It’s hard to pick a single favorite name in the family tree, though I’ve always found it interesting how often the name “David” appears throughout our history. As I explored my New England lines, I was drawn to some of the more unusual names that emerged—names like Hepzibah and Deliverance. That led me to dig a little deeper into several generations of colonial ancestors from Middlesex County, Massachusetts.
My New England ancestors were Pilgrims and Puritans, that is, English Reformed Protestants who emigrated from England seeking religious freedom. As followers of John Calvin, they emphasized Biblical scholarship and literacy, and naming children was a serious matter. They often chose names straight from scripture, hoping their children would live up to the virtues of Biblical prophets and leaders. A child named David, for instance, had big shoes to fill. They also favored virtue names like Faith and Hope, which are still seen today. Names associated with saints or those with Latin or Germanic roots, more common in Catholic or Anglican traditions, were typically avoided, as they clashed with the Puritan ethos (but that’s a theological rabbit hole for another time).
Let’s start with my family—the children of Edward Fay and Sarah Joslin (birth years in parentheses). Their children, born in the mid-18th century, reflect a blend of traditional Puritan and evolving naming trends. Among the more Biblical names: Hepzibah (1740), Sarah (1742), Israel (1744), Abijah (1748), Joanna (1749), Eunice (1751), Nathan (1757), Elijah (1759), David (1761), and Solomon (1764). But there are also outliers like Luther (1745) and Edward (1747), which may suggest shifting preferences or family influences.
The mother in the family above, Sarah Joslin, my 6th-great-grandmother who was born in 1721, appears to come from a particularly pious background. Her parents, Israel Joslin and Sarah Cleveland, gave their children names that ranged from scriptural to aspirational. Among her siblings: Elizabeth (1723), Martha (1732), Nathaniel (1726), and Israel (1735/36). But four daughters carried virtue names: Patience (1720), Submit (1729), Thankful (1739), and another Patience (1740/41). That second Patience was likely named in memory of the first, who died young—a common 18th-century practice. Interestingly, the second Patience was born just four months after her father’s death. Perhaps her mother saw the child as both a legacy and a symbol of continuity.
Now let’s turn to another Puritan woman who has long intrigued me: Susannah Shattuck, who was born in 1643 and was the daughter of William Shattuck, one of my immigrant ancestors. Around 1661, she married Joseph Morse, whose father (also Joseph) had arrived in New England in 1634. Susannah and Joseph had seven children: Susanna (1663), Hester (1664), Joseph (1667), Samuel (1670), Mary (1672), Hannah (1674), and Jonathan (1675/76). Sadly, Joseph died in 1677, leaving Susannah a widow with young children.
She later married John Fay, another widower and a few years her junior. He brought four children of his own—John (1669), David (1671), Samuel (1673), and Mary (1675)—from his marriage to Mary Brigham, who had died in 1676. Together, John and Susannah had four more children: David (1679), Gershom (1681), Ruth (1684), and Deliverance (1686). When John died in 1690, Susannah, still relatively young, had raised a blended family of over a dozen children. She eventually married once more, to widower Thomas Brigham, the older brother of John Fay's first wife, Mary Brigham, and the couple lived to old age.
What makes Susannah remarkable—beyond raising this large, blended family and having three husbands—is that she’s both my 8th- and 9th-great-grandmother. Her Morse and Fay descendants later intermarried, bringing both lines back together.
Looking at her children’s names, we see a strong preference for Biblical choices—until the final child, Deliverance, a classic Puritan virtue name. “Deliverance” reflects the Biblical yearning for freedom from bondage, a theme that resonated with the persecuted English settlers in Massachusetts Bay. They found spiritual deliverance in the New World, though not moral perfection—evident in their treatment of Native peoples and the tragic events of the Salem witch trials.
Family history, like American history, is rarely pure or simple. But among these New England ancestors were people who valued education, faith, community, and industry. And from their small, windswept villages and rocky farms came ideals that helped spark revolutions and reform movements in the generations that followed.
Photo:
Pilgrim's Grace by Henry Mosler, Allentown Art Museum, Allentown, PA
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