Happy Fourth of July

Photo by Salt Water New England

One way to connect to historical events is to learn more about one's family members who participated in them. 

Some of our direct ancestors who fought in the Revolutionary War:

Obadiah Scott
Timothy Brandreth
Abel Corson
Joseph Neal
James Perkins
Samuel Neal
Jeremiah Smith
Abraham Batchelder
Jonathan Locke
Edward Eastman
Daniel Bean
Joel Judkins 

Schoolboy Scarves

Schoolboy scarves, also called academic scarves and university scarves, are a traditional way for people to show associations with specific academic institutions.  These scarves are typically made of a fine, very high-quality, medium or heavyweight Saxony wool.  Schoolboy scarves have two or more colors, and are traditionally 6 feet long.

Scarves are one of the oldest ways people used clothing to show alliances. Records show examples of scarves used for rank during the Qin dynasty around 220 BC.  By the 17th century, the tradition had taken hold at some of the most distinguished universities in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The stripes were a later addition, which came around 1939 when manufacturer Luke Eyres originated the design as a way to reuse long wool strips during a fabric shortage.  

The Congregational Churches of New England: Before Harvard College, Before The Great and General Court, Before...

Photos by Salt Water New England

The first ship of the Winthrop Fleet, the Arbella (or the “Admiral”), arrived at Nahumkeck  (Salem) and Cape Ann on June 12, 1630.

The Puritans of The Massachusetts Bay Company founded:

• The Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, (October 19, 1630 in Boston);  
• The first school,  Boston Latin School (April 23, 1635);  and
• Harvard College - originally “New College” or “The College at New Towne” (October 28, 1636, although some say September).

But even before those:

“Winthrop set aside July 30[, 1630] as a day of Prayer. On this day, Winthrop, Dudley, Johnson, and the pastor, John Wilson, drew up and signed a simple church covenant, which became in reality the foundation of the Congregational churches of New England.” (Mary Schuyler Phillips, Colonial Massachusetts, 1916)

The First Church of Boston 

...was established on July 30, 1630. When John Winthrop and his party stepped off the Arbella, their first official act, even before drawing up a charter for the city, was to create by themselves, and sign, a Covenant for the First Church in Boston. 

...The members of this church were a unique group, who acted without the intervention of any king, creating a practice of "Congregational Polity" and establishing "The New England Way", which was a system for governing with the consent of the people. 

- First Church in Boston 

Thus (from our Family Tree) 9th Great Grandfathers Governor John Winthrop and Deputy Governor Thomas Dudley became Church Members #1 and #2. 

Life on the Connecticut Shore

Photos from Family Archives

 My grandmother, on the Connecticut shore, with her mother, her brothers, various cousins, and winning her diving competition, in the early 1900s.

Harvard and Governor Thomas Dudley

Photos by Salt Water New England

My husband's 9th Great Grandfather, Governor Thomas Dudley (Governor of Massachusetts), was an Associate of the Great and General Court of Massachusetts that founded Harvard in 1636, and he was the signer of the Charter of 1650 that created the Harvard Corporation.

John Harvard

First Settlers - You never have just one.

Photos by Salt Water New England

Direct ancestors from Newbury, Massachusetts’ First Settlers, 1635, include: Brown, Cheney, Coffin, Cutting, Davis, Gerrish, Long, Morse, Moulton, Osgood, Pike, Sawyer, and Woodman.

A Little Clique Of Themselves...

Some New Hampshire Ancestors Going Back to the Early 1600s

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“[New Englanders] very contentedly made a little clique of themselves and intermarried very much, with a sure and cheerful faith that in such alliances there can be no blunder.” 

- John Morse, Jr., in Memoir of Colonel Henry Lee, as quoted by Judson Hale.

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Children of the first settlers of the New Hampshire seacoast town of Hampton:  Here, from the family tree,  brothers from one family married sisters from another family, and a child from each of those marriages then got married and had children.  As a result, the fourth great grandfather had the same great grandparents on both sides.