John Sibley and Jane Pochard

John Sibley (1755-1835) and Jane Pochard (1760-1860) were my 5th great grandparents, and one of very few sets of my ancestors who migrated to the US after the Colonial period.

They had eleven children, and have many hundreds of descendants living today, and their arrival in Maine was more by chance than many other New England families.

John Sibley was born in Nova Scotia to Englishman and soap magnate Henry Sibley and Halifax native Sarah Haislup.  When John was only eight years old, his father Henry sailed home to England to settle his father's estate and died at sea.  This left John and his five siblings orphaned in Halifax, which Sarah couldn't handle, so she left her children to be raised by others and moved to England.  While his siblings appear to have stayed in Halifax, John joined the Revolution.

JONATHAN EDDY

In particular, John became involved with Jonathan Eddy's movement to make Nova Scotia the 14th American Colony, to break ties with England during the American Revolution. Jonathan Eddy made a failed attempt to siege Fort Cumberland in central Nova Scotia, in the fall of 1776, and John Sibley somehow ended up in Maine (then part of Massachusetts) following Eddy's retreat back to his native Massachusetts.

John later fought in the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey, and also Saratoga with the Continental Army as a private in Captain Smart's company, Colonel Calvin Smith's regiment.  John was also at Valley Forge in 1778 and reported on command at Boston Neck in March and April 1779. He was reported deserted July 12, 1780, which many believe was the reason his pension application was later turned down.

John married Jane Pochard December 8, 1782 at Pownalborough, Maine.  Jane was born in Frankfort, Maine to Abraham Pochard, whose father was a French Huguenot who had arrived in Maine 1751 with his wife and four sons from Chenerbie, Haute-Soane in eastern France near the Swiss border. They arrived in Boston on the ship Pricilla, which sailed from Rotterdam,   Netherlands, and then proceeded directly to Frankfort Plantation (Dresden) in Maine   where they settled. Some of the family moved to Fairfield in 1775 and then to the Pittsfield area around 1814. The inability of the English speaking settlers to spell the Pochard family name correctly resulted in a variety of phonetic variations e.g. Pushard, Pushaw, Pushor, and Pushan.

They lived in Fairfield, Canaan, Warsaw (Pittsfield), and Passadumkeag, Maine.

John applied for a Revolutionary War pension on March 12, 1834, which reveals that he was born in 1755 in Halifax, N.S.  The pension application was denied due to his apparent desertion near the end of the War.

Passadumkeag, Maine incorporated as a town in 1835. When they did their first Town census after incorporation, Jane was listed as widow Jane Sibley.  So we know that John died about 1835.

John and Jane had twelve children, four girls and eight boys, including my 4th great grandmother Margaret Sibley-Burrill, who married Benjamin Burrill of Fairfield, who was 4th great grandson to John Alden of the Mayflower.

Timothy Osborn (1805-1898)

Timothy Osborn (1805-1898), my 3rd great grandfather, was born in Winslow, Maine, located in Kennebec County, to sea captain Isaac Osborn & his wife Sarah Wyman. 

At some point after the 1820 Census, Timothy and his brother William moved to Fairfield and started a farm, where they had adjoining houses on the same homestead (now known as 189 Skowhegan Road, Fairfield, ME).  William never married, and lived in his house alone until he passed in 1880. 

Timothy, on the other hand, had a large family.

He married twice:

1.  First marriage was to his sister-in-law Lydia Burrill-Osborn-Osborn of Fairfield (who was recently widowed from marriage to his elder brother Jacob).  They raised Lydia and Jacob's son Milton as their own and had three daughters:  Mary Ann Osborn-Gifford (who had many descendants, but died of confinement in Palmyra), Emily Frances Osborn (died at age 4 of bowel inflammation), and their youngest, my 2nd great grandmother, Lydia Osborn-Fuller. 

2.  Four months after his wife Lydia Burrill-Osborn-Osborn had died in 1836, Timothy remarried on Christmas of that year to neighbor Olivia Noyes-Haskell, who was rumored to be part American Indian, and was herself a recent widow.  Her husband had been recently crushed by a boulder he was trying to wrangle (his death had been witnessed by poor Olivia).  Timothy had reached out to Olivia (who had four young boys) and created a 'marriage of necessity', joining both their families  and had an additional four children together (Eva, William, Mabel and Clara).  An old time "Brady Bunch", for sure.  Timothy's daughter Mabel, who was quite the seamstress, died at 26 years of age, in September 1882, during a thunderstorm.  She was struck by lightning which came right through the roof of the Fairfield homestead!  The bitter irony was that she had been safe in bed, but the family had beckoned her to come join them in her father's bedroom so they could all brave the storm together.  It was only while she was getting up to join the family, that she was struck while going through in the doorway.  Below is a report from the local paper.  I was lucky enough to get a tour of the house when it was on sale in October 2011, and I got to see the doorway, which still had some evidence of burning.

Timothy & Olivia's only son together was named William Noyes Osborn (after Timothy's closest brother). 

Timothy purchased additional land in Fairfield from Samuel Bean Fuller (another 3rd great grandfather of mine) in January of 1844 for $225.  Timothy's daughter Lydia would later marry Samuel's son Charles in 1859.  Timothy's mother, the crazy Sarah Wyman, was sister-in-law to Samuel Fuller.

Interestingly, Fairfield has streets named Osborne Street and Burrill Street. I wonder who these streets were named after?  Both streets are mentioned as early as the 1900 Census, so it would have to be someone pretty far back.

At some point, Timothy purchased the home of Jonathan Emery (the "Emery House"), which was the headquarters of General Benedict Arnold in his October 1775 Quebec Expedition.  It was this house which he let his daughter Lydia live in when she returned penniless from Iowa, after her husband Charles had died.

Timothy & his brother William, both yeomen (non-slaveholding, small landowning, family farmers)  lent money to several people who failed to pay them back.  Timothy appeared to be quite litigious in general, as shown below.  He and William sued and won this case in November of 1836 against the Emery brothers (all images can be enlarged by clicking on them), who likely were descendants of Jonathan Emery:

In March of 1839, they won a claim against David Hudson & Increase Kendall:

Below, Timothy lost a land claim against George Fitzgerald in March of 1840:

In the summer of 1845 the Osborn brothers won a foreclosure proceeding against Rufell Ellis & Moses Whitten for some extra land in southern Fairfield:

In January of 1856, Timothy sued the Somerset & Kennebec Railway Company for some reason, but nobody appeared in the court room, so there is no record of why he sued them.

In April of 1857, sued his cousin Joseph Osborn for back rent (about $27):

In October of 1879, he sued his cousin William Osborn of Harmony, Maine for nonpayment of debt.  Timothy recovered the money owed him here.

In May of 1882, Timothy transferred the Homestead to his son William, who was then only 21 years old.  In December of 1885, Timothy sold the additional Osborn lot to William for $1600, a property that served William well, given the number of successful mortgages he had placed on it.

Obituary of Timothy Osborn
The Independent Reporter
Skowhegan, ME
13 Oct 1898

Death Record for Timothy Osborn

ORIGINAL GRAVESTONES OF TIMOTHY & OLIVIA OSBORNE

(as discovered in the trees across the street from the homestead):

REPLACEMENT PLAQUES FOR TIMOTHY & OLIVIA OSBORNE

(Maplewood Cemetery, Fairfield, Maine):

GRAVES OF CHILDREN OF TIMOTHY & OLIVIA:

Here's a pedigree chart for Timothy.  It appears that he is 100% English descent, with one very distant Welsh line involved (Bethia Day's paternal great grandfather).

The Burrill Family of Fairfield Maine

The Burrill (also written as Burrell) surname is purportedly rooted (at least for our ancestry) in the Anglo-Saxon name Burwell, which is derived from the Old English byrig-wiellw, which means 'town well' or 'fort by a spring'.

Early origins of the name stem from those families that resided in the township of Burwell, as such township was located in each of Northampton, Cambridgeshire, and Lincolnshire.  Anyone with this last name would have ancestors originating in one of these three East England counties.

According to Ancestry trees (which can be dubious in nature), my 13th great grandfather was Edmund Burwell (1485-1549), from Suffolk (closest to Cambridgeshire), and is the furthest I've been able to trace the line.  Edmund's grandson Thomas Burwell, along with Thomas' son John, sailed to Connecticut about twenty years after the Mayflower arrived, but later migrated up to Plymouth Colony.  Many other Burwells from England had sailed directly to Virginia Colony at the same time.  Our branch of the Burwell family name had changed to Burrell/Burrill.  Several of these settlers married into lines that descended directly from Mayflower passengers, much like all colonial families. 

With reliable records, however, I've been able to trace as far back as John Burrill (1609-1711), who came at the age of 26 on the ship Blessing July of 1636.  He settled in Weymouth, MA in 1639. He was granted 26 acres. He had two lots of five acres granted 'in the Rainge' and 1 acres 'in King oke hill.' He also had lot 33 of 5 acres in the First Division and lot 41 of 15 acres in the second division granted 14 Dec 1663.

He was provided arms and ammunition for King Philip's War on 1 Dec 1675, one of 13 Weymouth men in Capt. Johnson's Company in Oct 1675.

His son, John Jr. (1658-1731), married Mercy Alden, granddaughter to Mayflower passenger John Alden.

GRAVE OF BELA BURRILL
EMERY HILL CEMETERY
FAIRFIELD, ME

Bela Burrill (1756-1816) was my 5th great grandfather, and a direct descendant of the Burrell family from Weymouth, MA.  At the age of nine, while the family was living in Abington, in Plymouth County, his mother (Anna Vinton) was in Maine and died giving birth to Bela's youngest brother Ziba.  According to online trees, Bela's father John Burrill died in Abington on the same day (12 Mar 1765).  I have yet to find any backup records for this date coincidence (so it could be an error), but if true it could prove to have been a sad tale.  

Bela fought in the Revolutionary War for five months, in Capt. James Lamont‘s Company. Private 22 July 1775 to 31 Dec 1775.  Afterwards, he somehow found his way up to Somerset County, Maine, where he met Hannah Colemore, a Sagadahoc, Maine native.   Bela fought in Captain James Lamont's Company from 22 Jul 1775 to 31 Dec 1774.  Bela's brother John fought in the Revolutionary War, in Capt. Gould's company, Col. John Greaton's regiments, among others, and fought five and a half long years. His father John was a Sergeant and his grandfather John was a Captain.

Bela and Hannah settled in Fairfield, and had approximately nine children.  Their son Hull Burrill was a veteran of the War of 1812 and a prominent attorney from nearby Canaan, and father of 10.  He appeared in many Somerset County court records going after people for failure to pay him money.  Their son Jonas lived in nearby Clinton, and their son Bela Jr. lived in nearby Albion (now China).  Another son Benjamin Burrill (1782-1857), 4th great grandfahter, grew up in Fairfield and took on farming, just like the Colemores, Emerys, Sibleys, and Osborns who were his neighbors.  I have yet to establish proof that Benjamin is the son of Bela (an established John Alden descendant), but other applications to the Mayflower Society have succeeded for Benjamin's descendants in the past. 

In 1803, Benjamin married Margaret Sibley, daughter of English, French Huguenot and Nova Scotian immigrants, and they had five children.  In July 1825, he sued his brother Hull for a fraudulent conveyance of 82 acres of land in Canaan Hull had sold to him when he didn't actually own the property.  Hull never showed up in court, and Benjamin was awarded his money back. [Source:  Somerset County Court Records].

Benjamin's daughter, Lydia Burrill (1806-1854) married local farmer Jacob Osborn, son to sea captain Isaac Osborn (Rev War veteran and transplant from East Hampton, Long Island) and Sarah Wyman (Isaac's brother Ephraim married Sarah's sister Lydia - who was a cousin to Polly Wyman, Hull Burrill's wife!). 

Jacob died very young, and only a few years after marriage.  A couple of years later Lydia married Jacob's own younger brother Timothy Osborn (1805-1898), pictured below:

Their daughter Lydia Osborn married Charles Samuel Fuller (who was Timothy's cousin!).  Lydia and Charles were my 2nd great grandparents.

***

As is often the case with early New England families, another set of Burrills figure in to the family:

My third great grandfather, John Holland, whose nephew, James Madison Bell, married Sylvia Belle Burrill, who was also a descendant of immigrant John Burwell (Sylvia was also a descendant of the same Bean family from Scotland as the ancestors of Samuel Bean Fuller, father to Charles Fuller mentioned above!

Below is a pedigree chart of Lydia Burrill-Osborn-Osborn.  She was 25% French, 75% English.

The Osborns of Kent

The Osborn(e) family name has many roots going back to Ireland, Scotland, and England.  My Osborn ancestors came from Ashford, Kent, England.  

My 2nd great grandmother, Lydia Osborn-Fuller (1845-1918), was born in Waterville, Maine to Timothy Osborn (1805-1898) & Lydia Burrill (1806-1854) of Winslow, Maine.

LYDIA OSBORN-FULLER

(ca.  1890)

TIMOTHY OSBORN

(ca. 1880)

Lydia Osborn married Charles Samuel Fuller (1835-1878), son to Samuel Bean Fuller and Saran Ann Osborn.  Sarah Ann was Lydia's cousin, since Timothy (Lydia's father) was son to sea captain Isaac Osborn, brother to Sarah's father, Ephraim Osborn (whose wife was Lydia Wyman of Bowdoinham).

Ephraim, Isaac, and their father, Jedediah Osborn, were all East Hampton, Long Island veterans of the Revolutionary War.  Ephraim & Isaac (brothers who were also my 4th great grandfathers) moved to Winslow Maine and each married the Wyman sisters, and eventually settled in Fairfield, Maine (which was then deemed 'wilderness'), and lived farmers' lives. 

More on Ephraim's story and progeny can be found here.

More on Isaac's story and progeny can be found here.


Their father, Jedediah Osborn (1721-1786), my 5th great grandfather, was the eldest of 11 children born to Josiah Osborn (1697-1754) & Sarah Flint (1700-1758) of East Hampton.  Jedediah was a miller, and inherited the mill from his father.  Jedediah married Deborah Miller.  Jedediah's brother, Jonathan the sea captain, married Mary Miller, Deborah's sister.

Josiah Osborn (1697-1754), my 6th great grandfather, was born to Ephraim Osborn (1666-1744) and Elizabeth Miller (1666-1743), also of East Hampton.  This Ephraim was the first of six Ephraims in his direct line.  Ephraim the Sixth died in 1929 in Battle Creek, Michigan.

Ephraim's parents were John Osborne from Ashford, Kent, England and Miriam Hand of East Hampton.  John came from Kent with his parents, Thomas Osborne & Mary Goatley, and settled in New York.  There are no ship records for them that I can locate at present, but there does appear to be a Thomas Osborn of correct age listed as a settler of Jamestown, having landed there in 1620 on the Francis Bonadventure.  Thomas's line has been well traced for at least five generations, and everyone was from Ashford.  The furthest back that this line has been traced by genealogists is to John Osborne, born 1468 in Ashford.  I'm definitely curious if I'm related to rocker Ozzy Osbourne.  I'm hoping "Who Do You Think You Are" does a feature on him one day.  If his origins are also Kent, then it's most definite.

Another Thomas Osborne in my line (my 11th great grandfather) had a mother named Jane Broughton, who was descended from the DeVeres of Hedingham Castle.

Osborn Origins is a site that traces many of the seemingly infinite Osborn lines.

Cousins Marrying? Why Not!

Poor Arthur Fuller. There were so many instances of his ancestors marrying as cousins, I made a valiant attempt at keeping a geek record of them, although most of them involve his royal ancestry:

1. Welsh sisters Isabel and Maud Marshall had great grandchildren that married, to produce Elizabeth DeBeauchamp, born in 1305.

2. English Roger DeClare's Great Great Grandson married his own Great Great Great Grandaughter, also to produce Elizabeth DeBeauchamp (poor Liz).

3. In the 1460's, John Stewart of Scotland married twice, and one kid from each marriage ended up with grandkids that married, to produce William Sutherland in 1558.

4. William Sutherland and Janet Innes of Scotland had two children, William and Elizabeth. William Jr’s. great granddaughter, Janet Sutherland, married Elizabeth’s great grandson, Henry Sinclair.

5. In the 1540's, George and Elizabeth Sinclair of Scotland had two kids, whose kids married, producing John Sinkler in 1630.

6. Two offspring of King Edward the Elder of England (Edward I the Elder and Elgiva), both half-siblings, got married and gave birth to Edgar the Peaceful. What’s more, Elgiva was a 4th generation maternal descendant, and 3rd generation paternal descendant, of King Ethelwolf of Wessex.

7. Back in 1780, two Osborn brothers from East Hampton NY married two Wyman sisters from Maine. Not an uncommon event, in and of itself, but THEIR grandkids ended up marrying each other to produce...guess who...Arthur Fuller, in 1868!

8. Thomas Perkins, born in 1475 in England had two kids, Alice and Henry, who supposedly married and had a kid, Thomas.

9. Fergus Lord and Elizabeth of England had two children, Gilbert and Margaret DeGalloway. They each had two kids that married, to produce Neil Carrick, born in Scotland, 1202. Neil was father to Margaret Carrick, was father to King Robert I of Scotland.

10. To make matters worse, Margaret DeGalloway was also grandmother to Neil Carrick’s wife, Margaret Stewart.

11. The parents of Alexander Sutherland (born 1534) are each 8th generation descendants of two separate daughters of King Robert the Bruce.

12. English brother and sister Marjory and David DeHuntingdon were each great grandparents to each of King Robert’s parents.

13. Aethelred the Unready had many children. One of them, his daughter Elfgifu, had a granddaughter, Ealdgyth, who married Aethelred’s son, King Edmund, to produce Prince Edward the Exile in 1016.

14.  John MacBean had two wives.  From his first wife, Hannah Lissen, he had a daughter Mary.  From his second wife, Margaret the indentured servant, he had a son Daniel.  Mary and Daniel's grandkids married to produce David Bean, Revolutionary War patriot.