Until the summer of 2016, I only knew this woman from Census listings as Priscilla H, wife of Joseph Rowe Webster. I did not know her maiden name and I didn’t know what the “H” stood for.

But then I was contacted by Catherine Westergaard who was adding people buried at Newton Cemetery to find-a-grave and writing a brief biography of each such person. Trying to learn more about Hollis Webster, she found my website and contacted me to compare notes. She had independently already found many interesting things on Hollis and his father Joseph Rowe Webster which she shared with me.

For example, she found a biography for Joseph in a book about the Harvard Class of 1854. It confirmed he went to Philips Exeter (which I had speculated based on finding what I believed was him in Exeter, NH in the 1850 Census) and then Harvard then Harvard Medical School.

More importantly it said Jospeh was the son of Moses and Hannah R Webster and that he had been born in Milton, MA 3 Nov 1833. In 1857 he married Priscilla H Hollis and they had four children including Hollis (an 1884 Harvard graduate) and Joseph Rowe (1893). And a similar report she found on the class of 1893 gave the full name of the mother of Joseph Rowe Webster Jr. as Priscilla Hayden Hollis.

I then quickly learned more about Jim Harley’s Rowe ancestors which I shared with him and as interesting as those ancestors were, their story doesn’t begin to compare to the discoveries I made when I googled the name Priscilla Hayden Hollis. Her ancestry is truly fascinating.

My main discovery was a book The Vinton Memorial which tells the story of the descendants of Thomas Vinton who was present in Lynn, Massachusetts by 1648, likely an immigrant some years previous. By the second and third generation, the family was firmly established in the Braintree area south of Boston. Descendants married into many other early Massachusetts families especially those clustered in Braintree and neighboring Milton and Quincy.

The Vinton book was written by John Adams Vinton whose full name suggests one such prominent family of this area that the Vinton family intermarried with. And the book covers many of these “related” or “allied” families — a surprising number of which are Jim Harley’s ancestral families too.

But it all starts with the girl given the name Priscilla Hayden Hollis by her parents Thomas and Deborah Clark (Allen) Hollis, named for her grandmother Priscilla Hayden. Priscilla was a direct descendant of members of eleven different families covered by the Vinton book.

Her marriage record is in the MA Marriage Records database at Ancestry.com. Priscilla H Hollis, age 20, born Milton, daughter of Thomas and Deborah Hollis married on 20 May 1857 Joseph R Webster, age 23, born Milton, son of Moses and Hannah R Webster.

He was a physician. In 1850, at about the age of 16, he did not live with his parents but rather was a boarding student in Exeter, NH. This happens to be where Philips Exeter Academy is located, a school which even today, is known for placing its best students into Harvard. Indeed, Joseph graduated from Harvard in 1854 and Harvard Medical School in 1859.

I know his middle name is Rowe, I have found him living with his mother Hannah in 1860 and she in turn living with Joseph Rowe in 1850. He is of an age that he most likely is Hannah's father. So everything fits together and I am certain that Joseph Rowe, born in Canada, belongs in this family tree.

Catherine Westergaard found his bio in a book about the Harvard Class of 1854. It confirms he went to Philips Exexter then Harvard then Harvard Medical School.

More importantly it says he was the son of Moses and Hannah R Webster and that he had been born in Milton, MA 3 Nov 1833. In 1857 he married Priscilla H Hollis and they had four children including Hollis (an 1884 Harvard graduate) and Joseph Rowe (1893 graduate).

Catherine also found a report on the class of 1893 on Joseph Rowe Webster (Jr.) who gave the name of his mother as Priscilla Hayden Hollis.

I have looked for Joseph in 1850 hoping to find him living with both parents and in that way come to know who his parents were. The best candidate to be Joseph is a student living in Exeter, NH in 1850. Exeter is the home of Phillips Exeter Academy, founded 1781, and therefore may well be the place this future Physician was to be found.

I can find Hannah too. She is living in Milton, MA with Joseph Rowe.

1860. Joseph R Webster, a physician age 26 lives in Milton, MA with apparently his mother Hannah R 60 and also Priscilla H 24 and Mary P 2 and some other people.

1870. Joseph R Webster, a physician age 36 lives in Boston, MA with Priscilla H 35, Mary P 12 and Hollis 7.

Jumping to 1910. Joseph R Webster 76, lives in Cambridge, MA with Driscilla (sic) 75 and Mary R 52 and Margret E 36.