Main Content
Puritans, Patriots & Pioneers:
An American Story
"Sets a new gold standard for genealogical research."
The history and genealogy of the Shallenberger, Ziemer-Hansen,
Ruff-Harding-Chamberlain and Dryer Families. With
information on the ancestrally allied Barnes, Goodale-Goodell,
Dudley-Starr, Cole-Salisbury-Foxwell, Perry,
Kitson-Windecker-Walrath-Pickert,Barnhart-Cunard,
Doggett-Daggett, Wilmarth, Peck, Bullock, Whipple-Blanchard,
Ormsby, Wheeler, Morse-Peake-Leavens-Bugbee-Earle,
and Hoyt-Tuttle-Munson lines as well as some
brief histories of uprisings, wars and settlements.
About this Book…
From narrowly escaping death during King Philip’s tragic war, to a seventeen-year-old’s survival, abandoned in a crude cabin during winter, to a young accused witch during the Salem hysteria, to boarding with Wyatt Earp in Tombstone, to passengers on the Mayflower, to a starving Irish family, and to numerous soldiers during the Revolutionary and Civil Wars, Lynn Wenzel’s ancestors led lives filled with resolve and courage. This family history is thoroughly woven into the fabric of the nation, so it comes as no surprise that many of the characters within are historically well known. Strategically placed within and around the ancestral listings are the historical events that shaped their lives from the 17th century to today. Unique because it is not simply a genealogy nor simply a history, it is both. Meticulously documented, rich with photographs, maps and newspaper accounts, this historical genealogy qualifies as a scholarly work as well as the story of America and the emigrants who carved out their own niches in the country’s history. This is your story. It is their story, and all of ours, too.
About the Author
Genealogist and historian Lynn Wenzel has authored and co/authored three history books as well as countless other writings. Her articles, essays and reviews have appeared in Newsweek, the New York Times, Newsday, On the Issues, Belles Lettres, Publishers Weekly and Ms, among many others. She was a contributing writer to the anthology Past & Promise: Lives of New Jersey Women and was a nationally syndicated writer on historical antiques and collectibles for such publications as Antique Review and Victorian Design & Living. Her poetry was published in a collection entitled Solstice: 1978-2015. Lynn was Managing Editor of New Directions for Women, a national and international newsmagazine. She is a contributing member to Women and Social Movements in the United States: An Online Journal/Database. She currently writes for The Union newspaper of Nevada County, California located in the historical California Gold Rush town of Grass Valley
where she lives.
Said one reviewer:
“These pages are so beautifully designed and the integration of all the complex pieces is just remarkable…it’s actually hard not to get sucked into the depth of all these stories…she’s done just an amazing job of putting this together.”
Other ancestral names covered, some in great detail, others more briefly include: Miller. Lehman, Strickler, Carr, Mckay, Brower, Cassidy, Shreve, Duncan, Jones, Knough, Biggs, Bellinger, Kuhn, Carpenter, French, Barnard, Cox, Bailey/Bayley, Twitchell, Butts, Sprague, Jacob, Savage, De Sondes/Sandys. De Erleigh, Fifhide, Warner, Truesdell, Sabin, Swan, Spofford, Polley, Bacon, Davis, Jackson, Taft, Titus, Redway, Woodward, Cook, Killiam/Killham, Burgess, Crowell, Garnsey, Rouse, Pabodie, Ingraham, Wignall, Squire, Ruggles, Allen, Yeoman, Jellye, Wood, Mason, Butterworth, Hall, Thomas, Sutton, Adcocke, Atwood, Masterson, Brotherton, Lappadge, Ashefield, Bliss, Fiennes, Clark, Hunting, Seaborne, Babbs, Middleton, Haseldon, Tibbes, Bale, Hargraves, Shelley, Cotton, Lerch, Fallon, Allis, Matthews, Mew, Bell, Stoodley/Stoodlie, Crosby, Lamson, Dane, Faulkner, Edwards, Fairchild, Hawkins, Ferres/Ferrers, Hexstall. Wilcox/Wilcxson/Wilcockson, Hillyer, Bryant/Briant, Bassett, Hills, Powell, Thompson, Hammond, Abbe/Abbie, Martin, Salter, Knowlton, Balch, Lovett, Underwood, Upham, Munger, Evarts, Hull, Winthrop, Yorke, Thorne, Willoughby, Grey, Caldwell, Hopson, Weld, Harris, Watts, Prudence, Allerton, Brewster
Kudos
This Impressive family history is, in a rare departure from the historical norm, focused on author Lynn Wenzel’s maternal family lines as well as the paternal. As a feminist historian well versed in scouting out hidden female figures, she does an unflinching job of researching the often less well-documented lives of her female forbears—including those whose politics she disagrees with—as well as the male line.
And a remarkable history it is, one interlaced with the earliest founding of this country, even before it became the nation/state we know today. Family forebears included educators, soldiers, adventurers, gamblers, murderers, and miners. As a talented storyteller, Wenzel brings each ancestral tale alive.
This impressive tome covers multiple generations of her ancestors, illuminating our history with personal story after story. When we see her forbears’, lives intersect with famous “Wild West” folk like the Earp brothers in Tombstone, Arizona, we understand more intimately the violent Western conflict between miners and ranchers. The former, she explains, were mostly Republicans from Northern states, while many ranchers were Confederate sympathizers and Democrats. While their fight was over the use of land and cattle theft, the politics ran deeper. And Lynn Wenzel’s late 19th century ancestor was right there.
Puritans, Patriots and Pioneers: An American Story, is not only deeply researched and well told, but it is a physically beautiful production. Photographs and pull quotes decorate every page, printed on fine paper, inviting readers to dip in and out of the text. Original documents and gravestones are gorgeously reproduced. With this impressive production and amazing research, Puritans, Patriots and Pioneers sets a new gold standard for genealogical research and provides a fascinating, idiosyncratic dip into lives lived long ago, yet facing timeless dilemmas: How do I make my way in this world, who will I love, how and where will I raise a family and keep them safe? Through this extraordinary history we get a glimpse into myriad lives and the equally myriad ways people have answered this question.
~Joan Steinau Lester is the Winner of the PEN-Josephine Miles Award for Literary Excellence for
LOVING BEFORE LOVING: A MARRIAGE IN BLACK AND WHITE and the author of six critically acclaimed books. including Mama's Child, a finalist for the PEN/Bellweather Prize and the Northern California Book Award. The Washington Post included Fire In My Soul, her biography of Eleanor Holmes Norton in its top-listed, "What Washingtonians are Reading."
Excerpt
The Legend of Abiel Twitchell
*Abiel/Abigail/Abiah was born on 1 November 1663 in Medfield, Norfolk County, Massachusetts and died on 15 April 1744 at age 80 in Woodstock, Massachusetts Bay Colony. Abiel and her husband, *John Bugbee, Jr. were part of the first thirty-nine landowners in Woodstock, then Massachusetts, now Connecticut. Abiel and John were married on 10 July 1696 according to Clarence Bowen’s The History of Woodstock, CT, Genealogy of Woodstock Families. In this book, Bowen states that Abiel first married Robert Corbit/Corbett who died on 18 September 1695.
In February 1681 when Abiel was 17, she gave birth to a son out of wedlock whom she named Benoni Twitchell. Abiel refused to name the father. Benoni died sometime after 1749. Josiah Rockett, who was married to Abiel’s sister, Mary, took her in. The town fathers forbade him to shelter Abiel and “warned her out of the town.” Defying the town order, Josiah and Mary, not wanting to leave Abiel and her child homeless, continued to let Abiel live with them. Josiah was fined 20 shillings “for breach of town order in entertaining Abiel Twitchell.” Abiel married Robert Corbit, Josiah’s brother-in-law, in about 1690. Abiel and Robert had two children, Damaris, born in 1691 and Elder Daniel Corbett, Sr. on 29 December 1693. After Robert’s death in 1695, Abiel married *John Bugbee in 1696.
Holmes Bugbee speaks of a family legend relating to Abiel who, having a legacy coming to her, rode to Roxbury on horseback and collected her inheritance in Spanish dollars. While riding back to Woodstock over the Connecticut Path she was overtaken by a robber who demanded her money. She parleyed and maneuvered to get the robber’s horse as well as her own headed in the right direction. Then when she handed her bag of money to the robber, she purposely dropped it. When the robber dismounted to pick up the money, Abiel whipped both horses and the robber’s horse followed hers. When she finally came to a cabin by the side of the road, she discovered that the saddle bags on the robber’s horse carried more dollars than she had lost. So, with this money and the robber’s horse, [the brave girl] returned safely to Woodstock. (From a letter dated Putnam, 30 November 1896, from E. Holmes Bugbee, owned by Lucian Willis Bugbee, Jr.)
* Direct Ancestors
Buy This Book
8 ½ x 10
542 pages, hard cover
370 images (photos, maps, drawings)
Extensive bibliography; Index
Ahnentafel genealogical numbering style
ISBN 978-0-578-79475-4
Printed through Bolton Associates, Inc.,
Copyright November 2022 by Lynn Wenzel
$45.00 + $7.00 shipping
To purchase this book or to connect with the author contact:
lwinparadise1@gmail.com
530-906-1288
Website:lynnwenzel.com
We accept credit cards or checks.