A Few Favorite Ancestors Of Joanna T. Baker Sanford

                                                JOANNA T. BAKER=S ANCESTORS

Most of the month of January 2002 was spent entering in PAF the recently discovered ancestors of my 3^rd great grandmother, Joanna T. BAKER SANFORD.  I guess only a Agenealogy nut@ would consider this fun B but it was really fun to me.  I had so much information it took me almost the whole month to organize it so I knew Awho was where.@  Last year I told of two of my favorites, Samuel HUBBARD and his outspoken wife Tacy COOPER.        

Another favorite is the WHALEY family.  The immigrant ancestor was Theophilus WHALEY.  He came to Virginia from England after some involvement in the execution of King Charles I.  He is a bit of a mystery, his name may have actually been Robert, but changed to Theophilus to be less conspicuous to the English authorities as he escaped to America.  He was born in 1616 to a wealthy family and died in 1720.  He married Elizabeth MILLS in Virginia and then the family moved to Rhode Island.   He had only one son, Samuel, and Samuel had a daughter Ann.  Ann married Moses  BLANCHARD and became the 2nd great grandmother to Joanna T. BAKER.  Theophilus was an eccentric, and when he moved to Rhode Island he lived by fishing, weaving and teaching.  He was conversant in Hebrew and Greek.  He was secretive about his early history and this adds to his mystery.

The MAXSON family is especially interesting.  The first MAXSON was Richard MAXSON, and he and his oldest son, Richard, Jr. were massacred  by the Indians in Rhode Island in 1637.  This is before the land had been purchased from the Indians, so the MAXSONs were truly interlopers.  Richard MAXSON=s pregnant wife escaped the Indians and in the spring of 1638 her son, John, was born.  Unfortunately, Mrs. MAXSON=s name has been lost to history, but her son became the progenitor of the family in America.   He is the 4^th great grandfather of Joanna T. BAKER.  He was born in 1638 and died 17 December 1720.  He married Mary MOSHER in 1665.

Giles GIBBS is another interesting progenitor.  He came from England and settled first in Dorchester, Massachusetts later removing to Windsor, Connecticut.  He was one of the founders of Windsor.  He had a Alively@ family.  He had one son, Gregory, with his first wife and four children with his second wife, Katherine Carwithe.  Our ancestor is his son Jacob, who married Elizabeth Androus.  The family of Giles was often in trouble with the authorities.  In one day in Court on 07 March 1650/1 Jacob GIBBS was fined 40 shillings for a misdemeanor, Samuel GIBBS was to ordered to be Acorrected by his master@ for misbehaving and Sarah GIBBS was found guilty of Acarrying herself in a disorderly manner@ and ordered to do appropriate service in the house of her mother or else she would be sent to the Ahouse of correction.@  Sarah was still in trouble in 1660, so she didn=t learn her lessons very well.  I guess you can say that these folks were definitely Anon-conformists.@  Giles was born in England about 1600 and buried in Windsor, Connecticut on 21 May 1694.  He is the 5^th great grandfather of Joanna T. BAKER.  These are just a few of my favorites of Joanna=s ancestors.