Tuesday 16 June 2015

Jessé de Forest 1570 ~ 1626


Jesse de Forest (1570 - 1626)
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Having such deep Southern roots I was definitely interested to find an ancestor who is considered one of the founding father’s of New York, so much so there is a monument to him in Battery Park, New York City.

Jesse de Forest was born around 1576 in Avesnes, France to Jean de Forest and Anne Maillard.  He married Marie du Cloux on 23 September 1601. 
As was popular with many European Protestants at the time trying to escape persecution, Jesse wound up in Holland.

In Leiden, Holland, Jesse did pretty well for himself.  He was a very skilled dyer of fabric and as family history has it, especially black dye.  Evidently, dying fabric so that it actually stayed black after washing was a pretty specialized skill back in the day.  He served as lieutenant and Captain under Prince Maurice of Nassau who lead the Dutch rebellion against Spain.  Jesse was also thrown into the mix with many Pilgrim Fathers
(future passengers on the Mayflower).


Jesse wanted to bring a group of Walloon Huguenot families to the New World so he petitioned the English Ambassador at The Hague to establish a colony in Virginia.  The ambassador said, sure but wouldn’t allow Jesse’s group of Walloon families to settle together.

Not happy with that deal, Jesse petitioned and received permission from the Dutch East India Company to immigrate to the West Indies. 

Drawing of Jesse de Forest

In 1623 Jesse was off to the New World on a small ship called The Pigeon on a reconnaissance mission to the coast of Guyana mapping with his good friend, Johannes de la Montague some of the first maps of the Brazilian coast.  Things looked promising with vast lands good for tobacco plantations.  Unfortunately, Jesse died there, presumably of sun stroke while living with the Yaos Indians on the banks of the Oyapock River. 
 "our said Captain died, much regretted by the Christians and Indians who had taken a great liking to him."

The group of settlers Jesse had organized back in Holland arrived in New Amsterdam in 1624.  Jesse never made it to New Amsterdam himself but his daughter, Rachel, ended up marrying his old friend, Johannes de la Montague.  Rachel and Johannes, who arrived back in the new world on the ship called The Rennselaerswyck in 1637,  settled in New Amsterdam taking over her brother, Henry’s tobacco plantation, Vrendal (what is known today as the upper half of Central Park in New York City).

While Jesse de Forest may have never set foot in New York his efforts to grow the colony there grant him the Founding Father status.

Monument in Battery Park


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Thursday 11 June 2015

Dr Rowland Taylor 1510~1555

Rowland Taylor (1510 - 1555)
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Rowland Taylor was Clara Forbes Batton’s  10x great grandfather.  He and I share a birthday give or take 500 years. 

Rowland was a scholar and Anglican parish priest.  He received the LLD from Cambridge the same year Martin Luther completed his German bible.  He was married to Margaret Tyndale whose uncle (some researchers say her brother but most say uncle), William Tyndale, was burned at the stake and denounced as a heretic for his New English Bible translation.

Rowland Taylor Memorial, Aldham Common, England

Rowland picked a rather bad time to preach a sermon against the Catholic Church, mainly against forced celibacy for the priesthood.  He, along with a lot of the Protestants thought priests should be able to marry.
Queen “Bloody” Mary had landed on the throne and she was a big fan of the Pope.  Rowland was arrested only 6 days after Bloody Mary came to power. 
Rowland refused to back down when it came to his beliefs and had the unfortunate honor of being third in over 280 auto-de-fé ordered by Bloody Mary.

Rowland was burned at the stake February 9, 1555.  Just as the fire was lit a guard named, Warwick, took pity on Rowland, hitting him in the head with a halberd and killing him instantly sparing Rowland pain.

Both Rowland Taylor and William Tyndale became Martyrs for their faith.

William Tyndale 1484-1536

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Wednesday 10 June 2015

The Lamberson’s Mixed Bag

When Hansel and Samuel Batton married into the Lamberson family they certainly picked a family with a very interesting lineage.

The Lamberson girl’s great grandparents, Johannes Fite (originally Vogt but the immigrations officials spelled it phonetically) and Catherine Cunningham came from Germany to New Jersey via Philadelphia in 1749.  They left Germany for one reason, love.  Catherine was supposedly of noble Scottish birth on her father’s side and 14 years Johannes junior.  Her family wasn’t happy about the match.  They ran away and jumped on the cargo ship, Ann, leaving behind most of their possessions.  Johannes had learned to do well for himself in Germany, working hard as a millwright he built up multiple small businesses in New Jersey on hundreds of acres of land.  Catherine and Johannes were married until his death in 1784 and had nine children together.
Johannes Fite (1714 - 1784)
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If we go even farther back in the Lamberson line we find the two most fascinating (I think anyway) ancestors in this whole collection.  There will be more on those two in the coming posts.
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I thought somewhere in the family history we had to have someone who was involved in the Revolutionary War as a Patriot. When I looked into Sarah and Amanda’s mother, Sarah “Sally” Taylor’s family I found my first Revolutionary War hero.

Machpelah Cemetery, Townsville, North Carolina

Lt Col William Taylor, Sally’s grandfather, was born 1737 in Virginia and died 1803 Granville, North Carolina.  He was Clara Forbes Batton’s 4x great grandfather.
William signed up to the 6th North Carolina Regiment 15 April, 1776 and served with this regiment and the North Carolina militia until 1 June 1781.
According to a marker by his grave he was also at Valley Forge the winter of 1777-1778.

(For more info on William Taylor's military service click HERE)

Machpelah Cemetery, Townsville, North Carolina

Lt Col William Taylor’s parents, Catherine Pendleton and John Powell Taylor married in King and Queen County Virginia in 1716.  They moved to North Carolina establishing Machpelah Plantation which still stands today.

Machpelah


John’s grandfather, also named John Taylor, emigrated from England to Virginia with his wife, Elizabeth in 1648.  It is through John the immigrant’s father, Captain Thomas Taylor b. 1574 and his wife Margaret Swinderly b. 1578 in Denmark that we are related to 4th President of the USA, James Madison, 9th President of the USA, William Henry Harrison, 12th President of the USA, Zachary Taylor, 16th President of the USA, Abraham Lincoln, and 23rd President of the USA, Benjamin Harrison.
Our common ancestors, Thomas and Margaret Taylor were Clara Forbes Batton’s 8x great grandparents.

If we keep going back through time we will meet Thomas Taylor’s grandfather,
Dr Rowland Taylor but he’s also pretty interesting so he’s going to get his own post too.
Keep going back through the Taylor line and you end up with John Taylor 1327-1377 and his wife Margaret Wellmote 1328-1410.  With these two ancestors we can add a few more presidential cousins to the list. We share these common ancestors with not only the 5 presidents listed earlier but also, Willard Fillmore, Calvin Coolidge, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Richard Nixon. 
It makes research a lot easier when you are related to Presidents. A lot of the work had already been done.



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The Battons

The farthest back I have found documented in our Batton family is Daniel Batton born 1795 in Isle of Wight, Virginia.  The general consensus among the research I have found is our ancestor Daniel is a descendent of Ashwell Batten.
Ashwell arrived in Isle of Wight sometime before 1644 and was a man of substance. He was given an English land grant developing Hockley Plantation on the north side of the York River.  He imported many indentured servants and the trials with them show up in the local court records.
He had at least four wives one who was quite possibly on one of the first three ships to enter Jamestown in 1607.  His third wife, Ursula, died in an unlucky accident.  A Mr Whaley was attempting to shoot and kill a “beast” (I assume a cow) in a pen but unfortunately for Ursula, who was standing right by the pen, the bullet bounced off the beast’s horn and into Ursula.
If we do in fact descend from Ashwell it is most likely also from Ursula or Ashwell’s fourth wife, Anne.

Celia Hall Batton 1795-1870

What I know for sure is our Daniel Batton married Celia Hall, 18 January, 1815 in Isle of Wight, Virginia.

Their son, Hansel Batton was born in Isle of Wight but shortly after his birth the family moved to Tennessee, where the rest of the children were born and Daniel and Celia lived out the rest of their days.

 Both Hansel and his brother Samuel Hall Batton married into the Lamberson family. Hansel married Amanda and Samuel married her sister, Sarah. 

By 1850 Hansel Batton and his family were living in Alabama. At first they were in Marengo County but according to the history of Wilsonville they were well settled in Shelby County by the time of the Civil War.

Hansel Batton 1819-1890

“During the Civil War, forts at the Yellowleaf Creek and Coosa River bridges were overrun by the Yankees. As they passed through the area, Yankee soldiers camped at the Fourmile Creek bridge site at the foot of Batton Hill. A family of Battons lived near from which the hill received its name.”

There are records of a Hansel Batton from Alabama serving in the war but I haven’t been able to determine if it is our Hansel.
His brother, Samuel’s service is much better recorded.
Enlistment Date: Dec 10 1861 Age 42, Smithville (near Nashville) 
Taken prisoner and placed at Camp Morten, Indiana
Discharged on the 8th of October 1862 by order of Brigadier General Williamson due to injury.

Samuel Hall Batton 1821-1911

Hansel did leave a different trail of records…the legal kind.  In the 1850 census Hansel lists his occupation as grocer with a total estate value of $5000.  In the 1860 census total estate value was $10,000.  The war obviously took a toll on the family.  In the 1870 census Hansel’s occupation is listed as farmer with a total estate value of $725. There are at least 6 different court cases in Shelby County between 1861-1880. Three cases were brought against Hansel by a Mr Densler who owned the general store in Wilsonville.  Two more were brought by the merchants, Duran & Nelson and one by a Mr Gurrant all over debts.
Hansel was in good company, of the 1000’s of court cases listed in Shelby County for that time, the vast majority of the complaints are about debts, no doubt a direct result of the devastation caused by the war.

Old Chapel Cemetery, Wilsonville, Shelby CO, Alabama



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“Carolina Crazy” The Migration of our Swiss-German Ancestors to Orangeburg, South Carolina and Autuaga, Alabama

Example of a pamphlet distributed in Europe to encourage immigration


In the early – mid 1700’s there was a big marketing campaign launched in Switzerland and Germany trying to attract settlers to townships set up in inland South Carolina. Pamphlets were sent out extolling the economic value of the land and escape from religious persecution. These pamphlets helped start a craze called “Rabies Carolinae” in Switzerland (aka Carolina Madness).

Our ancestors, the Shaumloffel family from Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany came in 1716 (settled in Charleston but the daughter, Lovisia, married into the Horger family of Orangeburg), the Horgers from Guttannen, Switzerland came on The Samuel in 1735, the Whetstones from Zurich, Switzerland came in 1737 and the Stoudenmires from Germany came in 1750.

Jacob Horger (Clara Forbes Batton’s 5x Great Grandfather ) was in the first group of settlers who came through Charleston and were escorted to what would become the township of Orangeburg on the Edisto River in July 1735. According to a Stoudenmire/Whetstone researcher, Mrs Gokey, the Stoudenmire family landed at Cape Fear and had to walk the 150 mile trip to Charleston before heading to Orangeburg.

Another fun fact from Mrs Gokey, there was an attempt to tie our Stoudenmire family to a noble German estate in the late 1800s.  The technology didn’t exist to prove the family’s connection (the noble ancestor was supposedly in the female line) so the claim to the estate in Germany couldn’t go forward. 


Elizabeth Houser 1786-1853

Just after the Creek Wars, around 1819, another trend nicknamed “Alabama Fever” broke out in South Carolina.  With promise of good land, mild climate, and abundance of waterways a number of the families decided to head west.  Sixty-nine wagons formed a train and headed through Georgia to Alabama.  Our ancestors in the group were John George Stoudenmire and his wife, Mary Magdelene Whetstone along with her brother, Reverend Henry Whetstone and his wife, Elizabeth Houser.  Members of the Debardeleben family also made up part of the wagon train.
Rev Henry Whetstone 1784-1834

They settled in the Dutch Bend area of Autauga, Alabama on a bluff overlooking the Alabama River.
For a more extensive list of the families who made the migration from South Carolina to Alabama
click HERE


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The Keeners


Casper Keener (1660 - 1702)
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Both William Seth’s mother and Benjamin Averiett’s mother were Keeners.  In fact William Seth Stoudenmire and Dora Averiett shared the same great grandparents, William Keener Sr and Rachel.  If we trace this line back to immigration we meet Casper Keener (Kuher) and his son, Abraham. 
Casper was a Palatine from the Black Forest area which had traditionally been a wealthy part of Germany.  The French kept invading causing widespread devastation and famine which lead to mass emigration.  Casper left in 1738 on a ship called The Thistle.  Abraham followed in 1741 on board The Lydia.


They both swore allegiance to the King of England upon disembarking in Philadelphia.  Casper followed the Great Philadelphia Wagon Road down to North Carolina where he settled his family. 
When the Revolution started Abraham upheld his oath to the king and became a proper Tory.  Even though he was in his 60s he fought in the Battle of Ramsour’s Mill in 1780.  It is said that Abraham captured one of his close personal friends, Capt Kimik, who was fighting on the Whig side.  By making Captain Kimik his prisoner, Abraham saved his friend’s life.  There are a large number of researches who believe after this, Abraham flipped sides and became a Loyal Patriot.


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Benjamin Averiett 1806-1879 Who’s Who in Alabama

Part of this excerpt was read to Anna, Matt and I by Mr Travis Wesson on the porch of Benjamin Averiett’s home while Buddy chased chickens, 2013.
(written as read except made a little more p.c. in terms of racist reference to the “servant”)

Benjamin Averiett was one of the first settlers in what is now Talladega County.
He made his way from Autauga to the farm which he settled through canebreaks and unbroken forest.  When he came upon a slough he would have to cut trees, roll them on top of logs, slide the wagon over by hand and then swim the team through the slough.  The woods at the time were full of Indians and wild game. 
One time when Mrs Averiett was left at home with an old servant, her husband being out in the field at work, a bear came near the house, caught a pet pig and carried it off. When Mrs Averiett saw the bear carrying off her last pig she, with true pioneer courage, seized a gun, followed the bear to the swamp and when near enough took deadly aim and laid the bruin low.  This was 3 days before her son, William, was born. 
When Mr Averiett came home and heard all that had happened he said to his wife,
“Sarah, what in the hell do you mean? One of these days I shall come to the house and find you killed.”
Benjamin was one of the early traders with the Indians, keeping a store for the purpose.  Over the years his farm grew to over 10,000 acres.  He owned two ferry systems and was instrumental in bringing the railroad to the Talladega area.
Too old to go to war in 1861 he served in the Home Guard sharing substantial amounts of money and supplies with soldier’s families.
He was a man of great determination. It was said of him he never undertook anything he failed to carry through.

Benjamin and Sarah Averiett's headstones
Fort Williams Baptist Church Cemetery

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