From the published Groton and Dunstable VRs, from the 1994 Eldred-Eldredge-Eldridge
in New England by Bradford W. Luther (pp. W22-W23, etc.), from p.
34, #54-3, etc., of Herbert Adams, The Compendium of Tufts Kinsmen,
1st ed. (1975), and from Richard P. Butrick, Butrick,
Butterick, and Buttrick, 1635-1978 (1979), pp. 20-21, etc., I was
able to trace most of the patrilineal lines of Almira Ann’s
grandparents. Using a variety of other genealogies – of the Cutter,
Henry Adams of Braintree, Whiton, Thomas Hale of Newbury, Robert
Harrington of Lancaster, Bucknam, Frost, Winship, Rolfe, Putnam, Sprague
of Malden, Tower, Thomas Pierce of Charlestown, Whipple, Sparhawk,
Ang[i]er (in the W.G. Davis volumes), Damon of Scituate, Howland, and
Emery families, plus a few town histories (esp. Medford and Cambridge), I
can readily trace distant kinships to twelve presidents. Steinbeck has
no royal descent, a line from only the brother (Arthur Howland) of a Mayflower
passenger, no ancestors in common with the late Princess of Wales, no
1692 witchcraft victim forebear, and among my own ancestors, only Henry
and Margaret (----) Howland of Fenstanton, Huntingdonshire (for whose
notable progeny, to which Steinbeck is a first addendum, see column
#55), and the above-mentioned Thomas Hale of Newbury, a likely
first cousin of Thomas, Samuel, and (my) Martha (Hale) Peck of
Connecticut. From each of Almira’s grandparents, however, the ancestry
for three more generations (almost exclusively of Middlesex County),
plus lines to Adams/Squire, Howland, Putnam/Goodspeed, Sherman, Whipple,
Pierce, and Emery presidential forebears, can be readily outlined as
follows:
Walter Dickson, Jr.; Walter Dickson & Anna Cutter; John
Dickson, Jr. & Mary Russell, Samuel Cutter & Ann Harrington;
John Dickson & Margery Winship, Walter Russell & Elizabeth
Winship, William Cutter & Rebecca Rolfe, John Harrington, Jr. &
Hannah Winter.
Anna Tufts; Timothy Tufts & Anne Adams; Peter Tufts &
Lydia Bucknam, Joseph Adams (III) & Martha Frost; John Tufts &
Mary Putnam, Samuel Bucknam & Deborah Sprague, Joseph Adams, Jr.
& Rebecca Cutter, Ephraim Frost, Jr. & Sarah Cooper; Peter Tufts
& Mary Pierce, Nathaniel Putnam & Elizabeth Hutchinson, Joses
Bucknam & Judith Worth, Joseph Adams & Margaret Eames, Samuel
Cooper & Hannah Hastings; Thomas Pierce & Elizabeth
---- (ancestors of Franklin Pierce), John Putnam (TP)
& Priscilla Gould (TP), Lionel Worth & Susannah
Whipple, John Adams & Anne ----, John Cooper & Anne Sparhawk;
Nicholas Putnam & Margaret Goodspeed, John Whipple & Susannah
---- (Stacy or Clark), Henry Adams (TP) & Edith
Squire (TP), Nathaniel Sparhawk & Mary Angier; John
Goodspeed & Elizabeth ----, Matthew Whipple (TP) &
Joan ---- (TP), Henry Squire (FP) &
---- (FP), John Angier & Anne Sherman; William Goodspeed
& Anna ----, Edmund Sherman & Anne Pellatte; ---- Goodspeed
(TP) & Alice ---- (TP), Henry Sherman (FP)
& Agnes (Butter?) (FP).
[Dr.] Micah Eldredge; Hezekiah Eldredge & Abigail Whiton;
Mulford Eldredge & Abiel Purrington, Elijah Whiton & Priscilla
Russ; Elisha Eldredge, Jr. & Dorcas Mulford, Hezekiah Purrington
& Mary Scammon, Joseph Whiton & Martha Tower, Joseph Russ &
Priscilla Moore; Samuel Tower & Silence Damon; John Damon &
Martha Howland; Arthur Howland & ----; Henry Howland (FP)
& Margaret ---- (FP).
Sarah Buttrick; Tilly Buttrick & Abigail Hale; Joseph
Buttrick & Sarah Brown, Ezekiel Hale, Jr. & Abigail Sargent;
Jonathan Buttrick & Elizabeth Wooley, Ephraim Brown & Sarah
Wilson, Ezekiel Hale & Ruth Emery, [Rev.] Christopher Sargent &
Susannah Peaslee; John Emery (III) & Mary Sawyer; John Emery, Jr.
& Mary ---- (ancestors of Franklin Pierce).
Thus Steinbeck shares ancestry with the two Adamses, Fillmore,
Pierce, Taft, Coolidge, FDR, Nixon, Ford, and the two Bushes. Most
interesting, perhaps, is his kinship to Depression-era President F.D.
Roosevelt, an eighth cousin twice removed via Howlands and a ninth
cousin once removed via Whipples.
The New England ancestry of Steinbeck, like that of Clint Eastwood,
was first brought to my attention by the indefatigable Michael J. Wood,
of London. In the next column, I shall treat an almost unbelievable set
of Southern-derived figures descended, like Gail, Sir Robert, and
Lizzie, from Richard and Joan (Fowle) Borden of Rhode Island.