Phillip Pinckney: England to Connecticut

Family History Post --

334 to 337 years ago this week (give or take), a man named Phillip Pinckney died.  He is one of my 10th Great Grandfathers.  

Phillip was born in 1617, in Dinton, Wiltshire, England.  He was one of a dozen or so children, born to Rev. Phillip and Margaret (Gough) Pinckney.  

I won’t pretend to know what growing up in Dinton was like in the 1600’s, of course.  The village is located about halfway between London and Plymouth, and about 32 miles northwest of Southampton.  There are still a few buildings in existence from the time Phillip was there… churches and estates.  I admit, it’s strange to think that anyone could go visit and see the same things my 10th Great Grandfather saw 400 years ago.

It’s unknown exactly when he came over to what would become America, but it’s thought to be somewhere between 1640-1645.  Once here, he first settled in Fairfield, Connecticut.  At the time he moved to Fairfield, it was still called by it’s Native American name, Uncoway (meaning “the place beyond”).

Phillip married Jane (last name thought to be Phippen) around 1650.  They had 11 known children, one of which is my 9th Great Grandmother, Abigail.  

In 1664, Thomas Pell granted land on the Hutchinson River in Westchester County, NY, to a group of men.  Phillip was one of those men, and the settlement became known as Eastchester (now known as Mount Vernon).  He served as Captain of the East Chester Militia in 1677 and 1681.  Also in 1681, Phillip was part of a small committee that secured a treaty with the Mohegan Indian tribe.  It said… “... a treaty between the Mohegan and the colony acknowledged a Mohegan interest in the land; it provided that the colony would administer ‘equal justice’ to the Mohegan ‘as our own people’ if they ‘beforehand declared their subjection to our laws.”

Phillip’s actual death date is unclear, as is the place of death.  What has been documented is that his will was written on January 9th… was proven on February 28th… and recorded in probate on March 7th. His place of death was likely either Eastchester or Fairfield.  I have seen it noted both ways. The death year is a question, too… it’s been transcribed from records over the centuries as being 1686, 1687, 1688, or 1689.

While there’s not a lot of fine details here… Phillip Pinckney is still an important leaf on a very large tree.  He crossed the Atlantic Ocean in his early 20’s, 400 years ago.  I wouldn’t want to cross the Atlantic on a cruise ship…much less the boat that he would have been on.  He came to a new world full of possibilities… and full of people and things that he had never seen before.  He helped create and lay out new towns.  He was chosen to take part in making peace with a local Indian tribe. He raised a family in what we would consider to be the wilderness.  He survived.

#52Ancestors Week 9, "Gone too Soon"

Week 9 of #52Ancestors... "Gone too Soon"

This week I am remembering my Grandma's older brother, Weston Lively Rosan.  He was born on December 16, 1899, to John and Clara Belle (Lively) Rosan, in DuQuoin, IL.  He was their first child.

Weston was sickly as a baby, according to my Grandma (who wasn't born yet, but she remembered hearing about it).  He passed away on March 2, 1902, at the age of 2 years old.  

His cause of death is listed as "enteritis, with bronchitis for 12 days as the immediate complication."  

My Grandma used to talk about going to visit Weston's grave when she was a child.  She said that there were still toys and small stuffed animals laying at his grave.  She also remembered there had been a lamb figure on top of his stone.  The lamb is long gone now, but his stone remains.

Weston is buried in Nine Mile Cemetery, in rural Perry County, IL.  I continue to visit and decorate his grave every Spring.

#52Ancestors Week 8, "I Can Identify"

Week 8 of #52ancestors...  "I Can Identify" 

This week was a hard one to figure out who to write about.  Other people in the Facebook group were writing about ancestors they had already identified... or those they had not been able to identify.  Some wrote about ancestors they had things in common with, and others took different routes.

I finally decided to write about someone that I had identified in some ways... and yet I had not in other ways.  Confused?  ha ha

On July 4th of 1870, Smith Rosan married Mary Mathis... and became my 2nd Great Grandparents.  However, a lesser known fact, is that Mary was Smith's 2nd wife.  His first wife was Sarah E. Hale.  And she is one of my mysteries.  Ever since learning about her existence, I have wanted to know more about her.  Where did she come from?  How did they meet?  And so on and so forth.

Things I do know...

1. They were married in Montgomery, Alabama, on February 4, 1866.  Smith was stationed there with his Union regiment for close to the last full year of the Civil War.  

2.  Sarah was older than Smith.  In the 1866 Alabama state census, Smith is listed in the age 20-30 column, and Sarah is in the age 30-40 column.  They are living in Lowndes County.

3.  Sarah died in July of 1869, in Perry County, Illinois.  She was buried on a neighbor's property. 

Things I am almost certain of...

1.  Smith and Sarah moved from Alabama to Illinois in 1868.  Alabama rejoined the Union, and the Army was sent home.  It's most likely that this is when Smith and Sarah left Alabama, too.  Smith had been living in Perry County, Illinois, when he joined the Union Army.

Things I have found, but am not certain of...

1.  There is a Sarah Hale, age 24,  living in Lowndes County, Alabama, in the 1860 census.  She's in the household of a W.M. Hudson and his wife Elizabeth (age 30), as well as their 6 children and W.M.'s father.  The adults and most of the children are noted as being born in South Carolina.  Could this Sarah Hale be the right one?  Perhaps she was Elizabeth's sister?  Maybe she left SC with the family, to help take care of the children?

2.  There is a Sarah E. Hale, age 13, living in Anderson County, South Carolina in the 1850 census.  She is in the household of John and Eliza Hale.  

I know I am not actually a blood relative to Sarah...but I still feel like I should try to figure her out.  I like to think there's some relative of hers... someone trying to find out whatever happened to their 2nd Great GrandAunt...  Maybe someday we'll connect and be able to fill each other in.  After all, isn't that one of the goals of a Genealogist?  You are not just searching for yourself...you are searching for others, as well.  

#52Ancestors Week 7, "Outcast"

 #52Ancestors ... Week 7 ...  "Outcast"

This week I introduce you to an "outcast" in my family.... one of my 4th Great Grand-Uncles, Reuben Lively.  He was exiled from our country, for pledging his allegiance to Britain.  Let's take a peek...

Reuben Lively was born in the backcountry of South Carolina around 1756. We believe his parents to be Mark and Martha (possible maiden name of Porter) Lively. I word it that way, because I don't think anyone has found 100% proof of the parents yet. There are theories... like Mark and Martha. At any rate, he WAS a brother to my 4th Great Grandfather, "Old John" Lively (who would later wind up settling the Illinois territory).

I imagine his childhood to be normal for the time... farm life and the occasional hostile Indians (the 96 District was considered Indian territory up to the mid to late 1760's). When the American Revolution came about, Reuben, his father and brothers found themselves on the side of the British. In a statement dated 1786, Reuben says the following... "My father was friendly to Britain. I, myself, avoided serving with the Americans by being under age and never took an oath to the Americans, nor took up arms with them, except for six months against the Indians." He joined the British in 1779 after the taking of "Charlestown", at 96 as a militiaman. His father was killed at the 96 fort in 1781, during a 28 day siege. At that time, Reuben says he owned 250 acres of land in District 96 (from his wife, Mary Liddell, whom he'd married in 1780). He had a house and 21 acres of cultivated land. He had owned 15 horses, 30 head of cattle, 30 hogs and 6 slaves. A friend, Thomas Parker, states those things mentioned were all taken "by the Americans."

At the end of the Revolution, Reuben's brother John (my 4th Great Grand) chose to take oath to America. Reuben, however, kept his allegiance to England, and in 1784 was given 500 acres of land in Nova Scotia. Rawdon Township (now Hants County, NS) was formed in 1784 by the government for the Loyalist refugees from the 96th District of South Carolina and St. Augustine, Florida.

Reuben and Mary thrived, and had 9 known children. Mary also had a daughter from her previous marriage. A portion of Reuben's original land is still in the family (however distant the relation may be). It's part of the Withrow Farm Market now, and Reuben's daughter Martha married a Withrow, as did his step-daughter, Ann.

Reuben died about Sept. 3, 1826, and is buried in St. Paul's Anglican Church Cemetery in Rawdon.

#52Ancestors Week 6, "Social Media"

 #52Ancestors ... Week 6, 2023

"Social Media"

One suggestion for this post was something found in a social column of a newspaper... a very early version of social media.  So for this week, I was reminded of a brief mention in the "Local News" section of the Hardin Gazette paper out of Elizabethtown, IL.  

My 2nd Great Grandfather, John Wesley Miles was born in 1847, Covington KY.  His father died a few years later, and his mother took the family to Hardin County, IL, when John was about 8 years old.  He joined the Union Army when he was 16 years old, and spent most of his army life in Georgia (the battles in and around Atlanta, and later marched with Sherman in the infamous "March to the Sea").  In 1867, he married Arabelle Matthews, back at home in Hardin County.  

My 2nd Great Grandmother, Alcy (also known as Elsa and Elsie) Gustin was born in 1844, Switzerland County, IN.  Her father died a few months before she was born.  Her mother moved the family to Hardin County IL, between 1850 and 1855.  Alcy married Sam Oxford in 1864.

In the Hardin Gazette, dated November 21, 1873, there is this little nugget...

"John Miles and Mrs. Elsa J. Oxford were married on Sunday the 2nd, inst.  Last winter Miles' wife eloped with Sam Oxford, the husband of Elsa; as soon as divorces could be obtained the remaining twain were made one flesh."

Thanks to that situation, I exist.  

Alcy and John went on to have four known children, one being my Great Grandmother, Mary.  Alcy died in 1913... and John died in 1925.