Confirmed Findings

Sourced, verified ancestors β€” Revolutionary War patriots, colonial town founders, Salem witch trials, and Dutch/German immigrant lines.

Revolutionary War Patriots (5 confirmed direct ancestors)

  • 🟒 Justus Barrett (1745–1833) β€” Dutchess County Militia, 7th Regiment. Cited in New York in the Revolution as Colony and State and militia land bounty records. Line: Robert β†’ Dorothy β†’ Willard Fellman β†’ Emma Barrett β†’ John R. Barrett β†’ Simeon Barrett β†’ Justus Barrett.
  • 🟒 Captain Winthrop Roe β€” cited in Abstract of Graves of Revolutionary Patriots. 1790/1800/1820 census in Kensington, NH; moved to Cortland Co., NY late in life; d. 1832.
  • 🟒 Abraham Lashier β€” "Sergeant," cited in New York in the Revolution.
  • 🟒 Abel West Sr (1747–1836) β€” DAR Lineage Book Vol. 34, proven patriot service. m. Hannah Chapman, 1774, Vernon, CT.
  • 🟒 Johannes "John W" Barthel (1736–1808) β€” cited in New York in the Revolution, Rhinebeck, Dutchess Co. Grandson of a 1710 Palatine immigrant.

Colonial Town Founders

  • 🟒 Thomas Minor (1608–1690) β€” co-founder of Stonington, CT (one of 4, with Walter Palmer, William Chesebrough, Thomas Stanton). Kept a diary 1653–1684, published 1899. Buried under Stonington's oldest gravestone.
  • 🟒 Walter Palmer (1585–1661) β€” the other confirmed Stonington founder; father-in-law of Thomas Minor (daughter Grace Palmer m. Minor). Has a surviving "wolfstone" grave marker, one of few in the US, cut from Minor's own property. English origin town (Yetminster vs. Frampton, Dorset) genuinely disputed among professional genealogists β€” 🟑.
  • 🟒 Thomas Tracy β€” founder of Norwich, CT (1660), negotiated with Narragansetts before King Philip's War.
  • 🟒 Thomas Leffingwell β€” Norwich founder. Jointly with Tracy, relieved Mohegan sachem Uncas during an 1645 Narragansett siege; both were granted 400 acres by Uncas (became the town of Preston).
  • 🟒 Stephen Post β€” founder of Hartford, CT (name on Founders' Monument); later Saybrook proprietor. In 1650 jointly assigned with Thomas Tracy to build Saybrook's fort. His marriage to Hester Hyde is documented in Reuben Hyde Walworth's own Hyde Genealogy (1864).
  • 🟒 William Hyde β€” founder of Hartford and Norwich, CT.
  • 🟒 Rev. Joseph Clarke Sr. β€” Newport/Westerly RI, RI General Assembly member; brother of Dr. John Clarke, who spent 13 years in London securing Rhode Island's 1663 Royal Charter alongside Roger Williams.
  • 🟒 Thomas Angell β€” original companion of Roger Williams, Providence founder (1636).
  • 🟒 Rev. Samuel Hubbard β€” founded the first Seventh Day Baptist Church in America, Newport, 1671.
  • 🟒 Elder John Crandall β€” whipped in Boston (1651) for illegal Baptist preaching; founding Baptist Elder of Westerly; died of wounds from the Great Swamp Fight (1675).
  • 🟒 Tobias Saunders β€” Westerly Conservator of the Peace; negotiated with Narragansett sachem Ninigret (1675); m. Mary Clarke (sister of Rev. Joseph Clarke Sr.).

Governors, Statesmen, Notable Figures (direct ancestors)

  • 🟒 Governor Thomas Dudley β€” 4-term Governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony.
  • 🟒 Anne Dudley Bradstreet β€” Dudley's daughter (your several-times-great-aunt, not direct ancestor) β€” first published poet in the American colonies.
  • 🟒 Major General Daniel Denison β€” top military commander, Mass. Bay Colony militia; m. Patience Dudley (Gov. Dudley's daughter). One of two Denison sons who independently lead to Robert β€” see The Denison Family.

Salem Witch Trials

  • 🟒 Frances Alcock Hutchins (b. ~1612 – d. 1694, Haverhill, MA) β€” arrested Aug 19, 1692, accused by Timothy Swan, Ann Putnam Jr., and Mary Walcott. Imprisoned 4 months; released Dec 21, 1692 on Β£200 bond posted by son Samuel Hutchins and son-in-law Joseph Kingsbury. Never tried; died naturally in 1694. Primary source: surviving court warrant.

Dutch (New Netherland) Lines

  • 🟒 Jan Martense Van Aelsteyn (Van Alstyne) (1623–1698) β€” founding Dutch patriarch of Kinderhook, NY.
  • 🟒 Pieter Barendse Coeymans β€” namesake family of Coeymans, NY, Albany Co. βšͺ exact birth year disputed (1574 vs. ~1590) even among legitimate sources.

German Immigrant Clusters (3 separate waves, same Dutchess Co. NY destination)

  1. Palatine wave (~1710) β€” Barthel/Hack/Lutz/Sornberger families, from Rheinland-Pfalz/Hessen, fleeing war and famine, settled Dutchess Co. under Queen Anne's sponsorship.
  2. WΓΌrttemberg wave (~1740s) β€” Junghans/Seitter families, from Ensingen and Flacht near Ludwigsburg/BΓΆblingen; well-documented via specific baptismal/marriage register notes in the source file.
  3. Later Baden wave (~1840s) β€” Fellman/Bachmann/Zeisert families, NOT to America but to Waterloo, Ontario, Canada β€” a documented German- Mennonite settlement; m. by Bishop Benjamin Eby, founder of that community, in 1847.
  4. 🟒 One tiny German village β€” Schweppenhausen, Bad Kreuznach, Rheinland-Pfalz β€” independently produced 4 ancestor lines (Lutz, Rauch, Lott, Wolt) before their joint emigration.

Great Migration Colonial Immigrants (Norwich/Stonington cluster)

  • 🟒 Thomas Bliss (1618–1688, Norwich) β€” genealogy traces to historian Frances Manwaring Caulkins (1795–1869) as a collateral descendant. ⚠️ NOTE: the published 1881 Bliss genealogy has known errors flagged by professional genealogists β€” treat exact generation links with care.
  • 🟒 Thomas Sluman (1606–1683, Norwich) β€” m. Sarah Bliss, daughter of the above Thomas Bliss. Confirms Bliss/Sluman families were the same intermarried Norwich cluster.
  • 🟒 Robert Abell (1589–1663, Rehoboth, MA) and wife Joanna Abell (later remarried William Hyde as his 2nd wife).

English Origin Points Worth Knowing

  • 🟒 Robert Dolman / Thomas Dolman / William Dolman family of Pocklington, Yorkshire β€” appears via TWO independent paths in the tree (Chapman/Kingsbury route, and Brown/Collins/Tolman route), confirming internal consistency. Thomas Dolman's daughter Elizabeth Vavasour was wrongly attached to a fabricated Pennsylvania Dutch "Bashore/Hetzer" record elsewhere in the tree (see Debunked Myths).
  • 🟒 Dorchester, MA was literally named after Dorchester, Dorset by the West Country Puritan group (Rev. John White's "Dorchester Company") who founded it β€” ancestor Sarah Tolman was born in the English Dorchester, died in the Massachusetts one.