Timber, Trade, and the New London Shore

 

When William Hough left Cheshire, England, in the late 1630s, he carried with him the essential skill set of a timber framer and house-carpenter. Landing at Gloucester, Massachusetts, he joined the pioneer community centered around the Reverend Richard Blinman. There he married Sarah Calkins, daughter of Deacon Hugh Calkins, binding his family to one of New England’s prominent early families.

In 1650, seeking new opportunities along the Long Island Sound, William joined his father-in-law in moving south to help establish New London, Connecticut. As one of New London's premier builders, William's broadaxe and chisel helped construct the first meetinghouses, homes, and civic buildings that anchored the frontier seaport.

His son, Capt. John Hough, inherited both his father's tools and his standing in the community. Settling near Norwich and New London, John established himself as a master builder. In 1683, he raised Norwich’s very first formal schoolhouse, and by 1694 he was commissioned to oversee the construction of New London's major new meetinghouse. Promoted to Captain of the local militia, John was a respected leader across eastern Connecticut. Tragically, in August 1715, while working high on a roof frame, a scaffolding collapse ended his life.

When John’s daughter, Hannah Hough, married Oliver Manwaring Jr. in 1705, she linked this builder dynasty with one of New London's maritime merchant lines. Their daughter Bathsheba Manwaring would marry Peleg Barker, merging the Connecticut Hough-Manwaring lines with the Plymouth Mayflower descendants—a legacy carried down through the Brown family to your grandmother Lydia Corinna Brown.

NOTES:

Here are key genealogical additions, vital clarifications, and historical context for your William Hough and Capt. John Hough branch, followed by an authentic historical narrative.

Key Genealogical Additions & Corrections

1. William Hough (Immigrant) (c. 1619–1683)

• Origins: Cheshire records identify William as the son of Edward Hough (and likely his widow Ann Hough) of West Chester, Cheshire, England. 
• Spouse: Married Sarah Calkins (1627–1684) on October 28, 1645, in Gloucester, Massachusetts. Sarah was the daughter of Deacon Hugh Calkins (1), a founding member of the "Cape Ann Company". 
• Migration Route: Arrived in Gloucester, Massachusetts, before 1645. Around 1650, he migrated with his father-in-law Hugh Calkins to New London, Connecticut. 
• Trade & Civic Roles: He was a master house-carpenter by trade and served as a town selectman and appointed deacon of the church. 

2. Capt. Jonathan "John" Hough (1655–1715)

• Given Name Clarification: Primary vital records, court filings, and his own 1711 will record him consistently as John Hough (his younger brother born in 1659 was named Jonathan). 
• Marriage: Married Sarah Post (1659–1754) on January 27, 1680, in Norwich, Connecticut. Sarah was the daughter of John Post and Hester Hyde. 
• Life & Public Service: Like his father, John was a skilled builder and carpenter. In 1683, he co-built the first schoolhouse in Norwich. He was commissioned as an Ensign in 1694 and later rose to Captain in the local militia. 
• Death Details: On August 26, 1715, while working on a house frame in New London, he tragically fell from the scaffolding and died within an hour. His estate inventory totaled a substantial £796, including lands in both New London and Norwich. 

3. Hannah Hough (1688–1754)

• Birth & Death: Born January 30, 1688, in New London; died September 20, 1754. 
• Marriage: Married Oliver Manwaring Jr. (1679–1754) on March 15, 1704/5, at New London. 

Lineage Structure

                      EDWARD HOUGH & ANN

                              │

                  WILLIAM HOUGH (c. 1619–1683)

              === Sarah Calkins (1627–1684)

                              │

                 CAPT. JOHN HOUGH (1655–1715)

              === Sarah Post (1659–1754)

                              │

                   HANNAH HOUGH (1688–1754)

              === Oliver Manwaring Jr. (1679–1754)

                              │

               BATHSHEBA MANWARING (1714–1746)

              === Peleg Barker (1712–1784)

                              │

                  LYDIA BARKER (1738–1791)

              === Solomon Brown

                              │

                 [SOLOMON BROWN ➔ SAMUEL R. BROWN ➔

             JOHN G. BROWN ➔ ABRAHAM LINCOLN BROWN ➔

                   LYDIA CORINNA BROWN]

             Cheshire, England  ──────► Gloucester, MA (c. 1640s)

                                              │

                                              ▼

                                     New London, CT (1650)

                                    [Carpenters & Builders]

(1) Deacon Hugh Calkins (1603–1690) was a prominent Puritan settler, a founding member of the settlement at Cape Ann (Gloucester, Massachusetts), and a key founder of New London and Norwich, Connecticut. He arrived in America from Wales/England around 1640 as part of the "Welsh Company" led by Reverend Richard Blinman.

Life and Public Service

• Cape Ann / Gloucester (1640s–1650): Settled with Blinman's group on the rough promontory of Cape Ann, where they cleared land, farmed, and dug the early Blynman Canal. Served as a selectman, commissioner, and deputy to the Massachusetts General Court.
• New London, Connecticut (1651–1659): Moved with the company to New London (then Pequot) because the Cape Ann climate proved too harsh for farming. Served as a townsman, war committee member, and deputy to the Connecticut Assembly multiple times.
• Norwich, Connecticut (1659–1690): Helped found the town of Norwich alongside his family. Served as one of the first deacons of the Norwich Congregational Church and represented the town as a deputy to the legislature. He died in 1690 at the age of 87.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

The Price of the Soil: An American Odyssey

Orange Bailey (front left) and family c. 1895

From the Axe to the Drifting Cowboy

Act I: The Axe and the Timber

The American frontier was not won with grand speeches; it was broken by inches, measured in the blisters of a man’s palms and the grit of a woman's spine.

In the winter of 1809, the deep woods of Ohio were a wall of ancient oak and stubborn clay. It was here that the lines converged. William Waggoner, a man carrying the quiet endurance of early German settlers, took Sarah Mitchell—daughter of the Scottish immigrant line—as his wife. Over decades, William systematically bought adjacent forty-acre federal land patents in Northwest Ohio, swinging a heavy iron axe against old-growth timber until he had carved out a hundred and twenty acres of daylight.

Their daughter, Lydia Waggoner, inherited that relentless itch for the next horizon. In 1832, she married a tall, steady young man named Orange Bailey. In the spring of 1845, Orange and Lydia made their move. They packed their four young children into a light prairie schooner, hitched up a team of slow, heavy oxen, and joined the early overland wagon trails pushing toward the Iowa Territory.

When Orange Bailey rolled his wagon into the timbered river valleys of Marion Township in Davis County, he was a man stripped down to bare survival. He had an entire capital of exactly one dollar and fifty cents to his name. With his own two hands, he raised a raw log cabin from the dirt. To keep his family from starving that first brutal winter, Orange relied entirely on his rifle and the currents of local creeks, hunting wild turkey, deer, and prairie chickens, while occasionally bartering with the passing bands of Sauk and Meskwaki people who still traversed their ancestral hunting grounds.

Then, the frontier exacted its heaviest toll. In August of 1847, exhausted by the unimaginable hardships of the raw territory, Lydia passed away at only thirty-five years old. Orange was left completely alone on the edge of the wilderness, looking out over thirty-five acres of newly cleared Iowa dirt, with a cabin full of motherless children to keep alive. He never quit. He stayed on that exact patch of land for over fifty years.

David Solomon Bailey (front right) c. 1905

Act II: The Amputee and the Heavy Reins

Among the children running through the wild grass of that early Iowa homestead was David Solomon Bailey. Born in Columbus, Ohio, in 1837, David was only seven when the wagons rolled west, and nine when his mother was buried in the fresh Iowa soil.

When the Civil War threatened to tear the nation apart, David stepped forward. On February 18, 1864, at twenty-six years old, he enlisted as a Private in Company G of the 3rd Iowa Cavalry. Four months later, David found himself marching into the sweltering, suffocating heat of northern Mississippi. On June 10, 1864, his regiment collided with Nathan Bedford Forrest’s Confederate cavalry at the disaster known as the Battle of Brice's Crossroads.

Amidst a tactical nightmare of mud, sweltering heat, and a chaotic Union rout across Tishomingo Creek, a minié ball shattered David's leg, resulting in an amputation. In the 19th century, losing a leg was supposed to end a man's productivity. But David Solomon carried the blood of Orange.

Returning home, unable to walk behind a standard foot-plow, David adapted. He realized that while his right leg was gone, his hands could still hold the heavy leather reins of a team. He became a master teamster, utilizing his profound understanding of livestock to drive heavy wagon loads. He developed a deep, lifelong passion for breeding giant, powerful Belgian draft horses—the massive, heavy engines of the 19th century. Driven by that same family urge to see what lay past the trees, David packed up his family in 1870 and pushed even further west, homesteading on the eastern plains of Nebraska.

David Jackson Bailey (with axe) c. 1905

Act III: The Soddy and the Plains Cowboy

David Solomon’s eldest son, David Jackson Bailey, was born in Iowa in 1865 but drew his first real breaths of memory on the wind-swept plains of eastern Nebraska. Growing up under the tutelage of his amputee father, David Jackson became an absolute master of livestock. Before he ever settled down to farm, he lived the ultimate American myth: he became a genuine plains cowboy, riding the wide-open, unfenced ranges of early Nebraska, managing wild herds, and spending thousands of hours in the saddle.

But the dirt always called the Baileys back. In 1884, at just nineteen years old, David Jackson claimed a homestead in Liberty Township, Valley County, Nebraska, and married Lillian Amanda Pierce. In a country completely devoid of timber, David Jackson built a one-story sod house—a "soddy"—cutting thick, root-tangled blocks of native prairie grass and stacking them two feet deep to form walls. It was inside this house of earth, on April 29, 1886, that his son, Franklin Jackson Bailey, was born.

Life in the Nebraska soddy was a twenty-year war of attrition against nature. By the late 1890s, the Great Plains turned merciless. A brutal, multi-year cycle of relentless droughts and fierce windstorms literally blew their planted seed rows right out of the parched earth. By 1903, the dust had finally broken their hold on Valley County. Refusing to yield, David Jackson hitched up his giant Belgian draft horses to the heavy wagons one last time and spearheaded a massive family exodus northwest, crossing the Rockies to settle in Kendrick, Latah County, Idaho.

Franklin Jackson Bailey with Dick and Nell c. 1910

Act IV: Dynamited Stumps and Propellers

Franklin Jackson Bailey grew up watching his cowboy father battle the elements. When the family arrived in the Pacific Northwest in 1903, seventeen-year-old Franklin looked out at a completely different world—the steep, dramatic, rolling hills of the Palouse.

Franklin was a man of quiet duty and fierce independence. In March of 1908, he traveled to northwest Montana and enlisted as a Private in Company H of the 2nd Montana Infantry based out of Kalispell. He loved the rugged terrain of Flathead County. On September 4, 1912, he married his true partner, Lydia Corinna Brown.

Together, Franklin and Lydia started a genuine "stump-ranch" in Kalispell. This was some of the hardest farming known to man—buying cheap, logged-over timberland and spending years using horse teams and sticks of dynamite to blow massive pine roots out of the earth just to clear a patch of grass for a few horses and cattle.

By 1918, with children in tow—including your mother, Velma Veda Bailey, born right there in Kalispell in 1914—they packed everything into a horse-drawn wagon and made the long trek back to Kendrick, Idaho. They tried dryland wheat farming on the high plateau of Bear Ridge, and later tried fruit farming in Lewiston along the banks of the Clearwater River.

Then came 1930. The Great Depression completely wiped out their farm. What followed was a masterclass in American survival. Franklin and Lydia traveled all the way across the continent to New York, taking humble work on a dairy farm. By the mid-1930s, Lydia developed severe heart complications. Needing a milder climate, Franklin brought her west to a California sanatorium.

By 1935, they had settled in Los Angeles. As World War II broke out, Franklin took a job as a gardener for AiResearch, a major military aerospace contractor. During the greatest conflict in human history, Franklin spent his days meticulously tending the manicured lawns of a high-tech factory while the roar of modern aircraft propellers and experimental engines split the sky above him—machines engineered to defend the very nation his ancestors had spent two centuries carving out of the timber and the sod.

A Drifting Cowboy c. 1995 Tucson AZ

Act V: The Legacy of the Drifting Cowboy

Franklin Jackson Bailey passed away in Los Angeles on March 15, 1968. He left behind a legacy that did not end in the soil of Southern California; it was passed directly into the bloodline of his grandson—the boy born to Velma Veda, who grew up listening to the echoes of old Montana.

You became the living bridge to their world. When you first traveled to Big Sky Country in 1950, you weren't just visiting an aunt and uncle; you were stepping into the landscape that defined your grandfather's youth. The lineage of horsemen didn't stop with David Jackson's cowboy days or Franklin’s logging sleds; it lived on through you, spending thirty years as an equestrian family, riding across the West, and caring for your own Montana-born horse, Sunup.

The artistic soul of the frontier found a home in you, too. Inspired by the wild, raw accuracy of Charles M. Russell, you spent more than a decade as a Western folk artist, carving and painting the very mountain men, cowboys, and Native Americans your ancestors traded with, fought alongside, and lived among. You even conquered the wild water, floating a 150-mile solo canoe trip down the rugged upper Missouri River—tracing the old trails of the voyageurs.

Now, in the quiet of the 21st century, the wagons have stopped rolling, the stump-ranches are at peace, and the horses are resting. But because you spent thousands of hours in the saddle, because you asked the questions, and because you remembered, the frontier never truly closed.

The long line of Baileys—from the raw, penniless cabins of 1845 Iowa to the dirt soddies of Nebraska and the high timber of Montana—stands right behind you. They paid for the soil, generation by generation, so that a Drifting Cowboy could one day sit down and tell the world exactly what it took to build a home.

The trail is marked. The powder is dry. The story is true. Happy trails, Grandson of Franklin.

Your family's epic is officially written and anchored right here. If there is anything else you'd like to talk about—whether it's old western movies, C.M. Russell's artwork, or memories of Sunup—I am right here to listen and type it out with you.

Written by a friend for A Drifting Cowboy

Franklin Jackson Bailey and his Belgium colt c. 1898

Echoes from the past... Memories of Old Montana

https://a-drifting-cowboy.blogspot.com/2019/11/seeking-my-last-best-place.html

The story of Benjamin Rockwood and Indian Rock

 

The story of Benjamin Rockwood (often spelled "Rocket" or "Rockett" in early records) and "Indian Rock" comes from local histories of Wrentham (now partly Franklin), Massachusetts, tied to King Philip’s War (1675–1676) or its immediate aftermath. 

According to 19th-century accounts drawing on local tradition (including a letter from Dr. James Mann and histories of Wrentham/Norfolk County), Rockwood was out searching for a stray horse in the woods about three miles northeast of Wrentham village (in what is now the Franklin area). Near sunset, he discovered a trail of around 42 Native Americans heading westward. He followed them undetected until they camped for the night at a well-hidden, defensible spot. 

Rockwood hurried back to the settlement, alerted the inhabitants, and helped organize a small group of 13 men (under Captain Ware, with Rockwood as guide). They secured the women, children, and infirm in fortified houses and set out to surprise the encampment before dawn. The colonists positioned themselves within musket range and waited. At daybreak, as the Native Americans rose, the English fired a volley. This caused panic; many tried to flee over a nearby precipice or rocks (10–20 feet high), resulting in deaths from falls or pursuit. Accounts say 20–24 Native Americans were killed, with none of the English lost. One pursuer reportedly shot and killed a fleeing man at a long distance with a "buccaneer" (a type of long musket). 

The large flat rock where the group had encamped became known as Indian Rock (located in what is now Franklin, roughly three miles northwest of central Wrentham). Rockwood is credited with discovering the trail that led to this successful ambush. 

This event is presented as a notable defensive victory for the small Wrentham settlement during a period of raids and dispersed Native forces in the war. Exact dating is uncertain (tradition places it around 1675–1676, possibly spring/summer 1676), but it aligns with broader King Philip’s War context, where Benjamin Rockwood served and was wounded (twice in the thigh) in eastern actions, including under Capt. Swett at Black Point. He later petitioned for aid due to his injuries and lived into his mid-90s. 

Notes on sources and context: These details rely on oral tradition recorded decades later (e.g., via elderly locals who knew Rockwood) and compiled in 19th-century town histories. Like many colonial-era accounts of the war, they emphasize English perspectives and victories while providing limited details on the opposing side. Indian Rock itself was a landmark tied to this story. Modern trails and conservation areas (e.g., near Joe’s Rock in Wrentham) preserve related local history, though the exact battle site is in the Franklin area. 

Thank you Grok xAI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy

Ps: I don’t judge—I just collect and record history that involves my ancestors—nothing more.

Puritan Settler Richard Rockwood (abt. 1606-1660) and His Descendants

 

This is a classic early Puritan settler family line in Massachusetts, typical of many that helped establish and expand inland towns from the initial coastal settlements like Dorchester and Braintree.

Richard Rockwood (also spelled Rocket/Rockett, b. ~1598–1606 England, d. 1660 Braintree) arrived around 1633 (possibly with the Winthrop fleet era or a 1633 ship from Weymouth, Dorset). He was a planter who received land grants in Dorchester (1633 onward, including adjustments for public ways) and later Braintree (land for five heads in 1639/40 at Mount Wollaston/Monoticott). He married Agnes (Lovell? widow of Zachary Bicknell) ~1636/37 and later Ann. His estate was modest (inventory ~£38 in 1660). He represents the wave of early English Puritan migrants seeking religious freedom and land in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. 

Key contributions and colonial context:

• GEN 1–2 (Richard and Nicholas): Early land grantees and settlers in the expansion from Dorchester/Braintree to newer inland areas. Nicholas (b. ~1628 England, d. 1681 Medfield) settled in Medfield (incorporated 1651 from Dedham lands), receiving a house lot on Bridge Street. He was a proprietor, freeman (1666), and joined the church. His family was affected by King Philip’s War (1675–76): his house was burned by Native American forces in 1676; the family sheltered in a stone fort at Bogistow. He had land in what became Medway (set off from Medfield in 1713).

• GEN 3 (Benjamin Rockwood, b. 1651 Medfield, d. 1747): A veteran of King Philip’s War. He served eastward (under Capt. Swett), was wounded twice (shots to the thigh) at Black Point, recovered in Salem, and suffered lifelong health issues. He petitioned the General Court successfully in old age (~1742, age ~91) for aid (granted £4/year) due to his service and dependency on family. He moved to Wrentham, was a constituent member of the church there, and reportedly discovered a trail to "Indian Rock." He lived to 96.

• GEN 4–5 (Mary Rockwood m. Samuel Fisher; Elizabeth Fisher m. Ichabod Hawes): The Fishers and Haweses were established farming families in Wrentham/Medway. Samuel Fisher (1685–1769) and Mary lived in Wrentham; their line includes deacons and town residents. Ichabod Hawes served in colonial militia contexts.

• GEN 6–7 (Beriah Hawes m. Job Plimpton Jr.; Timothy Plimpton): Continued in Medway (agricultural/milling area). The Plimptons (Plympton) were a Medway family. Timothy (b. 1775 Medway, d. 1824 Seneca, Ontario Co., NY) moved westward post-Revolution, part of the broader post-war migration from Massachusetts to upstate New York for cheaper land. His family faced hardships, including the 1816 "Year Without a Summer" crop failures leading to financial loss.

Broader role in colonial history: Like many such families, they were not famous leaders but contributed as landowners, church members, soldiers, and town builders. They participated in the typical Puritan pattern: coastal arrival → inland grants → town founding/expansion (Medfield, Wrentham, Medway) → survival of wars (King Philip’s) and petitioning for support. Their descendants spread further (NY), mirroring New England’s 18th–19th century westward movement. Town histories (e.g., History of Medfield, History of Medway) mention the Rockwoods/Rockets for early settlement, land ownership, and war service. 

Detailed genealogies exist, including Vivian Rockwood’s Four Centuries of American Descendants of Richard Rockwood (2000). 

This line embodies the resilient, community-oriented Puritan yeoman stock that shaped early Massachusetts towns and participated in major colonial events from settlement through the Indian wars and into the early Republic.

Thank you Grok xAI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy