Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who, Part 35 (part 7)

Melissa Berry

1 year ago

Painting: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry gives the 7^th part in her series on Mayflower descendants that focuses on Katie Crocker and her family line, featuring more vintage photographs. Melissa is a genealogist who has a blog, AnceStory Archives, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.

Today I continue with my series “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” focusing on the lineage of the Crocker family who married into several Mayflower lines.

To recap: I am working with a client, Katie Crocker, daughter of James and Debra Sue (Pemberton) Crocker of Barnstable, Massachusetts, on her family tree. Part of this series explored Katie’s Hinckley lines that married many Mayflower scions.

A photograph collection was sent to me from the archivist at Sturgis Library in Barnstable, contents from the Zenas Crocker Collection MS 167.

The following subjects all descend from Mayflower lines and other notable first families of Cape Cod and are among the cousins who share Katie’s lineage. Besides Mayflower passengers there are early settlers like John Gorham and the Goodspeed family.

My last story (part 6) concluded with a photograph of Warren Hinckley and his 2^nd wife Temperance Crosby, daughter of James Crosby and Temperance Goodspeed.

Warren Hinckley married 1^st Caroline Goodspeed, daughter of Asa Goodspeed and Abigail Crocker. Their son Gustavus Hinckley (1826-1870) and his wife Caroline “Sarah” Lewis (1829-1902), daughter of Levi Lewis and Polly Baker Simmons, are among the portraits featured in the photo collection.

Note: According to sources, Polly Baker Simmons married two more times, to Captain Elisha Hall and Joseph Hinckley, and had children.

Photos: Gustavus Hinckley and his wife Caroline “Sarah” Lewis. Credit: Sturgis Library, from the Zenas Crocker Collection MS 167.

Gustavus and Caroline had a daughter, Julia Goodspeed Hinckley (1852-1934). Portraits of her and her husband Horace Franklin Hallett Sr. (1846-1900), son of Benjamin Hallett and Adaline Lombard Hamlin, are also found in the collection. Julia was a descendant of Mayflower passengers Stephen Hopkins, John Tilley, John Howland, and William Brewster, as well as Plymouth Governors Thomas Hinckley and Thomas Prence (who married Patience Brewster).

Photos: Julia Hinckley and her husband Horace Hallett Sr. Credit: Sturgis Library, from the Zenas Crocker Collection MS 167.

Their son Horace Franklin Hallett Jr. (1898-1959) married Mary Josephine Crosby (1899-1998), daughter of Ralph Worthington Crosby and Ellen Gazille Robinson, leaving descendants.

Here is an obituary for Horace Hallett Jr., who died on 25 May 1959, and was buried in the family plot at Oak Park Cemetery in Hyannis, Massachusetts.

Photo: scrapbook page from the Pilgrim Monument and Provincetown Museum Scrapbook of “Provincetown and Cape Cod” Collection. Credit: Provincetown History Preservation Project Digital Collection.

It was clear that Horace was beloved by his community and was very active. He was by trade a talented architect, but also served as president of the National Bank and had his own insurance agency.

In reading this dedication to Mr. Hallett, it is clear he was passionate about preserving his Pilgrim heritage. Here are some key roles he played, as detailed in this obituary:

He was president of the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association which operates the Pilgrim Monument.

Read more: Pilgrim Monument Dedication, Part II. Here is an article about the Pilgrim Monument dedication ceremony in 1910, with photos of: part of the North Atlantic Fleet, which took part in the ceremonies in the harbor; the monument itself; and President William Taft, who delivered an address during the ceremony.

New-York Daily Tribune (New York, New York), 6 August 1910, page 4

During Hallett’s regime, the Cape Cod Pilgrim Memorial Association took over the Historical Museum of Provincetown from the Research Club, and many improvements were made to the building.

In 1957, Mr. Hallett was chairman of the Mayflower II reception committee and was largely responsible for the ship coming to Provincetown, Massachusetts.

For several years he served as Civil Defense Director for Provincetown. He was also chairman of the American Red Cross during World War II and was chairman of the finance committee of the chapter at the time of his death.

He was a member of the building fund committee of the Red Cross, and for about 20 years was on the Board of Directors. He also served as advisor for the Provincetown Canteen.

Previously, he was a member of the chapter, and disaster representative of District I which includes Provincetown, Turo, and Wellfleet.

Hallett was a member of the Fraternal Lodge A. F. and A. M. of Hyannis. A life member of the Orient Royal Arch Chapter, and a member of the Anchor and Arch Club of Provincetown.

Besides his widow (Mrs. Mary Jane Hallett), survivors included a daughter Mrs. Albert Weissberg of Provincetown, a grandson Caleb Weissberg of Provincetown, and three cousins: Miss Eloise Crocker of Hyannis; Fred L Hinckley of New York; and Mrs. Andrew Bishop of Surrey, England.

The first photos that I showed in this article were of Gustavus Hinckley and his wife Caroline “Sarah” Lewis. There is another Lewis connection in the Zenas Crocker photo album: portraits of Captain Joseph Freeman Lewis (1845-1878), son of John Lewis and Dorcas Hinkley Kelly; and his wife Emma Caroline Hinckley (1847-1922), daughter of Crocker Hinckley and Caroline Crowell, descended from Mayflower passengers John Howland and Elizabeth Tilley.