Picture courtesy of Findagrave.com
Picture courtesy of Sandy Wilsey
Editor’s note: Recently, an author named Doug Rozendal wrote Madison County Historian Matthew Urtz asking if he knew of any local publications that would be interested in publishing a series of articles that he had written about his family history and how they ended up in Central New York. This is the first in a series of six that will appear in the Courier.
Members of two historic Massachusetts families, the Winslows and the Hoards, joined in Taunton, Mass., and came to Madison County in the early 1800s. The joining happened Nov. 10, 1800, when George Lester Winslow married Prudence Hoard in Taunton. Sometime as early as 1801, George and Prudence left for Oneida County.
Hezekiah Hoar, Prudence’s second great-grandfather, was one of the original purchasers of the site of the town of Taunton in 1637 and a prominent citizen there.
The first Winslow to come to America was Edward Winslow, who arrived on the Mayflower and later was governor of the Massachusetts Colony. His brother Kenelm, who came to America in 1629, was the third great-grandfather of George Lester Winslow. George’s father Job inherited land that was originally secured by Kenelm Winslow as one of the original 26 purchases of land in Freetown, Mass., (next door to Taunton).
George and Prudence did not come to Madison County alone. Prudence’s mother must have come with them, because her gravestone in the Strip Road Cemetery in Stockbridge indicates that she died in 1818. This same cemetery holds the remains of George’s father Job. We know from Massachusetts land records, however, that Job did not come to Madison County until about 1835.
The Strip Road Cemetery gives us clues that more Hoards came to Madison County about the same time. Prudence’s brother Enos, a prosperous farmer who is said to have come from Taunton to Stockbridge in 1800, lost two children in childhood: Enos, Jr., and Naomi, who were both buried with their mother Fanny in the cemetery. (Enos, Sr., remarried after Fanny died and is buried in Munnsville with his second wife, Abigail Simpson.) Also buried in the Strip Road Cemetery is another brother of Prudence, James, Jr., who died in 1823.
George and Prudence had at least four children. Sally Winslow was born about 1800, probably in Massachusetts. She died in 1834 and is buried in the Strip Road Cemetery. George Lester Winslow, Jr., was born in 1807. His father purchased land for him in 1833, shortly before he married Betsey Lewis. George, Jr., and Betsey had 12 children. He died in 1879. A third child of George and Prudence, named Abigail, was born in 1816 and married Alfred Bellows in 1848. In the Strip Road Cemetery, next to the grave of Prudence, is a gravestone that says “Little Mary” with no dates, probably also the daughter of George and Prudence.
George and Prudence died within a few months of each other, George in February 1852 and Prudence in that same May. The land that they owned was given to their children and grandchildren after their deaths. The oldest of George Lester, Jr.’s 12 children was George Lester Winslow III. He lived to be 90 years old and died “as one of the best-known residents of Morrisville” in 1925.
Prudence’s nephew William Bradford Hoard (son of Enos) became a Methodist pastor and a dairy farmer in Stockbridge. His son William Dempster Hoard went to Wisconsin in his early 20s and eventually became governor of that state.
Succeeding articles will examine the heritage of the Winslow and Hoard families and look in more detail at the life of George and Prudence.
Editor’s note: Douglas Rozendal may be reached by emailing doalro@earthlink.net.