a little bit of a historical detour sent me way back to the early 1600's again, when i unexpectedly found a family which struck me as unusual although it may have been relatively normal at the time. i have a general policy that when i can find some of the people who made me what i am, and find out anything about them, i'm going to learn it. they don't have to have the same last name as me. if you go that far, to the early 1600's, there are over four thousand of them, ancestors, people who had babies who had babies, until my parents had me. one of these was Dr. Comfort Starr. I am going to capitalize the names in this passage, because they are quite unusual, and that is a little out of ordinary for me.

Comfort was the second son of Thomas Starr II, who lived in Kent,England, and who was born in the late fifteen hundreds. thomas and his wife had seventeen children altogether, and had them all in Kent, where they lived. but in the early sixteen hundreds a movement gathered steam to move everyone to Massachusetts, and of their kids, quite a few went, and quite a few ended up in Massachusetts.

Comfort was second; first was Jehosaphat. Then, in order, came Nostrength Strength, Moregifte, William, Mercy, Suretrust, Sinetinot, Thomas III, Standwell, Judith, TruthShallPrevayl, Joyfoole, Constant, Anne, Mary, and Beloved. In some cases it's hard to tell the boys from the girls, but the boys seemed to come early, whereas the girls came later. They were born over a period from 1587 (Jehosaphat) to 1617 (Beloved), and all were born in Kent. Comfort, my ancestor, was born in 1589.

In 1634 Comfort decided to take the ship the Hercules to Massachusetts. It was actually called the Hercules of Sandwich because it sailed out of Sandwich, which was near Kent. He took his wife and three of his children, presumably the first three, as the others weren't born yet, or would come later. One of these was a son John Starr, who would also be our ancestor. But he also took three servants. And one of these was TruthShallPrevayl.

Now I have to admit that that was the name that struck me the hardest, of all seventeen. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have a name like that. There are some I didn't understand, like Sinetinot, and some i had to admit were spelled funny, like Joyfoole, but hey, it was sixteen hundred, and spelling varied. TruthShallPrevayl, by the way, would have been thirty at this time, while Comfort was more like forty-five, well established as a doctor, or to be more specific, a chirurgeon. But there's a reason you would make your younger sister a servant on the ship rolls. And that is, to assure everyone that she was protected and taken care of, and going for the right reasons. Comfort had to do all this stuff for himself, and his wife and kids: he had to do paperwork before setting off on a transcontinental journey. He had to assure them that he and his family would be ok in Massachusetts.

The Hercules of Sandwich appears to have made it to Massachusetts without incident. It was noted that this ship carried a lot of tonnage and so it was undoubtedly carrying supplies as well as its people. Most of the Starr family ended up in Charlestown, which was just a little north of Boston. 1634 was early though; they were among the first settlers in the Great Migration of Puritans in the early 1600's.

No sooner did Comfort Starr arrive than he was sucked into service in the Pequot War, which was right around that time. He was a chirurgeon. Of his siblings, Moregifte, Suretrust, Sinetinot, Thomas III, and Constant also ended up in Massachusetts. Some could have come over and then returned to Kent, but if they did, I haven't learned that yet. Also Comfort's parents, I believe, ended up in Massachusetts. Life was tough, but that's what people were doing. They were settling in the new land.

Their names raise eyebrows these days, but they weren't really all that uncommon. I'm not sure if they carried any meaning in and of themselves, like they indicated that the family was religious. In general, settlers in the Great Migration were religious. But their pattern really was more that they had seventeen so that some would make it. Comfort and John made it, and their descendant, Mary Starr, was ultimately to marry into our family.

TruthShallPrevayl disappeared, though. They don't know where she died, or how. It's something I might come upon eventually. With a name like that, it seems people would at least remember what happened to you.