My First Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!

By Sherry Stocking Kline
written for FamilyTreeWriter.com on September 19, 2009

Hello all!  This is my first foray into Saturday night genealogy fun, (see Randy Seaver’s website at http://www.geneamusings.com/) and I will most ashamedly admit that although I’ve done genealogy for 20 years and written about it for 10, I’ve not taken the time to understand the ahnentafel numbers.

Mea culpa. What is it Johnny Carson used to say “so many lashes with a wet noodle?”  Anyhow, I’m not sure, well, actually, I’m pretty darn sure I played the game wrong, but I tried.

Like R. J. Seaver, my father was born in 1911, but he would have been 98, almost 99 by now. So I began with me, and went back almost to 19 back from me. Got to George before 19.  If someone can explain to me how to do an ahnentafel in Family Tree Maker 16, and have it tell me what numbers are what, I’ll re-do my entry here.

My Ancestor is George Stocking

Anyhow, My ancestor is George Stocking, who emigrated to America in 1633. The following is the info from my Stocking Ancestry Book, compiled by Hobart Stocking by research and previous books!

George Stocking, born about 1582, Suffolk, England, married Anna ?

He emigrated to America on the ship Griffith, and settled in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and built a house there in 1635 at the corner of the present Holyoke and Winthrop Streets.

George joined the Thomas Hooker Party

On May 6, 1635, he was made a freeman. (I don’t know what he was indentured as) He joined the company of the Reverend Thomas Hooker (one hundred in number according to family history) and traveled on foot through the wilderness to the Connecticut River in 1636.

Helped Found Hartford, Connecticut

He was one of the original founders of the city of Hartford, CT, and you can see his name on the stone of founders in the city there, as well as find his tombstone in the cemetery.

George was a prominent proprietor there, and “in the general distribution of land, he received twenty acres, “on the south side of the road from Geoge Steel’s, to the south meadow,” other grants being made later on.

On the death of Anna, whom he had married in England, he is understood to have m. 2d. Agnes (Shotwell) Webster, widow of John Webster, governor of the colony.  The Stocking Ancestry Book states  “It does not seem probable:  Agnes is not mentioned in the 1683 court distribution of George’s property.)”

He took from the first an actiave part in local affairs; was selectman in 1647; surveyor of highways in 1654, and ’62; chimney viewer in 1659, and was excused from military duty in 1660, owing to “great age.”

George became a freeman, October 4, 1669.  (again?? I wonder what this means?)

Living to 101 is Pretty Good for those Times!

He died May 25, 1683, aged 101 years, and his name is inscribed on a large monument erected to the memory of Hooker’s party, and which now stands in the old Center Church burying-ground in Hartford.

LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF GEORGY STOCKING:

“15 July, 1673.
“George Stocking of Hartford upon the River of Connecticut planter dos in this my last Will and Testament Give unto Anne my Wife all my housing barn orchards homelott upland and meadow & swamp land cattles and all other estate for her to use during the time of her life, and after her decease to be disposed of as follows.  I doe give to my daughter Lidia Richards the wife of John Richards The sum of (pounts) 14.  and do also give to my dau Sarah Olcott the wife of Samuel Olcott the sum of pounds 10.  I doe also give unto the six children of Andrew Benton, that is to Andrew Benton, Jr., John Benton, Samuel Enton, Joseph Benton, Mary Benton, and Dorothy Benton, the sum of (pounds) 12.  to be divided among them I doe hereby give unto Hannah Camp one Mare.  My will is that these legacies be discharged within one year next after my wifes decease.  My will also is that my wife shall keep the housing and barn in repair unless something more than ordinary befall any of them.  The remainder of my estate to my son Samuel Stocking and make him my executor.  The land to pay its due proportion to the Ministry of the New Meeting house.  I desire Gregory Wollerton and St. Bull to be oversers.
“George Stocking (seal)

“Witness
“Gregory Wollerton
“George Grave,Sen.”

“December 1683.  This Court (at Hartford, CT.) haveing viewed that presented as the last Will & Testament of George Stocking in the circumstance of it, together with what George Stocking (#1) hath declared to George Stocking (a granson, #11) & Captain Allyn & his declaration of his will in part controdicting, doe Judge that the Will presented is of no value, & therefore the Court distribute the Estate as followeth: to Samuel Stocking (Pounds) 100; to Hannah Benton’s children (Pounds) 41; to the wife of John Richards (Pounds) 41; to the wife of Samuel Olcott (Pounds) 41; to John Stocking who had lived with George Stocking, his frandfather, for some years, the remainder of the Estate, being (Pounds) 34, we distributed to John Stocking; and desire & appoint Marshall George Grave and Thomas Bunce to make this distribution.”

It’s Definitely A Small World

One interesting aside note, or interesting to me, anyhow. When six of us gathered here in Sumner County, Kansas some 300 years later to form the Sumner County Genealogical Society, FOUR of us could trace our history back to Hartford, CT founding fathers, and one of us descended from the man Hartford was named for.

Small world indeed, and when we did closer research, a librarian friend and I discovered that our ancestors had witnessed each other’s wills back and forth.

8 Responses to “My First Saturday Night Genealogy Fun!”

  • Sherry

    I was always confused with the Ahnentafel report using FTM – I am on FTM 2009 now and it is located under Publishing, Genealogy Reports, then select Ahnentafel.

    With the Ahnentafel format, you are person #1 and the numbers go up from there – in my Anhnentafel Roulette, my dad was born in 1939 (I know, I am a young’n) so the number is 17. For most of us 17 will be a great-grandparent or great-great grandparent.

    However, I loved reading about George Stocking – because I think I may have some Stockings on my tree – we could be related!!!

    Thomas

    • Hey! That’s cool! If you find some Stocking’s in your tree, let me know, I have the Stocking Family Genealogy Book, and I can help you ‘climb that tree’ back to the original George! There is a lot of info on the net as well!

      Thanks for helping me out with the Ahnentafel report. I’m sure I shouldn’t have gotten as far back as I did!

  • […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Mike West and D Runner. D Runner said: My First Saturday Night Genealogy Fun! http://bit.ly/F9ZUT […]

  • Hey, your ancestor beat my ancestor over from Suffolk by three years! What part of Suffolk was George Stocking from? My ancestor is Samuel Packard, born around 1610-1612 in Stonham Aspal, Suffolk. The house where he was born still stands and is occupied!

    Ahnentafel is a bit rough, but here’s how it was supposed to work in Randy’s SNGF — your father was born the same year as mine, 1911. My dad would have been 98, and as we were supposed to divide the age by 4, I got 24.75, which I rounded up to 25. On the Ahnentafel table, men always have even numbers and women always have odd numbers (disregarding #1, who can be either male or female). So 25 would end up being your great-great grandmother.

    But George Stocking certainly makes for interesting reading!

    • Wow! That’s so cool! You know, I’m not sure where George came from, I didn’t do that research, inherited it done by someone good at it. But I will try to find out. There is a lot more on-line now, and I’ve connected with others who are more actively collecting the past info than I am.

      I’d love to know where George came from, and if there are any homes still standing. I’m guessing he wasn’t wealthy, given they mention indenturing. On the other hand, he was in the middle of a lot of history when he helped found Hartford, CT.

      Where did your ancestor “land” when he got here?? I look forward to hearing more! And THANKS for the Ahnentafel advice. I can sure use it, and will try to re-do. I could probably have written about the ancestor whose Tombstone I posted!

  • […] This is much harder than last week’s blog where all I had to do was try to figure out how to make Family Tree Maker spit out an Ahnentafel report and then figure out which one was “the one” to write about. (by the way, I flunked that test, but did write about an interesting ancestor! Check that out here) […]

  • […] Stocking immigrant ancestor, George Stocking, came to America in the 1630’s on the ship Griffith from Suffolk, England. It appears there […]

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