Silas Deane - One of my most interesting cousins. Member of Continental Congress, initial contact of the Continetnal Congress to France, sent "undercover" to Paris, France at the beginning of the Revolution, responsible for obtaining weapons and supplies for both the first Battle of Ticonderoga and, more particularly, the win at Saratoga, which propelled France into the war and is arguably the largest determining factor in our winning our independence, branded a traitor and thief by a no-good, no-account, ambitious brother of two Continental Congressmen, died in England, destitute and forlorn, cleared of wrongdoing by Congress in the 1840's. His life would make a novel.. in fact, it does already! At least two books have been written about him.

Loammi Baldwin - Progenitor of the Baldwin Apple. Main Engineer of the Middlesex Canal, the prototype canal that many others, including his son, Loammi Baldwin, Jr, considered the father of civil engineering in the United States, would imitate in following years. Boyhood and friend in later life to the Tory scientist, Count Mumford. Participant in the Concord / Lexingon alarm in 1775.

Oxenbridge Thacher - A Leader of the events leading to the Revolution.

Our Family Connections to the Salem Witch Trials.

Ezekiel Richardson and Anne Hutchinson - he was on her side until he was threatened with losing his right to carry a firearm and be a member of the church.

The Trial of Thomas Knowlton for His Wife Overdressing - an example of Puritanism.

Captain Thomas Knowlton - Revolutionary War Hero

The ordeals of Quakers Lawrence and Cassandra Southwick

The Backus Ironworks - provider to the country during the Revolution.

Settling Massachusetts Bay Colony - from the Corwin Genealogy.

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I find one of the interesting aspects of New England Genealogy is the tapestry of interconnected kinship networks. There has been much shown on these networks on this side of the Atlantic in recent years, for example, in Notable Kin, by Gary Boyd Roberts and other works by him. Additionally, there has been much work done recently discovering the kinship networks of immigrants which we did not know before. One of the key by-products of this work is that the identity of many immigrant women, heretofore unknown, has not only been discovered, but their relationship to other immigrants disclosed. For example, the identity and kinships of Wibroe Griggs, Elizabeth Stoughton, Sarah Mew, Agnes Harris, and Bridget (___) Very have all been discovered in the past ten years, based on genealogy work done with English records. Following are some of the interesting networks involving my ancestors and/or cousins or in-laws that I have setup web pages for.
 

The Kinships of Wolstone and Ellen (Empston) Child - Several descendants of this 16th century English couple became immigrants to the New World. An illustration of TAG Vol 63:17-28, 1988, Child - Foote - Goddard Connections by Myrtle Stevens Hyde and Paul L. Child.

The Cooper-Pierson-Griggs Connection. An illustration of the interesting connections between these families, proving that Wibroe Griggs was, in fact, the matriarch of two American families from two different marriages. Based on "The Cooper-Pierson-Griggs Connection", TAG 64:193, 1989, Thomas Cooper II.

The Cooper-Mew-Ling Connections, including an in-law, John Dixwell, one of the executioners of King Charles I. This article establishes the English origins and commonalities of these American immigrants and establishes the identity of our ancestor Sarah (Mew) Cooper. Based on "The English Origin of Ellis Mew and Benjamin Ling of New Haven, Conn and of Sarah (Mew) Cooper of Southampton, Long Island", TAG 66:45, 1991, by Thomas Cooper, II.

The Gates and Josselyns in Medieval England - Sir John Gates was beheaded for his involvement in the Jane Grey Affair in 1553 - the Nine Day Queen (just before Bloody Mary; Bloody Mary subsequently beheaded the teenage Queen). Material for this has been assembled from the Gates and some of the Josselyn side from Powers-Banks Genealogy around the turn of the century, while the Joselyn's back to Gilbert Joselyn are from NEHGR Vol 71:236-257, 1917. There are illustrations showing how Stephen Gates and Thomas Joslin might be related to these medieval characters, but I take them with a grain of salt, as I do not know if they are valid or not. But, for the history buff, it is fun to use these tentative connections as a springboard in learning about this interesting piece of history. By the way Stephen Gates and Thomas Joslin were neighbors.... do you suppose they even knew they might have shared ancestors in these events in medieval English history?? Guess we may never know that one, unless we can prove an absolute connection between the two.

The Williams - Napoleon Connection - Connections of one branch of the Williams family to Napoleon, George Washington, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Daniel Webster, and more. This network assembled by Norris Taylor (yours truly) with some help from various and asundry sources for different pieces.

The Kinship Network of the Scudders - Involving many New England names, including Lathrop, Chamberlain, Stoughton, Betts, Very, and many more. Based on TAG 72:285-300: A New England Immigrant Kinship Network, Jane Fletcher Fiske, F. A. S. G., (Editor of NEHGR, but contributor/author of this TAG article.)

The Williams and Allyn Ties to Princess Diana  This network assembled by Norris Taylor (yours truly) with some help from various and asundry sources for different pieces.

The interesting genealogical network of John Williams, survivor of the Deerfield Indian Raid. Network assembled by Norris Taylor (yours truly) with some help from various and asundry sources for different pieces.

Our Aaron Burr / Alexander Hamilton Connections - We are not related to Aaron Burr or Alexander Hamiltion (that I've discovered, yet, anyway.) But, some of our cousins are related to them, as various of our cousins have married into their families. See this page showing some of these kinship networks involving Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, which include: Civil War General Henry Wager Halleck, Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler, Jonathan Edwards of the "Great Awakening", and the impressive array of Trumbull descendants, who populated the American landscape with three Governors of Connecticut, a famous American painter, and, through an in-law, the father of the science of geology.
 

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