Adding to the Rust
Line:
The Clark, Atchinson,
Holkins, Stone, Newton, and Hooker Lines
Somewhat Out of Order
Here is a tree pic from the South Pope Family Tree showing
Sarah Rust’s Illustrious Lines
Looking at CE
South’s ancestors in a fan chart, I realized I had not covered several
interesting lines. I will start with the Clarks, Atchinson, Holkins, Stone,
Newton and Hooker lines that were the ancestors of Sarah Rust. She had some
real stand-out relations back in her family tree. We have
one DNA match with Sarah Rust and William Wilson as the common ancestor.
Clarke
or Clark
William
Clarke (1609-1690) 10xggf Immigrant Ancestor from England
William was
born in Ipswich, Dorset, England, in 1609. Sometime in the 1630s—researchers
can’t agree on exactly when—William sailed to the colonies, most likely for
religious reasons. His first residence was in Dorchester, Massachusetts by
1635. Once in Massachusetts, William married
Sarah Strong in 1637. He began to rise to prominence early on, chosen as a
selectman in Dorchester in 1646-50. He and Sarah were accepted for church
membership in 1636. He was a tax rater (assessor) in 1651,1652, 1655, and 1657.
He was assigned to survey fences in 1653, 1656, and 1658. In 1659 he was
appointed to the committee for laying out lands for a school, but his move to
Northampton required that he be replaced.
In 1653 William
joined a group of petitioners to settle in Northampton, and he and family moved
there in 1659. Northampton’s museum site credits interest in the land there as
more important than religion in the petitioners’ motivations. Another source
says that “Settlers lived in Dorchester as Puritans until they clashed with
Governor Winthorp. He thought government should be run by only a few people,
while the Reverends John Maverick and John Warham thought it should be run by
the people who elected their leader.” As early as 635 many left Dorchester for
the Connecticut Valley. Northampton is on the Connecticut River, but still in
Massachusetts.
It is said that
Clarke walked ahead of his wife on horseback, with baskets on each side
carrying a son and one in her lap to Northampton. He was granted twelve acres
on what is now Elm Street, bordering on the Mill River, today the northern half
of Smith College. He built a log house and lived there until 1681 when it was
burned by a neighbor’s black servant, Jack, who had taken a brand from the fire
to look for food, but his record up to that time makes his motivation suspect.
The man confessed and was hanged for arson. Some versions of this crime say
that Jack had secured the home from the outside so that no one could escape,
and that both Clarke and his wife were injured as they pummeled the door and
fled. The house that replaced the log
house stood until 1826. His first wife Sarah died in 1675. He remarried to
Sarah Slye, the widow of Lt. Thomas Cooper who was killed in an Indian raid.
In 1661 Lt.
Clarke was chosen to lead the train band or militia, and he commanded them in
King Philip’s War and other Indian Wars. William was also a selectman in
Northampton for many years and both a deputy and a judge on the county court
for twenty years. He was the first person granted the right to solemnize
marriages by the General Court. He was often called upon to deal with Indian
matters involving the court. He helped build the first grist mill and saw mill
in Northampton. He was one of seven to begin the first church in Northampton.
It is recorded
that there was a kind of sickness epidemic around the time of William’s death. Several
of William’s children died from Indian violence or drowning. He died in 1691,
and his will mentions land already provided to his daughter Rebecca; most of
his land had been divided among his sons and daughters before his death.
William has both a gravestone and a monument erected by his descendants.
Rebeckah
Clark (1649-1733) 9xggm
Rebeckah Clark
was born as the sixth child of Lt. Judge William Clarke of Northampton,
Massachusetts, in 1649. She married Israel Rust [already covered] in 1669. They
lived their adult lives in Northampton, Massachusetts, and had nine children
including Capt. Nathaniel Rust [already covered]. She is mentioned in her
father’s will. She died in 1733.
Atchinson
John
Atchinson or Atchison (1636-1677) 9x ggf Immigrant Ancestor from England
Though some argument
has been made for John Atchinson being from Scotland and coming to the colonies
as most Scots did at that time, as a prisoner, later researchers conclude he
was born in England. He is recorded in Hatfield, a division from Hadley, in
1672. There are no land ownership or civic records for him, but his late
marriage to Deliverance (last name unknown) in Hadley, is recorded in 1670.
Their daughter Mary or Mercy was born in 1673. She married Capt. Nathaniel Rust
[already covered]. In 1677 tragedy struck the Atchinson family when an Indian
raid killed John.
From A
History of Hatfield, Massachusetts, in Three Parts by Daniel White Wells,
pub. 1910, p. 88
On the morning of Sept. 19,
1677, the town of Hatfield was visited by a sudden and awful calamity,—another
attack from the savages, like a bolt from a clear sky, that left a trail of
ruin and devastation. On that bright fall morning most of the men were at work
in the meadows cutting the golden corn. The women were busy with their
household duties and the children were playing about their houses and in the
streets unconscious of impending danger. At eleven o'clock, when the savory
odors of the noonday meal were rising into the tranquil air, a blood-curdling
yell suddenly pierced their ears—the dread war-whoop of the Indians. In a
moment the savages were upon the defenseless village and the work of
destruction was begun.
Through Middle Lane poured a band of armed and
painted warriors who fell upon houses lying outside the stockade. The torch was
applied to the buildings of Samuel Kellogg at the corner of the lane and his
wife, Sarah, and her infant son were killed and another child, Samuel, a boy of
three years, was seized and bound. Surprised by the suddenness of the assault,
Obadiah Dickinson and one child were captured unresisting at the house below.
His wife was wounded and left for dead and the house was set on fire. John
Allis's barn was burned and his six-year-old daughter, Abigail, captured. With
no attempt to enter the open gate of the stockade the invaders rushed across
the street to the houses on the east side, whose inmates in alarm were seeking
places of safety. As the savages sped northward they stopped to kill the wife
of Selectman Samuel Belden, who lived on the Silas Porter place. John Coleman's
house was burned and his wife, Hannah, and infant child, Bethiah, were slain,
one child was wounded and two were captured, of whom little Sarah was only four
years old. John Wells's daughter, Elizabeth, aged two, was killed, his wife.
Sarah, and one child wounded. Hannah Jennings, wife of Stephen Jennings, was
made a prisoner with her two children by her former husband, Samuel Gillett,
who was killed at the Falls fight. Philip Russell's wife, Elizabeth, and their
three-year-old son, Stephen, met death. Across the street, on the J. D. Brown
place, stood the home of Samuel Foote, who had moved from his first allotment.
His wife, Mary, with a young son, Nathaniel, and a three-year-old daughter,
Mary, was seized and dragged along. On the next lot above men were at work
building a house for John Graves, Jr., who was soon to marry Sarah White,
daughter of John White, Jr. Hastening northward to finish their work of
destruction, with an attack on the family of their hated foe, Benjamin Waite,
they shot from the frame of the structure being erected the brothers, John and
Isaac Graves, and two young carpenters from.
Springfield, John Atchisson and John Cooper. Waite's house was
at the very end of the village street, the site now occupied by M. J. Ryan. The
revengeful savages vented their hatred by burning his house and barn and taking
away with them his whole family,—his wife, Martha, and three children, Mary,
Martha, and Sarah, aged six, four, and two. Abigail, the eight-year-old
daughter of William Bartholomew, a former resident of Deerfield, was also
captured.
Each
source I found confirms John as this John Atchinson described here as from
Springfield, though his residence is always given in other sources as Hatfield.
I wanted to include this to remind us of the dangers faced by our ancestors.
Mary /
Mercy Atchinson (1673-1754) 8xggm
Mary or Mercy Atchinson married Captain Nathaniel Rust in 1692 in Northampton, Massachusetts. She must have moved to Tolland, Connecticut with Nathaniel since he is said to have built there in 1700. She would have been Sarah Rust’s grandmother.
Holkins
or Hawkins
George
Holkins or Hawkins (1668-1748) 8xggf
George Holkins, sometimes “corrected” to Hawkins, was born in Farmington, Hartford County, Connecticut, in 1668. It is believed his grandfather Thomas Haukins was a member of the London Artillery who removed to Boston and died at sea, leaving family who settled in Rhode Island and Connecticut. His marriage to Sussannah Stone is on record for 1698. There is a land record for George buying land near “pahchog cedar swamp” which was later part of the town of Griswold, Connecticut. His signature, spelled Holkins, is on a document about a bridge in Griswold. There are other deeds of real estate on record in Preston, Connecticut, and a record for the birth of his daughter Sarah in 1702. It is not known when he moved to Coventry, Tolland, Connecticut, but he died there.
Sarah
Hawkins (1702-1775) 7xggm
Sarah married Captain Samuel Rust in 1722. She was the mother of Sarah Rust. She died in Coventry, Tolland County, Connecticut, in 1773.
The
Stone, Newton, and Hooker Lines: Some of Sarah Rust’s Illustrious Ancestors
Stone
Line
John
Stone (1610-1687) 10xggf Immigrant Ancestor from England and signer of the
Guilford Covenant
John was born in Herefordshire near Okely, England, about 1610 and came to the colonies in 1639 in the company of William Leete, who became Governor Leete, and the Reverend Henry Whitfield. He traveled along with his brother William in Whitfield’s first Guilford company which required two ships. When they were about ten days from land, the company signed a written agreement, or as it was titled, a “Plantation Covenant.” This company is believed to be the first to enter the harbor at New Haven, Connecticut. John was by trade a farmer, a clothier (one who made cloth), and a mason. It was not unusual at that time for men to have and practice several skills. He was town constable for many years, at that time a highly respected office. His family was highly regarded, and he was chosen by the Selectmen to serve as a referee or judge when cases demanded high character and objectivity. His first allotment of land was near the village green. John’s wife Mary died in 1687.
A Bit about Guilford,
Connecticut
Here are the
words of the Guilford Covenant from the town website:
"We
whose names are herein written, intending by God's gracious permission, to
plant ourselves in New England, and if it may be in the southerly part, about
Quinpisac [Quinnipiac, later named New Haven], we do faithfully promise each
for ourselves and families and those that belong to us, that we will, the Lord
assisting us, sit down and join ourselves together in one entire plantation and
to be helpful to the other in any common work, according to every man's ability
and as need shall require, and we promise not to desert or leave each other on
the plantation but with the consent of the rest, or the greater part of the
company, who have entered into this engagement.
"As for
our gathering together into a church way and the choice officers and members to
be joined together in that way, we do refer ourselves until such time as it
shall please God to settle us in our plantation.
"In witness
whereof we subscribe our hands, this first day of June 1639."
The same town
website history says that Guilford is the seventh oldest settlement in
Connecticut, a planned town that differs from other towns in the state, planned
as a “utopia” for religious and civil freedom made not so much by inhabitants
who moved from other colonies, but by a group of Puritans joined in the purpose
of establishing a settlement. Reverend Whitfield, the organizer of the Guilford
company, was trained in the law at Oxford University but was ordained a
minister in the Church of England in 1618. He served for twenty years as a
minister but began to separate in belief from the official church. When he
began plans to leave England rather than appear in court as a radical, around
seventy people joined him to begin a new colony. Whitfield is given credit for
purchasing the land from the Menunkatuck Indians, and getting them to agree to
leave the lands they sold to the English rather than just allowing the English
use of the lands as some Indian deeds did.
Whitfield
House, 1639, oldest stone house in CT still standing, now a museum in Guilford,
CT
John
Stone Jr. (1644-1686) 9xggf
John was born to John Stone Sr. and his wife Mary in 1644 in Guilford. He married Susannah Newton Stone, a granddaughter of the notable Reverend Hooker and daughter of Reverend Roger Newton of Hartford, in 1674. He and Susannah moved to Milford where there is record of John as a farmer in 1650. John died in 1686. They had five or six children, including daughter Susannah who married John Holkins. Susannah Newton Stone, John’s widow, remarried to John Burwell.
The
Newton Line
Reverend
Roger Newton (1607-1683) Immigrant from England
Roger was born in England into a family said to be connected to Sir Isaac Newton. He was a student sizar (doing duties to defray costs) at Cambridge in 1636. He came to the colonies sometime around 1638. He attended Harvard College, but moved to Hartford, Connecticut, to study with Rev. Thomas Hooker, one of the founders of Hartford. In time he married Hooker’s oldest daughter, Mary Hooker, in 1644. He was the first minister to the settlement at Farmington, Connecticut and did missionary work among the Tunxis Indians, a few of whom became accepted members of the church and even voters in town affairs. The Tunxis had welcomed the settlers as protection against their foes, the Mohawks. After a particularly bad year with unfriendly Indians killing some of the primary church members, called at that time the “pillars of the church,” Roger and his family planned to leave Farmington in 1657 and return to England. Roger’s brother-in-law, Samuel Hooker, took his place in Farmington.
Once in Boston, the winds were
unfavorable, and thinking that the family was somehow “jinxed,” and that
perhaps God was giving a sign that Roger should stay in the colonies, the
sailing captain left them and sailed on. Milford happened to need a minister,
so Roger and his family moved to Milford, Connecticut, where he joined the
church in 1660. He became its second pastor that same year in a ceremony that
involved the laying on of hands from the people there, which was somewhat
unusual for the time. Having the position of minister provided a home and land
for the Newton family. Public sentiment toward religion was changing during Newton’s
time, but he was fairly “old school,” believing that people should not join the
church for social reasons only. He eventually had two hundred members in his flock.
At a time when many educated ministers had a library of twenty volumes,
Newton’s library held more than two hundred. [Love that!] Like his father-in-law Reverend Hooker,
Reverend Newton took people into his home to train as ministers, including Abraham
Pierson, the first president of Yale College. He lived and preached in Milford
until his death in 1683. His will for what was at that time a large estate with
many parcels of land mentioned eight children, Mary having died in 1676. Reverend
Newton’s daughter Susannah, as mentioned above, married John Stone.
The
Hooker Line
Reverend
Thomas Hooker (1586-1645) 11x ggf
Immigrant from England, Father of Connecticut, Founder of Hartford, and Statesman
Immigrant from England, Father of Connecticut, Founder of Hartford, and Statesman
Not many of our
ancestors have had multiple statues of themselves erected around cities in
addition to various plaques memorializing them, but Thomas Hooker, described by
one writer as a “superstar preacher,” has many such honors dedicated to him.
Thomas has been called “Father of Connecticut,” “Founder of Hartford,” and even
“Father of American Democracy.” A quick search of WorldCat, a catalog of
holdings in many if not most American libraries showed almost two thousand
titles either by or about Thomas.
Thomas was born
in 1586 in a small village in Leicestershire in central England. He went to
grammar school in a small town nearby, Market Bosworth, and received his BA and
MA degrees from Cambridge University in 1608 and 1611 respectively. He had a
profound conversion experience at Cambridge. He was a Puritan, one who hoped to
change the Church of England from within. Emmanuel College, the particular part
of Cambridge that Hooker attended, was very involved in Puritanism. He became a
powerful and popular preacher who always attracted a large following. He served
as minister to the market town of Chelmsford, England, but was denounced for
his Puritan beliefs to William Laud, the Bishop of London. Hooker resigned his
pulpit in Chelmsford and worked as a schoolmaster. Eventually he fled to
Holland, as had many other Puritans who became Separatists, believing the answer
would be leaving the Church of England rather than working to reform it. In
1633 he decided to come to the colonies. He and his wife Sarah and children
sailed on the Griffin to Boston,
Massachusetts Bay Colony, along with another Puritan minister, John Cotton.
Boston, founded
in 1630 as a Puritan theocracy (ruled by the church), was still a raw new town
on the edge of the wilderness when Hooker arrived. Cotton became the leading
minister in Boston while Hooker served as the first minister to citizens of
Newtown, a settlement across the Charles River that became Cambridge. Hooker’s
congregation, many of whom had arrived before the Reverend himself, began
almost immediately to seek escape from the Boston area and the influence of
Cotton. They petitioned the General Court for permission to move westward to
the Connecticut River Valley. Less than three years after Thomas Hooker’s
arrival in Boston, he, Reverend Samuel Stone, and around one hundred members of
his congregation set off on a two-week overland journey with cattle, goats, and
pigs. The followed an old Indian trail later known as the Connecticut Path or
Bay Path west to the Connecticut River, and then south to the future site of
Hartford. There were scattered settlements in the Connecticut Valley already,
Indian villages, English settlers in Windsor, the Dutch fort just south of
Hartford, and another group of English settlers at Wethersfield.
Hooker had
great influence from his church at Hartford. While at first it was seen as an
extension to be governed by the Massachusetts General Court, but it began to be
clear that that would be a long-term solution. In 1638 Hooker preached a sermon
to those gathered from various Connecticut settlements to establish a
government saying, “Choose men of wisdom, understanding, and repute…and God
will set them in authority over you,” arguing that the people of Connecticut
had the right to choose their own government. This sermon inspired The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, a
sort of constitution for a separate colony, Connecticut in May of 1638. It is
considered to be the first written constitution in America and a foundation for
other founding documents like the United States Constitution. Hooker also believed in a wider number of
people with the right to vote and in freedom of religion for Christians. It was
the legal basis for the colony until 1662 when Charles II granted it a formal
charter which agreed to the Orders as the political system for the colony.
Hooker was a
leading figure in Connecticut, but also a leading theologian in New England. He
took part in the trials of Roger Williams (who founded Rhode Island) and Anne
Hutchinson, banned from the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1637 for advocating
grace over works as the means of salvation.
Replicas
of Hooker’s original Hartford Church and Home now on the state capitol grounds in
Hartford.
Hooker wrote
numerous sermons and had finished his book on Puritan Theology A Survey of the Summer of Church Discipline just
before his death in 1647 at age 61. The list of his writings is quite lengthy.
Thomas was
married to his second wife Susanna Garbrand when he arrived from Holland. The
name of his first wife is not known. His first son Samuel was born in the colonies,
graduated Harvard College in 1653 and became a minister in Farmington,
Connecticut after his brother-in-law Roger Newton left there. Two of his sons
were judges or political figures. A
granddaughter Sarah Pierpont married Jonathan Edwards of the Great Awakening.
Thomas’ daughter Mary married Reverend Roger Newton who was minister in
Farmington and later Milford, Connecticut [covered above].
Some famous
descendants include William Howard Taft, Aaron Burr, and J.P. Morgan.
Hooker’s significance can be listed thus:
He was a proponent of not requiring religious tests to allow voting rights. It was this belief that sent him and his congregation to Hartford.
He was very much in favor of religious tolerance for Christians.
3.
He
believed in the ideas behind a social contract and the belief that the people
formed the government and the government was answerable to the people.
4.
Theologically
he did not believe that God’s grace was completely free; he felt that one must
avoid sin to prepare for heaven, to be moral and contrite.
5.
Though
he held advanced democratic ideas for the time, he did not intend separation of
church and state.
6.
In
church governance, Hooker believed in the congregationalist model, in which
each congregation is autonomous, not ruled by bishops or the like.
7.
American
democracy was set up more in line with the governing doctrines of Connecticut
than any of the other colonies’ contributions.
Noting that
there are still a few people in CE South’s fan chart that I have not covered, I
will attempt in the next post to finish that task and then, as projected, move
on to the Vestal lines.
Resources
https://archive.org/details/genealogicalfami002cutt/page/652 online version of Genealogical and family history of the state of Connecticut: a record
of achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding
of a nation by William Cutter, published in New York in 1911. This book has a concise treatment of the life
of Lt. William Clark with some anecdotal material thrown in with the dry facts.
https://books.google.com/books?id=b4k-AAAAYAAJ&pg=PA121&lpg=PA121&dq=lt.+william+clark+massachusetts+1609&source=bl&ots=NPGu06zUzq&sig=tC4Z8m-0thSnMPARVvnHFGId7Bg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwj0_MuOy97fAhVLGTQIHQ_qDCwQ6AEwEnoECAwQAQ#v=onepage&q=lt.%20william%20clark%20massachusetts%201609&f=false online version of Hudson-Mohawk Genealogical and Family Memoirs by Cuyler Reynolds.
This book is about New York State but has a concise summary of William Clarke’s
accomplishments
.
https://wc.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=ricrhode&id=I3154 Very well documented tree for William
Clarke.
http://www.historic-northampton.org/highlights/brief.html Nice brief page about Northampton, MA
from colonial times.
http://www.smplanet.com/teaching/colonialamerica/colonies/dorchester a section from Small Planet
Communications dealing with the Dorchester Company which settled Dorchester.
Meant for teachers, it is instructive about why the settlers might have chosen
to leave Dorchester.
https://books.google.com/books?id=DmcKAQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PR8&lpg=RA1-PR8&dq=john+atchinson+hatfield,+Massachusetts+1636&source=bl&ots=rlb97Zkg0g&sig=4EnGBuNZt2vLo1BwvMpQkjg0hho&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwilxJLAmeHfAhWHxVQKHX42CMcQ6AEwC3oECBQQAQ#v=onepage&q=john%20atchinson%20hatfield%2C%20Massachusetts%201636&f=false online version of Americana, Vol. 13. This provides almost dictionary-like entries
for people in the colonies and was published in 1919 by the National Americana
Society. Atchinson was an entry.
http://www.noblenet.org/salem/reference/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Genealogical-Dictionary-Vol.-1-Savage.pdf online version of A genealogical dictionary of first settlers of New England, Vol. I
by James Savage, self-published in 2016. There is a concise entry on Atchinson.
The History and Genealogies of Ancient,
Windsor, Connecticut by
Henry R. Stiles, published in 1892, available to members on Ancestry.com. Has some brief entries on Holkins.
https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=yale.39002001923128;view=1up;seq=69 online version of Book Two of The Family of John Stone, one of the first
settlers of Guilford, Conn. By Truman Stone, published in 1898.
https://archive.org/details/familyofjohnston00ston/page/n9
Book One of the above titled book on the family of John Stone.
http://milford-history.blogspot.com/2015/08/reverend-roger-newton-1620-1683-by.html Good blog entry about Roger Newton.
https://connecticuthistory.org/thomas-hooker-connecticuts-founding-father/ Connecticut History.org website about Hooker.
https://www.thoughtco.com/thomas-hooker-4107866
good online site about Hooker and his thought and importance.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thomas-Hooker
Britannica article about Hooker.
https://sites.google.com/a/oldconnecticutpath.com/oldconnecticutpath/home/following-the-path
another good website on Hooker.
https://www.apuritansmind.com/puritan-favorites/thomas-hooker-1586-1647/
site with links to Hooker’s writing.
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