NOTES ON THE GENEALOGY OF HENRY SYLVESTER NASH, 1854-1912 AND OF HIS WIFE, BESSIE KIEFLER CURTIS, 1859- COLLECTED BY THEIR SON, NORMAN BURDETT NASH, DURING THE YEARS 1925-1936, AND WRITTEN OUT IN MARCH, 1936. These notes are based chiefly on various family genealogies, and not on original research. The compiler cannot guarantee the accuracy of most of the details. The New England data are probably more accurate than the Virginia ones, as well as more complete. These notes were digitised in 2001 by Malcolm Kent, son of Bessie Fair, niece and adopted daughter of Norman Burdett Nash. Obvious typographical errors have been corrected, but spellings retained. Page numbers have been retained in order to match the text. -1- THOMAS NASH, born -- in neighborhood of Cranbrook, Kent, England. Emigrated to Connecticut in 1639 with a group which settled in Guilford; but he settled in New Haven. Name signed "Thomas Naish" on a shipboard compact of the Guilford group. Was a smith and keeper of the town muskets at New Haven. Died there May 12, 1658. MARGERY BAKER, his wife, whom he married in England, was from Hertfordshire, daughter of Nicholas and Mary Hodgetts Baker. Nicholas Baker was son of John and Margery Medistard Baker. Nicholas died 1632. Margery Baker Nash died in New Haven on February 11, 1656. Their children were Mary, John, Sarah, Joseph, Timothy; all grew to adult years. See: I. M. Calder, History of New Haven Colony (1934), pp. 72, 156. Private letter from I. M. Calder to N. B. Nash. Berry, Hertfordshire Families, p. 83. Nash Family Genealogy, by Sylvester Nash. Fifty Puritan Ancestors, by Elizabeth T. Nash, p. 3. According to Cussans, Hertfordshire, Volume II, part II, p. 144-45 (Harvard Library) , Nicholas and Mary Hodgetts had six children, the fifth being Margery, who married Thomas Nash of Bewdley, Worcestershire. But Professor Calder writes that the name Nash is local around Cranbrook, and that the Guilford group came from there. -2- TIMOTHY NASH2, born in England, presumably in neighborhood of Cranbrook, Kent, in 1626, emigrated to Connecticut with his parents in 1639, became freeman of New Haven in 1654; moved to Hartford, 1660, and thence by 1663 to new settlement of Hadley (Mass.) .Gunsmith, blacksmith and farmer. Lieutenant in militia, representative of Hadley in Mass. General Court (i.e., Legislature). Died at Hadley March 13, 1699, in 73rd year. REBEKAH, STONE, his wife, whom he married (1657?) at New Haven, was daughter of Rev. Samuel Stone (1602-1663). Born in Hertford, England, graduated from Emmanuel College, Cambridge University (the Puritan college) in 1624. Studied under Rev. Richard Blackerly, a non-conformist minister in Ashen, Kent. Became Lecturer of the church in Towcester, Northamptonshire. Was chosen by Thomas Hooker as his assistant in church to be formed by emigrants already in Mass., coming from Braintree, Essex. Hooker and Stone came to Boston in ship Griffin, arriving September 4, 1633; Stone brought his wife (name unknown) and three daughters, Rebecca, Mary and Sarah (dates of births unknown). One writer says that between 1627 and 1630 he had been curate at Stisted, near Braintree, where he became known to Hooker. Stone admitted freeman in Massachusetts in 1634, having settled at Newtowne (Cambridge). His house was on Boylston Street, east side, between Harvard Square and Mt. Auburn Street. He was Teacher of the church. The Newtowne people and church migrated to Hartford, Conn., in May, 1636. The name "Hartford" is said to have been given because it was Stone,s native town in England. Stone succeeded Hooker as Pastor of the church there at the death of the latter in 1647, and became one of the leading ministers in New England. Author of a number of tracts and a large treatise on theology, unpublished. Cotton Mather in his Magnalis tells much about his wit, rhetorical powers, strict Sabbatarianism and stricter ideas of church-discipline. A long controversy with his ruling elder in the church, William Goodwin, split the church and led to the moving of a group of the members to Hadley, whither went his daughter Rebecca and her husband, Timothy Nash. Stone went as chaplain with the troops sent to destroy the Pequots in 1637. A dispute having arisen as to the plan of operations, the problem was committed to him in prayer, and next morning he announced that it was the Lord's will they should break their instructions received on leaving Hartford, and adopt another plan, whose outcome was the massacring of the tribe. See the various contemporary accounts of the Pequot War. The list of his children is disputed. His wife "smoaked out her days in the darkness of melancholy", according to a letter from Hooker to Shepard, in 1640. He remarried in 1641 and had numerous children by this second wife, Elisabeth --, widow of one Allen of Boston. -2A- He was involved in the trial and hanging of Goody Greensmith and her husband, Nathaniel, for witchcraft in 1663 at Hartford. The case rested on the testimony of Anne Cole, an hysterical woman; but Goody Greensmith confessed to having dealings with the devil. Stone died in Hartford on July 20, 1663, leaving a considerable estate. His only son, Samuel, concerning whose health as an infant Stone wrote a letter to John Winthrop which is in the latter,s medical correspondence in the Boston Medical Library, became a drunkard and was drowned in a brook at Hartford in 1683. Rebecca Stone died in 1709. See: G. L. Walker, History of the First Church in Hartford, 1884. History of the Pequot War: Four Contemporary Accounts, Cleveland, 1897. Banks, Planters of the Commonwealth, pp. 105-6. Cotton Mather, Magnalia, Book III. Conn. Magazine, November, 1899. R. H. Potter, Hartford,s First Church, Hartford, 1932. Edward Johnson, Wonder-working Providence (1654), ed. of 1910. Sylvester Judd, History of Hadley. -3- JOHN NASH3, 1667-1743. Born at Hadley, Mass., August 21 1667, the sixth of 12 children of Timothy and Rebecca Nash; of the 12 at least 8 11ved to mature years. John became blacksmith and farmer in East Hadley, deacon of the church there. Lieutenant in militia, member of the General Court (Legislature) of Mass. seven times. Died October 7, 1743, at East Hadley. First wife, Hannah Porter, died a few months after the marriage in 1689. Second wife, Elizabeth Kellogg, married him on November 27 1691. She had 11 children, 8 sons and 3 daughters; 8 grew up. Timothy was the fifth child, third son. Elizabeth died in West Hartford, Conn., on July 4, 1750 in her 77th year, having been born October 9, 1673, in Hadley. Lieut. Joseph Kel1ogg, father of Elizabeth settled in Farmington, Conn., before 1651, when child of his wife Joannah -- was born there. Joined church there in 1653. Moved to Boston and bought a house from Peter Oliver on what is now Washington Street in 1659. Moved to Hadley in 1662. 9 children (3 daughters and 6 sons) by this first marriage, of whom 7 grew up. Wife died in 1666. Abigail Terry, his second wife, was married to him May 9, 1667, and bore 11 children, of whom 8 grew up. The fourth was Elizabeth, born in Hadley October 9, 1673; died as above; 8 sons and 3 daughters made up the 11. Stephen Terry, father of Abigail, was in Dorchester, Mass., in 1630; married there in 1635 a wife whose name is unknown, and before 1637 moved to Windsor, Conn. Wife died there June 5, 1647. A man of good standing, member of Captain John Mason's horse-troop. Moved to Hadley, Mass., after 1651, and died December 17, 16--. Had a son and three daughters; one of the daughters ki11ed by Indians. All four grew up. Abigail, the 4th child, born September 21, 1646, in Windsor, Conn.; married as above, death not dated, but she was still 1iving in 1715. See: Elizabeth T. Nash, Fifty Puritan Ancestors, New Haven, 1902, p. 26. Henry Stiles, Ancient Windsor. Nash Family. N. E. General Hist. Ry., 14:126. -4- TIMOTHY NASH4, born Hadley, Mass., November 13, 1699, died March 15, 1756, in Ellington Parish (later town of Ellington), Windsor, Conn. Blacksmith and farmer, moving to Long-Meadow, Mass., at his marriage on March 1, 1722, to Prudence Smith of Hadley. Kept a store and acted as magistrate at Long-Meadow. About 1748, moved to E11ington. Had 6 sons and 4 daughters, Ebenezer being the last child. 8 of the children grew up. Prudence Nash, being widowed, married Deacon Ichabod Hinckley, and died in Somers, Connecticut, on April 18, 1774. Her ancestry: NATHANIEL FOOTE, born in England c. 1593, died in Hartford, 1644. Married Elizabeth Deming in England 1615; she was born c. 1595, died July 28, 1683 in Hartford (?), having remarried to Thomas Welles (who became Governor of Conn.), and survived him also. Her brother John Deming was one of the original settlers at Wethersfield, a magistrate, and a patentee in the Connecticut charter. Nathaniel Foote was made freeman at Watertown, Mass., in 1633. One of the original Wethersfield settlers, 1636. His 7 children all born in England except perhaps Rebecca, who may have been born in Watertown c. 1634. Rebecca Foote, died at Hadley, April 6, 1701. Married Lieutenant Philip Smith of Wethersfield and Hadley, son of Samuel Smith; Philip Smith died January 10, 1685, at Hadley. Their son:- Deacon John Smith of Hadley, born December 18, 1661, died April 16, 1727. Married on November 29, 1683 to Joanna Kellogg (born 1664, died ---). She was a child of the first marriage of Joseph Ke~ogg, for whom see Page 3 above; she was born in Hadley. John and Joanna Smi th had 12 children, the 9th being Prudence, wife of Timothy Nash. See: Nash Family, p. 47. Nathaniel Goodw1n, Foote Family Genealogy, 1849. M.N.N. has Wells ancestress. Related to Thos. Welles? -5- EBENEZER NASH, born in Long-Meadow, Mass., January 20, 1744/5. His father dying in 1756, he was apprenticed to a tanner in Glastonbury , Conn. , but later gave up the trade and became a farmer. A member of the Connecticut Convention which ratified the U.S. Constitution, and active in early days of the Democratic Party. Said to have been a very able man, whose career was handicapped by lack of early opportunities. His son, Ebenezer, Jr. , having become an Episcopalian, he too left the Congregational Church in Ellington, and joined the Episcopal Church, becoming warden of the church at Warehouse Point, Conn. (See Page 6). On July 16, 1769, he married Susannah Hills, born February 17, 1749, in East Hartford, of North Bolton (later Vernon), Conn. They settled in Ellington. They had 13 children, of whom 7 sons and 4 daughters grew up. The 13th was the Rev. Norman Mash of the Episcopal Church, minister in Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. While minister at Swedesboro, N.J., he had a controversy with the Bishop of New Jersey, and widthdrew from the active ministry, living at Port Huron, Michigan; his elder twin brothers, Aaron and Zenas, having also settled in Michigan. Ebenezer Nash died in Ellington December 8, 1823; his wife February 18, 1834. Ancestry of Susannah Hills: THOMAS HILLS and Jane Scarborrow were married in Upminister, Essex, England, on October 16,1596; their child William was baptized there on December 27, 1608. In all probability he is the William Hills who, with his brother Thomas, came to Boston in 1632 in the ship William and Francis, which reached Boston June 5th, having sailed from London March 9th. They were servants of John Eliot, pastor of the church in Roxbury; Thomas, whom Eliot praises, died in his service, but of William he wri tes : "He married Phillice Lyman, daughter of Richard Lyman, he removed to Hartford on Connecticott, where he lived several years without giving such good satisfaction to the consciences of the saints." However that may be, he married well, for Phyllis Lyman, born at High Ongar, near Upminister, in 1611, was daughter of a successful immigrant to Mass. in 1631, who, with his daughter and new son-in-law, joined the emigrants to Hartford, and became the ancestor of the Lyman family of Northampton, Mass. It is, however, doubtful whether Benjamin Hills, the fourth child of William Hills, was the child of his first marriage to Phyllis Lyman, who died between 1640 and 1648, or of his second wife, name unknown, widow of Richard Risley. (He outlived her too, and married once more.) William Hills, will was probated in Hartford December 6,1683, so he must have died there shortly before that date. BENJAMIN HILLS, born at Hartford 16--, died there between 1726 and 1728. He married there on January 11, 1688, Mary Bronson, daughter of John and --- Bronson. SAMUEL HILLS, son of Benjamin, was born probably c. 1696; married Susannah --- whose fifth child was Susanna Hills, wife of Ebenezer Nash5. Samuel Hills, will was probated August 15,1777. See: W. S. Hills, Hills Family in America, 1906. Coleman, Lyman Genealogy . Records of Church in Roxbury , Mass . Banks, planters of the Commonwealth, p. 97. Nash Family, p. 79. -6- EBENEZER NASH, JR.6, eldest child of Ebenezer5, was born in Ellington, Conn., June 4, 1770. Studied for the Congregational ministry under his father's elder brother, Rev. Judah Nash, minister of the Congregational church at Montague, Mass., 1752-1805. But Ebenezer's brother, Sylvester, being too frail for a farmer and the family unable to educate two sons for professions, Sylvester was given a medical education, and Ebenezer's training given up. He taught school, however, in various places, including the neighborhood of Scoharie and Cherry Valley, N.Y. on September 19, 1790, he married Persis Bingham of Ellington, Conn., where later he had a farm. Later yet, he turned to the ancestral trade of gunsmith, and worked in the U.S. Arsenal in Springfield, which he left about 1812 to establish in Ellington his own screw-factory. After the peace of Ghent, 1814, English competition caused him to close this establishment, and he then set up a textile mill on a stream in Vernon, Conn., a little below Rockville. This he continued until his death from being thrown out of a sleigh which upset, dying from the injuries on June 28, 1822. In 1853, the Hockamum Mills owned the water-privilege. He had 5 sons and 7 daughters, of whom 10 grew to maturity. Francis Burdett Nash, born in Springfield, November 16, 1812, was the lOth child. Ebenezer preceded his father in joining the Episcopal Church, of which his sons Sylvester and Francis became ministers. Francis' son, Henry Sylvester Nash, used to tell the family tradition that one of the two Ebenezers (I suppose the elder one) disliked the hellfire preaching of his Congregational pastor, and the latter agreed to abstain from preaching it; but one Sunday he burst forth again, whereat Ebenezer rose from his front pew, shouted: "I don't believe a word of it", and, pounding with his cane, marched out of the church, across the town common and into the Episcopal Church. Ancestry of wife of Ebenezer, Jr., Persis Bingham: "Daughter of Deacon Ithamar Bingham of El1.ington, born May 22, 1772. She was descended from Thomas Bingham who was one of the proprietors of Norwich, Conn., in 1660, at only 18 years of age, and afterward settled in Windham, Ct.” (Nash Family, p. 139). See: Nash Family, p. 138 -6A Bingham Family Data, from Vol. 1 of book on that family by T. A. Bingham, Easton, Pa. (1921-30,3 vols.): Thomas Bingham, a famous cutler of Sheffield, England, was probably the father of THOMAS BINGHAM, who married Anna Stenton; their son THOMAS was baptized in Sheffield on June 5, 1642. He and his widowed mother settled at Saybrook, Conn., in 1659. He married Mary Rudd on December 12, 1666; she is supposed to be the daughter of Lieut. Jonathan Rudd and his wife Mary (Metca1f? ). Thomas Bingham and his wife lived at Norwich and at Windham, where he died January 16, 1729-30. He was known as Deacon Bingham. ABEL BINGHAM, their son, was born June 25, 1669, at Norwich, Conn., lived in Stratford and Windham, died at last place March 25, 1745. Member of General Court and Deacon. He married on May 16, l694, Elizabeth Odell (dates of her birth and death not given), daughter of John and his wife Mary Odell; the last named was daughter of Joseph Walker (son of Robert Walker of Boston) and his wife, Abigail Prudden, daughter of the Rev. Peter and his wife Joanna (Boyse) Prudden. Abel had 4 sons and, 5 daughters. JOHN BINGHAM, 1st son of these two above, was born February 9, 1700 , at Stratford, Conn. , lived there and at Windham and Ellington, dying at the last place on September 9, 1747. He married Mary MOulton of Wenham, Mass.*, who was born on June 10, 1696; date of this marriage was December 6, 1721. They had 4 sons and 4 daughters. The second son was:- ITHAMAR BINGHAM, born September 7, 1724, at Windham, Conn. (Probably) ; he died at Ellington on April 26, 1791. His wife was Sarah Kellogg (February 22, 1731 - April 6, 1805, dying at Ellington). They had 10 children,69 grew up. One was Persis Bingham, birth not dated, who married Ebenezer Nash6. Sarah Kellogg was daughter of Nathaniel Kellogg of Colchester, Conn., whose grandfather was Samuel Kellogg of Hatfie~d, Mass. (See Page 6B). Ithamar Bingham, like his grandfather and great-grandfather, was known as Deacon Bingham. * Jas. Moulton of Salem in 1637, moved to Wenham and left desc. (A. F. Moulton, Jn. and Wm Moulton 1893: Harv. Lib. -U.S. 42191.13). Probably Mary Moulton, wife of John Bingham, of this Wenham line? (Jan. 1938). -6B SARAH KELLOGG, wife of Ithamar Binngham, was daughter of Nathaniel Kellogg (born in Colchester, Conn., May 8, 1703; died April 1, 1762) and his wife ELIZABETH WILLIAMS (born February 13, 1705, daughter of Charles Williams). They married July 1, 1725; had 3 sons and 3 daughters, Sarah being the 3rd child and 2nd daughter. Nathaniel Kellogg was son of NATHANIEL KELLOGG (born Hatfield, Mass., 1671; died Colchester, Conn., August 22, 1757) and his wife Margaret ---, who died December 13, 1747, aged 71, hence born about 1676. They had 4 daughters and 4 sons, Nathaniel, Jr., being 3rd child and lst son. After his wife's death, Nathaniel, Sr., remarried in 1748 to the widow Priscilla W1l1iams of Colchester. Nathaniel, Sr., was son of:- SAMUEL KELLOGG, born probably before 1642, died at Hatfield January 17, 1711. He married on November 24, 1664, Sarah Day Gun, widow of Nathaniel Gunn of Hartford, and daughter of ROBERT DAY of Hartford, who came to Boston in June, 1634, on ship "Elizabeth", with his wife Mary---, aged 28. Samuel and Sarah Kellogg had 4 sons. She and the youngest, named Joseph, were killed by Indians on September 19, 1677. Samuel married Sarah Root of Westfield on March 20, 1679, and had 2 sons and 1 daughter by this marriage. (See Page 6D). The relationship of this Samuel Kellogg to Joseph Kellogg (See Page 6D) is not, known. See: N. E. Geneal-Hist. Register, 48:59--. ROBERT DAY, born c. 1604 in England, place not known; sailed from Ipswich in ship "Elizabeth", April, 1634, arriving in Boston in June. He was made freeman of Newtown May 6, 1635. Moved to Hartford that year or next, being one of the original proprietors; roll of proprietors of 1639 shows his was a small holding. He made his wil1, 'being sick and feeble, on May 20, 1648, and inventory of his property is dated October 14. He was 44 years old at death. Personal property of 142/13/6 listed as in chamber, small chamber, hall and sellar, showing one-storey house. His first wife, Mary ---, died soon after coming to New England. He married Editha (will says 'Edatha' ) Stebbins or Stebbing, sister of Deacon Edward Stebbins of Newtown (1633) and Hartford, founder of the Hartford and Springfield families of that name. Robert and Editha Day had two sons and two daughters. Sarah Day married (1) Nathaniel Gunn of Hartford, September, 1658, (2) Samuel Kellogg, above. Sarah's two brothers were the founders of the Day lines of Hartford and Springfield. After Robert Day's death in 1648, his widow, Editha Stebbins Day, married (2) Deacon John Maynard of Hartford, who soon died without issue; (3) Elizur Holyoke of Springfield in 1658. He was the grandfather of President Holyoke of Harvard, by his 1st marriage to Mary Elliot. Editha died in Springfield on October 24, 1688. See: Love's History of Colonial Hartford. Savage, Geneal. Dict. of N. E., 4:175. G. F. Dow, Holyoke Diaries, P. XII. -6C- Rev. PETER PRUDDEN, of Hertfordshire, England (perhaps son of Thos P. of King's Waldron), with a group of his people joined the Davenport group who sailed in ship "Hector" and another vessel for Boston in spring of 1637. In spring of 1638 with the Davenport group, Prudden and his people sailed from Boston to New Haven (Quinnipiac), and according to Milford tradition Prudden preached in the afternoon under the same oak that had shadowed Davenport in the morning of the first Sabbath after they landed. Later in 1638, he preached at Wethersfield, whence came some settlers to join his group when they settled Wepowaug or Milford in the autumn of 1639. Meanwhile, Prudden's people had been allotted lands in the southwest division of the original settling of New Haven; it was called the Hertfordshire quarter. On August 22, 1639, the same day as the New Haven church, Prudden's group formed a church of seven members, headed by Prudden, who proceeded to add to their numbers. When the church established itself at Milford, 44 of the 54 settlers were church- members and so entitled to vote under the New Haven principle of restricting to church members the right to become freeman. But in a short time 6 of the other 10 were admitted freeman, and this exception held up the admission of Milford into union with New Haven until 1643. Prudden,s allotment at Milford is shown on a plan based on data of 1646; it is on the east side of the stream, a large plot. In 1652, Thomas Langdon and his wife, who had already been in trouble with the court at New Haven, were convicted of stealing and killing three of Prudden's hogs. The man was fined 18 pounds as restitution to Prudden, 10 pounds payable to the court for selling powder to the Indians, and sentenced to be severely whipped for lying in connection with the crime, which he finally had confessed. His wife was fined 20 shillings for lying, but exempted from corporal punishment as having acted in fear of her husband. Prudden had no ministerial colleague in the Milford church, where he served till his death in July, 1656. He was buried in the graveyard which had been established in his own garden; no stone survives. JOANNA PRUDDEN, wife of Peter, was probably Joanna Boyse of Roxbury, married to Peter Prudden while he was in Boston. They had at least 2 children, the second being John, B.A. of Harvard, 1668. After Peter's death she married (2) Thomas Willet, and (3) Rev. John Bishop. Her will is dated in 1681. Their daughter, ABIGAIL PRUDDEN, on November 14, 1667, married Joseph WALKER, of Stratford, Conn., as to whose ancestry see below. Prudden,s estate inventory totalled 924/18/5 pounds and was dated July 26, 1656; inventory dated September 2, so his death was between those two dates. See: Hoadley, Records of the Golony of New Haven, p. 203 N H H S Papers, vol. 5, Pond's Milford Inscriptions, p. 1. N H H S Ancient Record Series, vol. 1, p. 295, and p. 125--. N. G. Pond, Story of the Memorial at Milford, 1889, pp. 5-7. E. E. Atwater, Hist. of Col. of N.H., 1881; index, Prudden. Sibley's Harvard Graduates, II, 258. I. M. Calder, New Haven Colony, pp. 47, 74, 80,1881; Calder says Prudden's company came from Hertfordshire, and that he may have been the son of Thomas Prudden of King's Walden. Peter went to Emmanuel College, Cambridge University . -6D ROBERT WALKER joined the church at Boston 1632, freeman 1634. A weaver by trade, testified in 1679 that he was about 72, i.e., born about 1609; and that about 1623 he lived with his father in Manchester in Lancashire. His wife, Sarah ---, bore him 9 sons and 4 daughters. He was a founder of the Old South Church. He died May 29, 1687, and his widow December 21, 1695. Sewa1l calls him “a very good man". JOSEPH WALKER, his 4th son and 6th child, moved to Stratford, Conn., where on November 14th, 1667, he married ABIGAIL PRODDEN. They had 1 son and 3 daughters. He died in 1687, inventory of his property dating November 19. The 4th child was MARY WALKER, born December 18, 1680. She married:- JOHN ODELL of Pequonnock, later of Stratford, ( John, Senior), who signed petitions from there to the General Court in 1678 and 1690. (His wife is probably the Mary Odill who was transferred to the new church in "Stratfield" in 1695 from the church in Fairfield???). Their daughter, Elizabeth Odell, married Abel Bingham (P. 6A). See: Samuel Orcutt's Hist. of Stratford and Bridgeport, Part I, pp. 470, 473,477,482; and Part II, p. 1259. Savage,s Geneal. Dictionary of New England, IV, 394, 396. ------- SAMUEL KELLOGG, of Hatfield, Mass. (p. 6B) : one of the smaller allotments on the west side of the Connecticut River opposite Hadley, in the original division of the lands at this new settlement in January 1660/61, was made to him (on Mill Lane, now the Smith Academy lot). In 1677, after successfully fighting off Indian attackers in each of the two previous years, the settlement was surprised on the morning of September 19th. Kellogg's buildings were burned, and his wife and infant son massacred; another child, Samuel, aged 3, was one of 17 captives; he was ransomed the following year. See: D. W. and R. F. Wells, History of Hatfield, 1910. -7- FRANCIS BURDETT NASH7, born in Springfield, Mass., November 16, 1812, and named after Sir Francis Burdett of England, an advocate of parliamentary and other reforms whom Francis' father greatly admired. On1y 9 years of age at his father's death, he had an irregular education. For a few years after 1822, he lived in St. Albans, Vermont, with his elder brother, Rev. Sylvester Nash, attending the Franklin County Grammar School. In 1829, he returned to Connecticut and for a short time studied medicine in Willington. 1830-1834, he lived with his uncle, the Rev. Norman Nash, at Swedesboro, N.J., and decided to study for the Episcopal ministry. In 1835, he entered the Theological Seminary of the Diocese of Kentucky at Lexngton, graduating in November, 1837, and being then ordained deacon by Bishop B. B. Smith of Kentucky. The Bishop's sister, Elizabeth Bosworth Smith, had married Sylvester Nash in 1831, being his second wife; no doubt this is why Francis went to Kentucky. Bishop Smith ordained him presbyter in 1839. His ministry was decidedly itinerant. From data in the Nash Family Genealogy and Diocesan reports and Church Annuals, I have the following list of his charges, not complete:- Paducah, Kentucky Paris, Kentucky Hopkinsville, Kentucky Coalsmouth, Kanawha Co., Virginia (1845- Newark, Ohio, from 1852 or 53 to 1855: Henry Sylvester Nash was born here December 23, 1854 (or Dec. 22). As rector of Trinity Church, Newark, Francis reports "A comfortable parsonage is being erected, and will, in all probability, be completed before winter", 1853. Transferred to Diocese of Illinois, 1855; at Providence, Ill., in 1858. Maysville, Kentucky, 1859-1861. Helena, Kentucky, 1862. A Northern sympathizer with a Southern congregation, he had to gi ve up his church, and teach school in Illinois (H. S. N.'s recollection). Tiskilwa, Illinois, St. Jude's Church, 1864-1871. Geneseo, Illinois, 1872-73. Falls City, Nebraska, 187h-76. Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, 1877. Later charges not determined. On August 20, 1840, he married Elizabeth Anne Maury, daughter of Colonel Matthew Maury of Bath County, Kentucky .They had 10 children (4 daughters and 5 sons, one infant who died at birth, whose sex I do not know) .Henry Sylvester was the 8th child; 10th was born in 1864. For ancestry of Elizabeth Anne Maury, see pp. 10-11. According to Living Church Annual for 1890, Rev. Francis B. Nash was living in Tintah, Minn., as non-parochial clergyman; I have not ascertained when he retired from the active ministry. According to same Annual for 1891, he died on October 5, 1890, (in his 79th year). See: Nash Family, p. 220, with incomplete list of children. -8 - HENRY SYLVESTER NASH8, born at Newark, Ohio, December 22 (family tradition) or 23 (Harvard Class of 1878, Report No. VII, p. 39), 1854. Eighth child of Rev. Francis Burdett and Elizabeth Maury Nash. Had irregular schooling on account of his father's numerous moves; entered Sophomore class at Harvard College in September, 1875, having prepared himself the previous summer at Rouses Point, New York, at the home of his father's sister, Nancy Miranda (Nash) Chapman, for the examinations for entrance into the Sophomore class. He was already headed for the Episcopal ministry, and while an undergraduate at Harvard 1ived in Lawrence Hall, at the Episcopal Theological School. Before finishing his course at E. T. S., he taught for one year at DeVeaux College, near Niagara Falls, N.Y.; this was a Church boarding-school. Graduating from E. T. S. in 1881, he was ordained and served as Assistant at Christ Church, Waltham, and in charge of Ascension Mission in Waltham. In 1882, he became Instructor at the E. T. S. and Professor the following year. On June 26, 1883, he married Bessie Kiefler Curtis at Waltham, Mass. For her ancestry, see p. 9 below. Their children:- William Louis Nash 9, born Waltham, Mass., September 2,1884; died Phoenix, Arizona, February 15, 1923. Henry Sylvester, died at birth, December 7, 1885. Henry Fontaine, born Cambridge, Mass., October 1886; died Lake George, New York, November 2, 1915. Norman Burdett, born Bangor, Maine, June 5, 1888. (The author of these notes) Bessie, died at birth, October --,1890. Isabel Maury, born Cambridge, Mass., January 4, 1892; died Fall River, Mass., February 27, 1925. Ruth Sylvester, born Cambridge, Mass., July 26,1894. Paul Curtis, born Waltham, :Mass., July 29, 1903. Henry Sylvester Nash died at Cambridge, Mass., November 6, 1912, in his 58th year. -9- BESSIE KIEFLER CURTIS, (Note from Bessie Kent (Fair); My maternal grandmother, after whom I was named born at Halifax, Nova Scotia, November 25, 1859, with her twin sister Rose. She was one of eight children, including a later pair of twin boys, who died at birth. Her father, William Curtis of Halifax, was a sea-captain, commanding a packet to the West Indies which was missing at sea in 1866 or 1867. She knows nothing of his ancestry, but Rev. John D. Hull of Haverhill, Mass., himself a Nova Scotian, informs me that the Curtis family of Halifax was a Loyalist family from near Hartford, Conn. I have never looked into this Her mother was Bessie Kiefler, daughter of Charles Kiefler and his wife --- McDougall. Whether Charles Kiefler belonged to one of the German families that settled in Nova Scotia, I do not know; but his grand-daughter Bessie believes him to be of German descent. Bessie Curtis had two older brothers, George and William, and one older sister, Mary. Beside her twin sister Rose, there was a younger brother, Joseph, and the twins mentioned above. After her father's loss at sea, her mother moved to New York and kept a boarding-house on 14th Street, later moving to Chicago, where she died. Bessie and Joseph were left at Halifax in care of their mother's younger sister, Isabel (Mrs. George Drillio). After Mr. Drillio's failure in business, caused by a partner's defalcation, he died; Mrs. Drillio moved to Charlestown, Mass., then to Waltham, where Bessie met and married Henry S. Nash. Mrs. Drillio died in Waltham, between 1909 and 1912. Information from Bessie Curtis Nash and Rev. John D. Hull. -10- Ancestry of Elizabeth Anne Maury, mother of Henry Sylvester Nash8. ----- Early data for Fontaines and Maurys from James Maury: Memoirs of a Huguenot Family, N. Y., 1853; and DuBellet, Prominent Virginia Families, vol. 4; also, French edition of the Memoirs, Toulouse, 1900. JACQUES DE LA FONTAINE 1 , father of:- JEAN DE LA FONTAINE2, born about 1500 in the Province of Maine, entered the royal household service of Francis I, and continued therein under Henry II, Francis II, and the first two years of Charles IX, i.e., until 1562. He had become a Protestant, as had his father, about 1535. Retired “to his paternal estates in Maine", he was killed for being a Protestant in 1563, his wife being murdered at the same time. Two sons fled to La Rochelle, the older being:- JACQUES FONTAINE 3 (who dropped the “De La”) , born about 1549. A shoemaker took him in, and taught him his trade, but later he went into commerce, and prospered. He married ---, and had two daughters, then a son, Jacques. He had three wives, the last of whom tried to poison him. She was condemned to be hung, but Henry IV coming to La Rochelle, he was asked to pardon her. He demanded to see her attempted victim, and when Jacques, Sr., appeared, the king cried out: “Let her be hung, let her be hung; ventre saint gris, he is the handsomest man in my kingdom!” Jacques, Sr., died about 1633, at the age of 83 or thereabouts. JACQUES FONTAINE, Jr4, born in 1603 (at La Rochelle?), was educated by Jacques Merlin, pastor at La Rochelle; became tutor of one of the family of the Comtesse de Royan, and studied at the Protestant college at Saumur. Travelled with his charge on the Continent and to London, where he met and became engaged to --- Thompson, of a good family but poor. Returning to France, he became pastor at Vaux and Royan in Saintonge, living in the former. He married Miss Thompson after a year, in 1628; she died in 164O, leaving 7 children. He remarried in 1541, his second wife being Marie Chaillou of Rue-au-Roy, near Pons in Saintonge; she was born about 1615, the daughter of a Protestant, --- Chaillou, prosperous father of 7 children with estates at Pons and Rue-au-Roy. She had five children who grew to maturity, and one or more others. Her husband died in 1666, being 63 years old. According to his son Jacques, he was a remarkable pastor and preacher. Till the government pulled down the church at Royan, he had two services each Sunday. He lived in the country, and was a great gardener; he died of a stroke after working in his garden. The last child of the second marriage was:- JACQUES FONTAINE 5, born near Vaux April 7, 1658. By the carelessness of his nurse, his leg was broken making him lame for life. His memoirs tell in detail the story of his adventurous life. Educated as a boy by school-teaching relatives, then by another and better teacher, he went to the college at Guienne, and became Master of Arts at 22 in 1680. His mother died soon after and, as his brothers and sisters, much older, were settled elsewhere, in the division of the estate the property near Vaux fell to him. He studied theology with his brother-in-law, M. Forestier, at Saint-Mesme in Anguomois, till the church was destroyed in 1682, and its pastor - 11 - imprisoned. Retiring to his place near Vaux, and conducting services there after the church at Vaux (of which his older brother Pierre was pastor) was closed, he himself was arrested and taken to Saintes in April, l684, being imprisoned there and at Pons. Tried and condemned for illegal ministry, he appealed and the verdict was reversed by the Parliament of Guyenne. Released, he attended a conference of ministers at Coses and urged resistance by force to the persecutions, but was not heeded. The dragoons were sent to be quartered on the Protestants , and outrages began. He fled, and was a refugee till the revocation of the Edict of Nantes in October, 1685, made Protestantism illegal. He had become engaged to Anne Elizabeth Boursiquot, daughter of --- Boursiquot and Guilliot, his wife. They fled to England after the Revocation, narrowly escaping capture, landing at Appledore near Barnstaple on December 1, 1685. They were married in the parish church at Barnstaple, February 8, 1686. He taught French, kept a shop, and traded, but objecting to episcopacy decided not to join the established church. He was ordained by a non-conformist (Presbyterian) synod at Taunton, where he had settled; this on June 10, 1688. At Taunton, he prospered by trade, shopkeeping and manufacture of textiles, while doing some preaching and teaching; but in the political disorders of 1688-89 he suspended all business, and continued teaching only. In 1690, he resumed textile-making, but in 1694 went to Ireland to see if he could not get a post to minister to Huguenot refugees. A group at Cork wanting him, he moved there in December with his wife, eldest child, Marie Anne (born at Taunton April 12, 1690), and five sons. At Cork he did well at textile-manufacturing, and preached gratis. He was voted the freedom of the Borough. After three years, dissension in his congregation led to his resigning, his business fell off, and he moved to Bear Haven on Bantry Bay in 1699 to farm and fish. He was unsuccessful, and also became unpopular among his Irish neighbors, as he was Justice of the Peace and tried to break up their dealings with French smugglers and privateers. They got a French vessel to attack his farm on June 1, 1704, but he defeated the attackers, his stone house being too strong for their cannon-shots or their muskets. He was granted a pension in 1705 as a reward, and to enable him to maintain defenses in the future . On october 8, 1708, another privateer attacked his house, and made a breach, wounding him and capturing him. On payment of money he was released, his son, Pierre, being held for further payment, but released by the French government when the ship got to Brest and the English government complained. The latter also compensated Fontaine. He then moved to Dublin, taking a house on St. Stephen's Green, where he conducted a successful boarding and day school. His son Jean got an Army commission in 1710, and served in Spain, but being without a post, in 1714 he went to Virginia, where he was befriended by Governor Spotswood and others. His father built a 70-ton vessel at Bear Haven for trade with Virginia; she made several unprofitable voyages, and was wrecked in 1719. Meanwhile Pierre, ordained in the Church of England and married, moved to Virginia and took Roanoke Parish (1717). Jacques, also married, migrated in the same year and settled on a plantation bought by Jean in King William County. Jean returned to Dublin in 1719, and in 1720 settled as a watchmaker in London. Another brother, Francois, having turned from the law to the ministry, took Anglican orders and married, and came to Virginia in 1721, taking a church in King William County. -12 - The daughter Marie Anne6 on October 20, 1716 married a Huguenot refugee, a Gascon merchant. in Dublin, Matthieu Maury of Castelmoron, Gascogne. In February, 1717, he started for Virginia, selected a small plantation on Jean's land and returned for his wife and a son, Jacques, born in Dublin that year. Later children were Marie (Molly) and Abraham. Matthieu Maury died in 1752, and his wife December 30 or 31, 1755. Her father, Jacques Fontaine, lost his wife by death in 1721, and at the close of his memoirs reports himself as in failing health, June, 1722. I do not have the date of his death. JAMES (Jacques) MAURY7, born in Dublin, 1717, April 8th, migrated as infant to Virginia, became an Anglican clergyman; on November ll, 1743, he married Mary Walker, born November 22, 1724, in Virginia. For her ancestry, see next page. They had 12 children, the eldest being Matthew, born September 10, 1744, died May 6, 1808; also a clergyman of the Church of England. For him, see below. James was ordained in London, 1742, and in 1754, his uncle, the Rev. Pierre Fontaine reports him at a parish in the mountains, and concerned in the Ohio Company , which is locating settlers on a grant beyond the mountains, the leader of the Company being James' wife,s uncle, Colonel Walker (for whom see p. 13). James, in 1754, has 3 sons, Matthew, James and Walker; and 2 daughters, Anne and Mary. James writes in 1755 that he lives "about two miles to the north-east of Walker's under the South West Mountains in Louisa, close by one of the head springs of the main northern branch of Pamunkey, which runs through my grounds". He heads his letter "Fredericksville Parish, Louisa County". He is said in DuBellet to have been chaplain with George WIashington's troops in the unsuccessful expedition against Fort Duquesne, 1754. He carried on a school as well as a church, and Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Munroe were pupils there (see Randall's Jefferson, vol. I, chap. 1). In 1763, he brought the "Parson's cause" to collect back salary, the act of the Legislature permitting payment below the customary rate in tobacco having been annulled by the British government. Patrick Henry made a speech to the jury which made him famous, and resulted in a verdict of a farthing's damages. The speech included an attack on the King, and was a landmark in the progress of disaffection in Virginia. James Maury died June 9, 1769. His wife died March 20, 1798. MATTHEW MAURY8, 1744-1808, studied at William and Mary College, was ordained in England 1769, succeeded his father, and though receiving no salary after 1777, was minister till his death, also continuing the school. He married c. 1773 Elizabeth Walker, a kinswoman of his mother,s. For her ancestry see next page. She was born 1753, died ---- Their son:- MATTHEW MAURY9 , 17-- to 18--, married Susan Peachy Fry, for whose ancestry see p. 14. Their daughter, Elizabeth Anne Maury, married Francis Burdett Nash in 1840. The Nash Family Genealogy refers to "Colonel M. MIaury of Bath County, Ky." - 13 - The Wa1ker genealogy is rather uncertain, but one Thomas Walker, in Virginia about 1650, may have been the grandfather of the Thomas Walker who in 1707 married Susannah Peachy. The earlier Thomas 1ived in Gloucester County, and in 1662 was member of the Legislature. The later Thomas Walker was visited at his place on the Mattapony River by Jean Fontaine, who next day went on to King and Queen Court House (Huguenot Family, 1853 ed., p. 270). This was in June, 1715. Sons or this Thomas and Susannah Walker were James Walker (whose wife was perhaps Anne Randolph, and whose daughter Mary was probably the Mary Walker who married Rev. James Maury. This Mary Walker was born November 24, 1724, married November 11, 1743, and died March 20, 1798) and Thomas Walker, 1715-1794. He was born in King and Queen County, January 25, 1715; was educated at William and Mary College, became a doctor, and in 1741 married Mildred (Thornton) Merriwether, whose lands near Charlottesville, Va., came through her remarriage to Dr. Thomas Walker. It was formerly thought that she was a daughter of Francis, John or Reuben Thornton, three brothers who married Frances, Mildred and Elizabeth Gregory. The Thornton brothers were sons of Francis and Mary (Taliaferro) Thornton; and the Gregory sisters were daughters of Roger Gregory and his wife, Mildred Washington, who was George Washington's aunt. Thus, through the marriage of Mildred Thornton Merriwether to Thomas Walker, Washington blood entered the line. But recent investigators have shown that the Thornton-Gregory marriages cannot be the origin of Mildred Thornton Meriwether Walker. She is rather the sister of the three Thornton brothers, born March 19, 1721, married and widowed at 20 years of age, and remarried to Dr. Thomas Walker. They had 12 children, 4 sons and 8 daughters, of whom 11 married and 9 left issue. The third child, Susan, born December 14, 1746, and married in June, 1764, to Henry Fry (1738-1823), had a son, Henry Fry , who married Mildred Maury , daughter of Matthew Maury8.The 6th child, Elizabeth, was born August 1, 1753, and about 1773 married Matthew Maury, the elder (8th generation), bearing him 9 children, including the Mildred just mentioned, and Matthew Maury9. After the death of his first wife, Dr. Thomas Walker married about 1781 her niece, Elizabeth Thornton, daughter of Francis and Frances (Gregory) Thornton. She did have ', Washington blood, and George Washington writes of her as "my cousin Thornton"; but she had no children. Dr. Thomas Walker built Castle Hill in 1765 on land formerly belonging to Nicholas Meriwether, near Charlottesville, still standing and owned by Amelie Rives, Princess Troubetzkoy, a descendant, in 1931. He was a great land speculator, active in the Chio Co .and the Loyal Land Co.; and in 1750 led an exploring expedition through Cumberland Gap into Kentucky. Built a cabin and “Walker's Settlement" appears in a number of maps soon after; but no real-settlement at that time. In 1755 he was Major and Commissary in the Virginia troops with Braddock. Washington complains in a letter of November 28, 1755, of his disobedience, and he later resigned. But they continued friends, and in 1758 he was again in the Commissary Department under Washington. In 1775 he was in the House of Burgesses, and on the 2nd committee of safety. He died at Castle Hill, November 9, 1794. He had "Walker's Church" on his property (now Grace Church, Cismont, Va.), the ministers (being James Maury, husband of his Niece, Mary Walker Maury, and their son, Matthew Maury, husband of Dr. Walker's daughter, Elizabeth. Dr. Thomas Walker was guardian of Thomas Jefferson. See: Page Family in Virginia, 1883; G. L. Rives, Genealogical Notes (privately printed N.Y., 1914~ copy in N.Y. Library); G. B. Goode, Virginia Cousins (in Boston Library); W. B. McGroarty 'Wives of Dr. Thos. Walker' in Va. Mag. of Hist., July, 1934. - 14 - Ancestry of Susan Peachy Fry, wife of Matthew Maury9, the younger:- Paul Micou of Virginia, wife unknown, had a daughter, Mary Micou, who married (1) --- Hill; (2) when widowed, Joshua Fry, born in Crewkerne, Somersetshire c. 1700, the son of Joseph Fry. Studied at Wadham College, Oxford, in 1718; came to Virginia 1720 or before. Vestryman and magistrate in Essex County; teacher at grammar school at William and Mary, then professor of natural philosophy and mathamatics in 1731. Later went to back settlements to establish his family. Was near Charlottesville in 1744. 1745 became first presiding justice in newly formed Albermarle County, where he held many offices. Frequently in House of Burgesses, County Lieutenant and surveyor 1745. In 1745 he and Peter Jefferson ran part of the line between Virginia and North Carolina, and in 1751 they published a “Map of the Inhabited Parts of Va.". 1752 he negotiated a treaty at Logstown with the Six Nations. 1754 commanded the militia against the French" dying at Wills Creek, Cumber1and, Maryland, on May 31, 1754, and being succeeded in command by his second, George Washington. See Dict. of Amer. Biog., VII, p. 48. Henry Fry, his son, in 1764 married Susan Walker, daughter of Dr. Thos. Walker (see p. 13). Henry Fry born 1738, died 1823. Reuben Fry, their son, born 1766, died 1805, married Anne Clayton Slaughter in 1788. Their daughter, Susan Peachy Fry, married Matthew Maury9, the younger (see p. 12). Anne Clayton Slaughter was of following descent:- John Clayton, 1665-1737, was probably father of Samuel Clayton, who married Elizabeth Pendleton daughter of Philip Pendleton. Their son, Philip Clayton, married Anne Coleman. Their son, Samuel Clayton, married Anne Coleman, his mother's brother's daughter. Their son, Philip Clayton, was father of Susan Clayton. She married James Slaughter; their child was Anne Clayton Slaughter. James Slaughter was of following descent:- Robert Slaughter married Frances Anne Jones. Their son, Robert Slaughter, in 1723(?) married Mary Smith, daughter of Augustine Smith. Their son was James Slaughter, husband of Susan Clayton and father of Anne Clayton Slaughter. See: Va. Hist. Soc. Collections, New Series, vol. V, p. 133. Slaughter, Joshua Fry. Dict. Amer. Biog., vol. VII, p. 48.