Category Archives: Burnham

Burnham, Davis

Benjamin Davis & Elizabeth Low, 1700s & the Extended Davis Family

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Before I move on with my examination of the extended family of Benjamin Davis, let’s quickly review my progress – or lack of it in terms of positive finds.

This land deed initially caught my interest because both Thomas and Caleb Burnham witnessed this land transaction in York County, Maine whereby Symonds Low and his wife Deborah, Thomas Low and his wife Abigail and Benjamin Davis and his wife, Elizabeth (Low) sold property to Epes Sargent in 1733.

An examination of both the Symonds extended family and that of the Lows produced no clues that might place Susannah (MNU) Burnham as a member of either of those families.

Therefore, the Davis family is my last hope for finding a possible family for Susannah (MNU), who was born c1675 and married Thomas Burnham, c1697.

Interestingly, Benjamin Davis’s family has taken me full circle back to Captain James Davis of Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts. When I previously sought out all the Susannahs born around the 1670s in Massachusetts, I included but wrote off one Susannah Davis:

Susannah Davis, of James & Elizabeth, Gloucester, 20 Nov 1676

Susannah Davis is off the list, as she reportedly married Robert Andrews c1702 and lived in York, Maine.

I had also noted that Susannah (MNU) Burnham wrote a will with not one, but two Low witnesses:

On the other hand, Thomas Low might be a more promising lead because not only did one Thomas Low witness this document, but when Susannah (MNU) Burnham wrote her will, it was witnessed by Thomas Low, Solomon Andrews and Isaac Andrews, followed by a codicil witnessed by Joseph Marshall, Daniel Low and Jeremiah Andrews.

It is definitely time to dig further into Benjamin Davis’s family. First, Benjamin Davis was born in 1693, the son of John and Ann (Harraden) Davis, making him the next generation after Susannah (MNU) Burnham.

John Davis was born in 1659 and could be a possible sibling of Susannah.

I found several interesting tidbits of information.

Captain James Davis was born c1635 and died on 1 May 1715, Essex County, Massachusetts. However, he left no probate and didn’t appear to have had land dealings. No real estate was sold by his heirs.

This family lived in Gloucester, Essex, Massachusetts.

James Davis married (1) Mehitable (possibly Bridges), c1660. They were the parents of three known children, but only one lived to adulthood:

1. John, born 10 March 1659/60
2. James, born 16 March 1661/62; died 23 March 1663
3. Joseph, died 4 May 1665

Mehitable died on 9 June 1666 and James married (2) Elizabeth Batchelor, 6 December 1666.

James and Elizabeth were the parents of SIX (I will discuss Child  #5) children, all born in Gloucester:

1. Elizabeth, born 11 September 1669
2. Abigail, born 13 April 1672
3. Joseph, born 25 January 1673/74
4. Susannah, born 20 November 1676
5. Su Han[n]ah, born 28 May 1679
6. Ebenezer, born 26 January 1681/82; married Mary Wharff, 25 December 1705
7. Mark, born 20 May 1683; possibly the man who died 15 April 1706

First, let’s deal with Child #5 – Su Han[n]ah:

Here is the image from the printed transcriptions of Gloucester Vital Records to 1850:

This entry makes it seem as though Susannah who was born in 1676 had died and another daughter was given the same name. Yet, there is NO death record for Susannah born in 1676.

Online trees have changed this odd entry into one Hannah Davis who married John Warner with intentions filed in Ipswich on 4 July 1702. This might be a plausible explanation for the 1679 birth record.

However, as you  might know, I like to leave no stone unturned so I dug around in FamilySearch and found the original Gloucester town records. The clerk handily recorded all of the surnames beginning with D on two pages for the time period 1676-1682.

Take a look at this:

This is the second page of D entries and the very top item is the birth record for Susanna Daughter of James Davis borne by Eliza his wife 20:9:76.

That entry is followed by entries for (various people whose surnames begin with D) Thomas, Joseph, Aron, Joseph, Timothy, Job, Ebenezer (Susannah’s brother born 1681), John, Anthony and John.

Joseph and Timothy are the only two records for 1679 and there is no other Susannah or Hannah, or even another female!

Therefore, Hannah who married John Warner is a person who existed, but her birth is not recorded in Gloucester as a child of James and Elizabeth!

So, if that record is erroneous, might there be other mistakes in this family? Like, for example, that Susannah Davis, daughter of James and Elizabeth, married Robert Andrews and removed to York County, Maine?  Perhaps! Especially since there is no marriage record for this couple.

I also found a troubling entry in the deaths of Gloucester Vital Records to 1850:

Yes, it says MRS. Susannah Davis. However, in that time period, ladies of a certain social status were also called MRS, even if not married. Also, this Susannah Davis is EXACTLY the same as as Susannah, daughter of James and Elizabeth, born in November 1676.

Here is the citation: Gloucester, MA: Burials in Gloucester Cemeteries, 1720-2003. (Online database. AmericanAncestors.org New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2007), City of Gloucester Historical Commission, Gloucester Historic Burying Grounds Subcommittee. Gloucester, Massachusetts: 2006.

I feel stymied at every turn. There is no image available online for Susannah’s gravestone. Back in 1895, William Dolliver was charged with the task of recording all the inscriptions on gravestones in Gloucester. His handwritten notes, in meticulous order, include entries for many Davis people, including Susannah’s father, Captain James, who died in 1715. There is NO entry for any Susannah Davis in any year.

That was 125 years ago, so if it wasn’t recorded then, where did the Gloucester Historical Commission get the information? If they supplemented actual in-person visits to the cemeteries with the Vital Records to 1850, then I have a problem wondering if it is accurate.

The citation in the Vital Records is GR4, which corresponds to the Second Parish Burial Ground, where Dolliver walked the rows and found no Susannah Davis.

There is also no probate record for any Susannah Davis in Gloucester AND I’ve already shown proof that Su Han[n]ah supposedly born in 1679 doesn’t exist.

There was also confusion with the birth entries for James’ and Mehitable’s son James:

These two records reference one child, James, who was born 16 March 1661/62 and died 23 March 1663. That isn’t evident from this image. It makes it seem as if two Jameses were born a year apart.

I can also offer one more egregious error in the Vital Records of Nantucket to 1850, which states my ancestor Joseph Coleman died in 1775. He didn’t – he removed from Nantucket in 1775 to Orange County, New York, where he died a couple of decades later.

Therefore, I know for certain that this published series contains mistakes.

I looked for the original Gloucester town records on FamilySearch. The volume that should contain the death records from 1716 to  has a note in the front stating the death records for that time period are in a previous volume, which doesn’t appear to be available on FamilySearch.

What to do? I got on the phone and called the Gloucester City Archives, which holds the original town clerk books.

A quick check found this entry:

Davis, Susanna (aged about 47 years) dyed December 20  1723

Well, I’m disappointed because I thought this Susannah Davis was an excellent candidate to have married Thomas Burnham. For those who think she married Robert Andrews, it looks like this death disproves that idea, too.

By the way, I did look for any other Susannah who might have married a Davis in this time frame and found absolutely no other possibilities.

I still feel like there is some kind of tie between Thomas and Susannah Burnham and the Symonds, Low and Davis families. What is is, however, remains a mystery.

Burnham, Symonds

Samuel Symonds Family – Harlakenden & Elizabeth (MNU) Symonds of MA and York, Maine, 1600s

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In order to document the family of Harlakenden and Elizabeth (MNU – possibly Day) Symonds, it was necessary to piece together the family of Harlakenden’s father, Samuel, his three wives, and his children.

Samuel Symonds was baptized on 9 June 1595 at Great Yeldham, Essex, England. died after writing the last codicil to his will on 8 January 1677 in Essex County, Massachusetts.

Samuel married (1) Dorothy Harlakenden, 2 April 1617, in Great Yeldham. Dorothy was buried on 3 August 1636 at Toppesfield, Essex, England.

(2) Martha (Reade) Epps, the widow of Daniel Epps. Daniel died in London, England by 1637 and it is thought that Samuel married Martha shortly before the blended Symonds-Epps family sailed for Massachusetts. Martha died c1662, probably in Massachusetts, but possibly in York County, Maine.

(3) Rebecca (Swayme) (Byley) (Hale) Worcester, in April or May 1663. She was the widow of Henry Byley, John Hale and William Worcester.  Rebecca survived Samuel by quite a few years, leaving a will that was entered into court records 19 August 1685, Essex County, Massachusetts.

Samuel was the father of many children.

Children of Samuel and Dorothy:

  1. Richard, baptized 15 June 1618, Toppesfield, Essex, England; no further record
  2. Dorothy, baptized 9 November 1619, Toppesfield, Essex, England; no further record
  3. Jane, baptized 29 April 1621, Toppesfield, Essex, England; no further record
  4. Anne, baptized 25 April 1622, Toppesfield, Essex, England; no further record
  5. Elizabeth, born c1624, England; married Daniel Epps
  6. William, born c1626, England; married Elizabeth (MNU)
  7. Harlakenden, born c1628, England; married Elizabeth (possibly Day)
  8. John, born c1630, England; John apparently returned to England by 1653 and little is known about him.
  9. Samuel, born c1632, England; died unmarried, apparently on a trip to England
  10. Mary, born c1634; married Peter Duncan

Children of Samuel and Martha:

11. Martha, born c1638; married John Denison
12. Ruth, born c1640; married John Emerson
13. Priscilla, born c1648, Massachusetts; married Thomas Baker

Samuel Symonds left a will, as did his third wife, Rebecca, so the names of Samuel’s surviving children and their spouses are certain.

Now, let’s look at Harlakenden Symonds, who married Elizabeth, whose maiden name MIGHT be Day.

The Symonds family was economically secure and of strong social status, given the Samuel Symonds served in the Massachusetts Bay government and Harlakenden was a land speculator, buying large tracts of land in York County, Maine. Those land records call him “gentleman.”

In spite of the fact that Harlakenden’s name appears as a grantor, grantee and land descriptor many, many times over throughout the second half of the 17th century, and that he is named as a resident of Wells, Maine, plus Boston, Ipswich and Gloucester, Massachusetts, the only child of his identified in all of these records is a daughter, Sarah.

Sarah Symonds was born c1668, probably in York County, Maine. She married Thomas Low, who was born c1661 and died in 1697 in Essex County, Massachusetts.

Sarah long survived her husband, and passed away after 15 May 1731, when she was called daughter of Harlakenden and grandchild of Samuel Symonds in an Essex County land deed (Volume 58:185.

Harlakenden Symonds is last found in Massachusetts records in 1694 and it is believed that he died c1695. No probate has been found for him. One 19th century researcher stated that he returned to England, but I’ve found no record to document that. However, it is unusual for such a well-to-do man to leave no probate.

If he had other children who survived to adulthood, they aren’t named in any documents I’ve found regarding Harlakenden.

Therefore, in terms of answering my research question as to whether or not Susannah (MNU) Burnham might be a Symonds, I have to conclude that it is extremely unlikely.

Next, we’ll move on to the extended family of Benjamin Davis, who married Elizabeth Low. This is the last possibility for clues to Susannah’s origins based on the York County, Maine land deed I shared in a recent post.

 

Burnham

Might Susannah (MNU) Burnham (c1675-1752) Be a Low, Davis or a Symonds?

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I have to admit, right from the start, that having so many early colonial New England families means that I have only a handful of brick walls in those lines and the few that exist are primarily women’s maiden names.

In the past, I wrote a series about my quest to uncover the maiden name of Susannah, born c1675 and who died before 27 March 1752 in Essex County, Massachusetts.

However, the result of all that work simply removed all the Susannahs born in Massachusetts around the 1670s as possibilities to be the lady who married Thomas Burnham.

Either those Susannahs died young, the family left the Essex County, Massachusetts area or they could be accounted for in marriage to other men in the same time period.

Susannah (MNU) married Thomas Burnham (1673-1748) about 1697.

They were the parents of six children, five sons – Thomas, Jeremiah, Caleb, Stephen and Nathan, and one daughter, Hannah, who is my ancestress.

Recently, I decided it was time to take another look at this family, hoping to uncover new clues.

Since Caleb is a very unusual name in the Burnham family, I decided to begin with a search for records concerning him.

An interesting deed filed in York County, Maine in 1733 popped up in AmericanAncestors.


Symonds Low, with consent of wife Elizabeth of Gloucester, Thomas Low, with consent of wife Abigail of Ipswich, and Benjamin Davis with consent of wife Elizabeth, of Gloucester sold to Epes Sargent of Gloucester a tract of land in York County bordering the town of Wells and Cape Porpus. The acreage is not mentioned in the deed, but the sale happened on 18 April 1733.

What caught my eye about this transaction is that there are not two or three witnesses, but EIGHT.

We have witnesses: Thomas Sargent, Benjamin Tarbox, Thomas Burnam, Caleb Burnam, George Minot, Benjamin Colman and B & El Davis.

Why there are eight witnesses and why Benjamin and Elizabeth Davis are also counted among them I have no idea.

Thomas Sargent was likely a witness in support of Epes Sargent.

As for Benjamin Tarbox, George Minot and Benjamin Colman, I can’t find likely men to be these people, except there is a Benjamin Colman (1709-1788) of York, Maine who married Abigail Emery. It’s very possible that George Minot and Benjamin Colman also lived in York County.

The attention getter to this deed is the fact that both Thomas and Caleb Burnham were also witnesses to this land sale. Which Thomas Burnham – Caleb’s father or his brother – is unsure, but my guess would be that his brother was with him in Maine, not his father, who was getting up in years by the 1730s.

It also appears that this property was inherited by probably three of these people since the land is in Maine, but the grantors live in Ipswich and Gloucester, Massachusetts.

So, who are these people? Thankfully, Massachusetts records helped me connect the first set of dots rather quickly.

Symonds Low (1687-1737) married (1) Sarah Davis and (2) Deborah Low

Symonds’ sister, Elizabeth Low (born 1695), married Benjamin Davis (1693-1788)

Thomas Low Jr. (born 1692) married Abigail Fellows, intentions 30 September 1721.

Symonds, Elizabeth and Thomas were siblings and children of Deacon Thomas Low (1661-1697)  who married Sarah Symonds (1668-1709).

Among the inventory papers of Deacon Thomas Low, dated 1698 is one page referring to legacies left to him by Harlakenden Symonds and Elizabeth, his wife, dated 1 March 1690/91, parents of his wife, Sarah Symonds.

Online information about Harlakenden and Elizabeth Symonds is spotty, probably for two reasons. First, he lived in the frontier land of York County, Maine in the second half of the 1600s and, second, no one has bother to look in the published land deeds of York County.

There also seems to be incomplete information about the family of Deacon Thomas Low and his wife, Martha Boreman, who married in 1660. However, it is certain that the Low family lived in Chebacco Parish, which today is part of Ipswich, and is the same neighborhood where Thomas and Susannah (MNU) Burnham lived with their family.

Lastly, John and Ann (Harrenden) Davis were the parents of Elizabeth and Benjamin Davis, who married Low siblings. I’ve run into the Low family in the past in regard to the Burnham family. Perhaps this time, I will be able to make more of a connection.

Next, I need to build out and document the Low, Symonds and Davis families as best I can to determine whether Susannah might possibly be related to one of these couples.