Three hundred colonial ancestors and war service, their part in making American history from 495 to 1934 online

a person of red or ruddy complexion. It is found not only in Eng-
land, where it has been common since surnames first came into use,
but also in Scotland and various countries on the Continent. (Bard-
sley: "Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames.") The history
of the Read family of Kent, England, dates back to 1139, to Brianus
de Rede, or Morpeth, on the Ensback River in the North of Eng-
land. In this country since the date of the family's landing, the
name has been upheld and cherished, many of those bearing it
having been awarded distinction and honor.

In his "Ancestry of Priscilla Baker," 1870, the late WiUiam Sum-
ner Appleton, Esq., devoted a chapter to the Reade family of
Wickford, Co. Essex, England, four members of which emigrated to



Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service 245

America. They were a brother and three sisters: Col. Thomas
Reade, who was of Salem, Mass., in 1634, and was later an officer
in Cromwell's army; Mrs. Margaret (Reade) Lake of New London,
Conn., and Ipswich, Mass.; Mrs. Martha (Reade) (Eppes)
Symonds, second wife of Deputy Governor Samuel Symonds of
Ipswich; and Mrs. Elizabeth (Reade) Winthrop, wife of John
Winthrop, Jr., Governor of Connecticut.

Mr. Appleton examined the parish registers of Wickford and found many
items therein relating to Edmund and Elizabeth (Cooke) Reade, the parents of
the four emigrants; but between the years 1595 and 1604 no entries pertaining
to this family appeared. This lack has now been explained through a search,
made for another purpose, in the registers of the parish of North Benfleet, Co.
Essex, now deposited in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. North Benfleet lies a
few miles southeast from Wickford, and at the period in question the Lord of the
principal manor was Edmund Church, who had inherited it from his Tyrrell
ancestors. Church was twice mentioned as "brother" in the will of Wflliam
Reade of Wickford (1603), the father of Edmund Reade; and it was doubtless
as Church's tenant at the manor house, which is still standing and is now the
rectory, that Edmund Reade resided in North Benfleet.

The first Reade entry in the registers of North Benfleet is given here verbatim,
in the Latin employed by the rector, but the entries that follow have been trans-
lated and condensed.

Baptisms

1597 Maria Reade filia Edmundi Reade et Elizabethe ux de Northe Bemfleet

nata fuit decimo octavo die mensis Junii et baptizata vicesimo sexto die
ejusdem mensis in Ecclia North Bemflette A" 1597 p''d.

1598 Margaret Reade daughter of Edmund Reade and Elizabeth his wife born

11 July and baptized 16 July. (Afterwards Mrs. Margaret Reade Lake.)

1599 William Reade son of Edmund Reade and Ehzabeth his wife bom 28 Oct.

1599 and baptized 1 Jan. 1599/1600.
1602 Martha Reade daughter of Edmund Reade born 13 July and baptized 22

July. (Afterwards Mrs. Martha Reade Eppes Symonds.)
1605 Thomas Reade son of Edmund Reade and Elizabeth his wife, bom 2 Jan.

and baptized 7 January 1605/6.
1609 Samuel Reade son of Edmxmd Reade born 23 July and baptized 31 July.
1612 Thomas Reade son of Edmund Read and Ehzabeth his wife baptized 15

August. (Afterwards Col. Thomas Reade).

Burials

1600 Edmund Reade son of Edmund Reade and Elizabeth his wife of North

Bemfleet 30 March.
1602 Mary Reade daughter of Edmund Reade, 13 April.
1607 Thomas Reade son of Edmund Reade, 15 September.
1629 John Read, 12 October.
1631 EUen Read, widow, 9 Febraary (1631/2).

Miscellaneous

1601 Boundes of the upland groundes of the said parishe of North Beamflette

. . . perambulated, etc. Edmunde Read (first name).

(1) John Read, the first of this branch of the family to come to America,
is thought to have been a son of William and Lucy (Heneage) Reade. He was
born probably at Maidstone, County Kent, near London, England, in 1598, and
sailed from London for America on April 1, 1630, with the great fleet of eleven
ships, which accompanied Governor John Winthrop, with about seven hundred
persons, arriving at Salem, Massachusetts, June 22, 1630. He was of Weymouth,
Massachusetts, in 1637, of Dorchester in 1638, and from there removed to that
part of Braintree which is now Quincy, where he was a freeman, May 13, 1640.



246 Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service

In the spring of 1643/44, he joined the company of the Reverend Samuel Newman,
of Weymouth, in founding a settlement at Seekonk, which Indian name he re-
placed with the Scripture town name, Rehoboth; and the name of John Read is
the third in the list of estates in 1643; according to which, the allotments of land
were distributed. His estate was valued at lbs. 300, a large property for those times.
He served as constable, and Uved at the Rim, now in the town of Seekonk, where
he was proprietor of an inn, and a leading man of the town. He died Sept. 7,
1685, at the age of eighty-seven years, and was buried in the old Seekonk Burying
Ground, the inscription on his gravestone, "J. R. aet eighty-seven, D. S. 1685."
He and his wife, Sarah, were the parents of thirteen children.

Elias Read and His Descendants

2. Elias, who is supposed to be a son of William Reade of
Maidstone, in the county of Kent, professor of divinity, and
his wife Lucy Heneage, was born in 1595; and the first that is
known of him is in Woburn, Mass. He had sons William and
Philip, and Thomas, who were born in England.

3. Thomas, son of Elias, settled in Sudbury; and died July 25,
1659, leaving a son Thomas.

4. Thomas, son of Thomas of Sudbury, married Mary Bigelow.
Children: — Thomas, Matthew, Benjamin, Edmond. He was
made freeman in 1656. He died in 1701; his wife died in 1707.

5. Thomas, son of Thomas and Mary of Sudbury, married
Mary Wood, May 30, 1667. Children:— Thomas, born May
22, 1678; Ehzabeth, married Nathaniel Wilson, Dec. 28, 1709;
he was appointed on a committee to lay out highways in 1664;
was rated to build a bridge in 1693. His wife died in 1724,

6. Thomas, son of Thomas and Mary of Sudbury, born May
22, 1678; married Abigail Bacon, July 1, 1708, for second wife.
Children by first wife: — Nathaniel, Oct. 6, 1702; Isaac and
Thomas, Feb. 23, 1704; Catherine, Jan., 1707. By second
wife:— Mary, born May 1, 1711; Abigail, Feb. 12, 1713;
married Daniel Winch of Framingham, March 11, 1742;
Daniel, May 19, 1714; Betsy, June 16, 1716; Lydia, Aug.
20, 1718; Joseph, Dec. 4, 1722.

7. Nathaniel, son of Thomas of Sudbury, born Oct. 6, 1702;
married Phebe Lamb. Children: — Reuben, born Nov. 2,
1730 ; Joshua, Dec. 14, 1732 ; Phebe, Jan. 28, 1734 ; married Joshua
Harrington of Brookfieldin 1754; Lydia, born March 13, 1736,
married Jonathan Danforth in 1759; Mary, born Jan. 30, 1738;
married Judith Cutler in 1759; Nathan, born March 8, 1740;
Oersis, married a Levins; Martha, born Sept. 26, 1743;
married Henry Waldridge in 1762; Abigail, born March 17,
1746; married Thomas Cutler of Lexington in 1764; Ruth,
born Jan. 31, 1747; married WilHam Gree, Oct. 16, 1769;
Nathaniel, born March 16, 1749; Eunice, Aug. 4, 1751; Nath-
an, Oct. 1, 1758. He settled in that part of Brookfield which
is now a portion of the town of Warren. He was a large land-
holder, his farm consisting of fourteen hundred acres.

8. Reuben, son of Nathaniel and Phebe of Brookfield, born



Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service 247

Nov. 2, 1730; married Tamerson Meachem of Enfield, in
1754. Children: — Reuben, born Jan. 20, 1756; Elizabeth,
Oct. 26, 1757; married Daniel Foster, the minister of New
Braintree;. Nathan, born July 2, 1759; Nathaniel, April 4,
1762; Joshua, Jan. 20, 1764; Sarah, April 29, 1768; Tamerson,
Dec, 25, 1769; married Lieut. William Eastman of Granby,
Sept. 5, 1794; Levi, born July 17, 1773; married Lucinda
Morgan of Brimfield. He was a Major of militia in the Revolu-
tion and a man of note. He died May 26, 1803, on the old
homestead in Warren, aged seventy-three.

9. Nathaniel, son of Reuben and Tamerson of Warren, born
April 4, 1762; settled in Cambridge, in the State of Vermont,
in 1800, where he died in 1842, aged 80 years. Children: —
Rensselaer; Nathaniel, who is a lawyer in Cambridge, Vt.;
Virgis; Adeline, married a Story; Horace; Thomas; George
W.; Tamerson, married Walter Germain; David, born in
Warren, Mass., July 24, 1799, and admitted to the Bar in
Franklin Co., Vt., in 1823.

10. Rensselaer, son of Nathaniel of Cambridge, Vt. Children: — •
Charles Rensselaer, born in Fairfield, Aug. 6, 1810; Silas H.;
Maria, who married Warren Root of Burlington; Hannah,
married Lanson Read of Columbus, Ohio.

11. Charles R., son of Rensselaer, born at Fairfield, Vt., Aug,
6, 1810; married Sally Smith of Fairfield, March 6, 1831.
Children : — Rensselaer Smith, born July 8, 1832 ; Sarah Sophia,
Jan. 1, 1836; Ephraim S., May 1, 1839, owned large farm ad-
joining the Railroad Station, East Fairfield, Vt., which at his
death was inherited by his son, Charles, who still lives on the old
farm; Charles Joab, Feb. 27, 1843; JuHus Herbert, Nov. 7, 1845.

12. Rensselaer Smith Read married and had children:

Adell, Anna, Minnie and Vinnie (twins). Adell married
William S. Soule of East Fairfield; had one son, Reubin.
After her death, he married her sister Anna; had two sons,
Read and Hubert. Minnie married Charles Oliver of Sheldon.
Vinnie married Wayland Croft of East Fairfield. Reubin
married Mollie Merrill. Hubert married Anna Isham.

12. Ephraim Smith Read married Henrietta Sturges. He
was a member of Ransom Guards or State Militia, 1861.
When news of Fort Sumpter was fired upon reached here, the
Captain called a Meeting and First Regiment, mustered in
service. May 2, 1861; mustered out, Aug. 15, 1861. Ephraim
S. Read, Sr., was Private in Co. C. He was one of first in
County and one of first who re-enlisted in Co. B., Third Ver-
mont, remustered in April 12, 1862. He was promoted to
Sergeant ; mustered out, April 22, 1865. He was under General
McClellan at the Peninsular Campaign, under Sheridan at
Shenandoah, Meade at Gettysburg, under Grant during rest
of War and was near General Grant when Lee surrendered.



248 Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service

Ephraim S., born May 1, 1839. When President Lincoln
called for Volunteers, Ephraim S. Read was first to sign
in Fairfield, Vt.

12. Sarah Sophia, daughter of Charles Read, married Dr.

Corey of Washington, D. C. A son, Charles, survives them.

13. Charles J. Read, born Oct. 31, 1866; married Oct. 21, 1891,
Alberta Louisa Leach, born July 27, 1868; died May 31, 1904
(see Leach Ancestry). He lives on the old farm in East
Fairfield and deals in live stock, wool, maple sugar and syrup,
flour and feed of all kinds. Mr. Read is a member of the
Masonic Lodge at East Fairfield. Children: — 1. Henrietta,
b. Aug. 2, 1892; 2. Ephraim S., b. Aug. 8, 1901.

14. Henrietta Frankie Read, born Aug. 2, 1892; married
Jan. 5, 1912, Howard Buker of Jeffersonville, Vt. Four gen-
erations of Bukers have hved on the place. He, was a graduate
of Burhngton Business College and attended University of
Vermont, Burhngton, one year, when he went to Washington
with U. S. Congressman Foster, as his private secretary.
Henrietta Read was a graduate of Feller Institute of Grand
Ligne, Que., and was a successful school teacher until her
marriage. She is a member of the Vermont Society of May-
flower Descendants and member and Color Bearer of High-
gate Colony of New England Women.

Children of Howard and Henrietta (Read) Buker are :
1. Stella Frankie, b. Aug. 13, 1912. She was a graduate of
Jeffersonville High School, and won the scholarship for the
University of Vermont, and also for Smiths College. She
attended University of Vermont, Burlington. She is a mem-
ber and Secretary of the Vermont Society of Mayflower
Descendants. She m. Nov., 1932, Edmund Gladding. He is
the son of Mr. and Mrs. William Gladding of Barre. He at-
tended the University of Vermont, Burlington, for three years,
when he was called home by the death of his father. He was
appointed Commissioner of Cemeteries in Barre to succeed
his father. They have one son, Edmund Howard, b. Nov.
1933. 2. EHzabeth May Buker, b. April 15, 1916, at Jef-
fersonville, Vt. She is a student of Burlington High School.

14. Ephraim Read, son of Charles.

Ephraim Smith, born Aug. 8, 1901; married Feb. 23, 1924,
Frances Maynard. She was a graduate of Brigham Academy,
Bakersfield, and University of Vermont, Burlington, Vt. She was
the daughter of Frank and Martha (Davis) Maynard. They have
children: 1. Alberta Martha, b. June 1, 1925; 2. Richard Charles,
b. May 1, 1926; 3. David Maynard, b. Oct. 27, 1927; 4. Frank
Robert, b. Oct. 26, 1930.

Ephraim Smith Read, at his Mother's death when three years old, went to
live with his Aunt and Uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Oscar H. Rixford, at East Highgate,




Nieces and Great-Nieces of the Author of this Genealogy

Ahove, left to right: Mrs. Henrietta Eead Buker, Mrs. Hazel May Leach
Allard, Miss Alberta Irene Cutler

Center, left to right: Miss Elizabeth May Buker, Mrs. Stella Frankie Glad-
ding

Below, left to right: Mrs. Beatrice J. Leach Young, Mrs. Edith Alice Macey,
Miss Viola Beatrice Allard



Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service 249



Vt., where he attended graded school. When he was ready for High School, he
returned home to live v/ith his father and attended Brigham Academy, Bakersfield,
Vt. He is a member of the Vermont Society of Mayflower Descendants, State
No. 25, National No. 9597; and a Member of St. John's Church, Highgate.

References: "Colonial Families," 1928, p. 120.

N. E. H. & G. Reg., Vol. 84, 1930, p. 113.

Summary of Ancestry:

1. William Reade, m. Lucy Heneage.

2. Elias Read, (England 1595 ).

3. Thomas Read, ( July 25, 1659).

4. Thomas Read, ( 1701); m. Mary Bigelow (d. 1707).

5. Thomas Read (d. after 1693); m. May 30, 1667, Mary Wood (d. 1724);

6. Thomas Read, (May 22, 1678); m. Abigail Bacon, July 1, 1708.

7. Nathaniel Read, (Oct. 6, 1702) ; m. Phebe Lamb.

8. Reuben Read, (Nov. 2, 1730-May 26, 1803); m. 1754, Tamerson Meachem.

9. Nathaniel Read, (April 4, 1762-1842).

ll'. Charles R. ReadJ (Aug. 6, 1810); m. March 6, 1831, Sally Smith, (July
8, ).

12. Ephraim Smith Read, Sr., (May 1, 1839); m. Henrietta Sturges.

13. Charles J. Read, (Oct. 31, 1866-Uving May 6, 1931); m. Oct. 21, 1891,

Alberta Louisa Leach, (July 27, 1868-May 31, 1904). See Leach An-
cestry.

14. Ephraim Smith Read, Jr., (Aug. 8, 1901-living May 6, 1931); m. Feb. 23,

1924, Frances Maynard, (Aug. 17, 1898).



RIGBY ANCESTRY

In the beginning of the year 1603, there was not one European
family on the whole coast of America, from Florida to Greenland.
There had been made, previous to this time, three attempts to
settle Virginia, and one in 1602, by Gosnold, to plant a colony on the
southern shores of Massachusetts; all of which failed. The whole
coast of North America was now open to European enterprise, and
although discouragements had hitherto attended the efforts of
commercial speculation, yet it was not disheartened. In 1603, new
exertions were made, which resulted in bringing the coast of Maine
more into notice, and preparing the way for future settlement upon
it. On the eighth of November, of that year, Henry IV of France,
granted a charter of Acadia and the neighboring country to Du
Mont, extending from forty to forty-six degrees of north latitude.
Du Mont, having received a commission as Lieutenant-general of
France, the next year fitted out an expedition in company with
Champlain and others, with which he sailed along the coast of
Maine, formed a temporary settlement at the mouth of the river
St, Croix, where his company spent one winter; and then estabhshed
a colony on the other side of the bay of Fundy, at a place which they
named Port Royal and which is now called Annapolis (p. 25).

In the spring of 1614, an expedition was fitted out under command
of Captain John Smith, "to take whales," "and also to make trials
of a mine of gold and copper; if those failed, fish and furs were then
their refuge." Smith adds (See Smith's New England, p. 192):
"We found this whale-fishing a costly conclusion; we saw many and



350 Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service

spent much time in chasing them, but could not kill any; they being
a kind of Jubartes and not the whale that yields fins and oil as we
expected." They were also disappointed in their mines, and he
thinks the representation was rather a device of the master to get
a voyage, "than any knowledge he had of any such matter." Leaving
his vessels, Smith, with eight men in a boat, ranged the whole coast
from Penobscot to Cape Cod; within which bounds, he says, he
saw at least forty several habitations upon the sea-coast, the prin-
cipal of which was Penobscot. He adds, "Westward of 'Kennebeke'
is the country of 'Casco' bay, and Aucocisco may be supposed to
express the English sound of the aboriginal name of that extensive
and beautiful bay." Smith returned to England, where he arrived
the 5th of August, and immediately prepared a map of the country
which he had visited; and gave it the name of "New England."

The next year (1615), Captain Smith was again employed by
Sir F. Gorges and others to visit New England, with a view to
beginning a settlement there : for this purpose he was furnished with
two ships, and a company of sixteen men to leave in the country.
But he was driven back to port by a violent storm which carried
away his masts. On the second attempt, he was captured by the
French. It does not appear that this celebrated adventurer ever
came to America after 1614: he published his description of New
England in London, in 1616, and died in that city, 1631.

Every year after this, vessels were sent to the coast to trade with
the natives and to fish; many of which made profitable voyages.
In 1615, Sir Richard Hawkins sailed from England with a commis-
sion from the council of Plymouth to do what service he could for
them at New England; but on arriving here, he found a destructive
war prevailing among the natives, and he passed along the coast to
Virginia. In 1616, four ships from Plymouth, and two from London,
made successful voyages, and obtained full cargoes of fish, which
they carried to England and Spain. Sir F. Gorges also sent out a
ship under the charge of Richard Vines, who afterward became
conspicuous in the early history of Maine; he passed the winter at
the mouth of Saco River; from which circumstance, I suppose, was
derived the name of Winter Harbor, which it still bears.

The patent upon the east side of the river was given to Thomas
Lewis and Richard Bonighton, and recites that it was made "in
consideration that said Thomas Lewis, Gent., hath already been
at the charge to transport himself and others to take a view of New
England for the bettering his experience in the advancing of a
plantation, and doth now wholly intend by God's assistance, with
his associates to plant there," etc. (The original patent was acci-
dently found by Mr. Folsom, when he was collecting materials for
his history of Saco, and has been deposited by him in the Archives
of the Maine Historical Society.) The patentees undertook to
transport fifty persons there in seven years at their own expense.
Livery of seisin was given June 28, 1631, and the proprietors in
person successfully prosecuted the interests of their patent. Such



Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service 251



were the beginnings of the towns of Biddeford, and Saco and the
lands continue to be held under those patents at this day.

In 1630, the colony of Plymouth procured a new charter from the
council for a tract of land fifteen miles on each side of Kennebec
river, extending as far up as Cobbisecontee. Under this grant, they
carried on a trade with the natives upon the river for a number of
years, and in 1660 sold the title for four hundred pounds sterling,
to Tyng, Brattle, Boies and Winslow. (pp. 30, 1, 2.)

The first company arrived at Winter Harbor in the summer of
1631, in the ship Plough, but not being satisfied with the appearance
of the country and their future prospects, the principal part of them
continued on to Boston and Watertown, where they were soon
broken up and scattered. No further effective measures seem to
have been taken for the occupation of this grant until 1643, when
it fell into the hands of Alexander Rigby, under whom a government
was established, (p. 45.)

The settlements which commenced at Plymouth in 1620 now
dotted the whole coast from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy. (p. 50.)

The foregoing records present us the names of two persons who
then appear for the first time in our history, Thomas Wise and
George Lewis. When they came here or where from, we cannot
ascertain, George Lewis, of Scituate, in Massachusetts, had a son
George, who is conjectured to be the person here mentioned. Lewis,
previous to 1640, had received a grant of fifty acres of land at Back
Cove, from Cleeves and Tucker, upon which he lived; in 1657, he
received an additional grant of fifty acres, and his son John one of
one hundred acres adjoining, (p. 75.)

The patent granted by James I to the ''council for the affairs of
New England," Nov. 3, 1620, was the civil basis of the subsequent
patents which divided the country. This patent contained powers
of government to the council and their successors; but it soon be-
came a question whether the council could, with a conveyance of
any portion of territory within their limits, transfer a right of gov-
ernment. This point, it is believed, was never directly decided,
although it may be inferred from the practice of some of the patent-
ees, that the general impression was adverse to this power.

The council of Plymouth continued their operations until June
7, 1635, when they surrendered their charter to the king.

During their existence as a corporation, a period of fourteen years
and seven months, they were not inactive. In 1621, they relin-
quished a large proportion of their patent in favor of Sir Wm. Alex-
ander, and assented to a conveyance by the king to him of all the
territory lying east of the river St. Croix and south of the St. Law-
rence, embracing the provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
The other grants made by the council within the present limits of
Maine, were as follows:

1. 1622, Aug. 10. To Sir Ferdinando Gorges and Capt. John Mason, from

Merrimac to the Kennebec River.

2. 1626, Nov. 6. To the Plymouth adventurers a tract on Kennebec river;

which was enlarged in 1628.



252 Three Hundred Colonial Ancestors and War Service



3. 1630, Jan. 13. To Wm. Bradford and his associates, fifteen miles on each

side of the Kennebec river, extending up to Cobbisecontee; this grant
Bradford transferred to the Plymouth adventm-ers.

4. 1630, Feb. 12. To John Oldham and Richard Vines, four miles by eight

mUes, on the west side of Saco River at the mouth.

5. 1630, Feb. 12. To Thomas Lewis and Richard Bonighton, four miles by

eight, on the east side of Saco River at the mouth.

6. 1630, March 13. To John Beauchamp and Thomas Leverett, ten leagues

square on the west side of Penobscot river, called the Lincoln or Waldo
patent.
12. 1634. To Ferdinando Gorges, twelve thousand acres on west side of the
river Agamenticus.

(Page 78-9-80.)

Early in 1643, we find him in England, and on the seventh of
April of that year, Col. Alexander Rigby, an ardent republican, and
a member of parliament, purchased of the surviving proprietors
of the province of Ligonia, or a part of them, a conveyance of their
charter. We are inclined to the opinion that George Cleeves was
active in this measure, because he was appointed by Rigby, his
first deputy for the government of the province, and because he
succeeded in obtaining a confirmation from him of the valuable
grant in Falmouth, originally made to him by Gorges in 1637.

Cleeves arrived at Boston, in 1643, with his commission from
Rigby, to act as his deputy in the government of Ligonia. (p. 90.)

This decision arrived soon after and declared Rigby to be the
"rightful owner and proprietor of the province of Ligonia, by virtue
of conveyances, whereby the planting, ruling, ordering and govern-
ing the said province is settled." The commissioners further or-
dered that all the inhabitants of said province should yield obedience
to Rigby; and the government of Massachusetts was required in
case of resistance, to render support to his authority, (p. 96.) (See
Winthrop Vol. II, p. 320.)

He immediately commenced making grants in his newly acquired
territory; as early as May, 1647, he granted to Richard Moore four