The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885Various
History
The Bay State Monthly — Volume 2, No. 5, February, 1885
Various
Massachusetts -- Periodicals; New England -- Periodicals
The arms of the Family; Gules, a chevron ermine between three
Pheons, or; appear on the tombstone of Oliver Arnold, and of
William Arnold, the original settler. The same arms are on a tablet
in the Parish Church of Churcham in Gloucestershire, England,
placed there in memory of his ancestor John Arnold of Lanthony,
Monmouthshire, afterwards of Hingham, who acquired the manor of
Churcham in 1541.
TRADITIONS.
The most ancient written record of the family which the writer has
consulted was written by John Roseborough, late Clerk of the
Circuit Court, Chester District, South Carolina. He was the son of
Alexander Roseborough and Martha Gaston, whose father, William
Gaston of Caranleigh Clough Water, Ireland, was grandson of Jean
Gaston, the Huguenot ancestor of the family.
The statement is as follows, the words enclosed in parenthesis
being supplied by way of information.
"Jean Gaston emigrated from France to Scotland on account of his
religion, as a persecution then raged against the Protestants. He
had two sons who emigrated from Scotland to Ireland between 1662
and 1668 during a time of persecution in Scotland. There was a John
and a William, but which of them was the ancestor of our
grandfather is not known. William Gaston, my grandfather, lived at
Caranleigh Clough Water. He married Miss Lemmon and had four sons
and as many daughters: John Gaston (King's Justice) died on Fishing
Creek, near Cedar Shoal, Chester District, South Carolina; Rev.
Hugh Gaston, author of 'Concordance and Collections'; Dr. Alexander
Gaston, killed by the British at Newbern, South Carolina (father of
Judge William Gaston); Robert Gaston, and William Gaston."
One fact is established, that many of Jean Gaston's descendants had
settled in America before the Revolution and were actively engaged
in that contest for liberty.
Springing from such ancestry in which are joined the characteristics of
the French Huguenot, the Scotch Presbyterian, the Scotch-Irish patriot,
the follower of Roger Williams, the May Flower Pilgrim, one is not
surprised to find in William Gaston a strong man; a man who inherited as
a birthright the qualities of leadership.
His father was a well known merchant of Connecticut, of sterling
integrity, and of remarkably strong force of character. He was
commissioned a Captain at the early age of twenty-two, and was for many
years in the Legislature. The father of the latter was also in the
Connecticut Legislature for many years.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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