And now for the royal portion of our program

And now we move to the royal portion of our program. Abi Hotchkiss' lines (the mother of one of my great great grandfathers--William LaFayette Carter) lead to royalty. I listed only up to Henry III, because after that it gets very complicated, because everybody starts marrying each other. But it all begins with Abi Hotchkiss' grandfather, Ladwick Hotchkiss, who married Mary North. Here's how it connects to today:

Susan Doran (me)

Tiffany (Joan, my mother)

Tiffany (John Mason, my grandfather)

Carter (Helen Emily – my great grandmother)

Carter (William LaFayette my great great grandfather)

Hotchkiss (abi Hotchkiss married Thomas Carter, my great great great grandfather)

Hotchkiss (Ladwick the son)

Hotchkiss (Ladwick the father)

Mary North
Margaret Holcombe (said to be very beautiful)
Nathaniel (Lt) Holcombe
Thomas Holcombe (came to Massachusetts Bay in 1633, m. Elizabeth Ferguson, 1635)
Anne Courtenay (christened 19 Feb 1568 in Brottonin, Cornwall; m. Gilbert Holcombe, 1600)

Peter Courtenay

Edward Courtenay

Thomas Trethford (m. Maud Trevisa; daughter Margaret Jane)
John Trethford
Sir Hugh Courtenay (Margaret Carminow; beheaded 6 May 1471; daughter Elizabeth b. 1463)
Sir Hugh Courtenay (m Maud Beaumont mother = Eleanor PLANTAGENET g-daughter of Edward Crouchback)
            |
______________________________________________________
|                                                                                     |
Beaumont                                                            Edward Courtenay
Plantagenet                                                          Margaret de Bohun (m. Hugh deCourtenay, 2nd Earl of Devon)
Edmund "Crouchback" Prince of England   Elizabeth Princess of England
Henry III King of England                               Edward I "Longshanks" King of England
                                                                              Henry III King of England

In other words, King Edward I was my great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great great grandfather. Or 22th-generation descendant of royalty.That and $1.50 will get you a cup of coffee at a Mission District dive.

ODIN ON DOWN...

ODIN ON DOWN...

 Here's one family line that's rather ludicrous--it records nearly 2000 years of family history--

Odin (Woden, Woutan) B: Abt 215
Of, Asgard, Asia Or, East Europe

Skjold King Of The DANES B: Abt 237
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark
M: Abt 0258
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark

Fridleif SKJOLDSSON B: Abt 259
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark
M: Abt 280
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark

Frodi FRIDLEIFSSON B: Abt 281
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark
M: Abt 302
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark

Fridleif FRODASSON B: Abt 303
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark
M: Abt 324
Of, Hleithra, , Denmark

Haver FRIDLEIFSSON B: Abt 325
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 346
, , , Denmark

Frodi HAVARSSON B: Abt 347
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 368
, , , Denmark

Vermund FRODASSON B: Abt 369
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 0390
, , , Denmark

Olaf VERMUNDSSON B: Abt 391
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 411
, , , Denmark

Dan OLAFSSON B: Abt 412
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 0432
, , , Denmark

Frodi DANSSON B: Abt 433
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 0453
, , , Denmark

Halfdan FRODASSON B: Abt 503
, , , Denmark
M: Abt 0523
, , , Denmark

Helgi HALFDANSSON B: Abt 528
Of, , Roskilde, Denmark
M: Abt 0564
Of, , , Denmark

Yrsa HELGASDATTER B: Abt 565 (female)
, , , Denmark

Eystein ADILSSON KING IN SWEDEN B: Abt 594
, , , Sweden
M: Abt 0615
Of, , , Sweden

Ingvar "The Tall" EYSTEINSSON KING IN SWEDEN B: Abt 616
, , , Sweden
D:
(md)
M: Abt 0637
Of, , , Sweden

Onund "Braut" INGVARSSON KING IN SWEDEN B: Abt 638
, , , Sweden
M: Abt 0659
Of, , , Sweden

Ingjald "Braut" "The Wicked" ONUNDSSON KING IN SWEDEN B: Abt 660
, , , Sweden
M: Abt 0681
Of, , Varmland, Sweden

Olaf "The Wood Cutter" INGJALDSSON B: Abt 682
, , Varmland, Sweden
M: Abt 0701
Of, Romerike, Buskerud, Norway

Halfdan "Hvitbein" OLAFSSON KING IN UPPSALA B: Abt 0704
, Romerike, Buskerud, Norway
M: Abt 0735
Of, , Vestfold, Norway

Eysteinn "Fret" HALFDANSSON KING IN VESTFOLD B: Abt 0736
Of, , Vestfold, Norway

Halfdan "the Meek" EYSTEINSSON KING IN VESTFOLD B: Abt 0768
Of, Holtum, Vestfold, Norway
D: Borre, Vestfold, Norway
M: Abt 0788
Of, , Vestfold, Norway

Gudrod "Jagtkonge" HALFDANSSON KING IN VESTFOLD B: Abt 790
, Holtum, Vestfold, Norway
D: 0821
M: Abt 0815
Of, , Vestfold, Norway

Olaf GUDRODSSON KING OF JUTLAND AND VESTFOLD B: Abt 800
Of, , Vestfold, Norway
D: 0840
M: Abt 0815
Of, , Vestfold Norway

Rognvald OLAFSSON B: Abt 0816
Of, , Vestfold, Norway
D: 0850
M: Abt 0833
Of, Maer, Nord Trondelag, Norway

Ascrida (Aseda) ROGNVALDSDATTER COUNTESS OF OPPLAND B: Abt 0804
Of, Maer, Nord Trondelag, Norway

Rognvald I "The Wise" EYSTEINSSON EARL OF MORE AND ROMSDAL B: Abt 830
Of, Maer, Nord Trondelag, Norway
D: 890/0894, Orkney, Orkney Islands, Scotland
M: Abt 867, Maer, Nord Trondelag, Norway

4 Rollo ROGNVALDSSON B: Abt 0846
Of, Maer, Nord-Trondelag, Norway
D: Abt 0931
Of, Notre Dame, Rouen, Nornandie, Neustria
M: 891

Guillaume I "Longue Epbee" Duke Of NORMANDY B: Abt 0900
Of, , Normandie, Neustria
D: 17 Dec 942
, , , France
M: Abt 932
Of, , Normandy, France


Richard I "Sans Peur" Duke Of NORMANDY B: 28 Aug 0933
Of, Fbecamp, Normandie
D: 20 Nov 996
Of, Fbecamp, Normandie
M: Unmd
Note: mother of his children "Concubine Of NORMANDY B: Abt 0935, Normandie

Geoffroy Count D' EU & BRIONNE B: Abt 0953
Of, Brionne, Normandie
D: Abt 1015

Gilbert "Crispin" Count De BRIONNE B: Abt 1000
Of, , Normandy, France
M: England ?

Richard "De Tonbridge" "De Clare" FITZGILBERT B: Abt 1024
Of, Bienfaite, Normandy, France
D: Abt 1090
St Neots, Huntingdonshire, England
M: Abt 1054, England

Gilbert FitzRichard De CLARE B: Abt 1065
Of, Clare, Suffolk, England
D: 1114/1117
, , , England
M: Bef 1076
, , , England

Adeliza (Alice) De CLARE B: Abt 1077
Of, , Essex, England
D: Abt 1163
, , , England

Rohese De VERE B: Abt 1103
Of, Hedingham, Essex, England
D: Aft 21 1166 Oct
England
M: Abt 1119, England ?

Maud De MANDEVILLE B: Abt 1138
Of, Rycott, Oxfordshire, England
D: England

Geoffrey FITZPIERS B: Abt 1162
Of, Walden, Essex, England
D: 14 Oct 1213
M: England ?

John FITZGEOFFREY B: Abt 1215
Of, Shere, Surrey, England
D: 23 Nov 1258

Isabel FITZGEOFFREY B: Abt 1233
Of, Shere, Surrey, England

Isabel De VIPOUNT (VETERI-PONTI)
B: 1254, Ricester, Oxfordshire, England
D: 1291

Robert De CLIFFORD B: 1 Apr 1274
Clifford Castle, Herefordshire, England
D: 24 Jun 1314
Bannockburn, Stirling, Central, Scotland
M: 3 Nov 1295
Of, Clifford Castle, Herefordshire, England

Idonea De CLIFFORD B: Abt 1300
Of, Appleby, Westmoreland, England
D: 24 Aug 1365

Maud De PERCY B: Abt 1335
Of, Warkworth Castle, Alnwick, Northumberland, England
D: 18 Feb 1378/1379

Ralph De NEVILLE B: 1364
Of, Castle Raby, Raby With Keverstone, Durham, England
D: 21 Oct 1425/1426
Castle Raby, Raby With Keverstone, Durham, England
M: 29 Nov 1396
Chateau De Beaufort, Meuse-Et-Loire, France

William NEVILLE B: Abt 1400
Of, Raby, Durham, England
D: 9 Jan 1462/1463
Of, Alnwick, Northumberland, England

Dionice NEVILLE
B: Abt 1418
D: 1437, Bolton Percy, Yorkshire, England

Thomas BROCKET B: Abt 1393
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
M: Abt 1423
Of, Symonds Hide, Hertfordshire, England

Thomas BROCKET B: Abt 1393
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
M: Abt 1423
Of, Symonds Hide, Hertfordshire, England

Edward BROCKETT B: Abt 1425
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
D: 1488
M: Abt 1445
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England

John BROCKETT B: 1460
Of Wheathampsted, Hertfordshire, England
D: Aft 1507
M: Abt 1474
Of, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, England

John BROCKETT B: Abt 1475
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
M: Abt 1495
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England

John BROCKETT B: Abt 1500
Of Wheathampsted, Hertfordshire, England
D: 23 Mar 1558
M: Abt 1526
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England

John BROCKETT B: 1528
Of, Wheathampsted, Hertfordshire, England
D: 23 Oct 1598, Hertfordshire, England
M: Abt 1581
Of, Burcester, Oxfordshire, England

Frances BROCKET B: 1583
Of, Brocket Hall, Hertfordshire, England
D: 28 Feb 1676
Prob., Kirtling, Cambridgeshire, England

John Sr NORTH B: 27 Feb 1612
Charterhouse, Kirtling, Cambridge, England
D: 12 Feb 1692
Farmington, Hartford, Ct, English Colony
M: 9 Jan 1642
Ipswich, Essex, Massachusetts

Thomas NORTH B: 30 Jun 1649
Of, Farmington, Hartford, Conn.
D: 1712, Northington, Hart, Ct
M: 1669, Farmington, Hartford, Ct

Nathaniel NORTH B: 1688
Northington, Avon, Ct
D: 5 Apr 1777
Avon, Hartford, Ct
M: 10 Jun 1708
Hartford CT 

Mary NORTH B: 18 Mar 1717
Farmington, Connecticut, U.s.
D: 21 Feb 1775
Of New Britain, Connecticut, U.s.

Ladwick HOTCHKISS B: < 1746
<Farmington, Connecticut, U.s.>

Ladwick HOTCHKISS B: 6 Dec 1773
<Amber, Onondaga, New York, U.S.>
D: 9 May 1858
M: 1797

Abi HOTCHKISS
Birth: 11 Mar 1804 Place: <Amber, Onondaga, NY>
Death: 31 Dec 1864 Place:
Marriage: 1821 Amber, Onondaga, New York to THOMAS CARTER

Abi Hotchkiss and Thomas Carter were parents of William LaFayette Carter. He married Anna Maria Shepard and they had Helen Emily Carter. Helen Emily Carter married George Steele Tiffany, son of the 3rd Joel Tiffany. Together they had John Mason Tiffany. John Mason Tiffany married Margaret Virginia Mellon, and they had my mother--Joan Frances Tiffany. And she and my father had me!

Random papers of Leon Joel TIFFANY (+ wife Nellie Graham)

In March 2011, I "came into" some family papers that could possibly be of interest to ancestors of Joel Tiffany, or ancestors of his son Leon Joel, Wilder, his daughter Frances Lord (aka Frankie), or son George Steele Tiffany.

-----------------
BACKGROUND

My TIFFANY line is:
Humphrey -> Ephraim -> Consider -> Consider -> Consider -> Ephraim -> Joel -> Joel -> Joel -> George Steele -> John Mason -> Joan Frances -> me.


My great great grandparents are Joel Tiffany and Margaret Mason Tiffany.

Joel TIFFANY (son Joel TIFFANY and Hannah WILDER) was born 6 SEP 1811 in Barkhamsted, Litchfield, CT, and died 1 JUL 1893 in Hinsdale, DuPage Co., IL.

Their children:

i. Frances Lord TIFFANY b 5 JAN 1861 Syracuse, NY, d 19 JUL 1953, Independence, Montgomery Co., KS, m. Charles Alexander WILKIN
        ii.       Leon Joel TIFFANY was born 18 AUG 1863 in NY. He married Nellie Graham.
        iii.       Wilder Mason TIFFANY was born 22 OCT 1867 in NY, and died 1921. He married Bertha A. WALLACE (b. 06/24/1869, d. 05/29/1925) 12 FEB 1901.
        iv.       George Steele TIFFANY was born 6 MAY 1872 in IL. He married Helen CARTER 1 APR 1895.

-----------------
FOCUS OF THIS POST

iii. Leon Joel Tiffany and wife Nellie Graham Tiffany had a daughter named Josephine.

Josephine Tiffany married Phillip J. Marcotte

Phillip J. Marcotte's dates: 10/13/1892 - 07/24/1966
Josephine T. Marcotte dates: 03/19/1980 - 11/21/1975

(note: Leon Joel Tiffany and Nellie Graham Tiffany, as well as Phillip Marcotte and Josephine Marcotte are buried in Momence Cemetery, Momence IL)

I am NOT doing research on the Macotte family and I have NO additional information about them. Therefore, I do not know whether Phillip J. Marcotte and his wife Josephine T. Marcotte had any children. But if they DID, then Leon Joel Tiffany and Nellie Graham Tiffany would be their grandparents. And therefore, I thought some of these papers might be of particular interest to their family researchers.

-----------------
THE "FOUND" PAPERS

From what I have ascertained, Leon Joel Tiffany and Nellie Graham Tiffany had no children other than daughter Josephine.

However, perhaps other Tiffanys descended from Joel's children--Wilder, Frankie, or George Steele--would be interested in these papers I just received.

their origin
The papers came to me through a woman in Illinois whose grandmother discovered them among articles she had purchased in an auction, in the 1980s.

In March 2011, I spotted a "notification" in an Illinois historical society newsletter published in 1987, of this woman having found these TIFFANY papers, hoping some Tiffany ancestor would find her.

Luckily, 24 years later, the woman who published the notice (whose grandmother had found the papers in the 1980s) was still living in the same town and I was able to find a phone number, and she kindly just sent them to me.

There is not an abundance of papers. And the papers are not "profound" nor of earthshaking interest or import, but they're at least something from our family, which is valuable, and pretty wonderful.

I will hold onto the original papers unless I find a more direct Tiffany descendant than I (my mother is a Tiffany). However, I figured I should post here and let people know these papers exist.

Please don't contact me unless you're a direct descendant. As said, they're not momentous and yet it would take time to photocopy and mail them out.

To give you an idea of what's here -- a couple of letters mostly talking about the weather and saying various members of the family are fine, etc, a little poem, a love note to Nellie, some receipts and lists of numbers, a trail map, some notes about business, and some notes taken from Ouija board readings.

Yes, Ouija board readings. As you may know if you're from this line, many of the family from Joel's line on down were Spiritualists. I may see whether a historical society focusing on Spiritualism is interested in copies or the originals of the Ouija board "transcriptions," and mention of the regular Sunday afternoon "readings."

My mother says her grandfather, George Steele Tiffany, may have been the only child of Joel Tiffany who didn't ascribe to the beliefs of Spiritualism. I have no evidence either way, except that clearly Leon Joel Tiffany was into it too.


-----------------
NEXT STEPS

Let me know if you'd like to know more, or if you're interested in seeing these papers. Eventually I'll scan them, and make them available to anyone who wants to see them.

***If you have any ideas of the best place to post such papers, where people can see them for free, please let me know***

thanks!

Inaugural post - the reverend Thomas Carter

FIRST NEW ENGLAND CARTERS...

Starting this blog with the good reverend, Thomas Carter of Woburn. He's the guy in the center of the portrait below, the one with the with elders' hands on his head. The portrait hangs in the Woburn (MA) Public Library; I've visited in all its humble splendor--perfectly befitting a man who was splendidly humble.

 comment: The characters represented in the painting are as follows:  Beginning at the left (standing) is John Cotton, Minister of the First Church of Boston;  Richard Mather, Minister of the First Church of Dorchester;  John Elliot, Apostle to the Indians from the First Church of Roxbury;  Capt. Edward Johnson, one of the founders of both the church and town of Woburn;  Thomas Carter, one of the lay members of the church;  John Wilson, Minister of the First Church of Charlestown; and finally, a visiting minister, unnamed.  Seated on the bench with his hat beside him is Increase Nowell, Magistrate from Charlestown.  The others are members of the church.
source: Carter, a genealogy of the descendants of Thomas Carter of Reading and Weston, Mass., and of Hebron and Warren, Ct. Also some account of the descendants of his brothers, Eleazer, Daniel, Ebenezer and Ezra, sons of Thomas Carter and grandsons of Rev. Thomas Carter, first minister of Woburn, Massachusetts, 1642 (Compiled and Published by Howard Wilton Carter, Norfolk Connecticut, 1909)

CONTEXT

Our Carter family line, which I'll flesh out in subsequent blog posts, goes:

1.   Thomas Carter
2.   Thomas Carter
3.   Thomas Carter
4.   Thomas Carter
5.   Thomas Carter
6.   Berry Carter
7.   Thomas Carter
8.   William Lafayette Carter
9.   Helen Carter Tiffany
10. John Mason Tiffany
11. Joan Tiffany Doran
12. me


_______________________________

LI'L SUMPIN ABOUT THE REV...
Rev. Thomas Carter was the first minister in Woburn, and continued in that position forty-two years. He died, in Woburn, 5 September 1684, in the seventy-fourth year of his age. He matriculated at St. Johns College, University Cambridge, England, at which he took degree of A.B. and M.A.

According to History of Woburn Thomas Carter came to this country, "while yet a student of divinity, in 1635." 

"When Rev. Thomas Carter was first invited to preach at Woburn 3 November 1641, it is mentioned, as a reason for his not being applied to earlier, that it had been doubted whether Watertown would be willing to part with him.” 

He was appointed minister of the Church in Woburn in 1642, and was ordained 22 November 1642. 


There is an account of his ordination in The History of New England from 1630 to 1649 by John Winthrop, Esq., First Governor of Mass., and also in Capt. Edward Johnson's Wonder-Working Providence, where he is as a “reverend, godly man, apt to teach the sound and whole some truths of Christ,” and one who had “much encreased with the encreasings, of Christ Jesus.” 


And in the following lines addressed by him in the same work to Mr. Carter, he is represented as a plain, but very faithful and successful minister, a pastor of distinguished humility and meekness, and in gentleness toward his flock as rather exceeding than otherwise:  

Carter, Christ hath his wayes thee taught, and thou Hast not withheld his Word, but unto all With's word of power dolt cause stout souls to bow, And meek as lambs before thy Christ to fall: The antient truths, plain paths, they fit thee best, Thy humble heart all haughty acts puts by; The lowly heart, Christ learns his lovely host, Thy meekness shows thy Christ to thee is nigh.

Yet must thou spew, Christ makes his hold to be As lions, that none may his truths tread down; Pastoral power he hath invested thee With, it maintain, leest he on thee do frown. Thy youth thou hast in this New England spent, Full sixteen years to water, plant, and prime Trees taken up, and for that end here sent; Thy end's with Christ; with's saints his praises time.

From the time of his ordination he ministered thirty six years constantly without aid till Rev. Jabez Fox was invited to assist him, and from that time he ministered, in connection with Mr. Fox, about six years more, till his death.  


Sewall's History of Woburn says: 

Mr. Carter appears to have lived secluded in great measure from the world; and hence he is seldom if ever named in history among the eminent clergymen of his day. 

Still there is abundant evidence that he was a very pious, exemplary man, an able and sound preacher of the gospel, and one whom God honored and prospered in his work. 

Under his ministrations the church was greatly enlarged and built up, and the town flourished, and was for the most part in peace.  Mr. Chickering in his dedication sermon thus speaks of him: 'During his ministry, which was prolonged more than forty two years, there appears to have been the greatest harmony between him and the Society.' 

"In 1602-3, John Maningharn, a student at law of the Middle Temple, London, kept a diary that has been preserved in the British Museum, which contains this grim definition of a Puritan: 'A Puritan is one who loves God with all his soul, and hates his neighbor with all his heart.' 

"This appears to be disputed by the life of Rev. Mr. Carter, who followed rather the command of his Divine Master to love his neighbor as himself, never joining in persecution of Indians, Quakers, Baptists, Churchmen, or poor old women charged with witchcraft.”  (emphasis mine; and why I love the Reverend Thomas Carter)

source: Some of the ancestors and descendants of Samuel Converse, Jr. Volume 2 By Charles Allen Converse

source: http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~converse/books/1.html
source: The History of Woburn From the Grant of Its Territory to Charlestown in 1640 to the Year 1860, Samuel Sewall, of Burlington Mass, Sometime Pastor of the Church There, Wiggin and Lunt Publishers, Boston, 1868)

_____________________

LIFE WITHOUT "NAME"? WHAT VALUE HAS IDEALISM?

One time, about 10 years ago in DC, an older colleague (who I realize now was at a female age where if you're not careful you turn into a cranky old cat swatting at kittens, but which I didn't recognize because she seemed so cool and smart and awesome, so how could she possibly be insecure?) once said--at a networking cocktail event I was just about to wade into--"It's so interesting, Susan, you're always among the players, and you're known by players, but you're not really a player" (player, not meaning "playa," but someone in the mix competitively, jockeying for power, position, or hierarchy--which she considered important, and I didn't and still don't). 

This winter who I am and my context was similarly sized up by a Southern gentleman of my age--whose slightly awkward, gentile Southern affect would be impossible not to find charming--and whom I intellectually respect. He's an archivist and a scholar. 

His family has been kicking around America almost as long as mine, but his family charted an appreciably different course than mine. 

His family has traveled in the tradition of "The Academy" or "academe," essentially carrying on and upholding the great learned traditions of the library of Alexandria. 

After chatting about our family histories, he looked at me levelly after his assessment--we peered at each other, over the centuries, one oldster to another--and made this pronouncement: "You," meaning me, my heritage, and all the peeps who come with it, "are an Idealist." I told him he was right.

For almost 4 centuries in America (390 years)--not all of them, god knows--but a pretty high percentage of my forebears have been Idealists.  We're oriented toward, and find most interesting, that which is possible.

Like my old-school Southern friend's lineage, mine is not made up of people motivated to emblazon their names in history books--nor to charge into and reap the spoils of what have traditionally been considered the "Big Three" tiers of the hierarchies of Society:

1. Politics (i.e., power)
2. Commerce (i.e., money)
3. Military (i.e., might)

My friend's family chose the 6th of possibly 7 acceptable paths of the worthwhile life of a civilized gentlemen in Western culture:

4. Law (i.e., reason)
5. Ministry (i.e., virtue) nominally acceptable unless comingled with #1 or #2 above
6. Scholarship (i.e., intellect) includes teaching
7. The Lively Arts (i.e., creativity) usually only barely acceptable

Idealism isn't an acceptable path by the forementioned status quo.  But it's what does resonate with me. Not airy-faery dreams. Ideal-ism.

Even my ancestors who were inventors, and there are a few of them, invented for the sheer joy of invention--taking ideas and transforming them into something that's never existed before. 

Their motivation wasn't market viability, becoming a Successful Business, or even primarily financial gain. It was the act of creation itself, and what could be done with those inventing things, and how to make the world better.

THAT TEPID  ENDORSEMENT OF THOMAS CARTER

So, this sentence from the quoted matter above is notable in its apparent ambivalence:

"Carter appears to have lived secluded in great measure from the world; and hence he is seldom if ever named in history among the eminent clergymen of his day. Still there is abundant evidence that he was a very pious, exemplary man, an able and sound preacher of the gospel, and one whom God honored and prospered in his work."

In the 1860s, when this was written, it's likely that being "secluded from the world"--i.e., the Biblical notion of "worldliness," the corporeal, the material, material things--would be seen as virtuous, but hopelessly quaint, or as clueless cynic once referred to me, "congenitally naive." 

Does his mention that Thomas Carter wasn't a big Name speak to his esteem for Carter, pity for him, or a lack of respect?  The line "Still..." seems to imply that Carter was not fully of the material world, unaligned with earthly conceptions of power and glory, and was therefore not rewarded by the material world--being good and pious led only to having God "prosper" him with His non-worldly rewards. 

Which, in the Age of Reason, when this was written, would have been about as appealing and palatable as it would be now, in the Age of Profit.

I think it's pretty clear. The author considered my ancestor a sap.

I remember reading about Thomas Carter as a young teenager. I so was ashamed of him. I wanted badass Robber Baron forebears--whose spoils I was still feeding off! I didn't care what they would have done-or wouldn't have done to leave me a fat trust fund! I wanted to be from Those On Top. 

And as my mother giddily spoke of how wonderfully meek and humble Thomas Carter was--I wondered why couldn't he even be as cool as Cotton or Mather, who were at his ordination in the portrait? They weren't meeke, god knows!

But now...I love what was written about him: "Christ makes his hold to be As lions, that none may his truths tread down" when coupled with the reality that the Reverend Thomas Carter would not persecute poor unfortunates as witches. 

Which both Cotton and Mather did do. Those two and many others do have buildings named after them. They are remembered. But they, in part, made their living (and their legacy) by cynically pandering to people's fear, ignorance, and hatred--rather than to love and, yes, idealism, of who we can be. 

These men of God stirred up mob mentality to persecute and even murder "unfortunates." And Indians. And Quakers. And any other weirdos. In the name of God? In the name of nailing down the status quo and defining normalcy? Punishing outliers by death? How godly is that? Where is their Christlike love and humility? How is this like "the lamb"? 

And, the well-known Reverend Thomas Shepard, and Henry Dunster, President of Harvard, also attended my forebear's Ordination in 1636--and they are remembered by history--but where do these men come out on: intolerance, bigotry, personal ambition and reward, and whipping their folds into hateful furies?

So, as said, I now find the meeke humble Thomas Carter quite wonderful, and would like to be more like him.

GEEKY NOTES: THOMAS CARTER'S SCHOOL RECORDS - ST JOHN'S COLLEGE - CAMBRIDGE

 

March 2010 - on whim I requested any records on my great great great great great great great great great grandfather's from his college, from 1626.

Two months later St. John's College,  Cambridge, heard from Ryan Cronin, Librarian's Assistant,replying to a "biographical research enquiry" on Carter, Thomas, sending me everything they have on file relating to Thomas Carter. Mr Cronin confirmed "He matriculated at St. John's College in 1626, gaining his BA in 1629-30 and his MA in 1633." (see below)

The librarian at St John's also sent this document. I don't know who the author is - who the self-referred  "I" is. 

Eventually I'll transcribe these documents so Google can index it, and they'll be findable.

There must be hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of descendants of this man. Here's a nice write-up about the Reverend Thomas Carter by one of them.