Artists depiction of John Hoar (sometimes spelled Hoare) negotiating the Nipmucks for the release of Mary Rowlandson from captivity.
John Hoar, one of my ninth great-grandfathers, was born in 1622 in Gloucestershire, England. The exact date of his birth is unknown. It is believed that he emigrated to Scituate, Massachusetts when he was about 20 years old.
John hoar is known for three things.
- A prominent lawyer and Indian missionary in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he was the agent sent to rescue Mary Rowlandson from the Nipmucks in 1676. The negotiation took place at what became known as Redemption Rock in Princeton, Massachusetts during what was known as King Phillip’s War. Mary Rowlandson is considered to be the first American prisoner of war. She wrote a narrative of her ordeal, the transcript of which can be found at https://www.gutenberg.org/files/851/851-h/851-h.htm.
- His home in Concord, Massachusetts was purchased by the Alcott family two centuries after he built it. They renamed it “Orchard House” and it became famous as the place where Louisa May Alcott grew up, and where she did much of her writing.
- He was an ancestor of George Frisbee Hoar, U.S. Senator from Massachusetts from 1877 to 1904. Known as “Frisbee”, Senator Hoar was a radical Republican abolitionist who considered the Democratic Party to be “the party of the saloon keeper, ballot box stuffer and the Klu Klux Klan.” (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Frisbie_Hoar) Senator Hoar was also chair of the Republican National Committee in 1880 that drafted James Garfield as it’s Presidential candidate when, after well over twenty ballots, none of the three candidates (Blaine from Maine, Sherman from Ohio and GEN Ulysses S. Grant, who was seeking a an unprecedented third term) were able to garner a majority of the votes. Garfield, also from Ohio, had just been elected to the U.S. Senate and was not seeking the Presidency, but he accepted the call when it was offered. His running mate was Chester A. Arthur from New York, who became President after Garfield died of wounds suffered at the hands of an assassin.
John Hoar is also my 9th great-grandfather. The hereditary line from him to me is shown below.
- John Hoar 1616-1704 9th great-grandfather
- Daniel Hoar 1650-1743
Son of John Hoar - John Hoar 1678-1764
Son of Daniel Hoar - Submit Hoar 1711-1767
Daughter of John Hoar - Submit Ross 1734-1764
Daughter of Submit Hoar - Hezekiah Whitcomb IV 1764-1849
Son of Submit Ross - John W. Whitcomb 1783-1866
Son of Hezekiah Whitcomb IV - Lucinda Cutting Whitcomb 1823-1919
Daughter of John W. Whitcomb - Norman F. Bowles 1860-1923
Son of Lucinda Cutting Whitcomb - Harry Clifford Bowles 1888-1956
Son of Norman F. Bowles - Frederick Francis Bowles 1926-2013
Son of Harry Clifford Bowles - Floyd Everett Bowles
Son of Frederick Francis Bowles
- Daniel Hoar 1650-1743