52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks – 25 – Same Name

It seems I'm late again, but here is a post for last week.

As shown on the title of this blog my name is Joanne. I looked up what Wikipedia said about my name and found that Joanne is a variant of Joanna, which is the feminine form of the name John. I looked at the first names of my ancestors and could not find anyone named Joanne. But I did find one Joanna.

Joanna was so far back in my ancestry that I haven't yet entered her into my on-line tree.

She was my 9^th gt-grandmother, Joanna Greenslade, the wife of James Avery. I feel very fortunate that a well-documented family history has been written about that early Avery family, (Taylor, Maureen A. Editor, The Avery Family: The Ancestors and Descendants of Christopher Avery, Boston: Newbury Street Press, 2004). It tells me that Joanna was baptized 4 Feb 1621/22 at St. Sidwell, Exeter, co. Devon in England, the daughter of Thomas Greenslade. Joanna had immigrated to the “new world” by April 1643 as she was admitted to the First Church of Boston the 18^th day of the 4^th month 1643. It was that same year, on 10 November 1643, when Joanna and James Avery were married in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Their first 3 children (Hannah, James and Mary) were born in Gloucester. About 1650 the family moved to New London, Connecticut, when 6 more children were born (Thomas, John, Rebecca, Jonathan, Christopher, and Samuel)I find it fascinating that the home which James built in Groton, (the part that is now in Ledyard) in 1656 stood for 238 years until it burned in 1894. Due to its long life there are photos of this home where Joanna has lived. It was probably in October of 1697 when Joanna died.

There is also a Joanna found in the New Testament in the Bible. A number of years ago (1981) I wrote a poem about that Joanna. Here it is:

Joanna

Let's notice Joanna in the Scriptures, a lesser-known woman of the Jews.

She shared in Jesus' ministry, a first-hand witness of the good news.

Luke tells us she was married, her husband worked for Herod the king.

She could afford to help Jesus financially and did this very thing.

At the end of Jesus' ministry when he's hanging on the cross

I believe she's one of the women standing afar, sorrowing for their loss.

But we know her actions on Easter, where she was at the beginning of the day.

She was one of the women who came to the tomb where they thought Jesus lay.

To their surprise the tomb was empty and the stone had been rolled away.

“He is not here, he is risen” were the words they heard the angels say.

Then she and the others hurried to the disciples this resurrection news to tell

But the men disbelieved the women till they saw the empty tomb as well.

We'll not find Joanna's name again as we read the Holy Book,

But due to her recorded deeds we can guess the turn her life took.

I think she would have been at Pentecost when the first Gospel message was preached

And she believed and obeyed the word, a part of the three thousand reached.

So, even if I haven't found my name Joanne in either my ancestor list or in the Bible, I am claiming Joanna as the “Same Name.”

Ancestor Birthday - April 6th - Elisha Shipman 1788 - 1863

Here is another one of my 4th great-grandfathers, Elisha Shipman. I have already posted about his son, Joseph L. Shipman, on 25 Jan 2017 and his mother, Margery Avery, on 11 Jan 2017. Now it is Elisha's turn. Of course Elisha didn't get to have his turn on his birthday because April 6th was one of those two ancestor days and Elisha came in second.

When I was first starting to research the Shipman family, an Ohio cousin provided copies from a family history book, The Shipman Family in America, published in 1962 by the Shipman Historical Society. This book included my family: my father Lester Albertson, grandmother Lucie Smalley Albertson, great-grandmother Rosa Ella Shipman Smalley, 2nd great-grandfather Joshua Rodney Shipman, 3rd great-grandfather Joseph Lester Shipman, and it included a 4th great-grandfather, Elijah Shipman, the son of Abner and Margery (Avery) Shipman. It stated that Elijah, born 22 Apr 1785, had "Served from Connecticut in the Revolutionary War, Moved from Connecticut to Ashtabula County, Ohio, and Married Catherine________." Since the Revolutionary War ended in 1783, I should have been more cautious about this information. I had found Joseph Lester Shipman in Ashtabula County, but I couldn't find a record of Elijah being there. I only found 3 Shipmans from the early days: Amos, Elisha and Nathaniel. Then my cousin, Beverly Frain, again came to my rescue. A Connecticut researcher had found a letter written from Ashtabula County in 1837 where the writer noted "Mary Cary is married to Josep Shipman Elisha Shipman son." Now I could research the correct brother. I should have known. I have taught enough Sunday School and Vacation Bible School classes to realize that people are always getting those two Old Testament prophets, Elijah and Elisha, confused.

Elisha did marry someone named Catherine, as she is there with him on both the 1850 census in Lake County, Ohio, and again on 1860 census in New London County, Connecticut. They went against the norm and moved west from Connecticut to Ohio and then went back to Connecticut. It is believed that Catherine died in Connecticut in 1860. I looked for the record and still haven't found it, but I did find the record for Elisha when he died in East Lyme, Connecticut, 8 Mar 1863.

Tomorrow I will try to give my conclusions about Elisha's children.

Posted 7 Apr 2017

Ancestor Birthday - January 11th - Margery Avery 1757-

When did Margery (Avery) Shipman die?

I believe I know when my 5th great-grandmother, Margery Avery, the daughter of Nathaniel Avery and Mary Wickwire, was born. Looking at the microfilm for the Lyme Connecticut town records I found her born 11 Jan 1757. She also is listed in the town records for Lyme when she married Abner Shipman on 20 Oct 1779. The birthdates for their 13 children are recorded in the Lyme records.

But when did Margery die? The website Find A Grave has a page for her, but without a death date. There is a photograph of a tombstone from Woodlawn Cemetery, Lincklaen, Chenango County, New York. It is a stone with both her husband Abner and her names. It has birth and death dates for him, but only a birthdate for her. The tombstone appears to be much newer than the 1832 death date for Abner, so may have been erected later by one of the descendants.

I've found Margery's birth, marriage and births of her children in 3 different published family histories: Avery, Wickwire and Shipman. None of them gives death information for her.

Maybe the US census could help give a clue. The census listings for Abner show a female of about the correct age in 1790 and 1800 in New London County, Connecticut and 1810 and 1820 in Chenango County, New York. So far I have not been able to locate either of them in the 1830 census. Thus I may use a death date of "after 1820" and continue looking.

See Margery on my website:http://www.joanneskelton.com/p96.htm#i2377