BULLETIN OF THE AMERICAN FRIENDS OF PUTTENHAM

VOLUME VIII, NUMBER 3

JUNE, 1991

VISIT TO ENGLAND

The time for our tour of Puttenham and vicinity is now set for Sunday, Sept. 8 through Wed., Sept. 11. In addition, those who are interested will travel to London on the 12th to visit the British Museum to see the Domesday Book. So far, eight individuals have completed their plans to attend: Edith Thornton of Rocky Hill, Ct., David Putnam of Wilbraham, Ma., Dr. Dickson Putnam and his sister of West Plains, Mo., Mr. and Mrs. Jack Putnam of Visalia, Ca. and Mr. and Mrs. Robert Putnam of Marietta, Oh. Anyone else who plans to come should let me know as soon as possible so that accommodations can be secured. Directions for travel to Aylesbury, Bucks, from London or other cities in England will be provided in the next month. All local travel from Aylesbury to hotels and to tour sites will be provided for the group. A detailed itinerary also will be provided in July. At the moment we can say that Saturday will be a day of informal exploration and meeting of St. Mary's church members and Sunday will start with a service in the church of our ancestors and finish with dedication of the new church hall. In between, we'll have an opportunity to study the historically important area around the church and village. The next three days will be spent in touring the spots that are important in Putnam family history as well as other sites in this extremely beautiful section of England.

PUTNAM MIGRATION INTO THE MID-OHIO VALLEY

In tracing the descendants of a given family in the U.S. it is frequently found that the geographical distribution of the family is remarkably broad, resembling a tree growing from a single town in the East and branching out into many of the 50 states. In the cases of John Putnam of Salem Village and probably of Thomas Putnam of tidewater Virginia, descendants can be found in all 50 states 350 years after arrival in North America of John and Thomas. Because of this it is tempting to assume that members of the Putnam family found in a small area are all descended from an original settler of the area (of course this is not true for large metropolitan areas). That this is a very bad assumption is shown by the example of the area centered in Marietta, Ohio, and covering a circle with a radius of 20 miles. Putnam immigration ­into this area of Ohio and West Virginia can, in fact, be traced to six and perhaps seven different family lines spanning a period of more than 200 years. 

Marietta, itself, was settled in 1788 with the arrival of a flatboat bearing 48 revolutionary war veterans from Massachusetts. The leader was General Rufus Putnam and the group included Allen and Jethro Putnam. Rufus and Allen were not closely related (3rd cousins, once removed). Jethro came from Danvers, as did Allen, but we don't know their relationship except that they were not brothers. Today there is not a single family named Putnam in this entire area descended from any of these men nor am I aware of any individuals descended from their daughters. Yet there is a very large number of Putnam families. How this came to be is a fascinating story. Most (but not all!) of the Putnam family members to be found in the Marietta area today are actually descendants of General Israel Putnam. Not all the members of the Ohio Company came out with the original 48. One who did not was Colonel Israel Putnam, son of the famous general. This Israel came overland a short time after the flatboat arrived, took up land in Belpre, just south of Marietta, and brought out his large family in 1790. His sons all remained in the Belpre/Marietta area and from them are descended many hundred present a residents. 

In Cairo and Elizabeth, West Virginia, are two members of the AFOP, Sandra Harper and Marjorie Mayes. who descend from John Jeptha Putnam, born in 1762 in Sutton, Hass., died in Bath, Virginia, in 1837. John's children spread out into western Virginia before the Civil War leaving a considerable number of descendants in today's population in our area of interest. But, as we have already discovered, one must be careful not to draw any conclusions about other Putnams in the same area from this fact. In Belmont , West Virginia and Marietta, Ohio, live two sisters, Deloris Putnam Morris and Violet Putnam Blair, also members of the AFOP. These ladies descend from an old V1rginia family which is almost certainly that derived from the Thomas Putnam who came to Virginia in 1647 from Chesham, England. One of the members of is family, John M. Putnam, moved west of the Appalachian Mts. from Fauqler County between 1845 and 1873. This family finally reached the area of interest after 1900 and has contributed a significant number of individuals to today's population. 

And where does my family fit in all of this? Nowhere! We are late comers to the area, having arrived from Salem Village via New Salem ,Mass., Houlton, He., Northampton, Mass., and Wilmington, Delaware, only in 1967. And to find a common ancestor with any of the others we have to go all the way back to John of Salem Village and his sons. 

MORE CIVIL WAR LETTERS 

Several weeks ago we were delighted to have an unexpected visit from member Stephen Morgan Wells, recently retired manager of the Susse Motel in Portsmouth, N.H., and his wife Betty. Steve is one of the descendants of the Col. Israel Putnam mentioned in the previous section and his family is from Athens, Ohio, home of Ohio University (founded by Rufus Putnam, among others). Steve was on what proved to be a successful search for reliable evidence of his ancestry. As a result of this visit he has provided a fascinating collection of letters from a soldier in the Union army, Lt. David P. Putnam, to his parents in Athens. David was born in Marietta in 1841 and was a brother of Stephen's great-grandfather. The letters span his service career from late in 1862 till after the end of the war in 1865 and are virtually a week-by-week record of the war in the West including Sherman's campaign in Georgia. The letters will be serialized in "The Tallow Light", a publication of the Washington County (Ohio) Historical Society, and will be donated to the Ohio Historical Society. 

THE ANCESTRY OF THE CHILDREN OF DEACON EDWARD PUTNAM 

Member Harry Brawner of Menlo Park, Ca., has provided the following account of the ancestry of Mary Hale, wife of Edward Putnam, which may be of interest to their many descendants in the AFOP. 

"The nine children of Deacon Edward Putnam and their descendants are all very much Putnams, but they also share another fascinating ancestry. Edward was born in Salem Village, Mass., (baptized July 4, 1654), the second son of Thomas and Ann Holyoke Putnam, and there married Mary Hale on June 14, 1681. 

Mary Hale also was born in Salem Village on July 15, 1660, the daughter of Judge Thomas and Mary Hutchinson Hale. The judge was well known and highly respected and himself New England born. His father, another Thomas, was the immigrant ancestor settling with this wife, Thomasine, in Newbury, Mass., where he became a selectman before dying there on Dec. 21, 1682. his birthplace was Walterstone, Herefordshire, on the Welch border. The date was June 15, 1606. 

This Thomas' father was William (1568-1634) who held the honor of  High Sheriff of Hertfordshire, the home county of the Putnam family. Thomas' mother was Rose, a daughter of Sir George Bond, Lord Mayor of  London in 1587, at the time of the Spanish Armada threat. Sir George's wife was Winifred Leigh. 

Lady Winifred, in turn, was the daughter of Sir Thomas Leigh, Lord Mayor of London in 1558, the momentous year in which Mary I, "Bloody Mary", was succeeded on the throne by the great Elizabeth. Sir Thomas and his spouse, Alice Barker, retired to Stoneleigh Abbey in Warwickshire. The home is occupied by the Leigh family to this day. 

The Leigh family is authenticated for another eleven generations previous to Sir Thomas beginning with Haman de Leigh, whose son was married around 1160 and was lord of High Leigh Manor in Chestershire. One other Leigh deserves mention. Sir Thomas' great,great grandfather was Sir Piers Leigh who fought as a young man with distinction at the battle of Crecy in 1346 in support of the Plantagenet King, Edward III. He continued in his loyalty to this royal family even as the throne was usurped by the Lancastrian, Henry IV. The latter heartlessly ordered the execution of the old man and Sir Piers was beheaded in Chester in 1399." 

PUTNAMS IN THE NEWS

Can one of our members identify the Jennifer Putnam who is shown in the Associate Press photo below?

Pressing for revival

Jennifer E. Putnam holds a photograph of her great-great-grandmother Julia Ward How, who wrote the lyrics to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." Putnam wants the song to become part of the next welcome-home parade for Persian Gulf War troops, July 4 In Washington, D.C. "It could become the anthem of a new age," Putnam says. 

Member Hamilton S. Putnam of Concord, N.H., recently gave two lectures before the N.H. Historical Society and at the Bicentennial Celebration of the N.H. Medical Society. His topics were the 388 years (sic) of N.H. medicine and the part played in it by Dr. Josiah Bartlett, the Society's first president, first governor of N.H. and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. Hamilton was executive director of the Society for 38 years and currently is director of the John P. Bowler, M.D. Memorial Library. He is the author of "COUNTRY ON FIRE", a history of the period of the French and Indian wars (1755-1764) and the part played in it by his ancestor, Israel Putnam.

In the November, 1990, issue of the Bulletin we reported two newspaper articles about Todd Putnam of Seattle, Wa., and his publication "National Boycott News". The Wall Street Journal also recognized news in this item but didn't get it on their front page until the April 24, 1991 issue. Then they did it up properly with a long article. The first paragraph is worth quoting since it sums up the  Journal's tongue in cheek treatment of the story. "(Todd Putnam) sorely needs a new pair of shoes, but he can't wear leather - the company has been accused of exploiting the black community.  Rubber and plastic are also out, because they don't recycle well. And he has even had to stop buying his Chinese-made all- cotton shoes because of the Tianenmen Square massacre."

MISSING PERSONS

Information is needed about Polly Putnam of Tyringham, Mass., who married Nathaniel Gleason on 13 June 1795 in Tyringham. Nathaniel was born on 1 Nov. 1773 in Ward, Mass., and was living in Becket at the time of his marriage. Contact Caroline W. Putnam, wife of the Editor, if you know anything about Polly. 

Larine Biggs, 6115 Jaqueline, Wichita, Ks., wants to contact anyone who is descended from Levi and Charlotte (Estes) Putnam who lived in the Dwight, Illinois, area about 1840. One daughter, Hannah, married Clark Wait. 

IN MEMORIAM

Wichita, Ks., architect, Wendell Parks, died at the age of 88 on March 16, 1991, in Wichita. He was a descendant of Gen. Israel Putnam and a relative of members Larine Biggs and Hadley Wait also of Wichita. 

NEM MEMBERS 

New members welcomed to the American Friends since the April issue of the Bulletin are:

William B. Putman, Jr..

Hyannis Port, Ma.

Marjorie F. Mayes

Elizabeth, W. Va. 

Leonor Carrasquilla Castello

Bogota, Columbia, S.A.

Marjorie R. Atherton

Morris, Ct.

Robert A. Putnam

Winter Spr., Fl.

Marlynn D. Clements

Mansfield, Oh.

Donna R. Carlson

Austin, Tx.

K. Troy Putnam

Radnor, Oh.

Wendy V. Smith

Rexdale, Ont., Canada

Robert E. Putnam, Editor

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