Re: Way Book on CD Disk: Correct Date of the Way Arrival in SC

["John S. Quarterman" <jsq@quarterman.org>]

>After sending off my last e-mail, it occurred to me that I misspoke about the 
>graves of the Ways at Old Copp's Hill in Boston's north end.  I recounted how 
>I found the grave of Lt. Richard Way's wife, Katheron Way, who died in 1689, 
>and how since the two Mather ministers of Aaron Way, Sr., are buried there, 
>and since Aaron, Sr., just across the river at his farm, he and his wife must 
>be buried there also.  As indicated in my Way book and by others, the widow 
>of Aaron Way, Sr, Mary née Sumner Way, accompanied her children and their 
>families as well as two of her Sumner brothers, including Deacon Increase 
>Sumner, and their families to SC----on the voyage in the early in 1697 to SC. 

Aaron Way Sr.'s wife was Joanna Sumner.

Aaron Way Jr.'s wife was Mary Maverick, as you've noted in other messages.

Both Joanna and Mary (and Aaron Jr.) went to S.C.:

``Joseph Lord led a company of persons from Massachusetts to form a
settlement in South Carolina. Samuel and Increase Sumner with their
sister Joanna Way were among these immigrants and the formal
dismission of the Sumner "to the Church of Christ near Newington in
South Carolina" is found in the records of the Church of Dorchester
Massachusetts under date of 1 Nov 1696. This settlement was called
Dorchester, but about 1752 it was abandoned for a new site at Midway
in Georgia.''

Source: Record of the Descendants of William Sumner, of Dorchester, Mass.,
1636, by William Sumner Appleton, D. Clapp & son, printers, Boston, 1879.

``The year after Aaron Way died she went to South Carolina with daus.
Mary and Joanne and Joanne's husband, Job Chamberlain.''

Source: Search for the Passengers of the Mary and John 1630, by Burton W. Spear,
published by Burton W. Spear, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, Toledo, Ohio.

Her sons Aaron Way Jr., William Way Sr., and Moses Way went with her to S.C.
Apparently all her other children (Susannah, John, Elizabeth, Samuel)
remained in Massachusetts, or possibly died before the emigration.

Aaron Way Jr. and his wife Mary were dismissed from the church at Danvers
on 11 Oct 1696 ``"to the Church of Christ, lately gathered at Dorchester
in New England and now planted in South Carolina, where the Rev. Joseph Lord
is pastor.''

Source: Spear, op cit.

>I have the impression that much later some Sumners returned to Mass. where 
>the Sumners were to be about the most prominent family of the area.

Possibly, although William, Roger, and George Sumner
(brothers of Increase, Samuel, and Joanna) and their families
remained in Massachusetts.  It is from William Sumner that
Jennie Jerome, mother of Winston Churchill, was descended.
(Some of you may recall his famous comment to Congress, 26 Dec 1941:
"If my father had been an American, and my mother British,
instead of the other way around, I might have gotten here on my own.")

It may be this William Sumner's family you're thinking of.  I didn't
follow the Mass. Sumner lines farther, so I don't know.

>  I know of no Ways who returned to Mass.

Nor do I.

>Everything you quoted above was about the first scouting trip, to look over 
>the situation and to decide where to settle, even acquire land.  They couched 
>it in terms of "the church" and even preached up on the Ashley River, saying 
>it was the first time the Gospel had been taken to SC even though there was 
>already by then in Charleston an Anglican church, a Huguenot church, and even 
>a Congregational church!

Yes, Elder Pratt got a little carried away about that, and most of the later
commentators also forgot about the churches that were already there.

>One hundred and fifty-eight Congregationalist left Boston in Jan. 1697 
>arriving in SC on Feb. 22, 1697. On Mar. 23, 1697 they drew lots at 
>Dorchester, SC, to divide up the land. 

Which fits with the sources I cite above about Sumners and Ways being
dismissed from churches in Mass. to go to Joseph Lord's colony in S.C.,
i.e., Dorchester, S.C.  One slightly tricky bit is that not all of them
were members of the church in Dorchester, Mass.  That church had already
spawned another church in Danvers, for example, of which Aaron Way Jr.
and his wife were members, and from which they were dismissed in 1696.

Another example is Thomas Osgood, originally of Ipswich, who moved to
Andover, and then to Dorchester, S.C.  It was interesting stitching
that one together using Massachusetts sources that said things like
``removed with his family, after 1692, not known where'' plus birth
records, legal records, etc., and S.C. sources such as land grants
``Tho. Osgood had a Warrt for Six hundred Acres of Land in Berkly
County, February ye 8th:1710'', his will, his witnessing of other wills,
such as those of Job Chamberlain (husband of Joanna Way the younger), etc.

Thomas Osgood's wife was Susannah Lord, aunt of Rev. Joseph Lord.
Rev. Lord's ancestry and relation to Susannah was also rather interesting
to track down.  Rev. Lord was a Harvard graduate.  His grandfather was
clerk of the courts and register of deeds of Essex County, Massachusetts.

Rev. John Osgood, pastor of the Dorchester, S.C. church after Rev. Lord,
was a grandson of Thomas Osgood and Susannah Lord, and Sarah Osgood
who married Thomas Quarterman Sr. was Thomas and Susannah's daughter
and thus John's aunt.  Which makes Rev. Osgood and Rev. Lord first
cousins once removed.  Similarly, Rev. Osgood was great-uncle to
Rev. Robert Quarterman, who was one of his successors as pastor at Midway.

There are many living Osgood and Lord relatives in New England.
The Osgood ones didn't know what had happened to Thomas Osgood and
family, other than that they thought he had gone south.

Sources for the above Osgood and Lord material are cited in the Quarterman
book; since we're mainly on about Ways at the moment, I'll not bore you
with them here.  I suppose the reason I'm mentioning this is to note
that trails for some of these families can lead all over New England,
and that records mentioning one of them may be useful for others, since
these people tended to witness each others deeds and wills, sell each
other property, intermarry, etc., just like later in S.C. and Georgia.

>In my Way book you will see footnotes of the records of the First Church of 
>Dorchester, Mass, and of Paul M. McIvaine.  I read in various other sources 
>which I may not have cited.

Some 20 years ago while I was living in Cambridge I read the Dorchester
church records in the Cambridge and Boston libraries, and I believe there
are copies in the Georgia Historical Society in Savannah, as well.  The
Boston Public Library at the time had a copy of Orcutt, which I used;
I later bought a copy.  McIlvaine has many interesting pieces, such as
maps of the various dead towns he discusses, including house lots and
who owned them.

>Dane Bowen in Alexandria, Va., researching Bowen, Bacon, Carlton (Carleton), 
>Luker, Sanders (Saunders), Chaudoin (Chaudoins), Maverick, Richey (Ritchie, 
>Richie, Ritchey), Spence, Sumner, Way, and Wells families.

John S. Quarterman <jsq@quarterman.org>
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