1620 Mayflower
We are descended from at least six of the original Mayflower passengers. Through the Abbott-Whitfield-Godfrey families, we are descended from Stephen Hopkins and his daughter Constance. Through the Allen-Bosworth families, we are descended from John Howland who married Elizabeth Tilley, and Elizabeth's parents, John and Joan Tilley. There may also be an ancestral connection to William Brewster, but I haven't been able to confirm.
1624-1664 New Amsterdam established, founded by the Dutch West India Company-family stories prove to be exaggerated.
Dutch settlers establish a colony, purchasing Manhattan from the Indigenous people and determining the layout and identity of the region. A wall was built across lower Manhattan under Dutch Governor Stuyvesant, the last of the Dutch Governors before New Amsterdam was taken over by the British. Family lore says that the original Wandell settlers had a farm on the site of what is now Wall Street and helped to build the wall, but the dates are difficult to reconcile. Johannes Wandell didn't arrive in New York until the 1700s. Another family story boasts that when the pilgrims set foot on Plymouth Rock, the Stillwells were there to sell them hot dogs! (a reference to them settling in Gravesend which became Coney Island). This is impossible as Nicholas Stilwell wasn't even there until 1645, 25 years after the pilgrims came.
1628 Augustine Warner arrives in Virginia, brought by Adam Thoroughgood.
Augustine and his wife Mary Townley were the grandparents of George Washington. They are also ancestors of Queen Elizabeth II, Meriwether Lewis, Robert E. Lee, and George Patton. Augustine was a prominent planter and politician. His grave is at Warner Hall in Gloucester, Virginia. Queen Elizabeth visited the home of her "American Cousins" when she came to America. We are direct descendants of him through his son Augustine II and Mildred Reade (whose father was Governor of Virginia) and their daughter Elizabeth, who married John Lewis. John and Elizabeth's son Colonel Charles Lilburn Lewis sold Chemokins plantation in Hanover County and moved to Goochland. Their offspring were connected to the Randolph and Jefferson families of Virginia. This is not a genealogical link, but a cool coincidence: Herman Lukhard who married my great aunt Miriam Abbott worked at Chemokins as a teenager - 300 years later!
1636 Providence, Rhode Island founded by Roger Williams
Roger Williams came to America with his new wife Mary Barnard from London, England in 1631. The young clergyman was welcomed to the new colony in Boston by Governor Winthrop. He would not join the congregation at Boston because of their support of the Church of England. As a Separatist he joined the pilgrims at Plymouth. There he befriended the natives and wrote a book about their language. During heated controversary about the King giving away native lands, he fled in exile to the Narragansett country of what later became Rhode Island. He founded the first Baptist Church in America. We have a double descendancy from Roger Williams through his son Daniel and his daughter Mary.
1644 Indian uprising in Virginia; Opecancanough captured.
Nicholas Stillwell fled to Holland from England due to religious persecution and became a soldier for Queen Elizabeth (Queen of Bohemia, The Winter Queen). He married the Queen's lady in waiting, Abigail Hopton in 1630. By 1635, he owned a house and plantation on the "east side of West Creek" (now Felgate's Creek) on the York River in Virginia on the site of the current U. S. Naval Weapons Station. He served in the military in Virginia and aided Governor Claiborne in MD in conflicts with natives. He was instrumental in the defeat of Powhatan Chief Opecancanough in 1644.
1645 Gravesend charter, Dutch Colony founded by Lady Deborah Moody
Nicholas Stillwell abandoned his plantation and moved to NY closer to the Dutch settlers. He obtained acreage in the Dutch Colony of Gravesend, near the present-day location of Coney Island.
1659-1663 First and Second Esopas Wars - Indians vs Dutch, New Amsterdam
Nicholas Stillwell, an experienced Indian fighter, served as lieutenant and commander of the expedition again Indians for Governor Stuyvesant.
1720 Hanover County established, breaking away from New Kent
Robert Allen was the last of the Allens to be born in Hanover before the family began to migrate from to Mecklenburg and Lunenburg Counties in Southside Virginia and to North Carolina. His wife was Elizabeth Young Stokes. Both died in Grandville, NC.
1737 Wall Street developing as a center of trade and commerce.
Johannes Wandell arrived from Holland in 1737. The Wandell family was instrumental in establishing and building New Amsterdam. They became wealthy and well-connected through their shipping business on the Hudson River. Our surnames Wandell, Haight, Stillwell, Hall, Allen, King, and Connable are among the notable names in early New York City.
1772 Gaspee Affair, RI, Sons of Liberty
Capt. Samuel Godfrey met with the rest the Sons of Liberty at Joseph Sabin's tavern in Providence RI to plan a secret attack on the British ship, the Gaspee, at night. They successfully carried out the attack and set the ship afire. Note: this predated the 1773 Boston Tea Party.
1776 Revolutionary War
1777-78 Continental Army at Valley Forge
Johannes Wandell served as quartermaster under George Washington. According to family lore, he supplied a wagon load of shoes for the soldiers at Valley Forge from his plantation in NY, made by his slaves, from leather that he supplied. Washington personally signed his army discharge papers which are currently held in storage at Washington Headquarters museum in Newburgh NY.
1779 Loyalist Frederick Philipse III arrested for treason and vast land holdings seized.
Our ancestor, William Haight, was one of many sharecroppers on the estate of Frederick Philipse. When Philipse was exiled back to England, William was able to purchase some of the land. This land is now part of Philipsburg, near Ossining NY. William's hospitality is mentioned in the journal of Deborah Sampson, who disguised herself as a man to fight in the Revolutionary War.
1781 Jack Jouett’s ride; Jefferson warned.
1780-1820 Post-War movement west (land)
Charles Wesley Wandell wrote a letter to his sister, Miriam Olivia Hall that he was glad to hear she was coming out west by railroad and covered wagon.
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1804-1806 Lewis and Clark expedition
1813 War of 1812
1830 Book of Mormon published
1850 American Bible Union is established, breaking away from the American Bible Society and developing a new translation of the Bible.
1862 Homestead Act
1861-1865 Civil War
1871 Railroad tracks across the Red River; Fargo
1874 Custer’s Expedition to the Black Hills; Gold discovered
1874 Grasshopper/Locust plague
1876 Battle of Little Bighorn
1877 U. S. violates the 1868 Fort Laramie agreement, seizing Lakota and Dakota lands
1883 Railroad connects Danville to Franklin to Norfolk
1885 Iowa State fair, Des Moines.
1888 Railroad extended to Jerusalem from Petersburg
1889 Ghost Dances
1890 Wounded Knee
1896-1916 Sisters Of Mercy establish hospital and nurses training school in Paris, Texas
1899 Railroad extended from Norfolk to Munden Point
1900 Land Rush in Kansas; TB outbreak in Wichita
1908 Old Fort Supply in Woodward, Oklahoma opens as a mental hospital
1912 Saint Joseph orphanage burns down in Wichita Kansas
1916 fire in Paris Texas; Saint Joseph Hospital is spared
1929 Stock Market Crash; Great Depression
1939-45 WWII
