Skip to main content

Ancestors at Sea

Being from Iowa and living in Colorado, I don't think of my ancestors as being mariners. Most of them were farmers or at least had roots in farming. Those who immigrated to America, came by ship. And my father, Russell Mesenbrink, served aboard the battleship West Virginia in World War 2. But aside from that, I was unaware of any other significant amounts of time ancestors spent on the ocean.

Some of my family lines go back to colonial times. Most notable was Captain James Davis, who, had fortunes been reversed, would be as famous as his contemporary, Captain John Smith. Smith wrote of a family of Welsh sailors, most likely Davis, his brother Robert and others.

Davis was chosen as captain for an attempt to colonize in the new world by the Virginia Company of Plymouth. His group of colonists landed in what is now Maine just a few months after Smith's competing Virginia Company of London founded Jamestown. Davis' group formed the Popham Colony at Sagahodoc in 1607. But due to family problems with the sponsors of the colony, they abandoned the colony the next year and Davis would go to Jamestown.

In the year that the colony was active, they built a settlement illustrated by this map by John Hunt (from Wikipedia).



The colony also built a 30 ton ship there, called the Virginia, which made at least one trip to England and back to Jamestown. It was the first ship built in America by Europeans.

James Davis is credited for writing "The Relation of a Voyage into New England begun from the Lizard, ye first of June, 1607."

 Davis settled in Jamestown, raising a large family. No other family can claim older, non-native, roots in America than those descended from James Davis.

 Captain John Browne was another early colonial ancestor. He was born in England in 1645, and along with his brother Peregrine Browne, sailed two merchant ships between England and Maryland. He seemed to be a bit of a rabble rouser, being accused of disturbing the Government and vilifying the King's officers.

 On the Squibb side, I haven't found any ancestors who were mariners, but there was a Captain Thomas Squibb who was likely a relative. He made several trips to America, and participated in the 1625 Cadiz Expedition, a failed attack on Spain. One of his trips to America was in 1630, where he delivered 140 colonists to the Massachussetts Bay Colony. His ship was the Mary and John, one earlier piloted by Captain Robert Davis, brother to the above mentioned James Davis. Several of the Squibbs served the government in various capacities, another of which was Captain Stephen Squibb and another Thomas Squibb who was a sailor in the Caribbean in the 1600s.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Where Did That Dark Complexion Come From?

When I got my DNA results back, the biggest surprise I had was in all the people from the southern states who I shared DNA with. I'm pretty sure that a lot of it is from Salucia Sophronia Squibb , but that certainly doesn't explain it all. The only other unknown line, is that of Martha Brennan Davis , mother of Lillian Davis Stephenson, who was mother of my grandfather, Fred Stephenson. I have thought she was Irish, probably an Irish immigrant, and probably related to other Brennans of Galesburg, Illinois, but there is evidence she was from Indiana. Besides the unexplained southern DNA matches, I have little Irish DNA on this line, not enough for Martha Brennan to be full blooded Irish. But more importantly, the Stephensons had dark complexions. I honestly don't know beyond that where the dark hair and eyes came from. Here is a picture of Lillian Davis Stephenson, my great grandmother. Notice the dark hair, deep set, dark eyes. She doesn't look Irish. Her featur...
1 comment
Read more

John Griest - A Pennsylvania Pioneer

On my mother's side, is an ancestor named John Griest. He lived in Pennsylvania from 1694 to 1751. John's daughter, Sarah, married William Squibb. While most of us will leave no evidence of our existence, John Griest did leave a few things to remember him by. Probably most significant is the office building at the Susquehanna Memorial Gardens near York, Pennsylvania. This building was originally larger, and at another location in York. This beautiful picture was taken by Diane Bowders and published on Yorkblog.com. John Griest built this building around 1740 at its original location on what is now the Lincoln Highway in York. In 1962 it was taken down to make way for a shopping mall and rebuilt at the cemetery. At that time the building looked something like this: The sturdy building was known as Ye Olde Valley Inn, Beard's Inn, etc. and was originally built to protect John's family from Indians, with whom he didn't always have the best relationship. Gries...
Post a Comment
Read more

Origins of the Squibb Family

By all accounts, the Squibbs came from England. According to Lawrence G. Blochman, in his book  Doctor Squibb , "The earliest known English Squibb is believed to have been made a yeoman by Edward IV in the fifteenth century. His grandson was Great John the Yeoman of Dorsetshire. Great John's grandson, Nathaniel Squibb, came to Pennsylvania early in the eighteenth century, settled in Chester County and founded a populous family...." Most Squibb families today would trace their ancestry to this Nathaniel or at least to Robert Squibb who is thought to be his son. There are few records of him, despite the generally thorough records kept by his Quaker faith. Nevertheless, later Squibbs were in fact Quakers. But exactly when they took on this faith isn't clear. One early Robert Squibb actually held title to a large part of New Jersey in the late 1600s. Whether he ever set foot on that soil is doubtful. Some of the Squibbs were important officials and served in various ...
3 comments
Read more