SHANNON, Lizzie Ethel

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 11529
• Residence: Dec 1939, Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA

Lizzie married GARDNER, Frederick on 12 Apr 1905 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA. Frederick was born about 1878. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

1. GARDNER, Frederick De Wit was born in 1908; died in Apr 1983 in California, USA; was buried in Harmony Grove Cemetery, Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA; police officer
• Reference Number: 3971

Notes:

John was a grocer who lived at 52 Freeman Avenue in Portsmouth.

John married DE WIT, Sarah Julia on 21 Sep 1869 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA. Sarah (daughter of DEWIT, Carsten Bartholomew and ANDERSON, Anna Eliza) was born on 31 Dec 1850 in Springfield, Penobscot, Maine, USA; died on 18 Dec 1939 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA; grocer
• Reference Number: 3970

Notes:

In an 1865 administration filed in Exeter for her father, Sarah deposed that she was the only child of Carsten de Wit living in this state. Her husband John was the son of William Shannon, superintendant of the alms house at Christian Shore.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Immigration: Abt 1839
• Probate: 1865, Exeter, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA

Notes:

Carsten was referred to as "a farmer of Springfield, Maine" for a while. He has a footstone with his large stone in Newington. Also there are two markers, one a "US Veteran" and one a "Post 1 GAR". His obit in the Portsmouth Journal calls him a "late yeoman on the US Steamer Kearsage."

The 1864 Portsmouth Directory shows that Carsten had a house on Dennett St. He was not in the 1860/61 directory nor the 1867 one. Neither was his wife. A Thomas H. De Wit posted bond as sureties of his estate 12 Sept. 1865. According to the 1900, 1910 and 1920 censuses, his daughter Sarah J Shannon claimed that her mother was born in British Guiana but that her father was born in New York. He was not.

Carsten was an accountant in the 1860 Portsmouth, New Hampshire census:

Carstine Dewit 52, accountant,born Demerara
Anne E 43, born Demerara
George Brown 20, farm laborer, born Demerara
Thomas H Dewit 13, born New Hampshire
Sarah J 9, born Maine
Leonard O 6, born Maine
Anna Maria 4, born Maine

Carstin's marriage to Anna is also recorded in Portsmouth.

Carsten married ANDERSON, Anna Eliza on 8 Jun 1843 in Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana. Anna (daughter of ANDERSON, Sarah) was born on 23 Sep 1817 in Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana; died on 6 Jun 1873 in Portsmouth, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA; was buried in Newington, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 3969

Notes:

Her mother is listed as Sarah on her death record. I think that her mother was Sarah Anderson who married Leonard De Witt as her second husband. Anna was the widow of George W Brown. She died from consumption.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Name: Castin Cornelius de WIT
• _DNA: Match - Michelle (paternal)
• Ordained: 1811, Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana; Suger planter

Notes:

In the 1 May 1894 Boston Daily Globe article titled "She Is No Yankee," it says that Castin Cornelius De Wit is descended from the family of John de Wit, governor of Holland. It describes him as a sugar planter with a schooner.

A small note in family papers reads, "Cornelius C. DeWit died Apr. 1. 1827. Buried on Plantation Le Resouvenir, east coast of Demerary Apr. 3. 1827. b June 25. 1780".

So far Castin Cornelius's line has not been found other than parents. As of 16 May 1807 Carsten and his brother with only the intitial "N" owned shares in Plantation Wittenberg. In 27 Oct 1804 LHH de Wit was the manager of Le Resouvenir.

The following information was extracted from Crowns of Glory, Tears of Blood, the Demerara Slave Rebellion of 1823 by Emilia Viotti da Costa.

"When all land along the river had been granted, the company distributed new grants along the coast, east and west of the mouth of the Demerara, in the areas that came to be known as the East Coast and the West Coast. A limit of 1,000 acres was established for sugar and 500 for coffee plantations. Before the area could be settled, a complicated system of canals, dams, and sluices had to be built to improve drainage--a task the Dutch were particularly qualified to accomplish. Plantations were laid out next to each other, with frontages of 100 roods [one rood= 12 feet] and depths of 750."

Demerara was incorporated into the British empire circa 1792. On the East Coast, the area between the Demerara River and Berbice, most plantations in the first part of the nineteenth century were producing mainly cotton although some were producing at the same time sugar, rum, cotton, and coffee. By 1813, 8% of the plantations had more than 300 slaves, 40% had between 200 and 300, and 46% had between 100 and 200.

Le Resouvenir belonged evidently to a Dutch planter named Hermanus Hilbertus Post. Unlike most of the planters, he was a pious man and invited a Methodist minister named Wray from the London Missionary Service to come and preach to the slaves. Post had been born in Utrecht in 1755 but had settled in Demerara. He quickly built a fortune which allowed him to travel to Holland and to live in New Rochelle, NY from 1791 to 1799. He returned in 1799 to take care of business in Demerara. Evidently he had undergone a religious conversion and made the religious instruction of his slaves a top priority.

Le Resouvenir was on the East Coast of Demerara, about eight miles from Stabroek which became Georgetown. In 1808 it "had a population of 375 slaves and about 700 acres, 225 of which were planted in cotton, 375 in coffee, and 100 in cocoa and provisions. The main building stood about a mile from the seaside, and behind it there was a canal leading to the back dam. Orange trees had been planted on each side of the canal. A green path shaded by rows of Mountain Cabbage trees led from the main house to the public road. Everything had been built or grown by slaves under Post's supervision."

Post built a chapel called Bethel Chapel on Le Resouvenir and a small missionary house as well. Slaves from surrounding plantations were allowed to attend the church services also. Most of the congregation was made up of slaves and a few white overseers. The local Dutch minister as well as other planters saw Post as a trouble maker. Many at Le Resouvenir only spoke Dutch, but most spoke English as well.

In 1809 Post died, and his widow married a man named Van der Haas whose brother beat the slaves. He in turn was replaced by a man named Hamilton. There was much unrest on the plantation at this time. Wray who had come to preach had been eventually replaced in 1816 by missionaries John Smith and his wife Jane. In her deposition, Sarah de Wit mentions a Dr Smith, but he appeared to be a medical doctor, and the above John Smith was dead by the time the De Rochemonts immigrated to the U.S. in the 1830's. It is John Smith who is considered the hero of the slave rebellion of 1823 which led ultimately to their emancipation. He lived and preached on Le Resouvenir.

Da Costa speaks of an outbreak of smallpox at Le Resouvenir in 1819. She further mentions a slave Susanna who lived with the plantation manager John Hamilton. She also speaks of slaves in the dry season going to Le Resouvenir for water, for there was a permanent spring there. She mentions a carpenter Peter Hood on the plantation and slaves Cupido, Romeo, and Azor. The focus of the book concerned the events that led up to the revolt of 1823, and there is little about the goings-on of Le Resouvenir other than those that concerned the slaves directly.

Buried:
Le Resouvenir, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana

Carston married DEROCHEMONT, Maria Louisa Suzette in 1805 in Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana. Maria (daughter of DEROCHEMONT, Carel Pieter Wlhelm and VESTJENS DE ROCHEMONT, Maria Margot Margaretha Vestjeris) was born on 20 Nov 1786 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands; was christened on 30 Nov 1786 in Amsterdam, Noord-Holland, Netherlands; died on 30 Nov 1828 in Plantation Le Resouvenir, Georgetown, Demerara-Mahaica, Guyana; was buried . [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• _DNA: Match (Michelle - paternal)
• Residence: 1850, Newington, Rockingham, New Hampshire, USA

Notes:

In the 1 May 1894 Boston Daily Globe article titled "She Is No Yankee," describing Maria Louisa De Wit, Marie Louise Susette's daughter, that she traces her ancestry back to Francois Baron de Rochemont and Seignieur de la Mothe, at des Bresjores, who died in France in 1661.

Her birth 20 Nov 1786 and death of 30 Nov 1828 date are from family papers which Virginia DeRochemont had in her possession. The marriage betrothal announcement was in the 31 Aug 1805 issue of the Essequebo and Demerary Gazette. In the US lawsuit filing against Frederic deRochemont, it was stated that MLS deRochemont died 6 Dec 1828, so I will use that legal date. The deposition to the lawsuit said that Maria was not in her right mind at the end. Her estate at death included the land and lot at #10 Werken Rust, the wharf and the passage to the road. Frederic sold the real estate and twenty-five of the slaves and placed proceeds in trust for the seven surving children.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Reference Number: 8945
• Immigration: Abt 1840

Notes:

In her court deposition concerning Pickering and Wife v. De Rochemont, Sarah deposed that she came to Demerara circa 1802 as a little girl, lived with the de Wits in one end of the Water Side House so-called after she married Leonard and for about ten months after he died. She then moved up the Demerara River above the tide. She reached it by a row boat, and it took about six hours to reach on a good tide. She then returned to Georgetown after having lived in the country for six months and was appointed mistress of the Free School until she removed to the United States. She had already visited the states once and England once. She also stated that she had three daughters and a son by her first husband.

Sarah sponsored the baptism of Frederick's son William Henry in September of 1829 as Sarah Anderson. Leonard C DeWitt sponsored him as well as did Henry Howes and JA Odde.

I think it is her daughter who married Carsten B De Witt.