This is my space to share my quest to collect as many broken branches as I can in my fractured family tree which resembles a bramble bush more then a proper tree. As I go forward in this blogging journey I hope to share how I have searched far & wide for family - with no regard for where they come from or if I should really want them.
You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!

Saturday, December 10, 2022

Gazing Out Across the Horizon ~ X10 Great Grandmother Elizabeth Fones

52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks 2022: Week 49 (NEW HORIZONS)

Thinking about New Horizons I decided to follow a line that I hadn't yet taken back all the way to the immigrant ancestor. 

I followed my husband's paternal line back to his 10th great grandmother:

Elizabeth Fones
BIRTH 21 JAN 1610 • Groton, Babergh District, Suffolk, England
DEATH 1 FEB 1673 • Astoria, Queens County, New York, USA


"Her life didn’t start out as an adventure. She was the daughter of a prosperous, staunchly Puritan family. She was born in Groton Manor in 1610 to Thomas Fones, a pharmacist, and Anne Winthrop, sister to John Winthrop. Anne Winthrop died when Elizabeth was just 11, and she and her sister Martha helped out in her father’s apothecary. They mixed medicines, ordered supplies and made deliveries around town."  

Prior to this week's research neither one of us had ever heard the name Elizabeth Fones. We never knew her married names were in our tree either: Winthrop, Feake, Hallett. 

At age 19 she married her 22 year old 1st cousin (my husband's 1st cousin X12 removed)

Henry Winthrop
BIRTH 10 JAN 1607 • Groton, Groton Manor, Suffolk, England
DEATH 2 JUL 1630 • Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts, USA

15 months after marriage Elizabeth became a widow. Their daughter, Martha, was 2 months old when her father died. 

in 1631 she set off for the new world with her mother-in-law. They traveled on the ship Lyon to Massachusetts. They were part of the Puritan Great Migration. 

Not too long after arriving in her new homeland Elizabeth married my husband's X10 great grandfather.

Robert Feake
BIRTH 20 SEP 1602 • London, Middlesex, England
DEATH 01 FEB 1662 • Watertown, Middlesex, Massachusetts, USA

Elizabeth & Robert became wealthy landowners.

Elizabeth & her 3rd husband

William Hallett
BIRTH 1615 • Bridport, West Dorset District, Dorset, England
DEATH 17 APR 1706 • Astoria, Queens County, New York, USA

Elizabeth was instrumental in the founding of Greenwich, Connecticut, USA. 

"Elizabeth is considered one of the founders of Greenwich; the area now called “Greenwich Point” was earlier known as “Elizabeth’s Neck” in recognition of Elizabeth Fones and the 1640 purchase of the Point and much of what is today Old Greenwich."  2

In researching Elizabeth I found this video on YouTube (listed in Sources below).

Elizabeth Winthrop: All The Days of Her Life



11th Great Grand Uncle in-law, John Winthrop (uncle & father-in-law to Elizabeth), kept journals.
"For 350 years Governor John Winthrop’s journal has been recognized as the central source for the history of Massachusetts in the 1630s and 1640s."  3

Much of what we know about the early Puritan arrival in Massachusetts comes from these journals. I read about them many years ago - long before I met my husband. I had no idea I would ever end up a part of Governor John Winthrop's story. 

There is much scandal surrounding X10 great grandma in-law Elizabeth. There are books & articles written about her life.

My husband (and our children) descend from this amazing woman who sought new horizons for a better life. 

"Women like Elizabeth Winthrop are almost impossible not to admire" 4

There was much controversy surrounding Elizabeth - check the sources if you would like to know more. 


Discovering your ancestor was an incredible human being!!!




This is why I search - 


Cause ... 





You can pick your friends, but you can't pick your family you know!







***Any errors are my own. Please send me any updates or corrections via the comments at the bottom of this blog post***



Photo:

Black Sheep - Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett. Our Little Family Library. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from
https://www.ourlittlefamilylibrary.com/2019/08/black-sheep-elizabeth-fones-winthrop.html


Footnotes:

1  Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett Starts the 1st Scandal in Greenwich. New England Historical Society. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/elizabeth-fones-winthrop-feake-hallett-starts-the-1st-scandal-in-greenwich/

 Black Sheep - Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett. Our Little Family Library. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from
https://www.ourlittlefamilylibrary.com/2019/08/black-sheep-elizabeth-fones-winthrop.html

3  The Journal of John Winthrop, 1630-1649. John Harvard Library. Harvard University Press. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674484252

4  Elizabeth Winthrop: All The Days of Her Life. Third wave television. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HXcqKJKM-A


Sources:

Black Sheep - Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett. Our Little Family Library. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from
https://www.ourlittlefamilylibrary.com/2019/08/black-sheep-elizabeth-fones-winthrop.html

Dunne, Susan. Connecticut Historian Writes '1600s Soap Opera'. Hartford Courant. Originally published December 19th 2012. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from
https://www.courant.com/hc-xpm-2012-12-20-hc-missy-wolfe-1223-20121220-story.html

Elizabeth Fones (1610-1673). Moser Family History - Stories from the history of my family. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from
https://mosergenealogy.wordpress.com/my-paternal-ancestors/elizabeth-fones-1610-1673/

Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett Starts the 1st Scandal in Greenwich. New England Historical Society. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://www.newenglandhistoricalsociety.com/elizabeth-fones-winthrop-feake-hallett-starts-the-1st-scandal-in-greenwich/

Elizabeth Winthrop: All The Days of Her Life. Third wave television. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5HXcqKJKM-A

Harris, Gordon. John Winthrop’s journal of the ship Arbella’s voyage to America, March 29 – July 8, 1630. Historic Ipswich. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://historicipswich.org/2021/03/28/winthrop-journal-arabella/

Jaeger, Sophie. Elizabeth Fones Winthrop Feake Hallett Helps Found Greenwich. Originally published March 30, 2022, Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
https://connecticuthistory.org/elizabeth-fones-winthrop-feake-hallett-helps-found-greenwich/

John Winthrop (Winthrop, John, 1588-1649). The Online Books Page. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from 
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/webbin/book/lookupname?key=Winthrop%2C%20John%2C%201588%2D1649

O'Toole, Patricia. Money & Morals in America. Originally published 1998. Retrieved December 10th 2022 from
https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/first/o/otoole-money.html

Seton, Anya. The Winthrop woman. Houghton Mifflin, 1958.


Links:

Amy Johnson Crow, 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge
https://www.amyjohnsoncrow.com/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks/



If you reference or use my blog posts in any way please
include a link to the specific blog and
credit http://somehowrelated.blogspot.com/
My blogs are ©Deborah Buchner, 2014 forward.
All rights reserved.
Please & Thank you!

______________________________________________________________

No comments:

Post a Comment