William SABIN, 11th great-grandfather

William SABIN was the original immigrant ancestor and progenitor of the Sabins of North America.

He was baptized on 11 October, 1609, at St. Peter's Church in Titchfield, Hampshire, England. His parents Richard and Mary (BUSHE) SABIN had been married in the same parish not quite a year earlier, on 29 October 1608.

St. Peter's Church in Titchfield, Hampshire, England, exterior

St. Peter's interior

We don't know exactly when William came to the American colonies, but he may have arrived on the ship Brevis in May of 1638. He was here by 1639, because he married Mary, daughter of Richard WRIGHT, in Braintree that year.

The Sabins were members of the Weymouth Church in 1642, and the same year they settled in Rehoboth.

A miller by trade, William was evidently an educated and wealthy man, owning many books and very involved in town affairs. He contributed a lot of money towards the founding of the first free public school in America in 1643. He also contributed towards the relief of neighbors who had suffered at the hands of the Indians.

In 1649 he was brought to trial on charges of shorting some customers on corn he had milled for them, but was cleared by the jury.

He was made a freeman of Rehoboth on 3 June 1657.

By 1663, his first wife Mary (WRIGHT) had died, and that year he remarried Martha ALLEN, by whom he had several more children.

William SABIN was foreman of the jury that found three Indians guilty of murder, and they were hanged in June of 1675.

This helped light the fuse that sparked King Philip's War, the conflict that was the culmination of years of growing tension between white settlers and natives. Indeed, nine months later natives burned Sabin's mill and killed his son Nehemiah.

William died in 1687, leaving a will:

His house,half of a barn and homelot, some meadowland and pasture, plus six acres to his wife Martha. He gave land to his sons:
Samuel, Joseph, Benjamin, James, John, Hezekiah and Noah.
To his daughters Experience, Abigail and Hannah, he gave three pounds each. To his grandson Samuel Allen he gave six pounds.
To daughter Elizabeth and Patience, he gave a cow. To his four youngest daughters, Mehitabel, Mary, Sarah and Margaret he gave five pounds each when they married.
William's books were divided among his children, one per child by their choice, with the remainder going to his wife. He added a provision that son James was to receive the house and lands given to his wife if she remarried, provided he pay her five pounds per year for life.

He's buried at Kickmuit Cemetery in Warren, Bristol, Rhode Island.

His eldest son Samuel, my 10th great-grandfather, married Mary BILLINGTON, daughter of Francis BILLINGTON and granddaughter of John BILLINGTON of Mayflower notoriety.

Ancestral line: William SABIN - Samuel SABIN - Israel SABIN - Jeremiah SABIN I - Jeremiah SABIN II - Sarah SABIN - Samuel THURBER - Margaret THURBER - Hannah SPECHT - Jessie BAKER - Estelle SIMMONDS - Henry HOWES - Shirley HOWES - Me.

Nachama SMUTER, my great-grandmother

Researching my family history, I've focused mainly on my mother's family, in part because it's been so easy to trace back; early New Englanders kept excellent records.

My father's side has been far more difficult: his mother's family was of Irish descent, and his father Bernard K was a Jewish immigrant who fled the pogroms of post-World War One Poland.

I've begun to turn my attention to this paternal grandfather's family.

He passed away eighteen years before I was born, at the relatively young age of 55 (renal failure), so I never knew him. All I knew about him until a couple of years ago was that he came here from Russia*, that he owned a delicatessen, and that he had several siblings with funny-sounding Yiddish names like Yonkel and Geisie, many of whome settled in Canada because they couldn't get into the U.S.

And I knew that his mother's name was Naomi. No last name, no father's name, nothing.

I ended up connecting with a second cousin online through a random searching of my very unusual real last name. I emailed him through his website, and he put me in touch with another second cousin, who is also into family history. She sent me a large manila envelope containing a map of Poland, hand-drawn family trees, photos of my great-grandmother, my grandfather, and his siblings-- and a short family history written by the daughter of my grandfather's half-sister. This little history is the main source of information I have about my grandfather's family.

Today I'm going to focus on my great-grandmother Nachama (anglicized to Naomi when she arrived):

Nachama's maiden name was SMUTER, according my my grandparents' marriage record, and she was from the town of Krasnystaw (pronounced "KRAZ-ni-stov"), born around 1860. She was betrothed at the age of 9 to a local boy named Moishe Millstein. Apparently it was a tradition for a girl who was engaged to spend the Passover holiday with the family of her intended. She was playing some game that involved tossing walnuts, and because she was losing, she cried and asked to be taken home.

Nachama married Millstein when she was just 15, and he was 21. He was a dandy and a bad provider, preferring to get dressed up and go to shul to study the Torah than work or help Nachama with the difficult chores that needed doing. He was, however, an affectionate father to their kids, Velvel and Sheva.

Moishe Millstein died after only five years of marriage, and Nachama found herself a 20-year-old widow with two children to provide for. She opened a dry goods store, and a few years later she married my great-grandfather, Menashe K.

Menashe was the polar opposite of her first husband: he treated Nachama like a queen, but was extremely mean to the children, beating them horribly. And if he was so cruel to his own kids, you can just imagine how he treated the steps; it was Velvel who bore the brunt of Menashe's temper, and he ended up running away to Canada and changing his name. Sheva had to be sent to live with grandparents much of the time as well.

Nachama and Menashe had 11 children together, only seven surviving to adulthood; their youngest was my grandfather Boruch (later called Bernard).

After World War One, Jews were being persecuted; after Cossacks raided the family's dry goods store, they decided it was time to go. My grandfather and his family left Poland throughout the 1920's. Immigrant families couldn't usually all leave together; one would come over, find work, and then would send money back to allow others to follow.

Nachama's immigration information has not been found, but she did come over at some point, her name being anglicized to Naomi. She ended up living with daughter Sheva and her family in Philadelphia; it seems that none of her other many children wanted her, which is interesting.

The writer of this history-- Sheva's daughter and Nachama's granddaughter-- recalls Nachama living with them; she would go to services at the synagogue, and when she would come back she would make fun of the other old ladies at the temple whose nylons had runs and whose wigs were crooked (Nachama was meticulous about her appearance, as my grandfather also was). When she was chastised for speaking so uncharitably about other people, she answered, "So God will punish me and I'll live to be old."

She died around or a little after 1933.

I didn't know her, but the picture painted by the writer is of a woman who had to be strong and resourceful at an early age, but who might have been rather... unlikeable.

Why did her children not want her in their homes-- was she unpleasant, or overbearing? Did her children resent her for allowing their father to abuse them? Did his abuse of the children bother her? Did she just stay with him because she had no other option, or was she happy as long as he was taking good care of her?

This raises so many questions-- ones that can't be answered by tracking down records.

*Krasnystaw, the town my grandfather's family was from, was in Russia until the borders changed after World War One; now it's in Poland.

Josiah BARTLETT, 2nd cousin and Founding Father

A physician, statesman, delegate to the Continental Congress, Chief Justice of the New Hampshire Superior Court Judicature, 6th governor of that state, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.

What a guy.

No, I'm not directly descended from Josiah BARTLETT, but he is a collateral relative: a second cousin eight times removed through both sets of his paternal great-grandparents: John EMERY II/Mary WEBSTER and Richard BARTLETT/Abigail WELLS.

I don't know if many people realize it, but signing that Declaration of Independence was a very gutsy thing to do: you were openly declaring yourself to be a traitor to the British monarchy-- for which the penalty was death. When Benjamin Franklin said, "If we do not hang together, we will most assuredly hang separately", he wasn't kidding or exaggerating.

Dr. Bartlett had set up his medical practice in Kingston, New Hampshire, which was a pretty small town; he was the only doctor around at that time. Like many men back then who had a regular occupation, he farmed as well.

You can read more about this fascinating man here.

Samuel SEVERANCE, American patriot

For Independence Day weekend, I thought I'd highlight the story of an ancestor who fought for America's freedom...

My 5th great-grandfather Samuel SEVERANCE, born about 1741, was a native of Kingston, New Hampshire, and enlisted in the Revolutionary army in the summer of 1775. He was in the Battle of Bunker Hill, and he brought back home a small stone as a memento of that event.

His wife Hannah (nee WINSLOW) sent him green beans, pork to cook them with, and some corn meal. His packages also contained berries lovingly picked for him by his six-year-old daughter, also named Hannah. The other soldiers were moved to tears, wishing that they had wives and children to send them such nice little gifts.

There is preserved a very touching if badly-spelled letter Samuel wrote to his family:

Madford [Medford, Massachusetts] July th 17. 1775,

These Lines comes to you, my loveing wife and dear children, hoping in the marcy of god that you are all well, and I hope in gods time I shall be restored home again; but if not, I beg of god that we may so live in this world that we may spend wone day in each others preasents in a world of glory, for I put noe trust in the arm of flesh, but my trust in in god alone for life and mearcy, and I hope in the mearcy of god that he will cary you throu all your troble and difictiles that you have to pas throu in this life. my love to father and mother, to brother John and wife. I hope that you are all well, and the rest of my friends, to my wife; what money I send home to you, you may take care of it. if you have aney pros[pect] of corn, I would have that old cow have a peas on her horns, so I have noe more at the preasent, so I remain your Loving housband til death peart.

Saml. Severance

Personally, I think the awful spelling makes this letter all the sweeter.

His son, my 4th great-grandfather Samuel Jr., would be born one month after he wrote this, so I can imagine how rough it was on both him and his wife; I'm imagining poor Hannah, heavily pregnant in the middle of summer, and her husband is off fighting a war and might not come home. Talk about mood swings and crying jags!

But as it turned out, she wouldn't have long to wait; he came down with "camp sickness", and was discharged. He was so pale and haggard when he returned to his family that little Hannah didn't recognize her father and hid herself behind a door in fear of this "stranger."

The above information and letter was furnished to the New England Historic Genealogical Society by E. George Adams, a descendant of Samuel's above-mentioned daughter Hannah (SEVERANCE) ADAMS, which appeared in Volume 12, page 22 of their Register. I'm very grateful to him for that.

Line: Samuel SEVERANCE I - Samuel SEVERANCE II - Mary SEVERANCE - James WINSLOW - Bessie WINSLOW - Dorothy PALMER - S. HOWES - Me.

Hannah Specht Baker, my 3rd great-grandmother

Hannah Melissa (SPECHT) BAKER (1843-1924) was my mother's father's mother's mother's mother, and it turns out that she had some pretty interesting ancestry on both sides of her family.

She was born Hannah Melissa SPECHT on December 7, 1843 to Anthony Christopher and Margaret Sophia (THURBER) SPECHT in Barton, Digby, Nova Scotia, Canada. She married George Arthur BAKER on Christmas Eve, 1862 in Barton, and was living with her widowed daughter Jennie (BAKER) SANFORD in Barnard, Vermont by the time of the 1920 census. Hannah died there on July 2, 1924, of (according to her death record) chronic bronchitis.

Her grandpa was a Hessian soldier

Hannah's father's father was Ensign Johann Julius SPECHT (abt 1749- aft 1833), a soldier sent from Braunsweig (Brunswick) Germany to fight for the British during the American War for Independence.

A substantial number of troops fighting on the side of the British during this war were from Germany; they were either criminals, desperate men of some sort, or veteran soldiers, recruited and sent over by German princes. Because the majority of these troops came from the region of Hesse-Kassel, they are generally referred to as "Hessians"-- even if they hail from elsewhere in Germany, as my 5th great-grandfather did.

According to an secondary online source I've found:

Ensign Johann Julius Anton SPECHT arrived in 1776 on the ship Ost-Rust.

In 1777 Ensign Specht, under the command of General John Burgoyne, was wounded and captured at Bennington. He spent the next five or so years as a prisoner of war.

After his release, around 1783, he petitioned for and was granted British subjectship and land in Nova Scotia, at the head of St. Mary's Bay. He married Elizabeth (maiden name unknown) and settled down there.

Johann Julius Specht died in Nova Scotia sometime after 1833. He has quite a few descendants through his sons, and the Specht surname has several variations: Speicht, Speight, and Spates, to name a few.

Primary sources:

WILHELMY, JEAN-PIERRE. German Mercenaries in Canada. Beloeil, Quebec: Maison des Mots, 1985. 332p. Page: 263

"An Eyewitness Account of the American Revolution and New England Life", The Journal of J.F.Wasmus, German Company Surgeon, 1776-1783, translated by Helga Doblin.

The Mayflower connection

Through her mother, Hannah Specht Baker was also a descendant of the Mayflower Billington family.

John Billington, his wife Eleanor (maiden name unknown) came to America on the Mayflower with their two sons, John Jr. and Francis. The family did not have a good reputation; John Billington made enemies easily and was known as a "foul mouthed miscreant."

Ten years after arriving in Plymouth, he shot and killed fellow colonist John Newcomen during a heated argument over hunting rights. For this, Billington was hanged in September of 1630. He was about 50 years of age.

Line 1: Johann Julius SPECHT - Anthony Christopher SPECHT - Hannah SPECHT - Jessie BAKER - Estelle SIMMONDS - Henry HOWES - S. HOWES - Me.

Line 2: John BILLINGTON - Francis BILLINGTON - Mary BILLINGTON - Israel SABIN - Jeremiah SABIN - Sarah SABIN - Samuel THURBER - Margaret Sophia THURBER - Hannah SPECHT - Jessie BAKER - Estelle SIMMONDS - Henry HOWES - S. HOWES - Me.