52 Ancestors: #1, Jane "Sandusky" Flanders

Once each week, we’re going to try to introduce you to one of our ancestors as part of the 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks Challenge.  It seems fitting to start off this challenge with one of our most intriguing of ancestors – Jane “Sandusky” Flanders, my 9th great-grandmother. 

The Bare Facts

Jane “Sandusky” lived in the Puritan colonies in the mid to late 1600’s.  Given the birthdates of her children, she had to have been born sometime between 1615 and 1633. There is no factual record of her origin but family lore suggests that she was Indian, possibly of the Sandusky tribe.  Jane was married to a planter named Steven Flanders.  The date of their marriage is unknown but it presumably took place before the 1646 birth of their son, Stephen.

In October of 1649, Jane and Steven were documented as living in York, Maine.  By February of 1650, they had moved 28 miles south to Salisbury, Massachusetts.  There they lost their first daughter, Mary, in May of 1650.  They resided in Salisbury for the remainder of their lives, producing 5 other children (listed below). By the time they reached the end of their lives, Steven had become a very prosperous landowner and provided well for his heirs.  Jane passed away on November 19th, 1683 and Steven followed on June 27th, 1684.

Children of Jane “Sandusky” and Steven Flanders:

• Mary, b. ____; d. May 4, 1650
• Stephen, b. Mar. 8, 1646-7; d. bef. May 29, 1689
• Mary, b. May 7, 1650; d. Nov. 11, 1719
• Philip, b. Jul. 14, 1652; d. Aug. 27, 1712
• Sarah, b. Nov. 5, 1654; d. Jan. 18, 1717
• Naomi, b. Dec. 15, 1656; d. Jul. 24, 1718 (my ancestress via her son, John Darling)
• John, Feb. 11, 1659; d. Dec. 24, 1716

Quick History Lesson

To understand our ancestors, you need to understand the time and area in which they lived. They came to the new world escaping religious persecution and ended up living under stringent Puritan rules of behavior that were strictly enforced.  The land that they lived in was harsh, wolf and Indian attacks were common, towns were small and isolated, roads were few, and travel was limited. They were literally hacking their lives out of a wilderness.

Introducing Jane

Jane was, by all accounts, not an easy woman.  Almost every clue into her personality comes from her recurring court appearances.  She had a tendency to voice her opinion forcefully and frequently - to and about her neighbors - which resulted in her frequent presence in various courtrooms.

Her first appearance took place on October 16, 1649.  Jane was charged in the York court with “abusing her husband and his neighbors”. A warrant was issued ordering her to appear in the next court.  Interesting, she never did.  Instead, the Flanders family apparently – in the dead of an east coast winter with all the dangers involved – up and moved 28 miles south to Salisbury.  Probably the fact that Salisbury residents were not subject to the laws of York had something to do with it.  (We know they moved at that time because, on February 3, 1650,  Steven is documented as being a Salisbury townsman.)

But the move apparently did not deter Jane’s tendencies.  On August 4th, 1953, Jane was charged with slander by William Osgood (interestingly, a 10th great-grandfather of mine).  His suit claimed that Jane had said that he had threatened to beat her and that she reviled him by calling him a “foresworn wretch” and his wife a “mill mare”.  The case was officially withdrawn but the same day, the court ordered Jane to be whipped “no more than 10 stripes” and to appear before the next court to attest to good behavior.  Perhaps that decision to withdraw the case and do the whipping instead was a compromise that allowed Jane to avoid the most common punishments for slander - the ducking stool or brank (iron cage that covered the head) - while still satisfying her accuser’s wrath, though that is just my guess.

Whipping Post and Stocks

A decade passed before Jane next appeared in court.  On April 12, 1664, both Jane and the Widow Peasly were admonished by the court and fined for “railing carriages and misbehaviors”.   Then on February 10, 1666, Jane was tried and convicted of telling lies, making debate among neighbors, and casting great reproaches on several. She also acknowledged that she was often “distempered in her head”. She was ordered to not be allowed to give evidence, bound to good behavior, and sentenced to be whipped 10 stripes upon lecture day.  Her husband, Steven, was fined the same day for “breach of the peace”; one assumes in response to something that took place in the trial.

The last court appearance of Jane is also my personal favorite.  On November 22, 1679, Jane filed a complaint in the court again Samuel Getchell and his wife (another set of my 9th great-grandparents) for calling her names.  Jane claimed that she and her daughter went into Getchell’s field to see where their cattle had broken in and Goodwife Getchell met them and asked if they had come to steal their corn. According to Jane, “I said no, I have no need of your corn. Then she said get off my ground, thou pennycoinquick – I am sure you are come to steal my corn. She had a pumpkin in her hand, she heft it up and said she would stove my head with it. Then I said if my cattle have stole your corn, your pigs have stole my wheat. Then she said come down, St. Dunstan, to hear how the devil lies. And likewise, Goodman Getchell does often provoke me by calling my children devils’”.  The case was referred to the next Hampton court but there is no record of the result.

In a word, Jane was feisty. 

Pumpkins can be scary!

The Indian Legend

Family lore has it that Jane “Sandusky” Flanders was of Native American descent.  Tradition from more than one branch of the family holds that she was any or all of (1) a converted Indian maiden, (2) a native of the Sandusky Indian tribe, and/or (3) had the Indian name of “Sandusky”.  But no documentation exists to back up this belief.  And I’m afraid my detailed examination of the origin of these legends will have to wait for a different post, as it would take up too much space here.

What we do know is that without a paper trail, the only hope for providing proof of Native American descent is in DNA.  And the oldest remaining generation in my family is 10 generations down from Jane, making them (at the most) 1/1024th Native American.  In DNA terms, that means the maximum Native American DNA any of them could carry would be .0975%.  DNA is a tricky item, it’s not very likely that Jane’s Native American DNA would pass down in its entirety, yet one of my uncles does show up with Native American DNA in his results.  So it is possible that Jane was Native American. 

Summary

Regardless of her Native American ancestry or not, Jane “Sandusky” Flanders is a fascinating person to me.  You rarely find documentation of your female ancestors, much less have a chance to read their words and hear their voice.  I admire the fact that Jane spoke her mind and I’m thrilled that her words bring her back to life for me.

Bibliography

• The Flanders Family from Europe to America
• The Old families of Salisbury and Amesbury, Massachusetts ; with some related families of Newbury, Haverhill, Ipswich and Hampton
• Records and Files of the Quarterly Courts of Essex County, Massachusetts - Volumes I, III, & VII, Edited by George Francis Dow. Transcribed and Abstracted from the Original Court Manuscript by Harriet S. Tapley
• Descendants of Stephen Flanders of Salisbury, Mass., 1646 : being a genealogy of the Flanders family by Ellery Kirke Taylor

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