Mary Ann Young West Biography

Little Mary Ann Young West didn’t live long.  The three and a half years she lived were long enough to allow Heavenly Father to ‘manifest His works through her.’  

Mary Ann was born 11 May 1860 in Islington, London, England, the 5^th child of Charles Henry John West and his wife Eliza Dangerfield West.  Her parents had joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints almost exactly 10 years earlier, about the time of their marriage.  Ever since they joined, Charles and Eliza wanted to gather to Zion to be with the main body of Latter-day Saints.  They toiled and saved to emigrate to Zion.  But as Charles once lamented, the children came faster than they could save the necessary funds to gather with the saints.  

At the recommendation of a missionary serving there, Charles and Eliza decided to send two of their daughters to Utah with other saints emigrating.  They chose Caroline (10) and Ann Lydia (6) to go.  They left in the spring of 1861 with the King family, who had no children of their own.  Their separation nearly broke all of their hearts.  

The girls made it safely to Salt Lake City and resided with Bishop William Miller in Provo while the West family accelerated their efforts to join them.  Finally in 1863, Charles, Eliza, their four children Thomas (10), Jabez (5), Mary Ann (3) and Eliza Alice (1) left for Zion.  Returning the favor, they brought with them two others—Samuel Bezzant and Mary Powell. 

As Eliza paid the final emigration money to the agent Bro. Staines, he made a promise to Eliza.  He knew of the sacrifices the family had made to emigrate, and of their two daughter’s previous departure to Zion.  He declared, “All of your family will arrive safely in Zion and not one of you will die on the way.”  This statement reassured the family.

Departing on the ship ‘Amazon’ from Liverpool on 1 June 1863, the family hunkered down for a  long trip.  Not only did they anticipate joining the main body of saints in Zion, but they would also be reunited with their young daughters Caroline and Ann, now aged 12 and 9.  

Mary Ann would have been too young to remember much of the rough voyage across the sea.  They encountered rough winds most of the trip.  It sickened her mother Eliza so severely that her father Charles ended up preparing all of the meals until they landed in New York harbor.  But she probably enjoyed the time to play with her siblings.

From the boat in New York, the family transferred to the railroad and steamboat to Florence, Nebraska.  Here the family gathered up their wagon and provisions set aside for their trip overland with the other pioneers in the company.  The 10 week trip was marked with new experiences for the young family, many involving the different climate and culture on the plains.  Eliza had to learn how to cook with different flour than she was accustomed.  Wood was scarce along the wagon trail.  Eliza and her daughters would gather up dried buffalo chips in their skirts for use in cooking dinner each night.  

Young Mary Ann was probably spared this chore, as she struggled with illness since disembarking from the ship.  She probably rode in the wagon while the others walked.  Charles wrote of an answer to prayer in her behalf. 

“Our little daughter Mary Ann Young West was sick more or less while crossing the plains.  Her appetite failing her, I thought I would go to the riverside, being near one, and get a fish.  I knew it would do her good.  The river being very low and leaving small puddles of water, I would try and chase the fish by my hands into shallow water, and so catch one.  I did not succeed in getting any.  I then and there prayed to God that I might get some if it was only one.  I was about to leave to catch up with the wagon train when a man came along with a string of fish and offered me one.  My prayer being answered, I went along rejoicing.”

The family did a lot of rejoicing along the trail, as they had made up their minds to be cheerful no matter what.  Charles said, “We had made up our minds to enjoy the trip without grumbling and found it the best way, we had a few grumblers in the camp.  We had to wade up to our breasts some rivers we had to go through, if the current was very strong we would hold hands.  I would sometimes have a child in one arm and holding on to another.  If we got wet we would let our clothes dry on so we would not take cold.  We would average in traveling 20-30 miles each day.  Sometimes we had to travel by night in order to get to good camping ground.”

The family reached Salt Lake on 4 October 1863, staying first with distant relatives living in the Tenth Ward of Salt Lake City.  The family was thrilled to attend their first General Conference taking place.  But they were more exited to reunite with their daughters Caroline and Ann Eliza, still living with Bishop William Miller in Provo.  Within a few days, they reached their daughters and rejoiced.  After staying with the Millers for a few days, they rented a room nearby and settled in.

As promised, no one in their family had lost their lives in the journey.  But Mary Ann wasn’t well.  Her condition worsened and she died a few weeks later on 22 October 1863 in Provo, Utah.   The family had gone to bed early to save the few candles the family possessed.  During the night, she awoke and tried to get out of bed.  Charles encouraged her to go back to sleep.  Reluctantly, she settled down to sleep again.  But first, she called each family member by name and bid them a goodnight.  She died in her father’s arms in the night.

The distraught family found no comfort among their new neighbors in Provo.  Neighbors stayed away from the new family, assuming that the illness that killed Mary Ann was communicable.  No service was held to remember or honor her, and if any had, no one would have attended.  Bishop Miller lent his buggy and horse to carry her rough coffin to the Provo cemetery.  Gloom filled each member of the tired pioneer family.  But again God had His eye on this family.

Charles wrote, “We had done the best we could and did not feel like murmuring.  Yet the loss of our daughter sent a gloom that seemed more than we could bear—What had we done, we reflected, that our child should be taken from us?  What sin had we committed?”  The sad family pondered these things deeply when a remarkable experience occurred.  Charles recalled,

“A tall gentleman came in without knocking.  He sat down on the only chair we had and commenced comforting us in our trouble and blessed us.  He was with us about one half to three quarters of an hour.  During the time we both felt a heavenly influence, and all our troubles ceased and we felt happy.  When he left he stepped backwards toward the door, opened it and went out.  I followed him directly after but could see nothing of him.  He was very grey and his beard came down to his chest.”

The next day, while thanking Bishop Miller for sending this kind man to their home, Charles was surprised to hear that Bishop Miller had no knowledge of him.  Bishop Miller declared, “Brother West, we have no such teacher as you describe.  You have been blessed with the visitation of one of the Nephites that was to remain on earth.”

Whether it was one of the Three Nephites, an Angel, or a divinely prompted Latter-day Saint neighbor, Heavenly Father sent someone to comfort and bless the grieving family.  

Little Pioneer Mary Ann Young West may not have contributed much in the few years she lived.  But her illness prompted the faithful family to seek divine help in her behalf.  And her death plunged her family into the depths of grief, alone in a new country to suffer such sadness to need divine comfort.  These entreaties resulted in the miracles showing the power and love of God for Mary Ann and her loving family.  

Works Cited

"A Short Biography of Charles Henry John West." 1 Feb 2013. Saints, Witches and Murderers. 1 Feb 2013. <http://johnsonfamilyhistorystories.blogspot.com/>.

Lewis, Hazel West. "Charles Henry John West, A Man of Faith and Integrity." 1 Feb 2013. Saints, Witches and Murderers. 1 Feb 2013. <http://johnsonfamilyhistorystories.blogspot.com/>.

Olsen, Kevin V. The Story of the West Family. n.d. http:free-web-design-promotion/west10090/thewestfamily.doc. 12 Dec 2012. <http:free-web-design-promotion/west10090/thewestfamily.doc>.

West, Charles Henry John. "A Letter from CHJ West to Thomas Charles West, July 12, 1893." 1 Feb 2013. Saints, Witches and Murderers. 1 Feb 2013. <http://johnsonfamilyhistorystories.blogspot.com/>.

—. "Charles Henry John West-- journal." 5 June 2010. Our Book of Remembrance. 1 Feb 2013. <http://mikeandrhondafamilyhistory.blogspot.com/2010/06/charles-henry-john-west-journal.html>.

Wheelwright, Shauna. They Came Before Us. 3 Feb 2011. 1 Feb 2013. <http://theycamebeforeme.blogspot.com/search/label/Charles%20Henry%20John%20West>.

Linda Lee West Jensen Obituary

Linda West Jensen, 35, was born December 26, 1941 in Ogden, Utah to Leo and May Donaldson West.  She grew up among loving cousins and her younger sister Sandra in Ogden Utah.  She attended Primary in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  

With her parents, she moved to Manhattan Beach, California in 1954 where she fell in love with the ocean and the beach.  She was instrumental in activating her family in the church, culminating in their being sealed in the Los Angeles Temple in May 1957.  She enjoyed participating in the Young Women’s incentive programs and Road Shows at church.  She played various sports in the Girls Athletic Association at Forest Beggs Junior High School and Mira Costa High School.

In the summer of 1958 she moved to Reseda, California with her family.    Here she completed the requirements to earn her Young Women’s (Church) award.  She performed on the Drill Team and played sports in the Girls Athletic Association at Reseda High School. 

She married Gary Alvin Jensen on December 2, 1960 in the Los Angeles Temple, a few months after graduating from Reseda High School.  She loved and nurtured her 4 children, first living in Reseda, then Canoga Park, and finally in Simi Valley, California.

She served in the Young Women’s and Activities Committee in Santa Susanna Second Ward (Congregation.)  She made everything fun for the girls attending Girls Camp and playing Youth Basketball.  She was an excellent seamstress and crafter, a bookworm and movie fan, and a devoted wife and mother.  Spending time with people trumped all other activites.  Many times she opened her loving home to needy children and youth.

In the summer of 1974. when her youngest child began attending school, Linda enrolled in Moorpark Community College to pursue her passion for learning.  She attended classes in spite of her grueling cancer treatments.  She was named to the Deans’ list the week she died.

In January 1977 she was diagnosed with an advanced stage Inflammatory Breast Cancer.  Following  surgery, radiation and chemotherapy, she seemed cured.  After a sudden onslaught of symptoms, she died on July 4, 1977 of Inflammatory Cancer of the brain, traced to the original cancer.  

She is survived by her husband Gary Alvin Jensen, children Elizabeth (Liz), Melanie, Stacey and Paul; parents Leo and May West of St. George, Utah, sister Sandra West (Larry Mitchell), and many cousins, aunts, uncles and nieces and nephews.  

Funeral services will be at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at 5028 Cochran Street, Simi Valley, California.  Internment will follow at Glen Haven Cemetery, 13017 Lopez Canyon Rd Sylmar California.

(Although this reads as if it was written at the time of her death, I wrote it after I finished writing her biography, Sunshine Makes Me Happy, a couple of years ago.   As far as I know, no contemporary obituary exists.  Melanie Jensen Johnson)

Edward Bunker and Emily Abbott Bunker

This thorough biography that focuses on Emily was written by Shirley N. Maynes and published in a book about the Pioneers.  I am attaching a link to this section of the book courtesy of the Orson Pratt Brown website. 

Emily Abbott Bunker Biography

At the same website, Edward's autobiography is posted.  An extensive biography was written by Gaylen Bunker, using the autobiography as structure. 

Edward Bunker Biography

Edward Bunker and Emily Abbott Bunker, photo courtesy of Orson Pratt Brown website

George Felt Jr. and Phillippa Andrews Biographies

Highlights:  George, born in Charlestown, Phillippa born in London, lived in Charlestown.  Prospered in Casco Bay, until George was killed in King Phillips War, after which Phillippa and children lived in Salem.  Phillippa remarried twice there.

George spent his early years with his parents in Charlestown, first in a log cabin, then in a nicer home in modern Everett.  He may have spent some time in Salem as a house proprietor in his late teens.  When his family moved to Casco Bay, George went with them, where he was made a Freeman in 1660.  It is clear that he intended to move to Casco Bay to live, probably adopting the lifestyle of his father George Felch[1]—homesteading and trading with the Native Americans.

In 1662, George married Phillippa Andrews, the daughter of Samuel and Jane Andrews.  They had come from London to America in 1635, living in Casco Bay.  Samuel died in 1637, prompting Jane to remarry Arthur Mackworth, a very prosperous Bay inhabitant[2].  Mackworth died in 1657, leaving a widow very financially secure.  Phillippa was a daughter of privilege, in spite of her trials.  

As a wedding gift, George Sr. gave his son 40 pounds, and signed a deed promising 60 more pounds in his will.  A few years later, widow Mackworth gave him a homestead in Casco Bay and 100 acres of land in Mussel Cove.  (Rowe)  George and Phillippa had a great start!

George immediately involved himself in civic affairs.  He signed a petition to change the government in Casco Bay, still under Massachusetts Colony jurisdiction.  Apparently, those governing were heavy-handed and disagreeable.  He served on a jury for a murder case in 1666.  (Morris)

And George Jr, like his father, bought more land.  In 1672, George bought a large tract from Native Americans, which others later disputed.  Nonetheless, over the next few years George became owner of several Islands and other tracts of land.  Among them, Lower Clapboard Island, Three Brothers and Little Chebeaque Islands, along with various marshes and woods.  The family lived in Mussel Cove, in view of the many islands in their possession.  George prospered when the nearby towns of Falmouth and Yarmouth thrived.

Thanks to Google Maps for images used to make this map.

This prosperity came to an abrupt end with the outbreak of the King Phillips War in 1675.  The families in the area built their homes to be in sight of each other to ensure each other’s safety. (Goold)  As George scanned the horizon, finding smoke coming from several of his neighbor’s homes, he knew there was trouble.  Putting his family in a canoe, he rowed closer to see what was happening.  Finding possessions scattered in the area, George rowed toward James Andrews Island, now Cushing, for safety.  Landing, they found other families seeking refuge from the attack.  They probably stayed in Munjoy’s fortified house on the island, within view of the other fortified homes on each island.  In their haste, they had left food and provisions behind.  A group successfully rounded up gunpowder from their properties by night using their small sailboats.  

Soldiers had marched into the area to aid the settlers.  One group led by a Captain William Hathorne marched into Casco Bay area, arriving 20 September 1676.  Coming across our group with their small boats, Captain Hathorne commandeered the vessels and pressed the men into service.  Hathorne had seen the destruction in the area and didn’t want any stragglers about.  Hathorne and his men may have also sought refuge in Muntjoy’s fortified house.  Within days, they were starving.  Some of the local men were also concerned about their property.  

The local men in the party determined to sail to Munjoy Island, now Peaks Island, where sheep were known to roam.  According to Reverend William Hubbard, they also planned to save some of their provisions.  They approached Captain Hathorne, asking to be released from duty long enough to make the expedition.  He encouraged them to have patience and wait a bit longer.  The men insisted, saying that their families would starve at home without their making this trip.  (Some of the men must have left their families at home instead of bringing them with them.)  (Hubbard)

Knowing the danger, and having been warned against going they left on Saturday, 23 Sept, 1676.  Seven men landed; Native Americans immediately attacked.  The men scrambled towards the burned-out stone house Munjoy had built on Peaks Island.[3]  Although ruined, the home offered protection for a time from the attack.  Hubbard said they were stoned or shot by the Native Americans, all but one immediately killed.  One survived for a few days before succumbing to his injuries. (Hubbard)  Witness Richard Martin wrote that the Native Americans set the house afire. (Goold)  Likely, a combination of the tactics took the lives of all seven men.  

The women and children survived, probably aided by Captain Hathorne and his men.  Phillippa left for Salem, far from the trouble.  Perhaps she settled where George had served as proprietor or had some family there.  She married 19 Dec 1682 Samuel Platt, a widower.  After his death, she married 9 Apr 1690 Thomas Nelson, a widower twice.  She survived him, dying 29 Sept 1709 in Salem.  

George’s sons say that they  stayed in Casco Bay, on their father’s land, improving it.  Perhaps they stayed with their grandparents George and Elizabeth Felch in hiding somewhere in the area.  They may have also lived with their uncle Moses Felt, who remained in the area in Purpooduck.  Although in their teens, these boys may have succeeded in rebuilding their former home to make it inhabitable again.  

After working so hard to renew their land, they had to fight to prove the land was theirs.  With so many documents having literally gone up in smoke, they had to petition the court to acknowledge their ownership of their father’s lands.  In a statement dated 23 March 1687/8, the brothers recount the various means by which the land was acquired by their father. (Morris)  

Unfortunately for the boys, King William’s war broke out in 1688, causing a second flight for safety for all the inhabitants of Casco Bay.  By 1690, the brothers all appear in Salem intent on settling.  George 3^rd deeded the tract of land his father bought of Native Americans to someone in Salem.   The family lived near each other in Salem from that time forward.

Unanswered questions:  Where did they seek refuge until the end of the war?  Why would Phillippa allow her kids to remain in such a dangerous area alone?  

Disclaimer:  This was written using the information available at the time it was written.  The author did her best in good faith to represent George and Phillippa  Felt accurately and kindly.  Author is solely responsible for the content. 

Bibliography

Goold, Nathan. A History of Peaks Island and It's People: Also a Short History of House Island, Portland, Maine. Portland, Maine: Lakeside Press, 1897.

Hubbard, William. A Narrative of the Indian Wars in New England: From the First Planting Thereof in the Year 1607 to the Year 1677. Stockbridge, Mass: Heman Willard, 1803.

Morris, John E. The Felt Genealogy: a Record of the Descendants of George Felt of Casco Bay. Hartford, Connecticut: Press of the Case, Lockwood & Brainard Co., 1893.

Rowe, William Hutchinson. Ancient North Yarmouth and Yarmouth, Maine, 1636-1936: A History. Yarmouth, ME, 1937.

---

[1] George Felt Jr was named Jr by his contemporaries after his father began to be called ‘George Felt’ in his later years.  George Sr. originally called himself ‘George Felch’ in America.  His family in Bedfordshire went by ‘Felce.’  The author prefers to call him by his self-called name, not the name others gave him in his declining years.  Hence the addition of Sr. and Jr. to different last names.

[2] An Island is named after him.

[3] The inhabitants John Palmer and his family had fled at the onset of the war a year prior, leaving the home abandoned and ruined.  

George Felch/Felt and Elizabeth Wilkinson Biographies

By Melanie Jensen Johnson

Highlights:  Born Bedfordshire, England, Immigrated to America, Prospered in Charlestown MA and Casco Bay ME.  Impoverished by Indian War and Title issues, died wards of town in Malden MA.

One of the first of my ancestors to leave Europe to start a new life in the wilds of America was George Felch.  Born the third son of William Felce and baptized on 28 February 1609/10[1] in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, England, George trained to be a Mason.  In September 1628, George left his homeland for America, in company with Captain John Endicott, settling first in Salem Massachusetts.  He was already married and a landowner in America before the Bedford Manor learned of his disappearance.  Although George didn’t report with his bows and arrows to the Manorial Muster on 29 May, 1634, he was not fined.  He was in America.  (Noyes, Libby and Bates)  That this is the same George Felch was confirmed by noted Genealogist Charles Edward Banks.  (Holman)

George moved to Charlestown soon after, perhaps arriving there just as the citizens chartered it as a city in 1629.  (Zellner)  A large group of Bedford emigrants had settled there.  He is confirmed living in Charlestown in 1633, when he received a five acre lot number 17.  Later he received another 5 acres in Scadan, a hamlet northeast of Malden and 20 more acres within the bounds of Charlestown.  (Corey)

One of his plots of land bordered the widow Wilkinson’s land.  George married her daughter Elizabeth Wilkinson around 1633.  Elizabeth came over with the Winthrop group in 1630, along with her widowed mother Prudence Wilkinson and her older siblings Sarah and John.  (Banks)   The whole family had signed up to come with 700 Puritans, but father John had died before the journey commenced. (Hamilton)  With an able-bodied grown son in the group, they family could continue without him.  Widow Wilkinson received a 5 acre plot near George in Charlestown.  Historians think that Elizabeth was born between 1610 and 1615, also in Bedford, England.  It was common for immigrants from the same general area to settle in clusters in New England.  

Image courtesy of Alfred L. Holman

George involved himself in civic matters, as seen in a signed petition to create a board of selectmen to handle town government matters in 1634. 

The town of Charlestown originally encompassed a large geographic area, which included Malden, Woburn, Everett, Somerville and parts of Cambridge.  George added to his acreage land purchased in the ‘Mystick Side’ of Charlestown, or the land north of the Mystic River, which is now Everett, as well as land on the ‘Charlestown side,’ or on the original island of Charlestown.  

In a 1638 inventory, George and Elizabeth had acquired, through grant and purchase, many acres of land in Everett and Malden.  Notable among them were 5 acres of woods on the Mystick side, backed up to the road to Malden from Charlestown (modern Broadway street in Everett) which bordered acreage owned by his mother in law Prudence Wilkinson, and a half acre of meadow butting up against the North river, both parcels in modern Everett.  George also owned 20 acres of woodland in modern Malden, and 38 acres of wetlands in modern Woburn.  (Morris)  

Thanks to Google Maps for template to draw this map

The Felch family lived in a house with a garden and kept a milk cow on property in modern Charlestown.  This house is described as being situated on the ‘south west of the Mill Hill, butting southward upon Charls River, northeast upon crooked lane.’  (Morris)  The family by all accounts had prospered; George was a land owner with vast acreage in diverse areas.

In 1640, George built a house on the 5 acres of property he had obtained in modern Malden area.  Today it would have stood at the westerly corner of Ferry and Chelsea streets in Everett.  This home is notable because it survived over 200 years, becoming the home of Revolutionary hero Daniel Waters before it was demolished in 1850.  It had been enlarged and improved, but George Felch could claim that he had built the early structure.  (Corey)  The Felch family lived in this home for over twenty years.  

On January 19, 1639/40, Elizabeth was admitted into the new Charlestown Church.  She brought her three children Elizabeth, Mary and George Jr. to be baptized a week later.  On 10 December 1641, she had her newest son Moses baptized.  George isn’t listed on the church records in the Charlestown church or the Malden church.  

George bought more land, this time in Broad Cove, now North Yarmouth in Casco Bay, Maine.  First he bought 300 acres around 1640 from John Phillips, a Welshman.  He bought the land again in 1643 from Richard Vines, the land agent of Sir Ferdinando Gorges, to strengthen the title.  George knew that title problems could deprive a man of his land.  He built a stone house on this property in Casco Bay.  (Morris)  Phillips probably squatted upon the land to gain title.  George used this stone house as a storehouse, as it was conveniently located for trading goods with the Native Americans.  Perhaps he, like other traders, traded beads, gun powder, blankets and liquor to the Natives for their skins and fish.  (Corey)

Although he purchased that land in Casco Bay, he continued to live in Charlestown, intending to move to Casco at a later date.  In 1648, he referred to himself as “Georg Felch, Inhabitant in Charlstown on Mystike Syde.”  More children were born to the couple, Moses in 1641, Aaron in 1645 and Moses in 1651.  The first Moses presumably died as a child before the second Moses was born.  A Peter may also be part of this family, born in 1648.  

Daughter Elizabeth married first, in 1655 to William Larrabee.  Then Mary married in 1660 to James Nichols.  On 25 November 1662, George paid out a sum of forty pounds to his son, George Jr at his marriage to Phillipa Andrews.  This was followed by a signed deed two days later confirming that he would allow 60 pounds more at his death, making a full hundred pounds for George Jr.  (Goold)  (Pope)  This largess shows the mindset of a wealthy man intent on passing his fortune on to his heirs.  Interesting notes in court files show that in 1662, George was accused of defaming his neighbor Richard Dexter’s wife, calling her a ‘lyar.’  It was also noted that his house in modern Charlestown was ‘Claborded’ by William Bucknam, George’s brother in law.  (Corey)

In November 1664, George began selling his Charlestown and Malden lands to John Phillips, the yeoman.  It may have simply been a trade, as George bought 2000 acres of land in Casco Bay from a John Phillips, the baker, at about the same time (1670).  The distinction might indicate that they were different men.  (Noyes, Libby and Bates)  The sum he paid:  60 pounds.  He apparently had been living on it and improving it for the past three years. (Morris)   In the contracts, George described himself as “of Casco in N. E. Mason.”  George succeeded in divesting himself of most of his Charlestown holdings, including his longtime (now famous) home in modern Malden.  

The Felch family was one of the first to settle in Broad Cove, Maine.[2]  George was residing there early enough to have features of his land that bear his name.  In Casco, ‘Felt’s Falls’ were described as ‘where the creek at Cumberland Foreside comes tumbling into the sea.’  (Notes and Queries; Landmarks)  Today the creek is only a shallow stream surrounded by expensive homes.  (Morell)

George continued farming and trading with the Natives until the Indian War of 1675-1678, which forced his family to flee for safety.  All of the area had emptied out of inhabitants while the Native Americans destroyed all evidences of inhabitation.  The war claimed the life of George and Elizabeth’s oldest son, George Jr.  When the Native Americans began burning neighboring homes in Mussell Cove (modern Falmouth) in September of 1676, he took his wife and children to Cushings Island to a garrison there, meeting up with other refugees.  After several days, starvation forced the men to search for food, landing on Peaks Island where sheep were known to roam.  The natives attacked, killing all of the men.  (Goold)  This was a tragic loss for George Jr’s young family, as well as his parents.  

After things settled down in 1678, George and Elizabeth returned to the ruins of their farm and home in Casco Bay. Their home was gone and their farm destroyed.  By now, the couple was in their sixties.  They were old and tired, perhaps too old to rebuild and continue their struggle to tame the land.  Indians were still a threat, and the ruins were a constant reminder of the loss of their son.  

In 1680, North Yarmouth was incorporated as a plantation and began to be sectioned off to new settlers.  George sold 100 acres of his land to Walter Gendall, a developer from Spurwick, to add to the land available for the settlers.  As the enterprise flourished, Gendall became wealthy and established himself as a leading citizen and wealthy man.  He set his eye on George’s remaining land in the area, finding a flaw in the title and selling it piecemeal to newcomers as if it was his own land.  Since George had bought it from Phillips, not Patent-holding Gorges, the title couldn’t be proven.  The author thinks it strange that George did not predict this outcome, as he had prevented this outcome in an earlier transaction by repurchasing the land from Gorges’ agent.   

George and Elizabeth remained on their remaining farm until 1681, when feeble and old, they moved to Malden to be near their daughter Mary and her husband James Nichols.  In 1684, George gave his remaining 200 acres in Casco Bay to his son Moses and grandson George 3^rd.  Strangely, the Nichols didn’t house the Felches; instead James Nichols petitioned the city of Malden to pay for their support.  Nichols was made a freeman in 1668, had served in King Phillips war and had been appointed tithing-man, all events that could be used to establish that he was able to afford their support.  (Cutter)  On 29 May 1681, the court ordered that the Felches be considered inhabitants of Malden and that selectmen were to take care of them. (Corey)  Now ‘ould ffelt’ would be cared for.

Over the next few years, families were paid to house the old couple.  George was compelled to petition for more help in 1686, in which petition he give details of his misfortune.  He described the purchase of his property, adding:

…Some time after the late Indian war it was withheld from me by some of the inhabitants of said Town of Caskoe Bay and being by said war much impoverished I could not recover it out of their hands.  I also am now forced to suffer for want of convenient care taken of me in my present distresse being about eighty seaven year’s old and very crasy and weak. (Corey)

This petition failed to gain any further support, and in fact, James Nichols, son in law, now had the burden of caring for his in-laws.  The town, though sympathetic, felt no need to bail the Felche’s out of a title failure.  In 1691, George petitioned the court for help personally.  Nichols proposed an interesting arrangement—if the town would gather up eleven pounds for their support, if either one died within the year, after paying funeral expenses, the remainder would be returned to the contributors.  Agreed on, support was secured, and both Felches survived the year, using all of the monies. (Corey)

George died around May 1693, prompting a new agreement with the town to care for Elizabeth.  Nichols would care for her in his home for one year, at the expense of the selectmen of the town, and he could keep her cow.  She died around 1694.  The Felches were the second public charges that Malden town citizens were compelled to support.  (Corey)

Unanswered questions:  It’s puzzling to see the town of Malden supporting the Felches when family could have assumed their care.  Son-in-law James Nichols was obviously Georges’ first choice, but seemed unwilling to help them.  Nichols died in 1694, around the time Elizabeth died.  Was he too ill to care for his in-laws?  Son Moses was in hiding from another American Indian war, King Phillips War which began in 1688.  Daughter Elizabeth Larrabee lived in Malden with her husband William Larrabee, but he died in 1689 at the hand of Indians with son Isaac in said war.  George Jr.’s widow had moved to Salem; certainly regrouping after the death of her husband.  Little is known of Aaron or Peter, or their circumstances.  

Disclaimer:  This was written using the information available at the time it was written.  The author did her best in good faith to represent George and Elizabeth Felch accurately and kindly.  Author is solely responsible for the content. 

Works Cited

Banks, Charles Edward. The Winthrop Fleet of 1640: An Account of the Vesselseake, Robert Fien English Homes from Original Authorities. New York: Little, Brown and Co., 1853.

Corey, Deloraine Pendre. The History of Malden, Massachusetts, 1633-1785. Malden, Massachusetts: Self, 1899.

Cutter, William Richard. Historic Homes and Places and Genealogical and Personal Memoirs Relating to the Families of Middlesex County, Massachusetts. New York: Lewis Historical Publishing Company, 1908.

Goold, Nathan. A History of Peaks Island and It's People: Also a Short History of House Island, Portland, Maine. Portland, Maine: Lakeside Press, 1897.

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[1] George stated his age as ’about 40’ in 1634, confirming this date, but contradicted it in 1688 when he said he was 87 years old.  Looking for sympathy and support, he may have been exaggerating his age. 

[2] Some say George was living in Casco Bay as early as 1660 because of a statement his son Moses made, saying he lived there 14 years before the Indian war broke out.  This has led some historians to conclude that George was an early settler in Casco, a point which is disputed by other historians.  Confusion might exist with his son, George Jr., who was an early settler of Casco.  (Corey)  And there wasn’t uniform differentiation between the father and the son until much later.