Rebecca Coggeshall & Robert Taylor: Dec 30

Rebecca, age 21, became the 3rd wife of Robert Taylor, age 54, on December 30, 1742 in Newport, RI.  She was the 4th of 6 children born to Benjamin Coggeshall and Sarah Easton. Robert was a Scottish-born ship builder known to have been in Newport by 1711 when he married Patience Arnold with whom he had 5 children. Following her death in 1739 he married Elizabeth Stanton who did not survive the birth of their second child in 1742. Later that year when Robert and Rebecca married he already had 6 grandchildren as well as two children under age 2. Quite a change for his young bride ! 

They would soon add children of their own -- 12 more per the transcription of Robert's 1762 will published in the Rhode Island Historical Magazine. Good thing he was a wealthy landowner operating commercial wharves in Newport and owning the land at Ochre Point on which Cornelius Vanderbilt later built his “Breakers” mansion which still exists today.

I question whether the youngest two children said to have been born from this marriage might be a mistake (really born to his son Robert, Jr) -- but that is an item on my to-do list for next year.

Clark Brothers of Binghamton, NY

Egbert and Henry Clark were brothers born in Berne, Albany County, NY to Dr Adam Clark and his wife Harriet Watson. They were the second and fourth of their 7 children. Both brothers became leather tanners in Delaware County and eventually settled in Binghamton where they lived very comfortable lives, each of them with a wife named Harriet.

Egbert came to mind this week as the destruction in Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery following Hurricane Sandy was publicized in the press. He and his wife Harriet are buried there. 

Egbert A Clark (1823 - 1887) married Harriet Steele Tuttle (1819 - 1909) in 1847 and had a son and two daughters: Sidney, Clara and Eunice. Although Egbert started his career in Middletown with two of his brothers and his father, he ventured on to Sullivan County and by 1870 maintained residences upstate as well as in New York City where he was a "dealer in leather". Binghamton history reports him as the President of that city's 1st National Bank, mentioning that he'd made a fortune as a tanner. He is also listed in the city directory as a principal of Marks & Clark, wholesale grocers.

When Egbert died in 1887 at age 65, he had outlived all but 2 of his siblings (Henry and Eliza). He was survived by his wife, his son (also a tanner), one daughter living in Paris, and 3 grandchildren.

His younger brother Henry A Clark (1831 - 1905) was a tanner and later a coal merchant in Binghamton. He and his wife, Harriet Gordon (1832-1918) married in 1853 and had two children: Frances and Arthur.  "Fanny" married Dr. Frank Sears and had one son, named after her father. Arthur did not marry.

Henry too started in the leather tanning business and continued on for a couple of decades after moving to Binghamton but eventually became a successful coal merchant there. Both of his children stayed in Binghamton as did his grandson, Dr Henry Sears.  Additionally, their small family expanded as he became the guardian of his sister Eliza's only surviving child, Charlotte Higbee (1872-1913).

Fanny Clark Sears evidently traveled back and forth to see her cousin Clara (Egbert's daughter) in Paris and is often mentioned in the local newspapers as being well-read and broadly-traveled, giving lectures and filling an intellectual leadership role in the community. Fanny had just one son and he had no children, or at least none that are known and survived.

So the small Clark contingent in Binghamton was greatly diminished by 1930 -- Egbert, Henry and their wives had died, Egbert's daughter Clara lived until 1935 but not in Binghamton. Only two  grandchildren lived in Binghamton:  Fanny's son Henry Sears, and Sidney Jr.

Remembering Col George W Pratt 1830 - 1862

George was the only son of Zadock Pratt and his wife Abigail Watson. When he was only 4, his mother died in childbirth. He and his sister Julia were raised by their mother's sister, Mary Elizabeth, who became their father's 4th wife.

George led a privileged early life which included private tutors and European travels in 1848-1850. Like his father and several uncles, he became a tanner.  Leather had been a very rewarding industry for members of the Pratt and Watson families. In 1853 George established a partnership in NYC with Israel Corse, who had previously been an associate of George's father and his maternal uncle John Watson.

In 1855 George married Anna Atwood Tibbits of Albany and they were soon a family of 4. Little might they have realized how their lives would change in the next few years. 

Benjamin Peckham Jr married Mary Hazard in RI

Benjamin Jr, son of Benjamin and Mary Carr, was born in 1714/5 and married Mary Hazard in 1737, the young daughter of Dep Gov George Hazard.  Stephen F Peckham’s published genealogy termed this a “runaway marriage” as Mary was so young. It is thought that they had 15 children, but only a subset are known. If you have information on more of them, please let me know!

Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry and his cousin Sarah

Rhode Islanders Lt Col George Hazard 1660-1743 and wife Penelope Arnold 1669-1724 had six children: Abigail, Robert, Caleb, George Jr, Thomas and Oliver.  As I am a descendant from George Jr's line and Commodore Perry descended from Oliver, I focused on this relationship.  I find it interesting to see how cousins' lives differed, then as now.

It makes me wonder if Sarah Taylor Peckham even knew her cousin Oliver Hazard Perry.  She married and moved to NY State in 1799. The following chart shows their relationships.

Peckham Perry Relationship Chart Sheet1

When did Wheeler Watson’s Wife Die?

For some time I have been trying to find evidence of the death of Sarah Taylor Peckham, Wheeler’s wife.  She was believed to have been born about 1764 in Rhode Island.  She and Wheeler married in 1799 and soon thereafter moved to Rensselaerville, New York.

What was Charlotte's Maiden Name?

While working on the Ludington family of New York State, I found conflicting information on Charlotte, the wife of Nelson (1818-1883).  Both Charlotte and Nelson were born in New York but migrated to Wisconsin and then settled in Chicago. 

They married in 1842 and a Wisconsin marriage record was found for Nelson and Charlotte J. Van Alstine.  However, in later census records, her mother was living with them with a surname of Spencer.  So, might Charlotte have been born Spencer and previously married to a Mr VanAlstine?

The children of Peleg Peckham 1762-1828

Peleg was born in Rhode Island to Benjamin Peckham, Jr and his wife Mary Hazard, the youngest of their six children. In 1785 he married Desire Watson (daughter of John Watson and Desire Wheeler) and they raised a family of nine children.


Elizabeth 1786-1870 m Elijah Griggs   lived in Rensselaerville, NY
Rufus Wheeler 1789-1807 died at 18
Peleg Benjamin MD 1792 m Laura Griggs  lived in Utica NY
George Williams 1845-1873 m Mary P Watson   lawyer and earlier settler of Wisconsin
Walton Hazard MD 1800-1879 m Margaret Midleberger  lived on 5th Ave NYC
Miranda L 1802- 1879 m Brockholst Livingston lived in Albany and Utica
Orin Day 1805-1838 m Sarah Ann Thompson lived in Westerlo, NY 
Rufus Wheeler 1809-1873 m Isabella Lacey and then Mary Foote
    lawyer, judge, Congressman died in ocean collision of Ville du Havre
Henrietta Louisa 1812-1888 m Joseph Colt  lived in Milwaukee, CW volunteer

"Colonel" John and "Judge" John Watson

 John Watson, the leatherman     1808 – 1891

            and his father-in-law John Watson     1768-1829               

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"Colonel" John was the 5^th of 8 children born to Wheeler Watson and Sarah Taylor Peckham in Rensselaerville, NY. After serving as Colonel in a local militia while a young man, he continued to use the title throughout his life.  John spent his entire career in the leather industry and it made him enormously wealthy.

John Wheeler Watson 1865-1893

John Watson was born at West Point to Major Malbone F. Watson and his wife Mary Codwise.  His father, a West Point graduate, fought at Gettysburg (where he lost a leg), and returned to West Point to teach French after the war. 

Three sisters later joined John: Mary in 1867, Jennie in 1869 and Ella in 1880. The family can be found in the 1870 census living with Malbone’s mother in Catskill, New York and then with members of the Codwise family in Washington, DC in 1880. 

Malbone died in 1891 and his obituary listed his son John as living in Pittsburgh. Little did I realize then what a short life story would unfold. I could not find John in the 1900 Pittsburgh census and with such a common name, was not sure where else to search.

Which John Watson ?

It’s tough to research a family with a common name like Watson, but so much worse when there is more than one member with a common first name like John.  Which is which?  My Watsons had numerous Johns and Williams. Some were of similar age, some used a middle initial.  But ages are not always recorded correctly and middle initials seem to show up in some records but not in others. Here’s a recap of some of those named John Watson in the family line I’m tracing.

Zadock Pratt, son-in-law x 2

Zadock Pratt, born 1709 in Stephentown, New York, was a successful leather tanner, banker and congressmen who had 5 wives and 2 children.  Zadock had brief sequential marriages with two Dickerman sisters, Beda and Esther, each of whom died of tuberculois. In 1829 he married Abigail Peckham Watson, daughter of Wheeler Watson and Sarah Taylor Peckham. Their son George Watson Peckham was born in 1830, followed by Julia Harriet in 1832.  In 1834 Abigail died at age 27 following the birth of their third child who did not survive. Zadock was left with 2 very young children and soon married Abigail's sister, Mary Elizabeth who raised the children.  Following Mary's death in 1868, Zadock married yet again and stayed with Susie until his death two years later.

The adventures of Zadock, his accomplishments and his boasts will be recounted in upcoming blogs along with the stories of his two children.

Introducing Wheeler Watson Peckham & Clark

This blog will catalog the story of the expansive family that descended from Wheeler Watson and Sarah Taylor Peckham of Newport, Rhode Island.  They married in 1799 and moved to Rensselaerville, Albany County, New York where they raised their family of 8 children. Wheeler and Sarah had a total of 17 siblings --- so the list of cousins is long indeed.  


My link to the Watson clan is through Wheeler and Sarah's oldest daughter, Harriet, who married Dr. Adam Clark and had 8 children of their own.  The family includes lawyers, judges, doctors, extremely prosperous leather tanners and the intriguing character of Zadock Pratt who (sequentially) married two of the Watson daughters.  Their tales will unfold along with bickering of most families, references to cousin George Peckham, the spider-expert in Wisconsin, along with the happy farmers who never moved far from home.


Stay tuned !