In April 1670 Mehitabel Holdridge (1652-1690) was convicted of stealing from her master (she was an indentured servant) and running away from his service.
Jacob Foust (1783-1863) had 21 children by 2 wives, in Montgomery County, Tennessee.
The town of Cannonsville, NY (it is now defunct, under the Cannonsville Resevoir) was named after the family of Joseph Cannon (1745-1807).
The town of Riddle, OR was named after the family of William H. Riddle (1805-1891).
Artinecia Riddle Merriman (1830-1917) was an interpreter in the Rogue River Indian Wars, she was also a “surgeon” during the Oregon Trail in 1851. She was the mother of 17 children.
John W. Custer (1852-1936) was an expert ballroom dancer.
Contrary to what popular opinion may hold, there were many people in early America that were involved in what would be today classified as inbreeding or incest. Early New Englanders commonly married there cousins or relatives. This also occurred in other areas of America. In the Whitlock and Radford families of Virginia and Kentucky, it appears to have been abnormal for a person to marry anybody other than a relative.
Mrs. (Mary?) Custer (c. 1730-c.1791) was kidnapped by Indians in about 1766 during the French and Indian War and held captive for nearly 20 years.
Leah Morgan Scholl (c. 1730-c. 1794) was supposed to be related to Daniel Boone.
Mrs. Gillyan Lamprey (c. 1616-1670) had as her marriage dowry a gold scale with her weight inscribed on it (112 lbs.) This scale was handed down over the generations and the chest that held it is still in possession of the family.
The town of Kinderhook, in Columbia County, New York, an early Dutch settlement, which is where the closely connected Huyck and Clauw families lived from the early 1700's to 1798, is the town that was the basis for the "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." It is also the birthplace of US President Martin Van Buren. The Dutch translation for the name means "Children's Corner."
Thomas Jameson (1732-1830) was a personal friend of Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Calhoun.
There was a tradition in the Brodie family of Virginia to be educated as doctors at the Edinburgh Medical College, Scotland.
Josephine Lucretia Martin Plymale (1845-1899) served as Jackson County [Oregon] Recorder in 1893.
Gabriel Plymale (1804-1852) traveled on the Oregon Trail from Illinois, arriving at Jacksonville, Oregon in October 1852. He and his oldest son died of typhoid fever one month later.
Rhea Mitchell (1893-1957) was the second cousin of my grandfather, Ben T. Plymale, and was the granddaughter of Elizabeth Plymale Ross (1835-1890). Rhea was an early Hollywood film actress and was at her peak fame during the 1910's, when she was a leading silent film actress. She appeared in a total of 72 films from 1912 to 1951. She died in 1957 when she was murdered by a wayward youth she had been helping.
William J. Martin (1814-1901) was a leading man in his day. He was a pioneer of Oregon and California, coming on the wagon trains of 1843 and 1846. He served on the Oregon Territorial and Provincial Legislature and was afterwards the Receiver of the Land Office at Roseburg. He fought in the Seminole Indian War, the Cayuse Indian War and the Rogue River Indian War, and he was a Lieutenant Colonel in the army.
Zaddock Martin (1789-1849) founded the city of Martinsville (now Platte City), Missouri.
James W. Barkelow (1753-1834) had 11 children, the youngest when he was 73.
Reuben H. Thurston (1806-1880) was a member of the Ohio Abolitionists, a group of radicals who were against slavery. He also discredited the Christian bible as a revelation and appears to have not attended any church.
Hannah Butler Thurston (1772-1866) was the grandmother of William A. Wheeler, Vice President of the United States.
Isaac Willits (1730-1784) was disowned from the Quaker faith when he decided to take up arms to protect his family during the French and Indian War.
Isabella Upham Holdridge (1614-1689) was murdered by a slave “Negro Jack” in 1689 in New Hampshire, she was about 75 years old. Negro Jack was hanged the following year.
Mrs. Kunigunda Mohn Faust (1646-1721) of Langenselbold, Germany was a midwive and delivered over 800 babies in her lifetime.
In 1679, Philip Flanders (1646-1689) and his brothers were fined for stealing from a neighbor.
Mrs. Jane Flanders (1622-1685) may have been a Christianized Native American.
Josiah Stearns (1732-1788) went to Harvard College in 1751.
Maryke (Maria) Dyckman was only about 2 years old during the Indian Massacre of 1690 at Schenectady, NY. Maryke and her parents managed to escape to Albany during the night, but her grandfather, two aunts, and two cousins were murdered, also a cousin was captured and was held captive for 3 years.
We are descended from James Chilton, Francis Cooke, and John Tilley, all passengers of the “Mayflower”, which arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1620.
Mary, the third wife of Stephen Batchelder (1560-1660) (we are descended from his 1st wife) was much younger than him, and while he was in New Hampshire and she was in Maine, she was convicted of adultery and for her punishment was whipped and "branded" with a letter "A". She was said to be the subject of “The Scarlet Letter,” considering that Nathaniel Hawthorne did much of his research in Maine.
Anna Barbara Albright (Foust) (1719-1802) by tradition brought the first Mulberry tree to the new world when her family moved from Germany to Pennsylvania in 1732. She supposively brought the seeds in her black silk apron.
William Marston (1592-1672) was fined and punished in about 1662 for giving aid to 3 Quaker women, who were publicly beaten throughout New England as their punishment.
The families of William Martin, William Riddle, Gabriel Plymale and William Merriman all came over on the Oregon Trail in-between the years 1846 and 1852.
Maria Du Trieux Viele (1617- c. 1684) had an affair and gave birth to an illegitemate daughter in about 1642. In the 1660's, Maria was banished from Long Island for selling Brandy to Indians and in the faulty run of her tavern. She was one of the original settlers of New Amsterdam, and was an intelligent woman who always stirred up trouble in New Amsterdam (New York).
Suster Bouts (c. 1650-?) was possibly a woman of Mohawk Indian decent. Her husband, Cornelis Viele, was an Indian interpreter and was very friendly towards them.
Rachel Field (1780-1851) was disowned from the Quaker faith for marrying Levi Willits, who wasn’t a Quaker.
Mary Palfrey (1829-1882) was born on a ship in the Atlantic Ocean while her parents were emigrating from England to Canada. She lived in Canada until she was 3 years of age, then the family moved to New York. She afterwards lived in Wisconsin and Minnesota.
Mrs. Hannah Chandler Bixby (c. 1657-1730) was said to be “afflicted” during the infamous witchraft hysteria in Salem, MA in 1692.
Ann Foster and her daughter Mary Lacy of Andover, Mass. were both accused of witchcraft and condemmed to death in the 1692 Salem Witchcraft trials. Ann would never admit to anything, and died in prison in 1692. Her daughter Mary Lacy who was already condemmed, later confessed and accused her mother of bewitching her and narrowly escaped punishment.
John Robie (1649-1691) was murdered by Indians near Haverhill, Massachusetts.
Mrs. Susanna Smith (1615-1680) was struck by lightning and died in 1680.
There is a story about the father of Susan McCarty Gale (1741-1815) that he was sent from Ireland to America by his aunt who wished to secure property he would have inherited. His aunt repented on her deathbed and sent for him, but he never came.
Martin and Frances Halliburton of Person Co., NC and Dickson Co., TN had 18 children between 1803 and 1825, 7 of them died in infancy.
In 1683, three of Robert Wadleigh's (1628-1708) sons participated in the Gove Rebellion against the tyrannical governor of the area. The Rebellion was put down and the three sons were imprisoned, along with a handful of other men. One of Wadleigh's sons died in prison, and in 1684, Robert Wadleigh travelled to England where he petitioned with King Charles II to release his sons, and Edward Grove. His other two sons were released.
Robert Latham of Plymouth, Mass. was convicted in 1655 of felonious cruelty and "manslaughter by chaunce medley" when he beat his 14-year old servant (John Walker) to death. John was beaten, deprived of food and clothes and kept outside in freezing tempuratures until he died. Robert's sentence was that he was "burned in the hand" and all his lands were confiscated. His wife Susannah was said to be partially guilty, but after a 3 year trial, the charges were dismissed against her.