Roger Burlingame's Descendants (1669 to 1769)

Recently, this excerpt from the will of Moses was found. Clearly, he also had a daughter, Mary Burlingame, in addition to his sons, Silas and Moses III. More research on Moses is required to find his grave site and his date of death.

Notes for Moses Burlingame:

Abstracts of Wills, Vol XIII, 1784-1786

"...westerly on a line between me and said Burlingame to my son Silas' northeast corner, then southerly along Silas' east line to first mentioned bounds together with buildings and improvements thereon; Also that tract in Charlotte Precinct, the county and state above said beginning at a Walnut sapling near the road mentioned for my son Silas' southwest bound, thence northerly on the west side of my son Silas to Benjamin Burlingame's land, thence on a line between me and said Burlingame to said Burlingames southwest corner, from thence southerly to a butnut tree standing on the north side of the road on the top of Plemoth Hill, from thence easterly along said road to the Walnut sapling or place of beginning with all the profits thereunto belonging; to my d aughter Mary, all that tract of land lying in Charlotte Precinct, county and state above said, beginning at a chestnut tree mentioned for the southeast bounds of my son Lowrans, near the road on Plemoth Hill, thence to the southwest bound of Charles Wilb."

^{The following notes appear on a genealogy website - also referencing the Nelson Burlingame history:}

Moses Burlingame was born about 1718 in Providence, Providence Co., Rhode Island.² He was the son of Moses Burlingame and Temperance Card.¹ He was married by William Burton, J. P., to Lydia Baker, daughter of Elisha Baker and Mary Earle, on 4 May 1740 in Providence, Providence Co., Rhode Island.^2,3 He died in Scituate, Providence Co., Rhode Island.²

Citations

• 1. [S134] Nelson Burlingame, Burlingame Manuscript, Vol. 1, p. 21.

  2. [S134] Nelson Burlingame, Burlingame Manuscript, Vol. 1, p. 46.

  3. [S150] Edwin M. Snow, Alphabetical Index of the Births, Marriages, and Deaths Recorded in Providence, R. I., Vol. 1, 1636-1850, p. 117, #1: 95.

Fifth Generation: Silas Burlingame (Moses, Moses, Thomas, Roger)

Born: 20 MAY 1741 in Cranston, Providence Co., RI

Died: 5 MAR 1829 in New Berlin, Chenango Co., NY

A direct descendant of Roger Burlingame, Silas Burlingame was a pioneer settler of the village of New Berlin, NY - near Norwich, NY. According to Chenango County records, Silas settled on Lot 76 in the newly formed settlement. Silas married Mehitable Fisk and their four children were Josiah, Lydia, Daniel and Caleb. Josiah, his eldest son, built his house near where the old factory store now stands.

According to some sources, Silas Burlingame served in the French and Indian War. Another source notes that an 1877 clipping from the McKean County Miner mentioned that Silas was a participant in the Boston Tea Party.It is unlikely that this story is true -- a check of the known participants in the Boston Tea Party show no Burlingames were involved.Yet another source that Silas served as a private in the New York Militia (Col. Cornelius Van Veghten's regiment) during the American Revolutionary War.

Silas's son Josiah taught the first school in New Berlin. Another son, Daniel was a distinguished pioneer preacher of the Methodist church. His house stood on the east street near the iron bridge in New Berlin, NY. Silas's grandson, Joel, (son of Daniel, and father of Hon. Anson Burlingame), was born in this house. He was a man of strong mind, great energy and considerable acquirements. He removed in 1824 to a farm in Seneca county, Ohio, where he lived for 10 years, in 1833, again removed to Detroit, and from thence two years later to a farm at Branch, Michigan. He was a delegate from Oregon to the Convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln for President. Anson Burlingame, the distinguished diplomatist, was born in Ambler Settlement in this town, Nov. 14, 1820 and was 3 yrs old when his father moved to Ohio". Source: History of Chenango County

"Silas Burlingame was the progenitor of a somewhat remarkable class of men. His son, Daniel, was one of the pioneer Methodist preachers of the country, and though somewhat eccentric, is spoken of with veneration, and is regarded as a man of great piety and peculiarly impressive in his sermons and exhortations. He was the grandfather of Hon. Anson Burlingame." --Source: 1869-70 Gazetteer, New Berlin

According to the Nelson Burlingame account, Silas was quite a survivor -- he was thrice shipwrecked, captured by pirates and survived the scourges of both small pox and yellow fever.

- Source: Nelson Burlingame

Silas had at least two great grandson's who served in the Civil War - through a twist of fate, both were imprisoned at Libby Prison in Virginia. His great grandson Delevan D Burlingame Photo of Delevan Daniel Burlingame 119th Regt. NY Cav. (born and died in Chenango Co. B. 1845, D. 1856 and was buried in Holmesville Cemetery, NY) died from the poor facilities at Libby Prison. He was the son of James Ludlow Burlingame and the grandson of Daniel Burlingame. Silas' other great grandson, HL Burlingame (150th PA Vol, Co. G) was wounded at Gettysburg and taken to Libby Prison (see his full bio on this site). His medical treatment there likely saved his leg from having to be amputated.

More on SILAS BURLINGAME (from Barry Elmore Hinman interpreting the highly innacurate history from Susan Burlingame Horton Phillips who was Josiah's daughter)

Our basic knowledge of Silas Burlingame comes from a manuscript "History of the Burlingames" written by his great- granddaughter Susan Burlingame Holton Phillips. She was born before Silas died, but almost certainly never saw him, since her

family had already moved West. As a result, what she knew of her great-grandfather can only have been what her father told her, and he indeed did live with his grandfather for about 20 years. What we have, therefore, are the stories of an old man,

remembered by his grandson, and retold by him to his daughter, and later consigned to writing by her. The chances for error are great, and that error has crept in must always be considered.

This history of the family begins as follows:

Our fathers came from Birmingham, England, and settled in Rhode Island as early as the latter part of 1600 or the first part of 1700. I do not know how many or how large families there was. I know of only three or, rather, those three are all that has

been handed down in our branch of the Burlingames. They were Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Moses. Ezekiel never married. I have no correct history of the descendants of Jeremiah. Moses B. lived in Cranston, R.I., where our great-grandfather Silas was born May 20, 1739.

When I began to investigate this document, the first thing I did, of course, was to turn to the genealogical accounts of Rhode Island, where the most basic source is Austin's Genealogical Dictionary. There I found that there were indeed Burlingames in RI, but that the founder of the family had come rather earlier than this account leads one to suppose. Austin set forth three generations of the emigrant's descendants, and in the third generation there was a single Moses Burlingame, born about 1690. No Ezekiels or Jeremiahs, however, were found at all. Furthermore, there was no birth record for Silas in the existing records of Providence, of which Cranston was still a part until 1754, and he was not mentioned in the extant will of Moses

Burlingame. That will did, however, show that the third generation Moses had a son Moses, and the marriage records of Providence record his marriage to Lydia Baker 4 May 1740. Deeds show that when he bought land in Coventry, Kent Co., RI, in 1759, he was called "of Cranston."

Is this second Moses the father of Silas? On the face of it, the answer would seem to be yes. Here is a Moses, in Providence, of the right age. His wife's name is Lydia, and she has a brother Silas who married Moses' sister Temperance. Silas would be named for his double uncle, and he in turn will name his only daughter Lydia. Moses has a brother Josiah, and Silas will name his eldest son, born shortly after the death of that brother, Josiah. The only problem, of course, is the conflict between the given birth date of Silas, 1739, and the certain marriage date of Moses and Lydia, 1740.

The birth date of Silas Burlingame is given as 20 May 1739 not only by Mrs. Holton but also in the Reuben Burlingame Bible, a copy of which is in the Guernsey Memorial Library in Norwich, NY, and in what appears to be a copy of an obituary of Silas, stating that he died Nov. 5th, 1829, aged 90 years, 5 months and 15 days, and specifically that he was born in Cranston, RI, 20 May 1739. There is no doubt, therefore, that Silas himself gave that as his birth date, and that his family naturally accepted it. There is equally no doubt that the Providence town records show the marriage of Moses Burlingame and Lydia Baker to have taken place a year later. The simplest solution, of course, is to assume that Silas was mistaken, and that he was born 20 May 1741, and this is what Nelson Burlingame does in his monumental "Burlingame Family," a manuscript now in the library of the Rhode Island Historical Society. He gives the birth date as 1741, with no explanation, says that Moses and Lydia are the parents, and ignores the conflict completely. He is probably right, but in genealogy assumptions can not take the place of evidence, and at the moment there is no proof whatsoever as to the birth date or the parentage of Silas Burlingame.

Nor is there any proof of the next part of Susan Holton's story, the swashbuckling adventures of the young Silas.

[Silas] remained with his father until he was 15 years old then hired himself as cabin boy on a privateer. For 15 years the ocean was his home most of the time. In those years he suffered many hardships. Three times shipwrecked. If Silas was born in 1739, then he was 15 in 1754, the year generally given as the beginning of the French and Indian War in North America; if, on the other hand, he was born in 1741, then his fifteenth birthday was in 1756, the year of the official outbreak of that war

between Great Britain and France, called in Europe the Seven Years War, since it lasted until 1763. It looks, therefore, as though Silas was engaged in privateering during this conflict, but no evidence to substantiate this assumption has been found.

Mrs. Holton recounts at length the story of his last shipwreck, during which he was cast up on a desert island, rescued by a buccaneer and taken to the Spanish Main. After a narrow escape from death he set sail on another privateer, was captured by the French but escaped, landed once again in America where he barely escaped a British pressgang, returning to his ship "resolved that he would stay there until the war was over."

Mrs. Holton says that he returned home in 1769, and that "soon after his return he married a Miss Fisk and settled at Situate in Rhode Island, now called Foster, where he remained until 1782." But as we have seen the war ended in 1763, so it is

far more likely that Silas returned then. We find proof, in fact, that he did so, in the vital records of Cranston, RI, where, on 11 Nov 1764 Silas Burllinggame and Mehetable Fisk were married by Elisha Greene, Elder (of the Baptist Church). There

are no further traces of Silas in the records of Cranston.

After his marriage, Silas Burlingame may have continued his sea-faring life, since there is no trace of him in Rhode Island deeds until on 8 Aug 1769 Silas Burllingame of Coventry, Kent, cooper, bought 100 acres in Scituate, Providence Co., RI. We

notice that he is called of Coventry, where his presumed father, Moses, was living, and that just as Mrs. Holton said, in 1769 he settled at Scituate. On 6 Mar 1773 Silas Burllinggame of Scituate, yeoman, and Mehetabell the lawful wife of said Silas,

sold 20 acres in Scituate, while on 5 Oct 1774 Silas bought another 20 acres. On 25 Feb 1778 Silas Burlinggame of Scituate, yeoman, with Mehetabel his wife sold his holdings in Scituate, and on 13 Mar 1778 he bought 100 acres in Coventry. This land he sold with his wife Mehitabel 23 Dec 1778, and apparently soon after they left the state of Rhode Island.

This information of the deeds is confirmed by other RI documents. A statewide census was taken in 1774 and Silas Burlingame is found at Scituate with a family of 2 males over 16, 1 under, 2 females over 16 and 1 under. This accounts for Silas

and Mehitable, his son Josiah born 1769, and his daughter Lydia whose birthdate is not known. The other couple over 16 may well be Moses and his wife, since they are otherwise not found in this census. In 1776 the American Revolution began, and on 28 Sep 1776 Silas Burlingame was one of the signers of the oath of fidelity at Coventry, and the following year, in Apr 1777, Serg Silas Burlingame is listed in Capt. Samuel Well's Co. in Col. Casen's Rgt (a Coventry company). Despite these Coventry mentions, it was still in Scituate that Silas Burlingame was enumerated in the RI military census of 1777. He is noted as aged 16-50 and able to bear arms. In June 1777 Silas Burlingham is listed as one of the justices of the peace at Scituate.

It was in Mar 1778 that Silas Burlingame bought 100 acres of land in Coventry, and on Wednesday 15 Apr 1778 he was admitted a freeman of that town. A record in the Shepley collection at the RI State Archives shows that he was paid for 7 days as a member of Capt. Sam Wall's company in Col. Archibald Kasson's regiment in the town of Coventry for his services in the alarm from 24-30 Jul 1778. Then, as we say, in Dec 1778 he sold his holdings in Coventry, and he disappears from RI records.

"History of the Burlingames" tells us that he removed to Stillwater, Saratoga Co., in 1782, but Saratoga Co. was created from Albany county only in 1791, so until that date Stillwater was in Albany Co. The exact date that Silas and his family moved

to Stillwater may well be 1782, but that he was in Albany county, NY, before that date is proved by James Roberts' New York in the Revolution as Colony and State, where, on p. 122, he lists Silas Burllinggame as enlisted in Col. John McCrea's company, Col. Cornelius Van Veghten's 13th regiment, of the Albany Co. militia. There is no date given, but service was presumably before the end of active fighting in 1781. It seems reasonable to suppose that the Burlingames went more or less directly to NY from RI, and arrived there, therefore, probably in 1779.

Two members, at least, of the DAR have joined through the services of Silas Burlingame, member 46179 being descended from Josiah Burlingame, while member 137038 was a descendant of Daniel Burlingame's son James.

The deeds of Albany County reveal no transactions by Silas Burlingame, but in the 1790 census of Stillwater Town, Albany Co., Silas Burlingham is found with a family of 1 male over 16, 2 under and 2 females. Next to him is Josiah Burlingham with a family of 1 male over 16, 1 under, and 3 females. This accounts for all the members of Silas's family, his son Daniel having been born in 1778 and the last son, Caleb, at an unknown date. The daughter Lydia is presumably still unmarried.

Shortly after this census, apparently, Silas led his family further west. The Gazeteer and Business Directory of Chenango County, N.Y., for 1869-70 by Hamilton Child tells us that the first settler of what is now New Berlin, Chenango Co., but was

then still part of the town of Norwich, was Daniel Scribner from Ballston, Saratoga Co., who came in 1790. Listed among the other early settlers is Silas Burlingame, who settled on what was the site of the future New Berlin. The first deed found for him is dated 12 Jun 1795 when Silas Burlingame of Norwich, Tioga Co., farmer, bought 320 acres for L160, being lot #77 of township 16, on the Unadilla River. The following year, on 16 Feb 1796, Silas Burlingame of Norwich, Tioga Co., farmer, sold 122 1/4 acres of this land to Andrew Knight of Cranston, RI. More of this land was sold by Silas Burllinggame, yeoman, 19 Aug 1800, and in the census of 1800 he is enumerated at Norwich, Chenango Co. His family consists of 1 male aged 45+, 1 aged 26-45, and 1 aged 10- 16; 1 female aged 45+, and 1 aged 10-16. Josiah and Daniel Burlingame are listed separately and Lydia is certainly married by this time, so the male 10-16 must be Caleb. The other two persons are presumably servants.

Mehitibal Burlingame signs a deed with her husband on 6 Apr 1801 and again on 22 Apr 1806. On 23 Aug 1806 she is mentioned in another deed but does not sign. In 1807 the town of New Berlin was formed from Norwich, and in a deed of 1809 Silas Burlingame of New Berlin is called "Gent." A deed of 24 Jan 1810 still refers to Silas Burlingame of New Berlin, but on 26 Nov 1810 Daniel Burlingame of New Berlin sells land to Silas Burlingame of Norwich. The census of 1810 found Silas Burlingame at Norwich, Chenango Co., with a family consisting of 1 male aged 45+ and two females, 1 aged 26-45 and 1 aged 10-16. The age of the oldest female is probably in error, since on 1 Jan 1814 the heirs of Nicholas Evertson dec'd sold 20 acres to Mehitable Burlingame of New Berlin, the witness being Josiah Burlingame, and in the 1820 census of Norwich the family of Silas Burlingame consisted of 1 male aged 45+, and 1 aged 16-18; 1 female aged 45+ and 1 aged 0-10.

The last deed mentioning Silas Burlingame of Norwich is dated 15 Sep 1823 when he sells to Daniel Burlingame land in the 15th township and also the land which Daniel had deeded to him on 16 Nov 1810. There is no record of the death of Silas Burlingame nor of his burial, and his gravestone has not been found. There exists, however, an old family document entitled "Short Memoir of Silas Burlingame", mentioned above, which gives his death date as Nov. 5th, 1829, in New Berlin, Chenango Co. Nelson Burlingame, however, gives the date as 5 Mar 1829, again without any proof or explanation.

Sixth Generation: Josiah Burlingame (Silas, Moses, Moses, Thomas, Roger):

Born: 19 AUG 1769 Probably in New Berlin, NY

Died: 8 MAR 1837 Probably in Branch Co., MI

One Chenango County source notes that Josiah was the first child of European ancestry to be born in New Berlin, NY. He was a pioneer school teacher there. He married twice (. Some show Josiah died in Branch Co., Michigan, but sources for this information are lacking.)

- Source: Nelson Burlingame

Note from 8 Feb 2021 - Ancestry.com research shows that Nelson Burlingame's research noted above was not correct regarding Martha Brewster. She was not a descendant of Elder William Brewster of the Mayflower. Martha Brewster, was the descendant of Dr. Francis Brewster, Jr. who came to America from England between 1620-1650 arriving in Connecticut. Dr. Francis Brewster, Jr later sailed from New Haven, Ct aboard the first ship build in the New World bound for England and was lost at sea:

"THE PHANTOM SHIP

As early as 1644 Theophilus Eaton, Stephen Goodyear, Thomas Gregston and perhaps other merchants at New Haven entrusted the construction of an ocean-going vessel to John Wakeman, Joshua Atwater, Jasper Crane and Richard Miles. Though ill built and very "walt-side," in due course the ship was completed. Entrusted with a cargo of wheat, peas, hides, beaver and peltry and manuscript writings of John Davenport at New Haven and Thomas Hooker at Hartford, about the middle of January, 1646, the vessel ploughed its way through three miles of ice in New Haven harbor and tackled the stormy Atlantic. On board were Thomas Gregson, Nathaniel Turner, George Lamberton, the wife of Stephen Goodyear, and Francis Austin. After many months, a mirage of the ship was said to have appeared over the harbor at New Haven, but the vessel itself neither reached its destination nor returned to its port of departure. Despite this initial setback, on October 7, 1646, a second vessel was about to be launched at New Haven; in the summer of 1648 a third vessel was under construction; and in the spring of 1661 Charles Glover laid a fifty-foot keel at Southold."

From Susan Burlingame Holton Phillip's (she was Joel's daughter) manuscript regarding Joel Burlingame’s first trip to California in 1849: "just before he started for California ... In eighteen-forty-nine gold fever raged. He with the others caught the contagion.

"Started the lst of April for the Eldorado of the West with his brother Hiram, Edward Pheteplace and Richard Ness, armed and equipped with all things necessary for crossing the plains ...

"We received letters every week until they left the settlements. Then, oh the weary days in waiting for news from the absent ones. One letter from Fort Jarina (sp?). Did not hear again until one dated January 9, 1850 reached us March 1850. They were then at the head waters of Yuba River.

"Soon after leaving Salt Lake he lost his journal which he had been very particular to keep daily events in to send home for our perusal ... I have never seen but one of the number that left us April 5, 1849 ... Uncle Hiram started for home in 1851 but was drowned while crossing Lake Nicaragua.

Father returned in '52 after Mother. But [because of] his business he could not stay long enough for all to get ready. Mother and he both concluded to have him return and the next year they would take the overland route ... He stayed there until the spring of 1853 when he again visited the States."

On the 1853 trip, from the Burlingame sketch:

An obituary of the Rev. Justus Michael Hinman, Joel Burlingame's son-in-law and one of those who returned with him in 1853, states that the party arrived in Marysville 2 Nov 1853, and in an autobiographical sketch written by Hinman's daughter, Lillian Hinman Shuey, she tells us that Burlingame was the party's leader. Since Susan Phillips, as we have seen, did not go, the next decade of the life of her father is quite cursorily covered in her narrative.

From the sketch of Justus Michael Hinman (1813-1896): Joel Burlingame, Hinman's father-in-law, returned from California for his family in the spring of 1853, and the party he led back to California, included the Hinmans. Lillian Hinman later came to be a well-known California poet, and in a fragment of autobiography now in the manuscript collection of the California State Library in Sacramento she notes that "When I was a months [sic] old my parents broke up housekeeping to come to California [therefore in late April or early May 1853]. We came overland across the plains. My grandfather, Joel Burlingame, was captain of the train. When I was 3 month old we crossed the Missouri River and came into Marysville when I was 8 months old." Mr. Gober in his obituary gives the precise date on which the party arrived in Marysville, Yuba County, as 2 Nov 1853, “where he worked at his trade until 1857.”

He was one of six Oregon delegates to the 1860 Republican convention that nominated Abraham Lincoln.

Joel Burlingame is the father of the Honorable Anson Burlingame Congressman from Massachusetts, then appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to the Qing Empire (China) by Abraham Lincoln on June 14, 1861

Married 20 May 1819 in New Berlin, Chenango, New York by Rev. J. Rogers of the M.E.Church.

Children: Anson Burlingame 14 Nov 1820-23 Feb 1870 Susan Burlingame 05 Dec 1822-27 Feb 1900 Betsy Burlingame 26 Jun 1825-09 Apr 1901 DeWitt Clinton Burlingame 25 May 1827-18 Aug 1877 Sarah Maria Burlingame 23 Jun 1829 -26 Aug 1838 Joel Angell Burlingame 25 Jun 1832 -24 Oct 1868 Mary Jane Burlingame 29 Nov 1834 -29 Aug 1837 Henry Bascom Burlingame 30 Oct 1838 -18 Nov 1925

Seventh Generation: Isaac Burlingame (Josiah, Silas, Moses, Moses, Thomas, Roger):

Birth: 3 MAY 1794 in New Berlin, Chenango Co., NY

Death: 8 MAY 1868 in Utica, Oneida Co., NY, burial at Forest Hill Cemetery

Occupation: Stone Mason, Tailor

Children

1. Hiram Wolcott Burlingame b: 3 MAR 1818 in Sergeant Twp., McKean Co., PA

2. Emily Preston Burlingame b: FEB 1820 in Norwich Twp., McKean Co., PA

3. Amanda Elvira Burlingame b: 27 OCT 1815

4. Laura Ann Burlingame b: 1821 in Pennsylvania

5. Delos Burlingame b: 22 SEP 1829 in Keating Twp., McKean Co., PA

For more biographical information about Isaac Burlingame and his descendants in McKean County, see the page on this site titled: "Descendants of Isaac Burlingame".