The Conant Connection and the Salem Dream
Have you ever felt connected to some place or a certain time
period but couldn’t explain why? Have you ever had vivid dreams about that
place, or could smell it? Have you ever felt you lived in a place or time
period and were sure of it? Have you ever felt out of sync, out-of-time or knew
you knew a place without ever having been there?
I have.
I will start with the dream. I have had the same reoccurring
dream for many, many years now. I’m not
sure when it began but it crops up often and is always the same. I am standing in an early saltbox home, although
I never ‘see’ the outside of the house I just know that it is a light brown in
parts and dark brown in other areas. It isn’t
a big home but small and cozy. My reoccurring
dream is the same no matter how much I try to move around. I am always rooted in front of a low table or
wooden counter space. The only think I
see is the stained glass window that features yellow, golds and some browns and
the pattern seems to be a wheat stalk or flower of muted colors. It’s the only bright distinguishing feature. I can tell I am wearing a dress but I never
see the actual dress. If I move away
from the window I always loose the dream.
The smell of the house is a mixture of bread dough, not yet baked and a
hearth fire that isn’t quite ready. I’m
not sure what I am doing with my hands but I know they are busy. And, as I said I am not sure what I am
wearing but I also sense that my hair is strawberry red/blonde mixed and it’s
pulled back and covered in a cap of sorts.
I can see this dream, feel this dream and I can even smell this dream.
Once in a while, if I am out and about in the here and now, and I smell that
certain scent it’ll take me back to the spot… to that time period. It’s as if I am home for only a few brief moments. The only other concrete thing is that from
the beginning of this dream I knew I lived in Essex County, Massachusetts and
was not located within a village but we weren’t far from Danvers and Salem, Massachusetts. I also knew and could sense it was early in
colonial history, as though we were still under the British crown. Far from the years of the Revolution, and in
fact, far from the years of the Salem Witch Trials.
So when it came time for me to research my family history I
was expecting to find Massachusetts relatives but what I was not expecting to
find was my 11th great grandfather was Roger Conant. Governor Roger Conant, founder of Salem. I knew I was connected to him. I knew it as easily as I know my own address
right now. It was like a lightbulb for
me. A connection so deep that I held my
breath with each of my Massachusetts relatives within his line. I felt so much a part of this family. I felt at home. Massachusetts is a place I know I lived once
before. It’s why I am an ardent ancestral
digger. I have always felt deeply
connected to the past but where it concerns the Salem area, I know I KNOW I
have lived there once in a past life and my brain has allowed, or was able to
save just one tiny scrape of my previous life.
This line means a lot to me and I have researched many of
these folks and they led incredible lives.
They were immigrants, farmers, distinguished men and women, and were
pioneers of the America we know and love today.
Conant Line:
Governor Roger Conant was born in April of 1592 in East
Budleigh, Devon, England. He was an
immigrant, arriving in Massachusetts where he settled what is now Salem. He married Sarah Horton and together they had
my 10th great grandfather Lot Conant.
 |
| Statue of Roger Conant, founder of Salem, Massachusetts, photo taken in 2004. Image provided by: Wikipedia) |
Lot Conant (1624 – 1674) married Elizabeth Mansfield (1629 –
1650). Together they had:
Roger Conant, Jr. (1668 – 1745) who married Mary
Raiment/Raymond (1684 – 1783). Together
they had:
Mehitable Conant (1715 – 1814) and she married Josiah Piper,
Sr. (1708 – 1758). Together they had:
Josiah Piper, Jr. (1708 – 1758) who married Mary (surname
unknown); together they had:
Mary “Polly” Piper (1769 – 1846) who married Walsingham
Bosworth (best name EVER) (1777 – 1821), together they had:
Olive Bosworth (1801 – 1875) who married Samuel Willis
Cowden (1786 – 1873), together they had:
Elizabeth Betsy Cowden (1816 – 1866) who married Charles M
Scates (1810 – 1891) and together they had:
Charles Luther Scates (1844 – 1899) who married the widow,
Alice Elizabeth James (nee Lampson); who together had:
Luther Bertcell Scates (1868 – 1940) who married Emma
Catherine Pitzer (1869 – 1947) and together they had my great grandpa Charles
Edward, who married Velma and who together had my lovely little granny Evelyn
Velma.
The first six family members after Gov. Roger Conant were
all Massachusetts born and/or died. It’s simply amazing that I’m connected to
my dream through my family and through relatives I didn’t know existed but
could only feel in spirit. I’ve often
prided myself on not being religious but being spiritual and this only
strengthens my resolve.
XOXOXO,
Nellie Hull
Hi Nellie Hull,
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad to see your Blog and read you pondering. My son Aidan Howell is also an 11th grandchild of Roger Conant. That makes my husband his 10th grandson (or grand son, ten generations removed). I have also had some incredible insights that I think you would be interested in hearing. Before I go there, let me just propose that you (and your family) plan to go to Salem, MA in 2026 for the city's 400th anniversary. I am planning on going with my husband and son, who will be 21 that year.
So here is a little family history: I was born in NY and my mother was a painter and she had a gallery in Gloucester MA. We spent every weekend and summer of my life in Gloucester. Though I was educated in NY, I alway felt Gloucester was more important to my development than the village where I grew up. I did a lot more growing in Gloucester. Well, like most kids I wasn't too interested in history, buildings, plaques and so forth. I just wanted to hang with my friends and enjoy Gloucesters magnificent beaches and handsome men. When I got a bit older I rented apartments and lived in shared houses in different locations around Cape Ann. It wasn't all sex, drugs & rock and roll for me. I went to different religious gatherings and explored more of the area. I attended the free concerts in Stage Fort Park and sat in a beach chair snacking on home made gourmet foods, while listening to the orchestras and bands that before sunset overlooking Gloucester Harbor. The road that runs through Stage Fort Park is a curved road that rises quite high by Gloucester's standards and just at the top of that rise on the east side of the road, there is a west facing cast iron plaque that you can see here:
"Settlement of Cape Ann"
https://www.gloucestertimes.com/news/local_news/historic-markers-have-slowly-disappeared/article_78053b1b-fde7-5601-b542-f80254f7ab04.html
This is also a plaque that mentions Grandfather Conant.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stage_Fort_Park
I often noticed this sign as I drove through the park and I know I sat very close to it while enjoying the concerts.
(large section removed from here to post)
Well I wrote a lot and I really didn't have time to, so I have to get going. I am really glad to have been able to share this story with you. I hope you will consider going to the 400th anniversary of Salem, MA. I am sorry to say I don't read my emails too often but if you google/search the internet with my first name, beekeeper and Berkeley, CA you will find my phone number. I always answer and I'd love to connect with you over the phone. Best wishes and keep learning.
Alice
this is the part that was deleted from the middle of the message above:
ReplyDeleteWell life goes on and I went off to college a second time and then circumnavigated the earth several times before deciding to settle in California. I worked in Hollywood for almost 2 decades and often thought of marriage and kids. LA didn't really provide me with good marriage prospects so I expanded my adventuresome endeavours and started spending time in Nevada and the SF Bay area. As luck would have it, I was introduced to my future husband in 2002. His nickname was Hercules and he was a printer by trade. We seriously explored the idea or marriage and children and then tied the knot Quaker style and under the care of my meeting in Pasadena CA. My husband had a strange family constellation with a father who married 3 times but his mother, 40 years his junior was... well I can't say because I never met her as she died 6 months before I met my husband. She was dearly loved by her son and daughters. I think we would have been good friends. Anyway, it is through my husband's mother's maternal line that my husband is related to Roger Conant - but he had no idea. I have always been curious about ancestry but I am challenged with computers and research. When our son became school age, there were a lot of projects surrounding ancestral and cultural backgrounds. That is when I took my son to the Mormon "Oakland Family Research Center" and got the best tip of my life! There is a free website called www.familysearch.org and it is collaborative and open to all to build. This is where I found all the information leading my son back to Roger Conant and further. If you are related to Roger, you may also be related to Queen Elizabeth 1 & 2 and 1000 years ago you may see that you were related to Emma, Princess of Flowers, who then went on to become Emma, queen consort of Denmark, Norway and England! There is another website called relative finder and it tells you all the famous people you are related to. This may seem silly, or like a gimmick but I swear - it's not. If I put my family info in - nothing. I can go back to about 1875 give or take 25 years. My husband and son's line goes back over 2000 years! I admit that some connections are not documented but it's still fascinating to look at.