My Children's Ancestors
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My Children's Ancestors DATA C01"'Clt]I.NING ABOUT FOUll BUNDJU!:D NEW . ltNGLAN!> ANCESTORS OF THJt CBll,DlUtN OF Roselle Theodore Cross and liis Wife Emma Asenath (Bridgman) Cross ALSO NAM.ES OF MANY ANCESTORS IN ltNGI,AND, AND DltSClU•"DAN'l'S OP UR. AND MRS. CROSS'S GRAND-, .!'.A.JUtl'r~, THJlODOJLa AND SUSANN.AH (JACKMAN) citoss; .· !IA,MU1U, AND I.OIS (TJU4PI.E) MURDOCK, NOAE .. AND. ASBNAT.H {JUDD) BRIDGMAN, JACOB AND !.~!A (!I.ACK) DAGGaTT WITH Introductory Essay on Genealogy, and an Appendix of M iscellanics BY REV. R. T. CROSS, Autl1or OJ Home Duties, Clear as Crystal, Crystals and Gold, Etc. COP'l"fllQMT 1118 IY flOalt.~• 1'HIOOOIII c:,roaa TWt::--S:::URG, OHIO THC CHAMPL.IN PIICae C:OL.UM ■ U ■• OHIO Mrs. Emma A. Bridgman Cross TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOVED WIFE, EMMA ASENATH BRIDGMAN, TU£ FAIT!IFUL COMPANION OF FORTY-ONE YEARS, DEVOTED DAUGHTER, SISTER, WIFE, MOTHER AND FRIEND, , EARNEST CHRISTIAN AND STEADFAS'r TOILER IN THE MASTER'S SERVICE, T~CHER OF THE YOUTH OF TWO RACES, STUDENT, .ADVOCATE ANP SUPPORTER OF MISSIONS, DAUGllTli-R,,:WI7?,·AN:Q __ MOTHER OF. CONGREGATIONAL MINISTERS, . Ui WHOS~,:yt:l}fS"'<fr..Ov,r.1,m ROYAL. BLOOD AND-BETTER THAN THA'l'-'.-~N WllOSE PERSONALITY MET THE ·.. FlN~ TP..AITS OF MANY OF THE OLDEST AND 3EST FAMILIES OF NEW. ENGLAND, MANY OF THE RESULTS OF WHOSE STUDY OF ANCESTRAL LORE IN THE LAST FOUll YEARS OF HER LIFE APPEAR IN THIS BOOK, AND WHO, WE MAY HOPE, · IS NOW PURSUING THAT STUDY AT FIRST HAND AMONG THE ANCF..STORS THEMSF..LVES, THIS BOOK, WHICH SHE DID SO MUCH TO MAKE POSSIBLE, IS DEDICATED BY ONE WHO LOVED HER DEARLY AND MISSES UER SORELY. ·contents PAGE Dedication .....•.•....•.•• ·.•. ; • . • . • . • 3 Preface . • . • .. .. .. •. •. .. • . .. .. •. .. 5 Essay on Genealogy. • . • . • • . • . • . • . 7 Explanation .... : .•.......... : . • . • • • • • . • . .. 13 The Starting Points-Generation I. ....... ,. .. .. .. 15 Their Parents-Generation 11. • . • . • . • . 16 Generation III-Cross Line., .. ~ ..• ·.. ; •• ·............................... 20 :Murdock Line . ., . >,:· •·., ,-·.- ~-~·; •••• , ._;., ~.,., .•• ,.................... 23 Descendants of Gorham and $ophia · <;ross ....... ; .. .. .. 25 Bridgman Line ....· •• ;;·; .-. ·.... , ... ~- ... ; •• ,:...................... 28 Daggett Line .................. , .............. ; , .............. _.. .. 29 Descendants of Lewis and Nancy Bridgman ... ,... .. • . .. • . • . 30 Cross Chart ...•.••....•........ :·.· •...•••.• , •• ~ •.•..•........•.....•••... 32 Cross Line-................ :; ... ,-~ •. ;.·,-.•. :/~;; ... :·.-................... 33 Some Cross Pedigrees ........ ·.· ...•... : ••. :~ .......................... 65 Descendants of Theodore Cross.. .. • . .. 68 11 urdock Chart . • . • . 77 l\iurdock Line . • . •.. • •• . • . • . 78 Descendants of Sa1nuel Murdock ... ,.................................. 07 Bridgman Chart . • . • • . • . • . 107 Bridgman Line ..............•..................•..................... 108 Del:!cendants of Noah Bridgman .. , .. , ................................. 138 Daggett Chart .•....... , , .•••. ; , ·•. , ••..•... ·•. • . • . • . 141 Daggett Line .. ; .•.••.. ·.'. :-:·;--.\ . •-: .--. , .-~ :.. -. ......· ...................... 142 Descendants of Jacob Daggett ......................................... 159 APPENDIX. A Immigrant Ancestors . • . • . • . • . • . 163 B Years and Ships in Which They Came ............................ 164 C Ancestral Homes . • . • . 105 D War Ancestors ................•........•.•...........•........... 168 E Deputies and Representatives ... , . • . • • • . • . 160 F Ancestral l\fottoes . • . • • • . • • . • • . • • • • • • . • . • . • • . • . • . • . 160 G Royal Ancestry . • • . • . • . • . • . • • • . • . • . 169 H \Viii of John Cross ..•......................•.....••...........•. 171 l Inventory of Israel Daggett ....................................... 173 J A Genealogical Puzzle .••.......•....•.•.••........ : • . • 176 K Letter from Th_codore Cross ...................................... 180 L A Few Poems ..•............•....•..•..•.•....•...•.........•.•.. 182 l\f A Cross X:ineage ...........••....•.•....•... ·................... 188 N A Mayflower Line .......•.....•....•...•.....•..... , ........... 188 0 A Governor's Linc ................................ : ............. 189 ·Preface Most Amed~an genealogies begin with some remote ancestor, generally the first one of the name who came to Amer ica, and trace downward to the present time the diverging lines of his posterity, generally omitting the descendants of daugh ters, as they bear other names. Young people of this time are founcf in about the eighth, ninth or tenth generation from the first settlers, or immigrant ancestors, of the New England and other colonies. This book exactly reverses the above method. It begins with· the author's children and traces their ancestry on all as cending lines, female as well as male, back eight, nine or ten generations, :back to the first settlers of New England, and as much· further as possible, back into England. -The disadvantage of this plan is that the author has to put himself and his family in the front of the book, but it enables him to give, with pleasure;<a- prominent place, so well deserved, to his-·parents and the parents· 'of his wife. The great advantage of the plan is that it gives all of one's direct ancestors, on all lines, female as well as male, as far as they can be traced, and gives them in the natural order of inter est, as we are naturally more interested in the near-by genera tions than we are in the remote ones. This plan gives ancestors .of about one hundred and fifty different surnames, mostly of N cw England families. The common plan gives one a host of distant cousins that bear the family name; this plan gives one his direct ancestors, bearing many names, and a host of great and very great uncles and aunts, whose connection with other families is indicated by telling whom they married. The desire, however, to know about one's cousins of near degree is gratified by giving all the descendants, as far as they can be traced, to the last baby born, of the grandparents of the writer and his wife. This last feature has involved a large cor respondence, lasting for years. Only a few persons have declined to answer letters. R. T. C. Essay on Genealogy I was visiting a city school one day, and in answering· some question about the Pilgrims that had been referred to me, I asked the scholars how many of them knew the meaning of the word Genealogy. One hand went up and its owner, a boy of about twelve, said: "It-it, why, it is to find out about your great uncle, what relation he is to you." But it is hardly so simple a thing as that. Genealogy is defined as the science of births. In the study of it we search out our ancestors and find out all we can about them .. _We disentangle the threads that center in ourselves, or in our children, and follow each one backward, the number of threads doubling with each generation. Or we go back to some ancestor, say one who _cam~ to. New Engl~nd nearly three hundred years ago,. and -· note and record the diverging lines and the increasing progeny · that came . ! rom that ancestor, until it becomes a great host, allied and interwoven with countless other families. Is it an interesting · study? · Yes, exceedingly so-if one is interested; otherwise it is exceedingly dry. Pardon a bit of per sonal experience. In 1874 I happened to be in Methuen, Mass. In the town cl~rk's office I copied the names of about one hundred Crosses. I sent them to my brother, the late Capt. Judson N. Cross of Minneapolis. He pursued the study with enthusiasm until his death in 1901, and often sent to me the results of his work. I glanced them over and put them away, intending some time to put them in shape for my children. Many years passed and it was not done. The impulse to do it came at last from a visit to New England in 1906, when my wife visited her ancestral home in Rhode Island and found it turned into a city park for Pawtucket, with the house, over two hundred years old, filled with colonial relics by the D. A. R. I visited my mother's birthplace up on the green hills of Vermont, and found trees forty feet high .growing out of the cellar of• the old home. Returning to Denver we tried to verify a re'l):-Tt we had be~rd that my wife was descended from John Alden . vV ,e failec. to prove it true, but the effort gave us a start in genea• 'i 8 EsSA:V p~ ~ liElU~!tux;Y logical study, and until· her death- in September, l!llO, we pursued the study together, I in odd moments as a recreation, she as a relief to the nervous strain of a long illness. We became genealogical enthusiasts. We found it a delightful study and one of absorbing interest. We made many discoveries about our ancestors and their friends. Back. in the past few centuries~ winding among the hills and along the streams of old New England, diverging lines of ancestors rose from their graves, as it were, and told us their names, where they lived, their occupations, their deeds and misdeeds, whom they married and when, the names· of their children and whom they married, with little incidents or thrilling stories that were caught in the amber of history, with records of economy and of patriotic heroism as they subdued the stony soif of Nevi England and cleared her forests, fought savages· and threw. off the galling yoke of the mother country. We became acquainted with them ; we introduce(l them to our children and our cousins, and we prepared for them letters of introduction