Edward Elmer 1610-1676: I believe it is time to improve on this individual’s biography. Hotten’s Persons of Quality Original Lists appears to be incomplete when compared with Bank’s Planters of the Commonwealth. In the latter we find evidence for a father, un-named mother and a brother. Obviously there were more than forty-seven persons on the ship Lyon. Obviously Edward had a life in England before making the trip to the New World. Where did dad, mom and brother Richard go in the New World.Is there other evidence of his heritage in England? Many books and family trees have alluded to his relationship to John Aylmer, Bishop of London. Are there any researchers or books from England that have tied them together?
Banks The Planters of the Commonwealth does say there were 50 children, so the rest were wives, women and possibly slaves. I read through Banks list and still can't find 123 passengers.
123 passengers, 50 being children. I count 95 passengers, 36 being children
28 people missing, including 14 children
14 adults missing plus 14 children missing
Quoting The Great Migration Begins:
ORIGIN:Unknown
MIGRATION: 1632 on Lyon [Hotten 150]
FIRST RESIDENCE: Cambridge
REMOVES: Hartford, Northampton 1655, Podunk 1660
There is also spurious evidence that brother Richard was a property owner with his brother in Hartford, or thereabouts. I need to look up the reference.
If Edward Elmer-195 (the father) arrived with a wife and two children in 1632, the wife would have had to have died before 1644 when he married Mary Unknown-257919 in Hartford.
TIMELINE EVENT EDWARD’S AGE
1610 (before 1613) Birth 0
1628-1632 Two children born 18-22
6/22/1632 Departed London 22
9/16/1632 Arrived Boston 22
1636 Moved from Cambridge to Hartford 26
Before 1644 Un-named wife died <34
1644 Married Mary Unknown-257919 34
1676 Killed by Indians in King Phillip’s War 66
The timeline may be a bit tight between birth of two babies and an ocean voyage, Would you take a newborn on an ocean voyage in the 1600’s? There is no reference to his two missing children, Edward and Richard. There is a reference in TGMB to Richard Elmer being a partner in land, more research required. If this is the scenario we go with, we need to add a wife and two children to Edward. Additionally, where did Edward at 22 years of age have enough money to transport his family to the New World and buy property and provisions. Is there evidence of his education to a profession which would give him the means to make the journey, or yet, time available? Most discussions indicate that the passengers were well to do.
Birth: 1610 seems to be the year most family histories use for his birth. TGMB says, “By about 1613 based on grants of land at Cambridge (and as early as 1608 if he was sixty years old when relieved of watching and warding and training).” 1608 would make this scenario much more plausible.
If Edward Elmer (the father) arrived with a wife and two children in 1632, he would have had to have been born before 1592. His sons would have been about twenty years old when leaving London. These children (I wouldn’t have called them children, but, in some societies you’re not a man till 30) would be the perfect age for life in the New World. The elder Elmer would have had opportunity to raise funds for the trip to the New World. There is no evidence of Edward and un-named wife’s death and little more information on brother Richard.
Quote from TGMB:
In his list of "Early Land Owners," Manwaring includes in Hartford before 1653 "Ed: Elmer" and "Richard Elmer." The Hartford land records do not contain this latter name, but the source of Manwaring's error has not been determined [Manwaring 1:83].
I am in the hopes that someone will step up with more information to move this family tree back into England and not leave it on the shores of the New World. Possibly DNA will be the key to making the connection.