Burns playing on PBS.  I wanted to start adding some of my ancestors who fought in America's War for Independence.  Many of them, I had done some research on their service and others when I began to look at my ancestral lines, I realized I had not been aware of their involvement.

NICHOLAS RAWLINGS (ROLLINS) - 6th Great-Grandfather

Nicholas Rawlings was born on June 15, 1743, in Stratham, New Hampshire, the son of Joshua and Mary (Clark) Rollins.  His father was a farmer like many of the settlers of the town, and it was here that Nicholas was raised with his six siblings.  When he was 19, he married a neighbor, 16-year-old, Abigail Tilton, daughter of Abraham and Abigail (Sanborn) Tilton in 1762.  They would have 11 children over a period of 26 years.

In 1775, Nicholas was 32 years old and father of 6 children.  In the Fall of 1775, there were fears that the town of Portsmouth, New Hampshire might be attacked seaward.  Then defenses were doubled.  Twenty-eight units were stationed at various points around Portsmouth.  Nicholas was put in command of the 10th New Hampshire militia on Pierce's Island at Fort Washington in Portsmouth harbor.

Pierce's Island and Fort Washington

He served as Lieutenant in one of the companies that was sent to Winter Hill in Somerville, Massachusetts (Then part of Charlestown, Massachusetts) to reinforce General John Sullivan in December 1775.  

from Wikipedia Winter Hill

The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere crossed over Winter Hill in April 1775 to alert the Patriots that the British were coming.  It is re-enacted every year from Winter Hill.  

In 1777, Nicholas was made a Captain in Col. Abraham Drake's Company, General William Whipple's Regiment of the 4th New Hampshire Militia.  He was participated in the Battles of Stillwater and Saratoga between September 19th to October 7th which resulted in the surrender of General Burgoyne which he was present.  

Portrait of the surrender of Burgoyne painted in 1822 at
U.S. National Rotunda

Nicholas served until January 1778 and returned home to Stratham, New Hampshire.  He would have five more children and served as Selectman for the town for 26 years.  He would serve six years in the New Hampshire legislature representing Stratham.  He was commissioned Justice of the Pease by Governor Gilman in 1795.  Esquire Nicholas Rawlings died November 29, 1826, in Stratham, New Hampshire at age 84.

(Source: John R. Rollins, Records of the Families of Rawlins or Rollins in the United States in two parts, [1874] p. 45)

ENOCH STROUT - 4th Great-grandfather

Enoch Strout was born on December 25, 1761, in Cape Elizabeth, Maine the son of Elisha and Bathsheba (Small) Strout.  His father died when he was about eight years old.  His mother quickly remarried to William Johnson, and he was raised by his stepfather.

Signature of Enoch Strout taken from a Land Deed to his son,
Gilbert for land in Wales on March 27, 1822

When he was 18, he enlisted as a private from Cape Elizabeth in Capt. Joshua Jordan's Company, Col Jonathan Mitchell's Regiment with service from July 7, 1779, to September 25, 1779, of two months and eighteen days on the Penobscot Expedition.  He then enlisted in Isaac Parson's Company, Col. Prime's Regiment on May 4, 1780, and was discharged on December 7, 1780, with of service of 7 months and 4 days under Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth on the Eastward defense. (Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors in the Revolutionary War, p. 201)

After the War, Enoch purchased land in the town of Limington, Maine.  When he was 22, he married Mercy Small, daughter of Daniel and Joanna (Cobb) Small on September 23, 1784, at the Congregational Church in Buxton, Maine.  

1st Church of Buxton, Maine

They settled in Limington and had ten children over 20 years, all born in Limington.  Enoch Strout was living in Little Ossipee, Maine (now Limington) on the 1790 census.   By 1800, Enoch and his family and several other relatives has moved to Wales, Maine where he became Deacon of the Church of the Baptist in Wales.  He was then known as Deacon Strout.  He appears on census records for Wales between 1800 and 1830.

Baptist Church of Wales, Maine

He remained in Wales until his death on April 1, 1832, at age 70.  His widow, Mercy died on 20 October 18, 1842.  Enoch and Mercy were buried in Pond Road Cemetery, Wales, Maine.  After their mother's death, the surviving children of Enoch and Mercy Strout applied for a Widow's Pension through their late mother in 1851.  The survivors listed were Ebenezer Strout, Elisha Strout, Joanna Warren, Daniel Strout, Enoch Strout, William Strout, Gilbert Strout and Isaac Strout.  They received their mother's portion of a widow's pension.  They divided $32.66 their mother would have received per year between March 4, 1836, to March 4, 1842, totaling 195.96 and would have received about $24. (Pension #W25077)

Gravestone of Enoch and Mercy Strout, Wales, Maine

Two of Enoch and Mercy's sons, Elisha and Daniel settled in Penobscot County, Maine where Elisha's son Morrill Strout married Mary Strout the daughter of Daniel Strout.  They were my maternal great-great-grandparents.

The Famous and Infamous Descendants of my Ancestor Rev. John Lothrop

Have you ever used Google to look up information on your ancestors? I recently searched for my 10th great-grandfather, Reverend John Lothrop [Lathrop] of Barnstable, Massachusetts, and most of the biographical details were things I had already discovered about him.

Photo from Ancestry.com

John was baptized on December 20, 1584, in Etton, East Riding, Yorkshire, England, the son of Thomas Lothrop and Mary Howell. He attended Queen’s College, Cambridge, earning his master’s degree in 1609. Ordained in the Church of England, he later renounced his orders in 1623 to join the “Independents,” who favored congregational control over religious matters rather than political or ecclesiastical interference. The group met privately until they were discovered in 1632, leading to Lothrop and others being arrested and jailed. In 1634, he was offered a pardon if he, his family, and as many of his congregation as possible left for New England. He arrived in Boston, later settling in Scituate, Massachusetts. In 1639, he petitioned Governor Thomas Pence for land for his congregation and was granted the area now known as Barnstable, Massachusetts. A strong advocate for the separation of church and state, he died on November 8, 1653, in Barnstable.

A Google search revealed many famous descendants as well the website "Famous Kin."  He was the ancestor of 6 Presidents of the United States, George H Bush, Franklin D. Roosevelt, George W. Bush, Ulysses S. Grant, James A. Garfield, and Millard Fillmore.

He was the ancestor of 14 Governors and numerous well-known people.  For example, Poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

The founder of the Morman Church, Joseph Smith 

Actress Sissy Spacek who has won numerous awards for her acting as well as Grammy.

One of my favorite actors, Clint Eastwood from the

films The Outlaw Josey Wales and Pale Rider!

So many other famous people from history and current events

But then there are those more notable relatives for other reasons

Benedict Arnold, who was at one time a hero in the American Revolutionary War and became a Major General, until he defected to the British side in 1780

Another notable relative Tonya Harding whose ex-husband took part in attack on her rial figure skater, Nancy Kerrigan.  Her part in covering up the assault resulted in her being banned from figure skating for life.

Then you have that relative that you wish you had never known about: Jeffrey Dahmer.  

It can be interesting discovering your connections to famous people from history or who made history but be prepared to find that you may be related to someone more infamous.

[all photos taken from Wikipedia]

The Loss of a Royal Ancestral line

 One of my favorite ancestral family lines to trace was my great-grandmother, Edna Southard.  Her ancestry was one of my early successes when I began to really dive into genealogy.  I knew little about genealogy and less about her because my father never knew either of his biological grandmothers, partly because they died so young and my father born so late in parent's life (his mother was 42 when he was born).  My father never really was interested in family history and never asked much about his family besides who the Smith's the cemetery buried in the lot with his grandfather.

Edna Estelle {Southard] Pease

My great-grandmother Edna Estelle Southard was the first person I found who was adopted.  Her maiden name in my dad's bible was Pease, but when I asked more about her, he contacted his aunt by phone.  He learned his grandmother had been adopted and her real surname was Southard from Corinna, Maime.  Over the years, I found her ancestor Constant Southworth was the first settler of the town, he was also my first Revolutionary War ancestor.  Then to find gold at Maine Historical Society in Portland, Maine with the Southworth/Southard Genealogy published in 1903 by Samuel G. Webber completed my ancestry to Plymouth with my first Mayflower ancestors, John Alden and Myles Standish.  

Webber's book also included tracing the family back to England and provided a royal ancestral line tracing back generations of Knights, Lords, Earls, Dukes and Kings from all the early Royal families of Europe and beyond.   For years this family was my connection to being related distantly to the current royal family of England.

However, as genealogy grew popularity and more documentation began to be needed for proof of ancestry. Question from scholars in genealogy began to doubt the Southworth connection.  It had always been a sticking point of proving that Edward Southworth of Leiden, Holland (father of Constant Southworth, the first to settle in America) was the same Edward Southworth of Samlesbury, England whose ancestry could be traced back generations of nobility.  Others in England with the surname Southworth were proposed as the ancestors of Edward Southworth.  Some were discarded and still left open the possibility of the Samlesbury connection, but solid evidence to prove the line has not been found. Even the latest issue of Royal Descents of 600 Immigrants by Boyd Roberts still includes the Southworth line but states it is now unproven and needs more research.

In 2019, Sue Allan published her research "In Search of Separatist Edward Southworth of Leiden."  She details her work on other possible ancestors of Edward being from Clarborough, Nottinghamshire, England.  This Southworth family had several connections to the separatists who fled to Leiden in the early 1600s. There are connections of the Southworth's of Clarborough and Gov. William Bradford's family's marriages with these Southworths  (besides William marrying Alice (Carpenter) Southworth, Edward Southworth's widow).  She also highlights the fact that the Southworths of Samlesbury were strong catholic supporters while the Southworths of Clarborough were protestants aligned with the separatists.  Edward Southworth's father-in-law, Alexander Carpenter was also a protestant and would have sought a marriage for his daughter with Clarborough Southworths over the catholic Southworths.

Sue does add the caveat that the Clarborough Southworths may be descendants of the Southworths from Samlesbury, but further back in the family tree.  I have to admit I hung on to the belief that DNA testing of the Southworth YDNA would also prove the Samlesbury lineage which it has shown that they do share the same YDNA haplogroup.  That does not prove the lineage that Webber's claims in his book as the haplogroup is the most common among European groups.  However, it does not disprove earlier family connections.  Sue mentions that Sir John de Southworth who died in 1415 owned lands in both Nottinghamshire and Lancashire, England which he deposed off before leaving for France.  His son and heir, Sir Thomas de Southworth died in 1432 made no mention of the Nottinghamshire lands, suggesting these lands may have gone to a younger son who could be the founder of the Clarborough line of Southworths.  Recent Ancestry DNA updates on ethnicity currently show my brothers and myself share a percentage of common DNA from the midlands area of England, exactly where the Southworth family of Clarborough were from.

The new ancestral line is the following:

1. Aymond (Edward) Southworth of Welham, Nottinghamshire, England (based on The Visitations of the County of Nottinghamshire in the Years 1569 & 1614)

2. Richard Southworth b before 1513; d. 1545, Clarborough, Nottinghamshire, m. Ellen Levesey.

3. Richard Southworth b 1544, Clarborough; d Feb 1630/1 Clarborough; m. Immyn Ashton.

4. Edward Southworth bp 12 April 1585, Clarborough, Nottinghamshire, England; d 1621, London, England; m. Alice Carpenter in 1611.  Edward moved to Leiden and helped finance the pilgrims trip to the New World and returned to England before he died.  His widow married Gov. William Bradford of Plymouth, Massachusetts.

5. Constant Southworth b 1614 in Leiden, Holland and with his brother Thomas settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1628.  Constant is our Southworth ancestor (my 9th great-grandfather).

Sorry to all cousins who believed in the earlier ancestry of Edward Southworth.  Sue Allan's book can still be purchased online.  

Lovewell's Fight: The Woods Family

 

The Woods Family seems to have had the most family members involved in the fight.  One of them became more famous for his act during the fight than the others. 

The WOODS FAMILY

Nathaniel Woods was born on October 19, 164 in Groton, Massachusetts, son of Nathaniel and Eleanor (Whitney) Woods.  He was the grandson of my 8^th great-grandparents Samuel and Alice (Rushton) Woods of Groton, Massachusetts and nephew of my ancestor Abigail (Woods) Barron, who was an aunt to the mentioned Elias Barron by marriage to Samuel Barron.   In 1725, Nathaniel was 30 years old and unmarried.  He enlisted from Groton and made a sergeant of the company.  When the fort had been erected at Ossipee Pond, he was left in charge.  He and the other survivors from the battle arrived in Dunstable, Massachusetts five days afterwards.  Maybe the fight and loss of his younger brother affected Nathaniel by thinking of marriage and a family soon, that his brother never got a chance to do.  Nathaniel married his first wife, Alice French on 14 September 1725 and would have 6 children and two more wives before his death in 1766 in Pepperell, Massachusetts.

Daniel Woods was born on May 10, 1696, in Groton, Massachusetts and brother to Nathaniel Woods.  In 1725, he was 28 years old and unmarried.  He enlisted with his brother from Groton, Massachusetts.  He was killed in the battle and buried on the field.

Thomas Woods was the first cousin to both Nathaniel and Daniel Woods, son of Thomas Woods and his 2^nd wife, Hannah Whitney.  The same relationship with the others as Nathaniel Woods.  In 1725, Thomas was only 19 years old and youngest in the company.  He also enlisted from Groton.  He was killed in the battle of May 9, 1725, and buried on the field.  Now two of the Woods family members had been lost.

Abigail Woods, sister to the above Thomas Woods, was born 19 August 1692 in Groton, Massachusetts.  She married John Chamberlain on 13 October 1712 in Concord, Massachusetts.  In 1725, Abigial was 32 years old and pregnant with their 4^th child.  John was 33 years old and enlisted from Groton in 1725.  John and his father were farmers and millers in Groton until his father was murdered in 1709.   During the fight, John was wounded but not seriously.  He is given credit as being the one who shot and killed the Abenaki leader Paugus.  Seth Wyman is credited in some sources, but he was said to have killed 2 natives and not Paugus. 

                                An engraving by John Gilmary Shea, 1872, Wikipedia

Pat Higgins wrote about Lovewell’s fight between the two men in his blog “The Maine story” as follows: “As the story goes, Chamberlain's gun became fouled in the course of the fight. He crept down to a small brook to wash it out. As he stepped out onto the bank, a warrior on a similar mission approached from the opposite bank. The two men recognized each other and began furiously to prepare their guns. Reputedly, Paugus said to the ranger, "I shall now very quick kill you." "Perhaps not," answered Chamberlain. He had an ace in the hole; his gun primed itself with just a thump on the ground Chamberlain had time to take careful aim while Paugus was still priming his gun from his horn. In a flash the white man fired and Paugus lay shot through the heart.  Quite interestingly, this tale was not told until after the last ranger died in 1798. With no one to refute the story, it spread like wildfire and was hotly argued by the 19th century historians”

Chamberlain’s descendants claim that he was known as “Paugus John” afterwards adding to their claim it was him and not Wyman.  There was a story that Chamberlain years later killed one of Chief Paugus’ sons who came looking to kill Chamberlain to avenge his father’s death.   So many years later it’s hard to tell the truth from fiction.

John returned home to his wife and family and had six children in total.  His wife, Abigail died on January 20, 1738, whereas John survived until his death in 1758 in Groton, Massachusetts.

The story of Lovewell’s Fight has been remembered in a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and both Nathaniel Hathorne and Henry David Thoreau wrote about Lovewell’s Fight.  There is even a YouTube Ballard about the battle.  There are books published on the fight as well.  There is a good podcast by Jim Cornelius with more details on the background history of the towns and Capt. Lovewell leading up to the fight.

Lovewell's Fight: Robbins, Jefts and Barron

Three relatives to my ancestors were killed in the Fight at Fryeburg.

ROBBINS

Jonathan Robbins was the son of my 8^th great-grandfather, George Robbins and his 2^nd wife, Alice Frye.  He was a half-brother to my ancestor, John Robbins, son of George Robbins and his first wife.  Jonathan was born on November 19, 1686 in Chelmsford, Massachusetts and moved to Dunstable about 1710 where he settled.  He married Margaret Lund on January 16, 1711-2 in Concord, Massachusetts.  He was commissioned as a Lieutenant in 1724 and served on 3 expeditions with Capt. John Lovewell.  In 1725, he was 38 years old and married for 14 years with five children.  He set out as one of two Lieutenants under Lovewell in April 1725.  On May 9, 1725, after finding their first Native and returning to get their packs, Lovewell’s company was ambushed and both Jonathan and Lt. Farwell were wounded early in the engagement.  He eventually died from his wounds.  A manuscript of the fight states that Jonathan asked to have pistol left with him.  He said “the Indians will come in the morning to scalp me and I will kill one more of em if I can.”  His widow petitioned for administration of his estate.  She remarried to William Shattuck in 1729.

JEFTS

John Jefts was born in 1696 in Billerica, Massachusetts, son of John and Lydia Jefts and grandson of my 9^th great-grandparents Henry and Hannah (Births) Jefts.  He was a nephew to my ancestor Hannah (Jefts) Spaulding.  In 1725, he was unmarried at 28 years old.  He enlisted from Groton, Massachusetts, but was probably a resident of Billerica.  John was killed instantly early in the battle and buried on the field.

BARRON

Elias Barron was born in 1695 in Groton, Massachusetts, the youngest son of my 8^th Great-grandparents, Ellis and Mary (Sherman) Barron.  He was a brother to my 7^th great-grandfather, Samuel Barron.  He married Priscilla Wilson in 1718 in Concord, Massachusetts.  In 1725, Elias Barron was 32 years old and had three children.  He enlisted from Groton, Massachusetts.  During the fight, he was wounded and said to have crawled away and died near the battlefield.  His widow remarried to Jonathan Mead and died in July 1740.

                                            The monument to the men killed in Lovewell's Fight

                         Dedication of the monument at Fryeburg, Maine in 1904 by the                                                            Massachusetts Society of Colonial Wars

Lovewell's Fight: Fulham-Whitney Families

The more I researched the participants in Lovewell’s company, I realized that this affected not only a direct male ancestor, but a direct female ancestor, Tabitha Whitney. 

FULHAM-WHITNEY FAMILY

Tabitha Whitney was my 7^th Great-grandmother, daughter of Jonathan and Sarah (Hapgood) Whitney.  She was born August 22, 1696, in Watertown, Massachusetts.  She had married her first husband, Jacob Fulham of Watertown, Massachusetts in 1715.  In 1725, she was 28 years old and had been married for 10 years and was the mother of three children with a fourth one due within the year by Jacob.  He was 31 years old and enlisted from Weston, Massachusetts and also yeoman or farmer.  He was made a sergeant in Capt. Lovewell’s company.  Jacob was one the men killed in the battle.  From the Genealogies of the Families and Descendants of the Early Settler of Watertown, Massachusetts by Henry Bond, [1855] p. 227: “A sergeant named Fulham, and an Indian, distinguished by his dress and activities, singled out each other and both fell, mutually slain by their antagonist weapon.”  

Monument at Fryeburg, Maine

Tabitha gave birth to late husband’s son, Elisha Fulham on June 26, 1725, some two months after his death.  She filed a probate petition for administration of her late husband’s estate on August 10, 1725.  An Inventory taken listed that Jacob owned two Bibles and other small books, showing he was a literate man for the time.   Among the creditors of the estate was George Parkhurst of Weston, Massachusetts.  George married Tabitha (Whitney) Fulham on April 19, 1726.  Jacob’s father, Francis Fulham, petitioned to be guardian of his son’s children.  An agreement between Francis and George Parkhurst, now the husband of Tabitha, allowed George to remain on his son’s estate if he provided for Tabitha and his son’s children.  The final division of Jacob’s estate was made in 1741.  George and Tabitha Parkhurst had five children together with their last child born days before George’s death on March 17, 1734. Their son, Jonathan Parkhurst being my direct ancestor.   She married her 3^rd husband Samuel Hunt on August 10, 1736, whom she remained with until her death on November 2, 1762, in Harvard, Massachusetts.

Isaac Whitney was the brother of Tabitha Whitney.  He was born in 1703 in Watertown and was 22 years old in 1725.  He enlisted from Concord, Massachusetts, but probably was from Watertown or Weston.  Isaac was one of the ten men who were left behind at the fort in Ossipee and survived the battle. He and the other men returned to Massachusetts five days after the Fight in Fryeburg, Maine.  He settled in Concord, Massachusetts where he was a glazer (term for a glass cutter and or pottery maker).  Probate for his estate was in 1744 in Middlesex County, Massachusetts.  The fort at Ossipee was built on what is eferred to as an Indian Mound or burial ground.  Today that area is now a golf course.  The Indian Mound is maintained by the owners of the course.