STEVEN FLANDERS appears to have arrived in this country between 1623-1648, and is first found as a resident of Gorgeana, Maine, now known as York. He then moved to Salisbury, Massachusetts, in 1649-50 and became active in town affairs there. There is no record of his ever becoming a Freeman because church membership was a requirement and Steven never joined a church. However, on February 8, 1651, he did take the "Oath of Fidelitie." His occupation was that of planter or farmer. He was a man of education because he could read and sign his name, and he seems to have parlayed this education into some wealth. In 1650 his holdings were an acre and a half for a house lot, while in 1684 at the time of his death (June 27, 1684, in Salisbury) he owned 74 acres of land and his estate was valued at 300 pounds. He married JANE SANDUSKY prior to 1646. It is not known was her last name was, but she was supposed to have been a Christianized Indian, possibly of the Sandusky tribe.
I took the facts on hand to the Mashentucket Pequot reservation in Ledyard, CT, and asked the historian for advice. The information I received was this: As early as the late 1500's, the Sandusky tribe lived on the banks of the Sandusky River in Ohio. For some reason the tribe splintered and went in opposite directions; some to OKlahoma; the rest to New York. The New York tribe was absorbed into the Iriquois tribe. Some of the early missionaries from Jamestown reached that area and took some of the tribe to upper New England to be Christianized. As tradition says that Jane was a Christianized Indian, it is highly likely that she was an Iriquois of Sandusky descent. And also explains why she would have been in that area when Steven Flanders arrived. Jane Flanders died in Salisbury on November 19, 1683.
STEVEN FLANDERS JR was born March 8, 1646, and died prior to May 29, 1689. On December 28, 1670, he married ABIGAIL CARTER, daughter of Thomas and Mary (Parkhurst) Carter of Salisbury. Mary Parkhurst was the daughter of George Parkhurst and Phebe Leete. Abigail was born November 1652 and was living in 1747.
JOSEPH FLANDERS was born March 28, 1677, and died December 29, 1734, both at Salisbury, Mass. He married his second wife HANNAH ----- on June 1703. She died May 5, 1714, in Salisbury. Joseph was a potter and took part in the scouting service according to the Order Book of Capt. Henry True, Jr.
RICHARD FLANDERS was born November 28, 1712, at Salisbury (I have no death date), and married MERCY WHITNEY at Newbury, Mass., on August 19, 1740. Richard was a private on the muster roll of the Officers and Men in Capt. Samuel Gerrish's Co., in Col. Frye's Regt., in service in the Province of Nova Scotia after the 1st of Januray, 1760. I have no other information on Mercy.
JOHN FLANDERS was born October 17, 1743, at Newbury, Mass., and married SARAH HILLMAN on January 27, 1769. Sarah was the daughter of Joseph Hillman and Keziah Norton of Martha's Vineyard. She was born in 1745 and died in Wilton, Maine, on September 16, 1821. John was still living in 1821 and it is assumed that he died in Wilton, Maine, also, but there is no record of death for him there. John was on the payroll of Capt. Benjamin Smith's Co. in the Seacoast Defence of Martha's Vineyard. I have a copy of his pension application in which he describes himself as "very old and very sick." I've been trying to determine why John and Sarah went to Wilton. There were a lot of Nortons living there at that time in the early 1800's so my guess is that they went to be with some of Sarah's relatives.
JOHN FLANDERS JR was born September 14, 1769, and died April 25, 1837, both at Chilmark, Martha's Vineyard. He was married on December 23, 1792, to HANNAH TILTON, daughter of Stephen Tilton and Rebecca Tilton. Hannah was born April 4, 1770. I have no death date for her. John was a tanner by trade.
SAMUEL FLANDERS was born June 4, 1808 (from his death certificate; the 1850 census says 1809), at Chilmark and died November 16, 1902, at West Tisbury, Martha's Vineyard. On April 2, 1837, he married KEZIAH FANNING LAMBERT, daughter of Abisha Lambert and Hepsibah Coffin. The Lambert name has also been seen as Lumbert and Lombard. Keziah was born August 4, 1817, and died June 17, 1808 (death certificate), both at Chilmark. Samuel was the lighthouse keeper at Gay Head for a period of 13 years. In 1903 Samuel and Keziah celebrated their sixty-fifth wedding anniversary. They had 13 children. Keziah was named for her cousin Keziah Coffin Fanning, whose extensive diary provided much of the history of the island of Nantucket.
SAMUEL HOWARD FLANDERS, known as Howard or "Pop", was born at the Gay Head Lighthouse on June 13, 1860, and died in Oak Bluffs, Martha's Vineyard on June 2, 1847 (death certificate). On October 5, 1886, he married NANCIE LILLIAN HAMMETT, who had traveled alone to Dubuque, Iowa, to marry him. Samuel was working at the Bradstreet Company in Dubuque. Nancie, who always went by Lillian, was the daughter of Franklin Hammet Jr and Nancie Lambert Tilton. Sam Howard was described by his son as having a bit of wanderlust in him. He went to Alaska as part of the gold stampede, met men such as the author Jack London, and was highly regarded as one of the most honest men of his time.
KENNETH AINSWORTH FLANDERS was born July 8, 1893, in Chilmark, and died November 7, 1965, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in a car crash which also claimed the life of his second wife. On September 20, 1919, he married his first wife, MARY HUGHES LAVARE, daughter of William Taber Lavare and Elizabeth Lewis. This marriage took place in Norwood, Mass. Mary was in the Army Nurse Corps in WW1, and later taught at the Forman School in Litchfield, CT. Ken was a high school, then Brown University baseball pitching star. He was a very popular man and was written up in many publications. Mary was born in New Bedford, Mass., on October 22, 1894, and died in Pinellas Park, Florida, on June 29, 1982. Both Ken and Mary were devout Christian Scientists.
© 1997 karene1@webtv.net
Get your own Free Home Page