February 12, 2016
When you have a genealogy record in front of you, track down every clue and see where it takes you.
For example: I found the announcement of my cousin’s wedding in 1767 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
Are there more clues here?
Let’s see where they take us.
The groom is identified as: “the Honorable Martin Howard, Esq; Chief Judge of North-Carolina.”
OK, he was the Chief Judge of North Carolina. Probably I can find more information about him in GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives. Let’s see.
Here’s an article.
So, prior to his marriage to Miss Abigail Greenleaf in 1767, Martin Howard was married to Anne – who died Wednesday, 26 September 1764.
I’ll add her to my family tree and look for more information on her.
What else can I find about Chief Judge Martin Howard’s life and family?
I also found this article.
What’s this?
A mob destroying his home?
They were so angry that after they left, they returned and ransacked his home a second time.
The article ends by saying:
The ship Friendship, capt. Lindsey, sailed for England yesterday. Doctor Thomas Maffat, and Martin Howard, jun. Esq; of this town went [as] passengers.
What was this all about?
We learn more in this next article I found.
So – Martin Howard was supporting the hated Stamp Act during Colonial times; his home was ransacked and he was forced to flee to England.
By the next year he was appointed by the King as the new Chief Judge of North Carolina.
The Dictionary of North Carolina Biography quotes him as saying:
I shall have no argument with the Sons of Liberty of Newport; it was they who made me Chief Justice of North Carolina, with a thousand pounds sterling a year.
Digging deeper I found his portrait.
This was no small-time judge. He sat for this Copley portrait at the same time he married my cousin Abigail Greenleaf.
Extraordinary.
I was not expecting to find this.
Later, Howard was forced to flee the Colonies permanently, and he lived the rest of his life in obscurity in England.
If I hadn’t found his marriage notice in GenealogyBank he would not have made it into our family tree.
When I searched FamilySearch and Ancestry, he wasn’t recorded on the family tree in either site – so I remedied that and added him to our family tree on both sites.
I love it when the old newspapers in GenealogyBank help me to discover new members of the family. I find more every day.
It’s a great day for genealogy!
Related Genealogy Clues Articles:
- Genealogy Research Tip: Dig Deeply into Records to Uncover Clues
- Genealogy Tip: Research Every Clue in Newspapers, Including Social Columns
- Mining for Historical News & Genealogy Clues in the Archives
- How to Uncover Vital Record Clues in Old Newspapers
- Sleuthing for Clues in the News to Solve Genealogy Mysteries
