The Gorham Albros
By Phil Albro

After a few generations in Rhode Island, some of the descendants of John Albro (ca 1619 – 1712) began to move into other states. Several Albros moved into New York State, mostly via convenient waterways. The New York City – Long Island area, and several places along the Hudson River were first to be settled, but an occasional pioneering type moved farther west into raw Indian territory. This essay concerns the descendants of Stephen Albro and his wife Amey Hopkins, who traveled deep into upstate New York to settle in the Township of Easton, County of Ontario, of the Phelps & Gorham Purchase. The descendancy route to Stephen is:

John Albro (ca 1619 – 1712) m. Dorothy Wilbur/Wilbore (ca 1620 – 1697)

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John Albro (ca 1651 – 1724) m. Mary Stokes (ca 1672 – 1729)

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John Albro (1694 – aft.1748) m. Abigail Ballou (ca 1695 – 1760)

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John Albro (1714 – aft.1790) m. Lydia Spencer (1721 – bef.1786)

Stephen (ca 1759 – ca 1812) was John and Lydia's sixth surviving child, third surviving son. As with all younger sons back then, he would have to find his own way to make a living. He was probably in the Revolutionary War (like all three of his brothers), but since there were three Stephen Albros in the Rhode Island troops and only one applied for a pension (making it easy to identify him), we can not be absolutely certain this Stephen Albro was one of them. He married Hannah Bentley (1766 – bef.1791), daughter of Caleb and Leah Bently of Exeter, RI, in March of 1786 after his mother died. In July of 1786 their daughter Lydia (1786 – 1835) was christened. Hannah died soon thereafter, and Stephen married Amey Hopkins (ca 1761 – aft.1813), daughter of Joseph Hopkins of West Greenwich, RI, in 1791. They immediately moved out of Rhode Island, apparently taking along Stephen's daughter Lydia.

Stephen had a first cousin, Isabel Albro (ca 1750 - ?), daughter of his uncle Peter Albro (1727 – ca 1753) and Ann Hopkins (1732 - ?). Isabel had married Francis Briggs (1764 – 1850) in 1783 and moved to the Finger Lakes region of New York State as followers of Jemima Wilkinson, the “Universal Friend.” The relationship between Amey and Ann Hopkins is uncertain. However, it seems probable that Isabel had communicated with Stephen about the beautiful countryside and rich soil of that part of New York State, as we find Stephen living a few miles from Francis Briggs in Ontario County, Township of Easton in the 1800 census. There is no evidence Stephen was at all religious, and he was not a follower of the Universal Friend.

Stephen and Amey had at least five children, and found a unique early substitute for trusts to ensure they would have something when Stephen died. A deed was registered in 1810 (written in 1808) transferring a 30.5 acre tract of land adjacent to land Stephen already owned, to all of his children including Lydia, who had married Chancey Roberts (ca 1790 - ?) by then, on a share-and-share alike basis. The land could not be sold piecemeal. Since the children (except Lydia) were under age at that time, the transfer would not be effective until they reached adulthood. This land was purchased from – you guessed it, Francis and Isabel Briggs. This was well timed, as Stephen died in 1812. He and Amey had been living with their children on that 30.5 acre tract of land, so Amey acquired a widow's dower, or right to live on and to have the produce from1/3 of it.

Of Stephen and Amey's children, only Joab E. Albro (ca 1802 – aft 1860) actually stayed in what had in 1808 become the Town of Gorham. Joab married Sarah (always called Sally) Sweet (ca 1807 – 1892), daughter of Jonathan Lewis and Sibilla Sweet, about 1829 in Gorham. Sarah and her family had originally been Presbyterians, but the local church couldn't find a replacement Presbyterian minister when the original one retired. They found a Dutch Reformed minister, and changed the denomination of the church.

Amey, who had married a McPherson and no longer needed a widow dower, and all the children except Wait (ca 1795 – bef.1816) who had died, agreed to sell the "trust" land in 1825. As a result, Joab functioned as an itinerant farm laborer until he got married, after which he seems to have become a sharecropper on land belonging to the Clarks. None of the other children wanted to stay in that area, but none of them could sell their property unless they all did, so Joab seems to have made the sacrifice. Joab's sister Isabel (Stephen and Amey's first child, appropriately named), (1793 – ca 1846) married a Lazenby and moved to Indiana. His other sister Betsy (ca 1801 – bet.1861 and 1864) married Philip Stall and moved to the Town of Seneca. His brother Joseph (ca 1802 – aft.1860) was in Canandaigua, NY in 1818 and eventually moved out of the county. Joab is not seen in any U.S. or state census after 1860, but his exact date and place of death is unknown. Sarah (Sally) lived turn and turn about with her married children until she died in a pneumonia epidemic in Geneva, NY in 1892. That epidemic took her, her son Lucius, and her granddaughter Hattie, all the same year.

Joab and Sarah had eight children, all born in Gorham. All of the children moved to other parts of New York State except Stephen Loraine Albro, the oldest, who went to California to be a gold miner! Since Joab had owned no land of his own, there was nothing for any of them to inherit, hence no reason to stay. But they produced a total of 21 grandchildren, dispersed around New York State and California. One of Joab & Sarah's children, Lucius N. Albro (1841 – 1892) moved just a few miles away to Geneva, NY, and became my great grandfather.

Bibliography and Sources:

Note: References for the steps from John Albro I through John Albro IV abound and are not included here.

"Notes on the Albro Family of Rhode Island" by Martha A. Benns, made at the Rhode Island Historical Society, 1942, filmed at Providence, RI 17 July 1950 by the Genealogical Society of Salt Lake City Utah, roll # 22322.

R.I. Vital Records, NS Vol.7, Greenwich R.I. marriages from Probate, Grave & Death Records 1680-1860. From CD#215, Copyright (c) InfoLink, Inc., 2000.

"Early Settlers of New York State, 1760-1942", Genealogical Publishing Co., Inc., Copyright 1997 Broderbund.

Deeds and Land Transfers, Stephen and Joab Albro, Francis Briggs, Ontario County, NY Archives, Hopewell, NY, copied May 2000 and Aug 2003.

Amey Albro's widow dower, Book of Wills, found by Martha Eberle in Ontario, NY Archives, Hopewell, NY; copied Aug, 2003.

Personal communication from Mary Carr, Rochester, NY; Estate of Stephen Albro.

"Genealogy of One Line of the Hopkins Family, Descended from Thomas Hopkins in Providence", J.A. & R.A. Reid, Printers, Providence, RI, 1881, p.37.

"Vital Records of Rhode Island, 1636-1850: a family register for the people" by James Newell Arnold (1844-1927).

"Greenwich, R.I. Marriages from Probate, Grave & Death Records 1680-1860", R.I. Vital Records, NS, Vol.7, p.1.

Briggs Family Tree, Ancestry World Tree database #1551424, Copyright © 1998-2003 MyFamily.com, Inc.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Ancestral File (R), Copyright (c) 1987, data as of 5 January 1988.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, International Genealogy Index (R), Copyright (c) 1980, 1997, Films #2034410, 2034547, 1985652, data as of February 1997.

Personal visit to Lewis and New Gorham Cemeteries in Gorham, NY, Aug, 1999.

Personal communication from Mary O. Mellius, Gorham Town Historian, 2000.

U.S. and N.Y. census records for Ontario Co., NY and West Greenwich, RI.



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