Friday, June 12, 2009

Feather and Fan pattern

FEATHER AND FANWorks on multiples of 18 stitches.Row one: Knit.Row two: Purl.Row three: Knit two together three times, (yarn over, knit one) six times, knit two together three times. Repeat across the row.Row four: Knit.Repeat these four rows for pattern.A variation of Feather and Fan adds two stitches (worked on multiples of 18 plus two). Simply knit the first and last stitch on row three.

Saturday, June 6, 2009

Paul Leonard and Mary Allis Kitchel

The Family Kitchel by Virginia C. Jansen 22 February 2002 Hist314 WSU/TC 

Robert, the patriarch of the Kitchel family in the United States, was baptized on 25 October 1601 to John and Joan Jordan in Beckenham, Kent, England. His father died when Robert was a few months old and his mother remarried first to Richard Lake and secondly to Rev. Edmund Sheafe. 

Robert grew up as a young man in Kent in a class of yeoman who were holders of land. He was the only son and youngest child and was educated in the style of that time. As a young man he married a Jane, but no last name of his wife has emerged. The marriage to Jane occurred before 1629 when she was given as Robert's wife in a "feet of fines" and is presumed to have died before 1631; no children survived.
Robert married secondly on 17 May 1632 Margaret, daughter of Richard Sheaffe and Margery Roberts, at St. Marys Brendin, Canterbury. 

At this time in England, the reign of Charles I supported the High Anglican Church and to a lesser degree the Catholic Church. The government's campaign which began in 1633 was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud to eliminate England's religious dissenter 

Church services were disrupted, churches dissolved and ministers deported. Many dissenters believed that salvation was no longer possible in England. And their only choice was to be delivered to homes beyond the sea. 

Robert Kitchel and a company of Puritan believers set sail from England on 26 April 1639 on the vessel St. John for New England. While at sea the company drew up a covenant to rule them in the New World. The Plantation Covenant which stated they would settle in the "smoothly" part of New England about Quinnipiac and would promise to help each other, and join in making one plantation by Robert Kitchel was the first signature followed by the other 24 men in their group but none of the servants. 

Traveling with Robert was his wife Margery, five year old son Samuel and probably infant daughter Joan as there has not been found a record of her birth in New England. Within two months of their arrival in Quinnipiac (now New Haven) the Puritans agreed to buy land from the Menunkatuck Indian Tribe, which lay along the border of the Long Island Sound to the eastward. The land was similar to that which they farmed in England; and, of equal importance, it was outside the jurisdiction of the Connecticut Colony. 

Six of the men were selected to draw up a deed in the Plantation's name and acquire the desired land. Those elected were: Henry Whitfield, Robert Kitchel, William Leete, William Chittenden, John Bishop and John Coffinge. 

They were in charge of paying the Indians in trade goods and proportionate shares were expanded for public business. The new place was named Guilford after the capital of Surrey County, where many of the company had lived in England. 

On 17 December 1641, they purchased land that was called the Neck, laying eastwardly to Tuckishiag Pond. At a meeting held on 2 February 1642, it was agreed that the civil power for the administration of justice and preservation of peace should be in the hands of Robert Kitchel, William Chittenden, John Bishop and William Leete, 

This administration lasted until 19 April 1643, when they resigned and turned the power over to the local church. A constitution was adopted, officers were elected, land was divided, deeds were given and Guilford became a member of the confederate New Haven Colony. 

Robert Kitchel's family was small for that time;
Samuel born 1633, Harman born 1634 but died before the family immigrated, Joan by about 1639 and Sarah born after they arrived in Guilford and died in 1651. 

The family flourished in New England with education, freedom of religion and self government being of greatest importance. The New Haven Colony felt that with Massachusetts having established Harvard College, that they should also have their own college. Collectors were appointed to insure that each family would provide a peck a wheat or its equal vent for the establishment of their college: Yale. Robert Kitchel was appointed to collect husked corn, known as "college corn", as annual assessment for each family to support the struggling scholars. 

The New Haven Colony's separate existence came to an end in 1662 When King Charles II united Connecticut River towns and New Haven Into one Connecticut Colony. Robert Kitchel and a number of his friends were outraged over the loss of control of their civil and religious affairs being given over to the new governor John Winthrop they opened negotiations with Governor Carteret of New Jersey. 

The leaders of this group were Robert Kitchel and his son Samuel of Guilford, Robert Treat of Milford and Rev. Abraham Pierson of Branford. After inspection of the land along the Passaic River in New Jersey including the original site of Newark, the site was purchased for one hundred thirty pounds in New England currency, twelve Indian blankets and twelve guns. On 30 October 1665 in Bradford, the group formulated another Plantation Covenant. 

Robert and Samuel Kitchel and Obadiah Bruen were among the forty-one men from Guilford, Milford and New London to sign the Agreements as was Rev. Abraham Pierson and twenty-three men from Branford. These families were to move to Newark, New Jersey in 1666. 

Samuel had grown up in the Puritan Plantation, taking the oath as a Fidelity to conform himself as a freeman with full civil rights as a citizen, having civil and private rights of Guilford. Samuel married Elizabeth, daughter of John Wakeman and Elizabeth Hopkins, on 11 March 1656 in New Haven. 

They made their home in New Haven where Samuel farmed. They had four children while they lived in New Haven: Sarah born 1657, died 1657/8; Elizabeth born 1659, married first Seth Thopkins and second John Bruen; Abigail born 1661, married John Ward; and
Samuel Jr. about 1662 and died about 1693. 

In 1662 Samuel moved his family to Guilford and became active in the plantation, serving as town agent and clerk. Born to Samuel and Elizabeth in Guilford were Mary Allis in 1663, married Josiah Ward, died in 1684 and Susanna born about 1665, married Jonathan Baldwin and died after 1709. 

As result of the Royal Charter of 1662, the General Court at Hartford designated Samuel ensign of Guilford until his departure in 1667. Samuel's wife Elizabeth Wakeman died in 1665 at Guilford. 

After the death of Elizabeth
, Samuel married Grace, born 13 July 1650, daughter of Rev. Abraham Pierson Sr. and Abigail Mitchell, in 1666 at Guilford. (Her brother Abraham Jr. was the first president of Yale.) The family left that year to settle in Newark, New Jersey and had children Grace born 1666, Newark, married Jonathan Bell, died 1694; Bethial born about 1669, probably died young and Abraham born 1679 Newark. 

The family were among the second group of settlers to land at the bay of Newark in May 1667. The bill of sale between the representatives of the Puritan group and a number of Hakinsack Indians for the tract of land was executed in July 1667. Signers representing the Puritans in this transaction were Samuel Kitchel, Obadiah Bruen, Michael Tomkins, John Browne and Robert Denison. (A copy of the deed has been found in East Jersey Records.) The settlers of Newark escaped serious Indian troubles that plagued other settlements. It has been a proud boast of New Jersey that every acre of land was purchased from the Indians. 

The Newark Puritans sought only self-government and the right to a protestant doctrine, but to achieve those aims there was a constant struggle between the townspeople and the regimes of the English and Dutch who had control over the area at alternate times. 

The records of the town of Newark until 1688 reflect that Samuel Kitchel was active in the affairs of the plantation. He was elected to positions of arbitrator, supervisor of working teams, town accountant, constable, grand juror, magistrate and ownsman (equivalent to current city councilman) and others. 

R
obert Kitchel lived until 1672 and died in Newark, having lived to see some of his dreams of a New World where man could be free, come true. In April 1682, Margaret Sheafe Kitchel died at the home of her daughter, Joannna Peck, in Greenwich, Connecticut. Samuel and Grace Pierson Kitchel both died in the year 1690 in Newark. 

The eldest son, Samuel Jr., was alive in 1684 but there was no further trace of him or any of his descendants found. The family was easy to trace in the early years in the New World because there was only one male surviving that produced heirs. 

Samuel Kitchel's youngest child, Abraham, was born in Newark and lived there until he was thirty-one years of age then removed to Hanover Township, Morris County, New Jersey. In 1703, Abraham married Sarah daughter of John Bruen, at Newark. 

Their children born in Newark were: Samuel born 6 January 1705, died 19 November 1732; Grace born 10 March 1708, married Daniel Lindsley and died 12 September 1777 in Morris County; and Joseph (later Judge) born 25 January 1712, married 1734 Rachel daughter of Thomas Bates and Abigail or Elizabeth (blank) in Hanover and died 22 March 1779 in Parsippany, Morris County. Children born in Morris County were: John born 2 February 1714, married three times and died 9 January 1777; Mary Allis born July 1715, married Paul Leonard and died 29 March 1762 in Parsippany; Abigail born November 1717, married first in 1734 Edmund Crane and second in 1762 Paul Leonard, the widowed husband of her sister Mary Allis, and died 20 August 1801 in Whippany; and David born 7 November 1723, married 1745 Ruth Tuttle and died 28 December 1753 in Whippany. 

Genealogy: figuring out my family's "Paul Leonard"

Quellen-Verweis NF16022 : 

Personen : Kitchell MosesLeonard Phoebe
Notes from tree posted at Ancestry.com by "Starchild", starchild@@linkamerica.net
Entered Nov 9, 2003.
"The classic book 'Descendants of Robert Kitchel' by H.D. Kitchel, does not name Moses Kitchel's wife or descendants. About 1900 DAR applications by descendants of Moses Kitchel's daughters, who went from Cincinnati, Hamilton Co., OH to Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN by 1830, listed Phoebe Hedges as the wife of Moses Kitchel (1740-1817). She was supposed to be the daughter of Elias Hedges, a wagoneer in the Revolutionary War, and a sister of his son Elias Hedges of Hamilton Co., OH. Subsequent investigations have shown that Elias Hedges, the wagoneer, was a lone emigrant from Long Island to New Jersey and was actually younger than Moses' wife Phoebe.
One record that could be the basis of this claim is the appointment in 1775 of Moses Kitchel as guardian of Samuel B. Hedges, the son of John (deceased 1774) and Elizabeth Hedges of Morris Co., NJ. The guardianship appears to have been for the purpose of training as legal apprentice for Samuel, who was a Judge in Morris Co. for many years. Candidate fathers for Phoebe are: Gideon and Lemuel Hedges who came to Hanover twp. from Long Island before 1742 when Phoebe was born and Uriah Hedges who came early from Long Island to Essex Co., NJ. In spite of much research into the Hedges families of Long Island, no other evidence for the existence of Phoebe Hedges has been found.
Van Mater: attempts to use the given names of Moses and Phoebe Kitchel's three oldest sons: Luther, Calvin and Cyrenius, as clues for Phoebe's surname have failed so far. The names are not traditional Kitchel given names and appear to be mainly of religious significance. Since Moses' father, Judge Joseph Kitchel, named his sons after books of the Bible, Moses may have given his sons reformation and renaissance names. The possibility of Phoebe being of Dutch Reformed origin led to the consideration of Cyrenius Van Mater of Monmouth co., NJ as her father, but the baptismal record of his children and his will, which mentions his daughters, do not reveal a Phoebe Van Mater.
The case for Phoebe Leonard as wife of Moses Kitchel:
If Phoebe Leonard married about 1761, Moses Kitchel, of Hanover Twp., Morris co., NJ, then she was a daughter of Moses' aunt Mary Allis Kitchel (1715-1762) and Paul Leonard (1706-1777). After his wife's death, Paul Leonard married Abigail, widow of Edmund Crane, who died in 1762, leaving seven children. The widow, Abigail Crane was born Abigail Kitchel, in 1717, a sister of Phoebe's mother, Mary Allis Kitchel and Moses' father, Joseph Kitchel. Paul and Abigail then moved to Alexandria Twp, Hunterdon Co., NJ and had two more children, Adam and Peter Leonard.
Phoebe and her brothers, James and David Leonard, were born before Hanover baptisms began in 1744. Her brother, James, married in 1759, Rachel Dayton, who witnessed the will of Moses Kitchel's father Joseph in 1778 as Rachel Leonard. Both Moses and Phoebe signed the partition of Joseph's estate.
Phoebe named a daughter Mary after her mother.

Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Garage Sale Success

Four of my knitting friends and I had a two-day garage sale last weekend, and it was a wonderful success, and a lot of fun.  I managed to get rid of three pickup truckloads of "stuff" -- a very liberating experience.  I sold toys, games, puzzles, stuffed animals, dolls, books, yarn, knitted items, clothing, glassware, a "Jesse Ventura" doll, a Mermaid Barbie doll, two dollhouses and furniture, Star Wars, Playmobil, and Legos.  I brought home some items that did not sell and that I did not want to abandon to the Crowded Closet.  
This week I am reorganizing at home, and there are lots of empty plastic containers in the cellar now.  However, we still have a lot of stuff.

Monday, April 13, 2009

Spring brings flowers, green grass, leaves, and new ways to think about life

Mid-April:
Daffodils, crocusses, and squill in blossom, withstanding a random assault by sleet.
Soggy leaves ready to be loaded into the back of the pickup for a trip to the dump.
New grass emerging where our giant oak tree was removed last year after suffering the indignity of a quick death by infection and insects.
Tuesdays are a day of mind shaping, in cognitive therapy.  I not only don't feel so stupid anymore, but I also am making progress in feeling and behaving in more functional ways.  What a joy!  It is impossible to think clearly when the amygdala gets activated.  Taming it, my "rat brain" as Nick refers to it, is possible and definitely preferable to living with the idea that my brain injury scrambled my thinking and my mood permanently.  

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Venture forth

I managed to rake a couple of beds in the garden yesterday and the day before.  The weather was mild, and it felt good to get outside.  Now I just need to get outside of my damned head.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Sunlight and going outside

I moved my worktable to a corner of the kitchen where there is a lot of sunshine, and it actually helped me focus on organizing bills and other paperwork.  I know that getting outdoors and into the sunshine would probably help me in all kinds of ways, yet I keep retreating to an inner, darker place, as if to hide from the world.  As my garden thaws, perhaps it will lure me, but for now I can barely leave the house except to go to my knitting group, and occasionally to go run errands.  Today I need to go to the grocery store, and I hope to make it to Craft Guild knitting group.   I know I have depression, and I know I could do something about it, but I am just not interested right now.