Introduction: In this article, Melissa Davenport Berry continues her series on Mayflower descendants, focusing on the Munroe and Church family lines. Melissa is a genealogist who has a website, americana-archives.com, and a Facebook group, New England Family Genealogy and History.
Today I continue my series on “Mayflower Descendants: Who’s Who,” focusing on the Munroe, Church, and allied families who married into Pilgrim lines.
Hannah Thomson (Munroe) Bliss (1828-1910) is a descendant of Mayflower passenger Richard Warren (1578-1628), the 12th to sign the Mayflower Compact.
Hannah married Cyrus Wheaton Bliss (1823-1883) and had two sons. Neither son married, but there are plenty of Munroe descendants around.
Lineage:
- Richard Warren and Elizabeth Walker
- Elizabeth Warren and Richard Church
- Benjamin Church and Alice Southworth
- Elizabeth Church and Joseph Rosbotham
- Hannah Rosbotham and John Munroe
- Benjamin Munroe and Mary Ormsbee
- Benjamin Munroe and Ruth Cummings
- Hannah Thompson Munroe and Cyrus Wheaton Bliss
Here is an obituary for Hannah Thomson (Munroe) Bliss from the Boston Herald newspaper.
This article reports:
Mrs. Hannah T. Bliss, widow of Cyrus W. Bliss, died Wednesday night at her home, 151 Adams Street, Dorchester, at the age of 82 years and 9 months. She was born in Rehoboth, the home of her ancestors since 1693. She was a member of the [Massachusetts] Society of Mayflower Descendants, being the seventh in descent from Richard Warren. She leaves two sons, Frederic W[right] Bliss [1852-1933] and Dr. George D[anforth] Bliss [1855-1923]. The funeral will be held Friday afternoon at 2 o’clock. The Rev. Arthur Little of the Second Church, Dorchester, will officiate.
Until just recently, Hannah’s gr. great-grandnephew Walter H. Munroe (1946-2015) was residing in one the family homesteads in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. He is the great grandson of Hannah’s brother John Nelson Monroe (1822-1904), who married Louisiana Jones Knapp (1825-1904), daughter of Freeman and Lydia (Martin) Knapp.
John and Louisiana had a son, Benjamin Freeman Munroe (1866-1949), who married Grace Marion Appleby (1870-1939). Their son Ralph Gladding Munroe (1910-1980) married Jane Shepard Hodges (1911-2008) and they had a son, Walter H. Munroe. You can read more on this history of the Munroe-Church House here: “Rehoboth Man Presides over the Town’s Oldest, Continuously-Owned Family Farm.”
Another sibling to Hannah was Angeline Munroe (1809-1905), a singleton who lived to be 95. Here is a photo of her published in the newspaper covering her 91st birthday party hosted by her brother John Nelson Munroe.
According to this newsclip, Angeline’s (and the other Munroe siblings) ancestry can be traced not only to Mayflower passenger Richard Warren, but to a line of Scotch Barons.
One Pilgrim ancestor of the Munroe clan is the famous warrior and hero of King Philip’s War Colonel Benjamin Church (1639-1718), who married Alice Southworth, daughter of Constant and Elizabeth (Collier) Southworth and the stepdaughter of Gov. William Bradford.
Colonel Church was a carpenter, military officer, and ranger during America’s Colonial era, especially during King Philip’s War. He was a principal aide to Governor Josiah Winslow of Plymouth Colony.
He also was the founder of Little Compton, Rhode Island, and there is a marker where his homestead is located. The marker can be found at approximately 601 West Main Road, Little Compton, Rhode Island.
The plaque reads:
One hundred twenty-two rods west by north from this stone lived the famous Indian fighter Colonel Benjamin Church.
In 1951 the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Wars honored Col. Church with a memorial tablet. Fred. A. Otis, the governor of the Society, presided over the ceremony and the unveiling. A few photos of the event were published in the newspaper.
Here is a photo of the memorial tablet. The marker is in Little Compton, Rhode Island, in Newport County, on Commons Street in Old Commons Burial Ground.
The plaque reads:
This tablet erected by the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Wars in recognition of the exceptional services rendered by Col. Benjamin Church [for] his fearless leadership and effective command during King Philip’s war 1675-1677.
Sources say he was dubbed the “Great Indian Fighter,” but Church’s first inclination was to try and find common ground with the Native people.
When first settling in Sakonnet, he was the only Englishman for miles, surrounded by Indians on three sides and the Sakonnet River on the other.
In addition, Church vehemently opposed Governor Winslow’s decision to sell Indian captives into slavery, and sought clemency for former Indian rivals after the war.
Colonel Church dictated his story to his son Thomas, first published in 1716 as “Entertaining Passages Relating to Philip’s War.”
Stay tuned for more on the Church family…
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Note on the header image: “Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor,” by William Halsall, 1882. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.