Early American Immigrant, Benedictus Pulsifer

Remembering ancestors:

Benedictus Pulsifer, 1635–1710

Birth 1635 • Whitehall, England

Death 1710 • Ipswich, Essex, Mass (Ipswich was incorporated as a town in 1634.)

Ship to designate an immigrant to America

(Note by BR, editor) I quote a published source below (with slightly different dates of birth and death, and some other facts are a bit 'flexible' perhaps. 

HISTORY OF BENEDICT PULSIPHER

abt. 1630 – 1695

"Benedict Pulsipher had settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts, according to his own statement, by 1659. He was probably married a year or two before coming to this country. He very likely brought his wife and infant son, Benedict II or Junior. We have no record of the birth of the son or of another son, John, but Elizabeth’s birth in 1669 is recorded in the town records of Ipswich. His first wife, of whose maiden name we are ignorant, died at Ipswich 16 July 1673. His son, Mr. William Henry Pulsipher says, "We’re of little help or comfort to his family." Evidently John moved to Gloucester, where he became a respected member of the family. There he probably supplemented his income as a farmer by occasionally building or helping to build houses for his neighbors. He is styled in one document "Yeoman" and in another "mason". In the History of Gloucester", J. J. Babson – 1860, page 130, appears the following:

"John Pulsipher, settled about 1680, according to tradition near a spot still occupied by one if his descendants on the old road leading to Coffin’s Beach (Gloucester). In 1688 he had a piece of land "given to the house where he then lived." Benedict Jr., proved to be a "roving blade", according to Mr. William Henry Pulsipher. "We hear," says Mr. Pulsipher, "of a Benedict Pulsipher engaged in an Indian fight in Maine in 1688. This was probably Benedict Jr. Cotton Mather refers to the incident in his ‘Magnalia Christi Americana’ London 1702. VII, page 63. Benedict, Jr., probably never married. In 1690 he engaged in Sir William Philip’s expedition to Quebec as a member of Captain Abraham Titton’s Company, and it is quite possible that he was killed or taken prisoner in the unfortunate attempt to capture the Canadian stronghold.

"A Compendious History of New England" by Morse and Parrish, page 146, makes a confirmatory reference to this episode. 

After the death of his first wife on 16 July 1673, Benedict, Sr. married in the succeeding February, Susan A. Waters of Salem, Massachusetts, who was the fifth daughter of Richard and Joyce Waters. She was born at Salem, Massachusetts 01 Feb 1649. "Benedict Pulsipher, Sr. brought his young wife to Ipswich immediately after his marriage and entered upon what might be termed the second period of his career." The records show that his young wife was rather vain. She liked to adorn herself. "She,  among others, braved the laws in 1675 by appearing in the meeting house with a silk hood and scarf. She and the others were arrested, tried, and fined ten shillings each for yielding to their vanity."

Benedict Pulsipher was a man of some means. He was also "a man of considerable education" in a period when educated Englishmen were rare.

Late in 1663 or early 1664 he bought a dwelling house with outhouse, orchard, gardens, etc. of Moses Pingry of Ipswich, Massachusetts, which property Pingry had acquired in 1652 of Richard Scofield who came to New England in 1635. This estate was situated on the north of the "Tom River". Its site is now occupied by a factory. The original deed to this property was either lost or "casually" burned, and on 7 Feb 1667, Pingry made a supplementary deed of the property which he gave Benedict Pulsipher. Benedict was then styled a "planter."

He added to his estate in 1664. In the same year, 1664, the town of Ipswich granted him a share (No. 55) in the town lands on Plumb Island, Castle Neck, and Hogg Island. He continued to reside at Ipswich, pursuing his occupation as planter or farmer for many years.

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Ipswich MA area

I'm including this as a Sepia Saturday post this week...go over to this site to see more interesting posts. 

(editors note) I think it's interesting to find that this ancestor is also an ancestor of Joseph Smith of the Church of Latter Day Saints (Mormons.) We're all related, aren't we?

He's my 8th great grandfather on my grandmother Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers' tree.

Ipswich river front 1909

Thanks for the entry quoted above from Ancestry by Carol Easterbrook Wolf, but still without knowing if she was the author...

This post is a repost from Nov 2017 Three Family Trees...here.

Ancestor Thursday - Elizabeth Herone/Hearon 1539-1575

Combining my blogs means the matriarchal ancestors which I've been researching will now be published here. If you are interested in past blogs from "When I was 69" there's a link over on the right column down at the bottom.

I left you HERE last week, when Ancestry deleted 12) Alice Harris Farnham Martin's parents...who knows why or how...since I've got a private tree.  It must have been the goings-on at Ancestry itself.  So tonight I chased them back down again, and we'll start at the furthest that I now can find and come back down to Alice again. [NOTE: the numbers 1), 2), etc. prior to a name, are generations going back from my grandchildren's generation as 1)]

These are my ancestors through the Grangers down to my grandmother 4)Ada Phillips Swasey Rogers.

14) Elizabeth Herone/Hearon was the daughter of 15) Alfred and 15) Caroline Herone, about whom I know no more.
Their daughter 14) Elizabeth was born in 1539 in Maldon, Essex, England who d. in 1575 in St Botolph Aldgate, London, England.

St. Botolph's Aldgate, construction started 1115; 16th century; 1741, completed 1744

14) Elizabeth Herone married 14) Vincent Harris on 23 Apr 1559, in Croydon, Surrey, England.1559 — at age 20. (Note from modern times, Croydon was once in Surry, but now is considered in South London.)

Now I have a lot of trouble pronouncing English names (though it's probably because they throw in some consonants that don't get pronounced, but I don't know when that happens.)  But this church apparently was built near one of the four gates of medieval London, thus the Aldgate.  And so I understand that her birth was just recorded in this church, thus she lived in London.

I'm so grateful for those church records kept so well back then.
They had 4 children and the oldest was 13) Thomas Harris, b. 5 Dec 1562 in Bromley, Kent, England, d, 1621 in Maldon, Essex, England.  

All Saints vicarage, Maldon, Essex, England

In either 1580 or 1584 he married (probably in Wyddiall, Hertfordshire, England) 13) Ms. Cordelia Gill, (b. 1566 in Widihall, Hertfordshire, England, d. 1632 in Essex, England.  (Note: I could find Hertfordshire information on line, but no Widihall...so if anyone knows anything about that site, please let me know.  Thanks.)

Remember how grateful I was for church records?  Well somewhere someone found 2 different marriage records for this couple.  Since the first one would have a 14 year old bride (not unheard of) and the first child wasn't born until after the second marriage date, it's probably that one.  I have no information at the time on Cordelia Gill's parents.

It's possible 13) Thomas and 13) Cordelia Gill Harris had 13 children, and the youngest was (generation 12) Alice Harris.  She was born in 1607 in Braunstone, England, and d. on  9 Feb 1652 in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts,  

Thus 12) Alice Harris was the first woman of this line to come to the Americas.  (Yes I realize all those male ancestors also came, but I'm focusing on the matriarchs for now!  They had their hands full with gardening, cooking, cleaning, birthing and raising children, making clothing from whatever they could weave, and helping provide the shelters.

Dear Ancestry records are confusing, but I want to simplify 12) Alice Harris' life.  They say she either married in England or in Andover, Essex County, Massachusetts Colony.

The James

I find her husband, 12) Ralph Farnum II, listed on a ship's manifest, The James, in 1633; then his wife and several children are listed in a genealogy report. The first 3 were born in England, so I assume the parents must have married before immigrating.

Simple process of logic.  12) Alice Harris married in 1627 to 12) Ralph Farnum II (also spelled Farnham frequently.)  Of their 6 children, the oldest was 11) Mary Farnum, who married 11) Daniel Poor, Jr., which was where I left you on that last post mentioned above.

12) Alice Harris Farnum was widowed in 1642 at the death of 12) Ralph, and she married again in 1645 to 12) Solomon Martin.  Since her youngest child was still 5 years old, this was a necessary marriage.  Interestingly, Solomon Martin died 10 years later at sea in Indonesia, so I would consider him to have been  a mariner.   12) Alice had died in 1652 herself.   By that time her eldest child 11) 11) Mary Farnum had married 11) Daniel Poor.

So though her great grandmother, 15) Caroline Herone is the first matriarch of this line of ancestors, 12) Alice Harris Farnum Martin is the heroine of my post today.  At least I know a bit more about her than her great grandmother.

See also My Ancestry from Newbury and Ipswich HERE,
         and on-newbury-ma-and-newburyport-ma
for more early Massachusetts colony information


Today's Quote:

It is through our connection to our light that we know things beyond what the visible world can tell us.

We are all beings of light. Put another way, we are spiritual beings having a human experience.
by Madisyn Taylor