Ancestor Unbirthday - bef Oct 4 - Maximilian Jewett 1607-1684

Maximilian Jewett, one of my earliest known ancestors, was my 9th gt-grandfather. He was baptized on 4 Oct 1607 in Bradford, Yorkshire, England.

He was the son of Edward Jewett and had at least 2 brothers and a sister. He married Ann in England and they, along with his brother Joseph, came to the New World in 1638 on the ship John with a group led by Rev. Ezekiel Rogers. It was late in the year when they arrived at Boston and spent the winter in Salem and then in the spring of 1639 they helped found the town of Rowley in the colony of Massachusetts.

A book by Frederic Clarke Jewett, History and Genealogy of the Jewetts of America....was published in 1908. The section about Maximilian was 7 pages long. It described the many pieces of property that were granted to him and noted that he was representative to the General Court for 21 different years between 1641 and 1676. His occupation was that of a clothier.

He and his wife Ann had 9 children all born in Rowley. Ann died in 1667 and Maximilian married for a 2nd time in 1671 to a widow Elinor (Pell) Boynton. The book quoted his will written in 1682 and it takes over 2 printed pages. He died 19 Oct 1684 at Rowley.

Ancestor Birthday - April 1st - Benjamin Jewett 1703 - abt 1766

It was February 25th when I wrote about Dorothy Rogers, who was the wife of Benjamin Jewett. They are my 6th great-grandparents. Again neither of them have much information on their person pages on my website.

Benjamin was born 1 Apr 1703 to Jonathan and Mary (Wicom) Jewett. It is quite interesting to check his birth records on Ancestry.com, since there are six entries, all a little different. It appears that his birth was recorded twice in the original records. This is one of them.

Here is the other.

But there are also two handwritten ones, which are probably transcriptions done in 1884. Again there are two since there are two in the originals.

In 1928 a printed version of the Rowley Vital Records was published. Benjamin's birth is also in that book.

The sixth entry is more mysterious. It is marked on the title as Georgetown Paupers' Records, with Births, Marriages, and Deaths. I looked up Georgetown Massachusetts and discovered that it was formed in 1838 from Rowley, so in the 1700s it would have been Rowley. Also looking at the images themselves the beginning of them says: Register of Births in the Town of Rowley.

They are arranged alphabetically and there are a number of pages for the Jewetts and goes from the 1600s up into the 1800s. And Benjamin is in there born 1 Apr 1703 as a son of Jona and Mary. In the middle of that record are marriages and then at the end there do seem to be records of paupers. The title is misleading, at least for Benjamin's record of birth.

On to his adult life. Benjamin Jewett and Dorothy Rogers were married in Rowley 18 Jan 1724/25. After the birth of one child it is believed they moved to Stratham, New Hampshire. My 5th great-grandfather John Jewett was born in New Hampshire about 1730. The family history compiled by George Anson Jewett published in 1914, states that Benjamin was a tanner but became a "large land proprietor in New Hampshire," with a number of land transactions. He died in Stratham probably in 1766.

Ancestor Birthday ­ February 20th - Robert Rogers 1682-1723

It seems I may be posting this ancestor on the wrong day because my calendar shows February 28th, but in reviewing his information it appears the correct date should be February 20th, so I am a few days late, but still in the correct month.

Robert was my 7th great-grandfather, born 20 Feb 1682/83 in Ipswich, Essex County, Massachusetts. He was the son of John and Dinah (Chiske) Rogers. There are records in Ipswich that his father John was an innkeeper in 1693 with the tavern "The Black Horse."

There is quite a long article about Robert on the Find a Grave website. Although they have not found a gravestone for him, they have placed his information in the Rowley Burial Ground section.

Robert's father John and his uncle Thomas Rogers were "saddlers" and Robert followed that same occupation, making saddles and other equipment for horses. He continued in that occupation when he moved to Rowley.

After he had been married for a few years, apparently Robert served as a trooper during Queen Anne's War and was wounded at Dunstable 3 Jul 1706. After a couple of weeks of treatment he returned to Rowley.

The author at Find a Grave believes that Robert had three wives. I did find three marriages for a Robert Rogers in the Rowley marriage records: to Dorothy Smith (my ancestor) 4 Feb 1702/03, then after her death 17 Aug 1718, he married widow Sarah (Jewett) Prime 7 Oct 1718. The Rowley death record shows the death of a Sarah Rogers, wife of John, died 20 Nov 1722, but on Find a Grave that death date is given for Robert's wife Sarah. Early Settlers of Rowley, Massachusetts also shows that date for Robert's wife Sarah. Rowley records shows Robert Rogers married widow Lydia (Leaver) Thurston 11 Mar 1722/23. That marriage was very short as he died 18 Apr 1723.

Robert had five children with Dorothy, including my ancestor Dorothy that I wrote about yesterday (25 Feb 2017), and two children with Sarah. I wonder about who was caring for the young children as the first two wives died, then Robert himself. Did Lydia care for them along with her two children from her first marriage? She married 23 Nov 1725 to Stephen Jewett, her third husband. It is interesting to consider how families may have coped with the deaths of one or both parents in a family.

Ancestor Birthday ­ February 25th - Dorothy Rogers 1703/04 - ??

from Rowley Massachusetts birth records

Dorothy (Rogers) Jewett was my 6th great-grandmother. She was born 25 Feb 1703/04 in Rowley, Essex County, Massachusetts to Robert and Dorothy (Smith) Rogers. She married Benjamin Jewett 18 Jan 1724/25 in Rowley. She had one child, Mary, in Rowley. Then it appears that the family moved north about 1727 into New Hampshire to the town of Stratham . A family history, Hunting an Ancestor by George Anson Jewett written in 1914, states she had three more children there, Benjamin, John and Jedediah and maybe more. Some on-line trees do list more children.

Evidently she received an inheritance from the death of her father in 1730 since Benjamin signed a receipt for 19 pounds 8 + 4d as his wife's share in Robert Roger's estate.

I find this time period difficult to research. I haven't yet found a good source for her date of death.

posted 25 Feb 2017