Rebecca Nurse Homestead Danvers MA

Some Sources to Check out
Essex Institute Historical Collections Essex Institute Press, 1886

General Grenville Mellon Dodge Corps Commander Civil War

January 4 1916 Article See Laura George Fort Dodge, Home of Heroes 
Gen Dodge b. April 12, 1831 son of Sylvanus Dodge and Julia Theresa Phillips Dodge. From the time of his birth until he was 13 years old, Dodge moved frequently while his father tried various occupations. In 1844, Sylvanus Dodge became postmaster of the South Danvers office and opened a bookstore. While working at a neighboring farm, the 14-year-old Grenville met the owner's son, Frederick W. Lander, and helped him survey a railroad. Lander was to become "one the ablest surveyors of the exploration of the West," according to Charles Edgar Ames in Pioneering the Union Pacific. Lander was impressed with Dodge and encouraged him to go to his alma mater, Norwich University (in Vermont). Dodge prepared for college by attending Durham Academy in New Hampshire
In 1851, he graduated from Norwich University with a degree in civil engineering, then moved to Iowa, where he settled in the Missouri River city of Council Bluffs. For the next decade, he was involved in surveying for railroads, including the Union Pacific. He married Ruth Anne Browne on May 29, 1854. He was also a partner in the Baldwin & Dodge banking firm, and in 1860 served on the Council Bluffs City Council. 

General John H. Ketchum, New York, General James A. Garfield, General Grenville M. Dodge, Honorable Thomas H. Boyd, Pennsylvania, Honorable James A. Pyle, General Green B. Raum, Illinois, E.V. Smalley, Honorable Henry D. Washburn, Indiana From Naval Archives 

Ruth Anne Brown was born on May 23, 1833, in Peru, Illinois. d. of  Warren Browne (1792 - 1855) and Ruth Ann Kinney Browne (1790 - 1859)

The Black Angel - Ruth Anne Dodge Memorial From Iowa Civil War Monuments
Ruth Anne Dodge, wife of General Grenville Dodge, had a dream or vision shortly before she died in 1916. This vision had an angel at the prow of a boat carrying a small bowl and extending her other arm toward Mrs. Dodge. The daughters of the Dodges commissioned a sculptor, Daniel Chester French, to design a monument based on this vision. French is best known as the designer of the seated Lincoln in the Memorial in Washington D. C. The bronze statue is known as the Black Angel. It is adjacent to Fairview Cemetery on Lafayette Avenue.

Grenville Dodge (1831-1916) by David Lotter

Rev Samuel Parris site excavation and sermons transcribed Danvers MA

From the Archives Parris excavation article, on Witch Craft Trials, Danvers Historical Society and historian Richard Trask and Rev Howard Oliver Stearns, former pastor at First Congregational Church of Danvers who helped to transcribe the sermons of Rev Samuel Parris. The article below can be sent by Richard Trask. If you would like a pdf please send a request.

Danvers Ma 4th graders field trip Richard Trask, archivist giving a talk from inside foundation 1971 Science Digest Magazine

                         Photo From Blog  Witch Caves, Salem End Road 

Howard Oliver Stearns, JR (1925-1999) Clergyman and social activist. He married Barbara Dorcas Holmes, June 19, 1952.

Reverend Samuel Parris (1653-1720) - Samuel Parris was the Puritan minister in Salem Village, Massachusetts during the Salem witch trials, as well as the father of one of the afflicted girls, Elizabeth Parris, and the uncle of another -- Abigail Williams. 

Stearns Danvers House.  This saltbox originally was three stories and was located in another part of Danvers.  At some point it was moved to 139 Centre, 1800’s, by 20 pair of oxen on log rollers.   Cut back down to two stories.   Eventually it was owned by the Jasper Marsh family and the addition built on the back.  We lived here 1961 to 1966. It was torn down in the late 1960’s to build I-95.  

 Rev Stearns and his family around Easter time in Danvers home 1966

Ruth and Anne Stearns, daughters od Howard Stearns  at the Endicott Pear Tree

The dedication of the St. Luke’s Chapel at the Danvers State Hospital.   This group worked for a long time to pull together building a chapel for the patients, and daughter, Ruth Stearns remembers going up there a lot as it was being built, and going to this ceremony, dated 1964.  Rev Stearns is on the far right.  The clergyman on the far left is Don Zimmerman, Episcopal minister in Danvers.   The minister in the center is Harold Beede, Chaplain at the State Hospital.  Next to him is Margaret Crofts, a member of Stearns church.  Her daughter was Stearns babysitter and the church organist.  The Beede's  lived near the common on Centre Street. 

A Christmas Gift for Francis S Dodge Brigadier General

Washington, Dec. 20th, 1879. To Capt. F. S. Dodge, 9th Cavalry: 

The President wishes to make you a Christmas present in the form of an appointment of Paymaster. The vacancy does not occur until Jan. 1st, 1880. It will therefore be a New Year’s gift. Please acknowledge receipt. E. D. TOWNSEND, Adjutant General.”

Francis Safford Dodge b. Sep. 11, 1842 son of son of Francis Dodge (b.January 25, 1817 Salem, MA) and Rebecca Appleton Brown (b. January 23, 1821) d. Feb. 29, 1908 Washington, D C m. December 3, 1878 Mary Hunt Weston b.October 8, 1847 Danvers, MA d. 1931 For more info and genealogy visit The Archival Center Danvers Peabody Institute Library 
F S Dodge was awarded the Medal of Honor for his service and that of his troops during the Indian Wars. Date of issue: 2 April 1898. Citation: Troop D. Action: Near White River Agency, Colo., 29 September 1879. With a force of 40 men rode all night to the relief of a command that had been defeated and was besieged by an overwhelming force of Indians, reached the field at daylight, joined in the action and fought for 3 days. from The Dodge Family Association
Report of the Committee Appointed to Revise the Soldiers' Record By Committee Appointed to Revise the Soldiers' Record, Eben Putnam m. 9 Oct., 1861, Co. F, 23d Inf. corp.; 9 Oct., 1861, transferred to 1st U.S. colored Cavl, 20 Dec, 1863, as 1st Lt.; Capt., 6 July, 1865; dis. 12 Feb., 1866 ; 1st Lt., 9th Cav. U. S. A. 28 July, 1866 ; Capt., 31 July, 1867; Major and Paymaster, 13 Jan., 1880. Now stationed at Walla Walla, Washington.

 Article on Dodge Farm in The Boston Journal on Thursday October 16, 1873

The following letter of congratulation from General Crook was very much prized by Captain Dodge:
Rawlins, Wyoming Territory, October 8th, 1879. Capt. Francis S. Dodge, 9th Regt. Cavalry:

Your recent gallant, rapid and successful march and charge to the relief of Capt. Payne and his command, surrounded by a largely superior force on Milk River, Colorado, affords me an opportunity which I seize with pleasure totender to you and your command my hearty congratulations and thanks. This daring march, in the face of imminent danger, to the relief of your comrades in arms, whose condition was critical, if not desperate, has made for yourself and your company a record of which every brave soldier may well be proud. 

Very sincerely your friend,

Gaoxen Caoox, Brig. Gen’l. 

At the age of nineteen, in 1861, he enlisted in the army, in the famous company of Col. George M. Whipple of Salem, "Whipple's Jewels." His entire service of four years was distinguished by unusual bravery under fire, which earned for him a Captaincy in the 2d U. S. Cavalry in 1865. Four years' service apparently had not impaired his taste for militarj'- life, and in 1866 he received an appointment in the regular army. As Captain of the 9th Cavalry, from 1867 to 1879, during which time he took part in some of the most thrilling conflicts with the Indians in the West, he was breveted and received a vote of thanks from the Wyoming legislature and a medal from Congress. In further recognition of his services the President, in 1879, made him a Christmas present of the appointment of Paymaster. From that time until the breaking out of the Spanish war his work often took him to the remotest parts of (See Essex Institute Hist. Coll., Vol. 46, p. 97) the country, and in 1896 he was promoted to Chief Paymaster of the Department of Texas. In 1898, he was transferred to Atlanta, as Chief Paymaster of the Department of the Gulf, and in the summer of that year was ordered to Santiago, Cuba, and thence to Porto Rico, sailing with 18 safes containing a million dollars, stowed away in two staterooms. He also had charge of the payment of the three million dollars ordered by our government to be paid to the Cuban army. In 1901 General Dodge, then holding the rank of Major, became Lieutenant-Colonel and Deputy Paymaster-General, and in 1904 he was appointed Paymaster-General with the rank of Brigadier-General. General Dodge contracted the yellow fever in Cuba, which seriously impaired his health, but upon his retirement in 1906, he bought a house in Washington, expecting to make it his home. He passed away February 19, 1908, and was buried in the National Cemetery at Arlington. General Dodge had a high sense of honor in public and private life; loyalty to his country and his friends. From The Chronicles of Danvers Old Salem Village by Harriet Silvester Tapley

Surname Wilson of Salem and Danvers, Massachusetts

A Great Share from Heather Wilkinson Rojo and her blog, Nutfield Genealogy

Robert Wilson was born about 1630, and lived in Salem, Massachusetts.  It is unknown where he came from before he arrived in New England, and it is unknown when he arrived.  However, he left some very interesting, yet sad and sorrowful, records during his life. 

His first wife was Deborah Buffum, daughter of Robert Buffum and Tamosen Ward.  In 1662, as the mother of two infant children she professed to being a Quaker, which was dangerous in Puritan Salem, Massachusetts.  Not only that, she went naked to the Puritan meetinghouse to protest the “spiritual nakedness”.  She was sentenced to be tied to a cart and whipped until she came to her own house.

 

 

Daniel Rumball, the constable “was loathe to do it, but was ordered to do his duty.  Robert Wilson (it may be presumed in collusion with Rumball, though neither was a Quaker) followed after, clapping his hat sometimes between the whip and his wife’s back.”   (from the book The Peabody Story by John A. Wells, 1973, Essex Institute, Salem, MA, pages 136 -7)

Although kind hearted Robert Wilson helped his wife, she died soon after in 1668.  Robert remarried to Anna Trask, the widow of Joseph Perry Foster, in 1674. They had one child together before he was called to join the Essex County militia with Captain Thomas Lothrop to protect Deerfield, Massachusetts.  Seventy men, along with Robert Wilson, were killed at in a massacre at a brook near Deerfield on 18 September 1675.  Only seven or eight men escaped this massacre.  The brook was renamed “Bloody Brook”.

Bloody Brook Monument

From the Essex Quarterly Court Records, volume 6, leaf 19

Administration upon the estate of Robert Wilson, intestate, was granted 28, 4m, 1681 unto Ann, the relict, who brought in an inventory amounting to about 150 pounds, and whereas there is some legacy or something of an estate of Tamosen Buffum's which of right is to belong to Robert and Deborah, children of the deceased, the court ordered that Ann should pay out of this estate into the inventory, to Robert the eldest son 14 pounds, and to Deborah aforesaid, children by his first wife, and to Anna, John, Mary and Elizabeth children by Ann, 7 pounds each, at age or marriage, the house and land to stand bound by security.

If you look at the genealogy below, you will notice a lot of Robert Wilsons, and the Essex County records are full of even more Robert Wilsons.  How did I manage to figure out which Roberts belonged to what lines?  Not without help! I was at the New England Historic Genealogical Society library one day, and when I had trouble finding a book on the shelves the librarian, David Dearborn, asked me which surname I was researching.  When he heard I was looking for Salem, Massachusetts Wilsons he introduced me to a series of books written by researcher Ken Stevens of Walpole, New Hampshire.  Ken Stevens wrote all his books about Wilsons from all over New England.  I wrote to Mr. Stevens (it was before email) and he sent me all his research notes on the Salem Wilsons.  He had not included these particular Wilsons in a book yet.   He confirmed my line, too!   The NEHGS library has his papers on Wilson research in their manuscript collection.  Kenneth C. Stevens passed away in 2010.

My Wilson lineage (note the five Robert Wilsons and one Robert Wilson Wilkinson in the first eight generations!):

Generation 1:  Robert Wilson, born about 1630, died on 18 September 1675 in Deerfield, Massachusetts at the Bloody Brook Massacre; married first to Deborah Buffum, daughter of Robert Buffum and Tamosen Ward, on 12 August 1658 in Marblehead, Massachusetts.  She was born about 1639 and died about 1668 and had two children including Robert Wilson, Jr. (see below).  He married second to Anna Trask, daughter of Henry Trask and Mary Southwick, widow of Joseph Perry Foster, and had one child.

Generation 2: Robert Wilson, born about 1662, and died before 17 January 1717; married about 1685 to Elizabeth Cook, daughter of Isaac Cook and Elizabeth Buxton. Four children.  He is listed in his grandmother’s will (Tamosine Buffum, Essex County Probate #30139).  He was the first Wilson to own property near the Wilson Square area of what is now Peabody, Massachusetts.

Generation 3: Isaac Wilson, born about 1691; married Mary Stone, daughter of Samuel Stone and Mary Treadwell, on 9 January 1718 in Salem, Massachusetts. Six children. He was a carpenter.

Generation 4: Robert Wilson, born about 1724, died before 10 July 1782 in Danvers, Massachusetts (now Peabody); married to Elizabeth Southwick, daughter of John Southwick and Mary Trask on 26 May 1744 in Salem, Massachusetts. Four children.  He was a prominent potter who lived where Route 114 now crosses Route 128 in Peabody.  The Wilson family burial ground still exists there behind the Kappy’s Liquor Store.  The Wilsons were known for black pottery that can be seen on exhibit at the Peabody Historical Society.

Generation 5: Robert Wilson born about 1746 and died 4 June 1797 in Danvers (now Peabody); married on 23 March 1775 in Danvers to Sarah Felton, daughter of Malachi Felton and Abigail Jacobs.  Nine children.  He is buried at the Wilson burial ground, and Sarah was buried in 1836, forty years later, across the street at the Felton burial ground.

Generation 6: Robert Wilson, born 5 September 1776 in Danvers, died on 9 November 1803 in Danvers; married on 8 May 1800 to Mary Southwick, daughter of George Southwick and Sarah Platts.   Two children. Robert and Mary Wilson are buried at the Wilson burial ground.

Generation 7: Mercy F. Wilson, born 17 June 1803 in Peabody, died on 9 October 1883 in Peabody; married on 23 June 1829 in Danvers to Aaron Wilkinson, son of William Wilkinson and Mercy Nason, born in South Berwick, Maine on 22 February 1802, and died on 25 November 1879 in Peabody, Massachusetts. Eleven children.

Generation 8: Robert Wilson Wilkinson m. Phebe Cross Munroe

Generation 9: Albert Munroe Wilkinson m. Isabella Lyons Bill

Generation 10:  Donald Munroe Wilkinson m. Bertha Louise Roberts (my grandparents)

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This Wilson family has not been written up in any compiled genealogy or articles in any genealogical journals.  Ken Stevens had notes on this lineage, but had not finished his research on the other lines of the Salem/Danvers/Peabody Wilsons for a book or article.   Most of what I put together here was gleaned from vital records and probate.  There is a bit of information on the Wilson potters to be found in books on the subject, such as this excerpt fromEarly New England Potters and Their Wares by Lura Woodside Watkins, Harvard University Press, 1950, pages 65-66.

"The Wilsons were a prominent family of artisans.  Their homestead included the land near 141 Andover Street and eastward where 128 now crosses it.  The first two potting Wilsons were sons of Robert, a farmer.  They were Robert, known as Robert, Jr. who remained in Danvers, and Joseph, who went to Dedham and thence to Providence, Rhode Island.  When Robert, Jr., died in 1782, he left property worth 627 pounds, including six lots of land, his house, barn, potter's shop, and cornhouse, a riding chair, and a large personal estate.  He seems to have done well in his trade.  His son Robert, known as Robert 2d, and a younger son Job were potters.  By an order of the court, Robert 3d, as administrator of his father's estate, was obliged to sell a large part of the elder Robert's property to pay certain debts.  This was not done until April 9, 1793, when two thirds of the land and buildings, and an interest in the business was aquired by Isaac Wilson 3d.  He, too, was a craftsman in clay.  The three Wilsons ran the shop together for a time, but Robert 3d, and Job both passed away before 1800, while Robert's son Robert, who had worked but a short time as a potter, died three years later at the age of twenty-seven.  Upon Isaac's decease in 1809, this early pottery must have come to an end." 

Click Link fo more information on Robert Wilson’swife, Deborah, and her “Naked Protest”

For more information on the Wilson Burial Ground in Peabody, see this link: