MARTINI FAMILY------THOMAS WHITLOW AND GENERAL WASHINGTON'S ARMY

      When Thomas WHITLOW marched into the camp of the Continental Army at Valley Forge in May of 1778, he must have been discouraged by what he witnessed. George Washington had moved his 10,000 men Army into the area twenty miles northwest of the British Army in Philadelphia, only five months earlier, to remain there until Spring when the weather would permit both the British and Americans to resume the War. But the winter had been very harsh. For the first 3 months at Valley Forge, only a third of the Army had shoes...in mid-winter...clothing and food were scarce....so much so that 4,000 men were listed as "unfit for duty"...and that wasn't the worst.  In the Pennsylvania winter of 1777-1778, over 2,500 soldiers died from starvation, exposure, and disease.  Thomas must have asked himself, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Cabin replica at Valley Forge, PA

     Young Thomas WHITLOW was 20 years old when he arrived at Valley Forge, and it had been a long march from his parents' home in Mecklenburg County, Virginia.  Thomas had worked on the farm for his parents, Henry and Ann Mealer WHITLOW, during the first two years of the American Revolution, but the conflict had not been going well for General Washington and his Army. Washington made a request for more men to be drafted to fill the dwindling ranks before the Spring on 1778.....men lost by death, injury, desertion, and the winter at Valley Forge. Captain Henry Dudley, replacing his brother Ambrose Dudley as a Company Commander in the 2nd Virginia State Line, gladly swore the men into service.....not only as a Virginia militia unit...but as full-fledged Continental Army soldiers assigned to none other than the Commander-in Chief George Washington.....an honor Thomas may or may not have desired that winter. Thomas and the 2nd Regiment had stopped in Philadelphia to be issued the Continental uniforms they would wear while with the Main Army, and the off to Valley Forge.

Continental Army uniforms....when they had them

     Within a few weeks of his arrival at camp, Thomas WHITLOW marched off to War with everyone else, when word came that the British had left Philadelphia and were on the move.  Washington's Army first re-captured Philadelphia, and then headed north to chase the British who were now heading toward New York, and Thomas' Regiment was ordered to get rid of their knapsacks and blankets, allowing them to go faster in the chase. On the 28th of June, 1778,  General Washington and his Army met other American soldiers in full retreat at Monmouth, New Jersey, who had been fighting, and losing ground, to the British Army close behind them. The Continental Army dug in near the Old Tennant Church, and waited for the British Army to arrive, at which time Washington ordered the cannons to open fire on the entrenched Englishmen.  When the smoke cleared and dawn broke on the 29th, the British Army had quietly left Monmouth and abandoned the ground to the American Patriots.....a "win" for the Continental Army. Never before in the Revolutionary War had the Continental Army stood its ground against the main British Army, even though it did not stop the British from continuing to New York. Thomas WHITLOW had survived his first battle, and taken part in one of the major events in the fight for Independence...all in his first six months of duty.

 

Stony Point, New York

Old Tennant Church, Monmouth NJ, built 1751

      -Deciding not to face the Continental Army head-on again, the British Army had removed themselves to New York City, while the American Army settled in at White Plains, New York in August, 1778. There were no more major engagements for Thomas WHITLOW and the Continental Army that year......our Army watched their Army.  As winter neared, Thomas and his fellow soldiers set up camp near Middlesboro, New Jersey, where they remained from November 1778 until June 1779. Thomas' 2nd Virginia Regiment saw action again on July 16, 1779, under the leadership of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne at Stony Point, New York, a peninsula that stuck out into the Hudson River.  The Continentals routed the British by a midnight surprise raid on the fort the English were building, resulting in the surrender of all inside. This joyous moment was the last major engagement with the British in the northern colonies for the remainder of the War. Shortly afterward, Thomas and many other Virginia troops were released from their active duty with Washington's Army, and they returned home to spend the remainder of their service protecting their fellow Virginians. The remainder of the 2nd Virginia Regiment went on to Charleston, South Carolina, where the British captured the entire Regiment in May, 1780.  Thomas completed his two years in early Spring 1780, and started a new life as a 22 year old war veteran. His pay for the Patriot service was 59 pounds, 11 shillings, and 7 pence......whatever that's worth, it wasn't enough for a farm boy staring across the field at the British Army.

     When Thomas WHITLOW was 26, in 1784, he married Hannah GLIDEWELL, the 18 year old daughter of Nash GLIDEWELL, who had served in the Revolutionary War at the battle of Monmouth, although in a different Regiment than his future son-in-law....but he is another blog post.  Thomas and Hannah raised at least three children before his death in 1797 at age 39, and his young wife re-married in 1800 to William Irvin, or Irvine, and had more children with her second husband.  William Irvine died in 1833, and  in 1847, Hannah GLIDEWELL WHITLOW applied for a Revolutionary War Pension as Thomas' widow, and in 1850 at age 84 she appeared at the Halifax County, Virginia, Courthouse to take the Oath and receive her $80 per year plus back pay to 1836.   She lived with family in Halifax County, VA, until her death at age 88, in 1854.  Thomas and Hannah WHITLOW are the 6th great grandparents of Anthony P. MARTINI.
   
    

    

     
     

WILLDEN FAMILY-------MICHAUX,  FAITH AND FORTUNE IN COLONIAL VIRGINIA

     In the previous post, we watched as Susanna ROCHET fled from France in the dark of night, hiding in a barrel placed aboard a ship to Amsterdam, Holland. There she met and married another refugee, Abraham MICHAUX, and this is where our story of this family begins.....

the dock in Amsterdam, Holland

     The MICHAUX family had lived in Sedan, France, in the region of Champagne for over a century when Abraham MICHAUX was born in 1672.  As members of the Protestant Refomed Church of France, the MICHAUX family had the same freedom of worship issues as Susanna ROCHET in the previous post, so at age 19, Abraham and his father Jacob MICHAUX  escaped from the Catholic persecution under King Louis XIV and went to Amsterdam, Holland, in 1690. The Dutch Reformed Church roll of January 28, 1691, includes Abraham MICHAUX in its roster of Amsterdam members. A little over a year later, that same Church would be the scene of the marriage of Abraham and Susanna ROCHET, whom he met while working in a gauze and lace factory. The young family continued to live in Amsterdam until about 1700, but due to a bad economy and a lack of opportunities,  they moved to London, England, where they were listed as members of the Reformed Church on Threadneedle Street on August 25, 1702.
     About this same time, the Huguenots, who were not really welcomed by the Church of England, had been of  help to King William, and thus he decided to reward the French immigrants with an offer of free land in the Virginia Colony, set aside exclusively for the religious group.  The King also gave them a 7 year tax-free grace period in the New World.  The land granted to them covered 10,000 acres on the south side of the James River in the Virginia Colony, about 20 miles above present-day Richmond, along a 4 mile stretch between the Upper and Lower Creeks, known today as Bernard's Creek and Norwood Creek. About 700 Huguenots had already sailed from Gravesend, England, to the former Indian site that was fast becoming known as Manakin Town.

Gravesend, England...where the Michaux family sailed from to America

     Abraham and Susanna MICHAUX decided to make the move to Virginia, and with the help of a Relief Committee in London, they sailed from Gravesend, England, to Stafford County, Virginia, where they remained for a short time, then moved to Manakin Town, Henrico County, Virginia, in 1705.  Joining their fellow Huguenots was not quite as joyous as they had hoped, as it seemed that some of those who had been there for five years complained that it was not fair for the "newcomers" to get the same amount of land. But, in the end, Abraham MICHAUX received a grant for 574 acres on the south side of the James River in November, 1705, now in Powhatan County, Virginia. They became members of the Manakin Episcopal Church that had started in 1700, and is still in operation today. On the wall of that church in 2014 is a plaque dedicated "to the memory of " Abraham and Susanna MICHAUX, over 300 years later.

In the Manakin Episcopal Church, Virginia

Manakin Episcoal Church and Huguenot Memorial in Virginia

   


 Abraham continued to acquire land around his initial grant, and in 1713 added over 1,000 acres to his holdings. In 1714, there is a note in the Manakin Church record that says Abraham MICHAUX was paid two shillings for "bringing the communion wine to the Church from Major Billings home".
By 1716, he and Susanna had raised 5 sons and 7 daughters in the Huguenot settlement. One son, Jacob, had settled up the James River away from the family, and the area became known as MICHAUX's Ferry.  Another son, Abraham Jr., was killed by Indians in Lunenburg County in 1747.
Abraham MICHAUX died in 1717, and in his Last Will and Testament he left over 3,000 acres to his wife and children. Susanna ROCHET MICHAUX lived almost another 30 years before dying in 1744, after one of the most adventurous lives of any woman in her day. Abraham and Susanna MICHAUX are the 7th great grandparents of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.

WILLDEN FAMILY-------ROCHETTE, A BRAVE FAMILY OF FAITH AND DARING

     Jean and Marie ROCHET had a problem in the early 1680's......their religious faith was under attack in the familiy's homeland of France, let alone the fact that the Seminary School for the controversial faith was in their own hometown of Sedan, in the Province of Champagne. What was their controversial faith that had the King of France himself in a tirade? Protestantism........those pesky believers who had left the Catholic Church, which had been the "go to" religion for centuries. Jean and Marie's parents had been Protestants since they were kids, and in 1598 the King's "Edict of Nantes" had allowed the Reformed Church of France to worship openly with a few exceptions....they could not meet in public in Paris or other large cities, they still had to pay Catholic tithes, respect Catholic Holy days, and obey the marriage laws of the Church.  But at least they could worship without fear of reprisal from the King's officials, or the Catholic clergy's watchful eyes....for a few years.

Built in 1424, this Sedan castle would have been a common site for the Rochet family

     In 1685, the Edict of Nantes that had allowed the Protestants to worship, was revoked. King Louis XIV had decided that there should be only one religion in France, and the Catholic Church amazingly agreed with him. The Protestants could no longer meet anywhere, much less in public. Protestant schools were closed. Protestant church buildings were destroyed....and the children of Protestant families were baptized into the Catholic Church. There were even Catholic "investigators" who went into Protestant homes and quizzed the children to see if the parents were teaching them the Catholic religion properly....and if not, the children were taken away from them, or the parents arrested, or both. French Protestants had not forgotten the last time the Catholics wanted them out, in 1572, when a time called "The St. Batholomew's Day Massacre" saw 25,000 Protestant men, women, and children murdered in Paris alone in a matter of months.  Jean and Marie ROCHET had three teenage daughters now, and they knew they must make some difficult choices...and they did.
     King Louis XIV had ordered guards along the borders of France to keep the Protestants from escaping to eventually Holland, which had become the haven for the religious rebels.  An escape attempt could be punishable by prison or death.  Some Protestants disguised themselves as cattle herders, or as Catholics on a pilgrimage, to get by the King's network of guards.  On a dark night in Sedan, the ROCHET parents said a tearful goodbye to their two oldest daughters, and a niece with an infant in her arms, as they watched them go into the woods with an escort of men called "Night Walkers" to protect and guide them on their journey to leave France.
All went well for the escape party, until the niece stumbled on a rock while crossing the creek at a Mill site. She fell and her infant began to cry, alerting Catholic workers at the Mill, who promptly turned them over to the authorities. Some were arrested and imprisoned, but the daughters of Jean and Marie ROCHET managed to find their way home and temporary safety.

Huguenot trails on the border of France

      The two oldest ROCHET daughters made another attempt a few months later, and this time were guided to Holland with only a minor incident while suffering illness at an Inn along the way. Once in Amsterdam, Holland, the girls wrote a letter to their parents, asking them to please send them the "little night cap" that they had left in France.......a coded phrase meaning for them to send their younger sister Susanne LaRoche ROCHET to Holland next. On October 8, 1685, the time had come once again for Jean and Marie to test their faith, and send their teenage daughter Susanne on a daring adventure. Jean Rochet knew the underground Protestant network that was used to aid the mass exodus from France to Holland, and found a ship's Captain that would smuggle Susanne out of the country for a nice bribe. The deal was done, and young Susanne, the "little night cap" went off into the night protected by her faith and surrounded by "Night Walkers". Upon reaching the coast, she was willingly, although I am certain fearfully, sealed inside of a "hogshead".....a wooden barrel used to transport wine, or sugar, or any needed product safely by ship. The "hogshead" was the cardboard box of the 17th Century. We do not know what size the barrel was, but wine was shipped in 63-gallon barrels, and sugar in either 64 or 128 gallon barrels. Whatever the size, Susanne ROCHET quietly remained inside while the barrel was sealed on the ship, until they were safely out of the range of the King's guard boats, and then she was set free.  She joined her sisters in Amsterdam in a great reunion, celebrating the Faith and Family that had triumphed over the tyranny of a King and his Church.

Imagine hiding in a hogshead like Susanne Rochet

   

Being rolled onto a boat must have been "interesting" for Susanne

        Jean and Marie would visit their daughters at least once while they were in Holland, smuggling money hidden in Marie's hairstyle.  Eventually, the two oldest daughters married and moved to the West Indies where they remained. Meanwhile in Amsterdam, Holland, Susanna ROCHET took work in a factory making lace, and met another refugee in the factory, also from Sedan, France, who worked weaving gauze.  She and Abraham MICHAUX were married July 13, 1692, in the Dutch Reformed Church in Amsterdam, Holland.
Next post, we will read of their future in America.  Susanna ROCHET is the 7th great grandmother of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.
     
    

MARTINI FAMILY-------MOONSHINE, A HANGING,  AND A SAVAGE MURDER

This 1656 home was used in Surry County VA as a fort during Bacon's Rebellion

     Our SAVAGE family line begins over 100 years before the American Revolution, in the Colony of Virginia, on the southwest side of the James River, in the Parish of Lawnes Creek, in the County of Surry. The only facts we know about our head of this line, is by the 1697 Last Will and Testament of Robert SAVAGE, in which he names his wife Mary and children as heirs. We know that his son, our next in line, had an unusual name, Loveless SAVAGE, but we do not know what his parents were thinking when they named him. Loveless Sr. (spelling varies) also lived and died in Surry County, Virginia, and we have his will, dated October 6, 1728, which begins, "'In the name of God Amen.  I Loveless SAVIDGE, living in Lawnes Creek Parish, in the County of Surry, Being Weak and Sickly in body but of Perfect mind and memory, thanks be to God therefore, and calling to Mind of the mortality of my body and knowing that it is ordained for all Persons once to die, therefore I appoint and ordain this to be my last Will & Testament ..."  Ready for, and aware of  his impending death, Loveless itemized and gave away such things as a feather bed and a pewter dish to his wife Sarah and children, while an Inventory taken after his death listed his possessions as including a spinning wheel, old trunks, honey jugs, and brass candlesticks. Loveless SAVAGE was dead by May of 1729, where we pick up the story with his son, Lovelace SAVAGE Jr.

A Spinning Wheel was part of the Lovelace Savage Sr. Estate.

     Sometime between 1729 and 1759, Loveless SAVAGE Jr. decided to head south, and moved his family to Edgecombe County, North Carolina, created in 1741, an area that soon would become known for its vast pine forests used to produce pine tar, a necessity used for sealing tight the wooden ships of that period. (Today's Carolina "Tar Heel"s get their nickname from this process in the 1800's). Not much is known about Loveless SAVAGE Jr., and he died around 1775, leaving behind his wife Lucy, and a son Robert.

Edgecombe County, North Carolina

Robert SAVAGE was born most likely in the 1730's, but we are not sure if he was born in Virginia, or after his family moved to North Carolina. He married Elizabeth BELL, and by 1788 they had raised eight children during the period that included the turbulent times of the French and Indian War, and the American Revolution. On December 21, 1776, Robert and Elizabeth sold their 200 acres on Deep Creek in Edgecobe County, NC, and  moved  to Martin County, NC, about 70 miles to the east, where Robert SAVAGE wrote out his Last Will and Testament on September 13, 1788, listing his wife and seven children as his heirs. One of the Executors of the Will, was son Sterling SAVAGE.

Sterling SAVAGE had married early, but his young bride died when he was about 25 years old, leaving him with two young sons, Jesse and Sterling King SAVAGE. He soon married young Susannah Swales, and together they added three children of their own to the two boys Sterling brought into the marriage.  Sterling and Susannah SAVAGE appear on a land deed in 1786 in Martin County, NC, and are listed on the 1790 Census there as well. In 1794, Sterling SAVAGE died, leaving his widow Susannah with five children, including her two step-sons Jesse and Sterling K..  Susannah remarried to Henry J. A. Hill, the son of the Sheriff of Edgecombe County, North Carolina, and shortly thereafter the new family moved to Georgia around 1800 for a few years, and then on to Warren County, Tennessee. Before we go on with the Tennessee SAVAGE story, a footnote about Susannah and her new husband is in order. Around 1808, Henry began an affair with 16 year old Polly Johnston, and continued the relationship, eventually having six children. The arrangement apparently was common knowledge to Susannah and the community as well, and the children of both families are entered in the same Family Bible. Henry Hill was well liked, and served three consecutive terms in the Tennessee Legislature. Oh well....

     Jesse SAVAGE went to Hancock County, Georgia with his step-parents  around 1800, and there met and married 14 year old Bersheba in about 1803. Jesse's step-father, Henry Hill, led a group of about 30 men from Georgia into the Tennessee wilderness to research where they should settle on recently acquired Land Grant property. When they returned, the family moved to the Hill's Creek area of present day Warren County, Tennessee, about seven miles east of Mcminnville, land given to Jesse SAVAGE's step-parents. Jesse's brother Sterling King Savage had also married in Georgia, and he and his wife did not stay long in Warren County, before moving in the 1820's to what is now Sequatchie County, along Stocker Road on Savage Creek, at the head of Savage Gulf only a few miles from the Grundy County line. They lived there the remainder of their lives and had eight children. Savage Creek and Savage Gulf are both named after Sterling K. Savage and his family that were the first to settle in that area.

Sterling Savage Farm on Savage Gulf in 1890's.

     Jesse and Bersheba SAVAGE raised nine children in Warren County, who were all grown to adulthood when a series of tragic events hit the family. First, in 1844, Jesse and Bersheba's son Sterling. apparently got involved in some sort of disagreement with the husband of a cousin.  On a cold winter afternoon, the day after Christmas in 1844, Dick Killian, also a grandchild of Jesse's grandparents, shot and killed Sterling SAVAGE. The exact reason for the murder is not known, nor the fate of Dick Killian.. Tragic as it was, more was to come in the following years.
     In 1848, four years after Jesse and Bersheba SAVAGE had lost a son to a murderer, another evil act would befall my 4th great grandfather and his wife. It all began in the early 1820's when a man named Hill chartered and built a wagon/stagecoach road between Warren County and lands to the east, know as "Hill's Road".  Meanwhile, Jesse SAVAGE and a partner chartered a Turnpike along a section of the same route, and Hill's Road began to be known as "SAVAGE Road". This resulted in a long lasting dispute in the Hill's Creek Community over who really had the rights to the road. The dispute ended in 1848, when an unknown assailant/assailants ambushed and shot dead Jesse SAVAGE "at his own place of residence" in Warren County, Tennessee. Bersheba SAVAGE, now age 59, had lost a son and a husband to murderers in just four years. She would live another twenty years, raising the children orphaned earlier by her son's murder.

Grundy County Moonshine still around 1896

     Just as you think the family had suffered enough murder and mayhem, the grandchild of Jesse and Bersheba SAVAGE, Sterling Savage Jr., would die a terrible death....just like his father Sterling murdered in 1844, and his grandfather murdered in 1848. The story begins and ends with Moonshine.....whiskey or bourbon made by families on their farms.. Contrary to popular myth, Moonshine liquor was NOT illegal in the 1800's, but was taxed by the government for revenue. Thus, the Revenue Agents, or "revenuers", were the collectors and enforcers of the tax, which many Moonshiners did not pay so they could make more profit. Illegal moonshine stills were operated everywhere by farmers avoiding the tax revenuers, which set the stage for booze running, shootouts, raids, and a slew of  bad Hollywood movies in the next century. An unsettling problem in communities arose when a Moonshiner was arrested and interrogated, and "spilled the beans" on his fellow Moonshiners to avoid prosecution. Such was the case of Sterling SAVAGE Jr. in 1896.  Sterling was 56 years old, and the father of eleven children, when he was "brought in" for questioning by the Revenuers about the "wildcat liquor" in the hills, and shortly thereafter was released. A group of neighbors suspected Sterling SAVAGE had informed the Revenuers of their activites, and became increasingly angry. Sterling, aware of their threats, went to stay at a friend's house, but in the dark of night, a group of about twenty of Sterling's neighbors came to the house, dragged him out, and took him a few miles away to the present-day spot of Wannamaker Cove, where Hwy 56 and a bend in the Collins River meet, the boundary line of Grundy and Warren Counties, in Tennessee. The mob found a nice sturdy oak tree, slipped the noose around Sterling's neck, and hung him there to his death. Some say he was innocent, others say he was not.....but the result was the same....Sterling had been murdered like his father and his grandfather in the past.

 

Moonshine and Revenuers were the death of Sterling Savage in 1896

 Our direct line of SAVAGE names ends with Lucinda SAVAGE, who had lived through two of the three murders, and was the daughter of Jesse and Bersheba SAVAGE mentioned previously. Born in 1803, Lucinda SAVAGE married Hugh J. SLAUGHTER, who ironically was the son of a murdered Justice of the Peace in Georgia, as told in a previous post. SAVAGE and SLAUGHTER.......appropriate names for two families on the edge of frontier America.  Robert SAVAGE is the 6th great grandfather of Anthony MARTINI
     

Site of the hanging murder of Sterling Savage 1896

WILLDEN FAMILY---ROWLEYs IN NEW ENGLAND

     Near the end of the last Blog about the ROWLEY family, Moses and Elizabeth FULLER ROWLEY had moved from Massachusetts to East Haddam, Connecticut in 1692, where the direct ancestral line of ROWLEYs would be born until 1766.  Moses ROWLEY Jr. was born in Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1654, and at age 19 he married 15-year old Mary FLETCHER of Chelmsford, Massachusetts. The young couple had 9 children over the next 24 years, farming, attending church, and raising kids. In 1685, Moses Jr. was a Constable in Falmouth, MA, when he and a partner were attacked by Christopher Gifford during a routine investigation. The official report says Moses Jr. was "struck on ye head with a certain stick or club, thereby fetching blood and severly wounding him to his great hurt and damage".  The Court fined Mr. Gifford and made him pay damages to Moses ROWLEY Jr.  
    After a few years in Colchester, Massachusetts, the family moved in 1704,  to East Haddam, Connecticut, where they joined the First Congregational Church on November 12th, the first year of organization. Mary FLETCHER ROWLEY died sometime between the 1704 move to East Haddam, and 1715, and Moses married not long after to a woman in her 40's named Mary Crippen Corbe, the widow of Samuel Corbe who had died in 1694....she would live to be 97 years old, outliving her second husband by almost 30 years, Moses Jr., who died in 1735. In his Last Will and Testament, Moses Jr. gave his land to his sons, unless they did not want to use it, then "I do give and bequeath it to that use for the Gospel in this place".  His household goods were given to his daughter Hannah, his carpentry tools to his son Jonathan, his clothes divided among his other sons, and 20 shillings to each married daughter.  There was no mention of his 2nd wife Mary in the Will.

East Haddam School where Nathan Hale taught in 1773 after graduating from Yale at age 18

     Moses ROWLEY III continued the direct line of ancestors, with his birth in 1679, in Falmouth, Massachusetts. Not much is known about the achievements of Moses III, but his married life was one of tragedy not uncommon in early America.  He first married between the ages of 18 and 22, to a young lady who's name is unknown so far in our research. Together, the young couple had a daughter in 1703, and then the first tragedy, Moses III's wife died sometime between the birth and the next 3 years.....she may have died giving birth to daughter Abigail, or shortly thereafter, or not. Men and Women in early America did not stay single/widowed long when children were in the house already, due to the daily hardships of life making a companion and helpmate a blessing and a necessity.  Twenty-eight year old Moses III married a second time in 1707, to twenty year old Martha PORTER, and they would have eight children together over the next 22 years....and then tragedy again for Moses III.  Two days after giving birth to their eighth child, Reuben, Martha passed away at age 42, on Sep 25, 1729, leaving Moses III with six children at home under age 16.  Once again, Moses III remarried, this time the following year to 40 year old Sarah Chapman.  Moses III and Sarah would have two more children by 1733, totaling eleven descendants for Moses ROWLEY III, nine of which were still living when he wrote his Will.  He and his third wife Sarah died in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, he in 1749, and Sarah in 1757.

Ft. Ticonderoga aka Ft. Carillon in the French/Indian War

     Carrying the ROWLEY line forward was Moses ROWLEY IV, born 1713 in Colchester, Connecticut, who married Mary FULLER in 1735 at East Haddam, Connecticut.  There they joined the local Church in 1736, and settled down to have 10 children in the next 19 years, before War would separate them over the next few years. Moses IV and Mary had moved in 1744 to Kent, Connecticut, on land west of the Housatonic River, in "Scatacook", where his house was near Macedonia Brook in Kent, near the New York/Connecticut border.  The French and Indian War was exactly as it's name sounds to the British colonies, and Moses IV joined the 2nd Connecticut Militia, where he saw military service against the French along the shores of Lake George, first near Fort Anne in September 1755,  Ft. Ticonderoga in 1758,  Crown Point in 1759, and Montreal in 1760. It was during this War that a young 22-year old Officer was surrounded at a place called Fort Necessity, and forced to surrender to the French forces from Canada....that defeated Officer's name was George Washington.  Moses IV ROWLEY is listed as a "deserter" on the roster in May 1756, eight months after the birth of his last child, at which time his wife Mary died unexpectedly, but obviously was back in action later as indicated. "Deserter" simply means the soldier did not report for roll call, sometimes due to capture, injury, or death....although it is more likely that Moses IV just went home for awhile to grieve and take care of his family, also not uncommon in the War, especially for militia forces.  It is important to point out, that Mary FULLER ROWLEY was responsible for 10 kids ranging in age from newborn to 18 while her husband was off in battle, a feat as worthy as any soldier's experiences.

  After the War, Moses IV and Mary ROWLEY lived in Kent, Connecticut until 1772. Moses IV had a minor incident in 1771 when he was accused by the General Assembly of deceiving it in representing that a grant of land which the state had given him was small when it was large, the gift being made on account of his having bought of Robert Watson a section of land belonging to the Scatacook Indians. The resolution of this matter has not been located to date. Moses IV ROWLEY, after the French and IndianWar,  had lived in the Oblong Area of New York, and in Connecticut, and then finally in Richmond, Massachusetts, where he died in 1773.
    

Crown Point with both British and French fort ruins

Montreal at the French Surrender

     The next torch-bearer in our direct line of  ROWLEY's was NOT named Moses, for the first time since 1629, but was Timothy ROWLEY, born 1737 in Colchester, Connecticut.  As a youth, he moved around to New York, Massachusetts, and a few places in Connecticut where he married Elizabeth "Bethia" CROCKER in 1761, after a short 3-month stint in the 6th Connecticut Militia Regiment during the French and Indian War. He enlisted the day after the Battle of Lake George NY, and any fighting he saw is a mystery to date.  His marriage certificate stated that Timothy ROWLEY was from "Ye Oblong", a territory along the western length of Connecticut and its border with New York.  By 1766 Timothy and Bethia lived in Stephentown, New York, and in 1774 they were in Lansingburgh, New York, just north of Albany.
     When the American Revolution started, 39 year old Timothy ROWLEY enlisted in the 4th Regiment of the Albany County Militia, also known as "Van Rensselaer's  Regiment", taking the name of the commander at the time. As a Militia unit, their first priority was to defend the citizens of Albany County, then the State of New York, and from time to time they were called on to assist the Continental Army when needed. The high point of Timothy's action came in 1777 around Lake George in New York, at the Battles of Saratoga and Fort Ticonderoga. The 4th Militia Regiment with Timothy in tow, marched off to Fort Edward near the south end of Lake George, in the summer of 1777. The British had captured Fort Ticonderoga at the north end of the Lake in July, and they were headed south to capture New York City.  Timothy ROWLEY and his fellow Americans, under the leadership of Horatio Gates and Benedict Arnold, defeated the British Army near Saratoga in September and October of 1777, forcing British General Burgoyne to retreat, then surrender, a victory that convinced France to join the Americans in the War.

Surrender of British General Burgoyne at Saratoga

 Nothing more is known of the life of Timothy ROWLEY, except that after the American Revolution, he appears on the 1790 Census of  Stephentown, Albany County (now Rensselaer County), where most of his children were born and raised. He died in 1799, and his wife Bethia's death date is unknown.  Their daughter, Elizabeth "Bethia" ROWLEY born 1766, will be discussed in her husband Anthony ZUFELT's narrative in the future. Timothy ROWLEY is the 4th great grandfather of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.

WILLDEN FAMILY-----ROWLEYs of PLYMOUTH COLONY

     Henry ROWLEY saw the American coastline for the first time only a decade after the Mayflower had brought the Pilgrims to Plymouth Colony in 1620. He had sailed from Leyden, Holland, where the Puritan Separatists had fled to practice their religion after being "watched carefully" in their native England, most likely in the County of Kent.  It is even possible that Henry ROWLEY was one of that group that escaped when the leader of their group, Rev. John Lothrop, was thrown in prison in the Tower of London. Once Rev. Lothrop promised to leave England forever, and take as many followers as he could, he was released and led them to Holland.
     Henry's in-laws, William and Frances PALMER,  were already in Plymouth Colony as early as 1621, and now Henry was bringing his 21 year old wife, Sarah, to be with her family once again. But it was not for long, as Sarah Ann ROWLEY died a year or two later, leaving Henry with 3 small children. Death was not uncommon in Plymouth Colony, and the need for survival called for action by those left behind, so Henry soon found a widowed mother for his children in Anne Blossom, whom he married in 1633.

Cape Cod coastline, Barnstable, Massachusets

            Henry and Anne ROWLEY moved to the recently founded community of Scituate, as did many others from Plymouth around 1634. There the family joined the Congregationalist or Independent Church of the Rev. John Lothrop in Scituate, and followed him to Barnstable, Massachusetts, in 1638. Rev. Lothrop, also linked to the WILLDEN genealogy by marriage, was the faith leader of the Plymouth Colony following the break with the Church of England, and his residence in Barnstable is now part of the Public Library.
                                              

Rev. John Lothrop's residence in 1600's Barnstable

     Henry had found his place in the Barnstable community, and was elected as a Deputy to the General Court, and performed the task of surveying "highways" in the new lands between 1646 and 1653. He later moved to Falmouth, also known as Saconessett in period writings, and Henry ROWLEY died there in 1673. A monument to the "Men of Kent" England is found in the town of Scituate today, with Henry's name etched in stone. He is the 9th great grandfather of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.
                                         

"Men of Kent" monument in Scituate MA

     Henry's son Moses ROWLEY in 1652 married Elizabeth FULLER, the daughter of the Commander of the Plymouth Colony Militia, Capt. Matthew FULLER, and grand-daughter of the Mayflower passenger Edward FULLER.  Five years later, Moses took the Freeman Oath, which made him a voting member of the community council in Barnstable, where he remained for many years until moving to the village of Falmouth, founded in 1660. In 1681 Moses ROWLEY was made a Constable in Falmouth, and in 1692 became a Deputy to the General Court. Moses, like his father and grandfather, could not remain in one place for long, and purchased 60 acres from Jonathan Gilbert in East Haddam, Connecticut in 1692, and once again the family started over. East Haddam is north of Long Island, NY along the Connecticut River, quite a distance away from Cape Cod in the 1690's.
                                       

Old Cove Burial Ground, East Haddam Connecticut

       By the summer of 1705, Moses ROWLEY had died, leaving his wife Elizabeth and their eight grown children. But there is an indication that there was "trouble in Paradise" before Moses died,  for in 1714, Elizabeth ROWLEY, now in her 70's, appeared in the Middlesex County Court in East Haddam to fight for property rights for her children, claiming that her husband Moses ROWLEY had sold their land in Falmouth without her consent before he died. We do not know the outcome of this claim, so we will leave this argument to those who have gone before us, possibly hearing their raised voices only in the cemetery on a cold, dark night. . Moses and Ellizabeth ROWLEY are the 8th great grandparents of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI.

WILLDEN FAMILY------EDWARD FULLER AND THE MAYFLOWER

     At age 66, Robert FULLER a local butcher of Redenhall, England in Norfolk, sat down to write his Last Will and Testament. Born in 1548, his first dying written request was to be buried in the St. Mary's Churchyard in Redenhall, forever his home. He left to his second wife Frances, "a tenement" with "a little orchard", to his son Edward 20 pounds, and to his son Samuel 15 pounds.  Robert's first wife of only a dozen years, Sarah DUNKHORNE, the mother of Edward and Samuel, had died a decade earlier and was also buried in the St. Mary's Churchyard, underneath the shadow of the towering cathedral built in the 1300's.....still there in use today.

Starston Church of England...marriage of Robert/Sarah

 

St.Mary's Church in Redenhall, England

     When his father died in 1614, Edward FULLER and wife Ann had two young sons, Matthew, and Samuel. They were a family of Puritan Separatists, wanting reform within the Church of England, but unlike the regular Puritans, they were tired of waiting and sought to leave the Church and go their own way. The Separatists had already begun to leave for Leyden, Holland, as early as 1607, to escape the watchful eyes of the Church of England, and by 1617 Edward had sold all of his belongings and moved to Leyden with his wife, and son Samuel.  Son Matthew stayed behind, perhaps to finish schooling in England before rejoining his family....but he would never see his parents again.  In Holland, the Puritan Separatists would find life difficult there due to a slow economy and no jobs for their skills. Once again, the little religious group decided to move.....this time to the English colonies in the New World.
     In 1620, Edward FULLER and the others contracted two ships for the voyage to America and the Virginia Colony.....the Mayflower, a 110' long vessel that would carry about 135 passengers, and the somewhat smaller Speedwell.  On August 5th, the two ships headed into the Atlantic Ocean, but the Speedwell began to leak and had to return for repairs, leaving the Mayflower to make the voyage alone at sea.   There were about 50 crew members and Officers aboard, while there were 102 Puritans and Puritan Separatists from England and Holland. The travel was cramped and uncomfortable, with animals, weapons, and farm/building tools taking much of the space.
    After a little over two months of ocean voyage, the Mayflower anchored at what is now Provincetown harbor, Massachusetts, in November, missing Virginia entirely, and after further exploring, came to rest in a harbor where the Plymouth Colony would be settled on December 16th, 1620.  As for the myth of Plymouth Rock, there was one referenced as a town boundary many years later, but the story of landing there came over a century later.  The ship Mayflower would eventually return to England, where it was later broken up and the timbers used to build a barn in Buckinghamshire, where it still exists.  Two passengers had died on the two month long journey, but that was only the beginning of hardship at Cape Cod.  While aboard the ship in November, and realizing that they were not under the Virginia Colony rule as planned, the adult men created a written guideline of rules to be used as their government in the new colony....it would be called the Mayflower Compact, and was signed by our own Edward FULLER.  It was the first such independent declaration of its type in America.

Replica Mayflower II built to original design

      Arriving in Massachusetts in December would prove deadly. The cold winter was upon them already, and before the Spring of 1621, 45 of the 102 Pilgrims were dead from disease and diet and inadequate shelter.....including our ancestors Edward and Ann FULLER.  Their 13 year old son Samuel FULLER moved in with Dr. Samuel FULLER, his uncle skilled in medicine, and a deacon in the Church, who had also made the journey on the Mayflower.  Edward and Ann FULLER were buried nearby on what became known as Cole's Hill Burial Ground, in unmarked sandy graves, graded level so that the Indians would not know how many of the invading settlers had died.

Tomb on Cole's Hill containing bones of Pilgrims

 Young Samuel FULLER thrived in the Plymouth Colony, obtaining land at the age of 15, and is listed in the Division of Cattle in 1827 when he was 19. Samuel married Jane Lathrop at the home of James Cudworth in 1635 in the village of Scituate.  The wedding was performed by none other that the famous Captain Miles Standish of Plymouth, an English Officer, assistant Governor, Treasurer, and Commander of the Militia. Samuel and Jane settled in Scituate in 1636, later moving to Barnstable, Massachusetts.  Samuel must have longed to see his older brother Matthew FULLER, who had stayed behind in England.

Pilgrims at the first Thanksgiving feast

    Our direct ancestor Matthew FULLER had married Frances in 1635 in England, and then decided to make the move to America.  He first appears in the colonies in 1640 when he is recorded in land deeds that year. In 1642 he was granted ten acres and served on a jury, and had settled in to life in Plymouth Colony with his wife and five children, and once again able to visit with his long-lost brother Samuel. In 1643 Matthew was appointed a Sergeant in the militia and served in the English-Narragansett Conflict under Captain Miles Standish. His Uncle Samuel FULLER gifted two acres of land to Matthew, and the family moved to the village of Barnstable by 1650, where he studied medicine and became a physician, most likely learning from his uncle Dr. Samuel FULLER.

Plymouth Plantation site

    In the 1650's, Matthew FULLER found himself in Court twice, and was fined on both occasions....once for publicly taking a stand in support of the unpopular Quakers, and once for "speaking reproachfully to the Court" concerning the law governing the "maintenance of ministers". Matthew continued to rise in the community, and in 1652 was appointed a Lieutenant in the Barnstable Militia, and a year later represented the village in the General Court proceedings.  On June 20, 1654, Captain Miles Standish organized a 50-man militia to fight against the Dutch near present-day Manhattan, and chose Matthew as his Lieutenant for the expedition. Peace came before the expedition was needed.  In 1658 he was elected to sit on the Council of War, and in 1671 named the Chairman of that group, and one of the Magistrates of the Colony. Also in 1671, Lieutenant Matthew FULLER  prepared the militia to go to war if necessary with the Saconet tribe, but a peace was negotiated once again.
   A man of many talents, Dr. Matthew FULLER was appointed Surgeon General of the Plymouth Colony on Dec 17, 1763, at a pay rate of 4 Shillings per day, and named Captain of the Plymouth Colony Militia in 1675, a position originally held by Captain Miles Standish.  Dr. Fuller had told the Colonel in charge that he was hesitant to take the Captain's position, as he was now in his 70's  and had become "ancient and heavy".
The first physician in Barnstable, Matthew lived in the village's northwest corner in an area called Scorton Neck, but also owned land in Middleboro and Falmouth, given to him for his service to the Plymouth Colony. On July 25, 1678, at the age of 75, Matthew FULLER wrote his Last Will and Testament....then died within the next few weeks.  In his will, he left all to his wife Frances until her death, at which time the lands and belongings would be given to the specified children. To our direct ancestors, he gave to daughter Elizabeth FULLER ROWLEY, "ten pounds in money",  and the her husband, son-in-law Moses ROWLEY, "five shillings", and to Matthew's grandaughter Sarah ROWLEY, he gave her "all my sheep" and appointed and paid Jedediah Jones to oversee them for Sarah.  Physician, Militia Officer, Magistrate......a man for the times at the beginning of America.
      Edward FULLER, who came over on the Mayflower in 1620, is the 10th Great Grandfather of Tonya Kim WILLDEN MARTINI


    

MARTINI FAMILY------A SLAUGHTER IN GEORGIA

The SLAUGHTER Family history begins for us with a ship from England finally reaching its destination on the Atlantic Coast of the American colonies. Although unsure exactly where and when they docked, it was the start of the SLAUGHTER line which debuts in our story in 1735 St. Peters Parish, New Kent County, Virginia Colony, with the birth of John SLAUGHTER.  New Kent County's first official visit had been from Captain John Smith, founder of Jamestown in 1607, who met with Native Americans and organized a friendly feast.
   By the time John reached 22, already a well-to-do farmer and slave owner,  he had fallen for a young woman who also attended St Peters Parish Church, an Anglican congregation near present-day Talleysville, Virgnia. The young woman was  Frances BROTHERS, also age 22, the daughter of a plantation owner and slaveholder. The young couple married in the St. Peters Parish Church in 1757.  Of interest is that a young woman in her 20's also attended their small church, a widow of only a few months, left with two kids and a 15,000 acre plantation......her name was Martha Dandridge Custis....the future Martha Washington, and First Lady of the U.S.  Our newly married ancestors, John and Frances SLAUGHTER, must have known Martha and possibly met George Washington in person. Two years later, in 1759, Martha Custis married George a few miles up the road at her plantation called "the White House", a probably name source for our current Presidential residence.  It is entirely possible that the two couples attended each other's weddings as church peers.    

St. Peters Episcopal Church, built 1701, Talleysville, GA

Martha Dandridge Custis in 1757

     In 1762, while our little family seemingly avoided the hazards of the French and Indian War that raged mostly north of them until 1763, John and Frances SLAUGHTER packed up their two sons, and moved to Cumberland County, Virginia, where they settled  for the next 20 years, and had the remainder of their 11 children together. But the peaceful life would end soon for all colonists.  In the 1760's, the British began a series of taxes on stamps, documents, and trade goods, and passed a law that said American colonists must let British soldiers live in their homes and feed them to offset expenses in England. The colonists, who felt they were being taxed to the limit without any representation in Parliament, began to organize and speak out against the King and Parliament. In 1770 in Boston, British troops facing an angry mob of unarmed colonists, opened fire on them in what became known as the Boston Massacre. Three years later colonists were tossing crates of tea into the waters of Boston Harbor in protest, and in April of 1775, shots were fired in skirmishes at Lexington and Concord. The American Revolution was on.....
                                              

     John SLAUGHTER served during the Revolution as a Private in the Virginia Continental Army, and before the War was over in 1783, his sons Nathaniel, Thomas, and George would also join the fight for freedom. Son Nathaniel SLAUGHTER joined in March of 1777 at the age of 19, and entered the service of George Washington's Virginia Continental Army, in the 10th Virginia Regiment. He fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in the defense of Philadelphia, then spent the winter of 1777 at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Nathaniel was with Gen. Washington at Monmouth Court House in 1778, and eventually fought the British at Charleston, South Carolina, in 1780, where most of the 10th Virginia Regiment was captured.....all for a little over $6.00 a month. When the Revolution ended officially in 1783, John SLAUGHTER had given the lives of two of his sons, Nathaniel and Thomas, for the cause of freedom. Son George had been in the Cavalry of the Virgina Continental Line as a private, and managed to live through the years of fighting, for which he would get a pension of $21.00 a year.
    With the War over, the 1780's allowed the new American citizens to get back to their routine farming.
Among the children of John and Frances SLAUGHTER born during the revolution, was our next ancestor, Henry G. SLAUGHTER,  in the memorable year of 1776. By the time Henry was 14 in 1790, his parents were plantation owners in Cumberland County, with 10 members of the family living there, along with 10 slaves. For his military service, John SLAUGHTER was awarded a Land Grant in the state of Georgia, as well as being paid for "providing supplies" to the American Army during the War. Once again the family and laborers packed up to move to the next adventure.
                                          

Greene County, Georgia

     The SLAUGHTER family settled in Greene County, Georgia, near present-day Greensboro, where John purchased 287 acres in addtion to his Land Grant in 1795. Life was good for the SLAUGHTER family in Georgia, but shortly after President George Washington left office in 1797, our first known ancestor in this line would finally get to rest. John SLAUGHTER died on a hot and humid summer day on August 5, 1798.  In his will of 1796, he basically left his 365 acre plantation and slaves to his wife Frances, and specified to his children who-got-what after her death. Eighteen slaves were mentioned specifically by name in the Will. His son Henry SLAUGHTER, our direct line, was a co-executor with his brother William, and was given one slave named "Scotland", a horse, saddle, some furniture, a feather bed, and a musket gun. An interim of his estate at one point had the value at over $4800, with about $3500 of that being the slaves. Frances SLAUGHTER died two years later on November 23, 1800, ending the first generation of SLAUGHTERs from Virginia.
     With their parents gone, the eight remaining children would eventually scatter through Georgia, Texas, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, and beyond. Our line comes from son Henry SLAUGHTER, who would die a terrible death at the age of only 41, a major player in the first hanging to take place in Jasper County....patience reader.  Sometime around 1798, Henry married  19 year old Frances JONES, or "Fanny" as she was called, and a few years later the young couple moved to Jasper County, Georgia, not far from their beloved Greene County. The reason for the move was simple.....Henry had won property in a drawing of the Georgia Land Lottery of 1805, while his other brothers had come up empty handed, and the land was in today's Jasper County, near what would become the town of Monticello. Soon after their arrival, however, Creek Indians became a matter to be dealt with to the west.

Creek War (1813-1814) Part of War of 1812

     At the end of August, 1813, the Creek Indians attacked and destroyed an American outpost called Ft. Mims. The Creek War, as it was to be called, forced the border county of Jasper to raise a volunteer Army under the command of Major General David Adams.  Henry SLAUGHTER joined the 2nd Georgia Regiment of Militia, listed on the rosters under the command of Colonel James R. Jenkins. A few months later, the Army met the enemy Creeks, called "Red Sticks", near the Tallapoosa River in present Alabama, forcing the Indians to move out. The next year, General Andrew Jackson would win a major victory at Horseshoe Bend, and the Creek War ended, leaving Jackson to deal with the British portion of the War of 1812, which ended in American victory at the Battle of New Orleans.
     When Henry SLAUGHTER returned, he was soon elected to office as a Justice of the Peace in Jasper County, Georgia, a post he held from 1814 to 1817......when our story comes to a shocking and violent moment in the family history. According to the journal of Dr. J. P. Welch of Monticello, in Jasper County, on the afternoon of Oct. 30, 1817, Henry SLAUGHTER and a man named John Castillow (there are several spellings), had been drinking in a pub in Monticello, and began to argue over some issue, probably a judgment Henry had placed on Castillow while Justice of the Peace. They were seen to leave town together on horseback, still arguing as they rode toward their homes. Suddenly, Castillow pulled a knife, leaned over while still on his horse, and sliced Henry SLAUGHTER across the throat.  Henry fell off of his horse, bleeding greatly, and his stead took off running for home. Castillow, the murderer, also fled.  Henry's bloody horse returned home, and soon a search party of friends and relatives went into the night to find him, which they did in darkness. Henry's body was lying in the road, with his hand clenched around his bloody throat. Some time later, John Castillow was caught and brought to trial in Monticello, where the jury found him guilty of murder, and given the sentence "death by hanging".  The fateful day arrived, and a crowd of thousands had gathered from adjacent counties to see the first death sentence carried out in the area's history.  Castillow was brought out dressed head to toe in all white. It was a mile walk from the jail to the hanging spot, and Castillow walked slowly behind his own coffin, pulled on a small cart by a team of oxen. Following a short prayer, Castillow climbed onto the cart and stood atop his own coffin, while the Sheriff placed the noose around his neck. Castillow bid farewell to his wife, children, and friends, then the oxen started forward with the cart, leaving the murderer to swing by the rope until death.

Jasper County, Georgia Courthouse  

     Henry's death had left his Frances a 37-year old widow, with ten childen. For the next 18 years, the Jasper County Court would make sure that Frances would keep the plantation she and Henry had built, along with the slaves who worked the land, for the "maintenance and education" of her minor children. Frances lived until the 1850's in Jasper County, her date of death undiscovered as of yet.
     Our next generation is led by Henry and Frances SLAUGHTER's son Hugh Jones SLAUGHTER, born September 3, 1799 back in Greene County, Georgia, and who grew to manhood in Jasper County, Georgia where his father was murdered when Hugh was just 18 years old.  Around 1818, Hugh married Lucinda SAVAGE, the Georgia born daughter of Jesse SAVAGE and Bersheba HILL.  Within months, Hugh and Lucinda SAVAGE moved to Warren County, Tennessee, along with her parents, and are found living near each other in the 1820 Census.

    

Warren County, Tennessee

  Through the years, Hugh J. and Lucinda would have only one child, Jesse SLAUGHTER, born in 1821 Warren County, Tennessee. The family listed 3 slaves in 1820, 1 in 1830, 1 in 1840, and 3 in 1850....none were listed in 1860 just prior to the start of the American Civil War, and there is no indication that son Jesse served in either Army.  The farm of Hugh and Lucinda in the 1860 Agricultural Census is listed as having 200 acres, with 11 horses, 4 milk cows, 2 oxen, 4 other cattle, 7 sheep, and 15 hogs.   Hugh SLAUGHTER died in 1876, and Lucinda in 1880, both having lived long lives into their 70's.
     Jesse SLAUGHTER married a 14 year old girl, twenty years his junior, named Sarah Lucinda BLAIR, in November of 1858. They would raise seven children over the next thirty years together on their Warren County farm, one of which was our next direct ancestor, Sarah Elizabeth SLAUGHTER.  Sarah was born in 1866 shortly after the end of the Civil War, and married Elkana Thomas CURTIS just a few weeks short of her 22nd birthday.
    So, the SLAUGHTER line came from England, settled in Virginia through the American Revolution, obtained land in Georgia as a reward for military service, and following a tragic murder of one of our direct ancestors, moved to Warren County, Tennessee before 1820, where my mother was born more than a century later.  JOHN SLAUGHTER of Virginia is the 5th Great Grandfather of Anthony MARTINI.