Welcome! These pages contains information on the families of Charles Towne and Jane Bowditch. There are lots of people represented here, but we know very little about many of them. Included are many parents of spouses, spouses of cousins, etc., that aren't blood relatives. Like any genealogy, this is a work in progress. Please feel free to contact me with additions or corrections.

Copyright Notice

Facts like names, dates, and places cannot be copyrighted, and you are free to use them however you wish. But a narrative is a creative work product and therefore subject to copyright. Unless written permission has been obtained from the copyright holder, all other usage of this work is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC 4.0. You may copy, redistribute, remix, transform, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for noncommercial purposes only, under the following conditions: (1) you must credit the compiler; (2) you must provide a link to the license; and (3) you must indicate if any changes were made.

The Church of St. Nicholas in Yarmouth, England, where William Towne and Joanna Blessing were married in 1620. (Photo from E2BNGallery by Diane Earl, provided freely for educational use only.)

On the Towne side of the family, the starting point for our research was a genealogy compiled in the early 1950s by Charles Swikert and his cousin Charles Burlingham on the descendants of their great-grandfather Philip Burlingham. Later my mother caught the genealogy bug, and she and my sister have spent many years researching our family history. Much of the information presented here on the Towne side is the result of their work. Initially I thought my involvement would be limited to "computerizing" data that they had collected, but I soon caught the bug myself, and now try to contribute to the research too.

For the Bowditch side of the family, the starting point was a genealogy compiled and distributed among family members by Frederick Bowditch in 1964, titled The Bowditch Family of Salem, Massachusetts - North Carolina Branch 1524-1964 . This booklet includes much original material by the author's mother Helen (Tryon) Bowditch about her early life, and some poems written by her. The genealogical material on the early Bowditch family is taken primarily from two sources: (1) "The Bowditch Family of Salem, Massachusetts," a booklet published in 1936 by the distinguished genealogist Harold Bowditch; and (2) "Bowditch Ancestors between the years 1639-1800," a typewritten document probably by Nathaniel Ingersoll Bowditch. Some additional information, mostly on related lines, came from information in an old trunk preserved by the author's aunt Georgiana Bowditch.

The remnants of the old Church of Holy Trinity in Bothenhampton, England, where William Bowditch and Sarah Bear were married in 1663. (Photo copyright Maurice D. Budden, used by permission.)

To find a specific individual you can use either the "Search" or "Surname Index" link in the menu bar at the top of each page. The Search Form allows you to search for people in a variety of ways, including by any combination of their name (first, middle, and/or last), the name of their spouse, mother, or father, and/or a place name they're associated with. The Surname Index lists the surnames of all the people included in the database. The number in parentheses following a surname is the number of people with that name. Clicking on a surname will take you to a list of given names, and clicking on the given name will take you to that person's page. Use the "New" menu item to see a list of changes that have been made.

The page for an individual contains the following information.

  • Their name, birth and death dates.
  • A "Pedigree" icon that when selected displays an interactive mini-pedigree chart for the person. Clicking a green-circled arrow, or the name of a spouse, child, or sibling, changes the chart's focus person. Clicking a name of a person in the chart itself takes you to that person's page.
  • Links to any chart(s) that include that person.
  • A narrative section describing events in their lives, etc. Where we're fortunate enough to have one, the person's picture is also shown.
  • For some people, a section with links to web sites about historical events, places, organizations, etc., that are related to that person. Of course, you must have an Internet connection to access these web sites.
  • A list of his/her children with each spouse.
  • A "Citations" section listing the sources of the information on the person, corresponding to the superscripts in the narrative section. The link in brackets (e.g., "[S94]") indicates the source number in TMG. Clicking on the link will display more detailed information about that particular source.
  • Various icons may also appear, as described below.

The following icons are used to indicate relationships, and links to images and other documents.

       Direct ancestor of Charles Towne
Direct ancestor of Jane Bowditch
Link to an image
Link to a text document
Link to a PDF document
Link to an external web site

In addition to "Search" and "Surname Index," the menu bar at the top of each page contains the following items that may be of interest.

    Notable   Some of the people listed here are notable because of their place within our family, some are well-known historical figures, and some are included simply because we know some interesting things about them.
Immigrants This is a list of direct ancestors who were immigrants to America. For families, only the husband and wife (if known) are listed here, not the children.
Mysteries These are people that we'd especially like to learn more about. Some of these are "brick walls," people we've known about and investigated off and on for many years, but whose parents remain undiscovered. Others are simply people that have caught our interest for a variety of reasons.
Letters Transcriptions of letters from various sources. For the Towne side of the family, we have letters written by Philip Burlingham in late 1870, when he was working in a mining camp in El Dorado Co., California. For the Bowditch side, many letters have been handed down in the family, most written by family members and friends of Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch after she moved to her husband Joseph Henry Bowditch's home in North Carolina after their marriage in 1845. Also on the Bowditch side, we have letters from Historic Beverly in Beverly, Massachusetts, written (mostly) by Elizabeth (Abbot) Bowditch to Hannah Rantoul.
Poetry A collection of poems written by some of the people in our family tree.
Charts Here are links to some ancestor and descendant charts.
Portraits Shown here are thumbnails of all the primary pictures we have for people in our records. Clicking on a thumbnail, or the arrow icon above the thumbnail, will take you to that individual's page. Clicking on the "image" icon (that's the one next to the arrow) will display the full-size picture in a "lightbox," with arrows at the top that allow you to cycle through all the pictures.
Weddings Shown here are thumbnails of wedding pictures (or pictures that appear to have been taken around the time of a person's wedding) for various people in our records. Clicking on a picture, or the arrow icon above the thumbnail, will display the full-size picture. Clicking on the "image" icon (that's the one next to the arrow) will also display the full-size picture in a "lightbox," with arrows at the top that allow you to cycle through all the pictures.

Finally, some of the family history presented here, on the descendants of Philip Burlingham and Polly Babcock, and on the descendants of George Abbot and Nancy Stickney, is also available in book form. Note that these books were completed in 2022 and 2023, respectively, and as additional research is done the information in them may be superseded by the information presented here.

Enjoy!

Charlie Towne
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