GENEALOGICAL
[All communications for this department (including genealogical publications for review) should be sent to William Prescott Greenlaw, Commonwealth Hotel, Boston.]
QUERIES
27 a. Allen—In 1808, William B. Allen began to publish in Haverhill, Mass., The Merrimack Intelligencer. In February, 1812, he took his brother, H. G. Allen (Horatio Gates Allen?) into partnership. January 1, 1814, H. G. Allen, who had bought the interest of William B. in 1813, “sold out his paper, printing office and book store to William Greenough and Nathan Burrill.” [Chase’s History of Haverhill.] Wanted, the names of parents and birthplace of Wm. B. and H. G. Allen.
b. Howard—Benjamin Howard, born in 1691, resided in Chelmsford, Mass. Whose daughter was his wife, Mary?
c. Snow—Samuel Howard, b. 1731, son of Benjamin and Mary, married (Int. pub. Sept., 1758), Mary Snow. Who was she?
d. Wright—Mary, wife of Timothy Wright of Stoneham, Mass., died Oct. 27, 1755, aged 45 years (gravestone). Who was she? Timothy Wright’s second wife whom he married in 1756 was Mary Green, the widow of Thomas Green.
e. Perry—Who was Deborah Perry of Lynnfield, who married, Feb. 14, 1796, Wright Newhall? She died in August, 1855, aged 80. G2.
ANSWERS
19 a. Chamberlain—James Savage derived his information relative to Rebecca Chamberlain from Farmer’s and Moore’s “Historical Collections” (vol. II, p. 70), published at Concord, New Hampshire, in 1823, and republished in Smith’s “Boston News-Letter” (vol. I, p. 232), in 1826.
The article on the “Early History of Billerica, Mass.,” in the “Historical Collections,” although unsigned was doubtless prepared by John Farmer himself, as he had published in 1816 his “Historical Memoir of Billerica.”
In the article in the “Historical Collections” here referred to we read: “Though there is no positive evidence that any of the inhabitants of Billerica were put upon trial for the supposed crime of witchcraft in the time of this delusion, yet it may be safely inferred that several were suspected and one or two apprehended. Besides the authority of Hutchinson, the town records inform us that during the height of the delusion, two persons were in the prison at Cambridge, and that they both died there. Rebecca, wife of William Chamberlain, died there Sept. 26, 1692, and John Durant, Oct. 27, 1692. They were probably both victims of the infatuation which prevailed at that time.”
The writer has made a careful examination of the original court files of Middlesex County for 1691 and 1692 and finds nothing for or against Farmer’s statements. However, John Farmer, a native of the town of Chelmsford, adjoining Billerica, does not write as though this phase of his subject were traditional with him, but rather conjectural.
Geo. W. Chamberlain,
Weymouth, Mass.
20 d. Gridley—On Dec 19, 1717, John Gridley, then of Beverly, Mass., married Joanna, daughter of Josiah8 Dodge, of Wenham, Mass. [Genealogy of the Dodge Family of Essex County, page 35.]
g. Parrott—Mrs. Martha Parrott of Greenland, N. H., in 1805 was the widow of John Parrott, whom she had married after the death of his first wife, and by whom she had one son, Enoch Greenleaf Parrott, named for a friend of the family, Enoch Greenleaf, of Weston, Mass. Mrs. Parrott’s maiden name was Brackett; she was probably a daughter of James and Martha (Cate) Brackett, of Greenland, N. H. X.