Just When Did Caleb Howe Die? June or July 1755?

Over the Christmas-New Year week I decided to update the various profiles for my ancestors recorded in the FamilySearch "one-world" or common family tree. One reason for doing this was to see if others had posted any additional events, documents, or even family members that I might not have known about. It turns out I was able to uncover several distant cousins that were born and died between census enumerations plus find where a few branches of the family disappeared to.

But that's not what this post is about. Instead I'm going to write about the challenges of verifying a date of death from the mid 1700s.

My 6th great-grandfather, Caleb How(e), the second husband of Jemima Sawtell and the father of my 5th great-grandfather, Lt. Caleb Howe of the Queens Rangers, was killed in a raid by Native Americans as probably part of the actions stemming from what became known as the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. I've come across several different dates but most either have him killed on 27 Jun 1755 or 27 Jul 1755. However, which month is it? June or July?

I've written about Jemima in my post "The Fair Captive" when I attempted to trace through the various footnotes and endnotes to locate details about her captivity and subsequent release. In the tale "Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Jemima Howe, taken by the Indians at Hinsdale, New-Hampshire, July 27, 1755." in The American Preceptor published in 1801, a story told by Jemima Howe, Caleb's wife, a number of years after the events she says that the attack happened on 27 Jul 1755.

Caleb Bingham. American Preceptor; Being a New Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools (Boston, Massachusetts: Manning and Loring, 1801), p 176; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/americanprecept09binggoog/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 3 Jan 2021).

However, if the attack took place on July 27, 1755 and Caleb was found alive the next morning before passing away after he was brought to Fort Hinsdale, then he would have died on July 28, 1755. Also, in the Gazetteer of Cheshire County, N.H., 1736-1885 published in 1885 it states: "...and July 27 they ambushed Caleb How, Hilkiah Grout and Benjamin Gaffield as they were returning from their labor in the field."

Even a few years later in 1758 a letter concerning Mrs. Jemima How states that she was taken in July 1755.

[John Farmer, Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac Hill]. Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. V (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1837), pp.254-256, Letter of Col. Ebenezer Hindsdale to Gov. Benning Wentwork-1755; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionsnewh06socigoog/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

However, in the "New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947" database found on FamilySearch we come across this image of a card created on 29 Aug 1905:

"New Hampshire Death Records, 1654-1947," database, FamilySearch (familysearch.org : accessed 20 Feb 2012), entry for Caleb How, died 27 Jun 1755; citing Death Records, FHL film 1,001,086; New Hampshire Bureau of Vital Records and Health Statistics, Concord, New Hampshire.

Here we see that it is recorded that he died on June 27, 1755 at Hinsdale, New Hampshire "Killed by the Indians". But we don't know the source of that information in that "modern" record. Could it be from the grave marker?

The marker found on Find A Grave appears to confirm that detail:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 January 2021), memorial page for Caleb Howe (3 Dec 1723–28 Jun 1755), Find a Grave Memorial no. 69042959, citing Hooker Cemetery, Hinsdale, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA ; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

In memory of Mr. Caleb How a very Kind Companion who Was killed by the Indians June the 27th 1755 in the 32nd year of his age, his wife Mrs.Jemima How With 7 Children taken Captive at the Same time.

A bit more searching led me to a letter from Colonel Ebenezer Hinsdale to Governor Benning Wentworth date 22 Jul 1755 in the Provincial Paper: Documents and Record relating to the Province of New-Hampshire, from 1749 to 1763, Volume VI with a copy found at the Internet Archive. There on page 412 at the tail end of a letter from Col. Hinsdale is mentioned within a postscript by Abigail Hinsdale the following:

"Mr. Hinsdale wrote to his excellency the 28 of June of the mischief that was done upon the other side of the River, one man kill'd, three women, eleven children captivated, the Indians burnt two buildings."

A copy of that letter has been digitally preserved by the New Hampshire Historical Society and can be viewed at their site at "Letter from Colonel Ebenezer Hindsdale to Govenor Benning Wentworth, 1755 July 22".

On 27 Jun 1911 at Vernon, Vermont there was a dedication of a marker on the site of Fort Bridgman where the attack took place:

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 03 January 2021), memorial page for Caleb Howe (3 Dec 1723–28 Jun 1755), Find a Grave Memorial no. 69042959, citing Hooker Cemetery, Hinsdale, Cheshire County, New Hampshire, USA ; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

With the information from the dedication and the letter from Colonel Hinsdale/Hindsdale that included the postscript by his wife Abigail it would seem that the date of the attack was 27 Jun 1755. Yet if Caleb passed away at Fort Hinsdale the morning following the attack then the date of his death is actually 28 Jun 1755. So that's the date I'm going with at this time.

Loyalist William How(e) of Kingston... Who Are Your Parents?

One of the many reasons I write these posts is to help me record my thoughts concerning research that either has me stumped or has been tricky to resolve. This post is about the former.

In my researching of The Fair Captive I was finally able to add the oldest son of Caleb How(e)¹ and Jemima Sawtelle, William. Based on various material I came across documenting the story of Jemima, it would appear that William was born about 1747.

Daniel Wait Howe, Howe Genealogies. This Volume Contains the Genealogy of John Howe of Sudbury and Marlborough, Massachusetts, Gilman Bigelow Howe, editor, (Haverhill, Massachusetts: Record Publishing Company, 1929), children of Caleb Howe and Jemima Sawtelle, p. 46; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/howegenealogiesb01howe/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 27 May 2020).

Of course, once I recorded that information into my cousin-bait tree on Ancestry, hints started appearing for him including trees having him residing in what later became Kingston, Ontario, Canada. For those that know me, when it comes to my genealogy research one of my research mantras is "Trust know one, verify everything, and even if it's written in stone it might be wrong." So when I saw some people connecting William Howe to Caleb and Jemima Howe of Vermont as his parents I got very interested in finding out their sources and hopefully confirming (refuting would be OK also) that supposed connection.

The first possible clue from the Howe Genealogies is that William was a tory and went to Nova Scotia. That sounds like a Loyalist to me. But, much like his younger brother Caleb, my 5th great-grandfather, William appears to have fallen off the face of the Earth or at least disappeared from the United States of America. Even in Emma Lewis Coleman's work New England Captives Carried to Canada Between 1677 and 1760 During the French and Indian War, Vol. 2 beyond stating William's age when captured and then the ransom paid by Colonel Schuyler nothing else is mentioned about William. So my usually method of following a person from cradle to grave isn't going to work. Instead I'm going to start with the William Howe that ended up in the Kingston, Ontario, Canada area and see if the records about him mention anything about his parents or clues are offered up by the names of his children.

Several of the trees had images for land petitions made by his children and wife. The bottom of the images they had a source description like this:

Image from the bottom of the microfilmed image from Upper Canada Land Petitions (1763-1865), H Bundle (1806-1807), RG1 L3 Vol 226, petition 71; Library and Archives Canada microfilm C-2046, image 55.

From that I knew that the source of these images was from the Library and Archives "Land Petitions of Upper Canada, 1763-1865" database and archived microform collection. With a bit of searching I was able to create a table of those names of interest and the details needed to find them in microfim (the page number was added after I found the petition):

Surname	Given Name(s)	Place	Year	Volume	Bundle	Petition	Page(s)	Reference	Microfilm
HOWE	Mathew	Kingston	1798	224A	H 4	81	607-614	RG 1 L3	C-2044
HOWE/VANORDER	Margaret	Kingston	1806	226	H 8	71	55-56	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE/GALLOWAY	Margaret	Kingston	1807	226	H 8	99	158-159	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE/BUCK	Eve	Kingston	1808	226	H 8	112	217-219	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE/DENYLA	Jane	Kingston	1809	226	H 9	44	475-476	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE	Peter	Kingston	1810	226A	H 9	85	649-652	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE	George	Kingston	1811	226A	H 9	92	682-684	RG 1 L3	C-2046
HOWE	John W.	Kingston	1849	247	H 5	44	237-271	RG 1 L3	C-2101
HOWE	Daniel	Kingston	1797	224	H 3	135	119-122	RG 1 L3	C-2044
HOWE	Margaret		1797	224	H 3	57	840-841	RG 1 L3	C-2043

Some of the entries, such as Eve Howe/Buck, Jane Howe/Denyla, and John W. Howe, I've not confirmed are connected to the William Howe family since they don't reference William How(e) directly. Since I wasn't planning on going down the rabbit hole of completely documenting this William Howe family I haven't dug into those names. In each case I retrieved the multiple pages for each petition to see what clues were presented aside from the family connection. I also referenced William D Reid's book The Loyalists In Ontario to aid in my searching where we find William Howe listed along with his children that were mentioned in the Orders-in-Council records:

William D. Reid, The Loyalists in Ontario: The Sons and Daughters of the American Loyalists of Upper Canada, ( Lambertville , New Jersey: Hunterdon House, 1973), p.157, HOWE, William of Kingston; digital images, Ancestry (https://www.ancestry.ca/search/collections/49231/: accessed 18 May 2020).

The petition for Margaret Howe/Vanorder was important since it established that Margaret was the daughter of Mathew Van order and the widow of William Howe. This will become important later on.

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1763-1865, petition of Margaret Howe Widow of William Howe and Daughter of Mathew Vanorder, dated 24 Jan 1807; RG 1 L3, C-2046, images 55; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

The petition signed by Matthew Howe and Daniel Howe dated 15 Jul 1797 also provided a few clues about William:

• he died about 1795,
• he had joined the British Forces and did Garrison Duty in the Embodied Loyalists at New York, and
• he arrived in the province, now known as Upper Canada, in 1783.

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1763-1865, Volume 224, "H" Bundle 3, 1797, petition 135, for Daniel Howe; RG 1 L3, C-2044, image 120; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

The separate land petition submitted in by his son Mathew in 1798 was interesting not from what was written but the response by the Land Board. In his petition he wrote:

"That your Petitioners Father served during the War as a Lieutenant of Embodied Loyalists and is Since deceased in this Country..."

Mathew even had statements from David Babcock and John Burnett attesting that William Howe served under Major Ward in Captain Hamilton's Company as a Lieutenant of Embodied Loyalists from the time of the Action of the Blockhouse. However, as you can see in the image below, the board didn't accept that proof his William's rank as a Lieutenant, "There must be better proof of W^m Howe's having been a Lieut".

Upper Canada Land Petitions, 1763-1865, Volume 224a, "H" Bundle 4, 1798, petition 81, for Mathew Howe; RG 1 L3, C-2044, image 614; Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.

Yes, even with his rank not accepted, the petition of Mathew gives another clue about William:

• he was at the "Action of the Blockhouse".

It didn't take too much digging to find this action for it seems it was the Battle of Bull's Ferry that took place in New Jersey in Bergen Township along the Hudson River opposite New York City on 20-21 Jul 1780. A stockade, the "Blockhouse", was held by 70 loyalists commanded by Thomas Ward and successfully held off the attacks by Brigadier General Anthony Wayne and his men. Could William have been made a lieutenant and placed in the chain of command of these men? Possibly, but I've not yet seen any documents such as an after action report that substantiates the claim. The story of "The Block House in Bergen Wood" was told by Dr. H. H. Burleigh in an address on 3 Mar 1965 to the Bay of Quinte Branch of the United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada.

Based on these petitions we have William Howe in the New York City area in 1780s and he has been acknowledged as a Loyalist.

What can I find in New York City for that time?

Knowing the name of his wife, Margaret Vanorder, I put the following information in to the search on Ancestry:

• Surname: Howe
• Father's Name: William Howe
• Mother's Name: Margaret
• Born: 1777
• Collection: United States

I was pleasantly surprised when I got results from the "U.S., Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989" collection for baptisms of several children: Mathew (born 1774, baptized 1775), Mary Magdalen (1776), Daniel (1778), Margareth (1780). The baptism of Mathew was particularly interesting due to one of the sponsors:

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020), entry for Matthew, child of William Howe and wife Margareth; citing New York City Lutheran, Volume 1, Book 85, p 517 [stamped], New York City, New York.

I wonder, could this Matthew Van Orden be related to Margareth? Could he be the Mathew Vanorder listed in Margaret Howe's land petition?

A bit more digging through the records I find what appears to be record for the marriage of William How and Margareth Van Orden on 24 Sep 1770.

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 18 May 2020), entry for William How and Margareth Van Orden, married 24 Sep 1770; citing Holland Society of New York; New York, New York; New York City Lutheran, Vol III, Book 87, p 103 [stamped].

As an aside, I also came across the baptism of their first son, Robert Albert, in that collection. What got me was the note above the entry, "married in September 1770 Who can help it?"

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020), entry for Robert Albert, child of William Howe and wife Margareth; citing New York City Lutheran, Volume 1, Book 85, p 495 [stamped], New York City, New York.

Unfortunately, Robert Albert Howe was buried on 9 Sep 1772.

Based on what I found in this collection and in the land petitions and and Land Boards of Upper Canada, 1765-1804 databases the children of William Howe and Margareth Van Orden that were born in New York appear to be:

• Robert Albert (1770-1772)
• Elizabeth
• Mathew (1774-)
• Mary Magdalen (1776-)
• Daniel (1778-)
• Margareth (1780-)
• William (1783-)

Sons Peter (1786-) and George, which I found via other trees and records, appear to have been born after the family left New York City. Keep in mind that I'm not researching the family so I haven't kept looking for death dates for those that left New York. However, it seems that Mary Magdalen and Margareth may have passed away in New York since I haven't found them named in land or other Loyalist claimant documents. The burial registrations for the New York Lutheran Church that Ancestry has end in 1775.

Can we find this family leaving New York?

The baptism record from 1783 for their son, William, holds a useful clue.

"Dutch Reformed Church Records in Selected States, 1639-1989," database and images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.com : accessed 21 May 2020), entry for William, child of William Howe and wife Margareth; citing New York City Lutheran, Volume 1, Book 85, p 585 [stamped], New York City, New York.

It appears that the family was still in New York in Oct 18, 1783.

After a bit of searching and following the various leads when sources were provided I came across the "HMS Amphitrite, Capt. Robert Briggs" under Wallace Hale's Fort Havoc pages hosted by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick. There recorded, along with the other passengers, was a William Howe and family:

Name	Women	Ch. above 8 years	Ch. under 8 years
Howe, William	1	2	2

If you have gotten this far, you know that I like to find the source of the documents, and if at all possible, save the images to my computer. The transcription stated that the information came from the Amos Botsford papers. That led me to the "Finding aid no. 525 to the Amos Botsford and Family fonds" on Heritage. I don't know about you but manually reviewing 536 images for a single line is a bit of a drudge. Lucky for us that there is a subject matter index for the fonds and for 19 Oct 1782 it had "Return of men, women and children arrived at Annapolis from New York (the list gives names of the men, with numbers of women and children)." and it could be found on page 108-111. A quick hop and jump and on page 111 near the bottom I found a William Howe and family.

Return of Men, Women & Children arrived at Annapolis from New York 19th Octr 1782, p. 111, MG 23, D 4 - Finding aid no. 525 to the Amos Botsford and Family fonds, microfilm H-1687, image 280; digital images, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, Canadiana Héritage (heritage.canadiana.ca : accessed 27 May 2020).

Assuming that Elizabeth was born about 1772 (based on the gap between Robert and Mathew, and other trees on Ancestry), this would appear to be the right family consisting of William, his wife Margareth, Elizabeth and Mathew, and Daniel and William.

Only one problem!

If the baptism record for William Howe is correct then this isn't the family of William Howe and Margaret Van Orden. The family was still in New York City in 1782. Now it gets to be a challenge since there might be two Loyalist William Howe families floating around at this time in history in the New York area.

I next turned to the Loyalists landing page at Library and Archives Canada for ideas. The first place I checked was the Carleton Papers – Loyalists and British Soldiers, 1772-1784. After checking the various returned items one stood out:

Item: William HOW (27873)

Given Names(s): William

Surname: HOW

Gender: Male

Destination: Nova Scotia

Type of Document: Return of Loyalists

Date (yyyy/mm/dd) : 1782-09-22

Additional Information: LIST OF LOYALISTS FOR NOVA SCOTIA;WITH ONE WOMAN AND TWO CHILDREN

Place where the Document was Created: New York

Document Page Number: 5663 (2)

Fonds: British Headquarters Papers (Carleton Papers or American Manuscripts)

Microfilm: M-357

Reference: MG23 B1

Item Number: 27873

It is around the right time and place but the additional information only states with one woman and two children. We seem to be two children short. Regrettably, viewing this microfilm will have to wait since the M microfilms are only at Library and Archives Canada and it may be sometime before they reopen to the public.

However, is this referring to the other William How(e) that arrived in 1782? Might this be the family that is connected to the Caleb and Jemima Howe family and not the family that settled in the Kingston area?

I did find a William Howe/How of the New York Volunteers in the Loyalists in the Maritimes — Ward Chipman Muster Master's Office, 1777–1785 database at Library and Archives Canada. However, after viewing the record on Heritage in microfilm "Ward Chipman (senior and junior) fonds : C-9818" on image 426 it looks like it is written as "Wm Haws". But I can't discount it yet.

The next resource I checked was the Sir Frederick Haldimand (MG21) collection. The link to the index of Loyalists brought me to microfilm C-1475 on Heritage. It didn't take too much work to find the entries for How(e).

Name	Volume	Page	Film	Image	Notes
Howe, William	167	155h2	H-1654	1058	Sir William
Howe, William	167	156a	H-1654	1062	Sir William Howe
Howe, William	167	168	H-1654	1080	General How
Howe, William	167	353	H-1655	39	Refugees from New York at Sorell and Yamaska 25 Dec 1783
Howe, William	168	81	H-1655	196	Return of Disbanded Troops & Loyalists settled in Township No 1 Cataraqui Mustered 9th Oct 1784
Howe, Mrs.	166	161	H-1654	782	Dated 7 Dec 1783 at "Sorell" [Sorel, Quebec] signed by Will How

With much assistance from Lorine McGinnis Schulze's Olive Tree Genealogy post Finding a Loyalist in the Haldimand Papers (Loyalist Research Part 6) I was able to quickly determine which microfilms I needed to review on the Heritage site.

I knew I could discount the mentions of Sir William or General How but the other entries got my attention. Could they be the same William Howe family that settled in the Kingston area that we have been chasing?

I'm fairly certain that this is the family that we started with in Kingston.

Only one problem! (again)

And this is the really frustrating part of doing genealogy and family history research.

I'm still no closer to establishing that this William Howe that settled in Township No. 1 Cataraqui, now the Kingston area of Ontario, Canada, is the same person as the son of Caleb and Jemima (Sawtelle) Howe. Even worse, there may be another Loyalist William Howe family out there. It might be this other William Howe family that I need to be finding.

If anyone reading this can help me in the conundrum, please leave a comment. I'd like to hear from you.

Here is a list of some of the sources I consulted in addition to the ones I've mentioned or linked to in the body of this post:

• The Centennial Committee, The Centennial of the Settlement of Upper Canada by the United Empire Loyalists, 1784-1884. The Celebrations at Adolphustown, Toronto and Niagara, with an Appendix., (Toronto, Ontario: Rose Publishing Company, 1885), p.196, entry for Wm. Howe; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/cu31924028900475/page/n6/mode/2up : accessed 19 May 2020).
• "Herbert Clarence Burleigh fonds - Family files series - Howe." Supplied by Queen's University Archives, Kingston, Ontario. 2014; digital images, Internet Archive https://archive.org/details/hcbhowe2/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 19 May 2020).
• Isaac W. Hammond, editor, The State of New Hampshire. Miscellaneous Provincial and State Papers 1725-1800, Vol 18, (Manchester, New Hampshire: John B. Clarke, 1890), p.495, ransom of William Howe and sundry express submitted by Colonel Schuyler; digital images, Google Books (https://books.google.ca/books?id=XfM7AAAAIAAJ : accessed 20 May 2020).
• Ontario Department of Lands and Forests : Loyalist List, microfilm C-2222; digital images, Canadian Research Knowledge Network, Canadiana Héritage (heritage.canadiana.ca : accessed 27 May 2020).
• The On-Line Institute for Advanced Loyalist Studies - page for Loyal Refugee Volunteers History
• United Empire Loyalists' Association of Canada website

---

1. The spelling of the name "Howe" varies in the early documents and I have seen it recorded as "How" and "Howe". From this point on, I will generally be using "Howe" unless specifically referring to a document with a different spelling.

The Fair Captive

After a recent question was asked in my blog concerning Caleb Howe, my 5th great-grandfather, I decided to review what I had about him, his siblings, and his parents, Caleb Howe and Jemima Sawtelle. The good part about doing this kind of review is that I was able to finally add an older brother, William, into the tree as a child of Caleb and Jemima. However, it also started me down an interesting rabbit hole of research concerning the story of Jemima.

My encounter with Jemima's story was years ago when I came across the genealogy of the Howe family posted under the Phipps Family Pages. There I learned about the "Fair Captive" and the story of her capture during the French and Indian War. The write up on that web page mentioned that "Jemima's story became part of the "American Preceptor"..." Courtesy of the Internet Archive I was able find and download various editions of the "The American Preceptor; being a new Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools" by Caleb Bingham, initially the 1837 edition but recently I was able to find the 1801 edition on the Internet Archive. For general reading I prefer the 1837 edition since the earlier editions make use of the "long s" or "ſ" so that a word like "disposed" looks like "diſpoſed" as you can see below.

Caleb Bingham. American Preceptor; Being a New Selection of Lessons for Reading and Speaking. Designed for the Use of Schools (Boston, Massachusetts: Manning and Loring, 1801), p 183; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/americanprecept09binggoog/page/n1/mode/2up : accessed 20 May 2020).

Until you get used to reading text like that it can get confusing at times. By the way, you will have an opportunity to practice reading words with the "long s" by the end of this post.

But where did this "Fair Captive" designation come from? Please bear with me as the journey is a bit of a long one since it is all about following clues and, in one case, a bit of luck and cobbled with experience.

I started with a simple Google search with the keywords of "Jemima Sawtelle" and one of the first results was from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography for SAWTELLE, JEMIMA (Phipps; Howe; Tute). The good thing about this dictionary is that they include a list of sources used. In that list was mentioned the book New England captives carried to Canada between 1677 and 1760 during the French and Indian wars by Emma Lewis Coleman published in 1925. On pages 314-321 Jemima's story is recounted and even a few sources are stated in the footnotes. I like when I come across sources mentioned in foot or end notes!

pp.316-317:

Colonel Schuyler was again her friend, interesting himself in her ransom as is shown by the following letter from Dr. Benjamin Stakes, Surgeon of New Jersey troops, who frequently acted for him. Written in New Haven in December, 1757, it was addressed to Ebenezer Hinsdale, who enclosed it to Gov. Benning Wentworth.³¹

³¹N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll., V, 256

p.319:

Schuyler's official list³⁴ gives "Miss How, and boys William, Josia and Peter."
³⁴ N. Y. Docs., X, 882

Fortunately Ms. Coleman includes in her appendix of the book the abbreviations that she used. One of them, "N. Y. Docs." was defined as "Documents relating to the Colonial History of the State of New York". However, "N. H. Hist. Soc. Coll." wasn't defined but from other definitions it seemed reasonable that it was "New Hampshire Historical Society Collections".

After a bit of searching through various catalogues such as Google Books, HathiTrust, and the Internet Archive it turns out that those aren't exactly the titles of the works that Ms. Coleman was referencing.

Starting with that possible "N.H. Hist. Soc. Coll., V, 256" it took a little bit of searching but I finally turned up "Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Volume V" on the Internet Archive and on pages 256 to 258 I came across transcriptions of the letters mentioned.

[John Farmer, Nathaniel Bouton, Isaac Hill]. Collections of the New-Hampshire Historical Society, Vol. V (Concord, New Hampshire: New Hampshire Historical Society, 1837), pp.254-256, Letter of Col. Ebenezer Hindsdale to Gov. Benning Wentwork-1755; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/collectionsnewh06socigoog/page/n7/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

For "N. Y. Docs." the title turned out to be "Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Volume X". What was interesting to me was that the "Miss How, and the boys William Josia and Peter" was not written that way, at least in the 1858 edition:

E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Vol. X, (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1858), pp.882; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ10newyuoft/page/n4/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020); List of English prisoners delivered to Colonel Schuyler, &c.

E. B. O'Callaghan, editor, Documents Relative to the Colonial History of the State of New-York; procured in Holland, England and France, Vol. X, (Albany, New York: Weed, Parsons and Company, 1858), pp.883; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/documentsrelativ10newyuoft/page/n4/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020); List of English prisoners delivered to Colonel Schuyler, &c.

These are transcriptions from documents in the Archives of the "Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies;" of the "Ministère de la Guerre," and in the "Bibliothèque de Roi," at Paris. Of course, going to France at this time is not in the cards. However, on a whim as I was writing this, I did a search for the archives in question and one web site mentioned that:

Les originaux sont conservés aux Archives nationales de France. Les Archives nationales du Canada possèdent des copies des documents de la série B et d'autres séries.

That got me thinking, what about searching the Library and Archives Canada site. Even if it is just a microfilm number, once the pandemic subsides and buildings open up to the public, I can look up the microfilm. My initial search of the archives collections using the keywords "Ministère de la Marine et des Colonies" returned more than 2000 matches. That's a lot to review but not unrealistic. But what about "Schuyler"? Were there less matches and could I find one that might apply?

I couldn't believe it when the third item in the list of 789 results was "["Rôle des prisonniers anglais remis au colonel Schuyler". Certificat signé ...]. 1758, novembre, 01". That is exactly the document I was looking for. Even more amazing was that they have been digitized and put online:

"Rôle des prisonniers anglais remis au colonel Schuyler." Série C11A. Correspondance générale; Canada [document textuel (surtout des microformes)] (R11577-4-2-F). Library and Archives Canada microfilm F-103, p.289 and 291[stamped]. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa; digital images, Library and Archives Canada (http://collectionscanada.gc.ca/pam_archives/index.php?fuseaction=genitem.displayItem&lang=eng&rec_nbr=3073215 : accessed 20 May 2020). 

As you can see, unlike what Ms. Coleman recorded, Miss How and her sons are not listed together but on separate pages in different categories.

Looking back at the various sources cited in the entry for Jemima Sawtelle in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography also mentioned in The history of New-Hampshire by Jeremy Belknap. Again, this book is available on the Internet Archive in various editions. I always prefer the edition closest to the time of the events.

Jeremy Belknap, A.M., The History of New-Hampshire, Vol. III, (Boston, Massachusetts: Belknap and Young, 1792), pp.370-388, A particular Account of the Captivity of Mrs Jemima Howe, by the Rev. Bunker Gay, of Hinsdale, in a Letter to the Author; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/historyofnewham03belk/page/n10/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

In the stories that were published they reference Maj. Israel Putnam and in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography one of the sources is "An essay on the life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam..." by David Humphreys. That wasn't too hard to chase down although there are multiple digitized copies available. The oldest edition I could find was "An Essay of the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: Addressed to the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut" published in 1788.

At the houſe of Colonel Schuyler, Major Putnam became acquainted with Mrs. Howe, a fair captive, whoſe hiſtory would not be read without emotion if it could be written in the ſame affecting manner, in which I have often heard it told. She was ſtill young and handſome herſelf, though ſhe had two daughters of marriagable age. Diſtreſs, which had taken ſomewhat from the original redundancy of her bloom and added a ſoftening paleneſs to her cheeks, rendered her appearance the more engaging. Her face, that ſeemed to have been formed for the aſſemblage of dimples and ſmiles, was clouded, with care. The nature ſweetness was not, however, ſoured by deſpondency and petulance; but chaſtened by humility and reſignation. This mild daughter of ſorrow looked as if ſhe had known the day of proſperity, when ſerenity and gladneſs of ſoul were the inmates of her boſom. That day was paſt, and the once lively features now aſſumed a tender melancholy, which witneſſed her irreparable loſs.

David Humphreys, An Essay of the Life of the Honorable Major-General Israel Putnam: Addressed to the State Society of the Cincinnati in Connecticut,  (Hartford, Connecticut: Hudson and Goodwin, 1788), pp.74-81; digital images, Internet Archive (https://archive.org/details/essayonlifeofhon1788hump/page/n3/mode/2up : accessed 18 May 2020).

Although the story as recorded by Mr. Humphreys in the telling of Israel Putnam's life is romanticized it does add some dimension to the story of Jemima How. The description of her definitely describes a "fair captive."

Jemima's story has been told in numerous publications in addition to the ones mentioned above. Some appear to be derived from the account recorded by Rev. Bunker Gay.

• Indian Captivities or Life in the Wigwam pp.156-165
• Harper's new monthly magazine, volume 12, "Israel Putnam," p.588
• Marguerite Allis, Not without peril, a novel by Marguerite Allis, founded on the life and adventures of Jemima Sartwell, one of the first settlers in Vermont.
• Angela Marco, Fair captive, a colonial story
  

Her monumental inscription tells the tale of her life.

Mrs. Jemima Tute Succeſsively Relict of Meſsrs. William Phips, Caleb Howe & Amos Tute The firſt two were killed by Indians Phips July 5th AD 1743 Howe June 27th 1755 When Howe was killed She & her Children Then ſeven in number Were carried into Captivity. The oldest a Daughter went to France And was married to a French Gentleman The youngeſt was torn from her breaſt And periſhed with Hunger By the aid of ſome benevolent Gent'n And her own perſonal Heroiſm She recovered the Reſt She had two by her laſt Huſband She outlived him & them And died March 7th 1805 aged 82 Having pasted thro more viciſsitudes And endured more hardſhips Than any of her Cotemporaries No more can Savage Foes annoy Nor aught her wideſread Fame Deſtroy

Find a Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 20 May 2020), memorial page for Jemima Sawtelle(Phipps/Howe) Tute (7 Mar 1723–7 Mar 1805), Find a Grave Memorial no. 17509287, citing North Vernon Cemetery, North Vernon, Windham County, Vermont, USA; Maintained by John Clay Harris (contributor 47322896).

So follow those citations in the books you come across that mention your ancestors. You never know what documents that you will come across will lead you.

A Black Hole No Longer - Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada

One of the many challenges faced by genealogy and family history researchers is accessing records for places that are a distance from you. Even with the Internet, this problem still exists since many of the records are still only available in archives and libraries. This has long been the case for me when researching my ancestors that lived in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada. For many years I considered that region of New Brunswick a genealogical black hole...people may have gone there but, aside from the decennial census, almost no trace could be found of them except in indexes. That is until recently.

NordNordWest. “File:Map of New Brunswick Highlighting Queens County.png.” Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons, January 29, 2010. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Map_of_New_Brunswick_highlighting_Queens_County.png.

In the past year the New Brunswick Genealogical Society has freely made available to all a number of publications on their web site. This includes two extremely useful books pertaining to Queens County. The first is the often referred to but hard to find History of Queens Co., N.B. by E. Stone Wiggins, LL.D. This work is the copy, made in 1993, by George H. Hayward, of the 1876 history of Queens County that was originally published, starting on 7 Oct 1876 and ending in 17 Feb 1877, in the Saint John, New Brunswick newspaper The Watchman. What makes this book so important for those researching families in Queens County is that there are short biographies of many families that resided in that county at that time.

The second book of particular interest to Queens County family history researchers is the Queens County, New Brunswick, Marriage Records, Registers A, B and C, 1812-1887 found on the New Brunswick Marriage Records page. This compilation by Elizabeth S. Sewell & George H. Hayward had been a challenge for researchers to find in their local libraries and archives. It is a challenge no longer.

However, that extract of the marriage records is just that...an extract. Here is a snippet of one of the families that I am particularly interested in, the Jenkins line.

Elizabeth S. Sewell and George H. Hayward, editors, Queens County, New Brunswick, Marriage Records, Registers A, B and C, 1812-1887  (Fredericton, New Brunswick: Elizabeth S. Sewell and George H. Hayward, August 2002),  5.

What if you want to see where this information came from? The preface of the book states that the records were transcribed from Provincial Archives of New Brunswick microfilm reels F15491 and F15492. If you have access to a library that participates in the interlibrary loan program then you might be able to arrange to have those microfilms delivered to a local library for you to view.

However, this is another option and that is to visit a hopefully nearby Family History Center. Due to the massive microfilm digitization project undertaken by FamilySearch you can view and download pages from the digitized version of the Marriage registers A-C, 1812-1888, for Queens County, New Brunswick found on film 851191.

Here is the entry in the digitized microfilm of the marriage register for Maria Jenkins and W F Howe.

Queens, New Brunswick, Marriage registers A-C, 1812-1888, W. F. Howe-Maria Jenkins; FHL microfilm 851,191, image 442.

However, this isn't the original source of the information. A little bit of searching within the FamilySearch Catalog for "Canada, New Brunswick, Queens" results in finding several additional catalogue entries including Marriage certificates, 1812-1887.

Queens, New Brunswick, Marriage certificates, 1812-1887, W F Howe-Maria Jenkins; FHL microfilm 1,508,597, item 1, image 549.

Without being there for the marriage or holding the original piece of paper, this is as close as you are going to get to the register entry for Maria Jenkins and W F Howe (William Franklin Howe).

Of course, those aren't the only records available but due to the ravages of time we do get bitten at times when researching Queens County. For the 1851 census of New Brunswick that took place on 11 Jan 1851 the only sub-district where that census enumeration has survived for Queens County is for Wickham found on microfilms C-996 and M-7482¹. If you had family in the Gagetown area in 1861 you are also out of luck since those records haven't survived².

We are fortunate that land books for Queens County have been preserved on microfilm and digitized for us. They can be found on FamilySearch in the New Brunswick, Queens County, deed registry books, 1786-1919; index, 1786-1993 collection. Much like the marriage registers above, there is no electronic index to bring you to the right page but with a little bit of practice and patience you can learn to find the right documents fairly quickly. Even better, unlike the digitized marriage registers and certificates, you can do the research from the comfort of your home.

The Provincial Archives of New Brunswick site also has a number of useful resources that covers Queens County that are easily and freely accessible from the comfort of your home. In no particular order:

• Vital Statistics from Government Records (RS141): These are the birth, marriage, and death records in the government records that we always hope to find. You will find the images of the actual records. Keep in mind that not all counties started keeping records at the same time and not all records may have survived.
• Daniel F Johnson's New Brunswick Newspaper Vital Statistics: This is the database created out the work primarily by Daniel F. Johnson and his extracts from newspapers. Whenever possible, try to view the source of the transcription. Sometimes you will find additional information that wasn't transcribed.
• Index to Marriage Bonds 1810-1932 (RS551A): This is only an index of the marriage bonds. Keep in mind that the bonds do not mean they actually married. To see the microfilmed copy of the original bond you will need to order the applicable microfilm through the interlibrary loan program.
• Wallace Hale's Early New Brunswick Probate, 1785-1835: This used to be a book that you could either purchase or get at your local library or archive. Now it is available online to search from your home. You will find extracts of the wills of some of the people that lived in Queens County.
• Queens County Genealogical Guide: This has been put together by the Provincial Archives of New Brunswick to let you know what records and microfilms they have in their collections.
• Place Names of New Brunswick - Queens County: If you can't quite read the name of a place that is scrawled in a record then maybe this page will be of great help. Along with a bit of information on the location often there is a cadastral map to view showing lots and owners.
• Index to New Brunswick Land Grants, 1784-1997 (RS686): A searchable index, here you will find details about the size of the grant and the microfilm, volume, and page to view the grant.

For cemeteries there are a few online resources for you to peruse:

• Find A Grave: Cemeteries in Queens County, New Brunswick: If a marker you are interested in hasn't been photographed you can always place a request. Keep in mind that it may take months (or even years) before some kind hearted person takes the photograph for you and places it on the site.
• CanadaGenWeb's Cemetery Project: This project may also have photographs of markers or point you to resources where you can find transcriptions of the markers in a cemetery
• Queens County GenWeb Cemeteries: This site has sort of survived the great Offlining of Rootsweb. Here you may be able to find images and/or transcriptions for a number of cemeteries. Be forewarned that there are still some issues with the pages with SSL security errors/warning.
• Canadian Forces Base Gagetown Cemeteries: There are 44 cemeteries on the land occupied by CFB Gagetown including some in Queens County. Most of the markers have been photographed. Make sure you read the "Introduction" page to learn more about this project.

Knowing who might have received property and goods after someone dies can help establish family relationships. The digitized microfilms in the Probate record books, 1788-1941 and Probate records, 1785-1885 collections are available for viewing at your local Family History Center. There are no quick and simple searchable indexes to those films but they have digitized the indexes to the volumes to help you find the right book to review.

Don't forget to check the Queens County Heritage site to view their virtual exhibition or, if you are a descendant of Samuel Tilley UE, read the Some Descendant of Samuel Tilley, UE c1740-1814 genealogy.

I hope that this helps you out if you too have ancestors that lived in Queens County, New Brunswick, Canada.

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1. See Districts and Sub-districts: Census of 1851, New Brunswick on the Library and Archives Canada web site to find out what other enumerations didn't survive.
2. See Districts and Sub-district: Census of 1861, New Brunswick.