Our mother’s maiden name was Elinor Congdon Handy



This report concerns our Congdon ancestors from Rhode Island. We are descended from the Congdon family through our maternal grandmother, Annie Congdon (Hart) Handy (1894-1972).Benjamin Congdon (d. 1718) is our earliest Rhode Island Congdon ancestor. His wife was Elizabeth (Albro) Congdon (d. 1720), daughter of the Rhode Island Quaker John Albro (ca. 1620-1712).The first record of Benjamin Congdon in the Rhode Island records is under the date of 6 June 1670 at Portsmouth, R.I. “Benjamin Congdon Stands propownded to be admitted a freeman of this Towne.” Two years later, freeman status was granted. Benjamin Congdon was frequently engaged in land transactions, buying and selling large tracts of land. “He seems to have lived at Portsmouth some years before going to Narragansett.” He was a merchant. In 1679, his shop at Newport was ordered moved to another lot, and to be pulled down if order was disobeyed. On December 5, 1679, he acquired 200 acres of land in Narragansett. This land was in North Kingstown, and to it Benjamin removed his family. On June 15, 1714, Benjamin and his wife Elizabeth signed a receipt for property received by her from her father John Albro's estate. Benjamin Congdon signed his name by mark Z; his son Benjamin signing O for mark.Benjamin Congdon died in 1718 in North Kingstown, R.I. Elizabeth (Albro) Congdon died in 1720 in North Kingstown. “The old Congdon Burial Ground is at Congdon Hill, near Wickford; [R.I.] and here are laid this ancestor of the race in America, his wife and many descendants.”James Congdon (1686-1757) was a son of Benjamin Congdon. He lived in Kingstown, Providence, and Charlestown, R.I. He married Dorcas Westcott, the daughter of Benjamin and Bethia (Gardiner) Westcott, on November 15, 1729 in Warwick, R.I. as the second of three wives. It is from James Congdon and his second wife, Dorcas (Westcott) Congdon, that we are descended. Dorcas (Westcott) Congdon was a descendant of Stukely Westcott, one of the thirteen original proprietors of Providence Plantation and the Colony of Rhode Island. We are thus descended from Stukely Westcott.James Congdon shows up frequently in the Rhode Island records. In 1706, he was granted an ear mark for sheep. In 1709, he and three others bought 430 acres of "vacant lands" in Kingstown ordered sold by the Assembly. On February 11, 1713 in Providence, James bought of his brother, Benjamin Congdon, Jr., 60 acres and a mansion house at Mashantatack for ?308. There were many other land transactions recorded in the records. James Congdon held many public offices, including serving on the Town Council, Deputy, Moderator, and Ratemaker. On January 13, 1753: he deeded to his son Benjamin Congdon “for love, &c.”, 100 acres in Providence. At some point in his life, James Congdon became a Quaker.The will of James Congdon was made on September 11, 1755 and proved in 1757. It includes the following:To wife Mary, negro woman Sall, negro girl Phillis, use and improvement of five cows, fifty sheep, three beds and furniture, while widow, and use of negro man Caeser and Spanish Indian girl Satira, for support of herself and three youngest children, while widow. If she marry then Caeser and Satira to go to son Robert, and rest of afore mentioned property to Susanna, Robert, and Phebe, equally. To wife, also, riding hose, and to her daughter Susanna, such a horse as her mother may choose for her. To son James, 100 acres in South Kingstown, dwelling house where he lives in Charlestown, with 20 acres and mulatto man Cuff. … To son Benjamin all my lands and houses in Cranston. To son William, land in South Kingstown and south half of dwelling house in South Kingstown, which my son Joseph lives in. To son John, 40 acres in Charlestown and land in South Kingstown. To son Joseph, north-half of house he lives in, and 30 acres. To son Robert, land in Quanaquatogue, Charlestown, subject to claims of his mother for life, and if he die before twenty-one, his brothers James, John and William to have it. To sons William and Joseph, 20 acres in South Kingstown, and to John, William and Joseph, certain land in Charlestown. To daughter Martha, for life, Spanish Indian girl Hanna (and at Martha's decease to her children), also two beds, riding beast, two cows and ?100, &c. To daughter Margaret, and her children, Spanish Indian girl Flora; also to her, two beds and all household goods in house where she lives and two cows. To daughter Dorcas, Spanish Indian girl Grace, for life, and then to her children, and to her, household goods used by her, belonging to me, and horse, two cows, &c. To daughter Susanna, negro girl Lettice, for life, and then to her children, and to her a bed and ?100. To daughter Phebe ?500, at eighteen. To daughter Elizabeth, use for life of Spanish Indian woman Dinah, and then to children, and to her ?100. ... To daughters Elizabeth, Martha and Susanna, use of a room in house given Joseph and William, while said daughters are single, with privilege of dressing victuals in kitchen and the keep of two cows. To sons Benjamin and John, all the rest of the estate, both real and personal, equally.Thus, we can see that James was a slaveholder. A total of ten slaves are named in the above-quoted will: “negro woman Sall, “negro girl Phillis,” “negro man Caeser,” “Spanish Indian girl Satira,” “mulatto man Cuff,” “Spanish Indian girl Hanna,” “Spanish Indian girl Flora,” “Spanish Indian girl Grace,” “negro girl Lettice,” and “Spanish Indian woman Dinah.”Capt. Joseph Congdon (1733-1805) was the son of James and Dorcas (Westcott) Congdon. He was born April 20, 1733 in Cranston, Rhode Island. Joseph married Susanna Cross around 1751 in Charlestown, R.I. Susanna (Cross) Congdon was the daughter of Joseph and Sarah (Saunders) Cross. She was born February 6, 1732/33 in Charlestown, R.I. and died January 27, 1801 in New Bedford, Mass. Joseph and Susanna Congdon lived in Charlestown and South Kingston, R.I. They were Quakers.Joseph and Susanna (Cross) Congdon had thirteen children. The first two children were born at Charlestown, R.I., the next four at South Kingstown, the next three at Charlestown, the next two at South Kingstown, the twelfth child at East Greenwich, and the thirteenth at Providence. In 1798 they were living on Fisher's Island.Joseph Congdon was a huge man, according to Narragansett church records: six feet five inches tall and 350 pounds. Joseph died June 16, 1805 at Portsmouth, R.I. He was killed by lightening.“Joseph Congdon started a hardware and iron business in Providence in 1790, or possibly earlier, which has been continued by succeeding generations and is now the wholesale hardware business of The Congdon and Carpenter Company.” Capt. Caleb Congdon (1767-1832), discussed in a separate report, was the son of Joseph and Susanna (Cross) Congdon. He was a Quaker and by profession a hatter and merchant. Caleb Congdon was born December 25, 1767 in Charlestown, R.I. and died June 15, 1832 in New Bedford. Caleb and his wife, Susanna (Taber) Congdon, were the parents of Lydia Congdon, who married Gamaliel Hart as her second husband. Gamaliel and Lydia (Congdon) (Shaw) Hart were the great-grandparents of our maternal grandmother Annie.Bibliographic Note: Sources on the Congdon Family that I have consulted are: (1) One Hundred and Sixty Allied Families, by John Osborne. Austin (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., 1997; originally published Salem, Mass. 1893); (2) Congdon Genealogy: A Partial Genealogy of the Congdon Family of Rhode Island, with Reference to the Line of Jonathan Congdon and Elizabeth (Arnold) Congdon, by Charles Trinder Middlebrook (Albany, N.Y., 1946; typescript at Rhode Island Historical Society and New England Historic Genealogical Society); (3) The Compiler’s Congdon Line in Detail and Seven Generations of Other Congdons Tabulated, by Bertha W. Clark (Boston, 1955; typescript at Rhode Island Historical Society); (4) Great Grandma Was a Congdon, by Earl P. Crandall (Catskill, N.Y., 1995); (5) The Congdon Chronicle, a periodical published in the 1920s and 1930s available at the New England Historic Genealogical Society.-- Roger W. Smith April 2011 ................
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