by John M. Kingsbury, Ten Snyder Heights, Ithica, NY 14850
The following is a transcription of a pamphlet published by John M. Snyder in August of 1993 deliniating family lines in and around Millis, Massachusetts. There are numerous errors in the form of children born to parents after the parents' death or when the parents are very young, etc. Be cautious therefore in accepting the data as true. On the other hand it represents a significant effort and we hope the information assists you in your research.
Contact: jhardin@millis.org
We have transcribed Mr. Kingsbury's data in Family Group Sheets and in Pedigree Charts.
Text of "A Brief Study of the Blood Lines Created by Intermarriage in a Colonial Puritan Community", June, 1993 (rev. August, 1993), by John M. Kingsbury, Ten Snyder Heights, Ithica, NY 14850
BLOOD LINES CONNECTING ASA BULLARD, ABIJAH RICHARDSON, FRANCES BULLARD, AND WILLIS KINGSBURY
Those who wish to understand the complex fabric of colonial Puritan communities in eastern Massachusetts must gain an appreciation of the degree of intermarriage in those communities. Of necessity the early Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony intermarried extensively within limited geographic bounds over nearly two centuries. In consequence the relatively few families within courting distance of each other became extensively intertwined generation by generation as blood lines separated among siblings and merged again with marriages. The resulting reticulum is well demonstrated in the following outline which describes the consanguinity on the one hand of Asa Bullard and Abijah Richardson, two founding members of the Society of the Cincinnati, and on the other the two grandparents of the undersigned who, in their own marriage, unconsciously merged yet more tightly the already well-entwined lines of a single Puritan population.
The following chart includes only those persons (with spouses) who form mergers, lines of descent, or separations in the pedigrees of the four subjects involved. Even with this simplification, it is impossible to draw connecting lines among all of them in any practical, two-dimensional way. Instead I have chosen to use family surnames as the backbone of the chart.
Couples are indicated as up-and-down pairs of names, females second, with progeny indented beneath them. Wives in each pair who bring other already-involved blood lines to the marriage are distinguished by a "+" following the wife's name. This directs the reader to refer back to the wife's original surname where her pedigree is presented. The names of female progeny who terminate a surname by marriage out of the parental line into another line in this chart are linked side by side to the husband of the new surname. The reader will find the blood line continued at the male surname. In all cases females are shown in italics as an aid to comprehending the relationships more easily.
This chart was created as a quick study from materials at hand: it is not intended as a definitive academic product. It is undoubtedly not complete (not all possible interweaving relationships have been identified) and probably contains inaccuracies, especially in dates. On the other hand, its internal consistency argues that it is substantially correct. The original sources are the town histories of Watertown, Medfield, Medway, and Sherborn/Holliston (Bond, Tilden, Jameson, and Morse), family genealogies (especially Bullard, Kingsbury, and Fairbanks), and family records.
The surname lines are presented in alphabetical order. Asterisks indicate pairs of persons of the same surname who are known to be, or who are probably brothers, but for whom the parental names are lacking. This situation usually arises when two or more brothers came to the colony at the same time, but left the parents behind in England, and hence out of the colonial records. Dashes indicate persons of unknown name, or unknown surname.
John M Kingsbury