My Family in America -- From England to Wisconsin and Nearly 400 Years in Between

Monday, June 28, 2010

My daughter suggested that I write a blog.  "You could put all that stuff you know about our family history in it and share it with me and the family, and, maybe someone would read it who knows something you want to know," she said.  Well, maybe.  Yes, maybe.  With nearly 25 years of genealogy research on my bookshelves, in my archives and in my noggin, I think I'll give it a whirl.  It might be fun!

The first thing I needed was a little inspiration about where to start.  The blog background my daughter added "fits the bill".  In fact, the signs for locations in England and the map of Wisconsin inspired me.  I decided to wind my way through nearly 400 years of tales of our family heritage.  So, let's begin....

There is a mystery in my family's history. 

In 1632, my ancestor John Benjamin and his wife, Abigail Eddy Benjamin, sailed from England on the ship "Lion" to join Governor Winthrop's colony.  The lineage is easy to follow and the documentation is clear.  No controversy exists with the Benjamin Family ancestors.  I'll share more about them--much more about them--later. 

But then there are the Elliotts.  The Elliotts are problematic.  Who were our Elliotts?  The variations in the spelling of the name are just one of the many challenges in unraveling the thread of this family line.  I believe our Elliott ancestors were from the Elliott Hill Line--the family line that begins in America with the first Jacob Eliott. 

Jacob Eliott (1606-1651), the father, came to Governor Winthrop's colony in 1631 (perhaps even as early as 1628) aboard the ship "Lion"--the same vessel that brought the Benjamin family a year later.  Jacob was the brother of John Eliott, the famed Apostle to the Indians.  Jacob's son, who was also named Jacob (1632-1693), was a yeoman and became deacon of South Church in Boston.  The son Jacob was among the first children born in the colony.  Upon Deacon Eliott's death, Samuel Sewell, (a judge of the Salem witch trials who later expressed his deep regret for the injustices of the witch trial hysteria) called Deacon Jacob Eliott, (see page 382, August 16, 1693 entry of Sewell's journal) one of his dearest friends and one of the most Serviceable men in Boston.  I found Deacon Jacob Eliott's grave on my recent trip to Boston.  His remains are in Granary Burying Ground surrounded by his wife and children. 

Grave of Deacon Jacob Eliott at Granary Burying Ground, Boston

The lineage of this Eliott family beginning with the father Jacob is this:  Jacob; Deacon Jacob; Jacob (b. 1673 who was first to move to Preston, Connecticut); Andrew (b. 1721); Rev. George Elliott (1757-1845) and George's brothers: Deacon Joseph, Jacob, Gidian and Jonathan.  This is where the mystery lies.  Were either Rev. George, Deacon Joseph or one of their brothers the father of our Chester Elliott?  Through process of elimination, I suspect Deacon Joseph is Chester's father.   

Reverend George Elliott's and Deacon Joseph Elliott's Baptist Church in Ames, New York was the same church that Jesse Benjamin, our ancestor who served in the Revolutionary War, attended.
 

Others believe Chester Elliott's father is from another Elliott line.  That doesn't seem likely.  More to come....