Websters In Worcester

My Webster cousins' father and grandfather in a City Directory:

Worcester, Massachusetts, City Directory (Unknown Date)

Webster Duane Earl (Ingeborg H) div mgr N Co (W) h 15 Brentwood dr

--Duane Ernest  navigator  TWA  r 15 Brentwood dr

Further research found that Duane Earl Webster, an employee of the Norton Company, applied for a patent.

My Webster cousins have an interesting paternal line that included Governor John Webster.   (Living, Living, Duane Earl, Ernest Irving, Eugene, Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan, Thomas, John, Thomas, Governor John Webster).

Meet The Griswolds

Note: This history was written in 1866; this blog post doesn't necessarily account for any updates and/or corrections to the text below.

From the History of Norwich, Connecticut: From Its Possession by the Indians, to the ..., by Frances Manwaring Caulkins:


The brothers Matthew and Edward Griswold were natives of Kenilworth in Warwickshire, England.

Lieut. Francis Griswold, the Norwich proprietor, was a son of Edward and Margaret born about 1632. He appears to have been a man of capacity and enterprise and took an active part in the affairs of the plantation, serving as representative to the General Court for eleven sessions, beginning October 1664 and ending May 1671. It is not known when he was married or to whom. Not even the household name of his wife is found in the records at Saybrook or Norwich. At the former place is the following registry

Lieut. Griswold died the same month, October 1671, cut down apparently by some sudden attack of disease, leaving seven of the above named children, varying in age from an infant of days to eighteen years. Thomas Adgate and John Post, Sen., acted as guardians to the younger children. The daughters were very early provided with eligible partners. ... Mary to Jonathan Tracy July 11, 1672, second marriage to Eleazer Jewett...


Uncle Warren is a descendant, too, of Francis Griswold.

The Websters In Shrewsbury, Massachusetts

City Directory - Unknown date

Mayflower Descendant Cousins

Preliminary research indicates that my Dad's cousin, Jean Stout, was also a Mayflower descendant through her father's family (we're related to Jean through her mother, Blanche Johnston, half sister to my grandmother, Beatrice Cameron). Jean's father, Warren Leslie Stout, b. Alba (Star Twp., Antrim Co., MI) was the son of Lester B. & Minnie (Perkins) Stout, per the record of his marriage to Blanche Johnston on 15 Apr 1916, in Genesee Co., Michigan.

A check of the 1900 MI census indicated that Lester and Minnie Stout were living in Star Township, Antrim Co., Michigan. Minnie was born March 1872 in Michigan and both of her parents were born in New York, per the census.

A search of the website at familysearch.org for a Minnie Perkins, born ca 1871/72, in Michigan, revealed the following possibilities in the 1880 census:

-Phillips Co., KS, daugher of Lyman Perkins, father b. MI / mother b. NY
-Eaton Co., MI, dau of Wm H. & Maria Perkins, parents b. OH
-Wayne Co., MI, dau of Mitchell & Martha Perkins, parents b. Delaware
- Cook Co., IL, enum. w/O.T. Southworth, father b. NY, mother b. VA
-Montcalm Co, MI, dau of Willis & Delia Perkins, parents b. NY

The Montcalm Co., MI, "Minnie Perkins" fit the criteria the best:

1880 MI Montcalm [familysearch.org]
Willis D. PERKINS Self M Male W 36 NY Hotel Keeper MI NOT KNOWN
Delia PERKINS Wife M Female W 32 NY Landlady NOT KNOWN PA
Nettie PERKINS Dau S Female W 10 MI At School NY NY
Minnie PERKINS Dau S Female W 8 MI At School NY NY
John PERKINS Son S Male W 5 MI At School NY NY
Rufus JOHNSON Other S Male W 20 IN Clerk In General Store OHIO OHIO
George MITCHELL Other S Male W 19 NY Clerk In General Store NY NY
John L. PERKINS Other M Male W 44 NY Lumberman NY NY
Mathew LASALLE Other S Male W 19 CAN Shoe Maker NOT KNOWN NOT KNOWN
Frank K. WINSOR Other S Male W 28 NY Prop. Lumber Mill NY NY

A "Perkins" census search revealed Adelia Perkins living in Antrim Co., MI (where Minnie Perkins Stout was also found), as the mother-in-law of Albert A. Strickland [therefore mother of Nettie Strickland, who was born Jan. 1870, in MI] in 1900. Since the 1880 census in Montcalm county, Michigan, shows a Nettie Perkins, age 10, along with Minnie Perkins, indicated to me that the "Montcalm Co." Minnie Perkins was the wife of Lester Stout and the mother of Warren Stout.

Willis Perkins (date of death must be listed incorrectly), Adelia Perkins, John Perkins (son of Adelia & Willis, per 1880 census), Minnie & Lester Stout as well as the Stricklands were buried in Alba, Star Township Cemetery, Antrim Co, MI, according to this website.

An IGI entry at familysearch.org indicated that the parents of Willis Perkins were Harlan & Mahala Perkins and that Willis was born in 1844 in Byron, Genesee Co., New York. The date of birth fits with the age listed for Willis Perkins in the 1880 census. The IGI gave Harlan Perkins' wives as (1st) Lucy Woodward and (2nd) Mahala Perkins (m. July 1834) and his parents as Leonard & Grace (Brewster) Perkins.

IGI lists Grace Brewster's parents as Amos & Jerusha (Knight) Brewster; Jerusha Knight's ancestry and my Dad's ancestry merged with mutual ancestors Stephen & Sarah (Spencer) Backus. Amos Brewster's parents were identified as Benjamin & Elizabeth (Witter) Brewster; grandparents listed as William & Lydia (Partridge) Brewster; great-grandparents as Love & Sarah (Collier) Brewster and great-great grandparents as William Brewster of the Mayflower and his wife, Mary Wentworth (Mary Wentworth as his wife has been considered doubtful per this website).

The first five generations of the Mayflower passengers have been documented according to www.themayflowersociety.com.

Jean Stout (1917 - 1988) was born in Flint, Genesee Co., Michigan, married a Webster and moved to Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, probably never knowing that she was a Mayflower descendant.