Young Becky Allin

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TITLE="Hannah Ward"><U>Hannah Ward</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id168.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Judith Whitman"><U>Judith Whitman</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id169.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Elizabeth Wiswall"><U>Elizabeth Wiswall</U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="id170.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Elizabeth Wytham"><U>Elizabeth Wytham</U></A></div> </td> <td valign="top" height=370 BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000" bgproperties="fixed" background="099f0f03.jpg"> <div> <I>Young Becky Allin</I></div> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Rebecka Allin </div> <div> 1701-1744</div> <bR> <div>      I'm Becky Allin, age eleven.  I have four sisters and two brothers. Father is a sheep farmer. Our home is near Narragansett Bay in Swanzey, Plymouth Colony. We have many farm animals who graze in the nearby field. My brother Matthew is fifteen. Father says he is almost a man  and must learn the ways of a farmer and husbandman. We need many hands to work our land. Father owns three Negro slaves. They work to help our  plantation produce the finest wool in the colonies. The men shear the animals in the spring. Grandmother and Mother card the wool, and spin it into yarn. New England winters are so very cold, and warm woolen clothing, stockings, caps and mittens keep us exceedingly warm. We also grow flax, which in spun into fine linen thread to fashion  shirts and dresses for the family. In summer, my sisters and I gather  goldenrod, iris, logwood and pokeberries. We use these as dye for our cloth. My favorite  cloak is made from  red wool.  Old Tom, a Narragnasett Indian, taught Grandfather Allin how to grow corn and pumpkins and squash. He showed us how to catch fish in weirs, and dig clams by the shore. </div> <bR> <bR> <div>       Ever since I can remember, winters here in Rhode Island have been snowy and quite cold. This January of 1712 has been one of the coldest. Today, father hitched our horses to the sleigh. My brothers and sisters and I  climbed in under warm sheep skins and coverlets. I could not believe my eyes when he drove right down  the beach to the water's edge. He did not stop there. Instead, we slid right on to the ice, and drove across the frozen bay to Prudence Island. All manner of people were bundled up in their warmest clothing, walking, riding and even skating on the thick ice. Father told us that Mr. Jonathan Hill walked all the way to Newport yesterday, right across the bay!</div> <bR> <div>      When we came home, mother had hot cinnamon cider warming by the fire, and a supper of beans and jonny cake with maple syrup. Later, chores finished, Father told stories by the cozy fire. "Children, did you know this very house once stood across the great  bay on Prudence Island?"</div> <bR> <div>      "How can that be father," questioned my brother Matthew. "Well, son, when I was twelve, just about your age, we lived out on the island in this same house. It was a good deal smaller then.  The great war with King Philip was over, but Grandmother Allin was not a contented woman. She was uneasy about the isolation of the island. She feared for the safety of her young children, if there were more problems with the Indians.  Often, Grandfather had to leave the island to conduct his business on the mainland, and she was alone .</div> <div> During the winter of 1680, the weather turned bitterly cold. After careful consideration and discussion with my neighbors, it was decided that the house could be moved. All the children helped pack our belonging, bedding and clothing. Grandma carefully wrapped  her precious dishes and household goods in our linens. </div> <bR> <div>      With the help of our Indian servants and neighbors, three tall trees were cut down and a huge sled made. The house was raised onto the wooden sled. Oxen were hitched to the timbers and  the sled was hauled slowly  over the ice, across the bay to Barrington. It was drawn up the embankment about a quarter of a mile to this very place."</div> <bR> <div>      "The house is so big now", said my brother Tom. "Yes, the following year we added more rooms and this great stone fireplace, which is warming your toes and fingers at this very moment! " laughed Father. After evening prayers,  it was time to go to bed, while the snow fell and the January wind whistled through the door. As I pulled out my trundle bed I wondered how it would have been to be an island girl.  </div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <DIV ALIGN="LEFT"></DIV> <div> Rebecka Grows Up</div> <bR> <div>      Becky grew into a lovely young woman. Although she had many suitors, Joseph Cole, the only son  of the tanner from Rehoboth,  caught her eye. Perhaps they sat in the meeting house together, or met on the beach by the bay.  </div> <bR> <div>      Joseph travelled to her home in  his wagon from the next town over, to arrange for sheepskins  to be processed  his tannery.  By the time he was twenty-four, he had asked for Rebecka's hand in marriage. Thomas, her father, had spoken with Joseph's father,  William and his wife Anne. A dowry was arranged by the elders, and the  announcement of  their coming marriage was made at Newman Congregational  Church on July 28, 1722. The summer passed quickly, while Becky and her mother Anna and sisters prepared linens  and gathered household utensils for Becky's new home.</div> <bR> <div>      On a snowy winter day, January 24, 1723,  Rebecka Allin and Joseph Cole stood side by side in the meeting house, while Rev. John Greenwood pronounced them man and wife.</div> <bR> <div>      They set up housekeeping in Rehoboth, down near the Ten Mile River. When  winter  was over,  Becky was overjoyed to learn that she and Joseph were going to have a child soon after the new year. </div> <bR> <div>      On January 24, 1724, Rebeckca gave birth to a healthy boy. He was named for his grandfather, as was the custom in early New England. There was much joy in their home. Grandfather William Cole now had a grandson to love as he loved his only child Joseph. All was well, but not for long.</div> <bR> <div>      The town records of Rehoboth, Plymouth Colony,  tell of the fear of smallpox in the town and in the neighboring communities of Swansea and Providence. </div> <bR> <div>  It was written:</div> <bR> <div>  "If Persons should have the smallpox; that are near unto Neighbours or Near the Rhoad; then the selectmen to Remove them unto some Convenient Place; that to be left to the Selectmens Prudence as to the Place or to the Removing them." </div> <bR> <bR> <div>      As the springtime blossoms bloomed in the orchard, Joseph became  ill. His fever and blisters spoke of  the horror to come. Now,  the young family, with their infant son, were left no choice. Joseph had to leave their home.</div> <bR> <div>      Rebecka's sister Anna  lost her husband to the disease on April 19, 1724.</div> <div> Joseph, age 26, died the following day, April 20,and was laid to rest by his grieving widow, their four month old son asleep in her arms. William, his father, shed bitter tears as his only son was buried. Rebecka was grief stricken as she tended to her son, wondering what was to become of them.</div> <bR> <div>      When young William was two, Rebecka's sister Elizabeth was taken ill and died. Elizabeth's widower was Thomas Hill. Eventually, Rebecca and Thomas having both been alone for a few years, planned to marry each other. The marriage was not allowed under the strict religious codes of the Congregational Church in Rehoboth. </div> <bR> <div>      Rebecka and Thomas were determined to marry. Now, Thomas had a farm in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, and Rebecka had an uncle also living in the same area known as Quidnessett. Thomas hitched up his wagon, loaded it with his farm tools, sat Rebecka and young William by his side, and headed down the long road to a new life in the state of Rhode Island where there was more freedom of religion. Thomas and Rebecka were married by Justice of the Peace, Mr. Benomi Hall on March 31, 1728. Rebecka and Thomas settled down on his new farm which they named Hillstead. Five children were born to them in the next fourteen years. </div> <bR> <div>      Since our ancestor, Rebecka's son William, was the only heir of his grandfather and namesake William, he was apprenticed to his grandfather in Rehoboth.  Thus he learned the trade of a tanner. This trade processed hides from animals such as cows and sheep into leather suitable to be used as clothing. Eventually, William inherited the entire estate of his grandfather, the tanning mill and all the Cole family property. William studied law, married the daughter of the minister, Molly Greenwood, and raised a large family. He was known as William Cole, Esquire, and became a very prominent gentleman farmer and supporter of the cause of liberty in the American Revolution.</div> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>