Tombstone Tuesday – John Archibald
Paternal 6th great grandparents, John Archibald and Margaret Wilson were both born in Ireland abt. 1691 and were there married in 1716. In the early 1720′s they arrived in New England, making their way with other Scots-Irish families to settle Londonderry (at that time called Nutfield) Rockingham, New Hampshire. They had several children, of which the two eldest were possibly born in Ireland, the others all born in Londonderry NH. Many of their children would eventually leave Londonderry to settle in Truro, Colchester, Nova Scotia.
John died on 10 Aug 1751 and his wife Margaret sometime after that date, as she was living when John’s will was executed. They are buried in Forest Hills Cemetery in Derry NH.
That is the little information that I have on John and Margaret (Wilson) Archibald thus far, as my research on this branch of my family tree has only recently begun. I started with one of their many descendants, my 4th great grandmother Janet (Fisher) Holman, the mother of Jennet Holman. Jennet Holman was the wife of John Burnett, the subject of several of my blog posts.
Focusing on Janet Fisher Holman I discovered her parents and continued beyond, arriving at John Archibald and Margaret Wilson, her great grandparents. It was with a shock that I discovered the Archibalds arriving in Londonderry, NH in the 1720′s!
You see, my husband and I moved to Derry NH from Boston several years ago, and until now I had no reason whatsoever to think that I had ancestors who settled this town (Derry was a part of Londonderry until 1827). On a nearly daily basis I have driven past beautiful Forest Hills Cemetery, all the while never suspecting for a moment that I had ancestors buried there!
Amazing genealogical serendipity!
John Archibald (ca. 1691-1751) Photo Credit to D. J. Goldman
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I’ve been following your blog a while, but never knew you were in Derry! I write a blog from Londonderry, and I’ve written a few posts about the Archibalds. I’ve even connected with several Archibald descendants, so please contact me through my blog http://www.nutfieldgenealogy.blogspot.com and I can pass their names onto you. Maybe we will bump into each other at Forest Hills, or at the library?
Hi Heather,
I came across your blog when I was researching a different Scots-Irish settler in Londonderry in my maternal line, Thomas Wason or Wasson. I believe I did a search for “Nutfield” and your blog was in the results. I definitely will be revisiting to read your posts on the Archibalds and I will be very happy to connect with other Archibald descendants.
Hopefully we will bump into each other… I’ve been planning on attending the genealogy meeting at the library, hopefully the next one!
Hi MarDi,
I read Heather’s blog every couple of days looking for any info on my 6X g-grandparents John and Margaret (Wilson) Archibald, and today i got lucky again.
My major interest now is to found out more about the “group” that started out as five ships from N.I. and along with five pastors came to Boston and then removed to Nutfield. Because of the closeness of these groups and the traveling together and settling together, I suspect that some major families in the group were Wilson, Taylor, Boyd, Archibald, and Fisher. A William Boyd was a captain of one of the immigrant ships, so I am after psgr lists, capt’s logs or whatever.
Also, in Oct. 2011 on NHPTV a program called “Mysteries of N.H.” covered a song about “Ocean born Mary”. It is about Elizabeth Wilson giving birth to a dau. Mary on a voyage from Londonderry, N.I. to Boston and then settling in Londonderry, N.H.. The voyage was in 1720 — SOOOO, this puzzle is very curious and the search goes on. I would be happy to have a get together at some point to see what we have of interest to one another. I live in Windham, Maine and am very used to traveling 101 PSM-MHT– at most I’m probably 2 Hours from Nutfield. My Archibald connection is thru Samuel, second son of John, who with his 3 brothers and three sisters founded Truro N.S. My mother was an Archibald born in Truro. Best regards, Bill
Hi Heather –Sorry, but this is the only avenue that my limited electronic knowledge allows me to contact you. I want to thank you for again bringing the Archibald clan to the fore, and through the serendipitous discussion of the Hoyt family, bringing forth another cousin connection, i.e. MarDi. It seems that MarDi and I are both on the fringes in our exploration of more complete stories. Thanks again, and I really enjoy all of your blogging, Bill
Hi Bill,
My Archibald connection is through Samuel’s sister Eleanor, who married William James Fisher in Londonderry, NH and removed with him to Truro.
I think you may be researching in the right area, the group that left in five ships from Ireland to eventually arrive in Nutfield. The other night I was looking into the Wilson’s, ie., Ocean born Mary, particularly her parents as I wondered the same thing when I kept coming across the Wilsons in researching the early settlers of Nutfield.
Funny that you should mention “Mysteries of NH” and Ocean born Mary, as I appear (very briefly) in the program, as one of the startled passengers on the deck of the ship when the pirate captain boards. My first (and last!) “performance”!
I have your email so I’ll drop you a line to share what little I have. I also suggest leaving a message on Heather’s blog. Through her I’m in touch with several other Archibald descendants.
Best wishes,
MarDi