Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series profiling descendants of the Mayflower settlers, focusing on Pennsylvania families. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” continuing the focus of Part 9: an annual meeting of the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society hosted by Mr. and Mrs. Walter Lippincott in 1908. The event was covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer and General George Washington’s birthday was the celebration theme.
Rev. Rockwell Harmon Potter of Hartford, Connecticut, delivered an entertaining and original address on Washington, which was followed with a supper and conversazione among Pilgrim offshoot cousins.
Mrs. James Mauran Rhodes Jr. appears in the photo on the right in the above newspaper article. She was born Ella Brock Johnson (1882-1972), daughter of Robert Wilkinson Johnson and Julia Watts Hall Brock. It is probable that Ella was accepted into the Mayflower Society based on her direct ancestor Governor Thomas Prence, whose first wife was Patience Brewster, daughter of William Brewster. However, Ella actually descends from Prence’s 3rd wife, Apphia Quick. (See more on her linage below.)
Ella married James Mauran Rhodes Jr., treasurer of the Pennsylvania Mayflower Society and descendant of two Mayflower passengers: John Tilley and John Howland.
Here is the family line:
- John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley, daughter of John Tilley
- Lydia Howland and James Brown
- James Brown and Margaret Denison
- James Brown and Elizabeth Bowen
- Abijah Brown and Josiah Humphrey
- Lillis Humphrey and Nathaniel Smith
- Sally Smith and Carlo Mauran, son of Revolutionary War Patriot Joseph Carlo Mauran
- Frank Mauran and Mary Aborn Rhodes (he married 2nd Mary Louise Nichols)
- James Rhodes Mauran Sr.* and Emily Borie
- James Mauran Rhodes Jr. and Ella Brock Johnson
*Note: I found a name change on record, authorized by the House of Representatives and published in the Providence Evening Press on 8 February 1870, for James Rhodes Mauran Sr. He changed his name from James Rhodes Mauran to James Mauran Rhodes, and therefore his son’s surname was Rhodes and not Mauran.
In 1871 James Sr. married Emily Borie, daughter of Charles Louis Borie and Clementina Sophia McKean. She published a book, Recollections of a Great Grandmother: Dedicated to Our Grandchildren, in 1925 with the help of her husband James Sr., who served as the Historian-General for the Society of Mayflower Descendants.
A passage in her book explains why her husband James changed his name:
“James Thomas Rhodes died March 13, 1873 – dear Grandfather Rhodes was devoted to my dear husband, had adopted him as his own son.” (p. 44)
According to Emily’s account, James courted her while he was working with Henry Tiffany & Co. to learn the wholesale business. Shortly after their engagement was announced, James received startup money from his grandfather, James Thomas Rhodes, to join the firm of C & H Borie, owned by his future father-in-law Charles and brother-in-law Henry Borie.
James Jr. died of a rare disease at the age of 35 in 1911. He too worked for the firm C & H Borie. I found his obituary in the Buffalo News.
James Jr. and Ella had no children, but the Rhodes line continued with other children born to James Sr. and Emily Borie:
- Clementina Borie Rhodes married Edward Yarnall Hartshorne Sr.
- Charles Borie Rhodes married Clare Elizabeth Morris
- Mary Aborn Rhodes married Guy Phelps Dodge
- Frank Mauran Rhodes married Eliza “Lila” Burr
- Elizabeth McKean Rhodes married Samuel Franklin Sharpless
- Emily Beauveau Borie Rhodes married Seaman Deas Sinkler, son of Wharton Sinkler and Ella Brock (sister to Julia Watts Hall Brock mentioned earlier in this article)
- Lawrence Maran Rhodes married Ethel Kidder
Ella Brock Johnson Rhodes is a direct descendant of many Nantucket settlers and Quakers. Among them are: Peter Folger, grandfather of Benjamin Franklin, teacher, surveyor, missionary, and interpreter, dubbed the “white chief’s old-young man” by the Nantucket Indians, meaning he was wise for his age; Tristram Coffin; and Dionis Stevens. The families married into the Barker, Starbuck, Pope, Giles, Hall, Coleman, and Gardiner lines.
Stay tuned for more on Mayflower descendants!
Note: An online collection of newspapers, such as GenealogyBank’s Historical Newspaper Archives, is not only a great way to learn about the lives of your ancestors – the old newspaper articles also help you understand American history and the times your ancestors lived in, and the news they talked about and read in their local papers. Do you have a connection all the way back to the Mayflower Pilgrims?
Related Articles:
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part I
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part II
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part III
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part IV
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part V
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part VI
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part VII
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part VII (conclusion)
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 8
- Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 9
- Something Old, Something New – By God’s Grace, We Will Always Have Brew!
- Early Quaker Meetings Raided by Salem Authorities