May 2013 was my chance to finally take a trip to the Northeast part of the USA and do some genealogy research...grave hunting...and just seeing where the ancestors were from. We covered a lot of ground in a short time, and didn't make a huge dent in the family tree, but did have a chance to get some interesting information.
Our first stop was Lewis and Jefferson Counties in Upstate New York. North of Rochester and just south of the Canadian Border, my Nichols ancestors lived in this area. Two generations of my direct ancestors lived here before heading west to Wisconsin and Minnesota. According to the records I have, my 4th great grandparents, Amos Nichols and his wife, Amy Greene, were married in this area about 1820. Their only son (as far as I can tell), my 3rd great grandfather Ethelbert Nichols, was born in this area about 1821. He may have married his first wife, Laura Cooper, here about 1840. The family moved west between 1840 and 1850, and were living in Wisconsin by 1850. I was hoping to find some evidence of Amos's family, but did not locate any new Nichols graves that seemed like they might be related.
We found Green Settlement Cemetery on Green Settlement Road just outside of Adams Center, NY. There were few signs of a settlement, but the cemetery yielded gravestones of many relatives that were related to Amy Greene.
Our second stop was Barnes Corner Cemetery just outside of Pinckney, NY. Here, too, we found relatives of the Greene family.
Our third stop was near Saratoga Springs, New York. We found the remnants of Daketown, NY. The Dake family is related on the Armstrong side of my family. My 3rd great grandmother, Elizabeth Dake, was born in this county. She married John Craig. Their daughter, Mary (my 2nd great grandmother), married Thomas Emmett Ryan. Their daughter, Emma, married Michael Armstrong, and their son, Thomas, was my grandfather.
We were unable to find the Dake cemetery, despite having some directions to the approximate location. I suspect it was moved, overgrown, or hidden on private property.
We also found a reference to the Dake family in the Saratoga Springs museum. Apparently, members of the Dake family are the owners of Stewart's Dairy, which has a number of stores in the area.
Our next stop was Berlin, New York. This is where Amy Greene and Amos Nichols were born. Their families settled in this area shortly after the Revolutionary War.
The Greene family was primarily Seventh Day Baptists, and we found many Greene graves in their cemetery. We also found some relatives and some "maybe" relatives in the Berlin City Cemetery.
A monument in the Seventh Day Baptist Cemetery led me to a fascinating story of murder and romance. Mary Ann Wyatt married my 2nd cousin 5x removed, Henry Greene. Shortly thereafter, the story goes, his ex-girlfriend said she would have married him if he had waited. So, on the pretense of giving his new wife medication, he poisoned her and she died about a week after they were married. He was executed.
"Henry was tried for murder in Troy in July of 1845 and being found guilty was hung on the gallows on September 10th. Only fifty people saw the hanging but thousands came from the Berlin-Stephentown area to cheer it on. Justice was done, but Berlin would never forget. They erected the beautiful monument with the story engraved on it and someone wrote a ballad. "
(http://www.stephentowngenealogy.com/hometowntales.html#Henry Green)
Our next stop was Salem, Massachusetts. Three of my 9th great grand aunts were tried in Salem as witches during the infamous Salem Witch Trials of 1692. Sisters of my 9th great grandfather, Jacob Towne, Rebecca Nourse and Mary Estey, were hanged as witches. Their sister, Sarah Cloyes, was initially convicted, but was later acquitted when the witch trials came to an end. We toured the museums dealing with the witch trials, and walked through a cemetery in central Salem which was adjacent to a memorial to the Witch Trial victims.
We then moved on to Stonington, Connecticut. There we visited the home of Nathaniel Palmer and a lighthouse with history of the area. Nathaniel Palmer was a 7th cousin 6x removed....so not really a close relative, but...he was the first American to explore Antarctica. So that was cool enough to visit his home site.
Our next stop was Newport, Rhode Island.
We found the Coggeshall Burial Plot on Coggeshall Avenue. Here, there was a central monument to President John Coggeshall, who was President/Governor of the Colony of Rhode Island in 1646-1647. John Coggeshall was my 11th great grandfather. He emigrated from England to the United States in 1632 and settled in Massachusetts. He was a resident and prominent citizen in Boston until 1637 when he voted for the acquittal of Anne Hutchinson (my 11th great grand aunt) when she was tried as a heretic. He and the others who voted for acquittal were banished from the Massachusetts Colony in 1638. Coggeshall then settled in Rhode Island. He was reported to have been a "Puritan of the highest form." He initially settled in Portsmouth, then founded Newport after a rift with other colonists.
We also found a number of ancestors in the Clifton Burial Grounds in Newport, including another Rhode Island Governor, Joseph Wanton, who was related by marriage to some of my ancestors.
We also visited the grounds of Trinity Church, where many ancestors were married.
And the Friends Meeting House, where the Quaker ancestors worshiped
And the Community Church, formerly the home of the Newport Seventh Day Baptists
At the Newport Museum, there was a walkway with bricks dedicated to the founders of Newport. William Dyre is related by marriage, John Clarke is my 10th great grand uncle, Henry Bull is related by marriage, William Brenton is related by marriage, William Coddington is related by marriage, Nicholas Easton is related by marriage, John Coggeshall is my 11th great grandfather, Jeremiah Clarke is my 11th great grandfather. I haven't found a connection to Thomas Hazard -- yet.
Our final genealogy stop was in East Greenwich, Rhode Island. We first found the remnants of Davisville, RI. Davisville was founded by Joshua Davis, my 9th Great Grandfather, who ran a mill on the site.
All that we found to commemorate it was a street sign and a library that had the Davisville name.
In East Greenwich, we explored several small historical cemeteries, as well as the larger East Greenwich Cemetery and found a few distant relatives.
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