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From:
Subject: Comfot and Thomas Starr Family
Date: Fri, 21 May 2004 20:38:37 EDT

Hi Listers~
If you are related to the Starr family?? Here is some information.

I have a book called

"Early Starrs in Kent and New England by Hosea Starr Ballou. Published in
1944 but the book looks like a reprint.. red hard cover .. gold letters.. new
looking. next page says: Arranged and Edited by William Carroll Hill Editor and
Historian of The New England Historic Genealogical Society, 9 Ashburton Place,
Boston, Mass. 141 pages long of small print without an index [now there is a
job for someone @ grinning]

I do not have the Starr name in my family. I collect data on the Kingsley,
Grand Traverse County, Michigan area as there are Starr's in Kingsley.

following page: English Ancestry
When the late Burgis Pratt Starr brought out, in 1879, his "History of the
Starr Family of New England," nothing had been discovered about the English
homes and the English ancestry of this family back of Dr. Comfort Starr, surgeon,
who was know to have resided to resided at Ashford Co., Kent, for many years,
to have had two brothers (Jehosaphat and Joyfull Starr) and two sisters
(Suretrust and Constant Starr), to have embarked in the spring of 1634/35 with three
children and three servants, on the ship Hercules, bound from Sandwich Co.,
Kent, for New England. "How long the Starr Family lived there [at Ashford],
or where they came from," wrote Mr. Burgis Starr, "is unknown," (Starr Family,
p.i)

Since the two brothers of Dr. Comfort Starr, Jehosaphat and Joyfull, did not
migrate to New England, and the two known sisters, although they came to the
Colony of Massachusetts Bay (one, it is NOW know, after her marriage and one
before her marriage), did not transmit the surname "Starr" to there children,
the compiler of the "History of the Starr Family of New England" regarded Dr.
Comfort Starr as the founder of the Starr Family in this country, the head of
the earliest generation of the family that came to New England.

Since [it is an updated type reprint!] the publication of Mr. Burgiss Pratt
Starr's book researches have been made in the parish registers of Ashford, and
many entries about the Starr family have been assembled, on of which records
the burial at Ashford on 18 December 1617 of "Moregi[f]ete Starre of
Cranebrooke." This entry suggested that Cranbrooke, co. Kent, might have been an
earlier home of the Starr family; and a search in the register of that parish,
preserved in the ancient church of Saint Dunstan, was made by the Vicar, the late
Rev. William Bell, a canon of Canterbury Cathedral, and revealed several Starr
entries, including the baptismal records of Comfort Starr, the emigrant to New
England in 1634/35, and some of his brothers and sisters, who proved to be
the children of one Thomas Starr, later of Ashford, of Canterbury, and of New
England.

Further search in the parish register of Ashford, made in 1895, disclosed
records of Thomas Starr and Comfort Starr, but before giving these records,
discovered since the publication of Mr. Burgis Pratt Starr's book, mention should
be made of an important article
entitled "Two Early Passenger Lists, 1635-1637," which was communicated to
the REGISTER of July 1921 (vol 75, pp. 217-226) by the late Eben Putnam of
Wellesley, Mass, a life member of the NEHGS since 1886 and a genealogist well
known as the founder and publisher of genealogical magazines, and organizer of
genealogical societies, and a compiler of genealogical books...

ok. this book has: a complete text of a list of passengers on the ship
Hercules, sailing from Sandwich, co. Kent, for New England in the spring of 1634/35,
and also the complete text of a list of other passengers sailing from the
same port for New England up to 11 May 1637, both lists have been copied from the
records of Sandwich, YearBooks C and D, 1608-1642, by J. A. Jacobs, Esq., of
Sandwich, and alderman of that town and honorary curator of its archives.


yada yada.. he tells about other places there was family found:::
"History of Sandwich" by William Boys
published at Canterbury, England, 1786-1792, pages 750 and 752.
"Collections of the Massachusetts Historical Society, Series 3 Vol 8, pages
274-276,

the late James Savage [this book is online]... reprinted these lists and
suggested that the name of each child and servant, perhaps the age also, might be
found in the original record."

tells of other reprints and then.. "It was not until the Mr. Putnam
communicated to the REGISTER the complete copy made by Mr. Jacobs that all the
information in the lists was made public."

Tells of Corrections:: made by Mr. Jacobs to the printed lists of signers of
certificates and heads of families," wrote Mr. Mr. Putnam (in his introduction
to the "Two Early Passenger Lists"), the names of seventy-seven children and
kinsfolk of the heads of families emigrating and the names of forty-three
servants... have been brought to light in this copy.

Under the heading "Servants" are included apprentices, and in many cases...
relatives of the family."

and it goes on~

---snipped~

I hope someone at some time finds this information useful~ The book will
eventually be housed at the Kingsley Public Library, Kingsley, Grand Traverse
County, Michigan.. just an fyi for postierity~

Brenda K. Wolfgram Moore

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