The Strongs of Strongsville DESCENDANTS OF John Stou,ghton Strong .,, - - and Eliphalet Strong Supplementary to the History of the Strong Family, by Benjamin W. Dwight By Albert Strong Fort Dodge, Iowa, 1931 JOHN STOUGHTON STRONG Died February 23, 1863, aged 91 years. FOREWORD. The Strongs generally hold to the sensible American opinion that while family descent is of itself no reason for personal conceit, yet a worthy ancestry is to be prized as an example and incentive. Interest in genealogy is rapidly increasing, and it was chiefly the thought that so many facts and dates, readily available now, would be utterly lost a generation hence, that led to this attempt to bridge for future searchers of our branch of the family the sixty-year gulf between the completion of Dwight's History in 1870 and the present. Family research, even on a limited scale, cannot succeed without assistance and encouragement, credit for which is particularly due in this case to Sy<l.ney Strong, of Seattle, Wash.; Edward A. Strong, of Minneapolis, Minn.; Gilbert W. Amidon, of Stafford Springs, Conn.; Mrs. Helen Strong Aylard, of Medina, Ohio; Mrs. Harriet Strong Clark, of Cleveland, Ohio; Mrs. Mabel Strong Wilkins, of Sylvania, Ohio, and Mrs. Nellie Strong Reid, of Genoa, Ill. Acknowledgment is made to the History of Strongsville ( edition 1901) for many facts and dates, and Dwight's History of the Strong Family is of course the main dependence for the earlier generations. In spite of some errors which, as was to have been expected, have developed during the sixty years since he wrote, the fact remains that without his work we would have no connected history of the family as a whole. The results of some personal research are presented for what they are worth. Copies of the wills referred to will be found in the Appendix. EXPLANATION An Arabic numeral at the left of a birth record indicates the mun­ her of the paragraph in which the subject's history is continued. Thus, "12. vi. William, b. June 5, 1869," means that William is the sixth child of his parents and that his further record will be found in No. 12 of the consecutively numbered paragraphs of his family branch. Also any name in the book may be found by referring to the Index of Persons. [5] ANCESTRY OF ELIPHALET AND JOHN STOUGHTON STRONG ( See Appendix) RICHARDS, Alice I-Alice Bradford BF~-"LDFORD, Maj. Wm. -Ahiei Adams ST ACY, Elizabeth -cau I-William Adams ... ADAMS, William ~ ~.... SMITH, Anna -§i ;.::i I-Hannah _Kenrick 11) KENRICK, John Q FAIRBANKS, Mary ~Joseph Metcalf 1-Jonathan Metcalf ~ METCALF, Michael ~ ~ ..c: ~l"~-·J...J.CJ.I..J t'\171-,;+,,?\\ ,-,- .U~LV• f <II WHITE(?) rn""'al k•borahLeffingwell t i:: 1-4 1-Thos. Leffingwell Crow al LEFFINGWELL ~ Cl) RICE,Mary aal c.!Iz I-Sarah Boltwood 0 0 BOL TWOOD, Robert !Andrew Warner ~ = Mary t z ~Isaac Warner 0 WARNER, Andrew ~ FORD, Abigail c.!I I-Hester Strong :::> STRONG, John 0 ~Eunice Bissell =0 ~ MOORE, Abigail .... I-Thomas Bissell 1b z BISSELL, Thomas =0 =0 ti$ ~ MOORE, Abigail al ..c: I-Eliz. Bissell BISSELL, Thomas '5 ~ WADSWORTH, Mary -John Stoughton llll I-John Stoughton I: STOUGHTON, Thomas 2 rn.... Ann -,:, ~Martha Wakefield -~as WAKEFIELD, John Q -Martha Buckland DENSLOW, Temp'nce ~ 1-Nich. Buckland ~ BUCKLAND, Thomas rn ~ NEWBERRY, Jane = I-Sarah Warham § WARHAM, Rev. John (I} -Samuel Strong FORD, Abigail I-Return Strong STRONG.John [6] ELDER JOHN STRONG, THE IMMIGRANT ANCESTOR The great majority of the Strongs in the United States are descend­ ants of JOHN STRONG, a native of Somersetshire, England, who emigrated to America in 1630-35 ( the exact year is a matter of con­ troversy) and finally settled at Northampton, Massachusetts. He was the first ruling elder of the church at Northampton and held the office for forty years, therefore he is usually called "Elder John" by his descendants. In 1777 Gov. Caleb Strong, of Massachusetts, wrote a brief account of the origin of the family in America, in which he included a list of John Strong's children and a partial one of his grandchildren. Using this as a basis, Dr. Benjamin W. Dwight wrote and published in 1871 an elaborate history of the Strong family, in two volumes, which, as even those who dispute the accuracy of some of his findings admit, evinces remarkable patience and industry, as well as ingenuity in ferreting out long-forgotten facts and dates of bygone generations. Dwight's work closed about 1870. His BIRTHPLACE According to the family tradition, he was born and lived at Taun­ ton, in Somersetshire, but no record or other evidence of his birth or residence there has ever been found. About twelve miles, as the crow flies, from Taunton, lies the village of Chard, in the parish of the same name. The will of William Deane, of Southchard, in Chard parish, ( 1634, Prerogative Court of Canter­ bury, Seagar 86) mentions his daughter, Margerie Strong, and "her sonne and my grandchild, John Strong," also sons John and Walter Deane. Turning to American records, we find that Elder John's eldest son was named John, that among eight new residents of Taunton, Mass.~ '¥ho arrived there in December 1638, were John Strong and Walter and John Deane and that Walter Deane in confirming in 1691 a deed from John Strong, of Northampton, deposed that he acted under a power of attorney from "my brother, John Strong, Sr." Comparing these records, there seems to be no room left for doubt that the Strong who married Margerie Deane, of South Chard, by whom he had a son, John, Jr., was identical with Elder John Strong, [7] of Northampton. Thus the only clue that we have to his English residence points to South Chard. Since Taunton was the county seat of Somersetshire, situated near Chard and the only important town in the vicinity, it must have been a prominent place in the eyes of young John Strong; the occasional visits which he doubtless made there would be long remembered, and after coming to America he would mention it frequently to his children and acquaintances, thus, perhaps, giving the impression that it was his English home. Or his descendants may have confused Taunton, England, with Taunton, Mass., where we know that he did live for seven years. His ANCESTRY The parish records of Chard, now extant, date no farther back than about the middle of the seventeenth century, fifty years too late for our purpose. The Bishop of Wells Transcripts of the earlier Chard recor1s throw a little light on the period in which we are interested, but are scanty and unsatisfactory, although one or two of them are very important to us, as will he seen. About ten years ago the writer found in some English work on gen­ ealogy or local history, a reference to one George Strong, of Chard, who was mentioned as a manufacturer of serge there in the VIII. Queen Elizabeth (1566-7). He had sons Thomas and Walter. The reference to this item has been lost, but confirmation came in an out­ line of the will of this George Strong (Prerogative Court of Canter­ bury, 1636, Pile 15, N~26~627Jwhich was kindly furnished by Mrs. Louie Dean White, of Brookline, Mass. In this will he mentions, besides sons Thomas and Walter, "my grandchild John Strong." The will was proved February 16, 1636, indicating that George Strong died about 1635, at which date he must have been very old, seeing that the mention made of him as a serge manufacturer implies that he was a mature man in 1566-7. Who was the father of "grandchild John Strong"? He seems to have died before his father George made his will in 1627, for of the five grandchildren mentioned therein, three-Marie, Elizabeth and Joan-are named as daughters of Walter, and the remaining two, John and William, were evidently orphans, since they are not among the children of Thomas, the births of which are recorded in the parish register of Chardstock. Here the Bishop's Transcripts come to the rescue by furnishing the record of the burial of a John Strong of Chard on July 14, 1613. We now have ground for the theory that this John Strong was the son of George Strong and the father of our "Elder John." Research in England, under the direction of Col. [8] Charles E. Banks, the well-known genealogist, brought to light an undated will of John Strong of Chard (Wells, Bishop's Court, at Exeter), evidently made on his death-bed, in which he mentions his son John, an unborn child, his father George and his brothers Thomas and Walter. Comparing these facts and dates with statements made in the "History of the Strong Family" by Gov. Caleb Strong and the author Dwight, that Elder John was a native of Somersetshire, that his father died in 1613 when his son was young and that his grand­ father lived to a great age but died before his grandson left England, we have circumstantial proof that the line was: George (1), John (2), Elder John ( 3) . So far the English records confirm the American tradition remark­ ably well. But Gov. Caleb Strong states in his "Account" of 1777 that the name of Elder John's father was Richard. Possibly the name of his native place, as shown in some ancient writing, was mistaken for his father's name. Observe the final syllable of the name Richard­ "chard." This, with some abbreviated character before it to indicate "South," perhaps blurred or illegibly written, might have been mis­ taken for "Richard," and "John Strong of S :chard" read as "John Strong of Richard." John Strong Sr.'s hurried will does not mention the name of his wife, and their marriage record (Bishop's Transcripts) is defective.