USA > New Hampshire > Genealogical and family history of the state of New Hampshire : a record of the achievements of her people in the making of a commonwealth and the founding of a nation, Vol. I > Part 41
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were not sick; whereupon we were forced to stay . on deck for some time, and had now and then a blow, but did not and could not work. Secondly, 1 observed that industry and idleness were equally rewarded with blows; for they would begin at one end of a parcel of men pulling a rope, and whip till they came to the other end, without mind- ing who pulls and who does not. And thirdly, I found that my continuance in such a wicked family had brought me to a smack of their fa- miliar sin, viz., swearing, though I was but very awkward at it, and my conscience would menace me for it. And I found also that the desire of strong drink had gained somewhat upon me, though I was not drunk with it all, and had totally left the use of strong drink before I left the ship. Now the consideration of these and some other difficulties which ] found in this place I lay obnoxious to, made inc undertake that dangerous way of escaping by swimming; for I considered the danger be- fore I set out; but on the 26th day of March, 1704, I had drawn up a resolution that I would rid my- self of this company, or lose my life when night came. I found it something difficult to get away undiscovered, there being centinels afore and abaft, with muskets loaded to shoot any one that should attempt to run away, and likewise a guard boat to row round the ship all night. I watched them till about ten o'clock at night, at which time, finding the centinels pretty careless, and the guard boat ahead of the ship, I went down between decks, and having begged of God to carry me through that dangerous enterprise and deliver me out of those distresses, I went out of a port and swam with my shirt and breeches on right out to sea, before the wind, till I was clear of the ship and guard boat, and then turned along the shore awhile, and then wheeled more toward the shore, but the seas beat over my head so fast I could hardly swim, and I thought beat me more out to sea, whereupon I turned and swam right against the wind toward the shore, and after a considerable timie got to one of Captain Gillam's buoys, and rested myself a while, and if I had known the ship I would have gone on board, but I aimed to swim to a brigantine that lay in the road belonging to Boston. Then I put off from Captain Gillam's buoy, and had not swam far before I saw a Shark just as he took hold of my left hand, he pulled me under water in a moment, at which I was very much surprised, and thought of a knife which I used to carry in my pocket, but remembered I had left it on board; thien I kicked him several times with my right foot, but that proved ineffectual, I set my foot against his mouth, intending to haul my hand away or haul it off, and then he opened his mouth a little and catchi'd part of my foot into his mouth with my hand, and held them both together. Then I cried unto God (mentally) that he would have mercy on my soul, which I thought would soon be separated from my body; but still I did not leave off striving, but punched him with my right hand, though to very little purpose : at last being almost drowned (for I was all the while under water) I had almost left off striving, and expecting nothing but present death ; all at once my hand came loose and also my foot. and so finding myself clear of the fish I got up to the top of the water, and having a little cleared my stomach of water, I called out for help, and swan towards the nearest ship, and I quickly heard them mustering to fit out their boat, which encouraged me to continue my calling for help, thinking there- by they might find mne the sooner, it being very dark; they came to me with all speed and took me
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into their boat, and carried me to the ship's side. where I saw they had a lanthorn, but the blood turning just at that time, caused me to he extreme sick at my stomach, and my sight also left me, but I answered Captain Gillam to many questions while I was blind; then they fastened a rope about me and hauled me into the ship and carried me into the steerage, and after a while recovering my sight, I asked if there was any doctor on board, they said yes, and pointed to Mr. Peter Cutler of Boston, he then being Captain Gillam's doctor, I asked him to cut off my mangled limbs if he saw it needful, and he spake to the captain about it, but he would not allow of it, but sent advice to the Milford of what had hapened, and the lieutenant sent a boat and carried me on board again, and the doctor being ashore, he sent for doctor Cutler and another doctor, who came on board, and after a glass of wine they ordered I should be tied, but upon my earnest solic- itation they forebore to tie me, and then doctor Cutler performed the first amputation, which was my arm, and the other doctor cut off part of my foot. I endured extreme pain all the while, and after they had dressed those two wounds, they dressed three other flesh wounds, which I received at the same time, and the next day I was carried on shore, where I remained without appetite and so full of pain, that I thought I did not sleep three hours in three weeks; but at last thro' God's great goodness, the pain left me and my appetite was restored, and my wounds healed wonderful fast, so that in about four months my foot was healed up and I could go on it: but it broke out again, and I could not thoroughly heal it till 1 got home to New-England. I was about nineteen years of age at the time of this disaster. I received much kindness from many gentlemen belonging to New- England, as well as from those of Barbados, under those difficulties, all which I desire gratefully to acknowledge. But above all, I would acknowledge the great goodness of that God that supported me under and carried me through those distresses, and has provided for me ever since, so that neither I, nor mine, have wanted the necessary comforts of this life, notwithstanding my inability of body for many employments. Thus having run through the most observable passages of that disaster, I shall conclude, desiring your prayers to God for me, that so signal a deliverance may not be lost upon me ; and that I may, by believing and yielding obedience to the gospel of Jesus Christ, become a subject of eternal as well as temporal salvation.
"Your humble servant, "SAMUEL JENNINGS. "Sandwich, August 8, 1716."
After his return from Barbadoes, Samuel Jennings probably devoted himself to the acquisition of a superior education in consequence of his being maimed. He was a grammar schoolmaster in 1710, selectman in 1712, representative 1714-17-21, town clerk 1721-51 (thirty years), town treasurer 1719-51 (thirty-two years), surveyor of lands, trader, and possessed a large estate. The Sandwich town records show that "In 1710, Mr. Samuel Jennings was the school master. He was voted twenty pounds, and it was provided that 'those who send shall pay ad- ditional and board.'" He was still employed in 1712. In the same year the north part of the town- ship of Falmouth, included in what was denominated "the New Purchase," was ordered to be laid out ; and "Thomas Bowerman and Philip Dexter were appointed to lay out said lands, and were to asso- ciate with them, in the performance of their duty, some suitable person. They called to their aid Mr. Samuel Jennings of Sandwich-an accomplished sur-
veyor and good scholar, whose able and neatly- prepared report of the proceedings amply justify the encomium we bestow," says the historian. Feb- ruary 10, 1717, he was one of a committee of three appointed by the General Court to determine the controversy and settle the bounds between the town of Barnstable and the Indians, which the committee did. He married, first, January 20, 1713, Remember Smith, daughter of Shubael and grand-daughter of Reverend John Smith, who was pastor of Sandwich from 1675 to 1688. She died January 23, 1718, aged about twenty-eight years; and he married. second, Deborah Newcomb, who died February 10. 1753. The children of the first wife were: Lydia and Ruhamah; and of the second wife: Samuel, Esther and John, whose sketch follows.
(III) John (2), third child and second son of Samuel and Deborah (Newcomb) Jennings, was born in Sandwich, September 3, 1734, and died in Winthrop, Maine, as stated in Winthrop Records. March 10, 1800, aged sixty-five. After the outbreak of the Revolution a colony from Sandwich, Massa- chusetts, founded the town of New Sandwich, now Wayne, in Maine. John Jennings, an ardent Loyal- ist, or Tory, was one of the first to secure land there. In 1778, or earlier, he and his son Samuel went by water to Hallowell, and thence on foot through the woods to New Sandwich, where John selected land bounded on the south by the water since called from him, the Jennings stream, and Pocasset, now Wing Pond. Here they felled a possession, and John returned to Sandwich, leaving Samuel to fell more trees during the summer. The next summer Samuel was also sent to make further improvement. The next year, John and his son John (Samuel being elsewhere) went from Sandwich and built a log house and extended the clearing. The greater part of the land John Jennings then settled on has since been the property of his descendants and in the Jennings name, and is now one of the finest
farms in Kennebec county. Vestiges of the first house and one built later and apple trees he planted, are still to be seen. The following spring John re- moved to Wayne with his family. They went on a vessel to Portland, and from there John and his son Samuel ascended the Kennebec in one of his old whale-boats. From Hallowell they made their way on foot, driving before them the sheep and swine they had brought from Sandwich. The swine were subsequently taken to an island in the Andros- coggin pond in Leeds, where in the following July the outcry of the animals gave notice of trouble. The settlers living near hastened to the island and dis- covered that bears had killed the hogs, and escaped. From this circumstance the island has since been known as Hog Island. Having no salt, the neigh- bors smoked the meat of the slaughtered animals, which was a substantial part of the bill of fare of Mr. Jennings' family the following winter. In the autumn John Jennings returned to Sandwich, to settle his affairs, and left his family in the care of his son Samuel, who proved himself worthy of the trust committed to him. John returned the next spring to Wayne where he lived until 1799. A short time before his death he was carried to Win- throp, where he died at the house of his daughter, Deborah Chandler, and was buried in the cemetery in Winthrop village. He married, in Sandwich, April 19, 1759, Hannah, born June 4, 1732, widow of Jonathan Sturgis and daughter of William and Bathshua (Bourne) Newcomb, of Sandwich. They had: Deborah, Samuel, John, Hannah, Bathsheba, Sarah, Nathaniel, and Mary, all born in Sandwich, Massachusetts.
(1\') Samuel (2), second child and eldest son
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of John (2) and Hannah (Newcomb) Jennings, was born in Sandwich, November 15, 1762, and died in Leeds, Maine, March 23, 1842, in his eightieth year. He accompanied his father on his first visit to New Sandwich, and was left there to continue the work of clearing the farm they there began, and returned to Sandwich later, on foot, with others. The next spring he was sent back alone, to further improve the place. He boarded with Job Fuller, the earliest white settler in Wayne (1773), and exchanged work with Eben Wing. They secured only a poor "burn" of the timber on the ground, and the turf still left was deep; and they had to use the bag in which they brought their dinner to carry sand from the shore of the pond to cover the corn they planted. Samuel soon wearied of this style of farming, and arranged with a neighbor to care for the crop and again trudged back to Sandwich, and made the best excuse he could to his father for thus leaving the place in the wilderness of Maine. The next spring, when the time for going to New Sandwich drew nigh, Samuel seized an opportunity when his father was away and went to Plymouth, and thence to Boston where he met some acquaintances and en- listed on board a privateer which made a successful cruise, capturing three prizes, Samuel returning to Boston as one of the crew of the third one. Samuel Jennings also served as a private in Captain Simeon Fish's company, Colonel Freeman's regiment, on an alarm at Falmouth in September, 1779. The next year he went with his father and his family to Wayne. Samuel (3) Jennings, in his account of the family at this time says, "They thought it rather hard times to live on smoked meat and keep their cattle on meadow hay. In the early spring, when Sam- uel found the neighboring settlers could not pay in corn for certain little utensils they had bought of his father the year before, he went to Littleborough, now Leeds, some ten miles away, and worked a week for Thomas Stinchfield, chopping and piling logs for a peck of corn a day. On Sunday, he was set across. the Androscoggin pond by the Stinchfield boys in a canoe, and carried his bushel and a half of corn on his back to his home, where he and his burden were warmly welcome by the other members of the family. On the day when Samuel completed his twenty-first year he refused to 'tote' a bag of corn on his back through the woods to mill. His father was angry, disowned him, and turned him out of doors, adrift in the world. But while the father was absent hunting that day in Port Royal, now Liver- more, Samuel and his brother John seeing a bear swimming in the pond, dispatched it with an ax, dressed the carcass, and hung it up on a pole. The father returning from his hunt without game and seeing the supply of bear meat, inquired who killed it. Being told that Samuel had done it, he withdrew his objections to Samuel, who continued to live at the homestead."
In 1784 Samuel, accompanied by his brother John, took up a large tract of land, mostly rich intervale, on the bank of the Androscoggin river in Leeds, where the hamlet of West Leeds now is. This is still owned by his descendants in the male line. Somewhat later lie returned to Sandwich and mar- ried. Leaving his wife there, he went to Hallowell, Maine, where he worked for his brother-in-law, John Beeman, for four dollars a month. In the spring of 1787, Mrs. Jennings with her infant son Samuel, went to Hallowell and thence to Wayne, where she was met by her husband. On their jour- ney to Leeds they crossed the Androscoggin pond in a birch canoe; the wind blew a gale, the waves beat over the canoe, compelling the mother to sit
in the bottom of the bark boat with her babe in her arms, while the father, alternately paddler and bailing, urged his canoe forward. The shore was reached at last, and at the house of Thomas Stinch- field they were warmed and refreshed, heir clothing dried, and again on foot they made their way through the woods to their home. Samuel Jennings was a prosperous and influential farmer in Leeds. He married, in Sandwich, Massachusetts, in 1785, Olive Tupper, daughter of Enoch and Mehitable ( Davis) Tupper, and they were the parents of Sam- uel, who was born in Sandwich; and Perez S., who was one of the earliest born children in Leeds.
(V) Samuel (3), eldest of the two sons of Samuel (2) and Olive (Tupper) Jennings, was born in Sandwich, Massachusetts, February 7, 1787, and died at the village of North Wayne, Maine, March 29, 1876, in the ninetieth year of his age. He lived with his parents until after his marriage. There was no school in Leeds until after he was twelve years old, but he nevertheless obtained a good education and throughout his life was a con- stant reader of the Bible and historical works. In his youth he profited by his access to a small library in Leeds. In the fall of 1809 he settled on a large farm at the west edge of North Wayne, where the active portion of his life was passed with the excep- tion of six years between 1826 and 1832, when he lived in Leeds. From 1852 to 1868 he lived with his son Seth, and after that time at a place he bought on the north side of North Wayne. He was a liberal, social and law-abiding citizen and a man of good judgment. In early life he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church and one of its choir. He was a Whig until the dissolution of the Whig party, and thereafter a Democrat.
He married (first), in Middleborough, Massa- chusetts, January 14, 1809, Phebe Morton, who was born in Middleborough, Massachusetts, May 15, 1791, and died at North Wayne, October 26, 1858, aged sixty- seven years. She was the daughter of Seth (2) and Priscilla Morton. (See Morton, VI). He married (second), November, 1868, Laura (Rackley) Gil- more, widow of Ansel Gilmore, of Turner, who sur- vived him and died while on a visit to Livermore, September 20, 1882, in her seventy-fifth year. The children of Samuel and Phebe, born between 1810 and 1837, were : Olive (died young), Olive, Louisa, La- vinia (died young), Cleora, Samuel M., Lovias, Gran- ville T., Perez S., Seth W., Martha, Velzora and Mary Helen. Of these Louisa, Granville, Velzora and Mary died in 1843, the last three of typhus fever.
(VI) Seth Williston, tenth child and youngest son of Samuel (3) and Phebe (Morton) Jennings, was born in Leeds, April 18, 1826, and died at North Wayne, March 10, 1882, aged fifty-six years. He attended school until eighteen years of age, and then was a seafarer for about five years, making a whaling voyage in the middle Atlantic and later voyages to ports of Cuba and the southern and eastern coasts of the United States. After 1849 he engaged in farming, residing just east of North Wayne, and also carried on the manufacture of soap. His little farm was one of the best kept and most carefully cultivated in the town, and the orchards he planted and the stone walls he built upon it were memorials of his industry. He was an untiring toiler and a true-hearted and generous friend. In political be- lief he was a Democrat. He enlisted for service in the Civil war, April 5, 1865, and was a private in the 30th company, unassigned infantry. He mar- ried, (first), June 14, 1849. Delia Malenville Gil- more, who was born in Turner, June 14, 1829, and died in Wayne, September 14, 1865 aged thirty-
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six years. She was the daughter of Ansel and Laura M. (Rackley) Gilmore, of Turner, and grand- daughter of Elisha Gilmore, of Raynham, Massa- chusetts, who was a Revolutionary soldier. She was an intellectual woman of artistic temperament and scholarly taste. He married (second), September 29, 1866, Elvira Elizabeth Haskell, who was born July 11, 1839, daughter of John and Mary (Johnson) Grindle of Bluehill, Maine, widow of John H. Has- kell of Jay, who died in the United States Military service in 1862. She married (third), May 30, 1897, Calvin J. C. Dodge, whom she survives. The chil- dren of Scthi W. and Delia M. Jennings were : Julius Cæsar, Octavius Lord, Laura Emily, Delia Josephine, and an unnamed infant.
( VII) Julius Cæsar, eldest child of Seth W. and Delia M. (Gilmore) Jennings, was born at North Wayne, February 11, 1853. After completing the common school course he attended the Maine Wes- leyan Seminary, at Kents Hill, where he made lan- guages his principal study. October 18, 1870, he started west, and from 1871 to 1875 resided with his uncle, Dr. Perez S. Jennings, at Clinton, Mis- souri, teaching school a large part of the time, and reading law in the office of Charles B. Wilson, Esq., an ex-Confederate soldier, for two years, 1874-5. He afterwards taught school and was superintendent of city schools at Covington, Indiana, and was prin- cipal of schools at Ingalls, Cimarron and Spearville, Kansas. In June, 1879, he was admitted to the bar at Clinton, Missouri, and practiced law seven years in Henry county. In 1886 he went to Gilliam county, Oregon, whence he removed the following year to Ingalls, Kansas, where he practiced law until 1891, taking a conspicuous part in the county seat contest between Ingalls and Cimarron, and serving a short time as county attorney. In 1891 he engaged in completing the History of the City of Omaha, Ne- braska, where he spent nearly two years. The greater part of the time since that date he has been connected, in various capacities, with the production of city and county histories and biographical work, principally in Milwaukee, Chicago, and other cities and various counties of Illinois, and in New York City ; and lastly in Concord, New Hampshire, where for two years lie has assisted in compiling the present work. He is a member of the New Hamp- shire Society of Sons of the American Revolu- tion; Ingalls Lodge, No. 426, and Ingalls Rebekah Lodge, No. 287, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Ingalls, Kansas; Alpha Camp, No. 1, Woodmen of the World, of Omaha, Nebraska; and Spearville Lodge, No. 13, of the Occidental Mutual Benefit Association, of Spearville, Kansas.
(VII) Octavius Lord, second son and child of Seth W. and Delia M. (Gilmore) Jennings, was born at North Wayne, May 9, 1855. While yet a boy he entered the employ of the North Wayne Tool Com- pany, where for some years he spent his time when not at school, learning the business of scythe mak- ing. Subsequently he worked at his trade at Oak- land, and was employed in a grocery store in Port- land, and at the Oceanic Hotel an Peak's Island. Later he resumed work at his trade and was em- ployed at Fayette and Oakland, Maine, and New London, Scytheville and East Lebanon, New Hamp- shire. In 1889, lie removed to Concord, and has since been employed in the car construction depart- ment of the Boston & Maine railroad. The winter of 1891-2 he spent at Magnolia Springs, Florida. In 1900 he built a pleasant residence on Rockingham street, Concord, where he now lives. He is a mem- her of Harmony Colony, No. 160, United Order of Pilgrim Fathers; and is past councilor of Nathan-
iel White Lodge, No. 7, of the United Order of American Mechanics, and member of the State Council of that order. In politics he is an indepen- dent voter. He married, in Oakland, Maine, July II, 1877, Alice Emma Goodwin, who was born in Bel- grade, Maine, May 15, 1857, daughter of Charles N. and Emma C. (Ellis) Goodwin, a descendant of Daniel Goodwin, the immigrant. Two children have been born of this marriage: Carl Edgar, May 7, ISSI, who died young; and Octavius Earl, born at East Lebanon, New Hampshire, April 4, 1885.
BECK There appears to be considerable differ-
ence on the part of past writers of Beck family history in respect to the immigra- tion of him who by all of them is conceded to have been the ancestor of the family, in the year 1635. These differences are best pointed out by our quot- ing from the writings of those who have made in- vestigations of the matter, and placed themselves on record. Coffin says "Henry Beck came from Hertfordshire, England, in the ship 'Angel Gabriel,' which was cast away at Pemaquid, August 15, 1635." Savage, in an account of later date than that of Coffin, says that "Henry Beck, of Dover, came in the 'Blessing,' 1635, aged eighteen," and that he em- barked at London late in July, "as I saw in the records of the London custom house for that year," which fact, he asserts, is far more probable than the tradition of his coming in the "Angel Gabriel," which was wrecked at Pemaquid in the middle of August. The "Blessing" did not reach Boston before October. Continuing, Savage also says "Part of the same story is that he was from Hertfordshire, which is so near London, whence sixteen ships brought passengers to Boston, that we can never believe that he would have gone to the other side of the King- dom for the voyage of the 'Angel Gabriel,' begin- ning at Bristol, 22 June."
(1) Henry Beck came to America in 1635, in one or the other of the ships mentioned, and was pro- genitor of the Beck families of New Hampshire, whose representatives are numerous in the state. In allusion to his origin on the other side of the At- lantic, Henry Beck, of Greenland, said in a written record of date about a century and one-half ago, "My grandfather Henry born the
Paresh of geywareck in warickshear In old england." Henry Beck, the immigrant, married Ann Frost, of Piscataqua, New Hampshire, and had four sons : Joshua, Thomas, Caleb and Henry; and one daugh- ter, Mary, who married Deacon White. It is said by Coffin that Henry, the immigrant, lived to be one hundred and ten years old, but it evident that the death record of some later member of the family was mistaken for his. He settled at Strawberry Bank (Portsmouth), where he had a grant of ten acres of land, January 13, 1652, and probably spent his last days in New Castle. December 14, 1658, he subscribed five shillings for the support of the ministry, in Portsmouth, and this rate was in force many years. Numerous records show that he was In a prominent citizen, active in public affairs. August, 1652, he was a grand juror at Strawberry Bank, and served in like capacity at court in Dover, June 30, 1657, and April 28, 1659. He was a petit juror at Portsmouth, June 25, 1656, and June 26, 1660, and at Dover, June 25, 1667. On June 28, 1657, "henrie beck" of Sagamore Creek ( Portsmouth), sold to Thomas Laiton, of Dover, land in Dover. Henry and Ann Beck sold land in Portsmouth to Joseph Walker, September 1, 1668. They deeded to Thomas Beck (their son) land, buildings and per- sonal property January 6, 1679, all then being of
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