First up: taking a fresh look at one of the first New England ancestors who started my genealogy obsession over 20 years ago, my 9X great grandfather Samuel Morse. One side benefit of writing these stories is focusing on revisiting the available records for an individual and his family.
In 2015, I wrote about Samuel's father, Reverend Thomas Morse whose story gives a good indication of the sort of unsettled childhood Samuel and his siblings would have had. Their father Thomas was a Puritan religious dissident whose beliefs were constantly undermining his position as a minister in the Church of England.
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| Parish Church of St. Peter, Boxted |
Conflicting dates, almost a decade apart, are given for Samuel's birth (12 June 1576 or 1585). No primary sources can be located, but considering that his marriage to Elizabeth Jasper occurred on 29 June 1602, I believe the earlier date to be the more likely (Samuel would have been 26 rather than barely 17 marrying the 23 year-old Elizabeth). He is said to have been born at Boxted, Suffolk, England while his father was rector there. He would have been about seven when his family moved to Hinderclay, Suffolk.
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| St. Mary Church at Hinderclay, Suffolk |
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| Porch at the Hinderclay Church |
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| View from inside Hinderclay Church |
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| List of Rectors of Hinderclay Church Samuel's father Thomas Morse 1583, deprived 1595 (third from bottom) |
It isn't clear whether Samuel moved with the family to Foxearth when his father became rector there in 1595 (after being "deprived" of his benefice at Hinderclay that same year, as shown above). At that time, Samuel would have been nearly 20.
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| Location of Hinderclay and Redgrave, Suffolk Google Earth Image |
On 29 June 1602, Samuel married Elizabeth Jasper of nearby Redgrave. The couple had several children born in Redgrave starting in 1603 and ending in 1620 with the birth of their youngest daughter Mary (my 8X great grandmother). Their children grew up and eldest daughter Elizabeth married in 1629 and started a family of her own. Things were not as settled as they might seem, however. The family's Puritan leanings would have been an ongoing source of concern.
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| St. Mary's Church at Redgrave, Suffolk |
Now for Samuel's "fresh start". He embarked 15 April 1635 on the ship Increase bound from London to New England, together with wife, son Joseph and granddaughter Elizabeth Daniel. (Other family members also ended up in America, but it isn't clear whether they were on this or some other ship.) The passenger list for the Increase has husbandman (farmer) Samuel at age 50, Elizabeth 48, Joseph 20 and granddaughter Elizabeth Daniel just 2. (At 50 Samuel was fairly old for such a fresh start, but he may actually have been almost a decade older at 59 and wife Elizabeth possibly about 56.)
According to May Phillips Train in Samuel Bullen and some of His Descendants, p. 52, Morse's emigration to America was to effect "separation from the corruption of the English Church." Clearly Samuel was in agreement with his father's non-conforming ways, putting our Morse family among the many religious dissidents who moved to America in search of religious freedom.
The Morses came first to Watertown (near Boston), part of the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony, where they were accepted as members of the first church.
The following year they were part of the new Utopian Christian settlement at Dedham. On 15 August 1636 Samuel was among the first signatories of the covenant (constitution) for the new settlement. Sons Daniel, John and Joseph also signed the covenant. Samuel became a freeman of the town 8 October 1640 and a member of newly organized Dedham church 30 May 1641. As the son of an English minister, he was probably fairly well educated and a respected man in his community. He frequently served in public office, including as selectman (one of the council of "seven men" of Dedham) and as surveyor.
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| Location of Dedham, MA southwest of Boston Google Earth Image |
By 1641, a new town called Medfield was set off from Dedham. Samuel was present at the formation meeting in Medfield in 1644 of the first free school in Massachusetts supported by town tax.
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| Medfield's Vine Lake Cemetery |
When he died in 1654, his will left everything to widow Elizabeth for her lifetime and then equally to his children or their survivors. His earthly estate was valued at just over 124 pounds.
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| Morse Memorial at Medfield, MA |
Samuel died in the absolute belief that he would have one final fresh start with his Father in Heaven.
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| Portion of the will of Samuel Morse |
Resources
Ancestry.com, New England, The Great Migration and The Great Migration Begins, 1620-1635.
Ancestry.com. U.S. and Canada, Passenger and Immigration Lists Index, 1500s-1900s. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc, 2010.
Massachusetts, Wills and Probate Records, 1635-1991, Suffolk County (Massachusetts) Probate Records, 1636-1899; Author: Massachusetts. Probate Court (Suffolk County); Probate Place: Suffolk, Massachusetts accessed through Ancestry.ca
Roberts, Gary Boyd, English Origins of New England Families, Genealogical Pub. Co, 1984.
Tilden, William S., History of the Town of Medfield, Massachusetts 1650-1886, Boston: Geo. H. Ellis Publisher, 1887.
Love how you pieced together the facts into a story that brought Samuel to life. Gives me some ideas on how I can approach some of my future posts for 52Ancestors
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Patty. Good luck with your postings - I find it really enjoyable to focus on one ancestor each week. (Otherwise I seem to have a bad habit of falling down too many rabbit-holes and wondering what I've actually accomplished.)
DeleteHello, cousin! Samuel and Elizabeth are my ancestors, also. You did a great job of pulling his story together!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the comment, Cousin Janice!
ReplyDelete