Welcome! I really enjoy exchanging information with people and love that this blog helps with that. I consider much of my research as a work in progress, so please let me know if you have conflicting information. Some of the surnames I'm researching:

Many old Cape families including Kelley, Eldredge/idge, Howes, Baker, Mayo, Bangs, Snow, Chase, Ryder/Rider, Freeman, Cole, Sears, Wixon, Nickerson.
Many old Plymouth County families including Washburn, Bumpus, Lucas, Cobb, Benson.
Johnson (England to MA)
Corey (Correia?) (Azores to MA)
Booth, Jones, Taylor, Heatherington (N. Ireland to Quebec)
O'Connor (Ireland to MA)
My male Mayflower ancestors (only first two have been submitted/approved by the Mayflower Society):
Francis Cooke, William Brewster, George Soule, Isaac Allerton, John Billington, Richard Warren, Peter Browne, Francis Eaton, Samuel Fuller, James Chilton, John Tilley, Stephen Hopkins, and John Howland.
Female Mayflower ancestors: Mary Norris Allerton, Eleanor Billington, Mary Brewster, Mrs. James Chilton, Sarah Eaton, and Joan Hurst Tilley.
Child Mayflower ancestors: Giles Hopkins, (possibly) Constance Hopkins, Mary Allerton, Francis Billington, Love Brewster, Mary Chilton, Samuel Eaton, and Elizabeth Tilley.

Monday, February 24, 2020

Benjamin Nye ca 1620 to 1704-07, Kent to Sandwich, Mass., and Katherine Tupper


Benjamin Nye came to America as a young man on the Abigail in 1635. He was first at Saugus (now Lynn), then he settled in Sandwich, Barnstable Co., Mass., where he built a grist mill.  His last name is spelled in a variety of ways in records, including Noye, Noy and Nie.  Benjamin is my 9th great-grandfather on my grandfather Arthur Washburn Davis’ side of the family. There is a lot of misinformation on Benjamin Nye out there. Some genealogies have given him an exact birth date, origin and father’s name (Thomas) in England with a long royal ancestry going back to Denmark; some have said he was a 15 year old cabin boy on board the Abigail; others that he was an apprentice to Thomas Tupper. But as far as I know none of this has been proven according to genealogy standards.




What is known is that on 19 October 1640 Benjamin married Katherine Tupper (Plymouth VR p. 654). Plymouth Colony Court Orders has the marriage date as 6 October 1640.  Katherine was the daughter of Thomas and Katherine (Gator) Tupper.

Benjamin and Katherine had eight children, born Sandwich:
Mary born ca 1641, m. Jacob Burgess
John Nye, born ca 1644, married Esther _____ (seen as Shed, daughter of Daniel Shed, but not sure what the source for that is)
Ebenezer born say 1647, m. Sarah Gibbs
Jonathan b. 20 November 1649, married 1st Hannah ____; 2nd Patience Burgess
Mercy Nye, born 8 April 1652, did not marry
Caleb, born say 1655, m. Elizabeth Wood/Atwood
Nathan, b. say 1657, m. Mercy ____
Benjamin, b. say 1659, did not marry, killed while serving in King Philip’s War in 1676

Most of the births are unrecorded but are proven as children of Katherine and Benjamin from other records, except for Benjamin and Caleb. But since Benjamin was the only man of the name in Sandwich at the time it seems quite certain they were his sons. Also, Caleb had land near his brother Jonathan in Sandwich.

I descend through John as well as Jonathan.

According to a 1667 map, Benjamin lived at the beginning of Spring Hill Road where it meets Rt. 6A. The map shows his mill was on Old County Road between Hoxie and Nye Ponds.  In 1685 he built a second house in that area as well as a fulling mill, giving his Spring Hill house to his son John.  His second home was given to his son, Jonathan, by deed dated 1704 "if he will take care of me and Katherine Nye, my wife."
Source: Sandwich A Cape Cod Town, RA Lovell

The Nye Family Association of America owns the old Nye house (Benjamin’s second home) on Old County Road in Sandwich.

Nye Family Homestead

Fellow Abigail passenger Dennis Geere left Benjamin money in his will, so one would think they were related in some way but no evidence has been found.

Benjamin died between 9 June 1704 when he deeded land to his son Jonathan and 17 May 1707 when he is called deceased when son Jonathan received land.

Katherine Tupper Nye died after 9 June 1704 when she was mentioned in her husband’s deed of land to their son Jonathan. No gravestones for Benjamin and Katherine have survived. 
Photograph I purchased at an estate sale that shows the location of Nye memorial


Sources:
RA Lovell, Sandwich, A Cape Cod Town, third edition published by the Sandwich Archives and Historical Center, 1996, first printing 1984

Bernard Peterson , The Nye House at Sandwich, Cape Cod Library of Local History and Genealogy Pamphlet Series, No. 12, 1925

George Washington Bodge, Soldiers in King Philip's War, A Critical Accounting of That War with a Concise History of the Indian Wars of New England from 1620-1677, Leominster, MA, 1896

Simeon L. Deyo, editor, History of Barnstable County, Massachusetts, HW Blake & Co., New York, 1890

Ian Hilder, George R. Nye and Jonathan A Shaw, NEHGR Vol 158, October 2004, The Origins of Benjamin 1 Nye: Examining the Sources

George Hyatt Nye and Frank E. Best, Benjamin Nye of Sandwich, Massachusetts, His Ancestors and Descendants, A Genealogy of the Nye Family, 1907

Thursday, February 6, 2020

Ancestors from Early Rhode Island, Maine and Vermont

This post is part of an ongoing project of organizing my direct ancestors by the towns in New England where they lived. I love learning about these towns. Please add a comment about your family from these towns or your favorite resources for this area. Much of the genealogical information is a work in progress! I have blogged about many of the ancestors listed, but some I don't know enough about yet to write a sketch of their lives.


Newport, Newport Co., RI
John Marchant, an early resident of Martha’s Vineyard, also in Newport RI in 1638, Braintree in 1638, Watertown in 1642, Yarmouth 1648. He married Sarah ____, prob. died before 1670. I descend through son John who married ____, died before 1693 prob at Edgartown. Then through his son Abishai who was born 1651 at Yarmouth/Dennis, m. Mary Taylor, died before Feb 1718 prob at Yarmouth. Then through their daughter Hannah Marchant b about 1677 at Yarmouth/Dennis and married Matthew Pease who was born Edgartown. 


South Kingstown, Washington Co., RI
William Browning was born Portsmouth after 1657; he married Rebecca Wilbore and lived at South Kingstown, RI. He married 2nd Sarah ____. I descend from William and Rebecca’s daughter Sarah Browning who married Eleazer Kelley and moved to Yarmouth/Dennis on Cape Cod.
 

Kittery, York Co., (then in Massachusetts, now Maine)
Richard Gowell, born in Wales, migrated to Kittery Maine, married Hannah Remick probably in Kittery in 1685, died there 1729-1730. Then descend through his daughter Sarah b. ca 1682 m. Thomas Chase and moved to Dennis (then Yarmouth) on Cape Cod.
Christian Remick, born about 1631 at Holland or Germany, m. Hannah ___ about 1654 in Kittery, died there in 1710. I descend through two of their daughters:
1.      Hannah born 1656 in Kittery , m. Richard Gowell of Kittery, died after 15 Dec 1729.
2.      Sarah born 1663 in Kittery, m. Barnabas Wixon of Eastham on Cape Cod, died 1722.




Woodstock VT
Moses Benson through to Isaac who was born there but went to Middleborough and Plymouth in Plymouth Co., Mass.
Experience Gibbs, born Sandwich 1776, married Moses Benson 1796 at Middleborough, Mass. and they settled at Woodstock VT. Conflicting info on her parents.