Travels to New England (52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2025 Week 28 theme: "Travel")

1997 marked the beginning of my genealogical journey. Appropriately, it had all begun with my husband travelling home to England for the funeral of his dear Aunt Winnie. I spent my evenings during his absence conducting early internet searches for my ancestors known to have been in New England in the 1630s. One of my earliest online discoveries in the Morse family led back to Redgrave and Hinderclay in Suffolk, just a few short miles from where Aunt Winnie's funeral was taking place. My husband was easily persuaded to make the short side trip on my behalf. 

The following year, he took my mother, my sister and me (and a roll of duct tape, he liked to joke!) on a genealogical trip to England to visit many of the places associated with our English ancestors.

The year after that (5 May-26 May 1999), my mother joined us to travel from our homes in Western Canada to New England to check out some of the same families' arrival spots in New England. Even though this was barely two years into my genealogical journey, I had collected a vast number of ancestors and their New England locations. There would be much to see.

A visit to a good map and travel book store netted me a few treasures including Historic Coastal New England by Clayton and Whitley. The planning and organizing were done the old-fashioned way with books and telephone calls. The following map from Google Earth highlights many of the stops of relevance we made in Massachusetts and Rhode Island. (Martha's Vineyard was thrown in just for fun!)

We visited numerous memorials, libraries and historical societies - and countless cemeteries! We were delighted to find so many stones for ancestors dating well back into the 1600s (a far different situation to our experience in England when there didn't seem to be anything beyond the 1800s). We received so much helpful information wherever we went. As so many genealogists have found to their delight, serendipitous events occurred during our travels.

Some of the ancestral names and their locations in Massachusetts stand out more than a quarter century later: Mayflower ancestors including John Alden and Priscilla Mullins in  Plymouth and Duxbury, Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks at Fairbanks House in Dedham, the Morses and Bullens in Sherborn, Medfield and Wales (South Brimfield), James Cudworth in Scituate, Kenelm and Ellen Winslow at Marshfield, Kenelm II Winslow and Peter Worden in the Worden Cemetery at Dennis, the Carvers and Hartwells at Bridgewater and John Prescott at Lancaster. We also visited Rhode Island to places associated with ancestors Stukely Westcott in Providence and Warwick and the Carvers in Foster.

Sharing just a handful of the dozens of photos taken: 

The author checking out headstones for James and Mary (Cudworth) Whitcomb at Rochester, MA

Fairbanks House, Dedham, MA - built by Jonathan and Grace Fairbanks 1636

Samuel Morse memorial in Vine Lake Cemetery, Medfield, MA

In Rhode Island, we failed to locate any ancestors at North Scituate. But with help from local historians we did find the well-hidden cemetery on the West side of Tucker-Hollow Road where we visited ancestors Joseph and Sarah Carver. The rocky land here seemed very inhospitable for new settlers trying to make a living. 

Joseph and Sarah (Hartwell) Carver Stones in well-hidden cemetery (Rhode Island Historical Cemetery Foster #26) near Foster, RI

Warwick, Rhode Island was said to have a marker for Stukely Westcott but we couldn't find a location described anywhere. Fortunately, we happened to stop in a residential neighborhood where a  man getting into his car serendipitously turned out to belong to the local historical society and took us to see a few sites of interest, including Stukely's marker. (He asked if his ancestor Chad Brown was another of our ancestors as well; it turned out he was - but I didn't yet know this. Thanks for the tour, Cousin!)

Marker for Stukely Wescott, Warwick, RI

We had mixed experiences looking for evidence of our Revolutionary War ancestor John Bullen and his wife Sarah Underwood at Ware, Western and Wales, MA. A very helpful policeman gave us directions to the cemeteries and led us to one. 

Kind Police Officer leading us to the Cemetery

The first day we found nothing (other than kindness and hospitality) but the second day we went back to the town office in Wales/Brimfield and had more success with some excellent documents and old books. Once again, as we were driving around in confusion, we happened upon just the right person out working on his roof. He directed us to the site of John and Sarah's homestead where only a few stones in the woods mark the former location of their hopes and dreams. 

Wales, MA location of John and Sarah Bullen's homestead

My mother claimed to have a "nose" for finding our ancestors; she frequently entered a cemetery and immediately headed in the right direction, soon calling out "Over here!"

At the end of my photo album for our travels in New England I wrote: "The End (for now)". With all the knowledgeable and helpful locals and so many historic places to visit, New England calls out for another visit - perhaps at some time in the future.

Some Resources: 

• Clayton, Barbara and Whitley, Kathleen, Historic Coastal New England Guide to People, Places, Architecture, and Attractions from Greenwich to Kennebunkport, 2nd edition, The Globe Pequot Press: Old Saybrook, Connecticut 1995