Holbrook Line

From Thomas Holbrooke of Norton Malreward in Somerset, who died in 1571/2, through Thomas the immigrant, who sailed from Weymouth in 1635, to the Cape Cod and Plymouth mariners, and west to Whidbey Island and Puget Sound.

The line at a glance

Thomas Holbrooke of Norton Malreward (d. 1571/2) > William Holbrooke of Glastonbury (c. 1551-1625/6) > Thomas, the immigrant (d. Weymouth, by 1677) > Capt. John (1618-1699) > John (1650-1731) > Capt. John (1686-by 1749) > Deacon Elisha (1716-1779) > Capt. Gideon (c. 1765-1842) > Capt. Richard Blackmer Sr. (1821-1894) > Capt. Richard Blackmer Jr. (1872-1923) > Richard Clifford (1902-1955) > Frances Fairchild (b. 1931)

The weakest links

• Thomas of Norton Malreward > William (probable, about 85-90%): rests on William’s 1617 deposition and the wills of Thomas (1571/2) and Edith (1592).
• John (1686) > Elisha (probable, about 95%): the Scituate birth is documented; the Eastham records show it is the same man.
• Elisha > Gideon (probable, about 80-85%): two compiled genealogies, supported by Gideon’s Wellfleet birth and his ties to Elisha’s son Eliphalet. No record yet names Gideon’s father.

Open questions

• Capt. Richard Blackmer Holbrook Jr.’s second family: he died at Bismarck in 1923, a farmer of Pollock, South Dakota, with a wife, Maud, and two young sons. Who was Maud, and what became of Douglas and Donald? (A research thread.)
• Which of Capt. John’s three wives was the mother of John (b. c. 1650)? By the dates, Elizabeth Stream (married about 1645, died 1688); no record names her.
• Who were Sarah Chittenden’s parents?
• Was Gideon’s mother Sarah Mayo? He was born about 1765, while she was living (she was named in her mother’s estate division of 1760), and Elisha did not remarry until 1771. Her own ancestry is on the Mayo line page.
• Was Martha Holbrook, who married Sarah Mayo’s brother Daniel in 1738/9, Elisha’s sister Martha (b. 1721)?