William and Kate Wedding

The British royal fam­ily on Buck­ing­ham Palace bal­cony after Prince William and Kate Mid­dle­ton were mar­ried. Kate wears a wed­ding gown by Sarah Bur­ton. Photo dated 2011-04-29 16:31 (UTC). Used with per­mis­sion from the Wikipedia arti­cle.

On March 20, 1630, the ship Mary and John departed Ply­mouth, Eng­land. The great fleet of four­teen ships and 1500 emi­grants, the “Winthrop Fleet,” were bound for New Eng­land and the Mass­a­chu­setts Bay Colony.

The ship Mary and John, Cap­tain Squeb, Mas­ter, landed at Nan­tas­ket, Mass­a­chu­setts on May 30, 1630.

Strong fam­ily tra­di­tion, based on the account writ­ten by Gov­er­nor Caleb Strong in 1777, main­tains that Elder John Strong was a pas­sen­ger on Mary and John in 1630. No defin­i­tive records exist, and there­fore we have no con­tem­po­rary proof of who was or was not aboard Mary and John in 1630.

Rev. Syd­ney Strong in the Hamp­shire Daily Gazette, April 5, 1934, Northamp­ton, MA, has this to say:

Con­sid­er­ing the com­mu­nity, the char­ac­ter of the peo­ple involved, their close and inti­mate rela­tions, it is not pos­si­ble for me to con­ceive how an idea like John Strong com­ing in 1630, with Warham, etc. could get into the mind of Gov. Strong, unless it was a fact. There were peo­ple in Northamp­ton for 100 years who would be able to cor­rect a story that John Strong came in 1630, with the Mary & John com­pany, if it weren’t true.

(From Search for the Pas­sen­gers of the Mary & John, Vol. 2, by Bur­ton Spear.)

We do have the pas­sen­ger list for the ship Hopewell, John Dri­ver, Mas­ter for Mass­a­chu­setts Bay of New Eng­land. Hopewell departed Wey­mouth, Eng­land, on May 8, 1635. The pas­sen­ger list includes “Jon Stronge for him­self, fam­ily, goods and food.” (Book 58B, Index of Ships and Pas­sen­gers to the Amer­i­can Colonies, Exche­quer K. R. 1618–1668 copied from Port Book E 190/876/1, Strong Fam­ily Newslet­ter, Jeanne Waters Strong.)

We do know that Elder John Strong lived in Hing­ham, MA, in 1635; Taunton, MA, in 1638; Wind­sor, CT, in 1646; and Northamp­ton, MA, in 1659. John Strong, Wal­ter Deane, and John Deane were admit­ted freemen of the Ply­mouth Colony on Decem­ber 4, 1638. Elder John Strong’s wife Marg­erie (Deane) Strong and infant died about 1635, at Hing­ham, MA, or Taunton, MA. We know that Elder John Strong mar­ried about 1632 in Eng­land, Marg­erie Deane, daugh­ter of William Deane.

It is there­fore likely that Elder John Strong, as a youth about 20 years old, came with the Winthrop Fleet on the Mary and John in 1630. He returned to Eng­land. With his fam­ily, and the fam­i­lies of Wal­ter and John Deane, he per­ma­nently emi­grated to the Mass­a­chu­setts Bay Colony aboard Hopewell in 1635.

For­tu­nately, John Strong at about age 25 mar­ried again. He mar­ried in 1635 at Dorch­ester, MA, Abi­gail Ford, daugh­ter of Thomas and Eliz­a­beth (Charde) Ford. Abi­gail was bap­tized Octo­ber 8, 1619 at Brid­port, Dorset, Eng­land, and died July 16, 1688 at Northamp­ton, MA. I say “for­tu­nately,” because if it were not for John and Abigail’s six­teen chil­dren, there might be no Lady Diana, Prince William, Prince Harry, or me!

(All of the above genealog­i­cal infor­ma­tion is quoted from Strong Fam­ily His­tory Update Vol­ume I.)

The Princess of Wales at The Leonardo Prize, 1995. Photo used by per­mis­sion of author on Wikipedia.

(gen­er­a­tion #1) H. R. H. The Princess of Wales, Lady Diana Frances Spencer (1961–1997) descends from two sons of Elder John Strong and Abi­gail (Ford) Strong as follows.

(gen­er­a­tion #2) Thomas Strong (ca. 1635–1689), son of John and Abi­gail Strong, in 1671 mar­ried Rachel Holton (ca. 1650-?), daugh­ter of William Holton. Mean­while, Jede­diah Strong (1637–1733), son of John and Abi­gail Strong, in 1662 mar­ried Free­dom Wood­ward (1642–1681), daugh­ter of Henry and Eliz­a­beth Wood­ward. Jede­diah was a farmer in Northamp­ton and dur­ing the years 1677–9 was paid 18 shillings a year for blow­ing his trum­pet on Sun­day to sum­mon peo­ple to meet­ings, since the town had no bell. On May 31, 1674, Mar­tin Smith of Pocum­tuck, was fined 20s for try­ing to kiss Free­dom (Wood­ward) Strong on the street. She was 32 at the time and the mother of 8 chil­dren. Her father, Henry Wood­ward, was a physi­cian and was licensed to sell wines and liquors and had a grist mill in Northampton.

(gen­er­a­tion #3) Joseph Strong (1672–1763), son of Thomas and Rachel Strong, in 1694 mar­ried Sarah Allen (1672–1724), daugh­ter of Nehemiah Allen and Sarah Wood­ford. Mean­while, Pre­served Strong (1680–1765), son of Jede­diah and Free­dom Strong, in 1701 mar­ried Tabitha Lee (ca. 1677/78–1750), daugh­ter of John Lee and Mary Hart. Both cou­ples mar­ried in Northamp­ton, MA or pos­si­bly Coven­try, CT.

(gen­er­a­tion #4) Cap­tain Joseph Strong (1701–1773), son of Joseph and Sarah Strong, in 1724 mar­ried Eliz­a­beth Strong (1704–1792), daugh­ter of Pre­served Strong and Tabitha Lee. Cap­tain Joseph Strong and his wife Eliz­a­beth Strong were both great-grandchildren of Elder John Strong and Abi­gail Ford, and thus sec­ond cousins of each other. They mar­ried in Northamp­ton, MA.

(gen­er­a­tion #5) Dea­con Bena­jah Strong (1701–1773), son of Cap­tain Joseph and Eliz­a­beth Strong, in 1769 mar­ried Lucy Bishop (1747–1783). They mar­ried in Coven­try, CT.

(gen­er­a­tion #6) Dr. Joseph Strong (1770–1812), son of Dea­con Bena­jah and Lucy Strong, in 1796 mar­ried Rebecca Young (1780–1862), daugh­ter of Cap­tain Peter and Eleanor Young. They mar­ried in Philadel­phia, PA.

(gen­er­a­tion #7) Eleanor Strong (ca. 1802/3–1863), daugh­ter of Dr. Joseph and Rebecca Strong, in 1823 mar­ried John Wood (1785–1848). They mar­ried in Chill­i­cothe, Ohio.

(gen­er­a­tion #8) Ellen Wood (1831–1877), daugh­ter of John and Eleanor Wood, in 1857 mar­ried Frank Work (1879–1911), son of John Work and Sarah Dun­can Boude. They mar­ried in New York, NY.

(gen­er­a­tion #9) Frances Eleanor Work (1857–1947), daugh­ter of Frank and Ellen Work, in 1880 mar­ried The Hon. James Boothby Burke Roche, 3rd Baron Fer­moy (1851–1920). They mar­ried in New York, NY.

(gen­er­a­tion #10) Edmund Mau­rice Burke Roche (1885–1955), son of James and Frances Burke Roche, in 1931 mar­ried Ruth Sylvia Gill (b. 1908). They mar­ried in Bield­side, Aberdeen, Scotland.

(gen­er­a­tion #11) The Hon. Frances Ruth Burke Roche (b. 1936), daugh­ter of Edmund and Ruth Burke Roche, in 1954 mar­ried Edward John Spencer, Vis­count Althorp, 8th Earl Spencer (b. 1924). They were mar­ried in West­min­ster Abbey, Lon­don, England.

All Smiles: Duke and Duchess of Cam­bridge wav­ing to the crowd at The Mall shortly after the wed­ding. Photo cour­tesy of Rob­bie Dale on Wikipedia. Used with permission.

(gen­er­a­tion #12) Lady Diana Frances Spencer (1961–1997), daugh­ter of Edward and Frances Spencer, in 1981 mar­ried H. R. H. Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales (b. 1948), son of Queen Eliz­a­beth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edin­burgh. They were mar­ried in St. Paul’s Cathe­dral, Lon­don, England.

(gen­er­a­tion #13) Prince William Arthur Philip Louis, Duke of Cam­bridge (b. 1982), son of Prince Charles and Lady Diana, in 2011 mar­ried Cather­ine Eliz­a­beth “Kate” Mid­dle­ton, Duchess of Cam­bridge (b. 1982), daugh­ter of Michael and Car­ole (Gold­smith) Mid­dle­ton. They mar­ried in West­min­ster Abbey, Lon­don, England.