Discovering America - the Earliest Settlers and Their Stories
These next few pages are selected stories and people that I have found when preparing my family history through DNA and document research, and by document research I mean lots of researching and reading. Professionally I have worked throughout my life as a market researcher, analyst and writer and am now semi-retired. This journey for us took over 4 years to put together. I have learned when retelling what I have learned based on the lives and stories of those who came into America from England in the 1600s that absolutely no one knows any of these things except for some details about the Mayflower. It's time we all became better acquainted with our history in America and if possible to learn if you too are a descendant of those who first set foot in America. I am hoping that everyone can build their family history as it lets you realize you are part of this great nation and perhaps its very beginning, much like we did. Ultimately it is empowering.
The earliest settlers in my family arrived in Cape Cod or Boston, Massachusetts either as part of the first wave of migration from 1620 to 1630 (Mayflower, Fortune, Anne, Little James) or from the fleet of 12 boats sent by Winthrop that set sail in the early 1630s. These are the early white Settlers who came in from England and most were looking for a new life and new opportunities or were escaping religious persecution in England as they did not agree with the Church of England where the populace had to sign pledges that they agreed the King was the head of the Church as well as the State. Prof Gates from Harvard calls these settlers the "Rich White Guys" as about everyone had at least a middle class if not higher status, including the Puritans. Many or most were also well-educated. These were the English. We will start with the Mayflower.
From the Carr Family Bible:
Notes for WILLIAM CARR: They came to America in the fall of 1621, in the ship Fortune, Capt. Roger Williams, with thirty-five passengers on board. They landed at Plymouth, Nov. 7, 1621. They stayed the following winter in Plymouth, and on June 1, 1622, they started in a south-westerly direction through the trackless wilderness with an Indian for a guide, and after a journey on foot of forty-eight days, they located a home, July 18, 1622, where the town of Bristol, R. I., was afterward built. The town was laid out and named in 1636, by Roger Williams. William Carr died in Bristol, June 4, 1672, and his wife Susan died in the same place, May 3, 1671.
Notes for SUSAN ROTHCHILD CARR: There is an old bible which has come down to the present generation in the line of William Carr, which is a rare old treasure. It was printed in London in 1585. On the first blank page of this ancient book, is written in a woman's hand the following valuable record: "My maiden name was Susan Rothchild. I was born in Devonshire, Eng., in the year of our Lord, A. D. 1598, April 30. I married William Carr, of London, May 16, 1619. He was born in 1597, June 17. Husband says he had a brother George Carr, who went to America in 1620. My husband has a brother Benjamin Carr, he was born Aug. 18, 1592. I am acquainted with him and his family. He has four sons, Robert Carr, born Oct. 4, 1614; Caleb Carr, born Dec. 9, 1616; Richard Carr, born Jan. 5, 1621; Andrew Carr, born Dec. 5, 1622. My son George Carr was born March 12, 1620. My husband had a brother James Carr. He ran away to sea when a boy and we never heard from him." The following extract of historical interest, is taken from Mrs. William Carr's diary which is still preserved with the records of the family: "It was a summer day in 1621, as I stood upon our ship's deck beside my husband with my infant son closely folded to my breast, while our noble captain, Roger Williams, stood by our side. I took a last view forever of my native isle, and forever bid it adieu, and all the scenes of my childhood home. My heart ached while bitter tears blinded my eyes. Never shall I forget the scenes of that day, as we took a last farewell of our friends with many promises that they would soon join us in America." "Then the order was given by our captain to cast off our moorings, and our ship stood out in the Thames.
After all sails were spread we took our course down the river. Each spot along its banks was dear to my soul, and while I was sad, the passengers, there being thirty-five, were singing and making merry that they were going to America. I could not join them for my heart was very sad."
"We had a pleasant sail down the Thames. Still I gazed upon my native isle with tearful eyes, and watched it when far out at sea, until the last receding mountain vanished from my view. Our voyage was very pleasant for twenty days out to sea, and then we encountered a storm which lasted all the afternoon and following night. The weather was pleasant the rest of the way, and on the 6th day of November 1621, the anchor was cast at dark some way out at sea for fear of unseen rocks. Next morning the boats were lowered and we landed, but what was my surprise! Lucinda, George Carr's wife, had died early in the spring before. My husband and George his brother and myself went to view her resting place. There with tearful eyes I viewed the last resting place of poor Lucinda Devenport, whom I had known in England. She had died in a foreign land of privation and cold and was buried side by side with many others who had shared the same fate. My heart sank within me to think that I should never see Lucinda again. I had anticipated many happy hours with her, but my youthful hopes were forever blasted. We lived with brother George through the winter, living mostly on what game we caught. It was a cold, tedious winter with deep snow. Game was plenty such as deer and moose. On June 1, 1622, husband started south-west for a warmer climate, with a pocket compass and an Indian guide. Brother George went a two days' journey with us, and then returned home. I carried my son George in my arms and on my back through a dense forest settled only with wild beasts and Indians, but we met with few of the former and none of the latter. After being forty-eight days on our journey, July 18, husband concluded to stop and build a log cabin and to settle for life. In four days, husband, the Indian and myself, finished our log cabin, covering it with poles and peeled bark. My journey through the forest and the hard labor I had done in helping build our cabin, had its effect on me, I felt nearly worn out.
“I had left my rich parents and my only brother Robert in England and had faced the storms and perils of the ocean with my noble companion and had traveled with him forty-eight days through the forest. To my companion I had given my early love and pledged my hand for life. He was ever kind to me. We both belonged to the society of Friends. Before leaving England, father gave me œ100 in gold coin, my brother gave me two doubloons in gold. This gold coin I sewed into the wadding of my petticoat. Mother gave me her gold diamond ring which cost œ16. She took her gold watch from her pocket and gave it to me. It cost œ25. She also gave me her gold locket and the gold chain that she wore with her watch and bade me keep them to remember her by. The locket cost œ10, and I lost it in my journey through the wilderness in coming here, but it was found by an Indian hunter in 1625 and returned to me. I had many happy days hunting deer with husband, as there was plenty of them in the forest, but I often thought of home and the dear ones there.
"Mr. William Codle joined us in 1628, with his wife, son and daughter from England. They belonged to the Society of Friends (Quakers). In 1635, Robert and Caleb Carr, husband's brother Benjamin Carr's two sons, were sent over from London to live with their uncle William, my husband. We had fine times hunting with the Indians, they were very friendly to us. Our bedding and clothing were nearly all skins and furs like the Indians, but in all these years I was mindful to educate my son George, although we were in a nameless wilderness.
In 1636 Capt. Roger Williams, who had abandoned the sea, moved from Salem, bringing with him a colony of Friends, and settled with us, and set up a school free for all, young and old. The same year he bounded the state and called it Rhode Island and named our place Bristol. He also surveyed and laid out towns and gave them names. A meeting was held at our cabin and we offered up our humble thanks to God, that we had met on this side of the ocean in a free land, beyond the persecution of Great Britain. How my heart thanked God that our noble captain who brought us safely across the ocean, had come to live with us, and preach and teach us to love God and to keep his commandments." THE CARR FAMILY RECORDS, pp. 9-12
John Smalley
(1613-1694)
from Devon, England to Plymouth, MA to Eastham, MA to Piscataway, New Jersey
John Smalley came over on the William & Francis, a ship of Winthrop, in 1632 when he was 19 years of age. Accompanying John was Edward Winslow who had already arrived in 1620 on the Mayflower who had made a return trip to London and then back again to America. John Smalley was from Devonshire, England. We don't have a picture of John nor why he decided to go to America but he had an interesting time of it. He did very well.
In the beginning John lived in Plymouth, Massachusetts. There he met and married Anne Walden who was the daughter of Ralph Walden II who had arrived earlier on the Anne, the third ship to arrive. John and Anne had six children. As there were so few early settlers here in America, it can go without saying that at least one of his kids married someone who took the Mayflower over or married a descendant from the Mayflower families. In John's case his great grandson Andrew married a Sarah FitzRandolph who was a descendant of Ed and Samuel Fuller, both passengers on the Mayflower. As we descend from John Smalley's male line, we too are descendants of the Mayflower, along with millions of other Americans alive today.
John Smalley did well in Plymouth but as he was about to turn 40 he was intent on opening a tavern and making his religion Baptist or Quaker. Well the Pilgrims were not happy at all to hear this so John waved goodbye to them and Plymouth and founded, along with five others, the town of Eastham, Massachusetts, which was further down the place in Cape Cod where the Mayflower first set their anchor. To the right is a plaque with John's name as well as five other men. From there he learned most likely through John Martin (the father of Lydia Martin who married his son John Smalley, Jr.) that they would receive 40,000 acres in New Jersey by the Raritan River. They called the place Piscataway in memory of the Piscatawa River in New Hampshire where John Martin had lived. John Smalley's home was surrounded by deep woods and thousands of Indians. It became the business of John Smalley to sell off much of this acreage to interested new settlers, which in turn made John quite wealthy. The Smalleys have been called one of New Jersey's premier families. ###
As mentioned above, it was a small world in those days and another ancestor to make mention of here is Rev John Lathrop. Rev John was the father of Jane Lathrop who married Samuel Fuller who arrived on the Mayflower. Both Jane and her father arrived on the Griffin, another ship of John Winthrop's fleet. Rev John Lathrop had no choice but to find himself on the Griffin as he was told he either had left England immediately or face many more years in prison. He chose the Griffin.
Rev John Lathrop was a man who was imprisoned by England due to his unwillingness to sign a document that was a pledge that the King was the head of the church, the Church of England. Once he became familiar with the teachings of the Church of England he rejected this theology and would discuss his thinking with several others in his community which landed him and his followers in prison for a least a time. While the others were eventually released, Rev Lathrop was made to stay for another several years imprisoned.
The People
John Smalley
to Plymouth to Eastham, MA to Piscataway, New Jersey
Reverend John Lathrop
Jan Sebring
to Brooklyn and New Jersey
Rev Polhemus to Brazil to Brooklyn
Capt James Sandys/
Sands to Block Island, Rhode Island
The People
Hans Van Nortstrand to Manhattan to Ultrecht, New York
John Clarke
to Boston to Newport, Rhode Island
Anne Marbury Hutchinson to Boston to Rhode Island to Eastchester, New York
John Smalley (1613-1694)
from Devon, England to Plymouth, MA to Eastham, MA to Piscataway, New Jersey
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