#52ancestors-Misfortune

Merriam-Webster defines misfortune as an event or conjunction of events that causes and unfortunate or distressing result.
 My ancestor, Mary Slider, had some great misfortune back in England. I do not know much about her prior to her misfortune. She was born around 1700 in England. I think her father was either  Christopher or John Slider. I do not know who her mother was. I have a feeling, although no proof, that she was poor and needy. She ends up committing a crime that got her into some trouble.

 Court: 1726, London, Middlesex, England. 3

The Proceedings of the Old Bailey (The Central Criminal Court of England and Wales)
2 Mar 1726 Session (2 Mar 1726 through 7 Mar 1726)
Trial of Mary Slider
Ref: t17260302-72

Mary Slider was indicted for stealing two shirts and a laced head, which were the goods of Thomas Shelton. It is unclear whether the theft occurred on 25 Jan 1726 or whether that was the date she was indicted. At the 2 Mar 1726 session of the Old Bailey, she was convicted of theft of property worth 10d (10 pence), which was considered a part guilty verdict, which in turn must have meant she had been charged with the theft of property worth more than 1s (1 shilling, which equaled 12 pence). She was thus subject to the lesser penalties associated with petty larceny: fine, whipping or transportation. She was sentenced to transportation. (Of the trials held that session, 7 were sentenced to death, 6 were sentenced to have their hand burnt, 7 were sentenced to be whipped, 65 were sentenced to transportation, and 1 was sentenced to one year's imprisonment.) 

Old Bailey Court

So, Mary, along with other offenders, took a long voyage to the Chesapeake Colony of Maryland

This is a child set of clothing, but possibly somewhat like Mary had stolen from Thomas Shelton

2. Emigration: 1726, Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, Maryland. 4 5

Mary Slider was recorded as having been sentenced to transportation in May 1726, as having been transported from London in Jun 1726 on the Loyal Margaret, and as having arrived, per the landing certificate, in Annapolis in Oct 1726. (Since the Proceedings of the Old Bailey show she was sentenced to transportation in Mar 1726, the May date must have been just an implementing order.)


[The second cited source says she was registered, i.e. listed in the landing certificate, in Dec 1726.]
3. Court: 1730, Baltimore County, Maryland. 5

Early Map of the Chesapeake area

According to Anthony Vaver in the book, Bound with and Iron Chain, Mary again got into a bit of trouble with the law. She had been in Maryland about a year and had gotten pregnant out of wedlock. The child was a son.

'Mary Slider was charged with bastardy in Baltimore County at the Jun 1730 Court and her case was presented at the August 1730 Court. Neither the child nor the father was named in the proceeding. The disposition of the case is not given.'    

And this report;

Baltimore County, MD, Court Proceedings:
Book HWS-6 (Md Hall of Records 5016):
p. 415:
June Court 1730
Proclamation being Made in the Usual Form of the Courts Sitting & the Sheriff being Called to return his Pannel of Grand Jurors, whom is the same whose names are as follows, viz.-- Rowland Kemble, John Willmott Foreman, Henry Garrett, Thomas Hines, Charles Robinson, Thomas Shipp, Luke Trotton, Henry Millain, Francis Hornbey, Thomas Bailey, Robert Green, Charles Anderson, John Price, Samuel Owings, William Simpson, William Denton, Selah Barton, William Bond, Charles Wells, Isaac Butterworth, Robert Love,
Who are accordingly Sworn and Sent out to Consider and afterwards return & Deliver to the Court the following presentments being Content that they Amend form not alter in Substance in any of them without their Privity--
One presentment against Mary SLIDER for having a Baseborn Child,
One Ditto against Elizabeth Going for the same,
One Ditto against Catherine Lewis for the same,
One Ditto against Ann Craine for the same,
One Ditto against Margaret Brown for the same,
One Ditto against Jane Willson for the same,
One Ditto against Francis Smith for the same,
[plus others for other offenses]

Mary again got pregnant one year before marrying Peter Majors 27 Oct,1730. This child was a daughter, and most likely Peter's child but there is another man who had an interest in Mary and her children's welfare.

Baltimore County, MD, Court Proceedings:
Book HWS-7 (Md Hall of Records 5017):
pp. 008-009:
August Court 1730
Lord Proprietor against Mary SLIDER:
In this Case there issued a Capias Directed to the Sheriff of Baltomore County against the said Mary to answer unto his said Lordship Concerning a bastard Child lately born of her body purusant to a presentment found against her last Court Whereupon now on this third Day of August in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and thirty at the town of Joppa here comes the said Sheriff (to witt John Hall Junr Gent) who returns that he hath taken the body of the said Mary who Accordingly appears and is therefrom Discharged paying unto the several officers of this Court their several & respective fees due to them from her by reason of the premises afd. Thereupon Edward Roberts here present undertakes to pay the same in case the said Mary doth not.

[NOTE from the author John Schunk, john@skpub.com : It would appear from the above that Edward Roberts was related in some way to Mary Slider.  After Mary's marriage to Peter Majors, Edward Roberts in 1739 deeded a horse to their son Peter Majors Jr. (age 7 at the time) for "natural love, good will and affection" and and a cow to their daughter Esther Majors (age 10 at the time) for "natural love, good will and affection."  However, it is unknown what the exact relationship of Edward Roberts was to the Majors family.]

After Peter and Mary's marriage, Mary had no other run-in's with the law. Their family grew and thrived in Maryland. Mary started out with much misfortune but she eventually turned her life around for herself and her descendants.

This branch:
Michelle, daughter of Allen and Marilyn
Marilyn, daughter of Louis and Dorothy
Dorothy, daughter of Edgar L Marlin  and Mamie L Chapman
Mamie, daughter of Cassius W Chapman and Della L Hollowell
Cassius, son of James Chapman and Susannah Haynes
Susannah, daughter of Richard Haynes and Susannah Mendenhall
Richard, son of Richard Haynes and Margaret Majors
Margaret, daughter of Thomas Majors  and Jemima Fuller
Thomas, son of Peter Majors (1703-1750) and Mary Slider(1703-1742)


http://azstrong.tripod.com/jd_letha/legacy/2008.htm
http://www.skcensus.com/genealogy/majors/aqwn01.htm
http://www.earlyamericancrime.com/convict-transportation/end-of-transportation/ex-convicts-who-succeeded

#52ancestors-Lucky (Fortunate)

Two times a year the West Michigan Genealogical Society hosts a bus trip to Fort Wayne, Indiana, specifically Allen County Public Library. If you don't know, ALPC is the home to the nation's largest public genealogy collection. I love this place and the bus trips. Last April, I was at there, working hard on my Canady (Cannady, Kennedy, Canada, Kanada) families.

Let me walk you through this line starting with myself:

Michelle, daughter of Allen Utter and Marilyn Boorsma 

   Marilyn, daughter of Louis Boorsma and Dorothy Louise Marlin

     Dorothy, daughter of Edgar L Marlin and Mamie L Chapman

       Mamie, daughter of Cassius W Chapman and Delle Lydia Hollowell

         Cassius, son of James Chapman and Susannah Haynes

           Susannah, daughter of Richard Haynes and Susannah Mendenhall

             Susannah, daughter of Mordecai Mendenhall and Phoebe Canady

               Phoebe, daughter of John Canady and Margaret Thonberg (Thornburgh)

                  John, son of Charles Canady and Phoebe Ann Beals 

John Canady was the person I was researching that fortunate day. Thanks to the Quaker documentation, I have many of his vital records. He was born 25 Mar 1741 in Guilford, North Carolina.  By 1744, his family moved to northern Virginia. His father was killed in the Virginia Indian War (Lord Dunmore's war) in 1745. In 1746, Phoebe Beals Canady married again, Robert Sumner. They moved to Bladen County, North Carolina in 1751 and attended Carver's Creek Monthly meeting.

( 1)  Birth,U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935

(2)  1700-1900; Collection: North Carolina Yearly Meeting Minutes

 John and and his family were living in Deep River, Rowen (Guilford) County, North Carolina. Their group was called the New Garden Quakers. It is here that he met Margaret Thornberg.  According to two different sources they married on the 10th of April 1764. 

Earlham College; Richmond, Indiana; Quaker Marriage Records; Collection: Miscellaneous Vital Records

Their children were: Phoebe, Henry, Bowater, Charles, Walter, John Jr. and Robert. 

John and Margaret stayed in North Carolina for thirty-two years.  On 29 October 1796, the Canady's were given  the necessary certificates of transfer to be admitted to the New Hope meeting in Greene County, Tennessee.  
They decided to go further into Tennessee. On 17 June 1797, they were received into the Lost Creek Monthly meeting in Jefferson County.

(3)  Meeting transfer,New Garden Monthly Meeting 

 While living in Jefferson Co. Tennessee, a young man named David, also from Jefferson county, came to stay and work for John Canady and family. The year was 1802. David's father also named John, was in debt to Canady for $40. David worked off the debt for his father. When the debt was paid David spent another six months being taught by John Canady. David could neither read or write, because he had run away from school and home at an early age. Before he came to Canady some of his early jobs were: cattle driver, teamster, farmer's helper and hatter. 
David left for a time. Then at the end of 1803, he moved back in with the Canady's. David had spend a lot of time prior to this becoming a very good shot. Here is a quote from David:

"I had by this time got to be mighty fond of the rifle, and had bought a capital one. I most generally carried her with me wherever I went, and though I had got back to the Old Quaker's to live, who was a very particular man, I would sometimes slip out and attend shooting matches where they shot for beef."

David wanted to go courting but that was difficult without a horse.  Another source states that he needed new clothes, as he had worn his only set of clothes for a full year!
  Instead of working for the needed horse and or clothes, he did some chores and traded his rifle with Bowater Canady, son of John. He got his horse in August of 1806, then went off to court a girl named Polly Finley, of Long Creek in Jefferson County.
Bowater Canady later traded off the rifle. Fortunately, the rifle is now back in the Canady family. It has a letter included from David. The letter says in part, "what a help the Old Quaker Gentleman's teaching had been to him".
  David married Polly, had children and had other adventures. He was a frontiersman, soldier, politician and a folk hero.

Portrait of David

 He was often called "King of the Wild frontier". He is the one and only, David Crockett.

 Some of John Canady's sons left Tennessee and headed north to Ohio and Indiana in the years of 1815 and 1816. In November of 1816 John and Margaret also left Tennessee, to join their sons in Indiana. John was 75 and Margaret was 72. It had to be a challenging trip for these two elderly people, especially that time of year.

 (4) Deaths, U.S., Quaker Meeting Records, 1681-1935 [

The entire Canady family settled near a town called Economy. Many other Tennessee Quakers also came to that area. There meeting house was called Whitewater later to be changed to New Garden.
There were so many Quakers there that they eventually created a new meeting house in 1820 called Springfield. The meeting house was also the school and John Canady was its first teacher. 

Margaret died the 12th of March 1818 and John died the 3rd of March 1830.  He died at age 88 years 10 months and 26 days. He is buried at the west Grove Meeting House Burial grounds in Wayne County, Indiana.
It was fortunate for my "old quaker" that David Crockett came to their family for a time. As David grew in fame, the Canady's could take some pride in the fact that they helped him get his start.
It was especially fortunate for David Crockett to have met my Canadys. They provided for him financially, materially and with his education. Because of the lessons with John Canady, David was able to achieve much and also write his own biography, which includes a chapter on his time with John Canady.
It was fortunate for me to locate this information and add this remarkable story to my family tree.



1 US Quaker Meeting Records, Guilford College; Greensboro, North Carolina; Men's Minutes, 1783-1800; Collection: North Carolina Yearly Meeting Minutes
2 Guilford College; Greensboro, North Carolina; Men's Minutes, 1754-1775; Collection: North Carolina Yearly Meeting Minutes
3, 4 Earlham College; Richmond, Indiana; Men's Minutes, 1815-1829; Collection: Indiana Yearly Meeting Minutes

A couple of other links :
https://www.facebook.com/notes/rockcastle-laurel-pulaski-and-surrounding-counties-in-kentucky/john-canaday-1741-1830-includes-davy-crockett-bio-sketch/303642886384289/

https://www.billputman.com/Charlescanaday.pdf

#52ancestor- Strong Woman

This week's topic is "Strong Woman" and the person who came to mind from my family tree is Mary Chilton. Mary is the daughter of James, son of Lyonel, son of Richard, all from Canterbury, England.1
You may have never heard of Mary, but she was a brave strong girl with an important place in history. Mary was a passenger on the ship Mayflower.

When the Mayflower arrived in Plymouth 9 November 1620, it had been on the water for sixty-six days.There were 102 passengers on this ship which normally carried cargo like wine and cloth. There were also about 30 crew members on board as well

Plymouth Rock

Just so you can see how big the rock is

   Of the passengers about one third were Puritan separatist.The separatists wanted to break away from the Church of England. They wanted to be able to worship and live the way they believed. In order to accomplish this they left England to live in the more tolerant atmosphere of Leiden, Netherlands. Although they could worship freely, the separatists were only able to get the lowest paying jobs in this land so their children were also put to work to make ends meet. Another concern they had was that they noticed their children were assimilating and absorbing the culture around them, and thus losing their identity. They saw potential for freedom and economic improvement in the the Virginia Colony. 

• Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor, by William Halsall,1882 
•  Pilgrim Hall Museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts, USA

  Their trip started aboard the Speedwell, taking them to England to meet up with the second ship, the Mayflower. The Speedwell proved to be a leaky vessel and after some miles out to sea, they had to turn back. This delayed their departure and pushed them into autumn's western gales which made for a miserable voyage. Because of the continually crashing waves, there was damage to a structural support timber. The passengers had to help the ship's carpenter repair the beam with a mechanical device called a jackscrew which was brought along for building their new homes. The jackscrew kept the ship together, barely.
  Besides the delays in departure, crashing waves and breaking ships, the separatists also dealt with food shortages and illnesses like coughs, colds, fever, pneumonia and scurvy.
The rough seas also kept them from getting to the area of land near the Hudson River in what was then part of the Virginia Colony. They were forced to stay near Plymouth in Cape Cod.

  Mary was just 13 years old when she, her father James Chilton, and mother Susanna arrived in the new world. She was the youngest of eight children and the only one to come with her parents. 
  Mary's father, James, was probably the oldest person on the Mayflower voyage. On 11 Nov 1620, James and others signed the Mayflower Compact. 

Page from William Bradford's 'Of Plimoth Plantation' containing the text of the Mayflower Compact 

  On 8 Dec 1620 just a few weeks after signing the Compact, James died, still on board the Mayflower, which was anchored off Provincetown Harbor. Mary's mother also died a short time later, probably in January 1621, leaving Mary orphaned in a strange, cold, and hostile new land.

  A Chilton family story states that Mary was the first European woman to come ashore at Plymouth.  It has neither been proved or disproved. Another version says that she was the first woman to step on Plymouth Rock and yet another says she jumped out of the landing boat and waded into shore. Whether true or not Mary was for sure one of the first women to touch New England. 2

The Landing of the Pilgrims, painted in 1877 by Henry Bacon and showing Mary Chilton landing on Plymouth Rock, is on exhibit at Pilgrim Hall Museum in Plymouth Massachusetts

  Mary was one of eleven minor aged girls on the Mayflower. Nine of them survived the first year at Plymouth Rock. They, including my Mary, would have been present at the famous first Thanksgiving in 1621!
As a side note, only 4 out of the 14 adult women survived the first year.

  The young and healthy people of the colony were probably the caregivers to all the people who suffered and died that first winter at Plymouth. Mary dealt with many difficult things in her first months alone in New England.
  A year after the Pilgrims arrived a second ship came to Plymouth. It was the called the Fortune and was much smaller than the previous ship. On it was a brother of Mayflower passenger and future governor Edward Winslow. The new arrival's name was John Winslow. He would become Mary's husband sometime in the years between July 1623 and May 1627. Mary would have been 16 - 20 years old.
 Three years later after arriving in Plymouth, Mary received her parents share of land between the Alden and Standish plots. She had most likely been living in one of these two households, prior to marrying John Winslow.

Plimoth Plantation living museum, Plymouth, Massachusetts

  John and Mary Chilton Winslow had ten children; John, Susanna, Mary, Edward, Sarah, Samuel, Joseph, Isaac, an unnamed child who died young, and Benjamin.
 Benjamin was born in 12 August,1653. Sometime after that event, the John Winslow family moved to Boston. Mary was one of the first women, if not the very first woman, to live in Boston.
 On 16 Jun 1671, they had their church membership transferred from Plymouth to Boston's third Church (Old South Church).

Old South Church, Stenograph circa 1875, Boston Public Library

No one knows where they first lived when they came to Boston, but in 1671 John bought  for 500 pounds in New England silver money "the Mansion or dwelling-house of the Late Antipas Voice with the gardens wood-yard and Backside as it is scituate lying and being in Boston aforesaid as it is nowe fenced in And is fronting & Facing to the Lane going to mr John Jolliffes."  
   John Winslow became one of the wealthiest merchants in Boston. He and Mary lived in the house in Boston until their deaths.This house on Spring Lane is gone now. 
   John died in the spring of 1674 and bequeathed Mary their dwelling house, gardens, yards, all household goods and £400 sterling.
  Mary died before 11 July 1674, when her will was proved. She and Elizabeth Tilley are the only two female Mayflower passengers who made out wills. 


She made a life for herself in Plymouth and Boston, but not before she endured many trials and heartbreaks. I am proud of the courage and strength of this female ancestor.

 John and Mary are  buried here at Kings Chapel in Boston.  There are many other notable figures buried here

My family line:
James Chilton m. Susanna Last Name Unknown, had Mary
Mary Chilton m. John Winslow, had Susan 
Susan Winslow m. Robert Latham, had Hannah
Hannah Lathan  m. Joseph Washburn Jr., had Rebecca
Rebecca Washburn m. David Johnson, had David Johnson Jr.
David Johnson Jr. m. Parnell Packard, had Mary Johnson
Mary Johnson m. Isaac George, had Orpha George
Orpha George m. Daniel Green, had Horace Green
Horace Green m. Drusilla Hopkins, had Frances Ada Green
Frances Ada Green m. Allen Miles Hopkins, had Lucina Ada Hopkins
Lucina Ada Hopkins m. Fremont Floyd Utter, had Earl Howard Utter
Earl Howard Utter m. Dorothy May DeArmond, had my father

 1 The Mayflower and Her Passengers By Caleb H. Johnson, Page 115

 2 Chilton's Title to Celebrity by Charles Thornton Libby

#52ancestors - Will

Will was the topic to write about this week. I took a different look at the word Will.

This is a picture us on a boat crossing the Sea of Galilee.

My daughter Haley and I  went on a trip to Israel November 23 - December 2 , 2017. We traveled with a group of people we did not know, but by the end of nine days they felt like family. 
One day we were having a picnic near Mount Gilboa and Haley wanted something to do. So I gave her my phone and sent her around to snap some photos of the groups eating lunch. I posted the pictures to face book. That's where this story starts.

And this is a picture of the Wilderness of Judea, where Jesus spent 40 days. 

This was a photo I posted of a few people from our group. Kathy V on the left in navy, Husband Henry in aqua next to her and daughter Lori in aqua across from Henry.

  After the picture was posted my mom's cousin Harry DB left me a comment. He said the lady on left was a relative of my mom through her aunt,Katherine Boorsma. The next morning, I eagerly asked the Kathy V. about her relatives and sure enough ,we were related! Kathy said she was the granddaughter of Katherine (Catherine) Gritter Boorsma and that Katherine had married Ed Boorsma  My mom was a Boorsma and I remember she had an uncle Ed. I was thrilled...finding family from Michigan, while while on our trip in Israel. How cool is that!

After returning home, I started to dig into this connection. Katherine Gritter had indeed married my mom's Uncle Ed Boorsma, December 31, 1952 in Kent County Michigan.

                         With special thanks to cousin Jennifer BK, I have pictures to share.

Aunt Katherine & Uncle Ed

From left: Margaret Bont Boorsma, Aunt Katherine, Uncle Ed and John (Jan Jans)  Boorsma. 

 But Uncle Ed wasn't a Boorsma by blood. He was a Westra. His mother Margaret Bont had been married to,and divorced from man named Adrian Westra and he was Uncle Ed's birth father. Two years later, when Uncle Ed was four, Margaret would marry John Boorsma. John became Ed's father, but I am unsure if Ed was adopted legally.

So it looked like my connection to Kathy, from the Israel trip, was not a true Boorsma family connection but a marriage connection.
  I found that Katherine had first been married to a man named Arthur Gritter and they had eight children together. I could find the family in the 1930 and 1940 census but they were not listed in anymore records after that. I assume they were divorced because of Aunt Katherine's marriage to Uncle Ed. Arthur died in Kent County Michigan in 1982, so he was still around the area.

I looked at this second marriage record and saw the names of Katherine's father and mother. I remember my mom telling me about an Uncle Pete and Aunt Minnie. Things were starting to come together then I found this:

Minnie Boersma caught my eye. The  surname spelling was a little off, but I had seen that different spelling before.When I clicked on Minnie it listed her birthday as "about 1879" which gave me a date to work with. Back on Ancestry, I found this record.

 U.S., Dutch Christian Reformed Church Vital Records, 1856-1970, Archive at Calvin College 

This helped a lot. I knew my great grandfather Jan Jans (John) Boorsma's vital information including his parents Jan Jans II and Tryntje. I also had heard my mom talk about an Uncle Louie from Detroit. Here they were all three siblings listed in the Alpine Ave. Christian Reformed Church records. Minnie has her full dutch name listed as Willemke and the year of her birth is December 6 1878, very close to "about 1879".  

Left is Lieuwe Jan Boorsma, Jan Jans Boorsma II, Willemke (Minnie) Boorsma Dryer and Jan Jans (John) Boorsma

                                                              Immigration Record 

Jan II and the boys came to America August 16, 1886. Willemke came two years later to join her father and brothers.

 From left : Willemke "Minnie" Boorsma, Gerritt Kuipers, Lieuwe Jan Boorsma I, (Aunt) Boujke Boorsma Kuipers, Jan Jans (John) Boorsma III 

It turns out that Kathy V, her daughter Lori B., grandson Brady and I are related through parents, Jan Jan and wife  Tryntje plus the sibling ancestors, John Jan Jans Boorsma and Willemke Boorsma.  Not only did our Israel group feel like family, Kathy and I  discovered  we were actual family.

PS. An interesting side note, In the 1900 census of Pete and Minnie J Dryer, minnie's brother Louie then 18 is living with them and Katherine, age 4 months is listed as Trina. Because of naming patterns, I believe Katherine Dryer  was named after her grandmother Tryntje Kracht. Which also means Kathy V is named for her grandmother and great great grandmother!

Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Grand Rapids Ward 5, Kent, Michigan; Page: 1; Enumeration District: 0061