Hess-Nickson Family History
WHY THE METAPHOR OF A TREE FOR A
FAMILY ANCESTRY IS BAD
Family
ancestries are commonly referred to as family trees. It is based on observing nature where the
branches of a tree will split to form new smaller branches, and those branches
in turn split to form more branches. As
the number of long lost relatives began to grow it became apparent that the
metaphor was just not up to the task.
For example, if you were able to trace back all your grandparents to 20
generations you would have discovered 2,097,150 of them. In the 20th generation alone there would be
1,048,577 grandparents. If you were to
add another generation the number would increase by more than 2 million
people. These aren't uncles, aunts and
cousins--just grandparents! It is not
hard to see that if you continued back the number of unduplicated grandparents
would quickly exceed the number of people who ever lived. Certainly, the world's population was never
larger than it is now, so what gives.
I have come to
the conclusion that a river delta is a better metaphor for a family
ancestry. In a river delta streams
branch off, but just as often as not, they flow back into the larger
branch. In the same way a family
ancestry branches off, but at some point it can come back in to an existing
line. This is an important point to keep
in the back of your mind as I proceed with my family narrative. As you will see, we have relatives who we are
related to in more than one way. Allow
me to illustrate.
Consider
the case of our 10G Grandparents, Lieut. Samuel and Elizabeth Smith.
In April of 1634, Lt. Samuel Smith, at the age of thirty-two, set
sail for America on the "Elizabeth of Ipswich" with his wife
Elizabeth and their four children; Philip aged one, Samuel aged nine, Elizabeth
aged seven and Mary aged four. At first the family settled in Watertown,
Massachusetts then moved to Wetherfield, Connecticut. Finally, because of
church disputes in Wetherfield they moved to Hadley, Massachusetts, where two
more sons, Chileab and John, were born.
In
Hadley, because of his integrity and soundness of judgment, Lt. Smith was
chosen for town affair's management. For many years he was deputy to the
Massachusetts General Court, Associate Magistrate at the Hampshire County Court
and Lieutenant of the Hadley Company from 1663-1673. He also held important
offices in his church and was chosen a Townsman (Selectman) many times. He died
at the age of seventy five and his wife died in 1686 at the age of eighty-four.
My initial research established that we were
related on the Hess side through the son Chileab (b: 1636, d: 1731). The begats look like this: Chileab begat Hannah, who married John
Montague and they begat Samuel. Samuel
married Elizabeth White and they begat Samuel Montague, Jr.. Samuel, Jr.
married Elizabeth Montague (and, yes, they were cousins) and begat Elizabeth
who married Reverend Eleazar Harwood.
Eleazar and Elizabeth begat Lucretia who married Brig. Gen. Amos
Kellogg, and you know the rest.
Subsequent
research, however, established that Samuel and Elizabeth Smith's other son
Phillip (see that little story about Phillip at the end of this discussion) was
my great grandparent through my mother's side of the family (Nickson). Those begats go like this: Phillip Smith married Rebecca Foote and begat
Samuel. Samuel married Mary Church and
begat Mary who married John Kenney. John
and Mary begat David, who married Martha.
They begat John Jonathan Keeney who married Mary Ramsey Burkhalter, and
they begat Capt. Jonathan Keeney (who, along with Jim Bridger, established the
Oregon Trail). Capt. Jonathan married
Mary Catherine Shoemaker and they begat Eli J. Keeney (who died infamously at
the famous "Shootout at the Headquarters Saloon" in Bozeman, Montana)
but not before marrying Nancy Ellen Swank and begatting Annie. Annie married an Irishman named Willard David
Nickson and begat a son Fredric Willis Nickson.
Fredric married Pearl Schenck and they begat Maryellen who married
William Hess.
Just to put
a bottom line to this. My parents are
also my 10th cousins once removed. For
Gary and Kathie, that makes Maryellen both your aunt by marriage and your 10th
cousin once removed. That also makes all
brothers and sisters cousins as well.
Welcome the the family stew. Now
you can appreciate how a tree makes a poor methaphor.
In my
research I have uncovered some interesting stories about some of our family
members, and the following story involving our 9G Grandfather Phillip Smith is
one of the most notable. Read it and see
if you don't agree.
Lieut. Philip Smith was born about 1633 in England. He moved, in 1635, to Wethersfield, Hartford,
CT. He resided on 9 Nov 1659, in Hadley,
Hampshire, MA. Philip was an original proprietor of
Hadley, but did not permanently live there until 1662. However, he took a freeman's oath on 26 Mar
1661. He died on 10 Jan 1685, in Hadley,
Hampshire, M. Philip was appointed as one of the
"ten troopers" of Hadley, appointed by John Pynchon of Springfield.
They were part of the Hampshire Troop or Company of Horsemen. He is reported to
have rendered service in King Philip's War and in May 1678 was appointed
Lieutenant of the Hadley Foot Company and in the same year made Lieutenant in
the Hampshire County Troop of Horseman. He
also was active in the politics of Hadley, being elected a selectman and a
Deputy from Hadley to the General Court. He was also on the school committee and was
chosen Deacon of the church in 1680.
The following was written in the Smith family genealogy:
On March 27, 1683 he served as a Judge in the County Court at
Northampton, where Mary Webster, wife of William was placed on trial as
"being under strong suspicion of having familiarity with the devil or
using witchcraft". She was acquitted.
After the trial the health of Philip Smith began to deteriorate
and since neither he nor his friends could account for the illness in any other
way concluded that the evil power of Mrs. Webster was at the bottom of it. In what certainly became delirium in his
illness, he imagined the most fantatstic influences working, which his fellow
townsmen believed, one farmer declaring that a load of hay he was delivering to
market took a notion for no good reason to fall off his wagon as he passed Mrs.
Webster's house and then, after he had remonstrated to Mrs. Webster, to load
itself back on again. Even the pious and intelligent Rev. Cotton Mather took
notice of the strange happenings and wrote a vivid description of them in his
"Magnalia" which Sylvester Judd reproduced on page 230 of his
"History of Hadley". He said in part:
"Mr. Philip Smith, aged about fifty years, a son of eminently
virtuous parents, a Deacon of a Church in Hadley, a member of the General
Court, a Justice in the County Court, a Selectman for the affairs of the Towne,
a Lieutenant of the Troop and which crowns all, a man for devotion sancity,
gravity and all that is honest exceeding exemplory. Such a man in the winter of
the year 1684 murdered with a hideous witchcraft that filled all those parts of
New England with astonishment". Parents: Lieut. Samuel Smith and Elizabeth
Chileab.
He was married to Rebecca Foote about 1658. Children were: Samuel Smith, [son] Smith, John
Smith, Jonathan Smith, Philip Smith, Rebecca Smith, Nathaniel Smith, Joseph
Smith, Icabod Smith.
NEXT
INSTALLMENT: The Keeney Family, exploring
the west, and the famous "Shootout At The Headquarters Saloon".
