CABOOSE QUERY LINKS

Deerfield MA query: My query for BASSETT and BIGELOW missing forebears' info
Ticonderoga NY query: BIGELOW forebears' missing info Go six down on 21 Dec 1997
Tipperary IRELAND query: POWER, RYAN, WALSH forebears' missing info Go five down on Nov 1997
Hawkins County TN query: MELINDA and HECK missing info Go to 18 Dec 1997
My Gen Forum queries from ALLISON to YOUNG: Many information-filled queries with dates, names and places
Rockingham County (Windham NH): Query for DAR Patriot JOHN HUGHES, go to #323
LUNENBURG MA JONES FAMILIES: Query re: JONES Families of Lunenburg, Worcester County MA
Franklin County MA USGENWEB: Bigelow-Bassett query - go to #77

BURNING QUESTIONS REGARDING MY CABOOSE PASSENGERS

***Who was WILLIAM GARRICK of Yarmouth MA , to whom and when was he born,and when and where did he die?* ***What transpired in BENJAMIN BASSETT's life between 1818 when he was born in Chatham MA and 1852 when he married ELNORA BIGELOW in Deerfield MA, and where did he go when he left Deerfield MA in 1862 under mysterious circumstances? **** What were the surnames of Elnora's Mother and fraternal Grandmother. **** Who were the MELVIN MELINDAs "from Boston MA" who brought up MARY ELIZABETH BASSETT (Elnora's daughter) in Hawkins County TN from appx 1862 to her marriage in 1873?*****

GARRICK, BIGELOW and BASSETT

This family grouping has several holes and is responsible for many of my Caboose passengers. It all began in the GARRICK or GERRISH or GERUCK line when William "GARRICK" filed intentions of marriage 10 Aug 1776 in Yarmouth MA to Sarah ROBBINS. Now, I do know the background of Sarah b 22 Mar 1750/1 to John ROBBINS and Elizabeth DOWNS. All of this background has been carefully researched. William GARRICK's birth and death are unknown to me but he is listed in the Massachussets' Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolution (pg 297). He was a Private from Yarmouth,in Capt Jonathan Crowell's Company which marched on the alarm of 19 Apr 1775. He served for three whole days! He served again with Capt John Russell's Company for one month and twenty days(stationed at Martha's Vineyard for defense of the seacoast) from 10 Aug 1776 to 30 Sept 1776. He served another month and twenty-two days from 30 Sep 1776 to 22 Nov 1776 under Major Baraciah Bassett at Martha's Vineyard. Meanwhile, back on the "mainland in Yarmouth", he had married Sarah on 24 August 1776 and she bore his child "ELISIABETH GERUCK" on 2 Sept 1777. Elizabeth Garrick grew up to become SAMUEL BASSETT,Jr's wife 16 April 1801 in Yarmouth and have eight little Bassetts, the youngest of which was my BENJAMIN BASSETT, b 15 Aug 1818 in Chatham. Now, it seems that Sam Bassett JR dropped from sight when he was about 40 years old as there were no more little Bassetts by Elizabeth Garrick! And I think Elizabeth died in Chatham 13 Nov 1834 when my Benjamin was about 16 years old. From that time until 28 Nov in 1852 I have no clue as to where my Benjie was or what he did! Marrying for the first time, ostensibly, he claimed to be 28 years old. (Both the state record # 82252 and the town record show the same information.) Benjamin correctly gave the place of his birth as Chatham MA and his parents as Samuel and Elizabeth Bassett, and claimed this to be his first marriage. In actuality, simple arithmetic tells us he was really a bit over 34 years of age. His wife, ELNORA BIGELOW was 23 at the time. The plot thickens: By the second of November 1862, almost ten years after the marriage, Benjamin ups and disappears and the family subsequently used the date of his last son Charles Bassett's birth as the date of Benjamin's death. Pretty pat!


BIGELOW-THREE CHILDREN, TWO WIVES AND UNKNOWN LOCATIONS

The second "burning questions" area is still within the parameters of the BIGELOW grouping. SAMUEL BIGELOW was born 4 Sept 1773 in Weston MA to ABRAHAM BIGELOW and ANNA FISKE. (ANNA is a DAR patriot!) Samuel's father d just one year six months and ten days later at the age of 48 and Anna was left with 7 ch. Anna was a very strong and wealthy woman, the daughter (b 8 Dec 1731 in Weston MA) of NATHAN FISKE and ANN WARREN. Thus, Samuel was well-educated and became an attorney in spite of the loss of a father. However, Samuel just drops out of my sight during the time he married Mara HOWE or SMITH and had his first three children: 1) Horatio H (my line) b ca 1796 somewhere and m a "Phoebe/Polly-who" somewhere, 2) Laura Strong (yes, two given names) b ca 1798 who d by the age of 28, and 3) Samuel Smith (yes, two names again!) b ca 1800. Samuel and Mara HOWE/SMITH subsequently had four more ch all b in Ticonderoga NY: 4) Stephen Van Rensselear 16 Feb 1803, m Caroline HAY, 5) Andrew Craig 2 Jul 1805 m Eliza HYDE, 6) Anna Havens 22 Oct 1807 m Palmer M BAKER, 7) Letitia 6 Jan 1810 m Melancthin WILSON. It is interesting to note here that part of my problem may be due to the fact that both Abraham and his son Samuel d at relatively early ages to the lives of their sons in my line: Abraham @ 62 yrs but before Samuel was 2 yrs and Samuel @ 48 when Horatio was perhaps 22 yrs. (In the following generation also, it can be noted what the loss of Benjamin BASSETT meant to his ch.) Through the efforts of the excellent genealogist Patricia Bigelow, Editor of the BIGELOW GENEALOGY-1986, since sadly deceased, I have the correct info on the last four ch, and of course, I had the info on my Horatio. So I was able to put pieces together. But, there is still another gnawing gap: that of my Horatio's whereabouts and doings from the time of his birth in an unknown location to his marriage at an unknown location and to an unknown "Polly or Phoebe-who". So here we have a father Samuel who m a "Mara Howe or Smith or whatever"--- whenever and wherever. And we have the same cycle repeating itself with the son, Horatio. Samuel BIGELOW d 14 Oct 1818 and is bur in Ticonderoga NY where he was practicing law. His "unknown" wife is buried there also under the name of "Mara". I have not found a record of her birth said to have been in Deerfield MA May 1774. I am very sad not to have found all the pieces but hope someone may have them for me.


BASSETT and HECK and MELINDA

Mary Elizabeth BASSETT was born to BENJAMIN BASSETT and ELNORA BIGELOW 2 Mar 1856 in Deerfield MA. She was the second oldest of five children born to them in the space of eight years. Benjamin, her father, dropped off the face of the earth before the birth 2 November 1862 of the last son, Charles,and this boy's birth date was given as the death date of Benjamin. I have found no record to substantiate this. Thus, Elnora was left with 5 ch and no means of support as their Grandfather HORATIO BIGELOW, died before the birth of this last child, CHARLES BASSETT. (I do recall my Grandmother ELLA BIGELOW BASSETT was quoted as telling my Dad that those years on the farm were the happiest of her life but just what those years were, I do not know.) Mary Elizabeth m JACOB HECK in Rogersville TN on 28 Sept 1873. I have all the information on her children and husband, but the years between her birth and her marriage are undocumented. Her family was told she was b 10 May 1857 a full year and 2 months after her actual birth date. This would have made her seventeen years and six months of age when she m Jacob. (This age makes much more sense to me and it is proven by the birth certificate.) The family story is that Mary Elizabeth was adopted by MELVIN MELINDA and his wife "from Boston". They bought a "riverbottom farm" on the Holston River and raised racehorses. They also owned and operated the Melinda's Ferry which was later replaced by Melinda Ferry Bridge. Hopefully, someone knows this MELINDA family and can add the missing pieces. I also have little information on her sister, Sarah and her brother Charles, both said to have resided in Northampton and Springfield MA.