John Alden

Longfellow’s Family Story is Our Family Legend

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The “Albert Smith Project”, as I’ve come to call it, has yielded so much interesting information there is just no way to include it all in the upcoming video.

Some of it is so compelling that I still feel a need to share it – including this story here.

Father Smith, as the citizens of Manti came to know him, was of the same generation and age as Electa Westover. He connects into the Westover line through the marriage of his granddaughter, Mary Ann Smith, to Arnold Westover in 1914.

In advance of the building of the Manti Temple Albert Smith paid a genealogist to find the names of his ancestors. This was way back in 1878, right around the time plans for a temple in Manti were announced.

It took years but when the names finally arrived Albert was pleased. The first was a batch of 400 names. Over the years as the dedication of the temple approached in 1888 Albert would eventually take more than 1400 ancestor names to the temple.

Albert was thrilled to learn of his heritage – especially now that he could recount it directly back to the Mayflower.

I can now count 11 direct ancestors on my family tree who were on the Mayflower. Among them are my 9th great-grandparents, John and Priscilla Alden – ancestors we share directly with Albert Smith.

Living in the relative isolated wilderness of Manti there is no doubting the need Albert had to pay someone to travel east to learn his genealogy in the late 19th century. He simply would not have had any way to locally do that research.

But he recognized right away the name of John Alden.

How could that be?

Perhaps it was through the work of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, a popular American poet of Albert’s time.

Longfellow is still known to many for his great works, including the touching story of the beloved hymn, I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day, based on his poem “Christmas Bells”. His poems sometimes told great stories, including Evangeline and The Song of Hiawatha.

Longfellow is also a direct descendent of John and Priscilla Alden. In fact, one of his most beloved works was based upon an old family story featuring the romance of John and Priscilla Alden. It is called The Courtship of Miles Standish, written in 1858.

Historians to this day debate whether the story told by Longfellow of his grandparents is fact or fiction. Another descendant of the John Alden, Timothy Alden, first told the story of the Pilgrim love triangle in his book American Epitaphs in 1814.

The story would become famous with Longfellow’s “epic poem” of the tale, a story he loved and struggled with for more than two years to write.

After it was published, Longfellow famously said of the story in 1858 “…it is always disagreeable when the glow of composition is over, to criticize what one has been in love with…”

In the poem, Plymouth’s military leader, Myles Standish, asks John Alden to court Priscilla Mullins on his behalf. This causes John to be torn between faithfulness to his “captain” and the longings of his own heart.

Of course, as the tale is skillfully woven, John and Priscilla fall in love and the dilemma reaches a climax as Priscilla famously mused, “Why don’t you speak for yourself, John?”

Longfellow’s attempt to balance a romanticized view of Puritan values and culture with an epic exaggeration of Standish’s heroism and exploits captured the imagination of American readers in the 19th century and made household names of John and Priscilla.

It is interesting to note the cultural impact the story would have on American history.

Longfellow’s poem came just a few years after the discovery of William Bradford’s written history of Plymouth Colony in 1854.

The poem was released just in advance of the Civil War, a time when holidays such as Christmas and Thanksgiving were just gaining a foothold in American cultural tradition as national observances.

Bradford’s history, coupled with Longfellow’s The Courtship of Miles Standish, advanced the recognition of Thanksgiving as a national holiday, although it had been celebrated in New England since the mid-1600s.

So popular was the poem in the 1860s, after Lincoln’s recognition of a national day of Thanksgiving, it became a fad of sorts to lay claim to pilgrim ancestry.

Northerners in particular — Yankees like Albert Smith — were thrilled to celebrate national history that was not centered in Virginia and as the nation recovered from the war their Victorian sensibilities were enamored with the Puritan ideals of moral rectitude, fair mindedness and hard work.

To claim an ancestor on the Mayflower somehow made one more American.

Albert Smith’s mother was an Alden – but that fact was never once mentioned by Albert as anything important until the 1880s – when it was perhaps more culturally relevant.

Whether the love story of John and Priscilla is true or not matters little now. Without them, without Longfellow, we have a little less known about America, about life as pilgrims and about all we celebrate at Thanksgiving.

I believe I will hold in reserve now the telling of this story – and the reading of The Courtship of Miles Standish – as a new Thanksgiving tradition in my home.

It is, after all, all about family.

Westover Pioneers

Plotting a Family History Tour

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We are quickly approaching our 2016 Family History tour in New England. For more than a year we have had this marked on the calendar to visit sites of Westover Heritage in New England.

One of the more enduring mysteries we are hoping to make progress on will be the lives of Amos and Ruth Westover, and their son, Alexander.

Amos Westover was caught between generations. His father, John Westover, was a mainstay in Sheffield, Massachusetts. Amos was one of several brothers, among the youngest, in fact. A few of his older brothers were loyalists. After the Revolution life got pretty rough for those loyal to the crown and a few of the Westover brothers took off for Canada, where the King was handing out land grants.

We know that by 1790 Amos had married Ruth, had several children, and then took off for Canada with his brothers to claim land as well. It paid off more than a decade later — in 1802 — when he was give 200 acres of land. The records show that Amos was torn for some reason about his Canadian homestead. He returned to Sheffield for a time but then went right back to Canada. Sometime after 1812 he left altogether and pioneered his way to Ohio.

In those years Amos and family spent some time in the Lake Champlain area of Vermont — perhaps close or in association with the Beal family. During these years — from approximately 1795 to 1805 — Amos and Ruth had a few more children, inclusive of son Alexander and daughter Olive. Where these children were born is in dispute. There is some evidence that maybe Olive was born in Canada. But a child or two may have been more in Vermont.

Around 1815 the Westovers and the Beals staked claims on the Ohio frontier — in a place called Rush Township. They had to know each other well because within ten years there Alexander Westover would marry Electa Beal — and his sister Olive Westover would marry Daniel Beal. Olive and Daniel stayed in Ohio, eventually burying his parents and taking over the family farm. Alexander and Electa would suffer from the breakup of their family due to Alexander’s untimely death in 1834.

So our tour this fall will include stops in Ohio — little Rush Township and area — where we hope to find graves and land records. Then we will press on to Sheffield — where we will explore John Westover’s home and the close environs of Simsbury, Connecticut and Windsor, Massachusetts in pursuit of Westovers and Griswolds and Cases and Mortons — then we’ll go up into Burlington, Vermont and even across the border into Sutton, Quebec, where the Westover name in Canada took root not from Amos but from his loyalist brothers.

Along the way on this winding trail we will divert to explore some not-so-ancient history of my mother’s side and find a few graves from my wife’s family. Of course, where we can visit family on the road we will take every opportunity to do so.

To see our rough path for this fall’s travel please click on the animated map below….

Brothers

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The years of our family history from 1714 to 1834 is something of an emotional journey for me.

I think the more we invest in discovering the lives of our ancestors the more they jump off the page and become real to us. Such is certainly true of Jonathan Westover, brother to Jonas Jr.

I have learned what a critical role he played in the early history of the family. To be honest, I had never considered him much before doing this research. His journey is part of a compelling story, a story marked by one generation after the other where Westover brothers left a mark and had a profound influence. Watch our latest video:

I had never considered Jonathan Westover because he was “just a brother” of my 9th great grandfather, Jonas Westover, Jr.

He’s a good example of the “cousins” initiative put forth by the Church on family history.

The Church is encouraging us to work on the brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles and cousins in our lines because our temple work is never truly done. We all tend to focus on the Mothers and the Fathers, and well we should. But these from whom we are not directly descended are important, too.

Our Jonathan Westover is a prime example of that.

For me this began in validating some dates — a common task in genealogical work. And I discovered something I had never considered before: I noticed that Hannah Westover, Abigail Westover and Jonas Westover Jr all died within a month of each other. Immediately it led me to question: what about the kids?

You do that don’t you? I do. In the dark of night I’ve had the conversation many times with my wife about what would become of our children if both of us suddenly died. It is horrific to contemplate and it DOES happen to some people. It happened to Jonas, Jr and Abigail.

That’s where I learned about Jonathan. I wanted to find out who took charge of the kids. That wasn’t a necessary question for the purposes of genealogy or temple work. I just wanted to know.

At first I was impressed to look at the sisters of Jonas Jr. It seemed logical to me that one of the aunts would take charge. But that search never really bore fruit.

Then I found the will of Abigail Westover and noticed that she had listed two of her own brothers and the brother of her husband, Jonas Jr, as executors. I decided those were the people I needed to look into.

I never had to look further than Jonathan. I started, as one usually does, with the hard data: when was he born, when did he die, where did he live, when did he marry, how many kids, etc.

I discovered that he was unmarried when Jonas Jr. died and that he himself didn’t marry until years later.

Curious about that, I started looking closer at dates and places. Then I searched for anything I could find about Jonathan in those places.

I found a gold mine about Jonathan in Sheffield, Massachusetts. And by discovering the story of that place I was able to put together the story of Jonathan Westover.

What a story it is! And what a service he performed for the family.

It is hard to me to think of him in terms any less than I feel for others here we have profiled. He was a great, great man and I am proud to be related to him. I’m glad I know this story.

It helps me to better consider my own actions as a man and as a brother. It inspires me to become better.

That’s the value of real family history.

These people are bearing their testimonies to us. They are sharing the lessons of their lives.

And we are better for it.

Who Raised John Westover?

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As we dig deeper into the history of our Westover family in the 18th century we can only come up with more questions than answers. Consider the long life of John Westover, son of Jonas, Jr. and Abigail Case Westover. John was the baby of the family — the last of five children to Jonas Jr. and Abigail that came into the world between 1702 and 1711.

Grandfather Jonas St. died in 1709. Then Grandma Hannah Westover died in early May of 1714. A few weeks later, mother Abigail died and finally, on June 3rd, Jonas Jr. died. Within a span of a month the Westover children lost grandmother and both parents. Was there a sickness?

The Westover children were ages 12, 11, 9, 5 — and our John was only 3. Who raised these orphan Westover children? And, more importantly, what happened to these grandchildren of patriarch Jonas Westover, who came from England?

We may never know the details of that saga. What we do know is that the Westover family experienced something between the years 1714 to 1734. In all likelihood the children were placed under the care of three uncles, all tied to the probate records we can find associated with Jonas, Jr. and Hannah. They were John Case, Jr. and Samuel Case, as well as Jonathan Westover — all of them being around the age 50 in 1714 and clearly the patriarchal leaders of their families who would have influence and authority given to them by the parents.

What became of those kids?

First born Abigail lived until 1755. She married in 1719 to a John Forbes, who was nearly a decade older. She would have been about 17. They had one son. It appears Abigail never left Simsbury.

First born son Nathaniel Westover, born in 1703, also died in 1755. But he died in Sheffield, Massachusetts after he married and had a very large family. Perhaps somewhere within his posterity we can find more clues about what happened in his childhood.

Next up is Sarah Westover, who was born around 1705 but died just a few years after her parents in 1718. She was quite young, so she didn’t marry. And her burial is recorded in Simsbury, which only means that the bulk of the Westovers had not yet moved into Massachusetts.

The next child is son Jonah Westover. He lived until 1768, buried with the other Westovers at Sheffield. He married Deborah Eno — that’s a big family name in Puritan New England — and they had a large family. The town of Egremont was formally organized in 1761 and Jonah Westover was chosen as a selectman of the town council.

His property is referenced many times in the probate records of other settlers as a boundary, so it appears he either had a central piece of real estate or own a substantial amount of land. Being older than our John by a few years you have to question whether or not he was the defacto head of the family of Westovers that had settled in Sheffield. If you recall from our last post that the pictured Westover Bacon Potts farm was originally built by John Westover in 1742 but was also known as the Jonah Westover House. Could they possibly have lived together with their large families?

That brings us to what we can find of our John Westover. The years of 1730-1735 — when John would have turned about 21 years or age or so — are telling in the record. By this point the Westovers are in Sheffield. Sheffield is recognized as being officially organized in 1734. According to History of Berkshire County Massachusetts settlers began arriving and developing lands around 1726.

In the “first division” — or the portion first settled — is a record of Jonathan Westover — meaning uncle to our John Westover and siblings, brother to Jonas, Jr. In the “second division” — or lots later developed — was John Westover (but no mention of Jonah). The “third division” appears to be set aside for future generations and town properties for ministers, schools and cemeteries. For the next couple of decades the town fought for recognition in the territory and annexed additional areas — such as Egremont — in later years. The Westover name appears throughout these records with John, Nathaniel, and Jonah often mentioned.

There is surprising detail that has survived of life in Sheffield during these years. Much of it has to do with religion and the debates from the differing nationalities that were settling the area. These broad histories give us brief clues into the lives and characters of the Westovers. In the early 1760s a church was formed — tied to the Church of England — and John Westover was chosen by the minister as clerk, which was some calling of distinction within the church. As such he could lead from the book of common prayers and was recognized in surviving letters as a “good and pious man”.

This is an important clue because it establishes a link of sorts with loyalties to the crown that the John Westover family was at least influenced by. As the American Revolution approached, as will be shown in John’s profile here later, it would become a house divided among his many sons and their choices just before and during the revolution would scatter them far and wide.

This really is a sweeping tale, every bit as compelling as the Westover migration from England a century before and the Westover pioneers a century later who would push in to the American West.

The Westover family, it appears, were constantly moved by deep religious conviction.

Westover Bacon Potts Farm

Adventures in Finding Colonial Westovers

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Tonight we added profiles for Gabriel Westover Jr, Jonas Westover, Sr, and Captain Jonas Westover Jr. What we posted is a summary of information we have been collecting for the past two years — which, admittedly, isn’t much.

Our efforts now turn to the lives of John and Rachel Westover and Amos and Ruth Westover, whose lives spanned the 18th century.

These colonial Westover families spread the family out significantly with descendants moving north into Canada and south to parts of the US East Coast and Midwest. Like every generation these Westovers were greatly influenced by the politics of the time and they have a story to tell. We hope to uncover it.

In our quest for information we stumbled on stuff we were not looking for. Including this little gem about a Stephen Westover, son of Moses Westover, who is a son of John Westover (and brother to our Amos Westover):

Stephen Westover, born in 1786, son of Moses Westover and his wife Elizabeth Holmes, was the second youngest in a family of eight boys and three girls. Moses Westover came from Sheffield, Mass., in 1796, first settling at Caldwell’s Manor, later moving to Sutton. Stephen Westover was a self-taught land surveyor, and practised his profession in Brome and Missisquoi Counties. His commission appointing him “Surveyor of Lands” was issued under date of March 9th, 1816. On December 9th, 1816 he married Dorinda, daughter of Jacob Ball, who built the first frame house in the County of Brome. They had two sons and three daughters: Elizabeth, born in 1817; Sophronia, in 1819; Olive, in 1821; Roswell, in 1823 and Stephen, in 1825. On Thursday, October 5, 1826, barely ten years after Westover married, he met a sudden death when he fell overboard from a ferry boat on the St. Lawrence River.

That information came from the Brome County Historical website and it popped up as a result of a Google search for information about Amos Westover and his activities in a neighboring county. The amazing thing about this is that I’ve done this search before — but this was a new result.

This is one of the realities of modern family history research: Google is your friend, and check it frequently.

Stephen is what we call a cousin. His work is important, as is all that we find. And we’ll get to him — eventually. It is nice to know where we can find more about him.

The real nugget of tonight’s searches came in the form of this photograph:

Westover Bacon Potts Farm

This house is on the National Historic Register and has been the register since 1990. Tonight is the first time I have seen it. This is the house that our John Westover built in 1774 when he moved to Sheffield, Massachusetts. It is largely the same as it was those many years ago and has only in recent decades even been upgraded with water and electricity.

It has two known names — the Westover-Bacon-Potts Farm — named after John Westover who built the house, a man named Bacon who purchased it from the family in 1790, and Potts who later acquired it. The other known name for this house is the Westover Jonah House (surprise, surprise).

Try Googling those names. You’ll find precious little. We’re digging to find more but for a place that is on the national register of historic places little more is actually known about the place. Even still, isn’t it cool to have some photographic connection to family from 1744?