Family History

  • Ursula Ingalls Rockwell Hazen’s Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

    Ursula Ingalls Rockwell Hazen’s Macaroni and Cheese Recipe

    My aunt Eleanor Rockwell sent me this copy of the recipe that was passed down from her mother.

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  • Tom, Mary, Bill, Carrie, and Forbes

    Tom, Mary, Bill, Carrie, and Forbes

    Lynnie sent around a great picture of Tom, Mary, Bill, Carrie, and Forbes. I thought it might be nice to have a private Facebook page for the grandchildren of Sam and Marion Rockwell to post pictures on and keep up with each other and our kids, and our kids’ kids, and… Nat Stevens

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  • Susan Rockwell: Holding the Family Together After Loss

    Susan Rockwell: Holding the Family Together After Loss

    After the death of her husband in 1640, Susan Capen Rockwell survived as a widow in Connecticut. The book treats her role as essential to the continuity of the Rockwell family through its second generation, though surviving records preserve only limited detail. Susan Capen Rockwell had crossed the Atlantic with her husband and young children

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  • Growing Up Rockwell: Life of New England’s 2nd Gen

    Growing Up Rockwell: Life of New England’s 2nd Gen

    William and Susan Capen Rockwell raised their children in the earliest decades of New England settlement. The book presents these children as the foundation of the second generation, through whom the Rockwell family continued in Connecticut and beyond. At the time of the family’s arrival in New England in 1630, William and Susan Rockwell had

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  • Unseen Threads: Joan Rockwell and Early Colonial Women

    Unseen Threads: Joan Rockwell and Early Colonial Women

    Joan Rockwell, the eldest child of William and Susan Capen Rockwell, appears only briefly in surviving records. The book treats her life as representative of many early colonial women whose experiences shaped families and communities but left limited documentary trace. Joan Rockwell crossed the Atlantic as a small child, turning five years old during the

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  • John Rockwell: From New Arrival to Windsor Landholder

    John Rockwell: From New Arrival to Windsor Landholder

    John Rockwell, son of William and Susan Capen Rockwell, appears in the records as a landholder and active inhabitant of Windsor. The book presents him as a representative figure of the second generation’s integration into civic life. John Rockwell was still a young child at the time of the family’s arrival in New England. By

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  • The Death of William Rockwell In 1640 and His Legacy

    The Death of William Rockwell In 1640 and His Legacy

    William Rockwell died in Windsor, Connecticut, in 1640. The book treats his death as the close of the first generation of the Rockwell family in New England, after a decade marked by migration, civic service, and church office. The book records William Rockwell’s death in Windsor in the year 1640, only a few years after

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  • William Rockwell’s Move to Windsor: A New Beginning

    William Rockwell’s Move to Windsor: A New Beginning

    After several years in Dorchester, William Rockwell moved to Windsor, Connecticut. The book places this move in the spring of 1637, noting both the land grants associated with his settlement there and the uncertainty caused by missing early records. By the mid-1630s, pressure on land and opportunity beyond Massachusetts Bay drew many Dorchester settlers westward

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  • First Manslaughter Trial: Walter Palmer’s 1630 Verdict

    First Manslaughter Trial: Walter Palmer’s 1630 Verdict

    In 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony convened what the book identifies as its first manslaughter trial. William Rockwell appears as one of twelve jurors in the case involving Walter Palmer and the death of Austen Bratcher, with court dates spanning September 28 through November 9, 1630. By late September 1630, the Massachusetts Bay Colony was

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  • Rockwell Family’s Bold Leap to the New World

    Rockwell Family’s Bold Leap to the New World

    In 1630, William Rockwell, his wife Susan Capen, and their two young children crossed the Atlantic aboard the ship Mary and John as part of the Winthrop emigration. The voyage lasted about seventy days and ended with an unplanned landing at Nantasket Point. Within days, the family and their fellow passengers selected Dorchester as their

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  • Tracing Family Roots: A Griffon’s Tale from Roxbury to England

    Tracing Family Roots: A Griffon’s Tale from Roxbury to England

    Rockwell, Samuel Forbes. Davis Families of Early Roxbury and Boston. North Andover, Mass., 1932. The “Hunt for the Davis Seal” is a perfect example of how heraldic evidence can bridge the gap between American colonists and their English origins. This specific investigation was undertaken to validate the link between the Davis family of Roxbury, Massachusetts,

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  • The Confusion of the Kennebec Fight

    The Confusion of the Kennebec Fight

    Rockwell, Samuel Forbes. Davis Families of Early Roxbury and Boston. North Andover, Mass., 1932. I have reconstructed the narrative of this historical mix-up, which serves as a prime example of why we must always cross-reference historical anecdotes with vital records. The story involves the dramatic Indian attack on the fort at Arrowsick Island on the

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  • The Astonishing Life of Old Goody Davis: 116 and Still Farming

    The Astonishing Life of Old Goody Davis: 116 and Still Farming

    Rockwell, Samuel Forbes. Davis Families of Early Roxbury and Boston. North Andover, Mass., 1932. In my examination of the historical records regarding the Davis families, one of the most fascinating narratives I have encountered is the legend of Mary Davis, better known to the community as “Old Goody Davis.” According to the Hyde Manuscripts and

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  • The Petition for Jane Davis

    The Petition for Jane Davis

    Rockwell, Samuel Forbes. Davis Families of Early Roxbury and Boston. North Andover, Mass., 1932. Based on the genealogical records of early Roxbury and Boston, the story of the petition for Jane Davis offers a poignant glimpse into the social dynamics and legal struggles of the year 1700. The narrative begins with the death of the

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  • Mary Gilbert Davis Rockwell Daguerreotype

    Mary Gilbert Davis Rockwell Daguerreotype

    Samuel Forbes Rockwell’s (my grandfather’s) picture of his mother, Mary Gilbert Davis Rockwell, was in my mother’s, Caroline Rockwell Stevens’, house in Amesbury before 2014. But after she passed away in 2014, it was nowhere to be found. The case and the note were found, but there was no sign of the early daguerreotype. At

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  • Unicycles and Aliases: Uncle Bill’s Secret Life

    Unicycles and Aliases: Uncle Bill’s Secret Life

    by Nat Stevens Hey Brad Rockwell, Tiffany Jesudian…It turns out that Uncle Bill Rockwell used an alias, George R Plunkett, when he rode his unicycle around Harvard so he wouldn’t get in trouble, and used his real name when he rode around the city of Cincinnati. Title: Zither Player Found! Harvard Club SighsSource: Newspaper clippingDate:

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  • Rediscovered Rockwell Family Memories and History

    Rediscovered Rockwell Family Memories and History

    by Brad Rockwell I have refound and somewhat organized Rockwell/genealogy material. Bill had this photo of Grandfather which I scanned. I still remember having lunch with him and Grandmother at 676 Osgood. Only one grandchild invited at a time. I probably wore a jacket and tie. Grandmother had a little book of Greek vocabulary that

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  • 1970s Ice Boating on Lake Cochichewick

    1970s Ice Boating on Lake Cochichewick

    by Nat Stevens A couple more ice boating pictures from a different day back in the 1970s on Lake Cochichewick, featuring Shawn Rockwell, Tom Rockwell, and Roslyn Rockwell. 📍 Historical Context Lake Cochichewick Lake Cochichewick is located in North Andover, Massachusetts. The lake was originally used as a fresh water supply for the town, established

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  • The 1988 Rockwell Family Reunion in Connecticut

    The 1988 Rockwell Family Reunion in Connecticut

    This is a video taken by Nat Stevens of the 1988 Rockwell family reunion in Colebrook, Connecticut. 📍 Historical Context & Related Content Colebrook, Connecticut Colebrook was incorporated as a town in 1779, carved out of portions of New Hartford and Winchester during the American Revolutionary War period. The town was named after Colebrook, New

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