Conversations with a Cousin, Part Three: Family Group Sheet for Samuel Narramore (c. 1680 - c. 1754)

Another "Family Group Sheet" style of post, this time for Samuel Narramore (c. 1680 - c. 1754).

Father:  Samuel Narramore

• No birth record.  Baptized on May 29, 1681 at Boston's Second Church.  Son of Thomas and Hannah (Smith) Narramore.
• No marriage record.  Vital records of Lynn, Massachusetts show that intentions were filed between Samuel "Narremore" of Charlestown and Rachel "Paull" on April 7, 1705. 
• Occupation:  weaver / farmer 
• No death record.  Died in Killingly, Connecticut between February 9, 1751 and October 15, 1754.  In fulfillment of the 1746 "Artakels of Agreement", he sold his farm to his son-in-law James Dike in December 1750, and the deed was recorded on February 9, 1751 with the note that it was "to be keept on file til ye Grantors Deseas".  The deed was officially recorded on October 15, 1754.  
• Burial at Dike Family Cemetery, corner of Gawron and Brandy Hill roads in Thompson, Connecticut (Thompson was set off from Killingly in 1785).  In a letter dated August 13, 1897 from descendant Samuel Dike of Auburndale, Massachusetts to Walter Sperry, Samuel states:  "Samuel and Rachel Narramore were undoubtedly buried in or just outside of the present family burying ground on this farm 75 rods north of the house, now at the corner of two roads.  But the graves of a few of the earliest burials were not marked, except by rough field stones and cannot now be identified.  But that of James Dike and his wife Mary Narramore had been fixed and some years ago their descendants placed a stone with lettering etc.  The burying ground, about 60 x 125 ft., is now well kept".

 Mother:  Rachel Paul

• No birth record.  Probably born at Malden, Massachusetts, where her parents, John Paul and Lydia Jenkins, were married and where the births of some of her siblings were recorded.  Rachel's parentage has been established through later deeds that show her to be the sister of known children of John and Lydia Paul.  According to the book Lost Lives, New Voices:  Unlocking the Stories of the Scottish Soldiers at the Battle of Dunbar 1650, John Paul was a Dunbar prisoner of war who was transported to the colonies on board the Unity.  More on that episode here.
• Married (intentions filed) at Lynn, Massachusetts on April 9, 1705 to Samuel Narramore.
• Died after November 5, 1746, and likely before December 14, 1750.  The "x" mark of "Rachel Narrowmore" is on the 1746 Artakels, but only Samuel signed the 1750 deed.  In this light, it may be significant that daughter Mary Naramore Dike gave birth to a daughter of her own on December 30, 1749 and named the child Rachel.

Chidren:  the first four are from Lynn, Massachusetts vital records, with the rest in Boston vital records.  Although possible that the family moved during this time, the Narramore property seems to have straddled what was then the Lynn/Boston line, in what is now the town of Saugus.

1. Samuel, b. October 9, 1706
2. Hannah, b. March 13, 1710.  She married Joseph Downing, son of John Downing and Joan Dispaw (and grandson of Malcolm Downing, another Dunbar prisoner of war), at Lynn, Massachusetts on January 31, 1738.  A Joseph Downing "of Lynn" sold land bordering the old Narramore property in Thompson, Connectictut to James Dike in 1788.
3. Sarah, b. February 19, 1712.  Married on December 8, 1730 at Boston, Massachusetts to Samuel Breeden (the ceremony was performed by Samuel Checkley, JP, whose granddaughter Elizabeth was the wife of Revolutionary War firebrand Samuel Adams).  Their family remained in the area for generations.  The road on which they once lived, now in the town of Revere, is named Breeden's Lane.
4. Lydia, b. May 6, 1714.  She moved with her parents to Killingly, Connecticut and records of the North Parish show that she and her younger sister Mary were received into fellowship there on January 1, 1738.  This is the last record of Lydia.
5. Mary, b. July 6, 1716.  She married James Dike at Killingly, Connecticut on May 21, 1741 and they had six children.  Smallpox broke out in the town in late 1760 and James Dike's house was selected as a hospital, both because of its isolation and because he had already had the disease.  Accounts of the time speak of the floor of the farm's great kitchen being covered with patients.  Unfortunately, Mary Narramore Dike soon became one of those patients, dying there on February 17, 1761.  Her husband made her coffin and buried her alone. 
6. Rachel, b. June 22, 1720.  Probably died young.
7. John, b. August 20, 1722.  Probably died young. 

Various deeds from the late 1710s and early 1720s suggest that Samuel and Rachel lived on property inherited from her parents. At some point, I hope to look into it more closely, but at a very rough guess, I'd say their land may have been along the current Essex Street in Saugus, Massachusetts, somewhere in the vicinity of what is now (2019) the Square One Mall. 

On September 18, 1725, Samuel Narramore "from Boston, Old North" was received into communion in the "old church on Putnam Heights" in Killingly, Connecticut.  In 1729, he bought 60 acres in the north part of the town from Philip McIntyre - who, like Rachel, was also a child of one of the Dunbar prisoners.  On January 28, 1730, Samuel became one of the founding members of a new church in the "North Society" of Killingly (now Thompson).

At that time, the northern part of Killingly was a complete wilderness, quite different from the relative civilization of the Boston area, which had been settled by English colonists for nearly a century.  The experiences of the Munyan family, who left Salem for the same area just a few years earlier, may give some indication of both the reasons behind Samuel's move and the hardships he and his family would have encountered:

"Mr. Munyan was a weaver by trade, who had emigrated from England about 1700, but finding little demand for his labors, removed with wife, son and two daughters to this remote wilderness.  The journey was long and laborious; roads very poor; streams seldom bridged.  Six cows, ten sheep and four hogs, to stock the farm, shared the perils of the way.  Oxen were hired at the different villages to convey the cart of household goods from one settlement to another.  The old oak tree under which they encamped the night of their arrival, was found covered with wild turkeys in the morning . . . Wolves chased and worried the cattle; pine-knots were burned through the night to scare away wild beasts and Indians."

 - from a History of Windham County Connecticut:  1600 - 1760, by Ellen D. Larned