History of the Bremner Family

With a History of the Clarke and Freeman Families

Discharge papers of James Bremner from Civil War, Iowa Volunteers

James Bremner, the first son of John Bremner, was born in Rhynie,
Scotland, the 26th of December, 1831. He immigrated to America as a boy of nine and followed his family on their
pilgrimage through the New England states to Iowa, settling there in 1856. In Iowa he worked as a stone mason, in
the town of Springdale, Cedar County, Iowa. He was described on his Civil War military discharge papers (seen at left) as “blue eyed,
brown hair, fair complexion, 5’10” tall.”

During the Civil War enrolled in the Union Army as a member of Co. G 35th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Captain S.H. Dixon,
on Aug. 9th, 1862. The company was mustered on Setp. 18 at Camp Muscatine under Colonel Sylvester G. Hill.

Family legend has it that James served in the battle of Antietam, among others, and later told stories of holding down men while
their legs were being amputated, and that he was wounded in combat. According to his discharge papers obtained from the National Archives,
however, he had a back injury while working as a nurse during the battle of Vicksburg; it iw unclear whether he ever
saw actual combat. According to The Undying Procession: Iowa's Civil War Regiments by Edith W. McElroy (Iowa Civil War Centennial Commission),
Iowa 35th never went anywhere near Antietam. The Iowa 35th marched to Cairo Ill, Columbus, and then with Sherman to Vicksburg May 18, 1863.
In Vicksburg the 35th mostly did picket duty and held an advanced position against General Johnston at Big Black River.

Following his injury he was transferred to the Veteran Reserve Corps on February 13th,
1864, and stayed out the war in Washington, D.C. James Bremner was stationed there at the time of Lincoln's assassination.
During the war he corresponded by mail with Abigail Clark Freeman, a Cape Cod woman whom he had never met. He was discharged
from the military on June 19th, 1865 in Washington, D.C., at which time he was paid “bounty” of $100 (his discharge papers are
displayed in the figure at left). After the war, he met Abigail Clark Freeman in Chicago where they fell in love and were married
[alternatively in Brewster], the 26th of December, 1865, his 34th birthday. His registration papers (shown at right), bayonet, and
a bible he carried with him during the war remain within the family.

James and Abigail Bremner bought a farm in Sigurney, Keokuk County, Iowa, where they had three children: John (1867), Winifred (1871),
and George Archibald (“Archie”) (1869). The story of George A. Bremner I is told in Chapter 4.

Life on the Farm

The Enoch Hawley family, friends and neighbors of the Bremner family, left Iowa in 1872 to homestead in the Washington Territory.
They immediately wrote to their friends in Iowa, describing the beautiful country and pleasant climate, attempting to persuade the
Bremners to follow them. In 1880, James Bremner decided to leave Iowa for the Washington Territory. After landing at Bellingham,
the Bremners traveled up the Nooksack River into the interior of Whatcom County in a dugout Indian canoe, then by sled to the homestead
of Enoch Hawley. When they arrived there were only five neighbors in the area. They made their homestead of 160 acres (“20 cleared,
8 orchard”) with a “comfortable log cabin” in the, Nooksack Valley, on present day Weidkamp Road between H Street and Barnhart Road,
near Lynden. Of course, at that time, none of these roads existed.

The original Bremner homestead farm site is a lovely area of rolling hills surrounded by tall trees, with a swamp and a pond on the 160 acres.
The Bremner homestead was located on a rise of land in pasture on Bud Anderson’s farm just behind Viola Vaccarino and Dylan & Sabina Bremner
When my family and I visited in 1998 Bud Anderson expressed his amazement that the swamp area had been drained by the original homesteaders digging ditches by hand.

James Bremner named the town of Delta, Wash., near present day Lynden, establishing the first school in 1880 and the first post
office Sept. 24, 1884. Abigail became the first school teacher and James was appointed postmaster.
Six miles from the town of Sigurney, Iowa, is the town of Delta. This possibly explains the origin of the name Delta.
Picture of the family homestead in 1895 shows the original log cabin, with (from left to right) John Axling, Winifred Bremner Norton, William Norton, Abigail Freeman Bremner
The shed at the left of the house was the original Delta Post Office.
Most of the following accounts were recorded by James Douglas (“Doug”) Bremner II from the verbal accounts of George A. Bremner II in
1985.This information was based on his own memories and on what had been told to him by his own father, George A. Bremner I.
George A. Bremner II was keenly interested in the preservation of early family history for the benefit of future generations.
The first few years on the homestead were a struggle against the wilderness. High land was chosen for the homestead site,
as most of the flat land of the Nooksack Valley was swamp at that time. Nevertheless, several acres of the homestead were
swampland that had to be drained. Oxen were used for this purpose and to plow the land for the first several years until
horses could be obtained. The cabin, barn, and root house were made of logs and split cedar shakes, as
there were no mills to cut the wood. Water was obtained from a shallow well during the winter, but it went dry in the summer, and water
had to be carried half a mile from a spring.

The following stories come from a series of articles written in the Lynden Tribune by George Bremner II in 1962.
Not everyone was able to endure the rigorous pioneer life. An Irishman in the valley fought against the wilderness for several years. After cutting down the
giant trees and burning them, he fought the rank growth of ferns, willows, alders, etc., which sprang up. The chipmunks and bluejays ate his peas and his wheat,
and the deer and cougar ate his crops and his animals. Eventually he said, “This is too much like fighting the will of God” and returned to Ireland. A major problem on the homestead was that of water. A deep well was dug by hand with George filling the bucket with dirt at the bottom and his father, James, hauling
it up with a rope. The well went deeper and deeper, but no water showed up. It was in a clay soil and no cribbing was used. Finally, when they had reached a
depth of 90 feet, James shouted, “That's deep enough, come on up.” Bud Anderson, who now lives on that part of the homestead on Weidkamp Road, later drilled a well
and found water at 110 feet.

Another problem was clearing the land of the massive, centuries old Douglas fir and cedar to create farmland and pasture. Once the trees were cut down the trunks
and stumps still got in the way of plowing. This problem was circumvented by rolling the trees to lower ground and burning the stumps, a project for which the whole family
was enlisted. One day, while clearing the land, Winifred's clothes caught on fire and she was severely burned. A daughter of Enoch Hawley described a visit to the Bremner
homestead after her accident: “Winifred was suffering dreadfully with her burns and required two women to care for her. Her most severe burns were on her back and they
would keep trying to change her position so she would be more comfortable. Women in the vicinity had been taking turns helping Mrs. Bremner. Mother wanted to help but
it was impossible for her to remain so long away from the store. She suggested that Winifred be taken to our house, and a bed was made on a stretcher. Four men
carried her the entire distance over wet, muddy roads. Winifred remained with us many months before she was able to walk again (Squeemus, p. 104)”. It took a year
for Winifred to completely recover. She must have developed compassion for burn victims during her ordeal, for she later adopted an orphan (Bill Norton) who had been
burned in a fire where he lost his mother.

But the years on the homestead weren’t all tragedy and hardship. A Fourth of July celebration was held in honor of the completion of the Delta log schoolhouse in 1880.
Folks came from miles around. Emmet Hawley arrived bringing his fiddle, and others came from Lynden on foot or in wagons pulled by oxen. The Declaration of Independence was
read, and James Bremner tried his hand at an Independence Day oration, After the feasting, singing and visiting, there was dancing until the next morning.

For several years a large group of young people maintained a debating and literary society, holding their meetings in Lynden. George (“Archie”) Bremner regularly walked
into Lynden to attend, and later told of how much enjoyment and benefit he derived from the group. A man named Harry Savings was a great wit, and was able to keep them all
laughing at his sallies.

The little town of Delta, Washington, never lasted longer than the original homestead, and part of the land cleared by James Bremner was reclaimed by the forest.
In the summer of 1980 a celebration of 100 years in Washington was held at the forty acres of the homestead owned at that time by George A. Bremner II. The grandchildren
of George and Marian Bremner reenacted the drama of the Bremner family homesteading in the wilderness, and a wooden plaque was placed on a large cedar tree. At that time,
that portion of the original homestead was covered with big leaf maple, cedar, Douglas fir, vine maple and sword fern.

Recently I had occasion to return to the site of the 160 acres of original homestead with my wife Viola Vaccarino and my children Dylan and Sabina Bremner. We were
accompanied by George A. Bremner II at the age of 96, only two weeks before his death, but still appearing to be in perfect health, and able to scramble around in the forest
looking for the plaque placed in 1980. We wandered over the site of the original 160 acres, and stood by the marsh and pond that our ancestors had attempted to drain for farmland.
We visited the farm of Bud Anderson and were able to see the spot where the original log cabin and pastureland stood on the homestead. The site is on a slight rise in the land,
in fields behind Anderson’s barn (see picture on this page). Cows grazed over the site and rolling pastureland stretched out in either direction, surrounded by forest. The whole
scene created a wonderful and peaceful impression. It was clear that high land was chosen to avoid flooding from the Nooksack River. The farmland in that region is a flood plain
of the river, which accounts for its productivity.

The eldest son of James Bremner, John Bremner, drowned while floating down the Fraser River of B. C. on a raft at the age of eighteen. His brother George claimed that he was
working on the trans-Pacific telegraph line, but it is more likely that he was returning home from work on the transcontinental railroad of Canada, completed in 1885, the year of
his death.

Winifred Bremner married Abe Norton and moved to Powell River, B. C., where Abe worked in a pulp mill. She spent the rest of her life in Powell River.

The story of George A. (“Archie”) Bremner II, the second son of James Bremner, is told in Chapter 4.

Only seven years after establishing the homestead, James Bremner was kicked by a horse and died a few months later of pneumonia at Delta, the l9th of March, 1887. After the death of her husband in 1887, Abigail stayed on at the homestead with her son George (“Archie”) for a few years. An article in the Lynden Tribune, dated 1888, calls for
members of the Grand Army of the Republic (veterans of the Civil War), Co. 33 No. 8. to help Abigail Bremner to pick her potatoes, as her son George is sick and unable to work.
Abigail probably left the homestead at Delta forever in 1895 to live with her daughter in Powell River, B. C. She spent the rest of her life in Powell River, where she died in 1915,
except for a short time when she lived in Bellingham. She was remembered in her later years as being a “tall woman who did a lot of knitting and not much talking.”

The Enoch Hawley family, friends and neighbors of the Bremner family, left Iowa in 1872 to homestead in the Washington Territory. They immediately wrote to their friends in
Iowa, describing the beautiful country and pleasant climate, attempting to persuade the Bremners to follow them. In 1880, James Bremner decided to leave Iowa for the Washington
Territory. After landing at Bellingham, the Bremners traveled up the Nooksack River into the interior of Whatcom County in a dugout Indian canoe, then by sled to the homestead
of Enoch Hawley. When they arrived there were only five neighbors in the area. They made their homestead of 160 acres (“20 cleared, 8 orchard”) with a “comfortable log cabin” in
the, Nooksack Valley, on present day Weidkamp Road between H Street and Barnhart Road, near Lynden. Of course, at that time, none of these roads existed. The homestead was located
on a rise of land in pasture on Bud Anderson’s farm (rise of land just behind Viola Vaccarino and Dylan & Sabina Bremner in the picture). This farm site is a lovely area of rolling
hills surrounded by tall trees, with a swamp and a pond on the 160 acres. When my family and I visited in 1998 Bud Anderson expressed his amazement that the swamp area had been
drained by the original homesteaders digging ditches by hand. James Bremner named the town of Delta, Wash., near present day Lynden, establishing the first school in 1880 and the first post office Sept. 24, 1884 (papers seen in figure).
Abigail became the first school teacher and James was appointed postmaster. Six miles from the town of Sigurney, Iowa, is the town of Delta. This possibly explains the origin of the name Delta.

Most of the following accounts were recorded by James Douglas (“Doug”) Bremner II from the verbal accounts of George A. Bremner II in 1985. This information was based on his
own memories and on what had been told to him by his own father, George A. Bremner I. George A. Bremner II was keenly interested in the preservation of early family
history for the benefit of future generations.

The first few years on the homestead were a struggle against the wilderness. High land was chosen for the homestead site, as most of the flat land of the Nooksack
Valley was swamp at that time. Nevertheless, several acres of the homestead were swampland that had to be drained. Oxen were used for this purpose and to plow the
land for the first several years until horses could be obtained. The cabin, barn, and root house were made of logs and split cedar shakes, as there were no mills to
cut the wood. Water was obtained from a shallow well during the winter, but it went dry in the summer, and water had to be carried half a mile from a spring.

The following stories come from a series of articles written in the Lynden Tribune by George Bremner II in 1962.
Not everyone was able to endure the rigorous pioneer life. An Irishman in the valley fought against the wilderness for several years. After cutting down the giant
trees and burning them, he fought the rank growth of ferns, willows, alders, etc., which sprang up. The chipmunks and bluejays ate his peas and his wheat, and the
deer and cougar ate his crops and his animals. Eventually he said, “This is too much like fighting the will of God” and returned to Ireland.


A major problem on the homestead was that of water. A deep well was dug by hand with George filling the bucket with dirt at the bottom and his father, James,
hauling it up with a rope. The well went deeper and deeper, but no water showed up. It was in a clay soil and no cribbing was used. Finally, when they had reached
a depth of 90 feet, James shouted, “That's deep enough, come on up.” Bud Anderson, who now lives on that part of the homestead on Weidkamp Road, later drilled a well
and found water at 110 feet.

Another problem was clearing the land of the massive, centuries old Douglas fir and cedar to create farmland and pasture. Once the trees were cut down the trunks
and stumps still got in the way of plowing. This problem was circumvented by rolling the trees to lower ground and burning the stumps, a project for which the whole
family was enlisted. One day, while clearing the land, Winifred's clothes caught on fire and she was severely burned. A daughter of Enoch Hawley described a visit to
the Bremner homestead after her accident: “Winifred was suffering dreadfully with her burns and required two women to care for her. Her most severe burns were on her
back and they would keep trying to change her position so she would be more comfortable. Women in the vicinity had been taking turns helping Mrs. Bremner. Mother wanted
to help but it was impossible for her to remain so long away from the store. She suggested that Winifred be taken to our house, and a bed was made on a stretcher. Four
men carried her the entire distance over wet, muddy roads. Winifred remained with us many months before she was able to walk again (Squeemus, p. 104)”. It took a year
for Winifred to completely recover. She must have developed compassion for burn victims during her ordeal, for she later adopted an orphan (Bill Norton) who had been
burned in a fire where he lost his mother.

But the years on the homestead weren’t all tragedy and hardship. A Fourth of July celebration was held in honor of the completion of the Delta log schoolhouse in 1880.
Folks came from miles around. Emmet Hawley arrived bringing his fiddle, and others came from Lynden on foot or in wagons pulled by oxen. The Declaration of Independence
was read, and James Bremner tried his hand at an Independence Day oration, After the feasting, singing and visiting, there was dancing until the next morning. For several years a large group of young people maintained a debating and literary society, holding their meetings in Lynden. George (“Archie”) Bremner regularly walked into
Lynden to attend, and later told of how much enjoyment and benefit he derived from the group. A man named Harry Savings was a great wit, and was able to keep them all
laughing at his sallies.

The little town of Delta, Washington, never lasted longer than the original homestead, and part of the land cleared by James Bremner was reclaimed by the forest.
In the summer of 1980 a celebration of 100 years in Washington was held at the forty acres of the homestead owned at that time by George A. Bremner II. The grandchildren
of George and Marian Bremner reenacted the drama of the Bremner family homesteading in the wilderness, and a wooden plaque was placed on a large cedar tree. At that time,
that portion of the original homestead was covered with big leaf maple, cedar, Douglas fir, vine maple and sword fern.

Recently I had occasion to return to the site of the 160 acres of original homestead with my wife Viola Vaccarino and my children Dylan and Sabina Bremner. We were
accompanied by George A. Bremner II at the age of 96, only two weeks before his death, but still appearing to be in perfect health, and able to scramble around in the forest
looking for the plaque placed in 1980. We wandered over the site of the original 160 acres, and stood by the marsh and pond that our ancestors had attempted to drain for
farmland. We visited the farm of Bud Anderson and were able to see the spot where the original log cabin and pastureland stood on the homestead. The site is on a slight
rise in the land, in fields behind Anderson’s barn (see picture on this page). Cows grazed over the site and rolling pastureland stretched out in either direction, surrounded
by forest. The whole scene created a wonderful and peaceful impression. It was clear that high land was chosen to avoid flooding from the Nooksack River. The farmland in
that region is a flood plain of the river, which accounts for its productivity.

The eldest son of James Bremner, John Bremner, drowned while floating down the Fraser River of B. C. on a raft at the age of eighteen. His brother George claimed
that he was working on the trans-Pacific telegraph line, but it is more likely that he was returning home from work on the transcontinental railroad of Canada, completed in
1885, the year of his death.

Winifred Bremner married Abe Norton and moved to Powell River, B. C., where Abe worked in a pulp mill. She spent the rest of her life in Powell River.

The story of George A. (“Archie”) Bremner II, the second son of James Bremner, is told in Chapter 4.

Only seven years after establishing the homestead, James Bremner was kicked by a horse and died a few months later of pneumonia at Delta, the l9th of March, 1887. After the death of her husband in 1887, Abigail stayed on at the homestead with her son George (“Archie”) for a few years. An article in the Lynden Tribune, dated 1888,
calls for members of the Grand Army of the Republic (veterans of the Civil War), Co. 33 No. 8. to help Abigail Bremner to pick her potatoes, as her son George is sick
and unable to work. Abigail probably left the homestead at Delta forever in 1895 to live with her daughter in Powell River, B. C. She spent the rest of her life in
Powell River, where she died in 1915, except for a short time when she lived in Bellingham. She was remembered in her later years as being a “tall woman who did a lot
of knitting and not much talking.”

They immediately wrote to their friends in Iowa, describing the beautiful country and pleasant climate, attempting to persuade the Bremners to follow them. In 1880,
James Bremner decided to leave Iowa for the Washington Territory. After landing at Bellingham, the Bremners traveled up the Nooksack River into the interior of Whatcom
County in a dugout Indian canoe, then by sled to the homestead of Enoch Hawley. When they arrived there were only five neighbors in the area. They made their homestead
of 160 acres (“20 cleared, 8 orchard”) with a “comfortable log cabin” in the, Nooksack Valley, on present day Weidkamp Road between H Street and Barnhart Road, near Lynden.
Of course, at that time, none of these roads existed. The homestead was located on a rise of land in pasture on Bud Anderson’s farm (rise of land just behind Viola Vaccarino
and Dylan & Sabina Bremner in the picture). This farm site is a lovely area of rolling hills surrounded by tall trees, with a swamp and a pond on the 160 acres. When my family
and I visited in 1998 Bud Anderson expressed his amazement that the swamp area had been drained by the original homesteaders digging ditches by hand. James Bremner named the town of Delta, Wash., near present day Lynden, establishing the first school in 1880 and the first post office Sept. 24, 1884 (certificate in the figure at left).
Abigail became the first school teacher and James was appointed postmaster. Six miles from the town of Sigurney, Iowa, is the town of Delta. This possibly explains the origin of
the name Delta.

A picture of the family homestead in 1895 shows the original log cabin, with (from left to right) John Axling, Winifred Bremner Norton, William Norton, Abigail Freeman Bremner.
The shed at the left of the house was the original Delta Post Office.

Most of the following accounts were recorded by James Douglas (“Doug”) Bremner II from the verbal accounts of George A. Bremner II in 1985. This information was based on his
own memories and on what had been told to him by his own father, George A. Bremner I. George A. Bremner II was keenly interested in the preservation of early family history for
the benefit of future generations.

The first few years on the homestead were a struggle against the wilderness. High land was chosen for the homestead site, as most of the flat land of the Nooksack Valley
was swamp at that time. Nevertheless, several acres of the homestead were swampland that had to be drained. Oxen were used for this purpose and to plow the land for the first
several years until horses could be obtained. The cabin, barn, and root house were made of logs and split cedar shakes, as there were no mills to cut the wood. Water was obtained
from a shallow well during the winter, but it went dry in the summer, and water had to be carried half a mile from a spring.

The following stories come from a series of articles written in the Lynden Tribune by George Bremner II in 1962.
Not everyone was able to endure the rigorous pioneer life. An Irishman in the valley fought against the wilderness for several years. After cutting down the giant trees and
burning them, he fought the rank growth of ferns, willows, alders, etc., which sprang up. The chipmunks and bluejays ate his peas and his wheat, and the deer and cougar ate his
crops and his animals. Eventually he said, “This is too much like fighting the will of God” and returned to Ireland.
A major problem on the homestead was that of water. A deep well was dug by hand with George filling the bucket with dirt at the bottom and his father, James, hauling it up
with a rope. The well went deeper and deeper, but no water showed up. It was in a clay soil and no cribbing was used. Finally, when they had reached a depth of 90 feet, James
shouted, “That's deep enough, come on up.” Bud Anderson, who now lives on that part of the homestead on Weidkamp Road, later drilled a well and found water at 110 feet.

Another problem was clearing the land of the massive, centuries old Douglas fir and cedar to create farmland and pasture. Once the trees were cut down the trunks and stumps
still got in the way of plowing. This problem was circumvented by rolling the trees to lower ground and burning the stumps, a project for which the whole family was enlisted.
One day, while clearing the land, Winifred's clothes caught on fire and she was severely burned. A daughter of Enoch Hawley described a visit to the Bremner homestead after her
accident: “Winifred was suffering dreadfully with her burns and required two women to care for her. Her most severe burns were on her back and they would keep trying to change
her position so she would be more comfortable. Women in the vicinity had been taking turns helping Mrs. Bremner. Mother wanted to help but it was impossible for her to remain
so long away from the store. She suggested that Winifred be taken to our house, and a bed was made on a stretcher. Four men carried her the entire distance over wet, muddy roads.
Winifred remained with us many months before she was able to walk again (Squeemus, p. 104)”. It took a year for Winifred to completely recover. She must have developed compassion
for burn victims during her ordeal, for she later adopted an orphan (Bill Norton) who had been burned in a fire where he lost his mother.

But the years on the homestead weren’t all tragedy and hardship. A Fourth of July celebration was held in honor of the completion of the Delta log schoolhouse in 1880. Folks
came from miles around. Emmet Hawley arrived bringing his fiddle, and others came from Lynden on foot or in wagons pulled by oxen. The Declaration of Independence was read, and
James Bremner tried his hand at an Independence Day oration, After the feasting, singing and visiting, there was dancing until the next morning. For several years a large group of young people maintained a debating and literary society, holding their meetings in Lynden. George (“Archie”) Bremner regularly walked into Lynden to
attend, and later told of how much enjoyment and benefit he derived from the group. A man named Harry Savings was a great wit, and was able to keep them all laughing at his sallies. The little town of Delta, Washington, never lasted longer than the original homestead, and part of the land cleared by James Bremner was reclaimed by the forest. In the summer of 1980 a
celebration of 100 years in Washington was held at the forty acres of the homestead owned at that time by George A. Bremner II. The grandchildren of George and Marian Bremner reenacted
the drama of the Bremner family homesteading in the wilderness, and a wooden plaque was placed on a large cedar tree. At that time, that portion of the original homestead was covered
with big leaf maple, cedar, Douglas fir, vine maple and sword fern.

Recently I had occasion to return to the site of the 160 acres of original homestead with my wife Viola Vaccarino and my children Dylan and Sabina Bremner.
We were accompanied by George A. Bremner II at the age of 96, only two weeks before his death, but still appearing to be in perfect health, and able to scramble around in the forest
looking for the plaque placed in 1980. We wandered over the site of the original 160 acres, and stood by the marsh and pond that our ancestors had attempted to drain for farmland.
We visited the farm of Bud Anderson and were able to see the spot where the original log cabin and pastureland stood on the homestead. The site is on a slight rise in the land, in fields
behind Anderson’s barn (see picture on this page). Cows grazed over the site and rolling pastureland stretched out in either direction, surrounded by forest. The whole scene created a
wonderful and peaceful impression. It was clear that high land was chosen to avoid flooding from the Nooksack River. The farmland in that region is a flood plain of the river, which
accounts for its productivity.
The eldest son of James Bremner, John Bremner, drowned while floating down the Fraser River of B. C. on a raft at the age of eighteen. His brother George claimed that he was
working on the trans-Pacific telegraph line, but it is more likely that he was returning home from work on the transcontinental railroad of Canada, completed in 1885, the year of
his death.

Winifred Bremner married Abe Norton and moved to Powell River, B. C., where Abe worked in a pulp mill. She spent the rest of her life in Powell River.

The story of George A. (“Archie”) Bremner II, the second son of James Bremner, is told in Chapter 4.

Only seven years after establishing the homestead, James Bremner was kicked by a horse and died a few months later of pneumonia at Delta, the l9th of March, 1887.

After the death of her husband in 1887, Abigail stayed on at the homestead with her son George (“Archie”) for a few years. An article in the Lynden Tribune, dated 1888,
calls for members of the Grand Army of the Republic (veterans of the Civil War), Co. 33 No. 8. to help Abigail Bremner to pick her potatoes, as her son George is sick and unable to work.
Abigail probably left the homestead at Delta forever in 1895 to live with her daughter in Powell River, B. C. She spent the rest of her life in Powell River, where she died in 1915,
except for a short time when she lived in Bellingham.
Abigail Freeman Bremner (shown here in the picture knitting in Powell River BC) was remembered in her later years as being a “tall woman who did a lot of knitting and not much talking.”

---

History of the Clark and Freeman Families in England, Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies, and Cape Cod

Abigail Clark Freeman was born the 23rd of April, 1828, in Brewster, Massachusetts. She grew up on Cape Cod in a family of New England Puritans and whaling captains,
with a long history in Plymouth Colony on both the Clark and Freeman sides of her family. The original members of both families were “old comers” of the Plimouth Colony who
came over on the three original ships, which included the Mayflower, Fortune, and Abigail.


Puritan Removal to the New World

The most famous of our ancestors is William Brewster, who led the pilgrims first to Leyden, Holland, and later to Plymouth in the New World. The following is based on Pilgrim: A Biography of William Brewster, by MB Sherwood, Great Oak Press, Falls Church VA, 1982. William Brewster was born at Scrooby, Nottinghamshire, England, about 1567. Scrooby Manor was one of the palaces of the Archbishop of York, although it later fell into disrepair. At the age of 13 he went to school at Cambridge College. After college he went to the court of Queen Elizabeth where he was in the employment of William Davison. Davison was later imprisoned by the Queen and Brewster returned to Scrooby Manor, where he married a woman named Mary, the identity of which is controversial. Brewster met William Bradford, who lived in a neighboring town, and who had been listening to preachers who dissented from the established Church of England. Bradford later described Brewster as “wise and discreet and well spoken, having a grave and deliberate utterance, of a very cheerful spirit, very sociable and pleasant amongst his friends, of a humble and modest mind, of a peaceable disposition, undervaluing himself and his own abilities and sometime overvaluing others. Inoffensive and innocent in his life and conversation, which gained him the love of those without as well as those within…”

Brewster and Bradford became Separatists, part of a group of English who felt that the elaborate ceremonies of the established Church of England detracted from true religion, thus they wanted to separate from the church. They denied the authority of the bishops, and were thus seen as a threat to the state, and were persecuted. They formed a congregation at Scrooby, which John Robinson, a previously outlawed pastor, joined, and he later became pastor when they moved to Holland. Sunday meetings were secretly held at Scrooby Manor. However members of the group became increasingly jailed and otherwise persecuted.

An order was issued for William Brewster’s arrest, and he went into hiding. The Scrooby congregation made arrangements to sail from Boston, Lincolnshire, to Holland, in 1607, however they were betrayed by those who were to transport them, robbed, and arrested. Brewster was detained for a while and later released.

They next made arrangements with a Dutch captain to meet them at the shore between Hull and Grimsby. After half of the people were transported on board, soldiers arrived and arrested those still on shore, and families were separated. Those on board underwent severe storms but eventually arrived after 14 days in Holland. Since the women left behind in England could argue that they were merely following the commands of their husbands (legally admissible at this time in history) they were allowed to leave the country and join their husbands in Holland.

The Scrooby congregation arrived at Amsterdam where they were preceded by a congregation from Gainsborough (near Scrooby) and an earlier group of Separatists from London they called the Ancient Brethren. These groups were torn by theological controversy, controversy about the sexual activity of some of the pastors, and other issues. For these reasons in 1609 they decided to move to Leyden, where Brewster became the Ruling Elder. Brewster and his family lived on the Stinksteeg, with one door opening on the Koorsteeg. He taught English to students and worked as a publisher, the Choir Alley Press (English for Koorsteeg). He published over 15 books before the Dutch authorities, at the urging of the English government, put them out of business. It is thought that other books were published clandestinely for release in English in England that were against the Church of England. One book that was published in Holland, possibly by Brewster, was Perth Assembly, written by a Scot Presbyterian who was in hiding in Scotland and who advocated resistance to England and the Church of England. The suspicion that Brewster was the publisher led to England’s push to have him put out of business. King James of England attempted to arrest Brewster in 1619 but the Leyden authorities only cooperated half heartedly. He used this time to escape Holland and emigrate to America.

In 1619 they received a grant from the Virginia Company and the king of England to settle on Hudson’s River. On June 11th, 1620, Robert Cusham, a Puritan involved in the organization of the exodus of the Puritans to the New Country, wrote from Southamptom, England, to William Bradford, future governor of the Plymouth Colony, who was then in Leyden, that “…we resolved to hire a ship, and have tooke liking of one till Monday, about 60 laste, for a greater part we cannot gett, except it be too great; but a fine ship it is [the Mayflower]…We have hired another pilote here, a Mr Clarke, who went last year to Virginia, with a ship of kine” (The Bradford History p. 67). The party in Leyden, Holland, outfitted another ship, the Speedwell. William Brewster and his wife Mary took Love and Wrestling, age 10 and 6, and left behind Jonathan, Patience, 20, and Fear, 14, probably with the Robinsons. On July 21, 1620, they left Delft Haven, 20 miles from Leyden, on the Speedwell, for Southampton, and from thence to the New World, leaving behind about half of their congregration. William Bradford later wrote of the departure, “So they left that goodly and pleasant city which had been their resting place near twelve years; but they knew they were pilgrims, and looked not much on those things, but lift up their eyes to the heavens, their dearest country, and quieted their spirits.”

The Speedwell sailed to Southampton, England, where it met with the Mayflower. Thomas Clark joined the group there, as the “Master’s Mate” on the Mayflower, which was captained by Mr. Jones. There was a governor for each ship to take care of the passengers. The two ships sailed from Southampton on August 5th, 1620, but the Speedwell became leaky, and all passengers eventually transferred to the Mayflower which sailed eventually from Plymouth harbor on September 6th , 1620.

After many perils at sea this ship reached Cape Cod on November 11th, 1620, with 101 English settlers. They had planned to go to Hudson’s River, but the captain had been bribed by the Dutch to go to New England, which turned out to be better as a plague had wiped out the Indians in that area and made it easier to establish a settlement there. On the day of their arrival they planned to send out military captain Miles Standish with 15 men, but before landing they made a compact in the cabin of the Mayflower, that pledged equal and social justice for all members of the group, and promising to obey the laws, and that the will of the majority should govern. This “Mayflower Compact” is now known as the first democratic compact of the New World, and the forerunner of the Constitution of the United States, and was signed by all males aboard the ship. It states “Having undertaken for the Glory of God… a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia… covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic, for our better ordering and preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid; and by virtue hereof to enact, constitute and frame such just and equal and laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the Colony, unto which we promise all due submission and obedience. In witness whereof we have hereunder subscribed our names at Cape Cod, the 11th of November, in the year of the reign of our Sovereign Lord King James, of England, France, and Ireland the eighteenth, and of Scotland, the fifty fourth. Anno Domino 1620.”

William Bradford wrote, “The names of those which came over first, in the year 1620, and were by the blessing of God the first beginners and (in a sort) the foundation of all the Plantations and Colonies in New England; and their families.

“…Mr. William Brewster; Mary, his wife; with 2 sons whose names were Love & Wrasling; and a boy was put to him called Richard More; and another of his brothers. The rest of his children were left behind, & came over afterward.

“Mr. Edward Winslo, his wife; & 2 men servants, called George Sowle; also a little girle was put to him, called Ellen, the sister of Richard More…”

The Pilgrims elected John Carver as their Governor for one year, and spent the next few weeks exploring Cape Cod in a “shallop” (small boat).



On November 13th they made a camp near Truro, at the mouth of the Pamet River, where they found Indian corn and Indian settlements. On December 6th they sailed again and landed at Eastham where they made a camp in the midst of Indian encampments. That night they were attacked by the Indians, which they survived. The next day a group of 18 men sailed West in the shallop, including Governor Carver, William Bradford, Miles Standish, and Thomas Clark. The pilot said there was a harbour they could reach before night. The boat was caught in a storm, and the rudder and masts were broken, and the sails were lost overboard. In the middle of the storm they landed on an island, which turned out to be in Plymouth Harbour. “As Mr. [Thomas] Clark, the master’s mate, was the first to land on the island, it received his name, which it still retains (The History of Plymouth, p. 24)… “there is a tradition that Edward Dotey, a young man, attempted to be the first to leap onto the island, but was severely checked for his forwardness, that Clark might first land and have the honor of giving name to the island, which it still retains [this anecdote was transmitted father to son in the Dotey family of Plymouth and recorded in 1836 by the author of The History of Plymouth who was a local resident, p. 330].” The party explored the area, found it to have Indian corn and a good harbour for shipping, and returned to the Mayflower off of Cape Cod, where they informed the party that they had found a fit place for settlement. The group returned on December 22nd, 1620, which is listed as the traditional foundation of Plymouth Colony, when the Pilgrims first set foot on “Plymouth Rock”.

The first winter at New Plymouth was an extremely difficult one. The passenger’s, weak with scurvy, and without proper housing, developed infections which reduced the number of families from 100 to 50. William Bradford wrote in his History “In 2 or 3 moneths time halfe of their company dyed, espetialy in Jan & February, being ye deptrh of winter, and wanting houses & other comforts; being infected with ye scurvie & other diseases, which this long vioage & their inacomodate condition had brought upon them; so as ther dyed some times 2. Or 3. Of a day, in ye foresaid time; that of 100. & odd persons, scarce 50 remained. And of these in ye time of most distres, ther was but 6. Or 7. Sound persons, who, to their great comendations be it spoken, spared no pains, day or night, but with abundance of toyle and hazard of their owne health, fetched them woode, made them firecs, drest them meat, made their beads, washed their lothsome cloaths, cloathed & uncloathed them, in a word, did all ye homly & necessarie offices for them wch dainty & quesie stomacks cannot endure to hear named; and all this willingly & cherfully, without any grudging in ye least, shewing herein their true love unto their friends & bretheren. A rare example & worthy to be remembred, Tow of these 7, were Mr. William Brewster, the reverend Elder, & Myles Standish, their Captain, unto whom myself and others were much beholden in our low & sicke condition…” (p. 112).

In November, 1621, the Fortune arrived bringing the son of William Brewster, Jonathan Brewster. Another new arrival was Thomas Prence, later to be Governor of Plymouth and husband of Patience Brewster, daughter of William Brewster. The first Thanksgiving feast was shortly after this, to which the Indians contributed five deer.

Since John Robinson did not come to America, Brewster was the effective spiritual leader of Plymouth. Brewster preached twice every Sunday, although none of his sermons survive.

In 1623 the Anne arrived bringing Patience and Fear Brewster, who had been living with the Robinson family in Leyden, as well as Thomas Clark and Edward Bangs. Patience Brewster married Thomas Prence on August 5, 1624. William Bradford, Governor of Plymouth, had written to Alice Southworth in Leyden, who had been widowed from Edward Southworth, and she agreed to marry, and they were married after she arrived on the Anne. This was followed by the Little James, with John Jenney and his family. On April 27, 1627, Mary Brewster died.



About this time, an official of the Dutch colony at New Netherland visited Plymouth, Isaack De Resieres, and said, “the houses are constructed of hewn planks with gardens also enclosed behind and at the sides with hewn planks, so that their houses and courtyards are arranged in very good order, with a stockade against a sudden attack; and at the ends of the streets there are three wooden gates.”

William Brewster ended his life on a farm in Duxbury where he had 111 acres in place known as Captain’s Nook. Wm. Bradford in his History wrote at the time of his death in 1644: “I should say something of his life…After he had attained some learning, viz ye knowledge of ye Latine tongue, & some insight in ye Greeke, and spent some small time at Cambridge, and then being seasoned with ye seeds of grace and vertue, he went to ye Courte, and served that religious and godly gentleman, Mr. Davison, diverce years, when he was Secretary of State; who found him so discreete and faithful as he trusted him above all other … he afterward stayed with him until the time of his troubles, when he was put from his place aboute ye death of ye Queene of Scots…Afterwards he went and lived in ye country, in good esteeme amongst his friends and ye gentle-men of those parts, espetially the godly & religious…and in this state he stayed many years…and in ye end, by ye tirany of ye bishops against godly preachers & people, in silencing the one & persecuting ye other, he and many more of those times begane to looke further into things, and to see int ye unlawfullnes of their callings, and ye burthen of many anti-christian corruptions…After they joyned togither in comunion, he was a spetialll say & help unto them. They ordinarily mett at this house on ye Lords day…He was cheefe of those that were taken at Boston, and suffered ye greatest loss; and of ye seven that were kept longst in prison, and after bound over to ye assesses. After he came over into Holland he suffered much hardship, having a great charge, and many children…Toward the later of those years in Holland, he fell into a way to teach students, who had a desire to learn the english tongue, for he drew rules to learn by, after ye Latin…But now removing into this countrye, all these things were laid by again, and a new course of living must be found…living many times without bread, or corne, many months together, having many times nothing but fish, and often wanting that also; and drunke nothing but water for many years togeather, yea, till within 5 or 6 years of his death; and yet he lived (by ye Blessing of God) in health till very old age. And besides yt, he would labor with his hand in ye field as long as he was able, and when the church had no other minister, he taught twice every Saboth… yea many were brought to God by his ministrie… (p. 490).

Patience Brewster, daughter of William and Mary Brewster, was born c 1600 in Scrooby England, she was recorded in 1618 in Leyden, Holland, and married Thomas Prence in Aug. 5, 1624 in New Plymouth. Thomas Prence was Governor of New Plymouth for 16 years until his death March 29, 1673. The will of Gov. Thomas Prence stated ‘He was a worthy gentleman, very pious, and very able for his office, and faithful in the discharge thereof, studious of peace, a welwiller to all that feared God, and a terrour to the wicked. His death was much lamented, and his body honorably buryed att Plymouth the day and year above mensioned. (elsewhere) In 1673 was a very awfull frowne of God upon this chh & colony in the death of Mr Thomas Prince the Governour in the 73rd yeare of his Age; when this Colony was in a hazardous condition upon the death of Govr Bradford the lott was cast upon Mr Prince to be his successour, God made him a repairer of breaches & a meanes to setle those shakings that were then threatning, he was excellently qualifyed for the office of a Governour, he had a countenance full of majesty & therein as well as otherwise was a terrour to evill doers, he was very amiable & pleasant in his whole conversation & highly esteemed of the saints & acknowledged by all; In the time of his sicknesse the chh sought God by Fasting & Prayer, but God would not be intreated any longer to spare him, but he dyed on Mar 29; & was honourably interred April 8 (Mayflower Increasings p 28).” Thomas Prence as Governor was known for establishing universal education, as well as being very intolerant and persecutory of the Quakers. The daughter of Thomas Prence and Patience Brewster, Mercy, b 1631 in New Plymouth, married John Freeman 12/13/1649 (50).

Freeman Family in America

The original member of the Freeman family in America was Edmund Freeman. From Historic Homes and Places of Middlesex County, Mass. P. 1497-8, “Edmund Freeman, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1590, and came in the ship “Abigail” in 1635. [This was one of the first three ships to come to New Plimouth, which therefore made him one of the “old comers” of the Plimouth Colony, in addition to his role as a founder of the Plimouth Colony enterprise in England]. He settled in Lynn, Massachusetts, as early as 1635. Mr Lewis, in his History of Lynn, says, ‘This year [1635] many new inhabitants appear in Lynn in 1635; among them, worthy of note, Mr. Edmund Freeman, who presented to the colony twenty corselets or pieces of plate armor.’ He was subsequently in the Plymouth colony, and with nine associates was soon recognized by the government as a suitable person to originate a new settlement. He was admitted freeman at Plymouth January 2, 1637, and after being for a short time a resident of Duxbury, he settled in what was incorporated later as the town of Sandwich. Most of the grantees of this town were formerly of Lynn. Mr. Freeman had the largest grants and was evidently the foremost man in the enterprise. He was elected as assistant to the governor and commissioner to hear and determine causes within the several contiguous townships. He was one of the first judges of the ‘select’ court of Plymouth county. During the persecution of the Quakers he opposed the course of the government and was fined ten shillings once for refusing to aid in the baiting of Friends under pretense of law. ‘Pre-eminently respected, always fixed in principle, and decisive in action, nevertheless quiet and unobtrusive, a counselor and leader without ambitious ends in view, of uncompromising integrity, and of sound judgment, the symmetry of his entire character furnished an example that is a rich legacy to his descendants.” He died in 1682 at the advanced age of ninety-two. His will is dated June 21, 1682. He was buried on his own land on the hill in the rear of his dwelling at Sandwich. It is the oldest burial place in the town. His grave and that of his wife are marked by two boulders which he placed in position after her death and called from fancied resemblances ‘the saddle and pillion’. His home was a mile and a quarter west of the town hall and near the junction of the old and new county roads to the Cape. He married Elizabeth _________ who died February 14, 1675-1676. Children: 1. Alice, born in England, married Deacon William Paddy, November 24, 1639. 2. Edmund, born in England, married April 22, 1646, Rebecca Prence; (second) Margaret Perry. 3. Elizabeth, born in England in 1625, married John Ellis. 4. John, born in England about 1627, mentioned below. 5. Mary, married Edward Perry.”

Hutchinson says, ‘John Carver, William Bradford, Edward Winslow, Isaac Allerton, Miles Standish, William White, Stephan Hopkins, Richard Warren, John Alden, John Howland, Timothy Hatherly, Thomas Willet, William Thomas, Edmund Freeman, James Cudworth, and Thomas Southworth, were the founders of the Colony of New Plymouth, the settlement of which colony occasioned the settlement of Massachusetts Bay, which was the source of all the other colonies of New England. Virginia was in a dying state, and seemed to revive and flourish from the example of New England.’ He adds, ‘I am not preserving from oblivion the names of heroes whose chief merit is the overthrow of cities, provinces, and empires, but the names of the founders of a flourishing town and colony, if not the whole British Empire in America’” (History of Cape Cod, p. 128.).

“The year 1637 marks the era of the first English settlement on the Cape [Cod]. The settlement at Sandwich was projected by Mr. Edmund Freeman [including Thomas Dexter and others], and others, who, April 3 of this year, obtained a grant from the Colony of Plymouth, and at once, with a large number of families from Lynn, Duxbury, and Plymouth, but chiefly from Lynn, the ancient Saugus, removed to the location designated. The settlement was begun this year under very favorable auspices, although it was not regularly incorporated as a town until about two years later.

“Touching this settlement, the following record appears: ‘April 3, 1637, it is also agreed by the Court that these ten men of Saugus, viz. Edmund Freeman, Henry Feake [& Co] shall have liberty to view a place to sit down, and have sufficient lands for threescore families, upon the conditions propounded to them by the governor and Mr Winslow.’ We may properly regard the energetic movement of Mr. Freeman and associates as the first in the order of the settlement of the towns. This first settlement found the Plymouth Colony just emerging from that state of things so concisely and aptly described by the Baylies, when he says, “for twelve years, Plymouth was the colony and church discipline was the law’ and by Thatcher and earlier writers, who say on the authority of earlier records, ‘The people were governed by the moral law of Moses and the New Testament as paramount to all others.’” (History of Cape Cod, p. 128). It was at the time of the first settlement of the Plymouth Colony outside of Plymouth town that it was agreed that “no law” would be instituted “without the consent of the body of freeman or their representatives legally assembled.” It was also decided that “for the well governing of this colony, it is also ordered that there be a free election annually of governor, deputy governor, and assistants, by vote of the freeman of this corporation” (church membership was required in order to be a “freeman” (ibid.). Mr. Edmund Freeman was listed as a resident of Sandwich and was elected assistant governor of Plymouth Colony under William Bradford in 1640 and yearly thereafter for several years.

The original group of ‘Pilgrims’ had formed an association in Leyden with London merchants called the ‘merchant adventurers’ for a business partnership to last seven years. At that time the patent obtained by William Bradford for the Plymouth Colony was surrendered to the ‘freeman’ of the colony for 1800 pounds under the leadership of Governor William Bradford. Those who undertook the purchase of the partnership were called the “purchasers”, while those who came over on the original ships, the Mayflower, Fortune, and Anne, were called the “old comers”. Edmund Freeman acted as the agent for a Mr. Beauchamp in London who was a purchaser. The “purchasers and old comers” obtained charters to establish new settlements at Yarmouth and ancient Eastham (which later became Brewster and Orleans).

Edmund Freeman was appointed by the Colony Court to “hear and determine all causes and controversies within the three townships now existing on the Cape, not exceeding twenty shillings. In that year Edmund Freeman and the court ordered “that profane swearing should be punished by setting in the stocks three hours, or by imprisonment,” and “that for telling lies, a fine of ten shillings should be imposed for each and every offence, or setting in the stocks two hours.” An act was passed to “prevent idleness and other evils.” The grand jurors were authorized to “take special view and notice all persons, married and single, that have means to maintain themselves, and are supposed to live idly and loosely, and require an account of them how they live; and finding any delinquent, were to order a constable to carry them before a magistrate, or the selectmen, to deal with them as they see fit” (ibid. p. 153). Other actions taken by Edmund Freeman and his court were settling boundary disputes between Yarmouth and Barnstable, and ordering “Mr. Andrew Hellot to pay Massatumpaine one fathom of beads within two moons, besides the net he allegeth the said Massatumpaine sold him, for the deer the Mr. Hellot’s son bought of Massatumpaine about two years since.” And it was ordered “that Walter Devile shall pay two shillings to Massatumpaine for mending the hole in his kettle which the said Devile shot with his gun—to be paid within one moon next ensuing.” (ibid. p. 158). It was ordered by the General Court that, “Mr. Edmund Freeman, one of the assistants, shall, at the next court holdeth towards Yarmouth and Barnstable, inflict such punishment goods in his house, as according to her fault shall be just and equal.” Later the General Court decided to “provide forces, on account of the Indians, for offensive and defensive war.” Miles Standish was elected captain, and Mr. Edmund Freeman and others to the council of war (ibid. p. 169). Later that year the Plymouth Colony allied for defensive purposes with Massachusetts Bay Colony (Naumkeag (Salem) and Shawmut (Boston), Connecticut Colony (Windsor and Wethersfield) and New Haven Colony. This confederation, called “The United Colonies of New England,” lasted until 1686. New Hampshire (Dover and Portsmouth) and Rhode Island (Providence) were not included as they did not share the same religious orientation as the hardline Puritans present at that time in the Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut and New Haven Colonies.

William Bradford, first governor of the Plymouth Colony, for whom Edmund Freeman served as Governor Assistant from 1640-1644, mentioned one Edmund Freeman in his History of Plimouth Colony. In 1641 there was a long standing controversy related to the financing on the Colony. He employed one Edmund Freeman (in England) to mediate on behalf of the Plymouth settlers, and Edmund Freeman was listed as a witness to a final agreement between the colonists and their financial backers in England (The Bradford History p. 451-456). It is unclear if this is the same Edmund Freeman (who would have had to have returned to England temporarily, which is not entirely improbable) or a different person.

The town of Eastham (originally Nauset), was founded by Gov. Thomas Prence. This was the first town founded by the original members of the town of Plymouth. In 1643 Thomas Prence, Edward Bangs, and others, traveled to Nauset to survey the site. They decided to purchase the land from the Indians, and founded what would be later known as the town of Eastham in 1644. Originally this included parts of what is now Brewster and Harwich. In 1655 the residents included Thomas Prence, Jonathan Sparrow, John Freeman, and Edward Bangs, as well as others. Edward Bangs was a ship builder. The town of Harwich was incorporated in 1694, but it had been settled by people from Eastham and Plymouth as early as 1647. In 1803 the northern half of Harwich was split off to form the town of Brewster.

Lt Jonathan Sparrow led 18 men in 1675 and 1676 in the Indian Wars.

From Historic Homes and Places of Middlesex County, Mass. P. 1497-8, “Major John Freeman, the son of Edmund Freeman, was born in England in about 1627. He bought land at Sandwich on Skauton Neck, December 30, 1649-1650, also called by the Indians Aquidneck. He removed to Eastham, where he was on of the early settlers with his father-in-law Governor Prence. He was conspicuous in military service in the Indian wars. He was a wealthy landowner, and is properly regarded as one of the founders of the town of Eastham. He was deputy to the general court from 1654, eight years; selectman from 1663, ten years; assistant to the governor from 1666, several years, and late in life, December 7, 1692, was appointed to the bench of the court of common pleas. Through a long period of years he was deacon of the Eastham church. He married February 13, 1649-50, Mercy Prence, daughter of Governor Prence. She died September 28, 1711, aged eighty. He died October 28, 1719, aged 97, according to his gravestone, the inscription of which reads, ‘Here lies the body of Maj. John Freeman who d. October 28, 1719, in the 98th year of his age.’ The grave of his wife is also marked by a stone. His will was dated June 1, 1716, and proved November 4, 1719, bequeathing to his surviving children; emancipated his negro slaves. Children: 1. born February 2, 1650, died in infancy. 2. John, born December 1651. 3. Thomas, born September, 1653, married Rebecca Sparrow. 4. Patience, married Lieutenant Samuel Paine, January 31, 1682-83. 5. Hannah, married April 14, 1681, John Mayo. 6. Edmund, born June 1657, married Ruth Merrick. 7. Mercy, born July 1659, married Samuel Knowles. 8. William, mentioned below. 9. Prince, born February 3, 1665-66, died young. 10. Nathaniel, born March 20, 1669. 11. Bennet, born March 7, 1670-1671, married Deacon John Paine. “

John Freeman was baptized in Billinghurst, Sussex, England. He is buried in Eastham. His will states ‘To my negro man Tobye one Cow and a small iron pot and ye meanest of my Wearing clothes… I give to my Negroes Toby and Bess their Freedom and I Desire you my Children To put Them into such a way as they may not Want… To my Negro The use of four acres of land… during his life… I Give him a hoe and an ax and some small Things in The kitchen and hay Ground To keep a Cow and Room to Live in part of my old house and wood for firing and fensing and convenient bedding… Whereas There is and hath Been some uneasyness and Dissattisfaction among the Children and Hiers… there may be a peacable & Quiet Settlement.” (Mayflower Increasings, p. 27-8).

From Historic Homes and Places of Middlesex County, Mass. P. 1497-8, “William Freeman, son of Major John Freeman, was born about 1660 in Sandwich, Mass., and died in 1687 at the very beginning of his career. His widow was appointed administratix May 31, 1687. Tradition says that he conceived a settlement at Portanumquit, Pleasant Bay, which after 1694 was part of Harwich and is now in Orleans. He erected a house there, but his wife not liking the locality, ‘the frame was taken down and removed to another place.’ He married, about 1684, Lydia Sparrow, daughter of John Sparrow. Children: 1. Lydia, married February 1701, Richard Godfrey, of Chastham. 2. William, born February 24, 1686, mentioned below. [Lydia Sparrow was the granddaughter of Edward Bangs, one of the “old comers” who arrived in Plymouth on the Anne in 1623, and also granddaughter of Richard Sparrow, another old comer who arrived in Plymouth in 1632].

“William Freeman, son of William Freeman, was born in Eastham, Feb. 24, 1686. Married, October 6, 1711, Mercy Pepper, of Eastham. He lived in that part of Harwich which in 1726 was the school district adjoining Eastham. He was for many years selectman of Harwich and was a magistrate. His wife Mercy died 1769 aged seventy-eight; he died March 6, 1772, aged eighty-five years. His will was dated September 24, 1770, and proved April 7, 1772. Children: 1. Mercy, born March 6, 1712-13. 2. Apphia, born April 15, 1714, died young. 3. William, born May 12, 1715, married Hannah Atwood. 4. Daniel, born December 30, 1717, married Mercy Freeman. 5. Mercy, born February 19, 1719-20, married Nathaniel Knowles and Job Crocker. 6. Apphia, born March 12, 1721-22, married Eben Mayo. 7. Isaac, born December 22, 1725, married Ruth Hatch. 8. Jonathan, born August 3, 1728, married Ruth Freeman. 9. Lydia, born February 7, 1730-31. 10. Solomon, born January 30, 1732-33. mentioned below. 11. Simeon, born September 28, 1735.”

Mercy Pepper was daughter of Isaac Pepper and Apphia Freeman. Apphia Freeman was the daughter of Samuel Freeman and Mercy Southworth. Mercy Southworth was the daughter of Constant Southworth, who came to Plymouth in 1628, and Elizabeth Collier, the daughter of William Collier, one of the “adventurers” who originally financed the Pilgrams, and who came to Plymouth in 1633.

The Samuel Freeman line is a separate line of Freemans from the Edmund Freeman line. From Historic Homes and Places of Middlesex County, Mass. P. 127. “Samuel Freeman, immigrant ancestor of this family, came from Mawlyn, county Kent, England, and was probably born there. He was rated as a “gentleman” meaning that he was of gentle birth and undoubtedly of an ancient and distinguished English lineage. He had a deed of English property July 22, 1640. His mother’s name was Priscilla, as shown by a power of attorney dated. December 12, 1646, for the collection of a legacy from her. She was late of Blackfriars, London. Samuel Freeman came to America in 1630, and was settled in Watertown in that year. His house in Watertown was burnt in February 11, 1630-31. He returned to England on business and died there about 1639-1640, and little appears about him in the imperfect records of Watertown during his brief residence there. He married in England Apphia_____. Their children: 1. Henry, admitted freeman of Watertown, May 1645. Married, December 25, 1650, Hannah Stearns, (second) November 27, 1656, Mary Sherman. 2. Apphia. 3. Samuel, born May 11, 1638, in Watertown, mentioned below.

“Samuel Freeman, Jr., son of Samuel Freeman, was born in Watertown, May 11, 1638. Married Mercy Southworth, of Plymouth, Massachusetts, May 12, 1658. He had relatives in Plymouth colony, and in a deed dated January 20, 1671, Governor Prence calls him his “beloved son in law.” Just what that relationship was puzzles family historians. Samuel Freeman became a leading citizen of the town of Eastham. He was chosen deacon of the church there in 1676. He was deputy to the general court in 1697. A man of means and business ability, he served the town in times of peculiar straights. He bought a large part of the estate of Governor Prence. He died November 25, 1712, aged seventy-five years. His wife Mercy was a daughter of Constant Southworth, who was some time assistant in the Plymouth Colony. Constant Southworth came over with his brother and mother, Alice, in 1622. His father, Constant, died in England, and his mother came over to be the wife of Governor William Bradford; she had been his sweetheart in youth but the match had been opposed by her family on the ground of Bradford’s inferior social position; she was the daughter of Alexander Carpenter, of Wrentham, England. Constant Southworth married, November 2, 1637, Elizabeth Collier, one of the “Adventurers” to New Plymouth in 1626, a prominent citizen. Collier’s daughter Rebecca married Job Cole; his daughter Sarah married Love Brewster, son of Elder Brewster; his daughter Mary married, April 1, 1636, Governor Thomas Prence. Hence the wife of Governor Prence was sister to Samuel Freeman’s wife’s mother. One of Mrs. Freeman’s sisters, Alice, married John Alden. Constant Southworth, her father, died 1697 in Duxbury; he was deputy from Duxbury in 1649; treasurer of the colony for many years; assistant 1670 to 1675, also commissary general; he was admitted a freeman in 1637, and was a soldier in the Pequot war of 1636-1637. Children of Deacon Samuel and Mercy Freeman: 1. Apphia, born December 11, 1659, died February 19, 1660, in Eastham. 2. Samuel, born March 26, 1662. 3. Apphia, born January 1, 1666, married Isaac Pepper, of Eastham, October 17, 1685. 4. Constant, born March 31, 1669, mentioned below. 5. Elizabeth, born June 26, 1671, married Abraham Remick, (second)_________ Merrick. 6. Edward, died young. 7. Mary, married, about 1693, John Cole. 8. Alice, married Nathaniel Merrick. 9. Mercy [book continues line of Constant-Robert-Captain Elisha-Elish Jr-Elisha Edwards-Edwin A.-Benjamin Franklin Freeman].”

Returning to the Edmund Freeman line of Freemans, From Historic Homes and Places of Middlesex County, Mass. P. 1497-8, “Hon. Solomon Freeman, son of William Freeman, was born January 30, 1732-33 [in Harwich]. Married on December 30, 1756, Mercy Foster, daughter of Chillingworth Foster, who died May 4, 1760; (second) October 22, 1761, Desire Doane, daughter of Joseph Doane. He died March 11, 1808, aged seventy eight years old [in Brewster]; she died November 20, 1807, aged seventy eight years, eleven months, five days. “He was highly esteemed for his excellent qualities of mind and heart; was called to many important trusts, and always acquitted himself with honor.” He was at the time of his death state senator, having represented the county for a period of twenty years. He had also been selectman, representative and judge of the court of common pleas. His residence was in Brewster. Children: 1. Thankful, born December 17, 1757, died young. 2. Isaac, born 1762, died young. 3. Solomon, died young. Children of second wife. 4. Mercy, born August 15, 1765, married William Crosby. 5. William, born January 10, 1768, married Elizabeth Sparrow. 6. Solomon, born May 22, 1770, mentioned below. 7. Desire, born June 5, 1774, married Benjamin Foster.

“Hon Solomon Freeman, son of Hon Solomon Freeman, was born in Brewster, Massachusetts, May 22, 1770. Married, September 11, 1793, Abigail Clark, daughter of Reuben Clark. He was like his father prominent in public life and held various positions of trust and honor. He was a state senator. He died November 8, 1820; His wife March 3, 1851. Children: 1. William, born November 13, 1794, in Brewster, married Martha Simonds of Newburyport. 2. Jonathan, born August 20, 1796, married Mary Winslow and Julia Kendrick. 3. Thankful, born March 21, 1798, married Thomas Dalton. 4. Solomon, born February 17, 1800, married, June 22, 1824, Huldah Crosby. 5. Abigail, born December 24, 1803, married December 28, 1825, Elijah Knowles. 6. Hannah, born June 15, 1806, married, May 7, 1829, Isaac Doane. 7. Jerusha, born August 19, 1808, married JG Ward, of Provincetown. 8. Varnum, born February 5, 1812, married Mary G Irwin of Scotland. 9. Henry, born November 30, 1817, married Mary B Bangs.

“William Freeman, son of Solomon Freeman, was born in Brewster, November 13, 1794. Married, in 1819, Martha Simonds, of Newburyport, Massachusetts. He resided in Brewster, Massachusetts. Children: 1. Captain William, born January 27, 1820, married, September 28, 1845, Phebe Hurd… 2. Charles, born June 15, 1822, married Mehitable Ryder. 3. Caroline, born April 13, 1824, married John Freeman, of Maine. 4. George, born April 20, 1826, mentioned below. 5. Abigail, born April 25, 1828.”

At that time Brewster was a thriving sea port. Henry David Thoreau passed through there on his travels in 1849, and described it as “a modern built town of the Cape, the favorite residence of retired sea captains. It is said that ‘there are more masters and mates of vessels which sail on foreign voyages belonging to this place that to any other town in the country.’” (Brewster Ship Masters, p. vi.). In the time of 1840-1850 “Brewster’s streets were shaded with fine old trees, its houses were large and substantial, and the men who built and owned them were large and substantial too. They made their fortunes—fortunes that were the beginnings of bigger ones for their descendants in Boston, New York, and many another city-—y sailing over pretty nearly all the wet places on the earth’s surface and bargaining and risking and daring, with Yankee shrewdness and Yankee bravery. In the 1840’s and 1850’s the young man born in Brewster, who did not go to sea soon as his schooling was complete, was a shiftless no-account, unfit to associate with the aristocracy. His comrades shipped as cabin-boys, under Brewster captains of their father’s acquaintance and with Brewster mates and many Brewster members of the crew, studied navigation, and, at ages ranging from 21 to 25, became captains themselves. In the old Brewster houses were ivory carvings and Japanese silk hangings, sandal wood boxes and alabaster images of the Coliseum and Leaning Tower at Pisa. In the closets were boxes of shells picked up on tropic beaches or purchased in the bazaars at Calcutta or Mauritius. The children of the households had these shells for playthings. The ‘box of shells’ still lingers in many a gray haired youngster’s memory. Nearly every family had at least one member at sea. Captains and their wives left town to be gone for years, or came home to be welcomed and made much of. Women and children saw husbands and fathers only at long intervals and waited for news of their arrival in far-off ports. Sometimes they waited and when the news came it was in the form of a letter from a mate or a steward and told of a death and burial at sea. Sometimes they waited—waited—and no news came, no news of ship, nor officers, nor crew. Many a stone in the Brewster cemetery has ‘lost at sea’ carven on it and the mystery of that loss will always be a mystery.” (Brewster Ship Masters, p. viii.).



The three sons of William Freeman I were described in the Brewster Ship Masters as follows:

George Freeman was born in Brewster, April 20, 1826. He commanded Catherine, Chattanooga, Mary Whittridge, and Anahuac. He spent some time as a fisherman, a carpenter, and went to Oregon before returning to Boston to become a sea captain. In 1884 he sailed from New York in the Anahuac for Australia and Sourbaya, Java, where he died of cholera.

William Freeman II was born January 1820 in Beverly, Mass. He commanded 13 different ships during his career, including Maine, Undaunted, Kingfisher, Monsoon, Mogul, Ocean King, Jabez Howes, and steamers, Zenobia, Palmyra, and Edward Everett.

In The Brewster Shipmasters, published in 1906, William recounted some of his more harrowing experiences as a ship captain:



“In November. 1853, on the passage from Liverpool to Bath, the “Maine” was lost on a bar at the mouth of the Kennebec River.



“In 1859, soon after leaving Boston on the ship “Undaunted,” a part of the crew mutinied, and I was severely wounded; but after a consultation with the officers I decided to go on and finish the voyage to St. John, Nova Scotia, where the mutineers were turned over to the U. S. Consul and by him sent back to Boston.

“On the passage of the ship “Mogul” from Liverpool to San Francisco the cargo of coal took fire by spontaneous combustion July 26. We remained by the ship until August the 7th, when we were compelled to leave. Having prepared three boats, we divided the crew of 27 men as equally as possible, and at 7:00 on the evening of August 7th, we left the ship with instructions to try to reach the Marquesas Islands 2100 miles distant. This all were fortunate enough to do, after eleven and twelve days. We remained on the island five days, when we were taken in a small sloop to the island of Nukahioa, where we found the French governor and Placed ourselves in his care. After about two weeks we were taken in a schooner to Tahiti, and from there were sent by the U. S. consul to San Francisco, where we arrived four months after leaving the ship (Brewster Ship Masters, p. 36).”

Capt. William Freeman took his sister, Abigail Clark Freeman, on a voyage around the world on the “Undaunted” in 1861 before she left Cape Cod for the Washington Territory. The family retains a basket a sea shells that my grandparents had that Abigail had collected from beaches around the world on her trip with her brother. Recently a packet of papers from that trip was found in the home of George A. Bremner II shortly after his death, including some lines of poetry jotted down by Abigail off the coast of Newfoundland in 1861, and a guide book from Westminster Abbey in England.

The author of Brewster Ship Masters described Capt. William Freeman II about 1912 as a retired sea captain of 92 years of age, still “hale and hearty” and frequenting the local restaurant with the other retired sea captains where they would tell “salty tales” of their voyages around the globe. The author regretted the passage of a way of life with the aging of the sea captains, and the loss of the maritime ship trade in Brewster.

William Freeman died at the age of 92 in the Freeman house at Brewster on Cape Cod.

The house of William Freeman II, in Brewster, Mass., exists to this day as “The Captain Freeman Inn” bed and breakfast (see picture). My family and I visited The Captain Freeman Inn in 1993. The house is large and has several artifacts of Captain Freeman and his whaling history, although the owners seem to have no genuine knowledge or interest in him or his family.

Charles Freeman was born in Brewster June 15, 1822. He was commander of whaling ships in the Pacific and Arctic, sailing six times around the earth. His ships were based in Stonington, Connecticut.

In Shipmasters of Cape Cod is related the following story (p 257-8). “John Higgins, an East Brewster lad who had embarked [on a sea voyage] with the idea of make a fortune in the gold fields…was wrecked, and as young Higgins crawled out of the surf to the dry land of an Australian beach, the gadfly of restlessness still buzzed in his ear…what he wanted he did not know, but whatever it was, he felt sure that it lay far from the elm-shaded propriety of Brewster, Massachusetts. Another voyage might bring him to it; so he shipped as second mate on a local trading-brig. She, too, was wrecked, and Higgins was washed ashore on one of the Caroline Islands six degrees north of the Equator. Here at last was what he had been searching for. The island was inhabited by a handful of childlike savages who looked on Higgins as a gift from their gods. He was adopted into the tribe, was treated as a son by the old Chief, one of whose daughters he married, and he began by degrees, without spoiling the idyllic simplicity of their way of life, to teach the natives some of the comforts of civilization and a few of the simpler precepts of Christianity. Before long, thanks to his instruction, they were living in houses and carrying on a profitable trade in cocoa oil, hogs, and tortoise-shell with the whalers, who, finding that business there was conducted with some system, dropped anchor at the island with more and more regularity. On one occasion a Brewster whaling captain, Charles Freeman, came ashore for a gam, and found life so agreeable that he spent a week, giving Higgins a fine chance to talk about home and to send back letters to his family. ‘But Scripture saith an ending to all fine things must be.’ After ten years or so, some natives from a neighboring island, coming over perhaps on purpose for a row, got into a fight with Higgin’s tribe, and Higgins, in an attempt to stop the fracas, was stabbed to death. But he died happy and, what is rarer still, contented, for he had reached his goal on the same wave that washed him ashore on the island, the sole survivor of a wrecked brig.”

The last ship Charles Freeman commanded was the Betsy Williams. He died in Brewster in 1890.

Clarks in America

The first member of the Clark family in America was Thomas Clark, of Plymouth, born in 1599 in England. He was probably baptized at St. Dunstan’s Church, Stepney Parish, County Middlesex, England in 1599/1600, son of John and Mary (Morton) Clarke of Ratcliff who were married at St. Dunstan’s Church (Amer. Gen. 42:201,202). James Thacher, the author of The History of Plymouth, wrote in 1832: “It is a well received tradition that this ancient man was the mate of the Mayflower (p. 168)”. However articles from genealogical research journals dispute that the mate of the Mayflower was the same Thomas Clarke who founded the lines of Clarke in America (Geneal Dict Vol I p 401), and it seems that it is not possible to resolve this dispute. In any case a man named Thomas Clarke traveled on the Anne in July 1623 to Plymouth. He brought cattle and had land allotted to him near Eel River (now Chiltonville), where he lived for a time.

Thomas Clark was the first of a long line of Clarks to reside in the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies and in Cape Cod.

James Thacher wrote in The History of Plymouth: “March 24, 1697. Died Thomas Clark, aged 98 years. It is a well received tradition that this ancient man was the mate of the Mayflower, and the one who first landed on the island in Plymouth Harbor which bears his name. Little is known of the life and circumstances of the mate of the Mayflower; his name is not among the signers of the original compact, nor mentioned among the first settlers. It may therefore be conjectured that he was considered merely an officer of the ship, and that he returned to England in her with Capt. Jones, and subsequently came over and settled in this town [on the Anne in July, 1623]. We find his name among those who received allotments of land in 1624; and he also shared a division of the cattle in 1627 [and was a resident of Plymouth Colony]. He resided at Eel River [now Chiltonville] (History of Plymouth, p. 168).” In 1633 he took the freeman’s oath at Plymouth and in 1631 (1634?) he married Susan Ring of Plymouth.

What follows are some of the events recorded in the Plymouth Colony Records that mention his name and that offer a hint into daily life in the Puritan world of the Plymouth Colony. In 1634 he took on William Shuttle as an apprentice for 11 years. In 1637 he headed a group of volunteers to fight the Pequot Indians who had attacked the Connecticut Colony. In 1638 he was presented to the court for stopping the highway to Eel River. In 1639 he was fined 30 s for selling a pair of shoes and spurs for 15 s that he bought for 10 s. He was listed in the group of “purchasers and old comers” in 1640 (see below), and later as carpenter, yeoman, merchant, gentleman, and auditor of the accounts of Plymouth Colony. In 1642-1647 he was constable and surveyor of highways. In 1651 he was Rep. to the General Court of Plymouth Colony. In 1652 he was presented for staying and drinking at James Cole’s; acquitted. In 1654 he was on a committee to raise means to fit out an expedition ordered by the Lord Protector (of England). In 1655 he was presented to the Court for taking 6 pounds for the use of 20 pounds for one year; acquitted. He was Deacon of the Plymouth Church between 1654 and 1697. Between 1655 and 1660 he moved to Boston, where he lived in the vicinity of Scottow’s Lane (from Ann St. NW to Creek Lane). He later followed his son Andrew to Harwich, and later stayed with his daughter Susanna Lothrop at Barnstable, Mass. He later returned to Plymouth (Clark-Clarke Genealogy, p. 6). His son William Clark [brother of Andrew Clark] was attacked by a party of Indians, March 12, 1676, and 11 members of the family, including his wife and several children, were killed. He being himself absent at meeting escaped. His son was tomahawked, who ever after wore a silver plate on his head from which he was called silver head Tom. Numerous lineal descendants from Thomas Clark now reside at Eel River in this town, and in other parts of the Old Colony. There is a handsome China mug whose pedigree is traced through the Clark family back to Thomas Clark, which had been presented to the cabinet of the Pilgrim Society by Betsey B. Morton, a descendant, and also a leathern pocketbook with the initials T.C. impressed on its cover, presented by Amanda Clark. These relics afford additional evidence that the mate of the Mayflower died in this town, and that his ashes rest in the grave in our burial place [on the summit of Burying Hill] designated by a stone with the following inscription: “Here lyes ye body of Mr. Thomas Clark, aged 98 years. Departed this life March 24th, 1697 (History of Plymouth, p. 168).” Living in Boston a short time, he died in Plymouth (Clark-Clarke Genealogy, p. 6).

Susanna Ring was the daughter of William and Mary Ring. She was born in England or Leyden, Holland, and her family was a member of the group of Pilgrims who emigrated from England to Leyden and then to the New Country. The Ring family was in Leyden in 1614 (Mary Ring was listed there as witness to the marriage of Samuel Terrier and Mildred Charles; another witness, Samuel Fuller, was on the passenger list of the Mayflower in 1620. William Ring died in Leyden before 1629 (perhaps ill health prevented their migration in 1620) following which Mary and Susanna Ring came to Plymouth Colony, possibly on the second Mayflower in 1629 (Amer. Gen. 42:195-196).

Thomas Clarke and Susanna Ring had six children between 1635-1651: Andrew, James, William, Susanna, Nathaniel, and John.

Their son, Andrew Clark, was born in about 1635 in Plymouth, Plymouth Colony. Andrew moved with his family to Boston in about 1661, where they lived in the vicinity of Scottow’s Lane (from Ann St NW to Creek Lane). He married Mehitable Scotto in 1671.

Mehitable Scotto was born in Boston in 1648. She was the daughter of Thomas and Joan (Sanford) Scotto. The family of Scotto (Scottow) came from Norwich, Norfolk County, England, and were cabinetmakers by trade. The family traced back to the year 1120 in England, and the name was originally Scot-howe, which signifies a portion on a hillside. The original family member was widow Thomasine, admitted to the First Church in 1634, with her sons Thomas, born in 1612, and Joshua, born in 1615. Thomas Scotto had a house in School Street, which joined the Burying Place on the East, now forming part of City Hall Square. Thomas Scotto was overseer of graves, gates and fences in 1644. In town records of 1646 it is written, “Thomas Scotto to see yt ye graves be digged five foot deep.” (Drake’s History of Boston, p. 302). Thomas Scotto married Joan (Sanford) Scotto and they had six children between 1642 and 1659: Thomas, John, Mehitable, Joshua, Sarah, and Thomasine. The brother of Mehitable, Joshua Scott, was one of the founders of the South Church in 1662. He authored in 1691 a tract called “Old Men’s Tears,” which included the following lamentation for the state of the Massachusetts Bay Colony: “The old puritan garb and gravity of heart and habit lost and ridiculed into strange and fantastic fashions and attire—the virgin’s dress and matron’s veil turned into powdered fore-tops, and top-gallant’s attire, not becoming the Christian, but the comedian assembly—so now we may, and must say, New England is not to be found in New England, nor Boston in Boston.” (Clark-Clarke Genealogy, p. 15) Thomas Scotto died in 1661.

Andrew Clark and Mehitable Scotto Clark received a house in Scotto’s Lane from his father in 1673 where he carried on the shoe business. They had six children between 1672 and 1686: Thomas, Susanna, Andrew, Scotto I, Nathaniel, and Mehitable. Andrew Clark was Assistant Counsellor and Representative to the General Court. Later the family moved to Harwich (later Brewster) in about 1678, of which town he and his father were the original proprietors. He lived in the north part of town, west of the Setucket River, on land owned by his father. He died there in 1706.

The son of Andrew Clark, Scotto Clark I, was born in 1680, presumably in Harwich. Scotto Clarke I was styled in deeds, “Scotto Clark, Miller”. He married Mary Haskell April 17, 1706, in Rochester, Mass., and they had 10 children between 1707-1726: Andrew, Scotto, mary, Joseph, Benjamin, Lydia, Nathaniel, Sarah, Ebenezer, and Seth. Mary Haskell, born in 1684 in Middleboro, Mass. Bay Colony, was the daughter of John Haskell and Patience Soule. Patience Soule was the daughter of George Soule (and Mary Bucket/Becket) of England, who was on the passenger list of the Mayflower in 1620 where he was listed as a servant of Edward Winslow (History of Plymouth Colony; Mayflower Increasings). Edward Winslow was famous as one of the founders of the Pilgrim group who met John Robinson in Leyden, Holland, and traveled to Plymouth on the Mayflower. He was an original governor of the colony, and wrote Good News From New England, a tract which publicized the colony to English countryman back home.

The son of Scotto Clark I and Mary Haskell, Scotto Clark II, was born in Harwich, Nov. 8, 1709. He married Thankful Crosby (2/7/1714-12/17/1802) on March 22, 1733, and they had 14 children between 1811 and 1842: Elisha, Reuben, Tully, Mark, William, Mercy, Barnabas, Scotto, James, Abigail, Roland, Joshua, Fessenden, and Thankful. Thankful Crosby was descended from several “old comers”, including John Jenny, who arrived on the Little James in 1623. Scotto Clark II was a master mariner: nine of his eleven sons were whalemen. Tradition relates that, when his youngest daughter was born, he was so disappointed that he wept because he lacked one boy to make up the crew of two whaleboats. The Massachusetts Gazette of Oct. 2, 1766, reads: “A son of Capt. Clark was killed by a sperm whale near George's Bank, a few days since. The whale struck the boat at the bow with his head, with great force. throwing the young man, who stood ready with his lance, into the mouth of the whale, which turned and made off with him; he was heard to scream by his father, who commanded the boat, as the fish's jaws closed upon him.” Three other sons (William, Joshua, and Fessenden) were “lost at sea”. Scotto Clark II died on Dec. 17, 1802.

Thankful Crosby was the daughter of William Crosby and Mercy Hinkley. William Crosby was the son of Thomas Crosby, an early immigrant to New England. Mercy Hinkley was the daughter of Samuel Hinckley (son of Thomas Hinckley, an early comer to Plymouth colony) and Sarah Pope (daughter of Thomas Pope, who was son of John Pope, another early comer). Historic Homes of Middlesex County p 1073 says “John Pope, the senior immigrant ancestor of George Barker Pope, came to New England from Sussex, England, before 1634. He appeared before the general court of the Massachusetts Colony, September 3, 1634, and took the freeman’s oath, thus becoming a member of the governing body of the new colony, known as the great and general court of Massachusetts. Forty-three equally prominent leaders in the town governments and making up the colony of Massachusetts Bay took the oath at the same time and returned to their several towns to represent them in the general courts that assembled to frame laws for the government of the province. John Pope lived in the same field in the town of Dorchester where Edward and Roger Clap or Clapp had taken up home lots. On account of his prominence in the government of the church and town he was designated “Goodman Pope” or as sometimes written Poape. The date of his arrival in the place is not known but he certainly was living in the town in the autumn of 1634. He is by tradition variously credited as a passenger on the “Mary and John” when that good ship landed colonists May 30, 1630; on the “Lion” from Bristol England February 8, 1631 and on a ship from Weymouth England that arrived in the colony July 24, 1633. His wife Jane and children John Jr and Patience, were with him in Dorchester and his wife was a passenger with him. It is probable that his daughter Patience was born in New England. About this time Thomas Pope, a Plymouth immigrant, appeared, and may have been his brother or son. Contemporaneous writers in recording the history of the settlement of Dorchester, Massachusetts, name as the pillars of the church of that town; Richard Mather, George Minot, Thomas Jones, John Kimley, Nathaniel Duncan, Henry Withington, and John Pope. These seven pillars are credited with really supporting the church, so greatly weakened by the exodus of colonists in quest of more favorable climate, soil and freedom, in the Connecticut Valley. John Pope made his last will and testament February 12 1646 but the exact date of his death is not recorded. His wife Jane survived him probably six years, as the date of his death is recorded as January 12 1662. John and Jane Pope may have had other children than John Jr and Patience but of this nothing positively is known but genealogists have accounted for persons of the name in different parts of New England by such a “guess”. (One of these could be Thomas Pope, father of Sarah Pope, mother of Mercy Hinckley and grand mother of Thankful Crosby). P 153 “Simon Crosby, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England in 1608. He was a husbandman. He sailed from England in April 1635 in the ship “Susan and Ellen” with his wife Ann, then aged twenty five years, and young son Thomas. He settled in Cambridge Massachusetts and was a proprietor as early as February 8 1635. He was admitted a freeman in 1636 and was a selectman of the town. He had several grants of lands. His estate is what was known later as the Brattle place, having passed into the hands of Rev. William Brattle, and on one of his lots was erected the famous old Brattle House. He died September 1639 aged thirty one years. The inventory of his estate was taken November 15 1645, by John Bridge and Richard Jackson. Widow Ann yielded to the three sons, Thomas, Simon and Joseph, certain portions September 22, 1645, and she married (second) Rev. William Tompson, of Braintree. Children of Simon and Anne Crosby. 1. Thomas, born 1635. 2. Simon, born August 1637 mentioned below. 3. Joseph born February 1639-40.

The son of Scotto Clark II was Reuben Clark, born Aug. 1, 1735, in Harwich. He married Jerusha Freeman, daughter of Hatsuld Freeman, on May 6, 1764, and they had five children in Harwich between 1817 and 1843: Olive, Hannah, Abigail, Jerusha, and Reuben. Reuben Clark died in 1814. In the “old burying ground” in Brewster, Mass., the stone reads “Sacred to the memory of Reuben Clark, who departed this life Dec. 23, 1814, in the 80th year of his age. He lived much beloved, and died much lamented. The righteous have hope in death.” She died in 1826.

Jerusha Freeman was daughter of Abigail Hallett who was daughter of Abigail Dexter. The original Dexter in American, Thomas Dexter, was an “old comer” to Plymouth. The following is from Historic Homes of Middlesex County, p 47. “Thomas Dexter, the immigrant ancestor, was born in England. He came to America either with Mr. Endicott in 1629 or in the fleet with Governor Winthrop in 1630. He brought with him three children or more and several servants. There is reason to believe that his home in England was in Bristol, for he had considerable dealings afterward with people who lived there. In 1640 he gave a mortgage to Humphrey Hooke, an alderman of Bristol. He had a good education and was in the prime of life when he emigrated. He settled in 1630 on a farm of eight hundred acres in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts; was well to do and was called “Farmer Dexter”. His house was on the west side of the Saugus river about where the iron works were afterwards erected. In 1633 he built a bridge over the river about where the iron works were afterwards erected. In 1633 he built a bridge over the river and stretched a weir across it and soon afterward built a mill there. He was greatly interested in the establishment of the Lynn iron works, interested in English capital and became general manager, but when convinced of the unprofitableness of the enterprise, he withdrew. He was admitted a freeman in 1631, but was disenfranchised March 4, 1633. he was constantly involved in litigation and in 1631 had a quarrel with Captain Endicott, afterward the governor. Mr. Endicott struck Dexter in court and was prosecuted for the assault in Boston. The defendant said in answer to the charge: “I hear I am much complained of by Goodman Dexter for striking him. Understanding since it is not lawful for a justice of the peace to strike, but if you had seen the manner of his carriage with such daring of me, with arms akimbo, it would have provoked a very patient man. He has given out that if I had a purse he would make me empty it, and if he cannot have justice here, he will do wonders in England, and if he cannot prevail here, he will try it out at blows and he a fit man for me to deal with, you would not hear complaints.” The jury awarded Dexter a verdict of ten pounds. Two years later the court ordered Dexter set in bilboes, disenfranchised and fined ten pounds “for speaking reproachful and seditious words against the government here established.” Mr. Dexter, having been insulted by Samuel Hutchinson, met him one day on the road “and jumping from his horse bestowed about twenty blows on the head and shoulders of Hutchinson, to the no small danger or deray of his senses as well as sensibilities.” These instance would indicate, suggest the family historian, “that Mr Dexter was not a meek man.” In 1637 he and nine others obtained from the Plymouth Colony a grant of land which became the town of Sandwich, where he built the first grist mill, but he did not remain there long. In 1638 he had three hundred and fifty acres assigned to him in Lynn, where he lived until 1746. About this time he bought two farms in Barnstable, one adjoining the mill stream, the other on Scorton Hill. His dwelling in Barnstable was on the north side of the old county road in a sightly location. Here he lived a quieter life, yet his taste for litigation continued, and in 1648 he had no less than six lawsuits decided in his favor. His most important case was lost. He bought the land on which the village of Nahant is not situate from the Indian chief Pognatum or Black Will, paying therefore with a suit of clothes, fenced it for a pasture and his title was undisputed until 1657, when the proprietors claimed it. The case was in the courts over thirty eight years. In 1657 he took the oath of fidelity and was admitted freeman in the Plymouth colony, June 1, 1658. He gave most of his property to his sons, sold his farm on Scorton Hill in 1673 to William Troop, and removed to Boston to spend his last days with his daughter, the wife of Captain Oliver. He died there in 1677 and was buried in King’s chapel burying ground. The name of his wife is not known. Children: 1. Thomas, born in England, mentioned below. 2. William, married Sarah Vincent in 1653. 3. Mary, born in England, married first John Frend, second Captain James Oliver, of Boston. 4. Frances, born in England, married Richard Woodde (Woodhouse, Woodis, etc).

“Thomas Dexter, son of Thomas Dexter, was born in England about 1623; came to America with his father and settled finally at Sandwich, where he was elected constable in 1647. in 1648 he kept the mill his father built. In 1655 he was ensign of the militia company and was afterward known by this title. He was often on juries; was surveyor of highways and collector of taxes in 1675 and in 1680 was an inn keeper. In 1663 he served with Thomas Hinckley and Constant Southworth on a committee to determine the line between Sandwich and Plymouth. He was a worthy citizen, enterprising, useful and influential. He died December 29, 1686. He married November 8, 1648, Elizabeth Vincent. Childen: 1. Mary, born August 11, 1649, married October 12, 1670 Daniel Allen, of Swansea. 2. Elizabeth, born September 21, 1651, died young. 3. Thomas, born 1653, died 1679. 4. John, born 1656, mentioned below. 5. Elizabeth, born April 7, 1660, sole legatee of her mother’s estate, 1714. 6. Abigail, born June 12, 1663, married, June 30, 1684, Jonathan Hallett [goes on to John-Thomas-Isaac-John-Parker-Solomon-Royal King Dexter]”

The daughter of Reuben Clark was Abigail Clark, who was born Oct. 1, 1769. She married the Hon. Solomon Freeman II on Sept. 11, 1793. She died March 3, 1851.

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