My Uber Family

One of the amazing things about our families is that most of them came to New England early, in the 1600's, and pretty much stayed here. As a result there was much inter-marrying in the early years especially that have crossed the family lines. The best example of this is the Phillip Fowler family who came to Ipswich, Massachusetts from Marlborough, England.
The daughter, Margaret Fowler, and her first husband, Christopher Osgood, are the 8th great-grandparents of my father-in-law, Frank Moore, through his Lovejoy line.
Margaret and her second husband are the 9th great-grandparents of my mother, Eleanor Fairchild, through her Wildman-Way line.
Margaret and her third husband, Thomas Coleman, are the 9th great-grandparents of my father, Kenneth Williams through his Burdick line.
Margaret's brother, Thomas Fowler and his wife, Hannah Jordan, are the 6th great-grandparents of my mother-in-law, Constance Howe.
There are other connections, but it's not unusual since the pool of possible relationships was so small in early New England. But I find it interesting that the family of Phillip Fowler has direct ties to my mother, father, mother-in-law, and father-in-law.
Margaret Fowler married four times, dying by 1694 on Nantucket.

Hannah Emerson Duston

We were watching The Generations Project (Sort of a Who Do you Think you Are for non-celebrities) and they were talking about the Studebaker family in PA who were taken by Indians. Allan was unaware that his family had a lot of interaction with Indians in Maine and New Hampshire, the most famous being Hannah Duston.
Hannah and her husband, Thomas, lived in Haverhill, MA on the NH border. She had just had her twelve child when Indians attacked. Her husband was able to get the eleven older children to the garrison, but Hannah, the baby Martha, and a neighbor woman, Mrs. Neff, were captured. The baby was killed by dashing her brains against an apple tree and the captives marched northward to Canada.
Far north in New Hampshire, Hannah resolved to escape. She, Mrs Neff and a boy managed to kill the Indians while they were sleeping (ten, while a woman and boy escaped). She scalped them and they took a canoe, floating down the Merrimack River. They made it to Nashua, NH. Hannah received twenty-five pounds (a considerable sum) for her scalps. A statue was erected for her in Haverhill, the first statue for a woman in the USA.