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08 January, 2015

Remick/ Gowell/ Chase Resolved

Old postcard from Holland
I think I've firmed up the confusion about Sarah Gowell (1682-1750), wife of Thomas Chase (1697-1767). I wrote about this conundrum earlier here. I was trying to definitively tie her to Christian Remick of Kittery, Maine and his wife Hannah. A fellow genealogist/blogger named Gale left me a comment last Sept. to check Richard Gowell's (her father) will. I didn't follow up then, because I knew that I already had a copy of this will and that it did mention his daughter, Hannah Chase.

The other night I was going over old "mysteries" and revisited my first blog entry on Sarah Gowell and again noticed the comment. I then went to my copy of the Gowell will and took another look at it. Not only does it mention Hannah Chase as his daughter, but one of the witnesses to the will, which I had not noticed before, was one Joshua Remick! Joshua (1672-1738) was the brother of Richard's wife Hannah Remick, so this solidly proves that Hannah Gowell was indeed the granddaughter of Christian Remick and his wife Hannah (?Foster) of Kittery, Maine.


Now if someone could only find out where Christian came from! Some say he was from Holland or Germany (Remick is a name found in these countries) and others say he was born and bred an Englishman! I had a brief contact with someone in Holland whose name I don't recall about the Remick name. He told me that there are Remicks currently living in a particular city in Holland, but I've temporarily mislaid this information. Christian Remick arrived in New England in 1652 and he did depart from England and had apparently been in England for some time. Still, the notion that he was Dutch or German persists. It's one of the mysteries that may never be solved, but is tantalizing nonetheless.

1 comment:

  1. Katharine, You might want to look at the Genealogical Dictionary of Maine and New Hampshire pg 279. It has an extract of Richard Gowell's will, which stipulates- children of 1st marriage, Tamsen, Martha, Mary and Sarah.
    There is also information from several sources that suggests that Richard married for the second time, Hannah Remick (Possibly Thomson) in 1684 while other information suggests Sarah was born in 1682.

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