Cape Cod ancestry of Hope Holdershaw and Hannah Brown

Research noteresearch/ellingwood/Ellingwood_Cape_Cod.md

0137 KBsize
02502lines
0316filed with
047sections

As written

Cape Cod ancestry of Hope Holdershaw and Hannah Brown

Research report, 7 October 2026. Done read-only against the archive; nothing in /home/user/ellingtree-research was changed.

Evidence tiers: [D] documented (record, or a published transcript or abstract of one); [C] compiled (genealogy, county history, online tree); [I] inferred; [T] tradition. Ratings: Proven / Probable / Possible / Disproven.

Abbreviations: MD = The Mayflower Descendant (vol:page; Eastham and Orleans vital records and unrecorded Barnstable deeds as transcribed by G. E. Bowman); MSS = Massachusetts Soldiers and Sailors of the Revolutionary War; Gray = Ruth Gray, Maine Families in 1790, vols. 1 and 3 (1988); Nickerson Family = The Nickerson Family: the descendants of William Nickerson, 1604-1689 (Nickerson Family Association, 1997); Hufbauer = Virginia Knowles Hufbauer, Descendants of Richard Knowles, 1637-1973 (1974).

Summary

  1. There is a junction, and it runs through Hope's mother, not her father. Hope's mother Sarah Cole (b. Eastham 1738) was a granddaughter of Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson, daughter of Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce, both already in the archive (Nathaniel Bassett, Dorcas Joyce; and above them William Bassett). Frances Fairchild Holbrook descends from their daughter Mary Bassett (Mrs. Thomas Mulford). Dick and Frances were seventh cousins, once removed, through Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce. Rated Probable overall; the two weakest steps are named in section 2.
  2. The Ancestry tree's Shaw-Knowles line for Hope's father is very probably wrong. The John Shaw born at Eastham on 18 June 1735 to John and Martha (Knowles) Shaw went with his family to Hartford, Connecticut, by 1744 (a family Bible), and is very probably Capt. John Shaw of Wilbraham, Mass., who named a son Knowles Shaw and died in Ohio about 1802. Hufbauer, the tree's cited source, lists the 1735 birth but never identifies him with John Holdershaw. The "Capt." on the tree's John Holdershaw also belongs to the Wilbraham man; John Holdershaw was a corporal and sergeant. John Holdershaw's own parents remain unknown.
  3. Hope's maternal line is well recorded: Cole of Eastham, back through John Cole and Ruth Snow to Stephen Hopkins of the Mayflower (via Constance Hopkins and Nicholas Snow), and Nickerson of Harwich back to William Nickerson, founder of Chatham.
  4. Hannah Brown's parents remain unknown. The Ancestry tree's Benjamin Brown (1769-1819) and Hannah Russell are a New Hampshire/Bethel, Maine family whose recorded children begin in 1798: Disproven for a Cape Cod girl born about 1786. FamilySearch's candidate, Hannah Brown born at Gorham 20 Jan 1786 to Benjamin Brown and Sarah Phinney (a family that came from Eastham), is Possible, no better.
  5. Because William Bassett becomes Dick's ancestor too, the archive's existing famous kin anchored on him (Humphrey Bogart, Sir Charles Tupper) become Dick's kin as well (section 3).

1. Pedigrees

1a. Hope Holdershaw (c. 1768 - aft. 18 July 1829)

Wife of Richard Ellingwood of Frankfort (m. Orrington 24 Dec 1787) [D, already in the archive].

Hope Holdershaw (c.1768 Cape Cod - aft. 1829)
├── FATHER: John Holdershaw, "John H. Shaw" (c.1735? - bef. 7 May 1807, Frankfort)   PARENTS UNKNOWN
└── MOTHER: Sarah Cole (b. 9 Sep 1738, Eastham; living 1807)
    ├── Joseph Cole Jr. (b. 18 May 1718, Eastham; d. 1795, South Parish of Eastham)
    │   ├── Joseph Cole (b. 11 Jun 1677, Eastham; living 1764)
    │   │   ├── John Cole (b. c.1644; living 1715) — son of Daniel Cole of Eastham
    │   │   └── Ruth Snow (d. 27 Jan 1716/17) — dau. of Nicholas Snow & Constance Hopkins
    │   │                                        (Constance dau. of Stephen Hopkins, Mayflower)
    │   └── Mercy Hinckley (m. Harwich 6 Oct 1715) — parents not found
    └── Sarah Nickerson (b. Harwich; m. 17 Nov 1737)
        ├── John Nickerson (d. Harwich bef. 1722)
        │   ├── Joseph Nickerson (b. Yarmouth Dec 1647; d. Harwich 1725/31)
        │   │   └── son of William Nickerson & Anne Busby (to Boston 1637)
        │   └── Ruhamah Jones (dau. of Teague Jones)
        └── Sarah Bassett (living 1744 as "Widow Sarah Rogers")
            ├── Nathaniel Bassett (c.1628 - 16 Jan 1709/10)  ← IN ARCHIVE: nathaniel-bassett-1628
            └── Dorcas Joyce (c.1640 - 10 Jun 1707)          ← IN ARCHIVE: dorcas-joyce-1640

Hope Holdershaw → John Holdershaw (father)

  • 4 Nov 1807, Hope Ellingwood, widow, of Frankfort, sold to Stevens Atwood for $90 "all right, title, interest I now have in the real estate of which my father John H. Shaw late of Frankfort died seized ... 1/6 undivided between heirs of John H. Shaw," with a sixth of the reversion of the widow's dower (Hancock Deeds 23:286) [D, abstract on WikiTree Holdershaw-17; also Gray 1:95, 3:140]. Her sister Delilah and Ralph Ellingwood sold their share the same day (23:287).
  • Rating: Proven.

John Holdershaw himself (what is known)

  • Marriage intention "John HolderShaw & Sarah Cole," both of Eastham, entered 4 Apr 1760 by Jabez Snow, town clerk; married Eastham 4 Dec 1760 [D: Eastham town records p. 174, FamilySearch image 3:1:3QS7-L979-96FB i=95; index FC4F-FZG "John Holder Shaw and Sarah Cole"; MD 31:172 per Gray].
  • "March 29 : 1773 John Holdershaw was rec'd a Member of this Chh in full Communion," First Church of Eastham (Orleans) [D, MD 15:13]. His name is in the church's list of male members [D, MD 10:166]. "William Son of Jn° Holdershaw was baptised March 27 . 1774" [D, MD 10:231]; "jan. 26 1777 . Delilah D'r of Jn° Holder[shaw]" [D, MD 10:233]. "Decem. 30 . 1787 — Mary Holdershaw" admitted [D, MD 15:77 per Gray].
  • Revolution: "Holdershaw, John (also given John, Sr.). Corporal, Capt. Solomon Higgins's (Eastham) co.; enlisted July 13, 1775; discharged Dec. 31, 1775 ... also, Sergeant, Capt. Samuel King's co.; company order for wages dated Hull, June 20, 1776; also, petition dated Camp at Hull, Sept. 17, 1776, signed by said Holdershaw and others belonging to battalion stationed at Hull, asking for increase and payment of wages" [D, MSS 8:115]. As "Haldershaw, John, Eastham. Sergeant, Capt Samuel King's co., Col. Josiah Whitney's regt.; service from Aug. 1, 1776, to Dec. 1, 1776 ... Roll dated Camp at Hull," with John Jr. a private in the same company [D, MSS 7:44].
  • Frankfort: 1790 and 1800 censuses ("John Haldershaw"; in 1800 "from whence emigrated: Cape Cod") [D]. 24 Dec 1790 quitclaim, John Holdershaw Sr. to John Holdershaw Jr., witnesses Israel Mayo and Richard Ellingwood (Hancock Deeds 15:222); 27 Apr 1802 "John Holder Shaw of Frankfort" to Joseph Wardwell, wife Sarah Shaw relinquishing (10:402) [D, abstracts on WikiTree Holdershaw-17].
  • Died before 4-7 May 1807, when "widow Sarah (X) Shaw" asked that Asa Bean administer "the Estate of John Holdershaw" (Hancock Probate docket 2004; FHL film 004142074, images 626-648, 813-814) [D, abstract on WikiTree]. Heirs (six): Hope Ellingwood, Delilah Ellingwood, John Jr. ("mariner of Boston" in 1807), Joseph, William ("Wm. H. Shaw"), Mary (m. Israel Mayo, Orleans, 18 July 1790) [D, WikiTree abstracts].
  • Gray calls him "JOHN HOLDERSHAW/SHAW, b prob Cape Cod MA," and gives no parents [C, Gray 3:140].
  • The surname: the family "have left off the Holder and the family is now called Shaw" (old Orrington memorandum printed in Thayer & Ames, Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington: History and Families, 1962) [C]. In his lifetime he appears as Holdershaw, Haldershaw, Haldashaw, "John Holder Shaw" and "John H. Shaw"; his son acknowledged a deed in 1807 as "John Aldershaw" [D]. No record explains the "Holder." Note that Holdershaw is a real English surname (Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire, Staffordshire: e.g. Bedfordshire parish registers, 1674; Lincolnshire 1871 census index), so it is not safe to assume he was born a Shaw who added "Holder."

The Ancestry tree's line for John Holdershaw: John Shaw and Martha Knowles — Disproven on present evidence

The tree makes Hope's father "Capt. John Holder Shaw Holdershaw," b. 18 Jun 1735 Eastham, son of "Jonathan 'John' Shaw" (1700-1744) and Martha Knowles (1713-1755), citing Hufbauer. What the sources say:

  • The 1735 birth is real: "June 18 : 1735 then John Shaw Son of John & martha Shaw was born," with George (15 Sept 173_) and Martha (1 Apr 1733) [D, Eastham records p. 104, MD 17:36].
  • The father was John, not Jonathan: "John Shaw the Son of George and Constant Shaw was Born the Sixth day of October anno dom 1700"; Jonathan was his brother, b. 17 Feb 1702/3 [D, MD 3:229]. George Shaw and Constant Doane married 8 Jan 1690/1; George d. 2 May 1720 [D, MD 3:229].
  • Hufbauer (p. 30): "Martha, b. 28 Jan. 1713/14; m. in 1729 John Shaw of Eastham. Martha married 2nd Samuel Wright. They lived in Hartford, Conn. Both died East Haddam, Conn. ... Shaw children: a. George, b. 15 Sept. 173_. b. Martha, b. 1 Apr. 1733. c. John, b. 18 June 1735. Perhaps others." [C; text in the open Margaret Bready Genealogy Collection, archive.org margaretbreadygebrea_8]. Hufbauer does not identify this John with John Holdershaw; that is the tree's own step.
  • The family left Cape Cod. A family Bible (the Nathan Stewart Bible, "aka John Shaw/Samuel Wright family bible," Connecticut State Library), as printed in G. T. Edson, "Stewarts of East Haddam, Conn.," Stewart Clan Magazine (1922), p. 55: "John and Martha Shaw had: George, Sep. 16, 1730; Martha, Apr. 1, 1733, died Dec. 8, 1748; John, June 18, 1735; James, Nov. 19, 1739, and Martha, May 22, 1744. John Shaw died June 13, 1744, in Hartford, and his widow Martha married Samuel Wright and had: Jonathan, Mar. 13, 1746, at Hartford ..." [D, Bible abstract; OCR misreads 1730/1739/1753 as 1780/1789/1853]. The younger Martha (b. Hartford 1744) married Nathan Stewart at East Haddam in 1760.
  • The 1735 John is accounted for in Connecticut and Wilbraham. His brother Capt. James Shaw (b. 1739) lived and died at Wilbraham, Mass. (d. 1831) [C, WikiTree Knowles-2266, Shaw-11173]. At Wilbraham a "petition ... dated Wilbraham, June 2, 1777, signed by Capt. John Shaw, father of said Knowles Shaw, of Wilbraham" [D, MSS 14:60]. Stebbins (1864) says of Capt. John Shaw's slave that "Shaw was from that vicinity" (Haddam) [C, Historical Address ... Wilbraham, pp. 267-268]. Knowles Shaw married Margaret Hungerford of East Haddam [C, Leach, Additions and Corrections for Thomas Hungerford, no. 154]. The Wilbraham family moved to Charlestown (Wellsburg), Ohio Co., Virginia, by 1791 and to Cincinnati by 1799; the heirs of "John Shaw, esquire, late of Hamilton County" in 1804 were Albin, Knowles, John and Salla Shaw, Reuben and Huldah Rood (m. Wilbraham
    1. and the heirs of Sinai Newton (m. Wilbraham 1776) [D, Hamilton Co. Deeds F1:101, abstract on WikiTree Holdershaw-17 and Shaw-15101]. A son named Knowles, a home "from the vicinity of Haddam," and a brother James at Wilbraham all point to the John born 1735 [I]. WikiTree (Shaw-15101) makes the same identification [C].
  • Meanwhile John Holdershaw was on Cape Cod from 1760 to 1787 [D, above]. Two men, both alive and in different places through the 1770s, cannot both be the 1735 John.
  • "Capt.": John Holdershaw was a corporal and sergeant [D, MSS]. The captain was the Wilbraham man.
  • Rating of the tree's link: Disproven on present evidence (strictly: very improbable). What would make it certain: Capt. John Shaw's own birth date (gravestone or Bible in Ohio, or his age at death), or a Hartford probate guardianship (c. 1744-1756) for John, minor son of John Shaw.

Other Eastham-born John Shaws ruled out: John, b. 16 Sept 1727, son of George and Mercy Shaw [D, MD 16:197], is identified on WikiTree as Lt. John Shaw of Carver, Mass. (m. 1749/50 Elizabeth Lucas; d. 1802; grave in Union Cemetery, Carver) [C, WikiTree Shaw-12568]. His father George (b. 1695) moved to Middleborough and died there 1777 [C, WikiTree Shaw-582]. No other John Shaw is recorded at Eastham in the available volumes.

A conditional, worth knowing but not usable. All three sons of George and Constant (Doane) Shaw married descendants of Samuel Knowles and Mercy Freeman: George m. 1724 Mercy Rich (b. 1704, dau. of Thomas Rich and Mercy Knowles); John m. 1729 Martha Knowles (dau. of Richard Knowles, son of Samuel); Jonathan m. 5 Oct 1731 Sarah Rich (b. 1712, sister of Mercy) [C, Hufbauer pp. 15-16, 30; D, MD 17:33 for Jonathan's marriage]. Mercy Freeman was the daughter of Maj. John Freeman (John Freeman) and Mercy Prence, daughter of Gov. Thomas Prence (Thomas Prence) [C, Hufbauer p. 14]. So if John Holdershaw were a grandson of George and Constant Shaw through any of these sons, Hope would descend from Thomas Prence and Edmund Freeman as Frances does. No record makes him one; this is Possible at most and should not be entered.

Hope → Sarah Cole (mother)

  • John Holdershaw married Sarah Cole in 1760 [D]; the widow in 1807 was Sarah [D]; Hope was born about 1768, within the marriage [I]. Probable.

Mrs. Holdershaw = Sarah Cole, b. 9 Sept 1738 — Probable (one of the two weakest steps)

  • "mary Cole and Sarah Cole Daughters of Joseph and Sarah Cole was born at Eastham on ye 9th day of September 1738" (twins), with Reuben (1742/3), Abiel (1745) and Henry (1748) [D, Eastham records p. 60, MD 16:70].
  • Gray identifies John Holdershaw's wife with this Sarah [C, Gray 3:140: "m Eastham MA 4 Dec 1760 Sarah Cole (VR in MD 31:172), b 9 Sep 1738 dau of Joseph & Sarah (Nickerson) Cole"]. The Nickerson Family (leaf 97) lists the twin Sarah without a spouse [C].
  • Supporting [I]: Hope's siblings Joseph and Mary (Molly) carry the names of this Sarah's father and twin; the families intermarried on the Penobscot ("Rachel Cole m Joseph Holdershaw Nov 25 1790" at Orrington, Bangor Hist. Mag. 1:109; Thayer & Ames 1962).
  • To settle: the Barnstable probate of Joseph Cole Jr. (d. 1795), or any Eastham record naming Sarah Holdershaw/Shaw as his daughter.

Sarah Cole (1738) → Joseph Cole Jr. and Sarah Nickerson — Proven

  • Birth record above [D, MD 16:70].
  • "october the 1 day 1737 Then Joseph Cole jur of Eastham and Sarah Nickerson of harwich entered their intention of marriage"; "November the 17 day 1737 then Joseph Cole of Eastham and Sarah Nickerson of harwich ware married in harwich by me Joseph Doane Justice a peace" [D, Vital Records, Town of Harwich, 1694-1850 (1982), archive.org vitalrecordstown00unse; also MD 19/20 Harwich intentions].
  • Joseph Jr.: b. 18 May 1718 Eastham ("Joseph Cole the Son of Joseph and Mercy Cole," MD 15:57) [D]; with Sarah admitted to the Eastham-Orleans church 2 May 1774; d. 1795 at the South Parish of Eastham [C, Nickerson Family leaf 97].

Joseph Cole Jr. → Joseph Cole and Mercy Hinckley — Proven

  • "october 6th 1715 Then Joseph Cole & marcy hinkly were married in harwich by me Joseph doane Justice peace" [D, Harwich VR]. Children of "Joseph and Mercy Cole" at Eastham: Mercy 24 Sept 1716, Joseph 18 May 1718, Mary 30 Apr 1721 [D, MD 15:57].
  • Joseph Sr. married (1) Elizabeth Cobb (children incl. Gershom), (2) Mercy Hinckley, (3) Rebecca (Young) Harding, widow of Abiah [C, G. S. Paine, Mayflower Ancestries (1946 typescript), archive.org mayflowerancestr00pain]. In 1764 "Joseph Cole of Eastham ... yeoman" gave his land "to my two natural Sons namely, Gersham Cole, and Joseph Cole both of Eastham" (deed 18 Apr 1764, Barnstable Deeds 30:186) [D, MD 16:9-10].
  • Mercy Hinckley's parents: not found (open question).

Joseph Cole Sr. → John Cole and Ruth Snow — Probable

  • "John Cole and Ruth Snow weare maried the 12th Day of December in the yeare 1666 ... Joseph Cole the son of John Cole was borne the : 11th : of June in the year : 1677"; Ruth "the wife of John Cole Senior dyed January ye 27th 1716/17" [D, Eastham records p. 28, MD 5:196-197].
  • John Cole "In Consideration of my Reall Love & good will unto my naturall son Joseph Cole of Eastham" gave land, 20 July 1713; and on 29 Jan 1714/15 gave "my naturall son Joseph Cole" his right in "the Lands lying in the Township of Harwich that my Hon'd father Daniel Cole Died seized of" [D, MD 14:78-79].
  • That this son Joseph (b. 1677) is the man who married Mercy Hinckley in 1715 is the compilers' identification [C, Paine 1946; Nickerson Family leaf 97: "Joseph4 Cole ... son of Joseph3 (John2, Daniel1)"]. He would have been 38 at that marriage, his second.

John Cole → Daniel Cole — Proven [D, the 1714/15 deed above]. Daniel's wife Ruth Chester is in Paine [C]; not checked further.

Ruth Snow → Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins — Probable [C]

  • Paine (1946) gives "Stephen Hopkins / Constance Hopkins - Nicholas Snow / Ruth Snow - John Cole" [C]. Nicholas Snow's will (Plymouth Colony Wills III, pt. 2, pp. 71-77; printed MD 3:167-171) leaves the residue "equally Devided amongst all my Children" without naming daughters [D], so the link rests on the standard compilations (Mayflower Families, Stephen Hopkins volume; not seen here). Constance ("Constant Snow," d. about mid-October 1677) was "Daughter of Stephen Hopkins by his first wife" (editor's note, MD 3:167, citing MD 2:12, 118) [C].

Sarah Nickerson (m. 1737) → John Nickerson and Sarah Bassett — Probable (the other weakest step)

  • Nickerson Family (leaf 52): "JOHN 3 NICKERSON (Joseph2, William1), born at Harwich or Monomoit, Mass.; son of Joseph and Ruhamah (Jones) Nickerson; died at Harwich before 1722. He married before 1709-10 SARAH BASSETT, probably born at Yarmouth, Mass.; daughter of Nathaniel and first wife, Dorcas (Joyce) Bassett. ... was married 2nd to JOHN ROGERS 18 April 1728 in Harwich ... Sarah was known to be living in 1744 when mentioned in a deed by her son, Eleazer Rogers, as 'Widow Sarah Rogers'. Children of John and Sarah, all born in Harwich: 133. Reuben, about 1707. 134. Jeremiah.
    1. Jesse. 136. Sarah." And (leaf 97): "SARAH 4 NICKERSON (John3, Joseph2, William1), born at Harwich ... daughter of John and Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson ... married 17 November 1737 ... to JOSEPH 4 COLE" [C].
  • The widow's remarriage is recorded: "April 18 day 1728 Then John Rogers and Sarah Nickerson both of harwich ..." [D, Harwich VR].
  • No birth record for Sarah has been found; the assignment of her to John and Sarah is the compilers'. To settle: Barnstable probate for John Nickerson (d. bef. 1722) or for John Rogers (d. 10 Jan 1738/9), a guardianship naming the Nickerson children.

Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson → Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce — Probable

  • Nathaniel Bassett's will, Yarmouth, 10 Jan 1709/10 (Barnstable Probate 3:144-148): "I give and bequeath unto six of my children viz. Mary Mulford, Samll Bassett, Hannah Covell, Joseph Bassett, Sarah Nickerson & Nathan Bassett all the remainder of my estate to be divided amongst them so that each of my sd three sons have double to each of my sd three daughters" [D, transcript by Gustavus Hinckley on WikiTree Bassett-174; image FamilySearch 3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-N94C i=288]. The archive's Will of Nathaniel Bassett source quotes only the Mary Mulford clause; this clause belongs with it.
  • That this "Sarah Nickerson" was John Nickerson's wife, and that her mother was Dorcas Joyce (who died 1707, after Sarah's children were born c. 1707 onward), is [C] (Nickerson Family; McLean, TAG 43:1-13, via the archive's existing pages) and [I].

John Nickerson → Joseph Nickerson and Ruhamah Jones → William Nickerson and Anne Busby — Probable [C]

  • "JOSEPH 2 NICKERSON (William1), born at Yarmouth, Mass. December 1647; christened 16 December 1647; son of William and Anne (Busby) Nickerson; died between 1725 and 1731 in Harwich ... married before 1677 ... RUHAMAH JONES, born about 1650; daughter of Teague Jones" [C, Nickerson Family leaf 41].
  • William Nickerson: "The examination of William Nickerson of Norwich, in Norfolk, weaver, aged 33, and Anne, his wife, aged 28, with four children ... are desirous to go to Boston in New England there to inhabit. April 8, 1637" [D as quoted, Nickerson Family leaf 19, from Hotten].

1b. Hannah Brown (c. 1784/6 - 1871?)

Wife of Richard Ellingwood (1790-1864); m. 1809 (family Bible per Gray 1:96) [C]; "Sept 1809, Pownal, Maine" on FamilySearch and WikiTree (Ellingwood-412), unsourced [C]. 1850 census, Clay Twp., Dearborn Co., Indiana: Hannah, 64, born "Cape Cod" [D]. WikiTree Brown-73161 gives "about 1784, Cape Cod" from the censuses [C].

Parents: unknown.

  • Ancestry tree: Benjamin Brown (b. New Ipswich, N.H., 6 Feb 1769; d. Bethel, Me., 30 June 1819) and Hannah Russell (b. Rindge, N.H., 1764; d. 1839). Disproven (on the evidence). Bethel town records list "BROWN, Benjamin & his wife Hannah" with children Simeon R. (27 Apr 1798), Dolly (18 Sept 1800) and Haskell B. (15 Dec 1802), and his death 30 June 1819 [D, Bethel town records vol. 1, p. 153, archive.org COLL_132.3.1.1]. A New Hampshire/Oxford County family with no Cape Cod tie, children from 1798, and a father aged 16-17 at a 1786 birth. Bethel also had an unrelated Ellingwood family (Ebenezer and Sally, etc.), which may be how the match was made.
  • FamilySearch: Hannah Brown b. Gorham, Me., 20 Jan 1786, daughter of Benjamin Brown and Sarah Phinney. Possible. McLellan, History of Gorham (1903), pp. 413-415: "Several families of the name of Brown came to Gorham from Eastham, Mass., among whom were those of Joseph, Samuel and Sylvanus ... (2) Benjamin Brown, son of Joseph, lived on the old Buxton road. He owned the thirty acre lot 44 which had belonged to Geo. Brown, of Eastham. He married Sarah, daughter of Col. Edmund and Betty Phinney. Children: Edmund, b. Sept. 22, 1772 ... Joseph ... Betty ... Isaac Cole, b. Nov. 25, 1778 ... John ... Nancy ... Hannah, b. Jan. 20, 1786. Polly ... Patience ... Sally" [C]. For it: the exact year; an Eastham-origin family (which could explain "Cape Cod"); a brother named Isaac Cole Brown; Pownal and Gorham are both in Cumberland County, and the 1817 "land fleet" that founded Manchester, Indiana, came from Cumberland County (History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties, 1885, pp. 541-542) [C]. Against: McLellan says she was born at Gorham, not on Cape Cod; McLellan does not say whom she married; Gray, who covers Maine 1790 households, mentions no Ellingwood marriage outside the Ellingwood entries (vols. 1-8 checked by full-text search; later volumes not online). To settle: Cumberland County probate of Benjamin Brown of Gorham, or Gorham or Pownal town records naming "Hannah Ellingwood."
  • If the Gorham identification were proved, Hannah's mother's father would be Col. Edmund Phinney of Gorham, a Revolutionary colonel (not researched here).
  • No Hannah Brown of the right age was found in the Harwich VR (no Browns at all) or in the Eastham VR volumes online (MD 3-25; the Eastham Browns there were born 1720-1734).

2. Junctions with the archive

Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce (and above them William Bassett) — the junction

Archive pages: Nathaniel Bassett, Dorcas Joyce, William Bassett; Frances's line through Mary Bassett, Mary Mulford, Sarah Mayo.

Dick's line (9 generations below Nathaniel and Dorcas): Nathaniel Bassett & Dorcas Joyce → Sarah Bassett (m. John Nickerson) → Sarah Nickerson (m. Joseph Cole Jr.) → Sarah Cole (b. 1738; m. John Holdershaw) → Hope Holdershaw (m. Richard Ellingwood) → Richard Ellingwood (1790-1864) → Elijah Ellingwood (1819-1872) → Dr. Finley Ellingwood (1852-1920) → Richard Everett "Cudge" Ellingwood Sr. (1895-1985) → Richard Everett "Dick" Ellingwood Jr. (1929-2019)

Frances's line (8 generations below them; from the archive): Nathaniel Bassett & Dorcas Joyce → Mary Bassett (c. 1666-1741/2; m. Thomas Mulford) → Mary Mulford (1695; m. Daniel Mayo) → Sarah Mayo (1725; m. Elisha Holbrook) → Gideon Holbrook (1765) → Richard Blackmer Holbrook (1821) → Richard Blackmer Holbrook (1872) → Richard Clifford Holbrook (1902) → Frances Fairchild Holbrook (1931)

Relationship: Mary and Sarah Bassett were sisters (both named in their father's will; both apparently by Dorcas Joyce). Frances is 8 generations down, Dick 9, so Dick and Frances were seventh cousins, once removed ("the seventh cousin, once removed, of Frances Fairchild Holbrook"). The same relationship holds through William Bassett and through John Joyce.

Weakest links:

  • On Dick's side: (1) that the Sarah Cole who married John Holdershaw in 1760 is the twin born 9 Sept 1738 to Joseph and Sarah Cole (Gray's identification, [C], Probable); (2) that the Sarah Nickerson who married Joseph Cole Jr. in 1737 was the daughter of John and Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson (Nickerson Family, [C], Probable). The Richard (1790) → Elijah and Ellingwood (1767) → Richard (1790) steps already rated Probable in the archive are also in this chain.
  • On Frances's side (archive's own ratings): Gideon Holbrook → Sarah Mayo (inferred, probable) and Sarah Mayo → Mary Mulford (inferred, probable); Mary Bassett → Nathaniel Bassett (compiled transcript, probable).
  • Overall: Probable. Ralph Ellingwood's descendants by Delilah Holdershaw (Hope's sister) share the same relationship to the Bassetts.

No other junction found

Dick's new Cape Cod ancestors (Cole, Snow, Hopkins, Hinckley, Nickerson, Jones, Bassett, Joyce) were checked against people/: only Bassett and Joyce have pages. Thomas Prence, Edmund Freeman and John Freeman are reached only through the tree's Shaw line, which fails (section 1a).

3. Notable people on these lines

Notable ancestors (stories)

  • William Nickerson (c. 1604-c. 1690), weaver of Norwich, founder of Chatham (Dick's 8th-great-grandfather, through John and Sarah Nickerson). Examined at Yarmouth, England, 8 Apr 1637 with wife Anne (Busby), 28, and four children; arrived Salem 20 June 1637 on the John and Dorothy in the party that included Samuel Lincoln, ancestor of Abraham Lincoln [C]. Complained of 1 Mar 1641/2 as a "Scoffer and jeerer of religion" [C, quoting Plymouth records]. Bought Monomoy (Chatham) from the sachem Mattaquason and his son John Quason without the Court's leave; on 3 June 1656 "William Nicarson appeered, being summoned to answare for his buying of land of the Indians, contrary to order of the Court, and for selling of a boat to the Indians, against a warrant directed to Yarmouth strictly prohibiting the same ... for his contempt of the warrant, he is disfranchised his freedom." In 1657 the Court allowed him "a competency or proportion out of it" and ordered him "to resigne up the remainder unto the court" [D as quoted, Nickerson Family leaves 19-20, citing Plymouth Colony Records and Hawes]. It took him some twenty years in the courts to secure title. [Probable link.]
  • Ruhamah (Jones) Nickerson (7th-great-grandmother) [T]: remembered as "a 'great beauty', but 'of a disagreeable nature'" who "delighted in harassing others"; suspected when Edward Bangs's barn burned; she sat so many years that at her death "it was thought best to bury her in 'the same crooked position'" on Burial Hill by Ryder's Cove [T, Nickerson Family leaf 41]. Tradition only.
  • Stephen Hopkins (Mayflower, 1620) and his daughter Constance, who married Nicholas Snow of Eastham (Dick's 9th- and 8th-great-grandparents through Ruth Snow and the Coles). Rated Probable for the Snow-Cole step [C]. The archive has no Hopkins page yet.
  • Nathaniel Bassett (shared ancestor; already in the archive with his 1651/2 fine for "desturbing the church of Duxburrow on the Lords day"). His will adds a line worth keeping: the residue to six children, "only my will is that they provide and set up some suitable Grave Stones to my Grave after my burial" [D transcript, Barnstable Probate 3:146].
  • John Holdershaw (Hope's father): corporal in the Eastham company in 1775; sergeant at Camp Hull in 1776, signing the petition "asking for increase and payment of wages" with his son John Jr. in the same company [D, MSS 7:44, 8:115]; joined the Eastham (Orleans) church 1773; took his family to Bald Hill Cove, Frankfort, about 1787-90, where he farmed and traded and sold land to his sons [D]. Two of his daughters married the Ellingwood brothers.

Famous kin

  • Humphrey Bogart and Sir Charles Tupper are already in connections/famous-kin.yaml through William Bassett. With the Bassett line entered for Dick, they become his kin too: Bogart is 10 generations below William Bassett (via Sarah Bassett and Peregrine White), as Dick is, so ninth cousins; Sir Charles Tupper is 7 below (via William Bassett Jr.), so sixth cousin, three times removed of Dick (whole or half depending on William Bassett's wives; let kinship.ts reckon it).
  • Knowles Shaw (1834-1878), "the Singing Evangelist," author of "Bringing in the Sheaves" (b. Butler Co., Ohio, son of Albin Shaw and Huldah Griffin; Baxter, Life of Knowles Shaw, 1879, p. 7) is very probably a great-grandson of Capt. John Shaw of Wilbraham (Albin Shaw was a son of John Shaw Esq. of Cincinnati) [C/I]. He is not kin through Hope: he belongs to the Shaw-Knowles family the tree wrongly attached. Recorded here because it explains the confusion.
  • De Alva Stanwood Alexander (Congressman from Buffalo, N.Y.; historian of New York politics) is a great-grandson of Simeon Brown, brother of Benjamin Brown of Gorham (McLellan p. 416). He would be a first cousin twice removed of Hannah (Brown) Ellingwood only if the Gorham identification (Possible) is proved. Do not enter.

4. Lookups that need Ancestry, FamilySearch or Find a Grave

FamilySearch (login):

  1. Eastham town records, 1760 intention and marriage, John HolderShaw & Sarah Cole (FHL 778,358; image 3:1:3QS7-L979-96FB i=95; index FC4F-FZG): whether "Holder" is written as part of the surname or as a middle name.
  2. Hancock County probate docket 2004, John Holdershaw/Shaw estate, 1807-08 (FHL film 004142074, images 626-648 and 813-814): any age, origin or kin of the widow Sarah.
  3. Hancock Deeds 23:286-287 (Hope's and Delilah's 1807 deeds) and 13:68 (1829) for Hope's later life.
  4. Barnstable County probate of Joseph Cole Jr. of Eastham (d. 1795): a will or division naming "Sarah Shaw/Holdershaw" would prove the Sarah Cole step.
  5. Barnstable probate for John Nickerson of Harwich (d. bef. 1722) and John Rogers (d. 1738/9): guardianship or division naming the Nickerson children Reuben, Jeremiah, Jesse and Sarah.
  6. Barnstable Probate 3:144-148, Nathaniel Bassett's will (image 3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-N94C i=288): read the "Sarah Nickerson" clause on the image.
  7. Hartford (Conn.) probate district, estate of John Shaw d. 13 June 1744 and guardianship of his minor children: to put the 1735 John in Connecticut beyond doubt.
  8. Hannah Brown: the 1850 and 1860 census images (Clay and Manchester Twps., Dearborn Co.) for her birthplace wording; the source of the "Sept 1809, Pownal" marriage (FS person for Hannah, 24RF-N33 / LCP4-GVF); Cumberland County (Maine) probate for Benjamin Brown of Gorham; Gorham and Pownal town records c. 1809; the 1810 census location of Richard Ellingwood (b. 1790).
  9. 1800 census, Frankfort, Hancock Co. (FS 3:1:33S7-9R8K-9LL1 and -9LR3): Brown households with "from whence emigrated: Cape Cod."
  10. Mercy Hinckley (m. Joseph Cole 1715): her birth and parents (Barnstable/Harwich records).

Find a Grave (403 from here): 11. Martha (Knowles) Wright #155180187 (East Haddam); George Shaw (1695-1777) #76342062; Lt. John Shaw, Carver, #37084042; Capt. James Shaw, Wilbraham; any grave for John Shaw, Esq., Colerain, Hamilton Co., Ohio, d. 1802 (age at death would settle item 7).

Ancestry: 12. The record behind the tree's "Capt. John Holder Shaw Holdershaw" (source S633247036, APID 1,62282::4349816624): see whether it is Hufbauer's page or a user tree. 13. Ancestry message board thread "John Holder Shaw of Eastham" (surnames.shaw/6791), cited on WikiTree as a long discussion of the family's origin.

5. Checked and ruled out

  • John Holdershaw as son of John Shaw and Martha Knowles (the tree): Disproven on present evidence (section 1a). The tree's sub-errors: the father was John Shaw b. 6 Oct 1700 (MD 3:229), not "Jonathan"; Martha Knowles was born at Chatham (NEHGR 7:82, per WikiTree), not Barnstable; the tree's "George" and "Martha" attached to the Wright marriage are the Shaw children (b. 1730, 1733); "Capt." belongs to Capt. John Shaw of Wilbraham. The tree's Richard Knowles (b. July 1688, d. c. 1769) and Martha Cobb (b. 6 Feb 1682, d. 31 Oct 1763, dau. of James and Sarah (Lewis) Cobb) agree with Hufbauer p. 30, but they are Martha Knowles's parents, not Hope's ancestors.
  • John Shaw b. 1727, son of George and Mercy (Rich) Shaw: identified as Lt. John Shaw of Carver [C]; not John Holdershaw.
  • Hannah Brown as daughter of Benjamin Brown and Hannah Russell of Bethel (the tree): Disproven (section 1b).
  • Hannah Brown of Gorham (FamilySearch): left at Possible.
  • Hope's birthplace "Barnstable" (FamilySearch): unsupported; the family was "of Eastham" in 1760 and in the Eastham/Orleans church 1773-1787. Her death "18 July 1829" is a date she was living (already noted in the archive).
  • Gray's "Joseph & Sarah (Nickerson) Cole of Harwich": the Coles were of Eastham; only Sarah Nickerson was "of Harwich" (Harwich VR).
  • The Nickerson Family's "Mary (Hinckley)" for Joseph Cole Sr.'s second wife: the marriage record reads "marcy hinkly" and the Eastham births "Joseph and Mercy Cole"; Mercy is right.
  • Holdershaw in the Eastham records before 1760: none in MD 3-25 (MD 26-34 not online). The church and military records begin with him in 1773-1775.
  • Brown in the Harwich VR: none. Eastham Browns in MD 15-16 (Samuel and Lydia Brown, children 1720-1734; Samuel and Martha, 1744-1746) are too early to be Hannah's parents.
  • Hufbauer on Holdershaw: archive.org full-text search finds no "Holdershaw" in the book; Hufbauer lists the 1735 John only as a child of John and Martha.

Sources (URLs)

  1. # Cape Cod ancestry of Hope Holdershaw and Hannah Brown
  3. Research report, 7 October 2026. Done read-only against the archive; nothing in
  4. `/home/user/ellingtree-research` was changed.
  6. Evidence tiers: **[D]** documented (record, or a published transcript or abstract of one);
  7. **[C]** compiled (genealogy, county history, online tree); **[I]** inferred; **[T]** tradition.
  8. Ratings: **Proven / Probable / Possible / Disproven**.
  10. Abbreviations: **MD** = *The Mayflower Descendant* (vol:page; Eastham and Orleans vital records
  11. and unrecorded Barnstable deeds as transcribed by G. E. Bowman); **MSS** = *Massachusetts Soldiers
  12. and Sailors of the Revolutionary War*; **Gray** = Ruth Gray, *Maine Families in 1790*, vols. 1 and 3
  13. (1988); **Nickerson Family** = *The Nickerson Family: the descendants of William Nickerson,
  14. 1604-1689* (Nickerson Family Association, 1997); **Hufbauer** = Virginia Knowles Hufbauer,
  15. *Descendants of Richard Knowles, 1637-1973* (1974).
  17. ---
  19. ## Summary
  21. 1. **There is a junction, and it runs through Hope's mother, not her father.** Hope's mother
  22. Sarah Cole (b. Eastham 1738) was a granddaughter of Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson, daughter of
  23. **Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce**, both already in the archive
  24. (`nathaniel-bassett-1628`, `dorcas-joyce-1640`; and above them `william-bassett-fl1621`).
  25. Frances Fairchild Holbrook descends from their daughter Mary Bassett (Mrs. Thomas Mulford).
  26. **Dick and Frances were seventh cousins, once removed**, through Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas
  27. Joyce. Rated **Probable** overall; the two weakest steps are named in section 2.
  28. 2. **The Ancestry tree's Shaw-Knowles line for Hope's father is very probably wrong.** The John
  29. Shaw born at Eastham on 18 June 1735 to John and Martha (Knowles) Shaw went with his family to
  30. Hartford, Connecticut, by 1744 (a family Bible), and is very probably Capt. John Shaw of
  31. Wilbraham, Mass., who named a son **Knowles** Shaw and died in Ohio about 1802. Hufbauer, the
  32. tree's cited source, lists the 1735 birth but never identifies him with John Holdershaw. The
  33. "Capt." on the tree's John Holdershaw also belongs to the Wilbraham man; John Holdershaw was a
  34. corporal and sergeant. John Holdershaw's own parents remain unknown.
  35. 3. **Hope's maternal line is well recorded**: Cole of Eastham, back through John Cole and Ruth
  36. Snow to **Stephen Hopkins of the *Mayflower*** (via Constance Hopkins and Nicholas Snow), and
  37. Nickerson of Harwich back to **William Nickerson**, founder of Chatham.
  38. 4. **Hannah Brown's parents remain unknown.** The Ancestry tree's Benjamin Brown (1769-1819) and
  39. Hannah Russell are a New Hampshire/Bethel, Maine family whose recorded children begin in 1798:
  40. **Disproven** for a Cape Cod girl born about 1786. FamilySearch's candidate, Hannah Brown born
  41. at Gorham 20 Jan 1786 to Benjamin Brown and Sarah Phinney (a family that came from Eastham), is
  42. **Possible**, no better.
  43. 5. Because William Bassett becomes Dick's ancestor too, the archive's existing famous kin anchored
  44. on him (Humphrey Bogart, Sir Charles Tupper) become Dick's kin as well (section 3).
  46. ---
  48. ## 1. Pedigrees
  50. ### 1a. Hope Holdershaw (c. 1768 - aft. 18 July 1829)
  52. Wife of Richard Ellingwood of Frankfort (m. Orrington 24 Dec 1787) [D, already in the archive].
  54. ```
  55. Hope Holdershaw (c.1768 Cape Cod - aft. 1829)
  56. ├── FATHER: John Holdershaw, "John H. Shaw" (c.1735? - bef. 7 May 1807, Frankfort) PARENTS UNKNOWN
  57. └── MOTHER: Sarah Cole (b. 9 Sep 1738, Eastham; living 1807)
  58. ├── Joseph Cole Jr. (b. 18 May 1718, Eastham; d. 1795, South Parish of Eastham)
  59. │ ├── Joseph Cole (b. 11 Jun 1677, Eastham; living 1764)
  60. │ │ ├── John Cole (b. c.1644; living 1715) — son of Daniel Cole of Eastham
  61. │ │ └── Ruth Snow (d. 27 Jan 1716/17) — dau. of Nicholas Snow & Constance Hopkins
  62. │ │ (Constance dau. of Stephen Hopkins, Mayflower)
  63. │ └── Mercy Hinckley (m. Harwich 6 Oct 1715) — parents not found
  64. └── Sarah Nickerson (b. Harwich; m. 17 Nov 1737)
  65. ├── John Nickerson (d. Harwich bef. 1722)
  66. │ ├── Joseph Nickerson (b. Yarmouth Dec 1647; d. Harwich 1725/31)
  67. │ │ └── son of William Nickerson & Anne Busby (to Boston 1637)
  68. │ └── Ruhamah Jones (dau. of Teague Jones)
  69. └── Sarah Bassett (living 1744 as "Widow Sarah Rogers")
  70. ├── Nathaniel Bassett (c.1628 - 16 Jan 1709/10) ← IN ARCHIVE: nathaniel-bassett-1628
  71. └── Dorcas Joyce (c.1640 - 10 Jun 1707) ← IN ARCHIVE: dorcas-joyce-1640
  72. ```
  74. #### Hope Holdershaw → John Holdershaw (father)
  75. - 4 Nov 1807, Hope Ellingwood, widow, of Frankfort, sold to Stevens Atwood for $90 "all right,
  76. title, interest I now have in the real estate of which my father John H. Shaw late of Frankfort
  77. died seized ... 1/6 undivided between heirs of John H. Shaw," with a sixth of the reversion of
  78. the widow's dower (Hancock Deeds 23:286) [D, abstract on WikiTree Holdershaw-17; also Gray
  79. 1:95, 3:140]. Her sister Delilah and Ralph Ellingwood sold their share the same day (23:287).
  80. - **Rating: Proven.**
  82. #### John Holdershaw himself (what is known)
  83. - Marriage intention "John HolderShaw & Sarah Cole," both of Eastham, entered 4 Apr 1760 by Jabez
  84. Snow, town clerk; married Eastham 4 Dec 1760 [D: Eastham town records p. 174, FamilySearch image
  85. 3:1:3QS7-L979-96FB i=95; index FC4F-FZG "John Holder Shaw and Sarah Cole"; MD 31:172 per Gray].
  86. - "March 29 : 1773 John Holdershaw was rec'd a Member of this Chh in full Communion," First Church
  87. of Eastham (Orleans) [D, MD 15:13]. His name is in the church's list of male members [D, MD
  88. 10:166]. "William Son of Jn° Holdershaw was baptised March 27 . 1774" [D, MD 10:231]; "jan. 26
  89. 1777 . Delilah D'r of Jn° Holder[shaw]" [D, MD 10:233]. "Decem. 30 . 1787 — Mary Holdershaw"
  90. admitted [D, MD 15:77 per Gray].
  91. - Revolution: "Holdershaw, John (also given John, Sr.). Corporal, Capt. Solomon Higgins's
  92. (Eastham) co.; enlisted July 13, 1775; discharged Dec. 31, 1775 ... also, Sergeant, Capt.
  93. Samuel King's co.; company order for wages dated Hull, June 20, 1776; also, petition dated Camp
  94. at Hull, Sept. 17, 1776, signed by said Holdershaw and others belonging to battalion stationed at
  95. Hull, asking for increase and payment of wages" [D, MSS 8:115]. As "Haldershaw, John, Eastham.
  96. Sergeant, Capt Samuel King's co., Col. Josiah Whitney's regt.; service from Aug. 1, 1776, to Dec.
  97. 1, 1776 ... Roll dated Camp at Hull," with John Jr. a private in the same company [D, MSS 7:44].
  98. - Frankfort: 1790 and 1800 censuses ("John Haldershaw"; in 1800 "from whence emigrated: Cape
  99. Cod") [D]. 24 Dec 1790 quitclaim, John Holdershaw Sr. to John Holdershaw Jr., witnesses Israel
  100. Mayo and Richard Ellingwood (Hancock Deeds 15:222); 27 Apr 1802 "John Holder Shaw of Frankfort"
  101. to Joseph Wardwell, wife Sarah Shaw relinquishing (10:402) [D, abstracts on WikiTree
  102. Holdershaw-17].
  103. - Died before 4-7 May 1807, when "widow Sarah (X) Shaw" asked that Asa Bean administer "the
  104. Estate of John Holdershaw" (Hancock Probate docket 2004; FHL film 004142074, images 626-648,
  105. 813-814) [D, abstract on WikiTree]. Heirs (six): Hope Ellingwood, Delilah Ellingwood, John Jr.
  106. ("mariner of Boston" in 1807), Joseph, William ("Wm. H. Shaw"), Mary (m. Israel Mayo, Orleans,
  107. 18 July 1790) [D, WikiTree abstracts].
  108. - Gray calls him "JOHN HOLDERSHAW/SHAW, b prob Cape Cod MA," and gives no parents [C, Gray 3:140].
  109. - The surname: the family "have left off the Holder and the family is now called Shaw" (old
  110. Orrington memorandum printed in Thayer & Ames, *Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington: History and
  111. Families*, 1962) [C]. In his lifetime he appears as Holdershaw, Haldershaw, Haldashaw,
  112. "John Holder Shaw" and "John H. Shaw"; his son acknowledged a deed in 1807 as "John Aldershaw"
  113. [D]. No record explains the "Holder." Note that **Holdershaw is a real English surname**
  114. (Lincolnshire, Bedfordshire, Staffordshire: e.g. Bedfordshire parish registers, 1674; Lincolnshire
  115. 1871 census index), so it is not safe to assume he was born a Shaw who added "Holder."
  117. #### The Ancestry tree's line for John Holdershaw: John Shaw and Martha Knowles — **Disproven on present evidence**
  118. The tree makes Hope's father "Capt. John Holder Shaw Holdershaw," b. 18 Jun 1735 Eastham, son of
  119. "Jonathan 'John' Shaw" (1700-1744) and Martha Knowles (1713-1755), citing Hufbauer. What the
  120. sources say:
  122. - **The 1735 birth is real**: "June 18 : 1735 then John Shaw Son of John & martha Shaw was born,"
  123. with George (15 Sept 173_) and Martha (1 Apr 1733) [D, Eastham records p. 104, MD 17:36].
  124. - **The father was John, not Jonathan**: "John Shaw the Son of George and Constant Shaw was Born
  125. the Sixth day of October anno dom 1700"; Jonathan was his brother, b. 17 Feb 1702/3 [D, MD
  126. 3:229]. George Shaw and Constant Doane married 8 Jan 1690/1; George d. 2 May 1720 [D, MD 3:229].
  127. - **Hufbauer (p. 30)**: "Martha, b. 28 Jan. 1713/14; m. in 1729 John Shaw of Eastham. Martha married
  128. 2nd Samuel Wright. They lived in Hartford, Conn. Both died East Haddam, Conn. ... Shaw children:
  129. a. George, b. 15 Sept. 173_. b. Martha, b. 1 Apr. 1733. c. John, b. 18 June 1735. Perhaps
  130. others." [C; text in the open Margaret Bready Genealogy Collection, archive.org
  131. margaretbreadygebrea_8]. **Hufbauer does not identify this John with John Holdershaw**; that is
  132. the tree's own step.
  133. - **The family left Cape Cod.** A family Bible (the Nathan Stewart Bible, "aka John Shaw/Samuel
  134. Wright family bible," Connecticut State Library), as printed in G. T. Edson, "Stewarts of East
  135. Haddam, Conn.," *Stewart Clan Magazine* (1922), p. 55: "John and Martha Shaw had: George, Sep.
  136. 16, 1730; Martha, Apr. 1, 1733, died Dec. 8, 1748; John, June 18, 1735; James, Nov. 19, 1739,
  137. and Martha, May 22, 1744. John Shaw died June 13, 1744, in Hartford, and his widow Martha married
  138. Samuel Wright and had: Jonathan, Mar. 13, 1746, at Hartford ..." [D, Bible abstract; OCR misreads
  139. 1730/1739/1753 as 1780/1789/1853]. The younger Martha (b. Hartford 1744) married Nathan Stewart
  140. at East Haddam in 1760.
  141. - **The 1735 John is accounted for in Connecticut and Wilbraham.** His brother Capt. James Shaw
  142. (b. 1739) lived and died at Wilbraham, Mass. (d. 1831) [C, WikiTree Knowles-2266, Shaw-11173].
  143. At Wilbraham a "petition ... dated Wilbraham, June 2, 1777, signed by Capt. John Shaw, father of
  144. said Knowles Shaw, of Wilbraham" [D, MSS 14:60]. Stebbins (1864) says of Capt. John Shaw's slave
  145. that "Shaw was from that vicinity" (Haddam) [C, *Historical Address ... Wilbraham*, pp. 267-268].
  146. Knowles Shaw married Margaret Hungerford of East Haddam [C, Leach, *Additions and Corrections for
  147. Thomas Hungerford*, no. 154]. The Wilbraham family moved to Charlestown (Wellsburg), Ohio Co.,
  148. Virginia, by 1791 and to Cincinnati by 1799; the heirs of "John Shaw, esquire, late of Hamilton
  149. County" in 1804 were Albin, Knowles, John and Salla Shaw, Reuben and Huldah Rood (m. Wilbraham
  150. 1788) and the heirs of Sinai Newton (m. Wilbraham 1776) [D, Hamilton Co. Deeds F1:101, abstract on
  151. WikiTree Holdershaw-17 and Shaw-15101]. A son named **Knowles**, a home "from the vicinity of
  152. Haddam," and a brother James at Wilbraham all point to the John born 1735 [I]. WikiTree
  153. (Shaw-15101) makes the same identification [C].
  154. - Meanwhile John Holdershaw was on Cape Cod from 1760 to 1787 [D, above]. Two men, both alive and
  155. in different places through the 1770s, cannot both be the 1735 John.
  156. - **"Capt."**: John Holdershaw was a corporal and sergeant [D, MSS]. The captain was the Wilbraham
  157. man.
  158. - **Rating of the tree's link: Disproven on present evidence** (strictly: very improbable). What
  159. would make it certain: Capt. John Shaw's own birth date (gravestone or Bible in Ohio, or his age
  160. at death), or a Hartford probate guardianship (c. 1744-1756) for John, minor son of John Shaw.
  162. **Other Eastham-born John Shaws ruled out:** John, b. 16 Sept 1727, son of George and Mercy Shaw
  163. [D, MD 16:197], is identified on WikiTree as Lt. John Shaw of Carver, Mass. (m. 1749/50 Elizabeth
  164. Lucas; d. 1802; grave in Union Cemetery, Carver) [C, WikiTree Shaw-12568]. His father George
  165. (b. 1695) moved to Middleborough and died there 1777 [C, WikiTree Shaw-582]. No other John Shaw
  166. is recorded at Eastham in the available volumes.
  168. **A conditional, worth knowing but not usable.** All three sons of George and Constant (Doane)
  169. Shaw married descendants of **Samuel Knowles and Mercy Freeman**: George m. 1724 Mercy Rich
  170. (b. 1704, dau. of Thomas Rich and Mercy Knowles); John m. 1729 Martha Knowles (dau. of Richard
  171. Knowles, son of Samuel); Jonathan m. 5 Oct 1731 Sarah Rich (b. 1712, sister of Mercy) [C,
  172. Hufbauer pp. 15-16, 30; D, MD 17:33 for Jonathan's marriage]. Mercy Freeman was the daughter of
  173. Maj. John Freeman (`john-freeman-1627`) and Mercy Prence, daughter of Gov. Thomas Prence
  174. (`thomas-prence-fl1621`) [C, Hufbauer p. 14]. So **if** John Holdershaw were a grandson of George
  175. and Constant Shaw through any of these sons, Hope would descend from Thomas Prence and Edmund
  176. Freeman as Frances does. No record makes him one; this is **Possible** at most and should not be
  177. entered.
  179. #### Hope → Sarah Cole (mother)
  180. - John Holdershaw married Sarah Cole in 1760 [D]; the widow in 1807 was Sarah [D]; Hope was born
  181. about 1768, within the marriage [I]. **Probable.**
  183. #### Mrs. Holdershaw = Sarah Cole, b. 9 Sept 1738 — **Probable** (one of the two weakest steps)
  184. - "mary Cole and Sarah Cole Daughters of Joseph and Sarah Cole was born at Eastham on ye 9th day
  185. of September 1738" (twins), with Reuben (1742/3), Abiel (1745) and Henry (1748) [D, Eastham
  186. records p. 60, MD 16:70].
  187. - Gray identifies John Holdershaw's wife with this Sarah [C, Gray 3:140: "m Eastham MA 4 Dec 1760
  188. Sarah Cole (VR in MD 31:172), b 9 Sep 1738 dau of Joseph & Sarah (Nickerson) Cole"]. The
  189. Nickerson Family (leaf 97) lists the twin Sarah without a spouse [C].
  190. - Supporting [I]: Hope's siblings Joseph and Mary (Molly) carry the names of this Sarah's father
  191. and twin; the families intermarried on the Penobscot ("Rachel Cole m Joseph Holdershaw Nov 25
  192. 1790" at Orrington, Bangor Hist. Mag. 1:109; Thayer & Ames 1962).
  193. - To settle: the Barnstable probate of Joseph Cole Jr. (d. 1795), or any Eastham record naming
  194. Sarah Holdershaw/Shaw as his daughter.
  196. #### Sarah Cole (1738) → Joseph Cole Jr. and Sarah Nickerson — **Proven**
  197. - Birth record above [D, MD 16:70].
  198. - "october the 1 day 1737 Then Joseph Cole jur of Eastham and Sarah Nickerson of harwich entered
  199. their intention of marriage"; "November the 17 day 1737 then Joseph Cole of Eastham and Sarah
  200. Nickerson of harwich ware married in harwich by me Joseph Doane Justice a peace" [D, *Vital
  201. Records, Town of Harwich, 1694-1850* (1982), archive.org vitalrecordstown00unse; also MD 19/20
  202. Harwich intentions].
  203. - Joseph Jr.: b. 18 May 1718 Eastham ("Joseph Cole the Son of Joseph and Mercy Cole," MD 15:57)
  204. [D]; with Sarah admitted to the Eastham-Orleans church 2 May 1774; d. 1795 at the South Parish of
  205. Eastham [C, Nickerson Family leaf 97].
  207. #### Joseph Cole Jr. → Joseph Cole and Mercy Hinckley — **Proven**
  208. - "october 6th 1715 Then Joseph Cole & marcy hinkly were married in harwich by me Joseph doane
  209. Justice peace" [D, Harwich VR]. Children of "Joseph and Mercy Cole" at Eastham: Mercy 24 Sept
  210. 1716, Joseph 18 May 1718, Mary 30 Apr 1721 [D, MD 15:57].
  211. - Joseph Sr. married (1) Elizabeth Cobb (children incl. Gershom), (2) Mercy Hinckley, (3) Rebecca
  212. (Young) Harding, widow of Abiah [C, G. S. Paine, *Mayflower Ancestries* (1946 typescript),
  213. archive.org mayflowerancestr00pain]. In 1764 "Joseph Cole of Eastham ... yeoman" gave his land
  214. "to my two natural Sons namely, Gersham Cole, and Joseph Cole both of Eastham" (deed 18 Apr 1764,
  215. Barnstable Deeds 30:186) [D, MD 16:9-10].
  216. - Mercy Hinckley's parents: **not found** (open question).
  218. #### Joseph Cole Sr. → John Cole and Ruth Snow — **Probable**
  219. - "John Cole and Ruth Snow weare maried the 12th Day of December in the yeare 1666 ... Joseph
  220. Cole the son of John Cole was borne the : 11th : of June in the year : 1677"; Ruth "the wife of
  221. John Cole Senior dyed January ye 27th 1716/17" [D, Eastham records p. 28, MD 5:196-197].
  222. - John Cole "In Consideration of my Reall Love & good will unto my naturall son Joseph Cole of
  223. Eastham" gave land, 20 July 1713; and on 29 Jan 1714/15 gave "my naturall son Joseph Cole" his
  224. right in "the Lands lying in the Township of Harwich that my Hon'd father Daniel Cole Died seized
  225. of" [D, MD 14:78-79].
  226. - That this son Joseph (b. 1677) is the man who married Mercy Hinckley in 1715 is the compilers'
  227. identification [C, Paine 1946; Nickerson Family leaf 97: "Joseph4 Cole ... son of Joseph3 (John2,
  228. Daniel1)"]. He would have been 38 at that marriage, his second.
  230. #### John Cole → Daniel Cole — **Proven** [D, the 1714/15 deed above]. Daniel's wife Ruth Chester is in Paine [C]; not checked further.
  232. #### Ruth Snow → Nicholas Snow and Constance Hopkins — **Probable** [C]
  233. - Paine (1946) gives "Stephen Hopkins / Constance Hopkins - Nicholas Snow / Ruth Snow - John Cole"
  234. [C]. Nicholas Snow's will (Plymouth Colony Wills III, pt. 2, pp. 71-77; printed MD 3:167-171) leaves the
  235. residue "equally Devided amongst all my Children" without naming daughters [D], so the link rests
  236. on the standard compilations (Mayflower Families, Stephen Hopkins volume; not seen here).
  237. Constance ("Constant Snow," d. about mid-October 1677) was "Daughter of Stephen Hopkins by his first wife" (editor's note, MD 3:167, citing MD 2:12, 118) [C].
  239. #### Sarah Nickerson (m. 1737) → John Nickerson and Sarah Bassett — **Probable** (the other weakest step)
  240. - Nickerson Family (leaf 52): "JOHN 3 NICKERSON (Joseph2, William1), born at Harwich or Monomoit,
  241. Mass.; son of Joseph and Ruhamah (Jones) Nickerson; died at Harwich before 1722. He married before
  242. 1709-10 SARAH BASSETT, probably born at Yarmouth, Mass.; daughter of Nathaniel and first wife,
  243. Dorcas (Joyce) Bassett. ... was married 2nd to JOHN ROGERS 18 April 1728 in Harwich ... Sarah was
  244. known to be living in 1744 when mentioned in a deed by her son, Eleazer Rogers, as 'Widow Sarah
  245. Rogers'. Children of John and Sarah, all born in Harwich: 133. Reuben, about 1707. 134. Jeremiah.
  246. 135. Jesse. 136. Sarah." And (leaf 97): "SARAH 4 NICKERSON (John3, Joseph2, William1), born at
  247. Harwich ... daughter of John and Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson ... married 17 November 1737 ... to
  248. JOSEPH 4 COLE" [C].
  249. - The widow's remarriage is recorded: "April 18 day 1728 Then John Rogers and Sarah Nickerson both
  250. of harwich ..." [D, Harwich VR].
  251. - No birth record for Sarah has been found; the assignment of her to John and Sarah is the
  252. compilers'. To settle: Barnstable probate for John Nickerson (d. bef. 1722) or for John Rogers
  253. (d. 10 Jan 1738/9), a guardianship naming the Nickerson children.
  255. #### Sarah (Bassett) Nickerson → Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce — **Probable**
  256. - Nathaniel Bassett's will, Yarmouth, 10 Jan 1709/10 (Barnstable Probate 3:144-148): "I give and
  257. bequeath unto six of my children viz. Mary Mulford, Samll Bassett, Hannah Covell, Joseph Bassett,
  258. Sarah Nickerson & Nathan Bassett all the remainder of my estate to be divided amongst them so that
  259. each of my sd three sons have double to each of my sd three daughters" [D, transcript by Gustavus
  260. Hinckley on WikiTree Bassett-174; image FamilySearch 3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-N94C i=288]. The archive's
  261. `will-nathaniel-bassett-1709` source quotes only the Mary Mulford clause; this clause belongs with
  262. it.
  263. - That this "Sarah Nickerson" was John Nickerson's wife, and that her mother was Dorcas Joyce (who
  264. died 1707, after Sarah's children were born c. 1707 onward), is [C] (Nickerson Family; McLean, TAG
  265. 43:1-13, via the archive's existing pages) and [I].
  267. #### John Nickerson → Joseph Nickerson and Ruhamah Jones → William Nickerson and Anne Busby — **Probable** [C]
  268. - "JOSEPH 2 NICKERSON (William1), born at Yarmouth, Mass. December 1647; christened 16 December
  269. 1647; son of William and Anne (Busby) Nickerson; died between 1725 and 1731 in Harwich ... married
  270. before 1677 ... RUHAMAH JONES, born about 1650; daughter of Teague Jones" [C, Nickerson Family
  271. leaf 41].
  272. - William Nickerson: "The examination of William Nickerson of Norwich, in Norfolk, weaver, aged 33,
  273. and Anne, his wife, aged 28, with four children ... are desirous to go to Boston in New England
  274. there to inhabit. April 8, 1637" [D as quoted, Nickerson Family leaf 19, from Hotten].
  276. ### 1b. Hannah Brown (c. 1784/6 - 1871?)
  278. Wife of Richard Ellingwood (1790-1864); m. 1809 (family Bible per Gray 1:96) [C]; "Sept 1809,
  279. Pownal, Maine" on FamilySearch and WikiTree (Ellingwood-412), unsourced [C]. 1850 census, Clay
  280. Twp., Dearborn Co., Indiana: Hannah, 64, born "Cape Cod" [D]. WikiTree Brown-73161 gives "about
  281. 1784, Cape Cod" from the censuses [C].
  283. **Parents: unknown.**
  285. - **Ancestry tree: Benjamin Brown (b. New Ipswich, N.H., 6 Feb 1769; d. Bethel, Me., 30 June 1819)
  286. and Hannah Russell (b. Rindge, N.H., 1764; d. 1839). Disproven** (on the evidence). Bethel town
  287. records list "BROWN, Benjamin & his wife Hannah" with children Simeon R. (27 Apr 1798), Dolly (18
  288. Sept 1800) and Haskell B. (15 Dec 1802), and his death 30 June 1819 [D, Bethel town records vol. 1,
  289. p. 153, archive.org COLL_132.3.1.1]. A New Hampshire/Oxford County family with no Cape Cod tie,
  290. children from 1798, and a father aged 16-17 at a 1786 birth. Bethel also had an unrelated
  291. Ellingwood family (Ebenezer and Sally, etc.), which may be how the match was made.
  292. - **FamilySearch: Hannah Brown b. Gorham, Me., 20 Jan 1786, daughter of Benjamin Brown and Sarah
  293. Phinney. Possible.** McLellan, *History of Gorham* (1903), pp. 413-415: "Several families of the
  294. name of Brown came to Gorham from Eastham, Mass., among whom were those of Joseph, Samuel and
  295. Sylvanus ... (2) Benjamin Brown, son of Joseph, lived on the old Buxton road. He owned the thirty
  296. acre lot 44 which had belonged to Geo. Brown, of Eastham. He married Sarah, daughter of Col.
  297. Edmund and Betty Phinney. Children: Edmund, b. Sept. 22, 1772 ... Joseph ... Betty ... Isaac Cole,
  298. b. Nov. 25, 1778 ... John ... Nancy ... Hannah, b. Jan. 20, 1786. Polly ... Patience ... Sally"
  299. [C]. For it: the exact year; an Eastham-origin family (which could explain "Cape Cod"); a brother
  300. named Isaac **Cole** Brown; Pownal and Gorham are both in Cumberland County, and the 1817 "land
  301. fleet" that founded Manchester, Indiana, came from Cumberland County (*History of Dearborn and Ohio
  302. Counties*, 1885, pp. 541-542) [C]. Against: McLellan says she was born at Gorham, not on Cape
  303. Cod; McLellan does not say whom she married; Gray, who covers Maine 1790 households, mentions no
  304. Ellingwood marriage outside the Ellingwood entries (vols. 1-8 checked by full-text search; later
  305. volumes not online). To settle: Cumberland County probate of Benjamin Brown of Gorham, or Gorham
  306. or Pownal town records naming "Hannah Ellingwood."
  307. - If the Gorham identification were proved, Hannah's mother's father would be **Col. Edmund
  308. Phinney** of Gorham, a Revolutionary colonel (not researched here).
  309. - No Hannah Brown of the right age was found in the Harwich VR (no Browns at all) or in the
  310. Eastham VR volumes online (MD 3-25; the Eastham Browns there were born 1720-1734).
  312. ---
  314. ## 2. Junctions with the archive
  316. ### Nathaniel Bassett and Dorcas Joyce (and above them William Bassett) — **the junction**
  318. Archive pages: `nathaniel-bassett-1628`, `dorcas-joyce-1640`, `william-bassett-fl1621`;
  319. Frances's line through `mary-bassett-1666`, `mary-mulford-1695`, `sarah-mayo-1725`.
  321. **Dick's line** (9 generations below Nathaniel and Dorcas):
  322. Nathaniel Bassett & Dorcas Joyce → Sarah Bassett (m. John Nickerson) → Sarah Nickerson (m. Joseph
  323. Cole Jr.) → Sarah Cole (b. 1738; m. John Holdershaw) → Hope Holdershaw (m. Richard Ellingwood) →
  324. Richard Ellingwood (1790-1864) → Elijah Ellingwood (1819-1872) → Dr. Finley Ellingwood
  325. (1852-1920) → Richard Everett "Cudge" Ellingwood Sr. (1895-1985) → **Richard Everett "Dick"
  326. Ellingwood Jr. (1929-2019)**
  328. **Frances's line** (8 generations below them; from the archive):
  329. Nathaniel Bassett & Dorcas Joyce → Mary Bassett (c. 1666-1741/2; m. Thomas Mulford) → Mary Mulford
  330. (1695; m. Daniel Mayo) → Sarah Mayo (1725; m. Elisha Holbrook) → Gideon Holbrook (1765) → Richard
  331. Blackmer Holbrook (1821) → Richard Blackmer Holbrook (1872) → Richard Clifford Holbrook (1902) →
  332. **Frances Fairchild Holbrook (1931)**
  334. **Relationship:** Mary and Sarah Bassett were sisters (both named in their father's will; both
  335. apparently by Dorcas Joyce). Frances is 8 generations down, Dick 9, so **Dick and Frances were
  336. seventh cousins, once removed** ("the seventh cousin, once removed, of Frances Fairchild
  337. Holbrook"). The same relationship holds through William Bassett and through John Joyce.
  339. **Weakest links:**
  340. - On Dick's side: (1) that the Sarah Cole who married John Holdershaw in 1760 is the twin born
  341. 9 Sept 1738 to Joseph and Sarah Cole (Gray's identification, [C], Probable); (2) that the Sarah
  342. Nickerson who married Joseph Cole Jr. in 1737 was the daughter of John and Sarah (Bassett)
  343. Nickerson (Nickerson Family, [C], Probable). The Richard (1790) → Elijah and Ellingwood (1767) →
  344. Richard (1790) steps already rated Probable in the archive are also in this chain.
  345. - On Frances's side (archive's own ratings): Gideon Holbrook → Sarah Mayo (inferred, probable) and
  346. Sarah Mayo → Mary Mulford (inferred, probable); Mary Bassett → Nathaniel Bassett (compiled
  347. transcript, probable).
  348. - Overall: **Probable**. Ralph Ellingwood's descendants by Delilah Holdershaw (Hope's sister) share
  349. the same relationship to the Bassetts.
  351. ### No other junction found
  352. Dick's new Cape Cod ancestors (Cole, Snow, Hopkins, Hinckley, Nickerson, Jones, Bassett, Joyce)
  353. were checked against `people/`: only Bassett and Joyce have pages. Thomas Prence, Edmund Freeman
  354. and John Freeman are reached **only** through the tree's Shaw line, which fails (section 1a).
  356. ---
  358. ## 3. Notable people on these lines
  360. ### Notable ancestors (stories)
  362. - **William Nickerson (c. 1604-c. 1690), weaver of Norwich, founder of Chatham** (Dick's
  363. 8th-great-grandfather, through John and Sarah Nickerson). Examined at Yarmouth, England, 8 Apr
  364. 1637 with wife Anne (Busby), 28, and four children; arrived Salem 20 June 1637 on the *John and
  365. Dorothy* in the party that included Samuel Lincoln, ancestor of Abraham Lincoln [C]. Complained of
  366. 1 Mar 1641/2 as a "Scoffer and jeerer of religion" [C, quoting Plymouth records]. Bought Monomoy
  367. (Chatham) from the sachem Mattaquason and his son John Quason without the Court's leave; on 3 June
  368. 1656 "William Nicarson appeered, being summoned to answare for his buying of land of the Indians,
  369. contrary to order of the Court, and for selling of a boat to the Indians, against a warrant
  370. directed to Yarmouth strictly prohibiting the same ... for his contempt of the warrant, he is
  371. disfranchised his freedom." In 1657 the Court allowed him "a competency or proportion out of it"
  372. and ordered him "to resigne up the remainder unto the court" [D as quoted, Nickerson Family leaves
  373. 19-20, citing Plymouth Colony Records and Hawes]. It took him some twenty years in the courts to
  374. secure title. [Probable link.]
  375. - **Ruhamah (Jones) Nickerson** (7th-great-grandmother) [T]: remembered as "a 'great beauty', but
  376. 'of a disagreeable nature'" who "delighted in harassing others"; suspected when Edward Bangs's barn
  377. burned; she sat so many years that at her death "it was thought best to bury her in 'the same
  378. crooked position'" on Burial Hill by Ryder's Cove [T, Nickerson Family leaf 41]. Tradition only.
  379. - **Stephen Hopkins** (*Mayflower*, 1620) and his daughter **Constance**, who married Nicholas Snow
  380. of Eastham (Dick's 9th- and 8th-great-grandparents through Ruth Snow and the Coles). Rated
  381. Probable for the Snow-Cole step [C]. The archive has no Hopkins page yet.
  382. - **Nathaniel Bassett** (shared ancestor; already in the archive with his 1651/2 fine for
  383. "desturbing the church of Duxburrow on the Lords day"). His will adds a line worth keeping: the
  384. residue to six children, "only my will is that they provide and set up some suitable Grave Stones
  385. to my Grave after my burial" [D transcript, Barnstable Probate 3:146].
  386. - **John Holdershaw** (Hope's father): corporal in the Eastham company in 1775; sergeant at Camp
  387. Hull in 1776, signing the petition "asking for increase and payment of wages" with his son John Jr.
  388. in the same company [D, MSS 7:44, 8:115]; joined the Eastham (Orleans) church 1773; took his family
  389. to Bald Hill Cove, Frankfort, about 1787-90, where he farmed and traded and sold land to his sons
  390. [D]. Two of his daughters married the Ellingwood brothers.
  392. ### Famous kin
  393. - **Humphrey Bogart** and **Sir Charles Tupper** are already in `connections/famous-kin.yaml`
  394. through `william-bassett-fl1621`. With the Bassett line entered for Dick, they become his kin too:
  395. Bogart is 10 generations below William Bassett (via Sarah Bassett and Peregrine White), as Dick is,
  396. so **ninth cousins**; Sir Charles Tupper is 7 below (via William Bassett Jr.), so **sixth cousin,
  397. three times removed** of Dick (whole or half depending on William Bassett's wives; let
  398. `kinship.ts` reckon it).
  399. - **Knowles Shaw (1834-1878), "the Singing Evangelist," author of "Bringing in the Sheaves"**
  400. (b. Butler Co., Ohio, son of Albin Shaw and Huldah Griffin; Baxter, *Life of Knowles Shaw*, 1879,
  401. p. 7) is very probably a great-grandson of Capt. John Shaw of Wilbraham (Albin Shaw was a son of
  402. John Shaw Esq. of Cincinnati) [C/I]. He is **not** kin through Hope: he belongs to the Shaw-Knowles
  403. family the tree wrongly attached. Recorded here because it explains the confusion.
  404. - **De Alva Stanwood Alexander** (Congressman from Buffalo, N.Y.; historian of New York politics) is
  405. a great-grandson of Simeon Brown, brother of Benjamin Brown of Gorham (McLellan p. 416). He would
  406. be a first cousin twice removed of Hannah (Brown) Ellingwood **only if** the Gorham identification
  407. (Possible) is proved. Do not enter.
  409. ---
  411. ## 4. Lookups that need Ancestry, FamilySearch or Find a Grave
  413. FamilySearch (login):
  414. 1. Eastham town records, 1760 intention and marriage, John HolderShaw & Sarah Cole (FHL 778,358;
  415. image 3:1:3QS7-L979-96FB i=95; index FC4F-FZG): whether "Holder" is written as part of the
  416. surname or as a middle name.
  417. 2. Hancock County probate docket 2004, John Holdershaw/Shaw estate, 1807-08 (FHL film 004142074,
  418. images 626-648 and 813-814): any age, origin or kin of the widow Sarah.
  419. 3. Hancock Deeds 23:286-287 (Hope's and Delilah's 1807 deeds) and 13:68 (1829) for Hope's later life.
  420. 4. **Barnstable County probate of Joseph Cole Jr. of Eastham (d. 1795)**: a will or division naming
  421. "Sarah Shaw/Holdershaw" would prove the Sarah Cole step.
  422. 5. **Barnstable probate for John Nickerson of Harwich (d. bef. 1722) and John Rogers (d. 1738/9)**:
  423. guardianship or division naming the Nickerson children Reuben, Jeremiah, Jesse and Sarah.
  424. 6. Barnstable Probate 3:144-148, Nathaniel Bassett's will (image 3:1:3Q9M-C9YB-N94C i=288): read the
  425. "Sarah Nickerson" clause on the image.
  426. 7. Hartford (Conn.) probate district, estate of John Shaw d. 13 June 1744 and guardianship of his
  427. minor children: to put the 1735 John in Connecticut beyond doubt.
  428. 8. Hannah Brown: the 1850 and 1860 census images (Clay and Manchester Twps., Dearborn Co.) for her
  429. birthplace wording; the source of the "Sept 1809, Pownal" marriage (FS person for Hannah,
  430. 24RF-N33 / LCP4-GVF); Cumberland County (Maine) probate for Benjamin Brown of Gorham; Gorham and
  431. Pownal town records c. 1809; the 1810 census location of Richard Ellingwood (b. 1790).
  432. 9. 1800 census, Frankfort, Hancock Co. (FS 3:1:33S7-9R8K-9LL1 and -9LR3): Brown households with
  433. "from whence emigrated: Cape Cod."
  434. 10. Mercy Hinckley (m. Joseph Cole 1715): her birth and parents (Barnstable/Harwich records).
  436. Find a Grave (403 from here):
  437. 11. Martha (Knowles) Wright #155180187 (East Haddam); George Shaw (1695-1777) #76342062; Lt. John
  438. Shaw, Carver, #37084042; Capt. James Shaw, Wilbraham; any grave for John Shaw, Esq., Colerain,
  439. Hamilton Co., Ohio, d. 1802 (age at death would settle item 7).
  441. Ancestry:
  442. 12. The record behind the tree's "Capt. John Holder Shaw Holdershaw" (source S633247036, APID
  443. 1,62282::4349816624): see whether it is Hufbauer's page or a user tree.
  444. 13. Ancestry message board thread "John Holder Shaw of Eastham" (surnames.shaw/6791), cited on
  445. WikiTree as a long discussion of the family's origin.
  447. ---
  449. ## 5. Checked and ruled out
  451. - **John Holdershaw as son of John Shaw and Martha Knowles** (the tree): Disproven on present
  452. evidence (section 1a). The tree's sub-errors: the father was **John** Shaw b. 6 Oct 1700 (MD
  453. 3:229), not "Jonathan"; Martha Knowles was born at Chatham (NEHGR 7:82, per WikiTree), not
  454. Barnstable; the tree's "George" and "Martha" attached to the Wright marriage are the **Shaw**
  455. children (b. 1730, 1733); "Capt." belongs to Capt. John Shaw of Wilbraham. The tree's Richard
  456. Knowles (b. July 1688, d. c. 1769) and Martha Cobb (b. 6 Feb 1682, d. 31 Oct 1763, dau. of James
  457. and Sarah (Lewis) Cobb) agree with Hufbauer p. 30, but they are Martha Knowles's parents, not
  458. Hope's ancestors.
  459. - **John Shaw b. 1727**, son of George and Mercy (Rich) Shaw: identified as Lt. John Shaw of Carver
  460. [C]; not John Holdershaw.
  461. - **Hannah Brown as daughter of Benjamin Brown and Hannah Russell of Bethel** (the tree):
  462. Disproven (section 1b).
  463. - **Hannah Brown of Gorham** (FamilySearch): left at Possible.
  464. - **Hope's birthplace "Barnstable"** (FamilySearch): unsupported; the family was "of Eastham" in
  465. 1760 and in the Eastham/Orleans church 1773-1787. Her death "18 July 1829" is a date she was living
  466. (already noted in the archive).
  467. - **Gray's "Joseph & Sarah (Nickerson) Cole of Harwich"**: the Coles were of Eastham; only Sarah
  468. Nickerson was "of Harwich" (Harwich VR).
  469. - **The Nickerson Family's "Mary (Hinckley)"** for Joseph Cole Sr.'s second wife: the marriage
  470. record reads "marcy hinkly" and the Eastham births "Joseph and Mercy Cole"; Mercy is right.
  471. - **Holdershaw in the Eastham records before 1760**: none in MD 3-25 (MD 26-34 not online). The
  472. church and military records begin with him in 1773-1775.
  473. - **Brown in the Harwich VR**: none. Eastham Browns in MD 15-16 (Samuel and Lydia Brown, children
  474. 1720-1734; Samuel and Martha, 1744-1746) are too early to be Hannah's parents.
  475. - **Hufbauer on Holdershaw**: archive.org full-text search finds no "Holdershaw" in the book; Hufbauer lists the 1735 John only as a child of John and Martha.
  477. ---
  479. ## Sources (URLs)
  481. - MD vol. 3 (Eastham VR p. 229; Nicholas Snow will pp. 168-171): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv3mass
  482. - MD vol. 5 (Eastham VR pp. 196-197): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv5mass
  483. - MD vol. 10 (Orleans church records pp. 166, 231, 233): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv10mass
  484. - MD vols. 13-14 (John Cole deeds 14:78-79): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv1314mass
  485. - MD vols. 15-16 (15:13, 15:57, 15:77, 15:97-99; 16:9-10, 16:70, 16:197): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv1516mass
  486. - MD vols. 17-18 (17:33, 17:36): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerdescendv1718mass
  487. - Harwich VR (1982): https://archive.org/details/vitalrecordstown00unse
  488. - The Nickerson Family (1997): https://archive.org/details/nickersonfamilydunse (leaves 19-20, 41, 52, 97)
  489. - Hufbauer, Descendants of Richard Knowles (restricted): https://archive.org/details/descendantsofric0000hufb ; text of pp. 14-16, 30 in https://archive.org/details/margaretbreadygebrea_8
  490. - Stewart Clan Magazine (1922), Shaw/Wright Bible note: https://archive.org/details/stewartclanmaga00incgoog
  491. - Mass. Soldiers and Sailors vols. 7, 8, 14: https://archive.org/details/massachusettssol07mass , https://archive.org/details/massachusettssol08mass , https://archive.org/details/massachusettssol14mass
  492. - Stebbins, Historical Address, Wilbraham (1864): https://archive.org/details/historicaladdres1864steb
  493. - Leach, Additions and Corrections for Thomas Hungerford: https://archive.org/details/additionscorrect00leac
  494. - Baxter, Life of Knowles Shaw (1879): https://archive.org/details/lifeofknowlessha00baxt
  495. - Gray, Maine Families in 1790, vols. 1 and 3 (restricted; full-text snippets): https://archive.org/details/mainefamiliesin101ruth , https://archive.org/details/mainefamiliesin103ruth
  496. - Thayer & Ames, Brewer, Orrington, Holden, Eddington (1962): https://archive.org/details/brewerorringtonh00ames
  497. - Paine, Mayflower Ancestries (1946): https://archive.org/details/mayflowerancestr00pain
  498. - McLellan, History of Gorham (1903), pp. 413-416: https://archive.org/details/historyofgorhamm00mclel
  499. - Bethel town records vol. 1: https://archive.org/details/COLL_132.3.1.1
  500. - History of Dearborn and Ohio Counties (1885), pp. 541-542: https://archive.org/details/historyofdearbor00chic
  501. - Walcher-Fulton collection (Doane/Shaw web-tree extract; [C]): https://archive.org/details/walcherfultoncoll19
  502. - WikiTree: Holdershaw-17 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Holdershaw-17 ; Knowles-2266 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Knowles-2266 ; Shaw-15101 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shaw-15101 ; Shaw-11232 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shaw-11232 ; Shaw-12568 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shaw-12568 ; Shaw-582 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Shaw-582 ; Bassett-174 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bassett-174 ; Ellingwood-412 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Ellingwood-412 ; Brown-73161 https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Brown-73161
BeginEnd