Thursday, March 22, 2012

The Family of Mary Wright wife of William Sabin and Mother of Samuel Sabin

  My last blogpost talked about William Sabin and his possible candidates for his parents. I want to provide some information regarding the family of William Sabin's first wife Mary Wright and begin to write about Samuel his first born.
  William Sabin married twice. His first wife was Mary Wright. Mary was born in 1618 in England. It is not known for sure where in England she was born, but I would suspect the south of England. We do not know who her mother was but her father was Richard Wright.
  Richard Wright was born probably sometime around 1598 in England. There is a record of his marriage in 1625/1626 (some dates are a little tricky because of the calendar system at the time) in Stepney, London, England. It is not recorded who his wife was. Richard Wright came to Boston with Winthrop in 1630, accompanied by 4 daughters and a Margaret Wright who may have been his wife, a sister, or other family member. Church records in Boston indicate that Richard was member #89 and Margaret Wright #99. Richard worked for John Humphrey developing land at Saugus (later Lynn, Massachusetts). Richard was likely a bondservent to Hunphrey because there a court record making him a freeman in May of 1634. He was already a leading citizen as he was a made a Captain of the milita in 1630.Richard was fined 6 pounds in 1638 for selling 130 acres of land at Mount Wollaston without the consent of the town. It was not permissible to sell land without permission. There is also a record of Richard selling 200 acres to William Tynge of Boston in 1639. Richard was dismissed from the Boston church in 1639 and joined the Braintree church. In 1641 it is known he had a mill with exclusive rights, in other words a sanctioned monopoly at Braintree. Richard was next found in Seekonk in 1643 where he was one of the first purchasers of land and the primary organizer of the town. Richard was the richest man in what would become Rehoboth with an estate valued at 834 pounds. He got exclusive rights to a corn mill in Rehoboth in 1643. Living there was also his 3 sons-in-law and was appointed overseer of estate of friend Thomas Blaise of Rehoboth in 1649 but apparantly never served. He had gone to England at that time. There is a deposition about some troubles in Rhode Island in 1656/57 with the last recod of him in 1661.
  William Sabin and Mary Wright together had 12 children. The oldest of these children was Samuel Sabin my ancestor in this line. He was born about 1640 probably in England. It was custom at the time to name firstborn sons after their grandfather, which would be Williams father. This is the reason some suspect that William Sabin's father was Samuel Sabin. That theory has some doubters when we look at Samuel son of William and his children.
  It is only his sibling Elizabeth who is thought to have been born in England along with Samuel. All others were born in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Elizabeth was born about 1642. The other siblings are in order of birth:
Joseph, June 1645
Benjamin, July 1646
Nehemiah, May 1647
Experience, August 1648
Mary, July 1652
Abigail, November 1653
Hannah, December 1654
Patience, February 1655/56
Jeremiah, March 1657/58
Sarah, September 1660.
  It would seem that Mary Wright died during childbirth or shortly thereafter because there is a record that she died in September 1660 in Rehoboth, leaving William to raise 20 children. He would raise these children until 1663 when he remarried. Williams second wife was Martha Allen. William and Martha together had 8 children. Since my concentration from my personal tree involves Samuel son of Mary Wright I will discuss this step-family in another article.
  William would live until February of 1686/87. The records indicate that his burial was on 8 February in Rehoboth. It should be noted that his second wife was buried July 17, 1687. From this one family it is understandable why there are some 40,000 + decendants in the United States and Canada.

At the end of my last post I indicated that I would discuss the family of Samuel Sabin, Sr. but I thought it would be appropiate to discuss Mary Wright's family first. In order to not make these essays too long I will end this one here. Next up will definately be Samuel Sabin, Sr.

Tuesday, March 20, 2012

William Sabin, His Roots in England and Establishment in America

  The immigrant ancestor of the Sabin family in the United States and Canada is William Sabin. The miller William married twice and fathered 20 children and is considered the patriarch of the family. Research on
the family must center on him and this first family in the United States. We know that William was born in Titchfield, Hampshire, England. The following line is recorded in in St.Peter's Parish, Titchfield, England on the occasion of his baptism. "Oct 1609 bapt William Sabin, the XI daye". The custom of the day was to record the names of the child's parents but sadly their names are not recorded.

  There are two theories as to who William's parents are. The predominant theory is that his parents are Richard Sabin and Mary (Bushe) Sabin. The other theory says that Samuel and Elizabeth Sabin are his parents. Perhaps someday a researcher will find a record that will settle this question.

  Richard Sabin and Mary Bushe were married 29 October 1608 in Titchfield. Richard was born in 1589 and Mary Elizabeth Bushe in 1591. The Parish Register in St. Peter, Tichfield lists the burial of Richard as 1 June 1641 and that of Mary as 14 October 1644. Associated with Richard and Mary according to some researchers list possible siblings for William born 1609 as
Thomas, born 1614
Richard, 1616
Peter, 1619
Frances, 1619
Henry, 1624
Robert, 1629
Richard, 1629
all born in Titchfield, England. It was not unusual and quite common to name a later child with the same name as a previous child that died young. That would account for the two Richards as William's siblings. Without an actual record of these relationships that connect one to another it is difficult to establish definitively this family as such. The one evidence that gives pause to this association is in the William's family. William did
not name his first born son Richard as was the custom of the day. One more pause for doubt is that the first born daughter was not named Mary but was named Elizabeth which was Richard's wife's middle name. William did not name any of his sons Richard.

  Other researchers have listed William's parents as Samuel and Elizabeth Sabin, both of Titchfield, England. William's first two children were named Samuel and Elizabeth which would seem that this pair could be the correct answer to the question of who William's parents are. We may never know for sure.

Titchfield in southern England
  William Sabin arrived in the America sometime before 1642. His name appears in connection with the formation of the villiage of Rehoboth, Massachusetts. How William actually arrived in America still has not been discovered. In May 1618 a group from Titchfield, England sailed from Southampton in May of 1638 on a ship called the Brevis. Someday a passenger register may be found and we would know
the names of those that sailed that voyage to the new world.

  William Sabin and his wife Mary Wright appear to have been married prior to coming to America. The IGI claims a Mary Wright was born about 1620 in Kirk, Deighton, North Riding Yorkshire, England to Richard Wright whose wife is unknown. William and Mary were married about 1639. It is also speculated
that their first two children Samuel and Elizabeth were born in England and traveled to America with their parents. Samuel is William's son that my family is decended from.

  Rehoboth (The Roomy Place) is located near Swansea, Massachusetts. Rehoboth has the distinction of establishing the first free public school in America. It wasn't until four years later that Massachusetts Bay Colony followed. William was present during the founding of Rehoboth and took up land for himself in the area, now known as Seekonk, which is now located in Rhode Island. Rhode Island became a haven for Roger Williams, baptist, when he fell out with the leaders of Plymouth Colony.

  William Sabin was a leading citizen of Rehoboth and was very much involved with local matters dealing with schools, church, and affairs of the Plymouth Colony. Looking at the accounts of his estate and gifts for relief to those who were victims of indian attacks would indicate that William was a man of considerable wealth and culture. William was a miller and in the area of Rehoboth there is a sign that indicates the location of his mill at the body of water that bears his name.

  John Dickinson Sabine wrote a book The Family and Decendants of Rev. James Sabine, Washington, DC, 1904. James Sabine was a later immigrant to America in the early 1700s was not a decendant of William Sabin. Some of William's decendants, however, would adopt the spelling of Sabine for their surname. In this book John Dickinson Sabine would write "The Sabine family can be trace back as far as 1600 AD. The first we find of them is in the County of Hampshire (Hants) England, at Titchfield and towns near thereto. They were Puritans and Nonconformists of early date and glorious memory."

  This then is the beginning of the Sabin family in the Americas. Early settlers in New England as part of the Plymouth Colony. Next up will be Samuel Sabin, SR. and Mary Billington, daughter and granddaughter of two passengers on the Mayflower. Mary's grandfather has a distinction beyond coming to America on the America's most famous and celebrated voyage even though it was not the first.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Massive solar flares, zombies and greys oh my

Recently my son Tim asked me to write an article about radio and their usefulness during periods of survival. The following is published here for readers of my blog, which looks to have been nearly abandoned.

One of the technologies that we take for granted is the interlaced global communications satellites. As a benefit of a massive government investment in the 1960s space race you now have the ability to have a cell phone, satellite television, and GPS to show you how to get from point A to point B. All good, but what happens if those satellites no longer function?
Massive solar storms have the potential to damage satellites to burned out hulks of mechanical and electrical components. Should we be the target of an invasion from outer space, the first order of business would be to take out our "eyes". In the case of zombies you would probably be too busy avoiding having your brains eaten.
How would you communicate in the event of an apocalyptic event? Are there means at your disposal to coordinate with fellow survivors? The answer to that is yes.
One of the items that readily available is the simple walkie talkie. Many electronics stores sell these in a wide variety of styles and ease of use. Many outdoors stores sell these even with GPS built in...for a price. There are several services that fall under this category that require no license to those that do require them. The problem with these is that they often are of very low power and only have the capabilities to communicate short distances. They are also fixed on channelized frequencies that require some skill to modify (which is a violation of FCC rules). They also require a charger to convert 120volts AC to the appropiate voltage DC to operate. Some models only require a couple of batteries and an even greater sacrifice of power. If the function is for survival I would probably avoid this method.
Another option is the traditional CB radio. These come in a variety of quality. The advantage of CB is that they operate in the 11 meter band which is down in the upper end of what is called the High Frequency range. They are capable of skipping some distance but it is generally unreliable as a general rule. These are generally mobile and can even be operated as a base station with power from a simple car battery. One downfall is that these radios also have channelized frequencies. While you can modify these it is once again against FCC rules unless you are doing so to work them into the 10meter Ham band and have an FCC license. This is not the most efficient use however.
The next form of communication is to go ahead and get a Ham license. The entry level is the Technician Class and can be obtained relatively easy. This license allows radio priveledges in the VHF (Very High Frequencies) UHF (Ultra High Frequencies) and SHF (Super High Frequencies or more commonly the microwave bands). Many use walkie talkie type units the operate in the 2meter band although you can get them in multiple bands. I own one that allows 4 different tansmitting bands and has general receiving capabilities that include AM, FM, TV, Marine, Air, and commerical frequencies up to 900 MHZ with cell phone frequencies blocked. These bands are generally line of site with the use of repeaters placed in strategic places to retransmit the signal or repeat. The repeater splits the signal by receiving on one frequency and transmitting on another. Modern radios has these splits programmed in and allow modification if a local group chooses to do so. With repeaters here in the Portland metro area I have the capability with low power to talk to people in SW Washington, south to Salem and into the east county metro area. Because there are hills between me and Beaverton I can hear their signals but I cannot transmit into the repeater from my location. The radios are also capable of point to point single frequency transmit and receive but again, you must be in the "line of sight". Certainly usable in emergencies. A test of simple basic electronics, a simple understanding of radio theory, safety, and FCC rules and at one time $12 would net you a Technician Class FCC license.
If you are really looking for long distance and fairly reliable communication the recommended the next step up and test for the General Class license. This license allows numerous radio frequencies along with those of the Technician Class. The plus factor is access to High Frequency bands with much higher power that allows worldwide communication without the use of repeaters or satellites. There are commercially available radios that can operate off a simple car battery with excellent results This license can be obtained by knowing and understanding more advanced electronics, and radio theory. Communication can even include teletype, slow scan television (within allowed frequencies), and even digital data modes. Far more bang for your buck.
While the notion that learning electronics and radio theory seems daunting, it is accessable to anyone. The national organization that represents the Amateur Radio hobby is the Amateur Radio Rely League (ARRL) in Connecticut. They have available for purchase study guides with test questions. Test questions come from a predetermined pool. Each individual test will include several questions from each section of the pool. Morse code is no longer required, but can be learned after obtaining a license and there are study materials even for that. Morse code is handy during periods of high noise or low power and allow a signal to penetrate through the muck when other modes just won't get the job done.
The bottom line is that there is not need to fear communicating in the event of apocalypse. A little preperation beforehand will yeald satisfactory reults. You can even build gear out of old parts. In high school we wound coils of wire around toilet paper rolls to build transmitters on a piece of wood.