Allen USHER

Allen married Rebecca ALLEN or Bourne 30 Nov 1755. Rebecca was born Abt 1738; died 15 Jun 1801; was buried , Juniper Hill Cemetery, Sherry Ave., Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Edward — Phebe Unknown. [Group Sheet]

Edward married Melinda Sisson 20 May 1828, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

USHER Allen, at sea, 32y Sept. 21, 1796; death, Bristol.

Allen married Susanna DIMAN 29 Jul 1787. Susanna (daughter of Thomas DIMAN and Salome FOSTER) was born Between 1764 and 1768; died 15 Oct 1829; was buried , Juniper Hill Cemetery, Sherry Ave., Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

USHER Capt. Aaron, at Plymouth, N. C., Nov. --, 1819

USHER Capt. Aaron, 53y., Nov. --, 1819. (Bristol Deaths)

Aaron married Hannah Oxx 6 Feb 1791. Hannah (daughter of George Oxx and Hannah Diman) was born Abt 1769, Rehoboth, MA; died 20 Apr 1804, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Aaron married Elizabeth Bosworth Aft Apr 1804. Elizabeth (daughter of Benjamin Bosworth and Mary Church) was born Abt 1778; died 17 Sep 1811, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Aaron married Mary Bradford Bosworth 1812. Mary (daughter of Benjamin Bosworth and Mary Church) was born Abt 1770, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

I am not sure that this Allen is the son of this Edward, but he is in the correct time frame. The marriage record is from Arnold's Vital Record of RI, Elder Wright's Marriages; it says the groom is the son of Edward & Phebe. I don't have a marriage record for this Edward with a Phebe, only with Melinda at a later date, which may be a second marriage. There is also an entry in Beaman's RI Genealogical Register, showing in the 1850 Census an Allen Usher, a farmer age 50, and his wife Abby, in Smithfield Boro, Bradford County, PA. I am assuming this is the same couple.

Allen married Abigail Pearse Blake 16 Mar 1828. (daughter of Ebenezer Blake and Kezia Unknown) [Group Sheet]

Deborah married Stephen CHAFEE, Jr. 13 Dec 1812, Bristol, RI. Stephen (son of Stephen CHAFEE and Chloe PEARCE) was born Abt 1791, Rehoboth, MA; died 17 Oct 1864, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

In the 1860 Federal Census, William 54 (farmer) and Phebe 56 are living at Bristol, RI. Their daughter Mary E. 22 (s. teacher) is living with them. In the 1870 Federal Census, William is 62 and Phebe is 65. They are living at Bristol with son John, his wife, and their four children.

William was first cousin to our ancestor Deborah (Usher) Chafee.

William married Phebe Howland Maxfield 23 Aug 1828. Phebe (daughter of David Maxfield and Merebah Unknown) was born Abt 1804, RI; died 23 May 1873; was buried , North Burial Ground, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

Alden G. Beaman's "RI Genealogical Register," Vol. 17, Bristol Cemetery Inscriptions, gives Lucinda's date of death as 19 Jan 1834, at age 20. There was another Lucinda T. Chafee, date of death given as 3 Oct 1848 (?).

Notes:

The name George T. B. Chafee first came to my attention in a copy of an old letter of Great Uncle Frank's which he sent to his mother, Mary Elizabeth Chafee (nee Andrews), my great-grandmother. In this letter he lists our Chafee ancestors, but without any documentation or details, save that he says this person's son invented a propeller boat which used to sail from Connecticut to New York City. This ties in somewhat with the information I found in the Bristol town records, which identify his occupation as sea captain, and his place of death as Middletown, CT. (Bristol Vol. #5, p. 139)

According to Frank's letter, the son George Austin (brother of my great-great-grandfather, Samuel Russel Chafee) was a restaurant and hotel man in Middletown, CT. He had a son Charles Austin and a daughter Grace. Around 1870 he built a propeller ship that ran between Portland, CT (across the river from Middletown, CT) and New York City. The ship was named after him: The George Austin Chafee. (Need to check out all these details!)

George T. B.'s name came to me also from an Austin family genealogist (Bonnie Austin Bigolin of Green River, WY), in an e-mail replying to my query through their web site. They have his name in their database as having been married to Harriet N. Austin, and she listed his children for me, one of whom is my gr-great-grandfather, Samuel Russel Chafee. The name Austin has since been passed down in our family in the form of the middle name of his son George and of my grandma's brother Charles, and the first name of one of Charles's sons, among others.

Also, it appears that the name Harriet has also been passed down, being the name of one of George and Harriet's daughters, the name of a granddaughter ("Hattie" who married DeWitt Bolster), and the name of a great-granddaughter -- my grandma's sister Hattie, a name which I presume was also Harriet in this generation. She died very young. My parents have her old rocking chair.

Since acquiring the above information, I have viewed and copied George and Harriet's marriage record at Bristol Town Hall, as well as other family records of birth, marriage, and death. I also have photographed their gravestone(s) at Bristol's North Burial Ground.

In addition to the above sources of information, I have transcripts from the following census records which show the various Chafee families: 1850, 1860, and 1870 for Bristol, RI; 1870, 1880, 1900, 1910, and 1920 for Middletown, CT.

"The Chaffee Genealogy" by William H. Chaffee, published in 1909, says that Mr. George T. B. Chafee "served as a sutler in the Union Army during the Civil War. He was a mechanic and restaurant keeper. He had a light complexion, blue eyes, a jovial disposition, and was five feet, four inches in height. In 1883 he lived in Middletown [CT], where he died of pneumonia at the age of seventy-five in the home of his son, Stephen B. Chafee. He was buried in the family lot in Bristol."

In the front of my grandmother's old Bible there is this notation, written in her handwriting: "Lest I forget, I must write down the Chafee family motto -- 'As we journey through life, let us live by the way.' It is above the large fireplace in the Chafee Hotel in Middletown Conn. made in the masonry."

George married Harriet Newell AUSTIN 18 Mar 1839, Bristol, Bristol Co., RI. Harriet (daughter of Samuel Ward AUSTIN and Mary MITCHELL) was born 1822, North Kingstown, Washington Co., RI; died 29 Jul 1856, Bristol, Bristol Co., RI; was buried Jul 1856, North Burial Ground, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

George married Susan Hathaway Hoar 3 Mar 1859, Swansea, MA. Susan was born 15 Aug 1829, Swansea, MA; died 22 Feb 1884; was buried , North Burial Ground, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

In the 1850 Federal Census, Zechariah & Eliza A. Chafee are living in Bristol, RI. They have a 2-year-old son, William L. C. Chafee. The family is next door to Thomas D. & Mercy Chafee.

Zechariah — Eliza Ann LeCroix. Eliza was born Abt 1828, Maine. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

According to "The Chaffee Genealogy," p. 453, Thomas was living in Taunton, MA, in 1888.

He may be the T. D. Chafee buried at North Burial Ground in Bristol, RI.

In the 1850 Federal Census, Thomas D. & Mercy P. Chafee are living at Bristol, RI. They have a four-month-old son, Lyman M. Chafee. The family is living next door to brother Zechariah Chafee and his family on one side, and next to parents Stephen & Deborah Chafee on the other side.

Thomas married Julia Eddie Abt 1845. [Group Sheet]

Thomas married Mercy P. Read Abt 1848, Connecticut. Mercy (daughter of George Read) was born Abt 1828, MA. [Group Sheet]

Thomas married Abbey Macomber Aft 1850. Abbey died Aft 1889. [Group Sheet]

Notes:

In the 1850 Federal Census, Cyril is aged 20, a clerk, and living with his parents at Bristol, RI. Apparently he died just about a year later.

Notes:

Alden G. Beaman's "RI Genealogical Register," Vol. 17, Bristol Cemetery Inscriptions, gives Sarah's date of death as 24 May 1833, at age 7 months.

Notes:

In the 1860 Federal Census, John & Eliza are age 29, living at Bristol, RI, with their children William H. 3 and Phebe H. 3.

In the Federal Census of 1870, the family is still at Bristol, with the household as follows: William 62, Phebe H. 65, John 39, Eliza 39 CT, William H. 13, Phebe H. 11, Abbie E. 9, and John 6; all born RI except Eliza. John is a farm laborer and his father William is a farmer.

In the Federal Census of 1900, the family is at Bristol, as follows: John 69, Eliza 69, John 36, Gertrude 34, Willard F. 10, Harold R. 9, John H. 7, Eldena 5, Aaron F. 1, Mildred A. 7, and Alena F. 27.

John married Eliza Mason 30 Nov 1854. Eliza was born Apr 1831, CT; died 1921; was buried , North Burial Ground, Bristol, RI. [Group Sheet]