Category Archives: Palmer Family

Planting Roots in America

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Its been a while since I’ve written anything, and it’s time I get on some type of schedule for that. George W. Rogers, my gg grandfather, is still being the elusive sort. His son, Claude, who is my great grandfather Fred’s half-brother, is just as elusive. If it weren’t for the mention in g grandpa’s obituary, I wouldn’t have known about Uncle Claude at all. Nor would I know about the sister, whose name is currently unknown, married to Jay Chrisman.

So, as I have no progress to report on the Rogers clan, I thought I might discuss the initial planting of roots in America. It is appearing that my earliest ancestor from England was one John Tuttle, who may have arrived on the Angel Gabrielle in August 1635. The accounts state that most of the passengers and crew had gone ashore when a sudden storm came up and caused the ship to wreck. From wikipedia is the list of passengers that made the trip from England to the New World:

Passengers on the last voyage

    • Capt. Robert Andrews, Ship’s Master, Ipswich, Massachusetts
    • John Bailey, Sr., weaver from Chippenham, England to Newbury, Massachusetts
    • John Bailey, Jr., b. 1613
    • Johanna Bailey (possibly came on a later ship)
    • Henry Beck
  • Deacon John Burnham
  • Thomas Burnham
  • Robert Burnham
  • Ralph Blaisdell of Lancashire, settled in York, Maine
  • Mrs. Elizabeth Blaisdell
  • Henry Blaisdell
  • William Furber, age 21, London, England, settled in Dover, New Hampshire
  • John Cogswell & Elizabeth Cogswell and eight of their children, Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England, settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts
  • Samuel Haines, about age 24, apprentice to John Cogswell, settled in Greenland, New Hampshire
  • William Hook
  • Henry Simpson
  • John Tuttle, about age 17, Devonshire, England, settled in Chebacco Parish and finally Dover, New Hampshire (known to locals as “Shipwreck John Tuttle”)

Unfortunately, little is known of John Tuttle’s life in England before departure. However, upon arrival in America, he set upon obtaining land in Dover, and picked out an area in what is known as Dover Neck. He married, and his legacy in New Hampshire began. His wife, Dorothy Ernst, bore him 4 children: Thomas, John (known as Judge John), Elizabeth and Dorothy. Thomas was killed as a young lad of about 12.

Meanwhile, in another line, my Palmers to be exact, the earliest Palmer I have found thus far is Richard, born about 1725. I suspect in Virginia, because when I first started researching my tree back in 2003, I had gotten back to around 1511, in the Carolinas. However, back then I didn’t know about sourcing, or documentation, or even verifying and double, triple, sometimes even quadruple-checking facts and finding more than one source document to prove a birth, marriage or death. This time, I’m trying to do it much better! 🙂