Spencer Chamberlain’s family connection to Sir Isaac Newton

Most of Spencer Chamberlain’s family are (almost) direct descendants of Sir Isaac Newton through Jonas Phillips. His daughter Betsy Phillips married Alonzo Chamberlain and his son Samuel married Jeanette Chamberlain. Most of Spencer’s progeny come from these two families. Thereby, they are descendants of Jonas Phillips and (almost) direct descendants of Sir Isaac Newton.

Almost?

Yes. Sir Isaac Newton had no children and therefore, he has no direct descendants. Also, his father, Isaac Newton, Sr., died before Isaac Jr. was born. He was the only child of Isaac and Hannah Newton with no full siblings.  Therefore, first cousin (X) times removed is about as close as it is possible to being a direct descendant of Sir Isaac Newton. Jonas Phillips is his first cousin (4) times removed.

It follows that the descendants of these two families of Spencer Chamberlain are also his first cousins (X) times removed. For example, Jonas Phillips (4), Betsy Phillips (5), John Harry Chamberlain (6), Harry Ellis Chamberlain (7), Ernest M. Chamberlain (8) and myself Dennis Chamberlain a first cousin (9) times removed of Sir Isaac Newton.

(Note: This genealogy is in Familysearch.org Relative Finder. However, whether the Richard Newton who came from England to Massachusetts in 1639 was Sir Isaac Newton’s uncle is based on circumstantial evidence.)

Early Life of Isaac Newton

Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day in 1642* in the manor of Woolsthorp, near the village of Colsterworth, Lincolnshire, England. He was three months premature, and was so small, his mother said he could fit into a quart mug.¹

His father, Isaac Newton, Sr. was a well to do but illiterate farmer. He died on October 6, 1642 three months before Isaac Jr. was born. Our direct ancestor, Isaac Jr’s grandfather Robert Isaac Newton had died in Lincolnshire in 1641. His uncle Richard Newton had sailed to America in about 1639 where he settled in Sudbury, Massachusetts Bay Colony.²

Isaac’s mother, Hannah Ayscough, remarried when he was three years old. Her new husband, Barnabas Smith, was a wealthy minister of the church in a nearby village. However, Reverend Smith did not accept the three-year-old Isaac as part of the arrangement. He left him in the care of his grandmother Margery Ayscough. Isaac’s childhood was very lonely and he had bitter feelings for his mother and step father. His stepfather died in 1653.⁴

Isaac lodged with the Clark family in Grantham when he attended Free Grammar School. School reports there described him as “idle” and “inattentive”.¹ “But every one that knew Isaac… when he was at school, recount with admiration the many instances of the extraordinary of his genius, whilst a boy; his strange inventions, uncommon skill & industry in mechanical works.”⁷

His mother, however, felt he might do better at managing her significant property and estate. She took him out of school. Isaac showed little interest or aptitude in financial management.

His uncle William Ayscough must have seen some promise in his young nephew because he persuaded his mother to let Isaac return to Grammar school to complete his education. He returned in 1660 and lodged with Mr. Stokes.  Stokes was headmaster of the school and recognized Isaac’s potential. He persuaded his mother to let him enter the university.¹

Newton entered Trinity College Cambridge, on 5 June 1661 as a sizar. A sizar was a student that received an allowance toward college expenses in exchange for such tasks as waiting tables and cleaning other student’s rooms.¹ One of Newton’s self confessed transgressions seems to show he had a need of money, a desire to learn, and enjoyment of college life:

“Setting my heart on money learning pleasure more than Thee.”

Newton’s list of sins³

In 1662 Isaac wrote a very personal list of his sins. The nineteen-year-old was very candid and likely intended this list to be viewed only by himself and God to whom it was written. After all, it is a record of what he considered to be worst things he had ever done in his life!

Since it mentions his step father Smith who died in 1653, he seems to be expressing some remorse for threats and thoughts he had when he was a child less than 10-years-old.

“Threatning my father and mother Smith to burne them and the house over them.” “Wishing death and hoping it to some.”

He divided his list between sins of the past (Before Whitsunday 1662), and more recent. (After Whitsunday 1662). Whitsundy was a celebration about seven weeks after Easter, near the end of his first year at Cambridge.

The entire list of his 57 sins can be found at the end of chapter E6 on Newton’s religion and theology.  The list gives us an intimate view of the feelings of the young college student and budding genius. It may also show this was a time of religious awakening for him, and an attempt at repentance, and a desire to do better.

Trinity College at Cambridge

At Cambridge he studied the philosophy of Aristotle, Descartes, Gassendi, Hobbes and Boyle; the astronomy of Galileo and the optics of Kepler. His interest in math began in 1663 when he read Euclid’s Elements, Oughred’s Clavis Mathematica, Descartes’ La Géométrie and other major works of mathematics.

He recorded his thoughts in a book which he entitled Quaestiones Quaedam Philosophicae. It is a fascinating account of how Newton’s ideas were forming around 1664. He headed the text with an expression of his freedom of thought and passionate search for truth:

“Plato is my friend, Aristotle is my friend, but my best friend is truth.”

Newton’s first original mathematical work may have come as he studied Wallis’ Algebra. Wallis’ method for finding a square of equal area to a parabola and a hyperbola used indivisibles. Newton made notes but also devised his own proofs of the theorems writing:

“Thus Wallis doth it, but it may be done thus ...”

Newton was elected a scholar on 28 April 1664 and received his bachelor’s degree in April 1665.¹

The 1665 Plague of London

Bubonic Plague also known as the Black Death had been known in England for centuries. It was a horrible disease. The victim’s skin turned black in patches and inflamed glands or ‘buboes’ in the groin, combined with vomiting, swollen tongue and severe headaches.⁵

The epidemic started slowly in 1665 London. It is believed that a traveler brought in some laundry full of fleas infected with the disease. The plague grew at an alarming rate causing Trinity College at Cambridge to close it doors. The students went home including Isaac Newton.

By May of 1665, 43 had died. In June 6137 people died, in July 17036 people and at its peak in August, 31159 people died. In all, 15% of the population perished during that terrible summer.⁵

In 1666 the Great Fire of London destroyed much of the center of London, but this helped to kill off some of the black rats and fleas that carried the plague.⁵

The legend of the apple

Newton returned to his childhood home and farm in at Woolsthorpe manor in Lincolnshire to avoid the plague. There he lived with his extended family consisting of his mother, his grandmother, one half-brother, and two half-sisters.

It was at this time and location which found Isaac sitting in an apple orchard. (There is no evidence that an apple actually hit him on the head.) Nevertheless, while enjoying a “contempative mood” he watched the occasional apple fall to the ground. It was then, the notion of gravitation came into his mind:¹

“Why should that apple always descend perpendicularly to the ground,” thought he to himself. “Why should it not go sideways, or upwards? but constantly to the earths center? Assuredly, the reason is, that the earth draws it. There must be a drawing power in matter and the sum of the drawing power in the matter of the earth must be in the earths center, not in any side of the earth. Therefore dos this apple fall perpendicularly, or toward the center. If matter thus draws matter; it must be in proportion of its quantity. Therefore the apple draws the earth, as well as the earth draws the apple.”⁷

During this time at home Isaac also studied light. He found that when a thin beam of sunlight passes through a glass prism it formed a spectrum of colors. Therefore, he came to the conclusion that white light is not a simple entity.

In addition to these projects, he spent his time developing the foundations for differential and integral calculus. Several years later this was independently discovery by Leibniz.¹

Isaac Newton returns to the University

When the University at Cambridge reopened in 1667, Newton was elected to a minor fellowship at Trinity College.  However, after being awarded his Master’s Degree, he was elected to a major fellowship. This allowed him to dine at the Fellows’ Table.¹

That year the Dutch attacked the the British fleet at the mouth of the Thames. They came up the river with a great fleet and burnt many of the British ships inflicting great damage. The students as far as Cambridge could hear the gun fire. The cause was well known by all, but only Isaac recognized situation of the battle. He boldly pronounced that Dutch had beaten the British fleet. The news soon confirmed it and the curious would not relax until Isaac would satisfy them of his mode of intelligence. He told them that by carefully listening to the sound, he found it grew louder and louder, consequently came nearer. From this he rightly inferred that the Dutch were victors.⁷

In July 1669 one of his professors, Isaac Barrow, sent his work out to renown mathematicians.  This ensured Newton’s achievements became known to the world.¹

Problems arise in his career

In 1672 Newton was elected a fellow of the Royal Society after he donated a reflecting telescope. Also, that year Newton published his first scientific paper on light and color in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society. The paper was well accepted and Isaac Newton is on top of the world in his career. 

However, he had a big problem. He was holding a secret deep inside that was tearing him up. No one knows. If they did, his career and reputation would come crashing down.

As a professor at Trinity College, it was required that he take holy orders and become an ordained priest in the Church of England. This meant that he had to swear an oath on the Bible that he believed in the Trinity. This he could not do. Finding a solution to this problem seemed impossible, even for Isaac Newton.  

 In addition to this problem, Newton’s relations with another scientist, Robert Hooke, deteriorated. In 1675, Hooke claimed that Newton had stolen some of his optical results. The two men made up with an exchange of polite letters. Nevertheless, Newton turned away from the Royal Society, as Hooke was one of its leaders. He delayed publication of his research on the theory of light and color Opticks until after the death of Hooke.¹

In 1687, Newton first published “Principia: Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy” a landmark work which states that every body in the universe is attracted to every other body with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. This publication also featured his three laws of motion.⁶

This most beautiful system of the sun, planets and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being– The Principia, –Isaac Newton

Newton’s defense of Cambridge University

A Roman Catholic, James II became king of Great Britain in 1685. When a Protestant rebellion arose James put it down. He then began to appoint only Catholics to positions of power such as army officers, judges and officers of the state. Therefore, vacant positions at the University of Cambridge were only being filled with Catholics. Newton, a staunch Protestant, strongly opposed this and considered this an attack on the University. The King insisted that a Benedictine monk be given a degree without taking any examinations or swearing the required oaths. Newton strongly objected. He prepared documents to defend the University and argued the case against the King.¹

On November 5, 1688, William of Orange from the Dutch Republic, landed his army in southern England. British political and religious leaders supported the invasion.  Therefore, there was little resistance as Protestants defected from King  James’ army.  The “Glorious Revolution” deposed James who fled to France. William and Mary then reigned together in his place.⁸

In 1689, Newton famous for his strong defense of the University, was elected to the Convention of Parliament. He was now a leader of the university and one of the most eminent mathematicians in the world.

Government Service

Newton suffered a nervous breakdown in 1693 and retired from research.  He left Cambridge in 1696 and took a government position in London. He becoming Warden of the Royal Mint and then Master of the mint in 1699. This position, combined with income from his estates, made him very wealthy. He lead the mint through a difficult period of re-coinage and actively pursued measures to prevent coin counterfeiting.¹

In 1703 the Royal Society elected him president, and re-elected him each year for the rest of his life. Queen Anne knighted him in 1705, the first scientist so honored for his work.¹ Sir Isaac afterward, went to evening service at king’s college chapel. There he gave a speech for her Majesty and presented her with a richly ornamented bible.⁷

To be Continued…. 

Isaac Newton sought for truth both in science and theology. He was a student of the Bible and of the history of the early Christian Church. His massive writings of religion and theology contained his deepest secret and were not published until 1936. See Isaac Newton: The Athanasian Creed and Bible Prophecy.

If you got this far, please click Goodbye or Table of Contents. This will simply tell me that someone looked at this post. Thank you! Dennis Chamberlain

© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, The Chamberlain Story, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the written content of this site without express and written permission from the author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Dennis D. Chamberlain and direction to  www.thechamberlainstory.com.

References:

*Isaac Newtons was born on Christmas day, but it was on January 4, 1643 by the “corrected” Gregorian calendar.

1- http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/Biographies/Newton.html
2- http://josfamilyhistory.com/htm/hopkins/robinson/robinson-leonard-newton.htm
3- Isaac Newton, Fitzwilliam Notebook, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, UK, Published online: October 2003
4- Never at Rest: A biography of Issac Newton.
5- http://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofEngland/The-Great-Plague/
6- http://www.history.com/news/ask-history/did-an-apple-really-fall-on-isaac-newtons-head
7- Willaim Stukely*, Memoirs of Sir Isaac Newton’s Life, published in 1752 http://www.newtonproject.ox.ac.uk/view/texts/normalized/OTHE00001
*(Note: In 1726, Newton shared the apple anecdote with William Stukeley, who included it in his biography of Newton.)
8- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_III_of_England

The legend of Winona may be an example of how family lore and historic legends become intertwined. As a child, I remember my mother telling us we were related to an “Indian Princes”. Unfortunately, due to her sad demise, the Winona of legend could not be Spencer Chamberlain’s mother. Also, I have found no record from our family history that refers to our relative as an Indian Princes. Spencer’s mother was born about 1755, and I was unable to find any real connection between her and the legends. Nevertheless, they may be interesting to someone.

Our information about Spencer Chamberlain’s mother comes from a document written in the 1920s by Spencer’s grandson Alonzo Chamberlain Phillips. “John…married an Indian girl by the name of Winona”¹ Also, it is found in Glover, Vermont’s Westlook Cemetery on page 46 which notes that Spencer Chamberlain was the “Son of John E. and Winona.” This record  was compiled by Dick Brown in 2002, “based on information from various family members, Phillips family Bibles, and vital records, etc., unpublished.”²

There are several variations of the Legend about an Indian maiden named Winona. These are found in New Hampshire, Wisconsin/Minnesota and Alabama. The stories have been somewhat commercialized, and are always considered an event from local history.

The Wisconsin/Minnesota Legend

On September 17, 1805, Zebulon Pike recorded the earliest known version of the story in his diary of his exploration of the upper Mississippi River:

“I was shown a point of rocks from which a Sioux maiden cast herself, and was dashed into a thousand pieces on the rocks below. She had been informed that her friends intended matching her to a man she despised; having been refused the man she had chosen, she ascended the hill, singing her death-song; and before they could overtake her and obviate her purpose she took the lover’s leap! Thus ended her troubles with her life.”³

Stephen H. Long, who made a voyage to the Falls of St. Anthony in 1817, gave the story of Winona in more detail. Long’s Sioux guide Wazikute was likely the original source of the Winona legend, and it seems probable that he had also told the story to Pike. When Long was on his second expedition in 1823 he again saw Wazikute at Red Wing’s village, and again the Indian related his stories. William H. Keating, a member of this expedition, states that Wazikute was a witness of Winona’s death when he was very young, but that he was very old in 1823.³

Another version of the Minnesota/Wisconsin legend comes from the logging settlement of Maiden Rock, Wisconsin. This village is located on the other side of the river from towns of Winona and Red Wing, Minnesota. In 1856, the owner of the grist and shingle mills named the village Maiden Rock after a bluff four miles downstream. The Indian legend of the bluff, apparently has some basis in historical fact. It concerns a young Dakota Indian woman named Winona. She leaped to her death from the top of the prominent bluff rather than marry the brave her father, Chief Red Wing, had chosen for her.⁴

The New Hampshire Legend

There is a Lake Winona located in central New Hampshire which was named after the legend. This location was once home to the Abenaki Indians.  In the legend of Lake Winona, a young Native American princess* named Winona spent many evenings on a nearby ledge overlooking the lake. She would watch the moon rise high into the evening sky. One night a warrior from the nearby Waukewan tribe took her prisoner. After months in captivity, she escaped and ran across the frozen lake, drowning when the ice broke beneath her.⁵

*Note: “Indian princess” is likely an English embellishment of the legend.

The Alabama Legend

In the legend in northeastern Alabama, she has a different name. The story, however, is about the same. A beautiful Cherokee Princess* Noccalula was deeply in love with a brave from her own tribe. Her father, a powerful Cherokee chief, promised her to a Creek Indian chief. The chief could offer a higher bounty for her hand. Her father banished her lover from the tribe. On the day of the wedding, arrayed in ceremonial attire, she obediently attended the marriage feast. In the midst of the celebration, Noccalula quietly slipped away through the forests to a nearby waterfall. Rather than face a loveless marriage, she jumped from a nearby precipice and ended her life.⁶

Links:

Winona is from the Algonquin language defined as “A beautiful Place in the forest.” In my research I found reason to believe that Spencer Chamberlain’s mother Winona may have been from the Penobscot Indians in central Maine, and which is also a tribe of the  Algonquin: Chapter 14- Spencer Chamberlain’s Indian mother Winona.

Spencer’s mother Winona may have been located in the 1790 and 1800 U. S. censuses, see Chapter 15- The Unusual Household of Increase Chamberlain, Jr.

Read the Chamberlain Story from the beginning, Chapter 1- Francis Chamberlain Arrives in the New World.  Or, chose any single chapter from the Table of Contents 

© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, The Chamberlain Story, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the written content of this site without express and written permission from the author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Dennis D. Chamberlain and direction to  www.thechamberlainstory.com.

References:

1- Alonzo Chamberlain Phillips, Spencer Chamberlain’s Ancestors, unpublished Chamberlain family document written in 1927 or possibly a few years earlier.

2-  Glover, Vermont Westlook Cemetery, Gravestone Inscriptions & Other Genealogical Data, Glover Historical Society, Glover, VT 05839, 2nd Edition, 2002, p.240 #15

3- The Winona Legend, http://collections.mnhs.org/MNHistoryMagazine/articles/13/v13i04p367-376.pdf

4- Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, http://www.maidenrock.org/history.php

5- Lake Winona, New Hampshire, USA, http://www.lakelubbers.com/lake-winona-1863/

6- John Craton, The Princess Noccalula, http://www.craton.net/music/noccalula/

 

The Vermont Watchman

Alonzo Chamberlain is probably more famous today than he was during his lifetime. His activity in the Underground Railroad was once a carefully guarded secret. It was not until Alonzo was 82-years-old that his secret was reported in the news. The article was found in the Library of Congress website by Lara Chamberlain, and may be the only news published about Alonzo during his life time. It appeared in the Vermont Watchman on May 30, 1900.

There was one paragraph from this news clipping that caused the sensation today (2017):

“Mr Chamberlain voted at Glover and some of the first colored people which his family ever saw were fugitive slaves brought to his home while he was an active conductor on the ‘underground railroad’.”

It is interesting that this paragraph was merely a side note to the big news, which was that they had located eight men that were a part of the “immortal 319”. This referred to the 319 who had voted the Liberty Party ticket in Vermont in 1840.

In 1900, the news about the underground railroad may have appeared to be quite common place. At that time Alonzo was living with his son and grandchildren. (My grandfather, Harry Ellis Chamberlain, was 10 years old at the time.) Nevertheless, this information about Alonzo was never passed on to the later generations. The subject was not often openly discussed in the early 1900s.

The Modern Media

A framed portrait of Alonzo Chamberlain, along with a composite of 20 other family photos, has embellished the wall of our home since the 1980s. Behind that stern stare, I thought, there must be an intriguing story, but we knew little about him. He was merely a family history place holder between his famous father Spencer and his well known son, John Harry, who was the mayor of Spencer, Iowa.

This changed with the Watchman article and Alonzo’s obituary which was sent to me earlier by Joan Alexander of the Glover Historical Society. From these two articles I put together his biography The Secret Life of Alonzo Chamberlain and published it in my family blog on August 24, 2017. That post has received over 400 views.

Robin Smith of the Caledonian/Orleans County Record picked up the story which was published on September 1, 2017. Her article placed Alonzo’s portrait and the photo of his historic home on the front page. It featured a telephone interview with me about my blog post. The same news article also appeared on the Caledonian Record Facebook page where it was shared 58 times and received 128 “Likes.”

A second story by Robin Smith appeared in the November issue of Vermont’s Northland Journal. This article presented a new perspective in that it featured an interview with Glover historian, Joan Alexander. Joan has been a tremendous help to me since 2008. First with the story of Runaway Pond. Then she found an 1810 Glover resident named Increase Chamberlain, who turned out to be the step-father of Spencer Chamberlain.

Now she was there to help me find what was known about Alonzo in Glover. His secret was well kept, and the only thing we knew about him was where he lived. She took photos of his home and farm as it is today (2017) for my website.

The Family Photo Album 

I was pleasantly surprised to find a second article published in the Northland Journal. It was titled Grandpa’s Old Photo Album by Dennis Chamberlain, from a sub-titled section of my website about our antique family photo album. The copper engraving on the cover appeared to be a depiction of a fugitive slave.

The earliest photos in the album were of Alonzo’s family taken in the 1860s. I believe the album may have been a personalized gift to Alonzo from an organization or a family member who knew of his passion for helping runaway slaves. The picture of what appears to be an African man riding on a horse alone through the woods is too good to avoid this type of speculation.

After much searching in Google for this type of photo album,  I finally found a similar album with a different copper plaque. Apparently it was a birthday present as it was inscribed on the inside cover “Anne’s birthday 1887”. This gives us a good indication that the 1880s is the time that these albums were on the market.

New information found about the “fugitive slave”

The Northland Journal in the Grandpa’s Old Photo Album article, added the following caption below the album’s copper cover picture.

“This is the engraving on the album cover that Dennis Chamberlain provided and interpreted as a fugitive slave. A Google search did not turn up any information about such an image. Can anyone help?

A quick response was received by a Northland Journal subscrber.  He found a picture of the original art. It was a depictiion of  a mounted arab scout by a famous German Artist, Adolf Sdhreyer.

Adolf Schreyer 1828-1899, was a German painter renowned for his dynamic and atmospheric paintings of horses and battles, and depictions of masculine Arab warriors. He served as a war artist in the Austrian army.  In the early 1860s Schreyer traveled through North Africa, Egypt and Syria where he immersed himself in Bedouin life.¹

Links:

Chapter 18- The Secret Life of Alonzo Chamberlain
The biography of Alonzo Chamberlain and activity of the underground railroad in Vermont between 1840 and 1855.

The Chamberalain Story History Timeline is an unbroken chain of generations beginning in 1621 with. Chapter 1- Francis Chamberlain Arrives in the New World.  Or, chose any single chapter from the Table of Contents 

© Copyright Dennis D. Chamberlain, The Chamberlain Story, 2017. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the written content of this site without express and written permission from the author and owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that credit is given to Dennis D. Chamberlain and direction to  www.thechamberlainstory.com.

References:

1- Christie’s, New York, 19th Century European Art, April 19, 2005, lot //www.invaluable.com/artist/schreyer-adolf-zs47ru08kt