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 CONCERN! \i; 
 
 11 1 r: AXCKSTORS 
 
 abxi:r brush 
 
 LAURA HIIHHARD BRUSH, 
 
 
 AVAILABLE ON MICROFK 
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 Concerning the Ancestors 
 
 ...of... 
 
 Abner Brush and Laura Hubbard Brush. 
 
 .\liiur I. rush and hi> wife-. Laura Muh- 
 bard iJru.Nh. were dcscendi'd from \\\v first 
 settlers of Xew ICn^land. 
 
 "The first settlers of Xew England." savs 
 Joliii I'iske. in "The I'leoinninms of Xew 
 En<^land," "were (h'awn fri)ni the stur- 
 diest part of the Eng-lish stock." If you 
 know little else of the ancestors of .Xhner 
 and T.aura I'-rusli than that tlie\ came to 
 X'ew l-'ng^land in tlie Seventeenth Century, 
 it is safe for you to infer that they were- 
 men and women with the coura.Q;e of their 
 convictions, and lliat they left h"n,s;land for 
 
 (3) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 America between the years 1020 and 1642. 
 "The emigration," to (jnote again from 
 Fiske. ''was pre-cniinent for its respectabil- 
 ity. It consisted largely of county squires 
 and yeomen; thrifty, prosperous men, who, 
 on account of their devotion to an idea, 
 became voluntary exiles. 1 he needy, shift- 
 less people who usually make trouble in 
 new colonies were not tolerated in the 
 early days of New England." 
 
 The Tirushes and Conklings came from 
 England to Salem together. From Salem 
 they went to Long Island. John llrush, of 
 Southhold, Long Island — when that place 
 was a part of the republic of New Haven — 
 was the first of the name in America. It is 
 in the records of Fairfield county, Connec- 
 ticut, that Thomas Ihnish, son of John 
 lirush, born about 1010, settled in South- 
 hold, Long Island, previous to 1057. He 
 moved to Huntington, Long Island, in 
 
 (4) 
 
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CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 1658. He married Rebecca, daughter of 
 John and Mary Conkhno-, and (Hed in KITS. 
 He had four chiUh-cn. — It is of interest to 
 note that his youngest daughter, Rebecca, 
 was married to the Reverend Jeremiah 
 Hubbard in KiSd. — Thomas Brush H, the 
 son of Thomas, is in the direct Une we are 
 tracing. He married Sarah Wickes. — A 
 boy named Francis Weeks went with Roger 
 WilHams to Rrovidence. In 1G57 he was 
 on Long Island, and was probal^ly the 
 ancestor of Sarah Wickes — Thomas and 
 Sarah Brush had nine children. Their 
 second child, Thomas III, was born in 
 1683. He served as a private soldier in 
 the Indian War of 1715. His name appears 
 on page (iS of Vol. 6(1 of New' York Colonial 
 Manuscripts, recorded as a private in Cap- 
 tain Thomas Higbe's Huntington, Loug 
 Island, Company. 
 
 Before going on in the direct line, listen 
 (5) 
 
CUNCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 to a few words about the family of Ijrnsh in 
 t^eneral. There is fre(|uent mention of the 
 liruslies in the town recortls of Huntington 
 and in the records of the First Church. 
 The}' oljtained warrants for land, they 
 deeded away some of their acres; a John 
 Brush was chosen as one of the town 
 trustees in 1715. They are frequently 
 mentioned as husbandmen. Thev inter- 
 marry over and over with Conklings, 
 Wickes, Carmons, Platts and with others of 
 familiar names. They have their children 
 baptized and often give them the strange 
 Hebraic names which the Puritans were 
 fond of bestowing on their offspring". 
 
 The name of the wife of Thomas Brush 
 HI is unknown. His son Eliphalet was 
 born in Huntington in 1712, and lived dur- 
 ing "The Revolution." 
 
 When the colonists resisted the mother 
 (6) 
 
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 I 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 CONCERNING 11 IE ANCESTORS. 
 
 counti'}-, the name of Brush appears in the 
 annals of Long Island — and always on the 
 side of "the Patriots." At a meeting held 
 in September. 1775, for nominating field 
 officers for West SutTolk. a Thomas Brush 
 was jM'esent. A Jesse B)rush was Captain 
 of a company. In Captain W'ickes" Com- 
 pany, raised in 177(). we find a Brush as a 
 lieutenant, and four of the name as pri- 
 vates. The Brushes. Conklings, Wickes 
 and Camions, wIk) fought for libert}' in the 
 days of " '7(),'" are too numerous to men- 
 tion. 
 
 To come back to Eliphalet Brush, the 
 direct ancestor of Abner Brush. Eliphalet 
 Brush served, with four others of his name, 
 in Captain Conkling's Comi)any. He was 
 past sixty when he did active service as a 
 "minute man," and helped to build a fort 
 as a rendezvous for refugees from Con- 
 necticut. 
 
 (7) 
 
 IL /^ -A_ 
 
CONCERNIXr. THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 As the writer of this l)ricf and scanty nar- 
 rative — who is a connection l)y mar- 
 riage — strolls about the ancestral home of 
 the Brushes on Long- Island and reads the 
 story of "Old Times in Huntington," she 
 concludes that the Ilrushes and their kin 
 were a race of plain, practical men, who did 
 their dut\- when they lived and contributed 
 in a modest but effective way to the welfare 
 of society. 
 
 Eliphalet r)rush married Sarah Carmon 
 in lT(i2. Their eldest son, Abner, was 
 born in 17(»."t, baptized and named for an 
 Uncle Abner. So runs the l^rief record 
 in Huntington. In the course of time, he 
 moved to Cam'jridge. \'ermont. His 
 mother went with him. She lived to see 
 her son prosper in his new home, and died 
 in ISlM), in the (|uaint and spacious house 
 which he built in ISOd on the village green, 
 h'or a long succession of years he was post- 
 
 (8) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 master and kept an hotel, or, what in those 
 (lays was called, a tavern. He also became 
 the owner of five farms in the townshij) near 
 the village. Abner Brush married Ruth 
 Cooper at Caml^ridge in 1795. 
 
 Who was Ruth Cooper? 
 
 She was, says the genealogist employed, a 
 direct descendant of Thomas Cooper,, who 
 came to Xew England in HV.'A and whose 
 name appears in "the original lists of ])er- 
 sons of (jualit)'," mentioned in "The 
 Founders of Xew F.ngland." He went 
 to Windsor, Connecticut, learned the 
 trade of carpenter and shared in the first 
 distribution of lands in 1(140. In 1()4."? he 
 removed to Springfield, Massachusetts. At 
 Springfield he was one of the early settlers. 
 In Kii;") lie built the first meeting house, for 
 which the town agreed to give him "fom"- 
 score pounds." He was chosen on tlie first 
 Board of Selectmen and served seventeen 
 
 (9) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 years. He was elected a Deput)- tu the 
 General Court in ir>SS. lie served on 
 many inii)ortant comniittees of a ])nblic 
 nature. He was an active business man 
 for that period, and had extensive dealings 
 with r_\nchon. He was also a prominent 
 member of the church, and occu]:)ied a seat 
 in the first pew. ( )n ( )ctober 5, KIT"), he 
 was fired upon and killed 1)_\- the Indians 
 when they l)urned S])rini;fiel(l. 
 
 The third child of this Thomas Cooper 
 was Thomas Coo]ier, l)orn in 1(>4(!. He 
 married Desire Lamberton. daughter of 
 (leorge Lamberton, who was lost at sea in 
 1047. He and his wife renioxed to Middle- 
 town. Connecticut, where his name is first 
 recorded in K'IKi, and where he died in 
 ITl'l.'. I lis fourth child, Thomas, born in 
 1()7S, married Abigail W'hitnujre in 1710. 
 He was the father, or the grandfather of 
 
 "Peaccm Thomas Cooper," who was one of 
 
 (lo) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 tlie earliest settlers of Windsor, N'erniont, 
 to whicli place he went from Aliddletown, 
 Conneeticnt, in 17(15. His name is fonnd 
 among- the first settlers to whom land was 
 deeded in 1 TTl'. In ITTS he was a Repre- 
 sentative. At a town meeting in ITSC he 
 was chosen selectman and collector. Dea- 
 con Thomas Cooper was married at Wind- 
 sor, N'erniont, in 17(i7, to Peace Dean, who 
 was a daughter of Ca])tain William Dean. 
 Their third child, Ruth Cooper, was mar- 
 ried to Abner r.rnsh in 17!)r). 
 
 Abner llrush and his wife had nine chil- 
 dren — Orlin, John, A])ner, Salima, Silas. 
 Salmon, Isabel, Eliphalet and Lucy. Ruth 
 Cooper Ih-nsh had a proper family pride 
 for her side of the house. In due time 
 she was known as "Grandmother Cooper." 
 In her old age she liked to mention her 
 father, "the Deacon." She told her grand- 
 children that she was descended from a 
 
 (") 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 Mayflower Pilgrim. The genealogist 
 fonnd no evidence to support this assertion, 
 but discovered that GrandnKjther Cooper, 
 through her mother, was descended from 
 Walter Dean and his wife, Eleanor Cogoes, 
 who came to Xew England in MVM from 
 .Somerset, England, and went tirst to Dor- 
 chester, Massachusetts, and from there 
 moved to Plymouth. 
 
 The third child of Abner P)rush and his 
 wife Ruth, was Abner, born in 17!)S. When 
 he was old enough to set U]) for himself, his 
 father gave him a farm in Cambridge. 
 He married Laura Hubbard. 
 
 Laura Hubbard was born in Weare, Xew 
 Hampshire, in 1T!);». She was the tlaughter 
 of Isaac Bachelder Hubbard and his wife, 
 Hannah Mudgctt. In the town history of 
 Weare it is stated that Lsaac Hubbard came 
 to Weare ar^d married Llannah Mudgett 
 about 1T!*~). He had a hat sho]) in South 
 
 (12) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 Wearc in ISO!), and his name is among- the 
 taxpayers in ISIO. A granddaughter of 
 Isaac Hubbard, now Hving in Buriington, 
 \>rmont. contributes the following to this 
 little family history: "My grandfather. 
 Isaac Huljbard. was the third son of 
 Lazarus Hubbard and his wife, Abigail Gil- 
 more, and was born in Alethuen, Massachu- 
 setts. Lazarus Hul)bard enlisted when 
 only seventeen and served in the Colonial 
 Wars. He was at the battle of lUmker 
 Hill. He enlisted again in 177<S. I joined 
 the 'Daughters of the American Revolution' 
 on his record." This granddaughter 
 remembers her grandmother as an "ambi- 
 tious, energetic, enthusiastic woman; a 
 reader, interested in politics, a woman who 
 took hold and went ahead and had a sense 
 of humor." "Grandmother said her father's 
 name was Eben." The history of Weare 
 says that "Ebenczer Mudgett married 
 
 (13) 
 
CONCERNIXt; THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 Miriam , and they had seven chil- 
 
 (h-en — Miriam, Jesse, Ezra, Moses, Wilham, 
 John and Hannah." The evidence seems 
 conclusive. 
 
 The father of Hannah Mudgctt, El^enezcr 
 Mudgett, came to Weare in 1T(!4 from 
 Hampstead. He "bought out" a certain 
 "Esquire Allen," and was st\led a merchant. 
 When the town voted "ten jiounds lawful 
 monev to hier a gospel minister," the house 
 of said Ebenezer Mudgett was "the most 
 convenient and central place to have the 
 preaching." He was, to use the ])hrase in 
 the town historw "a somewhat noted man 
 in Weare." In order to give his descend- 
 ants an idea of the sort of man he was when 
 he tieured in local historv, it must be 
 remembered that he lived when New 
 Hampshire was one of the thirteen colonies 
 of Great Itritain. Tt was then a penal of- 
 fense to cut white pine trees. They were 
 
 (14) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 reserved for masts for royal ships. This 
 law was nnpoi)ular with all classes. The 
 white pine trees were cut in defiance. The 
 sheriffs made arrests in the name of the 
 King. Ebenezer Mudgett was the chief of 
 the olTenders who violated the law. When 
 the sheriff tried to arrest him, scores of 
 men came to the rescue, and the officer of 
 the law received such a beating- that "he 
 said he wished he had never heard of pine 
 trees lit for masting the royal navy." 
 Ebenezer Mudgett was taken before the 
 judges, one of whom was Leverett Hubbard 
 — was it only a coincidence that James 
 Hubbard, a grandson of Ebenezer Mudgett. 
 called a son of his, Leverett? — and ordered 
 to pay a fine so light that it seems as if the 
 judges were in sympathy with the men who 
 cut the logs. The odious pine tree law, 
 
 which this ancestor so courageously resist- 
 
 (15) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 etl, helped to unite New Hampshire against 
 England. 
 
 The little town of Weare took a lively 
 interest in the attempt to govern Boston by 
 force. The men of the town began to arm 
 and drill and to provide powder and shot. 
 The "minute" men were ready. Weare 
 sent thirty-six men to Cambridge. — A John 
 Mudgett was one of them. He was also a 
 member of "the Connnittee of Safety" in 
 177(5. This John Mudgett was probably 
 Ebenezer Mudgett's brother. He too came 
 from Hampstead, bought lots in Weare in 
 1702 and was a selectman in 1704. — To 
 return to Ebenezer Mudgett. He went to 
 Ticonderoga and was one of the fifteen men 
 Weare sent to serve under Colonel Stark at 
 the battle of Bennington. 
 
 Laura Hubbard Brush was said to resem- 
 ble her grandmother, who was the daughter 
 
 of Ebenezer Mudgett. It is said "that 
 
 (i6) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 Hampton folks" who peopled Hampstead 
 and Weare, " were a strong race physically 
 as well as mentally." The portrait of 
 Laura Hubbard Urush in the possession of 
 the writer reveals a woman who looks as 
 if she came of "Hampton folks." She was 
 a bright, ambitious girl. She taught school 
 before she was married, was an ardent 
 Abolitionist; and named her eldest son 
 Abner Kneeland — a little fact but signifi- 
 cant. Her grandfather and her father were 
 among the first Universalists in Weare. 
 Abner Kneeland was a Universalist preach- 
 er in Keane in 1S();>. He was "a hero of 
 free thought and went to prison for express- 
 ing his opinion." 
 
 This glance backward along both sides 
 of the family lines of Abner Brush and his 
 wife, Laura Hubbard Brush, makes plain 
 that they came from t}])ical New England 
 stock; from people who worked hard when 
 
 (17) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 they came to this coiintr\- from the old 
 world ; from some who were of local import- 
 ance in their day, and are entitled to a place 
 among "the Founders and the Patriots." 
 
 Abner Brush and his wife had five chil- 
 dren. In the records of Jefifersonville, 
 Lamouille county, Vermont, we find 
 Abner Kneeland, son of Abner and Laura 
 Brush, born March 7, 1822; Silas, born 
 May 10, 182(3; Edward Fay, born June 2(), 
 1830, and Jonathan Hubbard, born April 5. 
 183:>. The birth of the youngest child, a 
 "sister Angela," is not recorded. The 
 name of Jonathan was afterwards changed 
 to Chauncey. 
 
 These children grew up on their father's 
 farm, near the village of Cambridge, in the 
 shadow of Mt. Mansfield, in a characteris- 
 tic way. The oldest — called A. K. for short, 
 — went to a militarv collecfe. It was a 
 
 proud moment for his younger l)rotliers 
 
 (i8) 
 
CONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 when he was called upon to drill the militia 
 one training- day on the village g^reen. 
 Afterwards A. K. studied law. Silas, 
 Edward and Chaunce}' worked on the farm 
 and went to school whenever there was a 
 chance. Sometimes they boarded in the 
 village with the minister, who started them 
 in Latin. Their uncle, Dr. L5rush, the 
 good doctor of all the countrv round, lived 
 in the homestead on "the green," in which 
 his son, also a Dr. Hrush, now resides. As 
 boys they looked with respect on the dig- 
 nity of another uncle, who was a member of 
 "the Legislature." 
 
 The descendants of the twenty-six thou- 
 sand English who came to New England 
 between KIlM) and l(i4l.', multiplied on the 
 soil in remarkable seclusion from other 
 communities. It was not until after "the 
 Revolution" that New Englanders began to 
 start on their "Westward March." It is 
 
 (19) 
 
eONCERNING THE ANCESTORS. 
 
 now computed that at least oiu'-fourth of 
 the present population of the United States 
 can trace their origin to New England 
 ancestors. 
 
 About the year iS-j-A, "A. K." leading the 
 way in a "westward march," Abner Brush 
 and his family left the old farm in Cam- 
 bridge and removed to Waukau, Wisconsin. 
 
 A. F. B. 
 
 (20) 
 

 
 
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