Whitby Part 2

 

Why Whitby I hear you ask.  Well it appears that a lot of my family come from Whitby.

Whitby is a charming seaside town located on the east coast of England, nestled between the stunning North York Moors and the North Sea. With its picturesque harbour, sandy beaches, and dramatic clifftop abbey ruins, it's no wonder that Whitby has been a popular holiday destination for generations.

One of Whitby's most famous landmarks is the 199 steps that lead up to the impressive ruins of Whitby Abbey. This Gothic masterpiece was founded in the 7th century and has been a source of inspiration for writers and artists, including Bram Stoker, who set part of his novel "Dracula" in Whitby.

Now…only my family, who live in a charming seaside town,  could take me on a journey, via my 3rd great grandmother Margaret Spencelayh, across to America, then back to Eastern Europe to Vlad the Impaler, and then to Bram Stoker who wrote Dracula…then end up back in that charming seaside town with a relative, Edward Spencelayh, who was murdered by pirates in the Caribbean and is mentioned within the first few pages of Dracula.

Margaret Spencelayh was born in Whitby in 1815 to John Spencelayh and Elizabeth Tiplady.  The Spencelayh family were employed in the shipbuilding business as carpenters, sail makers and master mariners both in Whitby and the Royal Dockyards at Chatham.  Margaret’s step-brother (same mam but different father) was Edward Hunt.  Edward takes us to Chicago with Edna Woodworth.   Edna’s family would take us to Connecticut and then on to Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Canada.  Silas Woodworth emigrated in May 1760 on the ship "Wolfe" to Cornwallis, NS, and is mentioned as one of the grantees of 100,000 acres of land granted by George II, after the expulsion of the French. There are five Woodworths named in this list of grantees: Amasa, Benjamin, Silas, Thomas, and William.  According to "Nova Scotia Immigrants", Silas Woodworth received lot 2 (66 acres), Div. 4, Cornwallis Township Grant.

In the grant of Cornwallis Township, dated  July 1761, William Woodworth, who had evidently arrived there in May 1760 by sea, received the 44 acre lot 2 of division 15.  They apparently received free transportation and in that grant.

According to the 1761 Grant itself, Silas Woodworth received one and a half shares, William, Thomas, Amasa and Benjamin all received one share. A share was 666 2/3 acres.  In addition, on 31 Oct, 1765, a Grant was given to Joseph Woodworth in Horton Township. of 6,250 acres.  

For the better part of two centuries Atlantic Canada was caught up in the worldwide struggle for power between France and England. Early settlement centered in two areas: the Island of Newfoundland-where each country claimed harbors populated mainly by migrant fishermen in summer and a few caretakers in winter, and the shores of the Bay of Fundy, where France established a farming colony that became known as Acadia.

During a series of 17th century conflicts, England repeatedly took Acadia and lost it to France. England gained control under the treaty of Utrecht in 1713, although France still claimed what is now Maine and New Brunswick. At war with France again by mid-century, Britain distrusted its formally French, Roman Catholic subjects in Acadia. It tried to offset their presence by recruiting more than 2700 Protestant colonists from European allies between 1749 and 1752. Mostly German speaking, the newcomers settled in Halifax and Lunenburg.

In 1755 deportation of Acadians began. "The inhabitants sadly...abandoned their homes. The women, in great distress, carried their...children in their arms. Others pulled carts with their household effects and crippled parents. It was a scene of confusion, despair, and desolation," wrote Col. John Winslow, in charge of the first embarkations.

Needing loyal settlers, Britain lured several thousand New Englanders north with offers of free land. Farmers and craftsmen took over fields the Acadians once tilled; fishermen settled along Nova Scotia's Atlantic coast.

The Woodworth family originally came from Lancashire and during The Great Migration they would emigrate to Scituate, Plymouth, Massachusetts.  Both sides of my journey begin with Josiah Woodworth (1753 - 1839)  It’s his sister Sarah that takes us on our first journey…

Let’s look at Vlad the Impaler!  

Sarah Woodworth was born on July 23, 1755 at Lebanon, Windham, Connecticut Colony.  In 1760, at about age five, Sarah migrated to Nova Scotia with her parents on the ship Wolfe.  Sarah married Frederick Babcock at Cornwallis, Nova Scotia in 1776/8.  Frederick lived in Rhode Island and was part of the initial migration to Nova Scotia.  The migration of the New England Planters was the first significant migration to the Atlantic colonies in British North America. In the wake of the deportation of the Acadians in 1755, newly cultivated lands opened up in Nova Scotia, which needed to be populated. Roughly eight thousand men and women from New England to settle in the Annapolis Valley of Nova Scotia, and in the Upper St. John River Valley of present-day New Brunswick, between 1759 and 1768. They left a legacy that can be found in the social, religious, and political life of Atlantic Canada.

Frederick Babcock’s grandmother was Elizabeth Smith and she was born in 1670 and it is her brother Richard Smith who takes us on the next part of the journey.  Richard Smith 2d., was a son of Richard Smith and his first wife, Mary Kerley. He was born about 1649 in Sudbury, Massachusetts. The family moved to Lyme, Connecticut, in about 1660.  He was married to Elizabeth Lay, his first wife, on 17 November 1677, at Lyme, Connecticut.  Elizabeth (Lay) Smith died on 3 April 1690. After her death, Richard married Elizabeth Innes, the widow of William Harris, at Lyme.

When Alexander Innes was born on 14 March 1625, in Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland, his father, John Innes, was 38 and his mother, Elizabeth Douglas, was 27. He married Catherine around 1655, in Taunton, Bristol, Massachusetts Bay Colony, British Colonial America. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 6 daughters. He died on 9 October 1679, in Block Island, Kings, Rhode Island, British Colonial America, at the age of 54.  Alexander Innes is thought to have fought (and been captured) at the Battle of Dunbar (03 September 1650). Many of the Scottish prisoners died in prison, but some of those who survived were sent to Massachusetts on the ship Unity. More information can be found in the biography section of his wife Catherine.  On November 11,1650 Alexander was shipped to Lynn Massachusetts aboard the ship 'Unity' to work at the Saugus Iron Works. He had been captured by Oliver Cromwell, in Scotland at the Battle of Dunbar, and was sent to America as an indentured servant.

The Battle of Dunbar took place on September 3, 1650. The English cavalry chased the Scottish soldiers for eight miles, killing and capturing those in flight, in what became known as the "Race of Dunbar". In the end, 3,000 Scots were dead and 10,000, including Alexander, about 18 years old, were prisoners of war.  Alexander escaped major injury, and he was considered too dangerous to release (as he could take up arms again and attack the English if something was not done right away). Cromwell ordered the prisoners to march south immediately under the command of Sir Arthur Hasselrigge.  Alexander was among this number. September 4, 1650, the prisoners and their captors began a march of eight days and 118 miles towards Durham, England, which was later described as the "Durham Death March". Once Alexander and the other prisoners reached Durham, they were shut up in the city's cathedral.  At the end of October, 1,400 of the original 5,000 prisoners were still alive. More had died on the march and in the cathedral than had died fighting at Dunbar.  Parliament, under Cromwell, decided to ship the survivors to the colonies, selling them at a cost to them of about 5 pounds per man for a term of seven years. Sixty-two of the consigned men, including Alexander Ennis, were sent to the Saugus Ironworks at Lynn, Massachusetts.

Alexander’s grandfather was Sir Archibald Douglas.  Archibald was born about 1570. He was the son of James Douglas. He passed away after 1590.

Archibald Douglas was the illegitimate son of James Archibald, 4th Earl of Morton,   James was one of the four regents of Scotland during the minority of King James VI. In 1563 James became the Lord Chancellor of Scotland.  James was executed in 1581 after being accused of complicity in the murder of Lord Darnley.  Darnley was the second husband of Mary, Queen of Scots, and the father of James VI of Scotland.

A contract for the marriage of Archibald Douglas and Elizabeth Sutherland was signed on 9 November 1590.1. She was b. Between 1564 & 1568, the daughter of Alexander Sutherland & Janet Grant. 

His maternal grandmother was Catherine Stewart.  Her father was  James Douglas, 3rd Earl of Morton, 5th Lord of Dalkeith the son of John Douglas, 2nd Earl of Morton and Janet Crichton.  He married Catherine Stewart, daughter of James IV Stewart, King of Scotland and Marion Boyd, before 10 December 1507.  He died in December 1548.

Margaret Oldenburg of Denmark (1456 - 1480)

Margaret of Denmark married James III of Scotland and Queen of Scotland between 1469 and 1486. Her parents were Christian I, King of Denmark and Dorothea of Brandenburg.  She died at Stirling Castle on the 14th July 1486 and is buried in Cambuskenneth Abbey. Her husband would be later buried with her after his death in 1488

Basarab I of Wallachia (1270 - 1351

Basarab I, also known as Basarab the founder, was the first independent ruler of Wallachia and lived in the first half of the 14th Century.  One of his later relatives was Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler or Vlad Dracula.  Vlad is considered one of the most important rulers of Wallachian history and a national hero of Romania.

So, we know about Vlad Dracula…what about the person who wrote the famous novel about Dracula, which by chance was based in a charming seaside town called Whitby.  Well…it’s Josiah Woodworth again who is our link but this time through his father Silas Woodworth who was born in 1725 in Lebanon, Connecticut and would die in 1790 in Cornwallis, Nova Scotia, Canada. 

Silas Woodworth married Sarah Bass and it’s her family line we follow next.  Sarah’s niece Triphena (what an amazing name) would marry Joshua Abbe in 1771.  Joshua’s sister was Lucretia and it is her granddaughter Lucretia Badger that takes us to our next person of interest…her husband William Wheatley

William Wheatley (December 5, 1816 – November 3, 1876[1]) was an American stage actor.  He was born in New York City, the son of Frederick Wheatley, once a favorite actor in Baltimore and Philadelphia. His mother was Sarah (Ross) Wheatley, who died in 1873. She was an admirable and a justly renowned actress. He inherited talent for acting, together with a predilection for the stage.  He was one of the most popular and successful stage actors in the mid-19th century United States. He frequently performed roles in several venues in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to packed houses and great acclaim. In his later years he retired from acting and became a successful theatrical producer.

William’s niece Gertrude would marry Denis Donough Charles McGillycuddy.  Denos’s family has a few notable members…

Ross Kinloch McGillycuddy (1882 - 1950)

Ross McGillycuddy was an Irish Politician and also a military man.  He served in the Royal Artillery in India and also the Royal Dragoon Guards in World War I for which he received the Distinguished Service Order from Great Britain and the Legion d’Honneur from France for improving the mobility of the Vickers Machine Gun,

Richard Hugh McGillycuddy (1883 - 1918)

Ross’ brother was Richard who was a Major in the Royal Army Medal Corp.  Richard was educated at Fettes College, Edinburgh.  Between 1902 and 1906 he served as a Second Lieutenant in the 4th Battalion, Royal Munster Fusiliers.  Following his first military service he was appointed the District Medical Officer for the borough of St Pancras.  He remained in practice in West London until the outbreak of the second World War.  In 1915 he served in the Royal Army Medical Corp.  He then became attached as Medical Officer to the 9th Battalion, King’s Own Yorkshire Royal Infantry.  He took part in the Battle of Loos in September 1915.  The Battle of Loos took place in 1915 in France on the Western Front.  It was the biggest British attack of 1915.  He served with the Battalion until the Spring of 1916 when he was invalided home.  For his service he was awarded the Military Cross in 1916 and mentioned in Despatches.  He would be appointed Adjutant on board the HMNT Aguitania.  The Aquitania entered service during World War One and was converted into an auxiliary cruiser and would be later used as a troop transport and a hospital ship, notably as part of the Dardanelles Campaign.  Richard would sadly die on the 20th October 1918 at sea after suffering from Pneumonia

Tom Thornley MacGillycuddy Stoker (1886 - 1937)

Tom Stoker was the nephew of Bram Stoker.  He was an investment banker who lived in Montreal.  He married Mary Hendrie Drummond who was the widow of Guy Drummond.  Guy Drummond’s father vise-president at the Bank of Montreal and was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George.

Back to Tom Stoker…sadly in 1937 he would drown when he fell from a 24 foot rented cruiser in view of friends who waited for him to dock at an East River pier. Tom Stoker tumbled as he waved to his friends, missed a line thrown to him and swam against the swift current to within 50 feet of a dock when he disappeared. Police began a search for the body. The Canadian broker, staying at a New York hotel for a week, had rented the craft to take his friends for a spin and was on his way to pick them up when the accident occurred. 

We finish our tale with Edward Spencelayh, my 3rd great granduncle, who was born in Whitby in 1824.  He was a Master Mariner and would, sadly, be murdered by pirates near San Andreas Island which are off the coast of Nicaragua.  If you are curious check out the first few pages of Bram Stoker’s book Dracula when the ship washed up on the rocks and the hound ran up the 199 stairs to the Abbey on the cliff top stopping at the Spencelayh gravestone

It’s another amazing journey into my strange family and how each branch links together to form an intriguing chapter of my family tree.