Identifying Ellena: challenging long-held assumptions about the Johnson and Bostwick families of Connecticut

img_3251It’s funny how a closer look at a document can cause ripples in an established family history.

Thomas Johnson, of New Haven Colony and, later, one of the original settlers of Newark, Province of East Jersey had a wife named Ellena who died just three days before he did.

There is no doubt about this, as she is buried with him in Newark and her 17th century grave marker still intact.

But who was Ellena?

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Finding love in Ancestry.com’s weekend freebie

imageICYMI: Ancestry.com is offering free access to some of their featured UK records through midnight on Monday.

I managed to find one particular gem: a memorial copy of the Quaker marriage certificate for my 8th-great grandparents, Hannah Cullimore and William Watson, who married 22 Mar 1710/1711 in Bristol, Gloucestershire, England.

 

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