Thomas Freeman & Roxanna Cash

My 4th-great-grandfather, Thomas Freeman, son of John and Abigail (Hopkins) Freeman, was born 6 April 1787 in Eastham (Barnstable) Massachusetts, and died 17 January 1864 in Harwich (Barnstable) Massachusetts. He married in Harwich, December 1810, Roxanna Cash, who was born there 30 November 1789, and died there 28 January 1863, daughter of Samuel and Patience (Phillips) Cash.

Thomas was a carpenter and Roxanna was a homemaker. The 1850 census shows them living with their 39-year-old daughter, Rosilla, and 10-year-old grandson, Gideon H. Freeman, and Joshua and Hannah Cahoon, both age 40. The 1860 census shows Thomas & Roxanna living with their 19-year-old grandson, Gideon. Thomas & Roxanna lie buried together in the First Congregational Church Cemetery in Harwich.

First Congregational
Church Cemetery,
Harwich

THOMAS FREEMAN
Died
Jan. 17, 1864,
Aged 77 years.
He was of the sixth generation from
Stephen Hopkin, one of the Pilgrims who
came over in the May Flower to Ply-
mouth A.D. 1620

ROXANNA
His wife
Died Jan. 28, 1863,
Aged 73 yr’s. 2 mo’s.
Peaceful be thy rest, dear Mother
All thy trials here are o’er
Weary days and nights of anguish
Never shall afflict thee more.

Roxanna & Thomas were the parents of four children:

1. Rosilla Hopkins Freeman, born 21 November 1811 in Harwich, and died there 10 February 1855. Rosilla is buried in the First Congregational Church Cemetery near her parents.

Miss
ROSILLA FREEMAN
DIED
Feb. 10, 1855,
Æ 43 Years.
Dearest sister, thou hast left us.
Here thy loss we deeply feel.
But ’tis God that hath (illegible) us.
He can all our sorrows heal.

~

2. Warren Freeman (my 3rd-great-grandfather), born 25 July 1814 in Harwich, and died there 16 September 1894. He married (as his first wife) in December 1836, his double fourth cousin, Priscilla E. Long, who was born 22 October 1817 and died 7 December 1846 in Harwich, daughter of Isaac and Esther (Ellis) Long. Warren & Priscilla were the parents of two children. Warren married (as his second wife) 12 June 1848 in Harwich, another double fourth cousin, Elisabeth Weekes, who was born 6 November 1822 in Harwich, and died there 18 September 1908, daughter of Isaac and Elisabeth (Allen) Weekes. Warren & Elisabeth were the parents of five children.

3. Sanford Freeman, born 8 October 1818 in Harwich, died there 6 October 1907. He married (as his first wife) 3 May 1840 in Harwich, Mehitable S. Baker, who was born 13 August 1823 in Harwich, and died there 14 December 1842, daughter of Joseph and Catherine (—) Baker. Sanford & Mehitable were the parents of two sons. Sanford married (as his second wife) 21 October 1847 in Harwich, Sarah Small, who was born 21 January 1827 in Harwich, and died there in 1921, daughter of Thomas Crowell and Sally (Allen) Small.

4. Zeruiah Cash Freeman, born 14 June 1825 in Harwich, died there 11 September 1833, age 8. Zeruiah is buried in the First Congregational Church Cemetery. I see a picture of her gravestone on the Find A Grave website, but I haven’t located it myself yet.

18 thoughts on “Thomas Freeman & Roxanna Cash”

  1. You are tending to the long family threads… I think that the love you do it with, benefits the whole ancestral line. That love is very clear to me, energetically. Our family also has one such person who now catalogs a certain part of it – and i get to see the faces of my ancestors and read about their lives and clearly see the influence on others ( me included) in the thread.

    The book you bought recently – (thank you ) – I was guided to write it and had no idea about how it was going to develop – but also that I would know how the chapters would fit together ( they came rather randomly in the beginning.) In the end I can see that all the lives and incidents I describe in the first chapters come together as an energetic wave of love at the end – and that everything, even that which feels silly and out of whack falls into place there.

    And maybe so it is with ancestors too – all – even the disasters – have been a necessary patch of the great Gobelin

    1. I had to look up Gobelin! What a great metaphor for family history! According to Wikipedia, “Gobelin stitch is a slanting stitch used in needlepoint. Gobelin stitch takes its name from its resemblance to the texture of woven tapestries produced by the famous French factory at Gobelins.”

      It reminds me of one of my favorite songs, “Tapestry” by Carole King:
      “My life has been a tapestry of rich and royal hue
      An everlasting vision of the ever-changing view
      A wondrous woven magic in bits of blue and gold
      A tapestry to feel and see, impossible to hold”

      I do feel my ancestors guiding me in the weaving of bits of magic together for my children and grandchildren. I can’t count how many times I’ve walked into a huge cemetery and have been led right to my ancestor’s grave. Or found some unexpected information in a rare book. And my husband’s ancestors, too. I’m glad to hear that you appreciate the efforts of your own family’s historian. 🙂

      I’m looking forward to reading your book soon!

  2. Have you visited any of the cemeteries where these folks are buried, Barbara? I know you said you hadn’t gone to some, but wondering how many ancestral cemeteries you’ve traveled to over the years.

    1. As best as I can count I’ve been to 25 cemeteries so far. Some I need to re-visit some day now that I have a digital camera. The pictures in this post are old and scanned from a photo album. Recently I created a cemetery index to keep myself better organized!
      https://www.ingebrita.net/cemetery-index/

  3. Zeruiah is a new name to me. All your other kinfolk have names that I’ve seen, but this little boy’s name is unique. He died young though, didn’t he?

    1. Actually, Zeruiah is a girl’s name from the Bible. She was a sister of King David. 🙂 I have a 6th-great-grandmother named Zeruiah and dozens of distant cousins with the name. Bible names were once very popular in pious New England. Sadly, she was only 8 years old when she died.

      1. That’s a girl’s name! Well, my bad. I’ve never heard it before. Apparently my Sunday School classes didn’t include her. The things I learn along the way.

        1. Me, too. I would never have heard of Zeruiah before, either, unless I had been researching my family tree. 🙂

  4. I followed the link in your reply to Kathy’s comment and oh my goodness, what a lot of ancestors you have found in cemeteries! I have so few relatives who were buried in Australia, with my parents emigrating to Australia from England in 1951. Just by coincidence too, today (30th Aug.) is the 27th anniversary of my mother’s death.

    1. My father was in the same situation as you. Except for his immigrant parents who are buried here, all his ancestors lie buried in Ukraine. A visit to those gravesites is highly unlikely. What a contrast to my mother’s ancestors, some of them arrived here 400 years ago! My heartfelt thoughts are with you on the anniversary of your mother’s death. I always mark my mother’s, too, May 27, even after 29 years.

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