Thanksgiving Special - Mayflower Ancestors

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

I am descended from 7 of the 102 passengers on the Mayflower through my mother's line. Francis Cooke, Richard Warren, and William Mullins and wife Alice Mullins are my 10th great grandparents. John Cooke (son of Francis), Priscilla Mullins (daughter of William and Alice), and John Alden are my 9th great grandparents.

William and Alice Mullins died along with 43 others in the first winter at Plymouth in 1621, but their surviving orphaned daughter, Priscilla, married John Alden.

Sarah Warren, the daughter of Richard Warren, married John Cooke (son of Francis).

Some of their descendants settled in Little Compton, Rhode Island (no relation to the Compton line). In the 1760's some of them were among the Nova Scotia settlers who received land grants to farm, after the expulsion of the French Acadians. One of them, Sarah Mosher, who was descended from all seven of these Mayflower passengers, married Francis Densmore. Francis and Sarah were the grandparents of Letitia Densmore who married John A. Hennigar (he was the subject of an earlier post on this blog), my maternal great great grandfather.

Today's re-creation of  the Pilgrim village on the shore of Plymouth Harbor.

Painting depicting 1st Thanksgiving in 1621 at Plymouth Harbor celebrating the first successful harvest - 90 Wampanoag Indian men and 52 Pilgrims.

Comment: This Mayflower connection was not known in our family until my research worked this out a few years ago. Yes, there are millions that today are descended from at least one of the Mayflower passengers, but this is pretty special to me to remember at Thanksgiving time. The hardships that they endured seeking religious freedom and settling in a strange land is sobering. As an interesting coincidence, my mother lived at "Plymouth Harbor" in Sarasota, Florida for 12 years in the "John Alden Colony" of that retirement facility.

Samuel Murray Tubbs - Part II: "A Pistol Shot"

Pedigree: Me > William R Compton II > Helen Tubbs > Samuel Tubbs (my great grandfather)

A Pistol Shot  Elmira Daily Gazette and Free Press, April 29, 1897  As a result of a sensational shooting affair which occurred in the vicinity of Baden Baden yesterday afternoon, Constable Patrick Fean placed J. George Zimmerman under arrest at 10:30 o'clock this morning while the latter was engaged in driving his milk wagon on College Avenue. The cause of all this trouble dates back for some time and involves an interesting story of family trouble. [Samuel] Tubbs and Zimmerman live on adjoining farms. In order for Tubbs to drive from his farm to another piece of property he owns he has to cross over a road on Zimmerman's property.

Mary Alice Tubbs Zimmerman

Mr. Tubbs, the complainant, was seen this morning and gave his story of the trouble as follows:
"One year ago the first of last January Zimmerman, I am sorry to say, married my daughter Alice [Tubbs]. They lived together peacefully for a while but soon the man began to treat her like a brute. He did not give her enough to eat and the only food he kept in the house was rye bread, meal, and potatoes. Last February she was compelled by his abuse to leave him. He frequently struck her and he has knocked her down. She came back to my house where she now lives and is in a delicate condition. This made a feeling between us and Zimmerman expressed that he would get even with me. The only way I can get to my land from my barn is to cross through that road on his land. It has been used by our family for over 100 years, and the lawyers tell me I have a right to use it. Zimmerman has said that I should not travel over it and I told him if he wanted to stop me it must be done through the courts. Yesterday I sent my hired man to drive to the field and Zimmerman stopped him. Accordingly I jumped in the wagon and started to drive across. Zimmerman saw me coming and jumped into an old boat to cross the river and head me off. The boat swamped, and after he got ashore he fell in the brush so that I was ahead of him and stopped when he came up. I asked him what he meant by this action and he said "I'll show you," and pulled a revolver from his pocket and said "I'll kill you." He then aimed at me point blank and fired while standing not more than 15 feet away. The shot missed me and I drove on and came to this city and escaped him. My lawyer did the rest for me. "Will your daughter take any action against him?" he was asked. "Yes, if she ever gets over her present troubles she will bring an action for divorce. When the shot was fired yesterday she heard it at the house and fainted and was unconscious for some time. Taking that and her condition she is now in bad shape. I think we have him now where he can't get away as I have a number of witnesses. He threatened me again this morning saying in the presence of witnesses "I'll get even with you."

Alice and her 2 daughters,
Helen and Karolena Zimmerman

The Rest of the Story:  
Elmira Star Gazette, Tuesday February 4, 1913. Wins In Fight For Separation. "With tears in her eyes, Mrs. Alice Zimmerman, of Elmira, told her sad story of continual abuse and inhumane treatment to Justice Andrews in Special Term at Syracuse Monday morning, and it did not take very long for her to be awarded an interlocutory decree of separation from George Zimmerman. The alimony awarded by Justice Andrews, $100 a month, is the largest amount granted in several terms. Testimony was produced to show that the husband owned real estate valued at over $12,000 and the story of his alleged transfer of this property to avoid paying his wife was told. The elder daughter, Helen Francis Zimmerman, took the stand in behalf of her mother and told her story of one assault upon Mrs. Zimmerman. This was one of the long chain of abuses to which the suffering wife was subjected and which she endured rather than leave her two children...
No separation action in years has teamed with the charges and counter charges which were offered in separation and habeas corpus litigation in this unfortunate family conflict. Fraud, forgery, threats to kill, kidnapping were offered as well as the charge that the husband once shot at his father in law. The action was undefended. Mrs. Zimmerman and her children are going back to their home and Elmira among relatives."

Helen Zimmerman

Karolena Zimmerman

Comment: Oh my, what do you say to this. Samuel Tubbs witnessed the marriage of his oldest living daughter, Mary Alice, and then things rapidly deteriorated in her marriage to the point that even his life was threatened. He died in 1900, and Alice's long standing marital problems were not resolved until 1913 when she and her 2 daughters were able to leave and live with Samuel's widow, Rosamond Brooks Tubbs. How the love between two people that brings them into a marriage can go so wrong is heartbreaking and the emotional trauma experienced by all, especially the children who had to testify against their father, can never be known.

Samuel Murray Tubbs (1835 - 1900) - Part 1

Pedigree: Me > William R. Compton (father) > Helen R. Tubbs (grandmother) > Samuel M. Tubbs (great grandfather)

Samuel Murray Tubbs was born 31 March 1835 on the Tubbs family farm homestead on the River Road about 3 miles southeast of Elmira, NY on the way to the village of Lowman. He grew up there and received his education in the county. In the 1860 Elmira census he is listed with his brother, George, and his parents, Kelsey Tubbs and Sarah Dean. On 25 October 1865, he married Rosamond Lillis Brooks who was born on 11 Feb 1847 in nearby Waverly, NY.  The wedding was held in Lowman at the home of her grandparents, George Lowman and Lillis Herrington.

Samuel M. Tubbs continued the Tubbs family farm, and he was described (in his obituary) as "one of the most progressive and prosperous of the river road farmers."  They had a family of four daughters:  Susan Tubbs (Susie), Mary Alice Tubbs, Frances Tubbs (Fanny) and Helen Tubbs (Nellie).  The first daughter, Susie, died young at age 18 months on March 6, 1868 in Waverly.

Susie Tubbs (1866 - 1868)
with her mother Rosamond.

Frances (Fanny) Tubbs
(1875 -1947),
never married.

Helen Tubbs (1877 - 1953)
My grandmother, who married
William R. Compton I in 1899.

Sometime prior to 1898, he purchased a beautiful home in Elmira at 1007 Walnut Street (which is still standing today-2010).  In the spring of 1899, Samuel developed a condition called Bright's disease (a chronic kidney inflammation resulting in edema, protein in the urine, and high blood pressure), which required him to stop his farming endeavors. He died the following year on February 15, 1900 at his Elmira house. His funeral was held there, and he was buried in the Woodlawn Cemetery in Elmira.

Comments: A hard working successful farmer in the area, his life was cut short by a severe kidney disease. He was alive when his daughter, Helen, married my grandfather. And when his daughter Alice married George Zimmerman, resulting in high drama, which I will share further in Part II.

John Anthony Hennigar (1820 - 1914)

Pedigree: Me > Norma Haynes (mother) > Lillian Laffin (grandmother) > Rosella Hennigar (great grandmother) > John A. Hennigar (2nd great grandfather)

John Anthony Hennigar was born on 1 October 1820, the first child of George Hennigar and Ruth Anthony. He was christened at St. Paul's Anglican Church in nearby Rawdon on February 25, 1821. John is listed on the Hants County school returns as age 10 in November 1829, identified as the son of George Hennigar. In December 1829 he is listed as a member of the third class. He is listed as age 12 in 1833, studying penmanship and mental arithmetic, and is described as an "obedient attentive Scholar."

He married Letitia Densmore (born 31 March 1823 - daughter of Phillip Densmore and Jane McCartney) on January 18, 1851 at Noel Road, probably at the home of Letitia's parents.  On all of the censuses John is listed as being able to read and write, and a farmer as his primary occupation. But he was also a carpenter and built his home in Upper Kennetcook, standing on a hilltop, where his eight children (five girls and three boys) were born and grew up.  My great grandmother, Rose Ellen (Rosella) Hennigar, was born the fifth child and third daughter on 27 September 1859, and became the wife of Asa Laffin.

This is the house on the hill in Upper Kennetcook built by John Hennigar.

Recollections from my grandmother, Lillian Laffin:
Sometime during his older years, John was traveling home from the grocery store and a tree branch hit him in the eye and it became infected.  The infection spread to the other eye and he became blind. He was known as "Blind John."  He was cared for by his wife Letitia until she died in 1907 of pneumonia.  He then moved in with Asa and Rosella Laffin for a few years and then returned to live with his son Samuel Hennigar who also lived in Upper Kennetcook.  He died there in 1914 and is buried in the Upper Kennetcook Anglican Church cemetery along with his wife.

Comments:
It appears that John was a good student, developing his reading, writing and math skills. He married late at age 30. Eight children was not a large family in rural Nova Scotia at the time, especially for farmers, with the family members all contributing to the farm and household chores. Having the skills to build his own home, which has withstood the test of time, attests to his many talents.
Medical care in the area at the time was pretty basic and there were no antibiotic treatments available, so it was so tragic to go blind from that accident. But fortunately he was looked after, assisted and cared for by his wife and daughter and son until his death. This attests to the sacrifices and love of family caring for one another.