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Henry Jackson, first of the
family to arrive in the Colonies (1635, at age 29), is discussed
widely on the web. Some extracts:
Henry Jackson was
probably the man who came [from London, England] in the
ship Elizabeth and Ann in 1635, aged 29, having taken
the oath of allegiance & supremacy to the crown, &
brought a certificate from the minister & justice of the
peace, in the place he resided in England, (not
mentioned) of his conformity to the Church of England, &
that he was no subsidy man. (Hotten's List of Emigrants
to America.)
In the same ship
came Robert Hawkins, Nicholas St. John & several of the
Whitney family [very likely John Whitney and his family,
ancestors to the Cobb line]. He was at Watertown
[Massachusetts] in 1637, & was, says Savage, "one of the
lessers of the fishing grounds of that place."
He was at Fairfield
in 1648, where Feb. 2, 1648/9 he made an agreement with
the town to erect a grist-mill on the stream running
into the west side of Uncoway River, which he sold in
1653 to Samuel Morehouse. His home-lot was bounded n.w.
with Nathan Gold's pasture lot, n.e. the Unocoway
mill-creek at high water-mark, s.e. highway, & s.w. with
his own land.
He removed after
selling the mill, to Pequonnock & purchased, the house &
home-lot of Thomas Wheeler jr. He was made a freeman 10
Oct. 1669 and was one of the dividend land holders of
the town. His will is dated 11, Nov. 1682, in which he
provides for a wife (Christian name not mentioned); to
son Moses housing & Ludlow's lot, except one acre at
Pequonnock, and in Uncoway Indian Fields; ¼ of his
pasture-lot, building-lot & long-lot: to the children of
his deceased daughter Hannah, who had married Philip
Galpin, £5 each when of age; to s. Samuell land
previously deeded him, several parcels of land and ¼ of
his pasture-lot, building-lot & long-lot: to grandson
Moses Jackson 4 acres at Try's Field, bounded n.w. with
highway that goes through the filed; s.w. John Roots,
s.e. the Indian Field, n.e. land that was Richard Fowles,
also his Compo allotment: to s. John of his pasture-lot,
building-lot & long lot; to his grand-son Samuel
Jackson, his loom & "all things thereto belonging; & to
his wife his best feather-bed & bedstead, curtains &
valance, & all the furniture thereto belonging; the
bigest kettle & his house in town, & the least kettle,
the middle iron-pot, the bell-metal skillet, the red cow
and her calf, also the third part of his pewter dishes,
spoons, and beer vessels in his house at Pequonnock, the
great chest & her own chests, the use of housing & lands
at town, with its table, stools & chairs, with any other
of the house-hold estate, except the axe, that is
commonly called Dina's axe," ¼ of table linen, & if
left alone, the old, negro woman to care for her; &
£6 per annum from sons Moses & Samuel; to s. Joseph's
five children, under the guardianship of son Samuel £5,
each of them to receive 20 shillings when of age; to
Major Nathan Gold & Josiah Harvey, as over-seers of his
estate £20. Upon the death of his wife the house at
Fairfield & all things belonging to it, were to be
divided between son Joseph's five children allowing the
eldest son a double portion. He requests that the shares
of his s. Joseph's widow in her father-in-law George
Goodwin's estate, be paid over to the estate of Joseph's
children. He entailed all his estate to his surviving
male heirs, in case of the death of any one of his sons.
[Emphasis added. The Will is reproduced in the
Chester Jackson monograph.]
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Note that by terms of
the will Henry was a slave owner. (We don't know what
happened to the "old, negro woman," or if succeeding
generations also owned slaves. Samuel Jackson's will,
twenty-eight years later, mentions no slaves, but that is
not dispositive. Whatever the case, at some
generation, probably sometime in the 17th or early 18th
century, the Jackson's acquired the anti-slavery mentality
that pervaded the North, and certainly was strongly held by
much, if not most, if not all the family at the time of the
Civil War.)
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Several web sources say
his wife's name is unknown, but we know her as "Mary Abbott"
(1608-89). It appears she came separately from
England, because the first of their children was born five
years after Henry's arrival.
One source says he married in 1639, which is consistent
with birth of John, his first child, in 1640. The same
source says the family moved to Fairfield by 1648.
Samuel Jackson (1645-1714),
next in the line, left no record of note. He lived his
entire life in Fairfield, CT, marrying another Fairfield
resident, Jedidiah Higbee. Samuel left a will, which is
reproduced in the
Chester
Jackson monograph. (Jedidiah's father, Edward, is
probably also ancestor to Norman Lawrence Higbee, an Elsie,
Michigan,
resident, whose
daughter Myra was Chester Jackson's 5th cousin, married to
John Sheldon.)
Ebenezer Jackson, Sr.
(1698-1766), was born to Samuel in Fairfield, CT, and moved
later to Sharon, CT (apparently by way of Wilton, at least for a
time, since several children, including son Abraham, were born
there).
From one genealogical source on
the web:
Ebenezer Jackson was
baptized on October 16, 1698. He choose Henry Jackson as his
guardian on January 5, 1714/1715. Ebenezer married Esther
Abbott about 1717. Ester was born about 1700. They lived in
Wilton County, Ebenezer and Esther moved to Sharon County in
1740 which had been settled the year before Ebenezer was
called Deacon Jackson in some records. He was a leader of a
church, probably in Sharon County.
And
another web source:
Deacon Ebenezer
[Jackson] was from Norwalk, and settled on the 42d home lot,
now owned by John Jackson on the mountain. He was early
chosen Deacon of the church, and was a highly reputable and
useful man. He had six sons, Ebenezer, Joshua, John,
Abraham, Stephen and Joseph, most of whom settled in the
eastern part of the town. In 1763 he sold his home lot to
Job Gould, and from that time lived with one of
his sons at the River till his death, in 1766. An uncommon
incident attaches to the farm on which he settled, in the
fact, that it has been held by owners of the family of
Jackson and Gould from the first ownership by Deacon Jackson
to the present time.
Ebenezer's son was the first
Abraham Jackson, known to us as "Sr." He also made the
Jackson family's most radical geographic move to that point,
from Sharon, CT, to Wallingford, Vermont. At the time,
Vermont was politically part of New Hampshire. (Abraham
was born in Wilton, CT, but married his wife Eleanor Bumpus in
Sharon; Eleanor had been born in Rochester, Massachusetts).
Abraham, Eleanor and family were the first settlers of
Wallingford, arriving there in or before 1773. From the
Chester Jackson monograph:
He owned 1000 acres of land, was the
first deacon of the Congregational Church, first town
representative and first town clerk. In 1778 he was chosen
selectman, tythingman, treasurer and “lister brander” as
well.
Subsequently, he
acquired a considerable tract of land which became known as
“Jackson’s Gore”. He settled there in 1791; the land was
later organized into the town of Mt. Holly.
In July 1776, respected
community leaders from across New Hampshire (as noted, including
Vermont) gathered at Dorset, Vermont, to consider options in
light of British oppression. Only twenty days following
the Declaration of Independence the attendees signed a "Convention
at Dorset"; Abraham Jackson was the sixth to sign. The
declaration read:
We the subscribers,
inhabitants of that District of Land commonly called and
known by the name of the New Hampshire Grants, do
voluntarily and Solemnly Engage under all the ties held
sacred amongst Mankind at the Risque of our Lives and
fortunes to Defend, by arms, the United American States
against the Hostile attempts of the British Fleets and
Armies, until the present unhappy Controversy between the
two Countries shall be settled.
While residing at
Wallingford, Vermont, he enlisted in July 1777 and
served three months in Captain Joseph Barnes' Company,
and was at the battle of Bennington.
He continued to
serve at various times until in 1783, on alarms and
scouting against the Indians, and Tories, was also
stationed at Castleton on guard, all of this service was
in the Vermont Troops, under Captains Hinman, Abraham
Ives, Abraham Jackson, and Colonels Claghorn,
Lee, and Lyon, amounting in all to eight months.
[H]e served with the
Vermont troops as follows: from the first of
September, 1780, two months in Captain Abraham Jackson's
company under Colonel Ethan Allen [of the famed Green
Mountain Boys]; from the first of December, 1780, two
months under Captain Abraham Jackson and Colonel Ethan
Allen; from the first of August, 1781, two months under
Captain Abraham Jackson and Colonel Ethan Allen; ....
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Payroll for Abraham Jackson's unit as of October 14,
1781, in service at Castleton (the list includes Abraham's
sons, Asahel Jackson, shown as "Sergeant," Jedidiah Jackson
(no rank), and Jethro Jackson (no rank)).
-
A
list of service of Vermont citizens for 1781-82.
(Some of these records come
to us because in 1836 Congress enacted a
supplemental pension for some widows of Revolutionary War
soldiers, and the War Department saved all such applications,
which are now available via the service
Fold3, although some only
for those subscribing to their premium service.)
Additional material relating
to Abraham Jackson and family in Wallingford, VT, and to
Jackson's Gore:
Abraham Jackson,
from Cornwall, Ct., came here with his family in the
summer of 1773. He was the first who possessed legal
title to the lands he occupied. He was an estimable man,
accustomed to discharge all his duties promptly and
faithfully. He had eleven children. His eldest son,
Abraham, was the first town clerk and the first
representative, and held many other positions of trust
in this town. The youngest son, William, was educated in
Dartmouth College, was largely instrumental in the
establishment of Middlebury College and was pastor of
the Congregational Church in Dorset from 1796 until the
year of his death, 1842 [see William's portrait above].
He was also a tavern-keeper.
See also
rootsweb page for Wallingford.
There once was a
leftover wedge of land between
Wallingford and
Ludlow, granted in 1781 to Abraham Jackson and 29
others. including 6 other Jacksons. There was a
stipulation in the grant that Jackson Gore, as it was
known, was to be part of Wallingford.
The association was
apparently not a happy one, because ten years later,
residents of the gore, along with some neighbors in
Wallingford and Ludlow petitioned the Legislature for a
town of their own. The request was met, and Mount Holly
is the result.
(The daughter referred to
was Henrietta Jackson (1811-1850), four of whose
children were born in Constantinople (today's
Istanbul).)
The land that eventually became
Mount Holly lay unsettled between the towns of Ludlow
and Wallingford until the end of the Revolutionary War,
when the Vermont General Assembly decided to raise money
by selling ungranted land. On February 23, 1781, Abraham
Jackson, one of the first settlers in Wallingford, along
with 29 others paid 270 English pounds for 9,700 acres
between Wallingford and Ludlow which came to be known as
Jackson's Gore.
Bowlsville, in the western half of Jackson Gore, was the
site of the first grist mill in Mount Holly, built on
the still un-named branch of the Mill River.
Log cabins were built in the vicinity of today’s Mount
Holly Post Office. Another group of settlers came from
Ludlow Town to settle near today’s railroad track
crossing on Healdville Road. Though within three miles
of one another, each group of settlers was totally
unaware, until 1786, that the other settlement existed.
On October 31, 1792, Vermont's General Assembly formally
created Mount Holly from Jackson Gore and portions of
land from Wallingford and Ludlow.
Abraham Jackson built the Town's first sawmill by
damming the outlet of a pond (Jackson Pond). Additional
dams increased the size of the Pond to become today’s
Star Lake. In 1863, A.P. Chase purchased the sawmill,
the Pond, and water rights to construct a wooden toy
factory. By 1885 the factory employed forty to fifty men
in a village called Mechanicsville – today’s Belmont.
See also
rootsweb page
for Mt. Holly.
This town lies on
the southeastern border of Rutland county, in latitude
4° 29' and longitude 4° 14' east from Washington ; it is
bounded on the north by Shrewsbury and Plymouth ; east
by Ludlow ; south by Weston and Mount Tabor, and west by
Wallingford and Mount Tabor. It was not one of the
original townships. In surveying the towns on the east
and west sides of the Green Mountains, there was left
between Ludlow on the east and Wallingford on the west,
a gore of land [see note following]
which became known as " Jackson's Gore," from Abraham
Jackson, one of the original proprietors and an early
settler.
The present town of Mount Holly was incorporated
at the October session of the Legislature of 1792, held
in Rutland. The town as incorporated comprised Jackson's
Gore with all that portion of the town of Ludlow lying
west of the highest ridge of what is known as " Ludlow
Mountain," and on the west a tract one mile in width, or
two tiers of lots, from the east side of the town of
Wallingford.
The town lies in a sort of shallow
basin, or depression, in the Green Mountains, and in the
old days of stage coaching over the road from Burlington
to Boston, afforded the best place for crossing the
Green Mountains south of Montpelier. The land was
originally heavily timbered with maple, beech; birch,
spruce and hemlock, with a lesser quantity of fir, basswood,
black and white ash, wild cherry and poplar. By far the
greater portion of the old forests have fallen before
the axes of the inhabitants.
The rock is mostly Green Mountain gneiss. In the
extreme southern part limestone is found from which a
good quality of lime was formerly made. The soil is
largely a strong and somewhat heavy loam ; while clay
beds are found in several localities, suitable for brick
making. Brick were made in a yard near the site of the
Mount Holly railroad station many years ago in
quantities sufficient for the then comparatively small
demands of this and neighboring towns.
Mill River is the only considerable stream ; it
rises in the extreme south-west part part of the town,
flows northerly and crosses a corner of Wallingford,
emptying into Otter Creek in the town of Clarendon.
There are numerous smaller streams, all of which on the
western slope empty into Mill River; those on the
eastern slope find their way to Black River and thus
into the Connecticut.
The surface of the town is uneven and hilly, though less so
than most of the mountain towns ; there is less waste
land in it than in the majority of towns in the State,
in spite of its situation on and near the mountain; it
has no swamps, no rugged ledges and no abrupt and
inaccessible mountains¹ The soil is better adapted to
grass than grain, and not very much of the latter is.
raised. The farmers generally find it more profitable to
keep their land in grass and devote their attention to
the raising of stock or the manufacture of butter and
cheese, than to even raise their own breadstuffs. Oats
are, however, raised in considerable quantities, but
mainly for home consumption.
Early Settlements —The first settlement on Jackson's Gore was
made by Abraham Jackson, and Stephen, Ichabod G. and
Chauncey Clark, of Connecticut, in the year 1782. In the
following year they were joined by Jacob Wilcox and
Benjamin G. Dawley, from Rhode Island, and soon after by
Jonah, Amos and Ebenezer Ives, also from Connecticut ;
they were gradually followed by others. The first
settlers in that part of the town which was formerly
Ludlow were Joseph Green, Nathaniel Pingrey, Abram
Crowley, David Bent and Silas Proctor, who came in about
the year 1786. They were soon joined by John and Jonas
Hadley, Joseph and Jonathan Pingrey, Richard Lawrence
and Samuel Cook. These two settlements, though only
about three miles apart, were, according to Dr. John
Crowley (from whose sketch many of these facts
are taken), " for some time ignorant of their proximity
to each other. Those on the west side, or the ‘Gore,’
supposed the settlement nearest them was in the valley
of Otter Creek, while those on the east side thought
their nearest neighbors were on Black River in Ludlow.
They were separated by an unbroken wilderness, with not
even a ‘ blazed ’ footpath between them, each having
reached their settlements from opposite directions. They
are said to have discovered each other in the following
manner : Some of the settlers on the east side started
out on Sunday morning to look for stray cattle; after
traveling westward some two miles, they were about to
take another direction, when they were surprised by
hearing the barking of a dog still farther west. They
followed the sound, and soon came to the log cabin of
Ichabod G. Clark, which stood some forty rods
northwesterly from the spot where the Mount Holly
railroad depot now stands. At this cabin the people of
the ‘Gore ’were on that day assembled for religious
worship. The surprise of each party was equaled only by
their gratification at finding neighbors so near. They
at once set about providing means of intercommunication
by marked trees and subsequently by
primitive roads ; and the acquaintance thus begun soon
ripened into friendship and constant
intercourse, and resulted in the union of the
two settlements into one town, as before described."
....
Abraham Jackson [Jr.] was one
of the Quaker settlers of Mount Holly, and Nelson W.
Cook has furnished us with the following sketch of his
life : He was born at Cornwall, Conn., in 1750, and came
to Wallingford with his father in 1773. He was made the
first town clerk of the town and the first
representative. holding the latter office in the years
1778, 1780, 1781, 1785, 1789 and 1790. In 1781 he
was successful in securing the large grant of land from
the Legislature which has always borne his name and
forms a large part of the town of Mount Holly. He was a
large owner in this tract, his possession including a
small lake and valuable water privileges at its outlet.
Here he erected the first saw-mill in the town. The
first house he built stood on the elevated land east of
Mechanicsville, now owned by Elwin Dickerman. Mr.
Jackson sold the house to a Mr. Morrison in 1800 [1806
-- see copy of the deed] and
built the house directly north, now owned by George
Mead. He possessed in a large degree those great moral
and religious principles by which men's lives should be
guided ; and it was at his house that the meetings of
the first religious society in the town were held. It
was in his “spacious kitchen ” that they sat in silent
worship. He removed to “the Gore” in 1791 and was chosen
moderator of the meeting that organized the town ; he
was also its first representative in 1793. In 1810 he
sold out his real estate and removed to northern New
York.
Note:
When
the General Assembly, at its session of October,
1780, resolved to raise money to place Vermont on a
war footing, for resistance to the decree of
Congress abolishing its government, three expedients
were adopted, viz.: The confiscation and sale of the
lands of all British adherents, thus raising the sum
of £430,000 ; second, the sale of all ungranted
lands ; and third, the issue of money. Under the
second expedient this gore was transferred to
Abraham Jackson and twenty-nine associated residents
of Wallingford. This charter of transfer is dated
February 23, 1781, and reads as follows :
Resolved, That a
certain tract or gore of land, lying and being
situate on the east side of Wallingford, containing
by estimation nine thousand seven hundred acres, be
granted to Abraham Jackson, esq., and his associates
to the number of thirty. To be annexed to, and
incorporated with the town of Wallingford."
The fees for this grant
were nine pounds per right, realizing the sum of two
hundred and seventy pounds.
Abraham Jackson was
a farmer with 1000 acres in and around Wallingford. He
was first representative, and town clerk. Abraham went
to Dorset in July 1776 for the memorable convention
there. This is what is meant by "first representative".
State records show he signed the covenant as number 6 on
the list. This convention followed the Declaration of
Independence by 20 days. Swift runners had undoubtedly
brought the news to Dorset. With his signing he shared
the same risks as those who signed at Philadelphia.
He held the rank of
Captain in the Revolutionary Army. Capt. Abraham Jackson
was at the fort at Castleton, or otherwise concerned
with defense efforts. Many times in succeeding years he
served as the choice of the citizens as their
representative. He attended the March and October
sessions at Windsor in 1778. He was at Bennington in
October of 1780 and at Windsor in February 1781, as well
as Windsor in October 1781. He was at Bennington in
January 1782. This was an adjourned session. At this
time he served on a committee to prepare a bill to
enable the several towns to raise their quotas of men
for the ensuing campaign and was to make a report
thereof. He was interested in the development of roads
and concerned with the standardization of weights and
measures. In 1785 he was at the convention in Windsor
and attended the conventions at Manchester in 1786, at
Westminster in 1789, at Castleton in 1790, and at
Bennington in 1791.
Tradition says that
his first house was built just south of the present
village of Wallingford, near the Otter River. He built a
mill at South Wallingford in 1778. Abraham Sr. was
chosen Selectman, Treasurer, Tythingman, Lister,
Brander, and Clerk. He was also listed as a farmer.
In 1782 Abraham
moved to Jackson's Gore. Among the 30 original grantees
of land in this unsettled area, he was 1 of 7 Jacksons.
The other 6 grantees being his sons Abraham Jr., Jethro,
Jedidiah, Asahel, William, and a Joseph Jackson who was
Abraham Sr's brother. Jackson's Gore was added to Mount
Holly in 1792. Town records show Abraham Sr. took an
active part in community affairs, for his name is
mentioned many times. His son Abraham Jr. also was
active in community affairs after finishing his term in
the military.
Abraham Jackson Sr.
was the first representative of the group meetings of
the Committee of Safety and Correspondence, which
preceded the organized government. Deacon Abraham
Jackson was the moderator of the first town meeting of
Wallingford VT after Vermont became the 14 state.
Vermont did not give up its independence as a Republic
willingly. Abraham Jackson Sr. did not live long after
this. Abraham Sr. was very active in the Revolutionary
War. His 4 sons, Abraham Jr., Asahel, Jedidiah, and
Jethro were in the Revolutionary Army, although Jethro
later deserted for the British.
Abraham's wife,
Eleanor who was born May 8, 1729, in Rochester,
Massachusetts, was not listed as one of the 14 members
of the Rutland church. This tends to confirm the belief
that she was a Quaker. In Abraham's will her name is
spelled Elenor. This spelling shows up in several
places. Abraham Jackson Sr. died at Wallingford,
Vermont, September 18, 1791. He is buried in Green Hills
Cemetery in Wallingford Village. A small white stone
marking his grave states: " Here lies the body of
Abraham Jackson who died Sept. 18 1791 in the 65th. year
of his age."
Abraham Jackson, Jr., born in
Connecticut, accompanied his parents to Wallingford and
Jackson's Gore (Mt. Holly), Vermont, and then traveled on from
there to Arcade, New York (known at the time as "China").
While in Wallingford, Abraham, Jr., served in local government,
as related above, and served at least
four separate times in units of the Revolutionary Army, in
ranks of "private" and "ensign," in 1775, 1778 and 1780, all of
his service being in Vermont except once, apparently on a
military expedition into Canada.
His service during the Revolutionary War is
documented in several places:
Although still very much alive at the time
of the War of 1812, Abraham apparently sat out the war in
Arcade. His son Jacob provided the Jacksons' notable
service in that war.
Abraham Jackson, Jr., is
credited as one
of the earliest explorers of the Arcade area, having come there
in 1807.
Abraham Jackson, of
Vermont, was the first explorer of this section and came in
1807. He located ten sections of land and returned to
Vermont. In the spring of 1809 he came back with his
son, Jacob Jackson, Silas Parker and their families [Jacob
had married Millicent Parker in 1808].
In fact, Leonard Parker was
Silas's father, so it was his family that accompanied the
Jackson's on the trek to Arcade, arriving there in 1809 (the
town had been founded in 1807), and both families
purchased lots of
land in Arcade (purchasers are listed as Abraham Jr. in 1809
and 1810, Silas Parker (Leonard's son) in 1809, Leonard Parker
in 1809, Jacob Jackson in 1809, Abraham Jackson Jr. and Sr. in
1810 (this must have been Abraham Jr. and Abraham III, since
Abraham Sr. had died in 1791), and Charles Jackson in 1809.
Abraham III and Charles were Jacob's brothers.)
(Jackson and Parker heirs later co-located
in Ortonville, MN, in the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. See the list of children of Jacob Jackson and
Millicent Parker, below.)
Abraham Jr. had two wives, Jerusha Steele
and Mary Button, and Jacob Jackson,
Chester's father, was born to the latter in Wallingford, Vermont,
in 1787. He travelled
with his parents to Arcade, fought there in the War of 1812, and
then followed the American frontier in a move to Racine,
Wisconsin, where Chester was born to Jacob and his second wife,
Fanny Goodrich. What we know:
Jacob fought and was
wounded in the War of 1812 Battle of Black Rock, described in
Historical Collections of State of New York, by Barber and Howe, 1841:
The British troops which crossed over at Black Rock on the 10th inst. were commanded by Cols. Bishop and Warren. They crossed the Niagara below Squaw Island, and marched far above the navy yard before any alarm was given. The detached militia being surprised, retreated up the beach, and left the enemy in quiet possession of the village, who proceeded to burn the sailors' barracks and blockhouses at the great battery. They then proceeded to the batteries, dismounted and spiked three 12 pounders, and took away 3 field-pieces and one 12 pounder; they took from a storehouse a quantity of whiskey, salt, flour, pork, and c. [corn?], which, with four citizens, they took across the river. At the first moment of the alarm, Gen. Porter left Black Rock for Buffalo, at which place he assembled a body of volunteers and a few regulars, which, with 100 militia and 25 Indians, formed a junction about a mile from the enemy. After being formed, with the militia and Indians on the flanks and the volunteers and the regulars in the center, they attacked, and the enemy, after a contest of 20 minutes, retreated in the utmost confusion to the beach, embarked in several of our boats, and pulled for the opposite shore; all the boats got off without injury, except the last, which suffered severely from our fire, and from appearance nearly all the men in her were killed or wounded.
Jacob is listed as
one of the
American prisoners taken at Black Rock, noted as
having been shot in both thighs.
A
history of Arcade describes Jacob's part in the
battle:
Nearly all of
the early settlers participated in the battle of
Black Rock. Captain Kilbourn was killed, and
report says that six others were neither seen or
heard from afterward. Among those who were in
that engagement ... Silas Parker ... and three or
four others returned; Jacob Jackson was taken
prisoner and sent to Halifax, but after a year and a
half was exchanged and allowed to return. The
war stopped settlement from 1812 to 1815.
From the
Chester Jackson monograph:
Western New York
was especially alive to the situation of danger of
invasion by the British from their point of vantage,
the Niagara River. The whole country was alive with
militia or minute men drilled and armed and trained
by the code called “General Training.” Every
community had its company. They met en masse and
formed regiments. The Jackson Settlement had a
company commanded by one Amasa Kilbourne. The
Jacksons were represented by Jacob, my father, and
his brother, Charles.
The British and
Indians (Senecas) were active in the Buffalo region
with Fort Erie as a base, and the Kilbourne Company,
with others, was called to the defense of the
border. This was in December, 1813. My father’s
story ran as follows: They marched from home to
Black Rock near Buffalo, just below, and made camp.
A big ball was in operation, mostly Masonic, when
they were surprised by the enemy. They grabbed their
arms and made a fight, but were routed. Father was
shot through both thighs and crawled into a patch of
currant brush in a garden to hide from the Indians
who were busy scalping the dead and wounded. Close
by him was a British officer, also wounded. An
Indian appeared with his tomahawk and scalping
knife, and was about to finish the work of the
British bullet when the British officer commanded
the Indian to move on. It seems the officer
recognized that Father belonged to a Masonic order,
from a Masonic emblem which he had worn at the ball.
He was picked up
and carried across the Niagara River as prisoner of
war with a number of others, where they were
transferred to ox sleds and started for Montreal The
journey lasted over two weeks. Winter had set in.
The bullet was not extracted at that time, and was
carried a number of years. It was extracted at
Racine by Dr. P. H. Hoy in about 1864.
It weighed fully
an ounce and became an heirloom; we used to play
with it as a marble. I swallowed it one time, I
distinctly remember, but it was not lost. Finally,
it naturally was missed and thoroughly lost, and
probably lies buried or is groveling in the dust
‘round about the old homestead at Racine this very
day. One hundred dollars in gold would I pay for its
recovery.
One can fancy
the misery of a journey of that kind in winter to
one so badly wounded. Upon arrival in Montreal, the
prisoner was put in prison with other prisoners, and
kept ‘till April, when he was exchanged and came
home unexpectedly, for he had been mourned as dead.
His brother, Charles, was killed in the same battle.
I visited the
site of the old prison barracks in Montreal in 1903,
but it was occupied by the Canadian Pacific terminal
and not a vestige left.
One incident of
his prison life, I remember well. His blankets were
stolen from his bunk, and he learned that they had
been taken by a big Kentuckian soldier and
fellow-prisoner not far away. Father marched over
and demanded the return of his blankets. The
Kentuckian drew his knife and invited Father to come
right in and get his blankets, whereupon Father
jumped into him and as the big knife descended, the
hand was caught and the arm and hand so wrenched
that the knife flew across the room and Mr. Kaintuck
yelled with pain. Father secured his blankets and
had no more trouble from that quarter.
(Oral histories
handed down through the generations can lead to
interesting variations. E.g., note from
Randall Smith, 8/17/2011: "Jacob Jackson's Battle
of Niagara (1814) bullet removed from his hip in
[British] prison camp during the War of 1812 ... was
lost, ... somewhere in the Ovid house where Chester used
to flip it in front of the fireplace." And,
according to
Chester's brother Charles, Jacob was wounded twice
in the legs.)
The Jackson family's own account of Jacob's
growing up and moves from Wallingford, to Jackson's Gore, to
Arcade, and then finally to Racine is in the
Chester
Jackson monograph, at p. 6. Chester wrote that the
family bible recorded Jacob's marriage to his first wife
occurred December 4, 1808, following the trip from Vermont to
Arcade. Since other records show Abraham Jr. and Jacob
first arriving in Arcade in 1809, there is a slight discrepancy.
Travel from Jackson's Gore to Arcade would not have been
practicable in winter months, so -- assuming the wedding date is
accurate (see end of this paragraph) -- Jacob and Millicent were
married in Jackson's Gore, traveling to Arcade Spring or Summer
of 1809, or were married in Arcade after arriving in Summer
1808. Since the Jacksons and Parkers purchased land in
Arcade in 1909, I am inclined to believe they were married in
Jackson's Gore. (I have the Jacob Jackson family bible,
and indeed Jacob's marriage to Millicent is recorded as December
4, 1808.)
A
history of Arcade records Abraham, Jacob and
Millicent arriving Spring of 1809.
A letter saved by Chester
Jackson, however, Addison Jackson Parker to Chester,
10/14/1917, supports an arrival in Arcade in 1808: "Leonard
[Parker] ... brought his family to the town of China, NY, in
1808 -- being 3 sons & some daughters and my grandfather Jacob
Jackson."
Chester Jackson
writing Beulah Jackson, January 22, 1927:
Glad you found
the bear story -- thanks [implies there's more to
the story than what follows]. As to the progress of
the story would say that the old she-bear is killed
and gran'pa [by implication, Abraham Jackson, Jr.,
1751-1833] has taken possession of the hollow and
has fitted it out in a grand and comfortable manner.
The 'slat' is giving a mellow light, a little fire
is glowing in the little fireplace; the dishes are
washed and the water poured down through the trap
door into the swift-running brook below; the little
brass kettle has been lowered and drawn up filled
with lovely pellucid water ready for the morning
meal of bearmeat and beechnuts!
Bunches of yarbs [herbs?] and roots hang on pegs
along the walls and cast long shadows into the far
reaches of the hollow and Peace and plenty seem to
reign.
The bear being killed brings great peace and plenty
of bear meat -- plenty.
Granpa is reading in his old and well-thumbed bible
-- the pin hole bible -- some of the songs of David,
how David slewed his enemies (the bear) and how he
is ready for more of 'em -- say three or four.
The day has been mostly spent in curing the great
skin through the aid of a big fire in front of his
new home. When cured he will have a grand spread to
put on his bed of hemlock boughs. And now he has
stuck the pin in the leaf of the treasured bible at
the word 'and' and has turned to his store of beech
nuts and is peeling off the thin husks and throwing
the husks in the fire, where they flash up and show
granpa munching the savory things and gloating over
how he beat the red squirrels.
The brook gurgles below; the old hoot owl is hooting
his hooter; the little screech owl is screeching his
screecher, and grandpa has stepped out of the door
and views the great trees of the great wilderness
and hears the great sounds of nature and draws in
great deep breaths of Ozone -- no finer in the world
-- heaves a great sigh that his 'bacca was lost in
the great fight. Would give a dollar for a chew --
and then slowly turns to his new home, turns the
wooden key in the wooden lock, and, and goes to
munching beechnuts."
(Chester appended to the story, "Please retain this
for I may want a little of it and don't remember
very well.")
All of Jacob and Millicent's
thirteen children
were born in or near Arcade, 1810-30.
Eliza Jackson b: 23
Jan 1810 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA, d:
12 May 1895 in Mt Pleasant, , Wisconsin, USA |
Mary Jackson b: 16
May 1811 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA, d:
22 Aug 1841 in Mt. Pleasant, Racine, WI |
Addison Jackson b:
29 Jan 1813 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA,
d: 20 Mar 1835 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA |
Lucretia Jackson b:
01 Jun 1815 in Sandusky, Cattaraugus, New York,
USA, d: 03 Nov 1865 in Sandusky, Cattaraugus,
New York, USA |
Lorenda Jackson b:
05 May 1817 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA,
d: 08 Jan 1907 in Ortonville, Big Stone,
Minnesota, USA |
Angeline Jackson b:
11 Apr 1819 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA,
d: 11 Aug 1898 in Ortonville, Big Stone,
Minnesota, USA |
Lydia Jackson b: 13
Dec 1820 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA, d:
09 Feb 1823 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, United
States |
Abraham Jackson III
b: 15 Sep 1822 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York,
USA, d: 20 Jun 1894 in Ortonville, Big Stone,
Minnesota, USA |
Cornelia Jackson b:
19 Apr 1824 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA,
d: 28 Jan 1916 in Crandon, Forest, Wisconsin,
USA |
Andrew Parker
Jackson b: 04 Apr 1826 in Wyoming, New York,
United States, d: 08 Oct 1895 in Ortonville, Big
Stone, Minnesota, USA |
Salome Jackson b:
17 Apr 1828 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA,
d: 06 Mar 1838 in Arcade, Wyoming, New York, USA |
Sally Emeline
Jackson b: 11 Sep 1830 in Arcade, Wyoming, New
York, USA, d: 29 Sep 1899 in Hartford,
Washington, Wisconsin, USA |
Harriet Newell
Jackson b: 17 Dec 1833 in Arcade, Wyoming, New
York, USA, d: 17 Oct 1850 in Racine, Wisconsin,
USA |
In 1842 Jacob,
Millicent and ten children moved by wagon to Mt.
Pleasant, Wisconsin, just west of Racine, arriving there
August 1. At the same time, the Bones family
traveled there from Kentucky. Susanna Bones Frey,
Chester's first school teacher, wrote an
undated account of the Bones's journey, which
mentions the Jackson family arrival.
The two families lived close to each other, and in fact
a Bones son was instrumental in securing Chester his
Antigua consulship.
Millicent died July
27, 1844, and Jacob married Fanny Goodrich, my great
great grandmother, on Christmas Day that year.
Chester, my great grandfather and root of this section
of my family history, was born November 19, 1945; his
brother Charles was born October 13, 1848; and some
speak of a daughter, too, who died in infancy, but I've
found no direct evidence of that.
Miscellaneous Jacksons:
Jethro Jackson Sr., the
4th son of Abraham Jackson Sr. is the one that all Canadian
Jacksons of this family are descended from. He was a bit of
a rogue and opportunist. He is believed to have been born in
Cornwall Ct. about 1758. His wife's name was Zelicia
Coggelshall. Jethro served in the revolutionary Army in 1776
as a member of Bradley's Battalion, Connecticut State Troops,
Wadsworth Brigade, in Captain Benjamin Mill's Company. He
enlisted on June 20, 1776 and deserted to His Majesty's Army
on Long Island in August. He joined His Majesty's Army under
the command of General Howe (according to Upper Canada land
petition RG 1L3 I/J bundle, petition #35, reel C2108, Vol.
254), where he was an assistant commissary in the Commissary
Dept. He was ordered to Turtle Bay on York Island and in
November was ordered on an expedition with 10,000 troops
which landed on Rhode Island where he remained for 3 years.
Interestingly, the State of Vermont Revolutionary War Rolls
shows, that during October 12 to October 31, 1780, Jethro
Jackson was in Capt. Abraham Ive's Company of Militia a part
of Colonel Ebenezer Allen's Regiment. During October 13 to
November 4, 1780 Sergeant Jethro Jackson is shown as being
among Capt. Samuel Allen's Company of Volunteers. It would
be interesting to find out how he could be in two Companies
of Volunteers in the Revolutionary Army and also in His
Majesty's Army at the same time. Three Companies in two
Armies
is stretching it a bit. His father might have had some help
from Col. Ebenezer Allen and Capt. Samuel Allen in covering
up Jethro's desertion. Capt. Abraham Jackson Sr. was an
important figure in the Wallingford, Vermont area during the
Revolution.
Letter from Marion (Wheelock)
Everett to Chester Jackson, 1/17/1917:
"What a wonderful amount of active 'gray matter' a man
must have to remain pastor of his flock so many years as
did Wm. Jackson -- that is to keep them from thinking
they would like a change."
Letter from Henrietta
"Carrie" (Maltby) Cushman to Chester Jackson, 3/8/1917:
"I
remember him [William Jackson] well, as I sat on his
shoulder watching the cattle drinking from the long
trough in the baynyard -- feeling so safe from their
horns!
"He died suddenly when
I was a mere child. All the Dorset parsonage's precious
relics and records I know little about. They were so
precious to my mother. But as the home was emptied after
Aunt Susan's death -- under Sec. Baldwin's jurisdiction
-- 'who cared for some of these things' -- I never knew
where the family Bible ... landed. You write, 'Some one
inherited the Bible of Abraham J. Esq.' Do you know
that or only suppose it must be true?"
His portrait comes
down from his parsonage in Dorset:
An early
20th century pamphlet regarding the
Dorset church history praised William.
Anonymous notes in Chester
Jackson's genealogy files: "William collected $1500 towards
a fund to aid worthy young men preparing for the ministry.
This was the first educational fund in America.
-
The Parkers (who accompanied
Abraham Jr. to Arcade) continued to play a role in the Jackson
lines. Not only was Jacob Jackson married to Millicent
Parker at the time they moved to Arcade (following him then to
Racine, where she died), but Leonard's grandson, George
Washington Parker, married his 1st cousin, Lorinda Jackson.
The Parkers were also closely tied to the Fletcher family, who
apparently followed the Parkers and Jacksons to Arcade:
Elias Parker and Dorothy Fletcher, who married in Massachusetts
but settled in Arcade, were second cousins. And, as
mentioned above, the two families co-located in Ortonville
in western Minnesota.
-
And then there is the curious story of the
Higbee family (or Higbie or Higby): Edward Higbee's
(1616-99) daughter Jedidiah married Samuel Jackson of our line,
and therefore is my 6th great grandmother. Edward's son
Nathaniel heads a line that ends five generations later with
Myra Ann Higbee (b. 1867), who married a Sheldon, who great
grandfather LaMott Bates may have thought was a relation (since
his last name was the same as Emily (Robinson) Bates's sister
Mary Robinson's husband), because LaMott included a photograph
of Myra Higbee in the Bentley Library Album. All this is
curious because, although in fact no relation to the Bateses,
Myra Higbee was Chester Jackson's 5th cousin, and for thirty or
more years she lived in Elsie and Duplain Township only a few
miles distance from the cousin she probably never knew about.
Myra (Higbee) Sheldon
Finally, see the map at "The
Allure of Western New York" for a record of the
concentration of my families' ancestors in the 19th century.
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