Walter Leroy .~Rown

"\VE BEST SERVE THE INTEREST OF POSTERITY BY TREASURING TI-IE 1'1EJHORY OF OUR ANCESTORS." DESCENDANTS OF JOHN MAXSON AND \VIFE l\JARY l\IOSHER OF WESTERLY. RHODE ISLAND by Walter LeRoy .~rown R. F. D. l. Albion, N. Y. 1 9 5 4 Printed by The Eddy Printing Co. Albion, N. Y., U. S, A. DEDICATED TO lVIY GRANDCHILDREN \VALTER CARR, PATRICIA CAROLINE AND EDWARD BALCOl\I SWAIN. GENEALOGY An American genealogy may be an account of a person or family now or rcc<.!ntly living and records of the families from whom the person or family is descen<lc<l, generation by generation, back to the \'arious immigrant families; or it may be a record of an early immi grant family and of the families descended from that immigrant fam ily, generation by generation, to date. The former is family history, while the latter is genealogy proper. The incentive for family history is common to most people, its field is limited, and the work involved is definite. The incentive for the study of genealogy proper is de• vclope<l only after considerable work has been done on family history and a discovery made of the meagerness of records that most people have left for descendants; the field in\'olvecl is limited only by the time, and the work necessary must be the cooperation of many. At this time it is very difficult to make a family history complete if embodying colonial families; yet the genealogy of certain uncommon names in the male lines suggests completeness, while very common names often dcfy study. :Many family records written before this publication are given in "Brown-Hakes and Allied Families, 1940" some of which arc repeated in this work with a few changes due to later study. INDIVIDUAL INHERITANCE is subject to a multiplicity of fac tors. Characteristics in parents may or may not appear in their chil dren; but whether they do or do not appear in their children, they may appear in their grandchildren, or later descendants. No simple law can be formulated which shall predict characteristics in descend ants from their ancestors. 1-:luman action is the resultant of individual inheritance, mental and physical as influenced by environment which is the inheritance of all others in their physical surroundings. \Vhile human action mav han: a third factor. not included in inheritance and environment, these two factors arc (he only factors that arc subject to the laws of cause and effect. ENVlRONi\lENT. l\Tany generations of the same families living in similar physical surrotmcling-s arc influenced such that characteris tics of other families li\'ing- in the same environment hccomc common to the different groups of families. as may be observed in some foreign countries. Physical environment as an influence on inheri tance is of too short duration to be of importance in American gen ealogy. REPETITION of characteristics for succeeding generations is the most important factor in inheritance in American genealogy. l~rom the inter-marriage of people po.ssessing similar natural quali ties and this repeated many generations, characteristics ha\"e a ten dency to become dominant in descent. This circumstance is extant when cousins, even though distant, intermarry for several genera tions. A review of any Americ~n genealogy shows how numerous such marriages have been. III LA,v OF INHERITANCE IN CERTAIN CASES. Characteris tic~ of a person that were dominant in some of his or her ancestors are transmitted to his or her descendants as a whole in exact ratio to each individual of a family of a generation, the ratio being de termined by the mathematical theory of probability. Personal char acteristics, as the color of the eyes may become dominant. Ability along certain lines appears to become dominant, as also a weakness, physical or mental, may become dominant. DOMAIN OF REALITY. The integral of inheritance compre hends the domain of reality. Each event that occurs has its birth as a resultant of previous events adjacent in time; and the event as a whole is the resultant of its ancestral events in relativity with all contemporary events. The ancestral events, cause of inheritance, and the contemporary events, known as environI11ent, arc the factors, due to causes that make the individual. Environment lends opportun ity for the development of repression of inheritance, out cannot alter it in kind. Inheritance is a closed domain; environment is its bound ary. It is futile to try to formulate a simple law which shall show the re]ativc values of inheritance and environment. INHERITANCE IS DETEl(M JNED. All experience shows that the total amount of reality as measured in energy is constant, unless, indeed, the measures arc a function of the time. Each element of energy acts from its own momentum in connection with the momen tum of every other element of energy; the whole is self-clirectccl from inertia and is thus determined. EXPLANATORY NOTES ABBREVIATIONS. b., born; d., diecl; m., married; d. y., died young; B.R., Bible Record; G.S.R., grave stone record; V.R.., vital record; D.R., death record. AUTHORITY for statements is usually given, either at the be ginning or end of records. NUMBERS before a name indicate the number of the child in a family and the number of the generation from the parents indicated at the beginning of the records, as: 72 John Allen indicates that John Allen was the second child of his parents and that one of his parents was the 7th child of his grandparents whose records arc being given, as to descendants. INDEXED at the end of the book. MISTAKES. As in most works on genealogy, there probably arc mistakes due to various reasons, hut the lines of descent we believe to be as nearly correct as the source of information will permit. IV SOURCES OF GENEALOGICAL INFORMATION FOR AMERICAN FAMILIES 'WRITTEN FA7\IILY RECORDS. The older members of a fam ily usually know where to locate the family records of their parents and sometimes of their grandparents and great-grandparents. These records arc usually accurate. GRAVE STONE INSCRIPTIONS. These records sometimes con tain c-rrors as to elate of birth, due to the faulty method of remember ing one's age instead of remembering the elate ·of birth. Just one year is a common error and this is made in the computation of the date of birth from the date of death and age at the time of death. CHURCH RECORDS. The early churches kept the vital records ,,f the members and kept records of baptisms. Some of these records i1ave been published and can be found in libraries with a department of genealogy. These records are accurate. GOVERNl\-IENT VITAL RECORDS. Births, marriages and deaths were recorded in N cw England from the beginning, but the practice seems not to have been compulsory, for many records that arc verified in other ways cannot he found in the town records of New England. The early vital records of Rhode Island have been copied and published. The early records of Connecticut arc indexed at Hartford with copies of the original at the State Library. Many of the town records of :i\fassachusctts have been copied and published. Some of the towns of New York have records for the years 1847-1850. Only since 1884 have all the towns of New York kept vital records, and for the first few years these arc not in all cases complete. Similar records haYc been kept in Michigan only since 1910. but the State Library at Lansing has colkctecl valuable records since 1867. Eng land h,lS kept vital records since 1837. Death records arc sometimes inaccurate as to the parentage of the deceased, and as to the place of birth of the deceased. LAND RECORDS. The land records of Connecticut arc kept by the towns; and in New York these records arc at the county seats. The place of residence of both grantor ancl grantee is often given in deeds, and the names of both husband and wife appear in the grantor in New York. Records of mortgages arc likewise valuable to the genealogist. PROBATE RECORDS. These records often give the names of all surviving members of a family. The early wills of Connecticut have been brought to Hartford. Land and Surrogate records arc most reliable. ·- LOCAL HISTORIES usually contain an account of the early set tlers of a place, and something about the people that have been con ncctccl with the local government. Leading citizens arc mentioned; but it is to be deplored that, for financial reasons, no account of many V worthy citizens appears in most local histories. Local histories give clues to facts but sometimes contain inaccuracies. PENSION RECORDS. Family data of a pensioner is on file at the pension bureau, given at the time of application for pension. The Ac counting Department also has family data on file. The service of a soldier can often be established through the pension bureau. TO'WN RECORDS. The minutes of the town meetings of New York and of New England often contain valuable records, as the sign ing of the Oath of Allegiance at the beginning of the Revolutionary War. Many of the road records show the names of C\'cry man in the town who paid a toll tax. CENSUS RECORDS. New York State, Act of April 4. 1825 pro vided for the taking of the Census. 1835 and 1845 Census arc of not much value to the genealogist. Some of the counties have copies of the 1855 and 1865 state census of the County and these records are quite complete as to family data.

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