Firelands History Website

This genealogy of the Converse and Taylor ancestors of Lucy Preston, wife of Frederick Wickham, is an excerpt from the transcription of a handwritten notebook I discovered in my grandmother’s papers. The family history in this notebook was the work of two women, Agnes Caroline Wickham and her daughter, Harriott Benedict Wickham Barton (my grandmother), who separately researched and made entries in it over a period of seventy years.  Agnes Wickham wrote roughly half of the entries in the notebook from 1909 to 1915.  In 1915, she gave handwritten copies of her work to each of her five children: Eleanor, William, Lucy, David and Harriott.  Harriott continued her mother’s work off and on for the next sixty years, adding entries as late as 1977.

Dave Barton

Converse and Taylor Genealogy

Converse Family in America

1.  Deacon Edward Convers, born January 30, 1590 at Wakely Manor; married Jane Clark of Leckenham; Came to Massachusetts in the Lion in 1630; died August 10, 1663.

2.  Lieutenant James Convers, born 1620; married October 24, 1643 to Anna Long, daughter of Robert & Elizabeth? (* see below) Long of Charlestown; lived in Woburn; died August 10, 1663.

3.  Major James Convers, born November 16, 1645; married January 1, 1669 to Hannah Carter, daughter of Thomas & Mary (Parkhurst?) Carter, or of Capt. John & Elizabeth Carter; died July 8, 1706.

4.  John Convers of Woburn, born August 22, 1673; married May 22, 1699 to Abigail Sawyer, daughter of Joshua & Sarah (Potter) Sawyer; died January 6, 1708.

5.  Joshua Converse of Woburn, Dunstable, Leicester, Naticork New Hampshire (now Merrimac), born January 3, 1704; married July 31, 1729 to Rachel Blanchard, daughter of Joseph & Abiah (Hassell) Blanchard; died 1744.

6.  Rachel Converse, born at Leicester, April 30,1730 married (?) Timothy Taylor, born September 1, 1718 at Dunstable, son of Abraham & Mary.

7.  Timothy Taylor, born 1754; married (?) Esther French, born 1754 (?), daughter of Benjamin & Mary (Lovewell) French.

* Eugene Preston had information that James Convers married Anna, daughter of Robert & Sarah (Taylor) Long.  Sarah Taylor, baptized May 29, 1595 at St. Albans, England; died December 12, 1630 at Dunstable, Devonshire; was daughter of John & Margaret (Wilmote) Long.  Elizabeth mentioned above may have been Anna’s stepmother.

[below is from Taylor Genealogy Page]

III. Timothy, born 1754 in Merrimac, N.H.; died 1851; married Esther, daughter of Benjamin and Mary (Lovewell) French – she was born in 1757; died July 1, 1843 in Norwalk, Ohio.  Timothy served in the American Revolution as a volunteer from Hillsboro County; came to Ohio in 1819; died at Norwalk and buried in Episcopal cemetery.  Timothy Taylor (1754-1851) is among the volunteers from Hillsboro County who served in the Revolution.  Born in Merrimack New Hampshire (Dunstable); died in Norwalk, Ohio. (1)
1.  Esther, born June 19, 1781; died September 3, 1826.

IV. Esther, born June 19, 1781 at Merrimac New Hampshire; married Samuel Preston; died September 3, 1826.

(1) Volume 26: List of D.A.R. No. 25130. M.W. Kellogg.  His name is also in “list of Revolutionary Soldiers from Merrimack” in History of Hillsborough, N.H. page 532.

[below is from Preston Genealogy Page]

V. Samuel, born June 24, 1778 at New Ipswich, New Hampshire; married Esther, daughter of Timothy Taylor and Esther French of Merrimac, New Hampshire; died March 3, 1852 at Norwalk, Ohio. (1)
1.  George Albert, born July 16, 1805; died January
14, 1815.
2.  Catherine, born March 12, 1807; died April 15,
1818.
3.  Charles Lauris, born July 23, 1812; died January
18, 1815.
4.  Lucy Bancroft, born March 27, 1814; died January
19, 1897.
5.  Charles Albert, born January 22, 1816; died June
14, 1868.  Had daughter Nellie, born April 1860 &
son Charles – both went to live in Denver.
Charles & wife died young & “Cousin Nellie”
brought up his children (Mignon Bee & Lucy)
Mignon’s daughters are Mignon Pearl & Jo Lytton of
Colorado.

VI. Lucy Bancroft Preston, born at Nashua New Hampshire March 27, 1814. (1)

Footnotes:
(1) History of the Western Reserve, p. 1690).

NOTE: Agnes and Harriott cited their sources in the margins of original notebook.  I included these citations as footnotes, attempting to keep them as close as possible to where they appear in the original notebook.

I would appreciate critiques and corrections of this genealogy. Please comment below. Thank you.

© 2006, 2009 by David W. Barton. All rights reserved