Capt. Robert Andrews Master and Owner of the Angel Gabrial

Capt. Robert ANDREWS (1593 – 1643) 

Robert Andrews was born about 1593 in Norfolk, England.  He married Elizabeth (Franklin) about 1618 in Norwich, Norfolk, England. Capt. Robert Andrews came from Norwich, Norfolk, England, early in the year 1635, as owner and master of the ship”Angel Gabriel”  which sank in the Great Colonial Hurricane [modern scientists believe this was a category four storm], Robert died 1 Mar 1642/43 in Ipswich, Mass.

Elizabeth was probably a widow with a young daughter Elizabeth when she married Robert.  

Children of Robert and Elizabeth:
1- Elizabeth Andrews (probably from mother Elizabeth's first marriage), born 1616 Norwich, Norfolk, England, first married Humphrey Griffin 1639 Ipswich, MA, second married Hugh Sherratt 10 Feb 1662/63 Haverhill, MA,  Departed 8 Apr 1670 Haverhill, MA.

2- Alice Andrews, born about 1618 Norwich, Norfolk, England, married William Franklin abt 1638 Ipswich, MA, Departed 2 Apr 1641 Boston, MA.

3- Abigail  (Rebekah) Andrews [our ancestor], born 1622 Norwich, Norfolk, England, married Capt. Danial Hovey [our ancestor] 1640, Departed 24 Jun 1665 Brookfield, MA.

4- John Andrews, born 1629 Norwich, Norfolk, England, married Sarah Holyoke abt 1660 Ipswich, MA, Departed 13 Mar 1665  Ipswich, MA.

5- Thomas Andrews, born abt 1631 Norwich, Norfolk, England,unmarried, Departed 27 Nov 1683  Ipswich, MA.

The Angel Gabriel  was a 240 ton English passenger galleon. She was commissioned for Sir Walter Raleigh's last expedition to America in 1617 and took part in the Duke of Buckingham’s 1627 assault on Cadiz. She sank in a storm off Pemaquid Point, near the newly established town of Bristol, Maine, on August 15, 1635. The sinking occurred during the middle of the Great Migration. 

The ship was initially built as the Starre in 1615 and renamed the Jason by Sir Walter Raleigh for use in his second expedition to Guiana (then under control of the Spanish) in 1617. Following Raleigh’s return it was seized and became a merchant ship, renamed the Angel Gabriel....

The ship “Angel Gabriel” pulled into Pemaquid Bay (Pemaquid, Maine) on August 13, 1635 and laid at anchor. The next day there was a terrible rain storm which ravaged the whole coast from Nova Scotia to New York starting at morning. The Angel was torn to pieces by the savage storm and cast away. Most of the cattle, 1 seaman and 3 or 4 passengers died. The others escaped to shore. Among the few personal belongings saved was a chest belonging to the Burnham boys. The tides had been as high as 20 feet.

Some passengers set up tents along the shore and John Cogswell [Coggswell] went to Boston and sought the help of a Capt. Gallop who commanded a smallbark, or barque as it was called then. He took some passengers to Ipswich and made another trip the end of October. Andrew probably went to Chebacco [southeast Ipswich, then Essex] with his nephews, the three Burnham brothers, and John Cogswell and his family in Capt. Gallop’s barque.

Pemaquid Point Light House

In a book entitled “Ancient Pemaquid,” by J. W. Thornton, 1857, it says:

“On the last wednesday of May in this year (1635), the Angel Gabriel, a strong ship of 240 tons, and carrying a heavy armament of 16 guns swung at her moorings in the King’s Road,  four or five miles distant from the city. Her destination was Pemaquid. On her deck was a company of many Godly Christians, some from other ships, bound for New England; one of them was Richard Mather, visited there by Sir Ferdinando Georges [Gorges] but the chief personage in the company was John Cogswell, a London merchant of wealth who with the fragments of his freight, and accompanied by his servants, settled at Ipswich.”

In the fury of an easterly storm the ship with her cargo were totally lost; some of the passengers not escaping death, most notably the Blaisdell family. This shipwreck is chronicled as one of the greatest disasters in the annals of Pemaquid.

Great Colonial Hurricane

Category 4 hurricane (SSHS)
Formed	August 1635
Dissipated	August 25, 1635
Highest winds	1-minute sustained: 135 mph (215 km/h)
Lowest pressure	≤ 930 mbar (hPa); 27.46 inHg (Estimated [1])
Fatalities	46+ direct
Areas affected	Virginia, Long Island, New England, other areas? (Information scarce)
Part of the 1635 Atlantic hurricane season

(Wikipedia)

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Passengers on the last voyage:

Capt. Robert ANDREWS, Ship’s Master, Ipswich, Massachusetts [our ancestor] 

John Bailey, Sr., weaver from Chippenham, England to Newbury, Massachusetts [also our ancestor] 

John Bailey, Jr., b. 1613 [also our ancestor] 

Johanna Bailey (possibly came on a later ship)

Henry Beck

Deacon John Burnham [Robert's nephew]

Thomas Burnham  [Robert's nephew]

Robert Burnham  [Robert's nephew]

Ralph Blaisdell of Lancashire, settled in York, Maine

Mrs. Elizabeth Blaisdell

Henry Blaisdell

William Furber, age 21, London, England, settled in Dover, New Hampshire

John Cogswell & Elizabeth Cogswell and eight of their children, Westbury Leigh, Wiltshire, England, settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts Mr. Cogswell and his family escaped with their lives, but well drenched by the sea and despoiled of valuables to the amount of five thousand pound sterling.  (He had sold his “mylls called Ripond, situate within the Parish of Frome Selwood,” and other real estate early in 1635)

Samuel Haines, about age 24, apprentice to John Cogswell, settled in Greenland, New Hampshire

William Hook

Henry Simpson

John Tutle, about age 17, Devonshire, England, settled in Chebasco near Essex, Massachusetts and finally Dover, New Hampshire (known to locals as “Shipwreck John Tuttle”)

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” This Capt. Andrews had a sister Mary,who was the wife of Robert Burnham. Their three boys were John, Thomas and Robert, it is said,were put in the charge of their uncle Andrews, master of the ship”Angel Gabriel.” This ship was cast away at Tammaquid, in Maine, in a terrible storm Aug 15, 1635, after which loss, Capt. Andrews settled with his three nephews at Chebacco in Massachusetts Bay.

Robert was “made free 6 May 1635.” 

The name of Robert Andrews does not appear among those who went to Aggawam [soon to be Ipswich] in 1633; but it does appear frequently in the public records after that date. Hammatt says that he possessed a houselot on the south side of the river in 1635 and it is said that he lived near the South Church. His name appears several times in the records of grants of lands.

3 Sept 1635 — Robte Andrews licensed to keep ordinarye (an Inn / Tavern  “The White Horse.”) in the plantacon where he lyves during the pleasure of ye court.” This is the earliest reference to a public house in the records of Ipswich.   Robert lived near the South Church. In 1635; Robert is allowed the sell wine by retail “If he do not wittingly sell to such as abuse it by drunkenness.” May 13, 1640, Robert is granted to draw wine at Ipswich, with the conditions of the towne.

SEE: minerdescent.com and Wikipedia.

Ancestry Chain: 11th great grandfather Capt. Robert ANDREWS Immigrant b.1560 /  Abigail (Rebekah) ANDREWS Immigrant b.1623 /  Lt. Thomas HOVEY Immigrant b.1648 /  Abigail Rebecca HOVEY b.1678 / Abigail LANE b.1716 / Elijah REMINGTON b.1743 / Esther REMINGTON-3691 b.1772 / Mary BRONSON b.1806 / Martin Luther ENSIGN b.1831 / Harriett Camilla ENSIGN b.1859 / George Ensign SMITH b.1898 / Camilla SMITH b.1926 / Lark / JR. 

Joseph Bailey - scalped

Cape Porpoise, ME * Old Garrison House Built 1722

The Old Garrison House now stands in Cape Porpoise at the site of the earlier Major’s Garrison. White-haired Mr. Joseph Baily was scalped and killed by Indians there in October of 1723. During the same month, two men from Huff’s Garrison, Fitz Henry and Bartow, being on Vaughn’s Island for wood, were surprised and wounded by three Indians. The Indians tortured the two men, trying to get them to reveal the number of men at the garrison. The Indians killed them and threw their bodies into a creek on the island which still bears the name Fitz Henry’s Ditch. Also in 1723, Thirty women and children were sheltered at Harding’s Garrison when Chief WaWa of Great Hill, and his men unsuccessfully attacked.

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Genealogical and family history of the state of Maine, Volume 4 By Henry Sweetser Burrage, Albert Roscoe Stubbs
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(I) John Bailey was a resident of Salisbury, Massachusetts, whither he came from Chippenham, in Wiltshire, England, sailing in the ship “Angel Gabriel,” which left England in April, 1635. He was cast away at Pemaquid (now Bristol, Maine), in the great storm of August 15, 1635. He was not accompanied by his wife, but several children, among whom was son John, came with him. He was a weaver by trade, and was living in Salisbury in 1650, removing thence to Newbury in the spring of 1651. He died there November 2, 1651, being called “Old John Bailey.” In his will he mentioned “My brother John Emery,
Pg. 2069
Junior, of Newbury, overseer,” His homestead in Salisbury he bequeathed to his son John. [His wife Eleanor KNIGHT never came to the new world.] His children born in England were: John, Robert and two daughters, who were living in England when he made his will.

(II) John (2), eldest child of John (1) Bailey, was born in 1613, in England, and was a weaver in early life; after settling in New England he became a husbandman. He remained in Salisbury until 1643, when he moved to Newbury and there passed the remainder of his life. He was a selectman in 1664, and a freeman in 1669. In that year and the following, his wife was engaged in the practice of midwifery. He died in March, 1691. He married about 1640, Eleanor Emery, and she remained his widow until her death, which occurred previous to September 23, 1700, when administration was granted upon her estate. Their children were: Rebecca, John, Sarah, Joseph, James, Joshua, Rachel and Judith.

(III) Joseph, second son of John (2) and Eleanor (Emery) Bailey, was born in Newbury, april 4, 1648. He took the oath of allegiance and fidelity at Newbury, February, 1669. About 1700 he removed to Arundel or Kennebunk Maine, where he remained until 1703, when he left probably on account of Indians. He returned in 1714, and was killed by Indians in October, 1723, at the age of seventy-five. He bought land in “Cape Porpoise,” Arundel or Kennebunkport, in 1692 and 1700, and was at Casco Fort, March, 1704; he was selectman of Arundel, 1719. He married (first) Priscilla Putnum, daughter of John, of Salem Village, Danvers, who died November 6, 1704 [They moved away from Maine and Priscilla PUTNAM BAILEY died. Joseph then married Sarah POORE SAWYER and moved back to Maine.]; (second) Sarah Poore, daughter of John Poore, and widow of John Sawyer. His children were; Rebecca, Priscilla, John, Joseph, Hannah, Daniel, Mary, Judith, Lydia and Sarah.

Ancestor chain: 12 Great grandfather John BAILEY 1635 Immigrant b.1585 / John II BAILEY 1635 Immigrant b.1613 / Joseph BAILEY b.1648 / Lydia BAILEY b.1695 / John JEFFORDS b.1724 / John JEFFORDS b.1746 / Lucretia JEFFORDS b.1766 / Amariah RAWSON b.1787 / Adaline RAWSON b.1811 /Mary DUNN b.1833 / Harriett Camilla ENSIGN b.1859 / George Ensign SMITH b.1898 / Camilla SMITH b.1926 / Lark / JR

First Settlers of Amesbury Massachusetts

First Settlers of Amesbury

On the Amesbury records, …dated March 19, 1654-5, the following list of the “present inhabitanc and comenors heare in the new towne.”

Richard Currier George Marting [MARTIN] John Hoyt Philip Chalice Thomas Macy William Huntington John Bayly [BAILEY] Henry Blasdale John Colby

William Barnes Vallentine Rowel Thomas Barnard Anthony Colby John Weed Jarret Haddon Edward Cottle [Orlando Bagly]* William Sargent”

*Orlando Bagly is on the original “Macy book,” but not on the official

records, nor on any list of land grants.

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George MARTIN:

Last will & testament of George Martin of Amesbury, MA: November 23, 1686

In ye name of God Amen I George Martin of ye town of Amsbury in ye County of Essex being through Gods goodness of prfect memory & understanding, doe make this my last will & testament in mannr as followeth Imprimis I commend my spirit to God whoe gave it, & and my body to ye dust decently to be buried (at ye chardges of my executr, whome I shall hereafter name and appoynt) in hopes of a [joy]full resurrection at ye last day unto life eternall 2dly I give & bequeath unto my natural [i.e. legitimate] Children viz: my Sonns Richrd Martin, & John Martin, & my Daughters, Hanna Wathen: Hester Gimson, Jane Hadley & Abigail Hadlock unto each & every of them five shillings apiece to be payd in good and merchantable pay within one twelvemonth next aftr my decease 3dly I give & bequeath unto my Grandchild John Hadlock five pounds in good & merchantable pay in case yt ye sd John live wth me or my wife or my son Will: untill yt he come unto ye full & compleat age of twenty one years. 4thly I give & bequeath all ye rest of my housing, lands stock & estate both moveable & Immoveable unto my wife Susanna during her Widowhood, & after her marriage, or decease (in case she marry not againe) unto my youngest son William.

ffinally: I Doe appoint, Constitute & ordaine my Wife Susanna, to be exectutrix and my youngest son Will: martin to be executr in conjunction wth her unto this my last Will & testament. A[nd in] confirmat[ion] of ye promisees I have hereunto subscribed my hand & seale Dated the nineteenth day of January An: Dom: one thousand six hundred eighty & three or foure.

Additional information: George Martyn was born circa 1618 at near, Colchester, England. He married Hannah (Unknown) before 1643. George Martyn married Susannah North, daughter of Richard North and Joan Bertram, on 11-Aug-1646 at Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts. George Martyn died before 23-Nov-1686 at Salem, Essex County, Massachusetts. His estate was probated on 23-Nov-1686.

He was also known as George Martin. He emigrated from Wales. He immigrated circa 1639 to Salisbury, Essex County, Massachusetts, He came as a servant to Samuel Winsely. He was a proprietor between 1642 and 1664. He purchased Job Cole's land rights in East Salisbury circa 1643. He took the oath of fidelity in 1646. On 1650 He was on the list of commoners in Salisbury.

He was a blacksmith. On between 1667 and 1668 George was on the list of Commoners who drew land in Amesbury. Amesbury was derived from the Northwestern part of Salisbury in 1654.

His widow Susannah NORTH was hung as a witch in Salem, MA July 19, 1692.

Ancestral Chain: 10th great grandfather George MARTIN Immigrant b.1618 / Jane MARTIN b.1656 / Samuel HADLEY b.1677 / Martha HADLEY- b.1704 / Martha SARGENT b.1725 / Moses QUIMBY b.1755 / Betsey QUIMBY b.1795 / Almeda Sophia ROUNDY b.1829 / Charles PARKER b.1853 / Laura Elizabeth PARKER b.1889 / Kirt DeMar WOOD b.1923 / Lark / TR

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John BAILEY:

Unknown which John Bailey father of son is named on the monument.

John Bailey Sr. was a weaver by trade and came from Chippenham, Wilts, England. He, with his oldest son, John, came over in 1635 in the ship Angel Gabriel, sailing from Bristol, with the expectation of making a home in New England and then sending for his wife and other children, or going back to fetch them over. Unfortunately, he had a terrible experience in the great storm of August 15, 1635, and was shipwrecked off Pemaquid, now Bristol, in Maine....John Bailey, with his son, John, a youth of twenty-two, found their way from the inhospitable shore on which they had been cast to Newbury, and joined the little settlement at Parker River. For only two years did he abide here, and then went in 1637 further into the wilderness, taking with him one William Schooler as a helper, and built a log cabin on the further side of the Merrimack near the mouth of the Powow River. The ruins of an old cellar on what is known as Bailey's Hill can still be discerned....On June 6, 1637, he and William Schooler were arrested for murder and tried at a Court held at Ipswich. At the trial it was demonstrated that John Bailey had naught whatever to do with the murder, and he was discharged....In 1639 John Bailey, was again in trouble. He was brought before the Court and fined five pounds, a very heavy fine, "for buying lands of Indians without leave of court, with condition if he yield up the lands the fine to be remitted."...In 1639 Colchester, afterwards called Salisbury, was settled and John Bailey was one of the proprietors, having lots assigned to him in first division. Probably he and his son resided in what is now the village of Salisbury soon after 1639. He still retained his holdings up the Merrimack where it would appear he had an exclusive right of fishing....About 1650 John Bailey, who was then an old man, went to live with his son John Bailey in Newbury....He died...November 2, 1651.

John Bailey, the second of the name, was born probably at Chippenham about 1613, and came over with his father. In the first allotment of lands in Salisbury hew was granted a homestead. He married Eleanor Emery, a daughter (probably) of John Emery. He was taxed in Salisbury in 1652, 1653, and 1654, and owned land there in 1658. Just when he came over to Newbury side to live is uncertain. He was living there apparently in 1651 when his father died. He settled "on the plain a quarter of a mile from Deer Island." In 1652 he had a dwelling house and twenty acres of lad, which in 1653 he sold to Joanna Huntington. [his sister]. In 1669 he took the oath of allegiance, and again in 1678. He was elected Constable several times, and was a Selectman in 1673 and possibly during other years. He died in March, 1691, and his widow Eleanor died in 1700.

(See: http://the-red-thread.net/genealogy/descendants-of-John-Bailey-1590.html)

Ancestral Chain: 12 great grandfather John BAILEY Immigrant b.1585 / 11 great grandfather John II BAILEY Immigrant b.1613 / Joseph BAILEY b.1648 / Lydia BAILEY b.1695 / John JEFFORDS b.1724 / John JEFFORDS b.1746 / Lucretia JEFFORDS b.1766 / Amariah RAWSON b.1787 / Adaline RAWSON b.1811 / Mary DUNN b.1833 / Harriett Camilla ENSIGN b.1859 / George Ensign SMITH b.1898 / Camilla SMITH-14 b.1926 / Lark / JR

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Macy-Colby House

Anthony COLBY:

Anthony COLBY (September 1605 - 11 February 1661) was the son of Thomas and Anne Jackson Colby, born in Horbling, Lincolnshire, England. He came with the Winthrop Fleet in 1630. He married Susannah, Widow Waterman, probably in Boston in 1632. They had eight children. He was a planter. His first home was in the disputed territory between Cambridge and Watertown which was given to Cambridge in 1632, and was on the road to Mount Auburn close by the river. Anthony built a second house near the Washington Elm and a third one near the Fresh Pond. He was admitted freeman in Cambridge in 1634. Three years later, he appeared in Ipswich, and three years after that in Salisbury. He was among the first settlers of the latter town. He built in what is now Amesbury, Jarrett Haddon bought the lot adjoining and came with his family. On this land Anthony and Susannah settled to make a permanent home. He received additional lots of land from the divisions in 1643, 1654, and 1658. In 1640, he was appointed an appraiser for the government and in 1651 was elected a selectman. He purchased the house and land west of the Ferry Road from Thomas Macy in 1654. At the time of the sale, Macy had need of funds to flee to Nantucket to escape the penalty of sheltering two Quakers during a thunderstorm.

Susannah (possibly 1616 - 8 July 1689) was three times a widow. She lived in the Macy-Colby house until her death....She had to defend her homestead against the claim of Thomas Macy from whom it had been purchased; but later he denied the sale and tried to expel the widow by legal process. He was unsuccessful.

Ancestral Chain 1: 10th great grandfather Anthony COLBY Immigrant b.1605 / Mary COLBY b.1647 / Phillip SARGENT Sr. b.1672 / Philip SARGENT Jr. b.1703 / Martha SARGENT b.1725 / Moses QUIMBY b.1755 / Betsey QUIMBY b.1795 / Almeda Sophia ROUNDY b.1829 / Charles PARKER b.1853 / Laura Elizabeth PARKER b.1889 / Kirt DeMar WOOD b.1923 / Lark / TR.

Ancestral Chain 2: 10th great grandfather Anthony COLBY Immigrant b.1605 / Isaac COLBY b.1640 / Dorothy COLBY b.1677 / Martha HADLEY b.1704 / Martha SARGENT b.1725 / Moses QUIMBY b.1755 / Betsey QUIMBY b.1795 / Almeda Sophia ROUNDY b.1829 / Charles PARKER b.1853 / Laura Elizabeth PARKER b.1889 / Kirt DeMar WOOD b.1923 / Lark / TR

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William SARGENT:

Born: 1598 Bath, somerset, England.

Origin: Unknown.
Migration: 1632.
First Residence: Ipswich.
Removes: Newbury, Hampton, Salisbury, Amesbury.

He with twelve other men, and his daughters Lydia, Sarah, and Mary, commenced the settlement of Ipswich, Massachusetts. He soon after went to Newbury, Massachusetts and with others commenced a settlement there. About 1738, he with others commenced a settlement at Hampton, New Hampshire. About 1740, he removed to Salisbury, New Hampshire and was one of eighteen original proprietors, who settled in New Salisbury, now Amesbury, Massachusetts.

Occupation: Seaman / mariner.
Church Membership: Admission to a Massachusetts Bay church prior to 22 May 1639 implied by freemanship.
Freeman: 22 May 1639 (as "Mr. Willi[am] Sergent") [ MBCR 1:375].
Education: Signed his name to his will and to deeds.

Offices: Essex grand jury, 13 April 1652 [ EQC 1:251]. Petit jury, 8 April
1662, 24 June 1662, 13 April 1669, 12 April 1670 [ EQC 1:377, 385, 4:128,
235]. [Some of this service may belong to William Sargent of Gloucester.]
Sworn clerk of the train band of Salisbury on 8 April 1651 [ EQC 1:223].

Married: 1) m. 1633 Amesbury, Essex, MA - Elizabeth PERKINS she and her parents John PERKINS and Judith GATER emigrated on the Lyon with Roger Williams in 1631. [Elizabeth's sister Mary (Perkins) Bradbury was convicted of witchcraft in Salem, MA in 1692, but was eventually freed.]
2) m. Joanna PINDER 18 September 1670 Amesbury, Essex, Massachusetts, daughter of Henry and Mary PINDER. Joanna was the widow of Valentine ROWELL she later married Richard CURRIER.

COMMENTS: William "Sargeant" sued Mr. William Hook of Salisbury for 56s. in corn 26 December 1643 [ EQC 1:55]. He acknowledged judgment in favor of Mr. Jonathan Wade 26 September 1648 [ EQC 1:147]. Michael Spencer sued him for detaining corn and other goods 2 January 1650 [ EQC 1:205]. Hard words were exchanged between the Sargents and their near neighbors, the Martins. Either William Sr. or Jr. was sued for slander by George Martin, who claimed Sargent had called his wife a witch 13 April 1669 [ EQC 4:129]. Martin sued Thomas Sargent for saying that his son George Martin was a bastard and that Richard Martin was Goodwife Martin's imp [ EQC 4:129]. In 1672 William Sargent and Joanna his wife sued Christopher Osgood for debt due part of the estate of Joanna's late husband, Valentine Rowell [ EQC 5:20].

Died: March 1675 Salem, Essex, Massachusetts.
Buried: The Corner Cemetery Amsbury, MA.

Ancestral Chain: 10th great grandfather William SARGENT Immigant b.1598 / William SARGENT Rev. b.1645 / Phillip SARGENT Sr.-5248 b.1672 / Philip SARGENT Jr.-5242 b.1703 / Martha SARGENT b.1725 / Moses QUIMBY b.1755 / Betsey QUIMBY b.1795 / Almeda Sophia ROUNDY b.1829 / Charles PARKER b.1853 / Laura Elizabeth PARKER b.1889 / Kirt DeMar WOOD b.1923 / Lark / TR

John BAILEY and the 1635 Hurricane

Clues found to area's most devastating hurricane

Staff and wire reports Daily News of Newburyport

NEWBURYPORT - The winds whipped up to 130 mph, snapping pine trees like toothpicks and blowing houses into oblivion. A surge of water, 21 feet high at its crest, shipwrecked an Amesbury man and his family on the rocky coast of Maine.

The merciless storm, pounding the coast for hours with torrential sheets of rain, was like nothing ever seen before.

This was New England in August 1635, battered by what was later dubbed "The Great Colonial Hurricane" - the first major storm suffered by the first North American settlers, just 14 years after the initial Thanksgiving celebration in Plymouth Colony.

Even today, its frightening characteristics are drawing the attention of hurricane experts. After exhaustive research, they believe the storm of 371 years ago holds some insight - and warning - for the area.

At the time, the only English settlement in Greater Newburyport was a small village at Newbury's lower green, and it was only two months old. A decaying cellar hole stood in what is now downtown Newburyport's waterfront, the remains of a trading or fishing post built by Walter "Great Watt" Bagnall, who had been killed by Indians four years earlier.

Amesbury was still unsettled by the English, but the storm would play a major role in the fate of its first settlers and one of Greater Newburyport's founding families, the Baileys.

John Winthrop, head of the Massachusetts Bay colony, recalled in his Aug. 16, 1635, entry that the winds were kicking up a full week before the hurricane.

Once it did arrive, the hurricane "blew with such violence, with abundance of rain, that it blew down many hundreds of trees, overthrew some houses, and drove the ships from their anchors," Winthrop wrote. He detailed the deaths of eight American Indians sucked under the rising water while "flying from their wigwams."
Once the weather cleared and the sun rose again, the few thousand residents of Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay colonies were left to rebuild and recover from a hurricane as powerful as 1938's killer Long Island Express. The 20th century hurricane killed 700 people, including 600 in New England, and left 63,000 homeless.

"The settlers easily could have packed up and gone home," said Nicholas K. Coch, a professor of geology at Queens College and one of the nation's foremost hurricane experts. "It was an extraordinary event, a major hurricane, and nearly knocked out British culture in America."

Coch has used information that he collected from detailed colonial journals to reconstruct the great hurricane. The 371-year-old data was brought to Brian Jarvinen at the National Hurricane Center, where it was interpreted using the SLOSH (Sea, Lake and Overland Surges from Hurricanes) computer model.

The result: The hurricane likely tracked farther west than was long thought, passing over uninhabited easternmost Long Island before moving north into New England. Once clear of the colonies, it veered off into the Atlantic.

Coch said the pioneers from across the Atlantic likely endured a Category 3 hurricane, moving faster than 30 mph, with maximum winds of 130 mph and a very high storm surge - 21 feet at Buzzards Bay and 14 feet at Providence. Reports at the time said 17 American Indians were drowned, while others scaled trees to find refuge.

The storm was moving about three times as fast as the typical southern hurricane, and arrived in full bluster. Although it struck nearly four centuries ago, very specific details about the first recorded hurricane in North America were provided by the local leaders' writings.

"The documentation was better than any hurricane until the mid-1800s," Coch said. "That's a story in itself."

As the hurricane approached, John Bailey was heading to America with his son, John, and perhaps his daughter, Johanna, on board the ship Angel Gabriel. When the storm struck, the ship was anchored in Pemaquid, Maine, where it was utterly destroyed. Bailey and other passengers - among them the Blaisdells, one of Salisbury's founding families - lost almost everything. Bailey and his children moved from place to place for two years, before finally settling down in what is now Amesbury. They built their house where the Powow River drains into the Merrimack River, in the vicinity of the intersection of Merrimac and Main streets. Bailey had planned to establish a home before sending for his wife [Eleanor KNIGHT] to come over, but she was so traumatized by his account of the hurricane that she refused to come. He would never see her again, despite the fact that Town Meeting voters ordered him in 1650 to force her to join him in America.

So brutal was the storm that 50 years later, Increase Mather wrote simply, "I have not heard of any storm more dismal than the great hurricane which was in August 1635." His father, the Rev. Richard Mather, was aboard one of the ships nearly sunk at sea by the ferocious weather - but he survived, along with about 100 other passengers.

Coch said the most interesting news about the hurricane is that storms can often follow the same track. And just a minuscule shift of a storm's movement in the area of North Carolina - "a fraction of a degree" - could send a hurricane up through Providence and right into Boston, the professor said.

"We could have a catastrophic situation with national repercussions," Coch said. "If the track of a future moves 25 miles to the west of the 'Colonial Hurricane,' the dangerous right side could pass right over Boston and Providence. That's why we study old hurricanes in the Northeast."