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| photo courtesy discoverulsterscots.com |
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| Londonderry NH 2019. Please note my Ulster Scot t-shirt. photo courtesy your humble blogger |
In 2019, on the 300th anniversary of the founding of Nutfield/Londonderry, there was quite a hoopla, a grand addition to their annual Old Home Day celebration. We made the trip out, and even got to ride in the parade, on a float for descendants of the original sixteen families. Alas, somehow we two were the only ones on the float (my husband given honorary founder descendant-by-marriage status), but waved and smiled to the baffled spectators along the route. We were followed by a wonderful group of marching bagpipers (Scotch-Irish, remember), and were later told that somewhere behind them the actual Ben & Jerry rode on a–dare I say–ice cream float. It was a delightful day of Americana.
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| A Parade in Town. Londonderry NH 2019 collage courtesy of your humble blogger |
Anyway. By the time of the War of Independence, it is thought that almost a quarter of a million Scotch-Irish made the journey here, ultimately representing almost fifteen percent of the Colonies’ population. Many of them settled in Appalachia, and their cultural influence can still be seen there today in everything from fiddle music to moonshine. But their influence is broader: the Scotch-Irish were heavily represented in the Revolutionary War; nine Ulster Scots signed the Declaration of Independence, and nearly one third of our Presidents have Scotch-Irish ancestors. Here in the 21st century, other descendants and I of those original Aghadowey parish voyagers have a yearly Zoom call with descendants of those that stayed at home. It is always delightful, full of shared song and storytelling, uniting us across the sea–and years.
With the arrival of the Steeles and Morrisons in 1718, it would be almost one hundred and fifty years before additional ancestors of mine arrived on our shores, coming not from Great Britain, but for the first time throughout northern Europe. But we’ve got plenty of years to cover before then….
For more information on the Ulster Scots, visit here. They also have a terrific YouTube channel. 1730s Of course, not everything was on the historic, grand scale of town foundings and Indian wars, privation and persecution, log cabins, wolves, witch-hunts.... Daily life went on, and one hundred years or so after Plymouth Rock, most folks were preoccupied with necessities, like farming, raising children, and other quotidian pursuits. But they were also beginning to create our own distinct American culture and customs, particularly in the larger, established cities and towns. Even before developments in architecture, music, or literature, however, came American furniture. Adapted from English designs, these earliest pieces quickly began to evolve in both form and material, including our native hardwoods.
Thomas Davenport, 8x gg, was one such early “cabinet-maker,” the general name for wood-workers who designed and constructed not just cabinets, but chairs, tables, bedsteads, and the like. He was known for his “distinctive pierced splat” and “scrolled ears.” (I had to look it up too. Who says family history isn't educational?)
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| Side chair, one of a pair believed to be Davenport's work. Walnut and maple, with modern cushion. |
Sometime after Thomas' first wife, 8x gg Catherine Woodworth (a fitting surname for a carpenter's spouse) died in 1727, he moved across the Sakonnet River from Newport to Little Compton RI. (Her grandfather, 10x gg Walter Woodworth, owned many plots in Little Compton, although he never lived there.) Both locales were known for their outstanding joiners and cabinet-makers. Perhaps that is how Thomas got to know his second wife, Mary Pitman, whom he married in 1737; the men in her family were nearly all noted craftsmen. Thomas continued to craft chairs and tables until his death in 1745.
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| Walter Woodworth's Little Compton RI properties are highlighted. The Southworths and Howlands whose names appear are distant relations. |
Almost one hundred and fifty years later, a resurgence of interest in Colonial and Early American furniture began, both in home décor and as an area of academic research, bringing to light names–like Thomas Davenport’s–that might otherwise have been lost. It persists today. Just in the last few years, chairs by Grandpa Davenport have shown up in Yale University Press books, at Bonham’s Auction House, and on display at the Little Compton Historical Society. You can view one of his chairs and other selections from their exhibit online here. (Scroll down to find the Davenport chair. It’s between the ”Cow Vomit Rope” and the “Sheep Treadmill.” Really.)
Memorials, monuments and plaques are all well and good, commendable reminders of remarkable people and notable achievements. But while very few people can achieve that lofty recognition, all of us can enjoy a nice chair. You can read more about Davenports and design, including a surprising link to Savannah GA here.
1754 It’s interesting to see certain occupations recur in a family tree. Like Thomas Davenport, the subject of this segment was also a chairmaker, among other things. John Grindle, 6x gg, was a fascinating man of many accomplishments–and a few contradictions.
Born in 1714 in Portsmouth NH, just across the Piscataqua River from Maine, John Grindle relocated there by 1740, where he was one of the pioneers of Brooksville. During his lifetime he had three wives, and at least nine children.
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In 1754 Grindle first took part in what is now known as the French & Indian War. In actuality, it was a war between the French and British and their respective colonists and indigenous allies, part of a larger conflict between the two countries over land and commerce in the new world that lasted for almost a decade. The British controlled what we think of as the Thirteen Colonies, while the French occupied much of eastern Canada and the Great Lakes region. (This was the war that first brought George Washington to prominence, as the Commander of the Virginia Regiment.)
Grindle’s exact participation is not documented, but he was considered a respected veteran. A staunch Loyalist, by the time of the War of Independence he was commonly known as “Old Tory Grindle.” In The Grindle Family of Hancock County, Maine, Walter A Snow wrote:
John Grindle had seen the atrocities of the Indians in the families into which he married. He had soldiered long and faithfully for King and Queen. No longer exactly a young man he had found a new life in the frontier wilderness. He was accustomed to finding his security in the trained and seasoned regulars in their red coats. He had exulted in the fall of Quebec. Now in his sixties to witness the hazardous venture of severing ties with the parent country of which his family still carried, perhaps, some fond memories? No wonder his sentiments.
Ironically, four of John’s sons (and two sons-in-law) fought on the American side of the Revolutionary War.
In his sixties, still farming and making chairs, John Grindle took on another role, as the region’s first postmaster (another frequently recurring occupation in my family history, down to my own grandfather, 4x great-grandson of John). From Connee Jellison’s Hancock County, a Rock-Bound Paradise:
The sea was Surry's lifeline. As early as 1775, John Grindle carried the mail in a boat along the shore [of the Bagaduce River] with the letters and papers tied up in a handkerchief….
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| The original lighthouse at Grindle Point. It has since been rebuilt, but is still active. photo courtesy the National Archives |
1760s By 1770 the population of the American Colonies was roughly two million people. I have mentioned fifty of my ancestors by name so far, not counting many of their wives, who did the same things as the men but backwards in an apron and bonnet…. I chose each of them, so far, for their connection to a notable event or movement in our nascent nation’s history.
But what about the immense majority of everyone’s kinfolk not connected to historic touchstones? Who were they, where were they, and what were they doing? Before we leap to our next milestone–the big one!–1776 and the War of Independence, chosen starting point of the America 250 celebration, here is a survey of a few of my forebears not previously mentioned:
William Perham & Hannah Pomery, 6x ggs. They married in 1764. He later was a founding member of the Derryfield (now Manchester NH) Social Library. Members paid an annual fee used to buy books they would share. The collection began with seventy-eight books, mostly on religious topics, then expanded to over 100 titles of all types. Their son Robert (!) was the librarian in 1814. It was disbanded in 1833, members taking which books they wanted.
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| From Miscellaneous Notes & Queries, Vol XV, 1897 |
Southworth Hamlin & Tabitha Atkins, 7xggs. He was a carpenter; she was his second wife. After his death in 1766, she inherited their home and land in Barnstable MA, as well as his carpentry tools, books, and a loom, among other things.
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| A detail from Southworth Hamlin's will. |
Jonathan Stamper & Martha Brooks, 6xggs. By the 1760s they owned a considerable amount of land along Bugaboo Creek in Wilkes County NC. Perhaps not surprisingly, they also owned three slaves. He was appointed a constable, and later opened a tavern.
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| Wilkes Country NC, from an early map. Bugaboo Creek is on the eastern side, near modern-day Ronda. |
John Wallace & Janet Steele, 6xggs. They were among those founding families of Londonderry, NH in 1718 (about which I wrote previously). In 1762, still living in Londonderry, he signed his name on a petition to the Governor of the Province of New Hampshire asking that they be allowed to choose their own Representative.
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| A detail from the petition of Jan 25, 1762. Other signers, including Gregg, Clark, and Lindsey, were in-laws of John Wallace. |
This is as good a time as any to mention the Internet, that double-edged wonder of our Age. Crowded with junk, it also provides access to obscure and bygone documents and information that, if not lost entirely, would at least be nearly inaccessible. I cannot imagine being able to find such detailed information about so many things–even beyond family lore–without it.
Anyway. Speaking of age, this is also a good place to bring up life expectancy vs life span, two distinct things. It is often asserted how lucky we are to live now, because “in the olden days, most people only lived to be 30,” or some other dire approximation. In fact, in the 1760s in the Colonies, the life expectancy was about 34. Yet of my eight direct ancestors mentioned above, four lived into their 80s; their average age at death was 68. Were they lucky? Were they somehow healthier than their neighbors? Not necessarily. They lived the average life span of their time. Life expectancy takes into account things like infant mortality, widespread disease, and fatalities through violence and wars, all rampant during the Colonial era. Times were tough back then, indeed, and many lives were lost too early. Life span, however, is the age one could live to under normal circumstances. Lesson over.
Libraries, taverns, carpentry and such…. Nothing special or historic, just daily life. I hope my ancestors appreciated and enjoyed their mundane experiences. It was a calm before the storm, with ”the shot heard round the world” just a few years off.
