Tag Archives: John Abbe

Who was first?

The History of Me, , , , , ,

Imagine my surprise when I checked on my blog and it has been 3 years since my last post. Yowza! Just because I haven’t been blogging, doesn’t mean my family history has stopped being a big part of my life.

Recently I’ve started finding some amazing things about my colonial ancestors.

You read that right – I said COLONIAL ancestors.

I’ve known for a long time that my family came to North America a long time ago, but I’m still trying to unlock which of my ancestors was the first. Here are a few of the books that I’ve found online that relate to those that came before me. Thanks Internet Archive!

The Vinton Memorial

Front page of The Vinton Memorial: A Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton Of Lynn, 1648

The Vinton Memorial: A Genealogy of the Descendants of John Vinton Of Lynn, 1648 was written by John Adams Vinton and published in Boston in 1858. The author wrote in in Preface that his motive was families and how much their ancestors have shaped who they are.

“There is not an intelligent, public-spirited, virtuous man, anywhere to be found, who can safely deny that his motives to virtue and patriotism are strongly reinforced by the consideration-if such were the fact-that his ancestors were brave and upright men.” ~ John Adams Vinton

John Vinton arrived in North America in 1648 according to the book. He is my 9th Great-Grandfather through my mother’s side. You can see this beautiful genealogy book on the Internet Archive linked here.

History and Genealogy of the Eastman family of America

Roger Eastman came to North America on The Confidence from Southampton in April 1638. He was listed as a servant for the passage but married in Massachussets and had 10 children. His family history is listed under Memorial Hall Library and is linked here but you can also see the original pages on the Internet Archive linked here.

Black and white image of a ship - Speculated to be The Confidence

Roger Eastman is also my 9th Great-Grandfather through my mother’s side.

Abbe-Abbey Genealogy, in memory of John Abbe and his descendants

You can thank the Internet Archive linked here for helping me discover lots of juicy details about my 10th great-grandfather. This book was compiled by Cleveland Abbe and Josephine Genung Nichols back in 1916.

John Abbe and his descendants settled in a little town in Massachusetts and had a role to play in some famous witch trials. That’s right – Salem.

When we went to Salem for our honeymoon, I distinctly remember being completely overwhelmed by deja vu when walking down one of the streets. I could’ve sworn that I had been there before. Of course I hadn’t, as I had personally never been to Massachusetts let alone Salem. I also had no idea that my family traced back to the area.

According to this book, John Abbe arrived in 1634 on the Bonaventure which sailed from London to New England.

Copy of the silver bookplate image of the ship Bonaventure 1634

Genealogy of the Crane Family

The internet archive has come up trumps again with this family history book. (Link here) The Crane family has all kinds of fun names in it as well – Mehitabel, Azariah, Phineas and Jasper to name a few.

This volume was put together by Ellery Bicknell Crane in 1900.

Plate of the book: Genealogy of the Crane Family Volume II. Descendants of BenjaminCrane, of Wethersfiled, Conn., also of Jasper Crane, of New Haven Conn., and Newark, N.J., and Stephen Crane, of Elizabethtown, N.J. with families of the name in New Hampshire, Maryland and Virginia by Ellery Bicknell Crane. There is also an image of the author on the opposite page.

I descend from Jasper Crane as he is my 10th great-grandfather. The book outlines that he was one of the original settlers of the New Haven Colony, having arrived on June 4, 1639 and that he “assuredly was one of the staunch and active men among the first settlers of the New Haven Colony as well as one of the fathers of the new settlement in New Jersey.

Jasper Crane was also included in “Cyclopedia of New Jersey Biography” which was put together by The American Historical Society. It can also be found on the internet archive here. I love the title they chose for him “Founder of an Important Family”.

It’s amazing how much I’ve learned the further I go back. And it’s amazing how much they were able to keep track of in North America before the families kept growing. I look forward to finding the next book!