Innkeeper: a Popular Occupation (52 Ancestors 2020 Week 12) Theme: "Popular"

Owning and operating an inn was a surprisingly popular occupation among earlier ancestors. Most of ours were in my maternal New England line and one in my paternal Norwegian line. My husband can claim one in his paternal line in England.

My husband's ancestor's tavern in England had a name: "The Butcher's Arms". In New England, taverns were often called "ordinaries". Since these businesses were usually operated out of people's homes, they often had no business name associated with them. In addition to being a popular occupation, no doubt most tavern or innkeepers were popular for providing a place of entertainment in their communities.

Maternal line Innkeepers in Colonial New England:

• William Blake (1620-1703) (my 9X great grandfather)
• Stukely Westcott (1592-1678) (my 9X great grandfather)
• John Bullen (1747-1824)  (my 4X great grandfather)

Links are given above to stories already written about these three men. 

There is an association for descendants of colonial innkeepers called "Flagon and Trencher" which has a lot of useful information on early taverns. John Johnson (below) and Stukely Westcott are both listed as previously approved ancestors for admission, but membership at US$200 seems rather steep for bragging rights to inclusion in this group.

• John Johnson (1590-1659) (my 10X great grandfather)

John Johnson was born in Hertfordshire, England in about 1590. During the course of his life, he would be married three times. His first wife was Mary Heath; they married 21 September 1613 in Ware, Hertfordshire, England, most likely at St. Mary's Church.

St. Mary's Church, Ware
This image was taken from the Geograph project collection. The copyright on this image is owned by John Salmon
and is licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license.

Six children were born to the couple in Hertfordshire: Mary, Isaac, Elizabeth, Humphrey (my 9X great grandfather), Sarah and Hannah. Sadly, mother Mary died in 1629. John married his second wife Margery before the family emigrated to America the following year.

The family sailed aboard the Arabella as part of the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. An excellent account of the hardships and realities of the 9 week voyage can be found here.

Replica of the Arabella Produced in 1930 for the 300th anniversary of Salem
Public Domain Image

The ship left Yarmouth, Isle of Wight on 6 April 1630 and landed in Salem, MA on 22 June 1630.

Once there, John was active in the business of the Colony as Juryman, committee man, Surveyor, Deputy to the House of Deputies (some 21 years, almost consecutive) and Surveyor General. He was the First Clerk of the Ancient and Honorable Artillery. He was also one of the founders of Roxbury, MA. 

And  he kept a tavern.

Later in life, he was granted 1000 acres of land in consideration for his service to the Colony. 

•   General Richard Beers (1607-1675) (my 10X great grandfather)

Richard Beers was born 1 May 1607 in Gravesend, Kent, England to John and Mary (Selby) Beers (sometimes spelled "Beeres" or "Beres").

He emigrated from Gravesend to New England, in 1635, with his orphaned nephews, Anthony and James (sons of his brother James). They settled in Watertown, MA., where he remained. He was made a freeman of Watertown in 1637, was a Selectman in the government there for 31 years and served as a Representative to the General Court for thirteen years. Clearly, Richard was a  respected man of influence in his community.

Richard married a woman named Elizabeth who was probably Elizabeth Furman (1615-1706). She had immigrated to Massachusetts Bay from Nayland, Suffolk, England with her parents in the Winthrop Fleet of 1630. Their oldest child Sarah Beers, my 9X great grandmother, was born in 1639, followed by others between 1642 and 1662.

In 1654, Richard was granted a license to keep an ordinary (inn) in Watertown, which he operated for the rest of his life. (With a surname of  "Beers", this seems a particularly appropriate business for him.)

Paternal line Innkeeper in Norway:

• Torger Asgrimsen Nystuan (c1624-c1678) (my 8X great grandfather) 

Torger lived and died in Vang, Valdres, Oppland, Norway. He was born on Uvdal (Opdahl) farm to Asgrim Knudsen Opdahl and Gertrude Eriksdatter Hove. 

19th century Vang Kirke sits on the site occupied by a previous stave church located here in Torger's time

Photo by John Erling Blad

Wikimedia Commons

In about 1666, he married Marte Madsdatter Grihammer who had been born in the same area in 1641. The couple lived on Nystuen (Nystøga) farm and had three children: Marit Torgersdatter Nystuen, Ingeborg Torgersdatter Nystuen (my 7X great grandmother) and Asgrim Torgerson Opdahl. It seems he also had a daughter Gertrude Torgersdatter Nystune with Marit Knudsdatter Hermundstad but it isn't clear if or when he ever married her.

In 1664, his occupation in listed as "innkeeper". Unfortunately, we cannot locate any additional details around the type of establishment he would have had in Norway at the time. Did it offer rooms to let? Food? Beverages? Perhaps all of this as well as a place for the locals to socialize.

Barnard Paternal line innkeeper in Gloucestershire, England

• James Barnard (1833-1879) (my husband's great grandfather)

Born to James and Sarah (Dawes) Barnard in the Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, James was baptized at Abenhall Church on 22 December 1833. When he grew up he married Emma Matilda Smith and had a family of 11 children with her.

Interior Abenhall Church 2004

James was obviously a very ambitious man who provided well for his large family.  Among other things, he cut rock for houses from the quarries.  He built the first brick house on Plump Hill and many of his homes are still standing.

Detail of one of the homes built by James Barnard

James also kept a butcher shop and a public house. At the time of the 1861 census for England, he is 27, living at the Butchers Arms as an Inn Keeper, with wife Emma M. born West Dean, age 22 and son Jabus age 2 months.  Sister-in-law Ellen Smith, age 15, was staying with them at the time.

#34 James Barnard family at Butcher's Arms, East Dean, Gloucestershire, England 1861

Ten years later, he is listed in the census as an Iron Miner on Plump Hill. A James Barnard took over the Birch Hill Folly gale (regaled) with Reuben Joynes in 1875; this could be our James.  (A gale is a mining claim held by a freeminer and a regaled mine is one that has been transferred from one freeminer to another.  This is a concept unique to the Forest of Dean.)  By 1879, the year he died, James Barnard's name is no longer listed for this gale.

It was said that he was the strongest man in the Forest of Dean and for a wager (perhaps made at his inn!) he carried two sacks of corn, each 120 pounds, up a steep grass hill (perhaps Plump Hill itself ). He ruptured himself so badly that he was never able to lie down again. This may have been the cause of his early death in only his mid 40s. After his death, widow Emma had a shop but there is no evidence that she ever operated the Butcher's Arms as an inn.

Back view of Barnard homes - note steep grade of Plump Hill!

Some Sources: 

• Genealogy of John Johnson of Roxbury, Massachusetts generations i to xiv accessed online at Ancestry.com.
• New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
• George M. Bodge, Soldiers of King Philip's War (Boston, Massachusetts: David Clapp & Son, 1891), 81-87.
• Valdres Genealogy database located at valdresgenealogy.com person ID I04698, citing information from the Bygdebok: Vang A, author Anders Frohølm, p.36, 54 and from Vang and Slidre, author Tore Ey, p119.