Last updated 5 Aug 2021

Several of our ancestors arrived as part of the Winthrop Fleet 

On the Arabella ( the flagship, designated "Admiral" in the consortship) in 1630:

* Captain Edward Johnson

* John Taylor

Rev. John Wilson was a Puritan clergyman in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the minister of the First Church of Boston from its beginnings in Charlestown in 1630 until his death in 1667. Born into a prominent English family from Sudbury in Suffolk, his father was the chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus held a high position in the Anglican Church. Young Wilson was sent to school at Eton for four years, and then attended the university at King's College, Cambridge, where he received his B.A. in 1610. 

As with many other Puritan divines, Wilson came to New England, and sailed with his friend John Winthrop and the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He was the first minister of the settlers, who established themselves in Charlestown.

Thomas Starr was an early resident of Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts having arrived with his family in 1639. 

He was a physician and surgeon who served during the Pequot War and later in life when he was living in Charlestown was Clerk of the Writs. 

Above: Captain Edward Johnson stands to the left of Thomas Carter (center). From left to right standing: John Cotton, Richard Mather, John Elliot, Edward Johnson, Thomas Carter and John Wilson. This picture hangs in the Woburn Public Library.

This painting is of great historic interest, since it represents some of the first settlers of Woburn, Massachusetts.  The establishment of the church preceded the incorporation of the town, as was customary in those days.  Woburn was originally a grant of land made in 1640, by the General Court of Massachusetts to Charlestown, and was known as "Charlestowne Village."  On 5 November 1640, the Church of Charlestown chose seven men as Commissioners "for the erection of a Church and Town upon the recent grant of the Court."  On 8 February 1641, the Commissioners came from Charlestown to find a suitable location.  The Meeting House was built on land now occupied by the Common.  The ordination, as illustrated, followed.  On 27 September 1642, the General Court incorporated Woburn with these five words:  "Charlestowne Village is called Wooburne."

The characters represented in the painting are as follows:  Beginning at the left (standing) is John Cotton, Minister of the First Church of Boston;  Richard Mather, Minister of the First Church of Dorchester;  John Elliot, Apostle to the Indians from the FIrst Church of Roxbury;  Capt. Edward Johnson, one of the founders of both the church and town of Woburn;  Thomas Carter, one of the lay members of the church;  John Wilson, Minister of the First Church of Charlestown; and finally, a visiting minister, unnamed.  Seated on the bench with his hat beside him is Increase Nowell, Magistrate from Charlestown.  The others are members of the church.

 Samuel Danforth was a Puritan minister, preacher, poet, and astronomer, the second pastor of The First Church in Roxbury. 

During this time he published three almanacs (for 1647, 1648, and 1649), which are the earliest surviving American examples of the form. These almanacs included his own original poetry (some in the form of enigmas or word puzzles), and are among the earliest examples of secular verse published in New England. They also contained—in addition to celestial tables, tide tables, calendars, and dates of court sessions—brief chronologies of significant events in New England's history. In 1650 he became pastor at The First Church in Roxbury, He married Mary Wilson (1633–1713), daughter of the Rev. John Wilson of Boston, with whom he had twelve children in 24 years.   Our direct ancestor was his son, John Danforth, born in 1660.

No copies of his "Catechism" (published in 1650 or 1651) are known to have survived (see Roden, The Cambridge Press 1638-1692). He published An Astronomical Description of the Late Comet in 1665.

4th Royal Governor of Maryland

Nicholas Greenberry was the 4th Royal Governor of Maryland, and Commander of the Military Forces of Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties.  On 2 March 1695, Nicholas Greenberry was on the high Court of Chancery of Maryland. 

Captain John Taylor was killed by Indians in 1704 during the Massacre of Pascocummuck.  He was in pursuit of the Indians after their attack which destroyed the hamlet of Pascommuck in Easthampton, Massachusetts on May 13, 1704. His body was never recovered and his actual final resting place is not known. A cenotaph is posted here. 

Preached to Paul Revere

Samuel Dunbar was born in 1704 in Stoneham, Massachusetts. His father died when he was just 4 years old. At a very early age he attracted the attention of the Reverend Cotton Mather. (who is best remembered for his views on witchcraft and the subsequent hangings at Salem). In 1727 Dunbar became the minister of the first parish in Stoughton (which later became Canton). The image of the man in a “long black gown, his snow white bands, his flowing gray wig, his black short-clothes, his knee and shoe buckles” stir a very proper picture of a righteous man.

In 1755 Dunbar, acting as chaplain, accompanied Paul Revere to fight against the French at Crown Point for the British. But by 1774 Dunbar's allegiance had changed to the side of the Patriots. On Tuesday, August 16, 1774, delegates gathered at Doty Tavern, at the foot of the Blue Hill, to hold a “Congress.” This meeting would bring about the emancipation from the king. What would become known as the Suffolk Resolves was first discussed at this meeting. Dunbar, against the advice of family, friends and fellow ministers, attended the meeting and opened with a prayer that was described as “the most extraordinary liberty prayer” ever heard. He was the first minister to publicly read the Declaration of Independence from the pulpit. 

The Ring

As was the custom for the wealthy at the time of his passing, a ring was cast  as a Memento Mori. These rings would be given as gifts to those closest friends as a way of signifying the importance of the man and as a literal reminder that you too shall “remember your mortality.”

It is believed that the ring for Dunbar was cast by Paul Revere himself as the inscription reads: “Rev’d Saml. Dunbar June 15, 1783 AE 78” and a makers mark “PR.”

Anson Hayden was Janda's greatx4 grandfather. He was active in the Canadian Rebellions of 1837-38. He was the Chair of a 168 person committee who signed a letter to Parliament calling for reforms. He was arrested but after his release he moved to New York where he lived the rest of his life. He was a Physician and operated an Inn in New York.

H.D. McMeekin was an early Kansas territory pioneer who founded the town of Indianola, Kansas, was the proprietor of several prominent Topeka hotels (the Tefft House and the Topeka House). He was very involved in local politics and the movement to prevent Kansas from becoming a free state (he was pro-slavery and even was part of the bogus legislature during the 'bleeding Kansas' years).

Judge Jacob Safford was a Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from January 9, 1865 to January 9, 1871. He was the son of Jacob J. Safford who founded Oberlin College. He was educated at Oberlin where he also married and was admitted to the bar in 1854.

He started his law practice in Norwalk, Ohio before moving to Nebraska City.  He then relocated to Kansas in 1858 first to Lawrence, then Tecumseh, Kansas then to Topeka, Kansas where he lived for the rest of his life. Family lore says they built the first brick house in Topeka and that they came "overland" from the east coast in wagons.

Saffordville, Kansas was named after him sometime in the 1860s. 

Dr. Lawrence Safford (McMeekin) Chamberlain was a physician and later the Mayor of Coronado, California in the early 1900s.

The St John sailed from England and arrived in the colonies July of 1639.  On June 1, 1639, while still at sea, the heads of the families aboard the ship drew up and signed an agreement known as the Guilford Compact or Plantation Covenant. Among those signers are our ancestors William Hall and John Bishop. 

Several of our ancestors were part of various witchcraft trails including one posthumously, John Stebbins.

His death was apparently considered 'suspicious' when runaway logs killed him. This caused some in the town to say that he had been practicing witchcraft.  "On 7 March 1679 John Stebbins of Northampton, died suddenly and mysteriously. An examination of the body showed, “warmth and heate in his body that dead persons are not usual to have”  - this along with strange bruising and other marks caused suspicion of witchcraft.

John Stebbins owned a sawmill, and although some (now) think his death was caused by runaway logs hitting him, some of the townspeople back then thought his death was due to witchcraft. One reason for suspicion is that his former wife, Abigail Bartlett was  the sister of Samuel Bartlett, whose wife Mary was accused of killing through witchcraft in the 1675 Boston trial. 

Samuel Bartlett seemed to be the community’s ‘witch finder’ and he brought in testimony to the inquest concerning the death of John Stebbins. The court of inquest rendered a verdict that did not directly charge anyone with witchcraft, but at least half of the twelve male jurors believed that witchcraft had been involved. Evidence was then sent to the Boston Court of Assistants, but unfortunately that information has not survived either. There was no further action taken.

John Sharp Sr. was a soldier at the Battle of Point Pleasant during Dunmore’s War on October 10, 1774 in Colonial Virginia and served under the command of Captain John Floyd. He also served as a soldier in the Militia of Fincastle, Colony of Virginia during the American Revolution. He is a DAR Patriot, Number: A102958, and he is a SAR Patriot, Number P-287792. John became an Indian trader and moved south with other members of the family in 1765, when he was in his mid-forties, to the Holston River area on the Virginia-Tennessee border to become among the first permanent settlers of the area. In the spring of that year.  

 Samuel Danforth was a Puritan minister, preacher, poet, and astronomer, the second pastor of The First Church in Roxbury. 

During this time he published three almanacs (for 1647, 1648, and 1649), which are the earliest surviving American examples of the form. These almanacs included his own original poetry (some in the form of enigmas or word puzzles), and are among the earliest examples of secular verse published in New England. They also contained—in addition to celestial tables, tide tables, calendars, and dates of court sessions—brief chronologies of significant events in New England's history. In 1650 he became pastor at The First Church in Roxbury, He married Mary Wilson (1633–1713), daughter of the Rev. John Wilson of Boston, with whom he had twelve children in 24 years.   Our direct ancestor was his son, John Danforth, born in 1660.

No copies of his "Catechism" (published in 1650 or 1651) are known to have survived (see Roden, The Cambridge Press 1638-1692). He published An Astronomical Description of the Late Comet in 1665.

Thomas Starr was an early resident of Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts having arrived with his family in 1639. 

He was a physician and surgeon who served during the Pequot War and later in life when he was living in Charlestown was Clerk of the Writs. 

Rev. John Wilson was a Puritan clergyman in Boston in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and the minister of the First Church of Boston from its beginnings in Charlestown in 1630 until his death in 1667. Born into a prominent English family from Sudbury in Suffolk, his father was the chaplain to the Archbishop of Canterbury, and thus held a high position in the Anglican Church. Young Wilson was sent to school at Eton for four years, and then attended the university at King's College, Cambridge, where he received his B.A. in 1610. 

As with many other Puritan divines, Wilson came to New England, and sailed with his friend John Winthrop and the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He was the first minister of the settlers, who established themselves in Charlestown.

4th Royal Governor of Maryland

Nicholas Greenberry was the 4th Royal Governor of Maryland, and Commander of the Military Forces of Anne Arundel and Baltimore Counties.  On 2 March 1695, Nicholas Greenberry was on the high Court of Chancery of Maryland. 

Captain John Taylor was killed by Indians in 1704 during the Massacre of Pascocummuck.  He was in pursuit of the Indians after their attack which destroyed the hamlet of Pascommuck in Easthampton, Massachusetts on May 13, 1704. His body was never recovered and his actual final resting place is not known. A cenotaph is posted here. 

Judge Jacob Safford was a Justice of the Kansas Supreme Court from January 9, 1865 to January 9, 1871. He was the son of Jacob J. Safford who founded Oberlin College. He was educated at Oberlin where he also married and was admitted to the bar in 1854.

He started his law practice in Norwalk, Ohio before moving to Nebraska City.  He then relocated to Kansas in 1858 first to Lawrence, then Tecumseh, Kansas then to Topeka, Kansas where he lived for the rest of his life. Family lore says they built the first brick house in Topeka and that they came "overland" from the east coast in wagons.

Saffordville, Kansas was named after him sometime in the 1860s. 

Dr. Lawrence Safford (McMeekin) Chamberlain was a physician and later the Mayor of Coronado, California in the early 1900s.

Anson Hayden was Janda's greatx4 grandfather. He was active in the Canadian Rebellions of 1837-38. He was the Chair of a 168 person committee who signed a letter to Parliament calling for reforms. He was arrested but after his release he moved to New York where he lived the rest of his life. He was a Physician and operated an Inn in New York.

Several of our ancestors fought in the Battle of Dunbar (1650) in Scotland including Duncan Stewart who  was captured by the army of Cromwell, and with the other prisoners taken in those battles sent to the American Colonies, and indentured as servants to the Colonists. 

Archbishop of York, John Sharp, preached at the coronation of Queen Anne and became her Lord High Almoner and confidential adviser in matters of church and state. His diary makes it clear that she often confided State business to him and listened carefully to any arguments he made. 

4th Royal Governor of Maryland