Re: Phineas Yeaton Line
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In reply to:
Re: Phineas Yeaton Line
Catherine Presley 7/16/01
Hello All!
Well, after finding Gosport:Isles of Shoals, All kinds of new information has popped up! From the New England Gazetteer;1853-p.204: Isles of Shoals, N.H."7(9) islands 8(9) miles off the coast of Maine & N.H., Hog (now Appledore)=350 acres, Smutty Nose=250 acres, Star=180 acres, Duck, White, Malaga, & Londoner (now Lunging). Star&Smutty Nose&Malaga, connected by sea walls. Treeless, rockie,hard to farm on, fishing abundant.Because the first "settler's" worked and traded there,but did not "settle" in the New World, early fishing and trading outposts are not credited as the first settlements. Local tradition has it that a group at Londoner's Island from around 1615 to 1620. The Islands today are less populated than when the Separatists arrived at Plymouth Plantation. Captain John Smith's map & account in 1614 says fewer than 2 doz. men were able to hook 60,000 fish in a month. Fort Star was built as early protection from the Indians. 600 residence by 1645,importing trees and lumber from the main land.Most lived on Hog & Smutty Nose islands that lie in the Maine half. When Mass annexed Maine and presumed to tax the Shoalers, most moved over to Star Island. They formed the 'Town' of Gosport, which remained largely ungoverned. When Harvard educated Rev. John Tucke of Hampton arrived on the Isles in 1732, he found a hard drinking, hard working population isolated from 'mainland laws, manners, mores AND religion. His 'missionary efforts to "civilize" the islanders continued until his death". When the American Revolution started the province of N.H. ordered all the Shoalers to the mainland. Many came, dismantling and floating their homes to shore, many homes still exist scattered from York, Maine to Ipswich, Mass. The Isles now owned by Unitarian Church, The Star Island Corporation. They have 'day' trips available on the Ferry 'Thomas Laighton'. Ref: Seacoast NH - Isles of Shoals History by J. Dennis Robinson 1997.URL: http://www.SeacoastNH.comhttp://www.SeacoastNH.com.
If there were no "ministers" on the Islands, and if the weather was bad, you really couldn't just hop on over to the church to get married! No wonder there were so many 'early' births, and mass baptisms, and christenings of children and adults. Whenever a 'preacher' floated over, he'd save all the 'Heathens souls' and there in lies the Genealogists headache on the big difference in dates of birth to christenings, no records of births, people being older than their 'birthdates' imply. Too bad the data base programs didn't hear about this lot, entering their info would be so much easier without all of the 'bleeeep', this date does not compute, this mother was not born before her child! Mother too young! (yeah, thats because the minister gave them all the same 'birthdate' when he cleansed them, their sins were washed and he made everything all better in the eyes of the Puritians on shore). This explains a LOT of the mix ups in the "Yeaton" line, and since the Isles are so small, NO WONDER they were all marrying their 1st cousins! Well, this explains why I drink!
I've also found alot of mistakes with all the kids being named the same, I give them ALL their mother's names, sometimes their grandmother's names too: 83.Joseph Warren [eSprague] Yeaton, 52.Mary [mhPinkham] Yeaton {Mary's mother was Mary [eHopley]Pinkham's & Joseph [eRandall] Yeaton's dau. How about 13.Joanna [Grant] Pray {Widow} Roberts? This is easy for me as I'm Catherine Mary [Hughes(Yeaton)] Naylor-Price-Presley! Try to fit that on the drivers licence signature line!
I've been enjoying this, Thank you everyone for all your in put, and help straightening these people out.Happy New Year, Cathee