This week I’ve been sorting through old boxes full of outdated Family Tree Maker© files. What an overwhelming job! Yes, they’re outdated, but I have to make sure the information they contain is recorded in our current family tree before pitching anything. Not a quick and easy job…
Anyway, while working on one of these old files, the thing that I love happened – a story jumped out! Not literally out of the box. That would have been, well, creepy. Rather, the information I was attempting to confirm led to a story recorded on Ancestry as a part of another researcher’s family file. Gotta love those little green leaves! I was so happy to find this story that I decided to share it with you right away.
This story comes from my father’s side of the family. You may have read my article on my great-grandfather, That Bastard Art Shepard. His mother was Lillian Viola Geer, b. 1872. This story concerns her ancestor, George Geer, b. 1621. Here’s the direct line:
Lillian Viola Geer b. 1872 → William Geer b. 1838 → Leonard Geer Jr. b. 1794 → Lemuel Geer Sr. b. 1750 → Christopher Geer b. 1706 → Daniel Geer b. 1673 → George Geer b. 1621
That makes George Geer my 8th great-grandfather. This is his story:
A “Trusted” Uncle
George Geer was born on January 14, 1621, in Heavitree, a village just outside the city of Exeter in Devon, England. His younger brother, Thomas, was born in January 1623. Their father, Jonathan Geere III (b. 1580) owned a large estate that the boys stood to inherit. One of my ancestors had money? That’s unusual.
Jonathan and his wife, Eleanor Jermyn (b. 1601) both died when George and Thomas were very young. Now orphaned, an uncle took them in and raised them. He also took charge of their father’s estate until the boys became old enough to inherit it. However, after managing the money for a while, the uncle decided he wanted it for himself. Not the first greedy family member I’ve ever heard of!
When George and Thomas were about 14 and 12, the uncle devised a scheme to get the boys out of the way by writing to the captain of a ship about to sail to America, asking him to take the boys with him. He sent the boys, with the letter, to the captain, giving the boys instructions to wait for a reply. Now, I don’t know if the boys knew what the letter said or not, but they followed instructions, took the letter to the captain on his ship, and waited for an answer. While they were waiting, the ship set sail. George and Thomas found themselves on a ship bound for America with no money, no belongings, and no plan for the future. (Imagine if your teenager ended up on a plane headed for the other side of the world, while their luggage and wallet remained in the airport…)
Self Made Men
The ship that took George and Thomas to America arrived in Boston, Massachusetts in 1635. The boys were put ashore to fend for themselves. They were kids. It was the 1600s. No one really cared about a couple of kids. They were just two more mouths to feed.
From this point in the story, there’s a gap in the record. While no one knows for sure what the boys did, they probably found themselves jobs and places to stay in either Boston or Salem, Massachusetts. Somebody must have taken them in and allowed them to work for food and lodging until they were adults because they survived.
Fast forward to 1651, when George is recorded as one of the early settlers of New London, Connecticut. It is possible that he moved there with the group that included his future father-in-law, Robert Allyn. George married Robert’s daughter, Sarah (b. 1642), in 1658. In the 1660s he purchased land, and then more land until he had a large farm. He became a well-respected member of the community, serving as a selectman (a member of local government), and holding other offices. He and his wife Sarah had 11 children and were married for 65 years. George finally died in 1726 at the age of 105. Living to 105 is unusual today. Back in 1726, it was unheard of!
We know less about Thomas, but we do know that he married Deborah Davis (b. 1646) in about 1666. They had 3 children. By 1683, Thomas was a resident of Enfield, Connecticut. He also lived to a ripe old age of 99.
Tough Enough to Survive
I know that not everyone who came to America voluntarily in the 1600s survived the trip, much less settling in a new land full of new hardships. George and Thomas came to this country against their will and not only managed to survive, but also to have families and acquire estates of their own – both quite successful, I would say. Most people today can’t imagine going up against those kinds of odds.
I think my ancestor George and his brother Thomas were simply tough enough to survive and thrive. No thanks to their scuzzy uncle!
This story about George Geer and his younger brother Thomas is published in The Geer Genealogy: a historical record of George and Thomas Geer and their descendants in the United States from 1623 to 1923 by Walter Geer. If you would like to read the original, you can find it on Ancestry.com or you can view it in Google Books.
References
Ancestry.com. The Geer genealogy: a historical record of George and Thomas Geer and their descendants in the United States from 1623 to 1923 [database online]. Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005. Original data: Geer, Walter. The Geer genealogy: a historical record of George and Thomas Geer and their descendants in the United States from 1623 to 1923. New York: Brentano, 1923.
Image Credits
Church in Heavitree, England – “The Church of St Michael and All Angels, Heavitree, Devon” by Robert Cutts is licensed with CC BY-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/
Tall ship – “1005 – Golden Hinde” by Bruce Stokes is licensed with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. To view a copy of this license, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.0/
George Geer tombstone – Find a Grave, photo added by John Hoff63, https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/41346410/george-geer
