Watts-Stark Immigrant Ancestors, pt. 1

We are a nation of immigrants. Most of us descend from others who came to this land whether by their own volition or against their will. With this in mind, I will be documenting all the known immigrant ancestors for both my family and my spouse’s family. This is third installment of this series.

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Next up in my quest for identifying immigrant ancestors are the predecessors of my maternal grandfather. However, with the sheer number of known immigrants in his lineage, I have decided to divide up the Watts-Stark line, focusing on just the Watts forebearers in this installment and the Stark progenitors in the next post.

The majority of my Watts immigrant ancestors span back seven or more generations—this line, as a whole, has been in America for a long, long time. However, two immigrants are more recent (well, within the last 200 years, that is): John Miller, 3rd great-grandfather, born about 1825 in Bavaria, Germany, and his wife Anna Fisher, 3rd great-grandmother, born about 1834 in Bavaria, Germany.

The next immigrant ancestor is Thomas Gay, 7th great-grandfather, born 1730 in Ireland. His parents immigrated to America as well: Samuel Gay, 8th great-grandfather, born in 1700 in Ireland, and Margaret (surname unknown), 8th great-grandmother, born 1700 in Ireland.

Of my 256 possible 9th great-grandparents on my maternal grandfather’s line, four are known immigrants: Thomas Boon, born about 1637 in Enfield, London, England; Samuel Damourvell, born 1670 in France; and Edward Watts, born  1 Jan 1670 in Wells, Somerset, England, and his wife Anne Martin, born 1668 in Somerset, England.

However, the greatest number of known immigrant ancestors for my maternal grandfather are in my 10th great-grandparents generation. There are 15 total: John Garner, born 2 Sep 1633 in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England; William Rust, born 1633 in Suffolk, England; William Thornton, born about 1620 in Yorkshire, England; Francis Asbury, born 1630 in England, and his wife Mary Powell, born 1632 in England; Nicholas Boon, born 1615 in Exeter, Devon, England, and his wife Ann (surname unknown), born 1618 in London, England; Anthony Savage, born 1605 in Broadway, Dorset, England, and his wife Alice Stafford, born 1610 in Dorset, England; Vincent Cox, born 19 Feb 1632 in Bedford, Bedfordshire, England; Robert H. Taliaferro, born 11 Nov 1626 in Stepney, Middlesex, England; and his wife Katherine Debnam, born 1628 in Igtham, Kent, England; and Lawrence Smith, born 29 Mar 1629 in Burnley Parish, Lancashire, England, and his wife Mary Debnam, born 1639 in Igtham, Kent, England.

Finally, eight 11th great-grandparents are known immigrant ancestors for my maternal grandfather: William Henry Debnam, born about 1608 in Igtham, Kent, England, and his wife Katherine Jennings, born about 1604 in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England (and parents of both Mary and Katherine, listed above, making them my 11th great-grandparents, twice over); John Lyon, born 1649 in Scotland, and his wife Margery (surname unknown), born 1650 in Scotland; William Metcalfe, born 1608 in England; and Thomas Martin, born 1629 in Pale Park, Dorsetshire, England and John Rowland, born 1614 in Egham, Surrey, England and his wife Margaret Bailey, born about 1615 in England—via their grandson Francis Thornton. (Incidentally, John and Margaret (Bailey) Rowland are also my 10th great-grandparents via their grandson, Rowland Thornton, my 9th great-grandfather on my Stark side, but that will be covered in an upcoming post.)

 

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