Richard Stratton - Two Years in Watertown

     Richard Stratton, my 8th great-grandfather lived in the Massachusetts Colony for about 26 months.  In that time a few records about him have survived.   
     Richard Stratton was a son of Samuel Stratton.  Samuel had arrived in Watertown, Massachusetts sometime before 1647.  Samuel had settled in Watertown with his wife, Alice and two of his sons, Samuel and John.  Richard Stratton arrived in Massachusetts in late spring or early summer of 1656, aboard the Speedwell.   

1656 A lyst of the passengers aboard the Speedwell of London
Robert Lock Master bound for New England¹

     The next two documents pertaining to Richard appear in the records of Watertown, Massachusetts².  On April 8, 1658, a son named, Samuel, is born to Richard and Susannah Stratton in Watertown.  A little less than four months later, Richard Stratton died.   

Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850

     Richard's death gives rise to the last record, a Probate record, regarding Richard.  According to A Book of Strattons³, Richard's estate left no land to his wife or son.  

     Richard's wife remarried a few years later and lived in Concord, Massachusetts.  Richard's son, Samuel, was mentioned in his grandfather, Samuel's will and Samuel received land when he became of age. 

     Richard is most likely buried in the Old Burying Place in Watertown since it was the active cemetery at that time.  The land that Samuel Stratton owned was in close proximity.

Standing near some Stratton graves at the Old Burying Place in Watertown

1. "The passenger list of the "Speedwell," 1656 - Beinecke Rare ..." 2013. 3 Aug. 2014 <http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3522732>
2. Massachusetts Vital Records to 1850 (Online Database: AmericanAncestors.org, New England Historic Genealogical Society, 2001-2010).
3.  Stratton, Harriet Russell, A Book of Strattons; being a collection of Stratton records from England and Scotland, and a genealogical history of the early colonial Strattons in America, with five generations of their descendants Volume 1, The Grafton Press, New York, 1908

No Legend in this Sleepy Hollow

     It is that time of year again.  It is a time for scary movies and stories.  One such story that has endured almost two hundred years is the Washington Irving short story "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" with the Headless Horseman.  There is also a new television show called Sleepy Hollow.  Wouldn't it be sort of cool if our ancestor was buried in the real Sleepy Hollow?
     I have located the graves of a few of my Stratton ancestors.  Mary Stratton Fox is buried in Buckingham Cemetery in Glastonbury, Connecticut.  Her grandfather, Enoch Stratton is buried just down the road in Old Eastbury Cemetery, but I haven't been able to locate any other Stratton graves.  The first two generation of Strattons in Massachusetts are probable buried somewhere in Watertown or Cambridge but the third generation Stratton, Samuel should be buried somewhere in or near Concord, where he passed away.

"Concord, Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Towns Records, 1627-2001." Images. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org : accessed 2013.

     There are three cemeteries in Concord: South Burying Place, Old Hill Burying Ground, and Sleepy Hollow.   Sleepy Hollow is a large and interesting cemetery but unfortunately Samuel is not buried there.  The town started using Sleepy Hollow as a burial place about one-hundred years after Samuel died.  I haven't found a listing for Samuel Stratton in the other Concord cemeteries, both of which were in use at the time of his death.
     Even if Samuel Stratton was buried in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord he wouldn't have been buried where the Headless Horseman was located.  That Sleepy Hollow is in New York, not Massachusetts.

    [Note: A number of famous authors are buried in Concord's Sleepy Hollow Cemetery including:  Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau.]  

Problems Encountered With the Strattons in Concord

     The “Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Town Records, 1627-2001” ¹ database on familysearch.org was recently updated.  Since my ancestor, Samuel Stratton had lived in Watertown, Massachusetts and owned land in Concord, I ended up looking for Strattons in Concord.  While browsing the death records I found the following page. (a transcription follows)

Judah Stratton Son of Samuel & Mary     Mar 11, 1667/8
John Stratton Son of Saml & Mary June 9, 1670
John Stratton Son of Saml & Mary Apr 29, 1672
Mary Stratton Wife of Samuel Oct 27, 1674
Joseph Stratton Son of Saml & Hannah  Dec 9, 1693
Samuel Stratton Hus of Hannah (deceased)  Dec 5, 1707
Samuel Stratton Son of Saml & Ruth Jan 28, 1715/6
Samuel Stratton Hus of Elizabeth Nov 30, 1717
Mary Stratton Dau of Saml & Ruth Jan 5, 1717/8
Sarah Stratton Dau of Saml & Sarah Feb 3, 1722/3
Samuel Stratton Hus of Ruth Oct 11, 1726

This page demonstrates problems that are encountered while researching ancestors: Name Abbreviations, Same Names, Multiple Spouses, Children with same name, and Double Dates.

Name Abbreviations  Many names were written in a shorten form: Wm for William, Jas for James, Saml for Samuel, and Jno for John or Jonathan.  In the image above the l in Saml for Samuel is raised and underlined. I haven’t ben able to find that symbol or equivalent on the computer.

Same Name Samuel & Mary, Samuel & Hannah, Samuel & Ruth, and Samuel & Sarah...  How many men named Samuel Stratton are there?  The first Samuel Stratton in Massachusetts had three sons with one named Samuel.  Each of those sons had a son named Samuel.  Keeping track of those Samuels can be a big puzzle. There were at least fourteen Samuels in the first five generation in the Watertown and Concord region.

Multiple Spouses One Samuel Stratton married Mary and when she died he married Hannah.  He had children with both wives.  That particular Samuel shows up in six of the entries.

Children with the same name As I was getting ready to post this blog I noticed that my cousin, Rick Platt², had posted this same issue on his blog earlier today.  If a child died then it wasn’t uncommon to name a later child with the same name. In the document above there are two John Strattons with death dates two years apart. That is not a mistake but rather two different boys. One died before the second was born.  (A few generations later my Mary Stratton Fox had a son, Chester who died two weeks after his brother was born.  The new son was baptized as Chester.)

Double Dates The first day of the year used to be March 25.  In 1582 the calendar was adjusted in part of the world but not in England and its colonis.  It wasn’t until 1752 that the colonies came into compliance with the current calendar. Consequently after 1752 when we write dates between Jan 1 and Mar 24 from the earlier time period we should write them like Jan 19, 1707/8.  It can be a little confusing.  
The first two sections on the following webpage has a good explanation of the Double Dates problem.  http://usgenweb.org/research/calendar.shtml


1.  "Massachusetts, Town Clerk, Vital and Towns Records, 1627-2001." Images. FamilySearch. https://familysearch.org : accessed 2013


2.  http://www.ohioancestors.us/2013/10/solvedthiermysterypart7.html