Every village has a founding couple. Ours has a legend — and a record. Today I’m giving you both, honestly, because that’s the pledge I made yesterday.
Watch the Ancestor of the Day short film:
The legend goes like this. Around 1740, Molly Barber of Wethersfield was forbidden by her parents from marrying the man of her choice. She declared she would marry the first man who offered himself. That man was James Chaugham, a Narragansett man from Block Island. They married — some versions say in secret — and left Wethersfield for the wilderness of Barkhamsted, where they raised a family and founded a community. The poet Lewis Sprague Mills put it in verse in 1932, and a thousand retellings followed.
That’s the story. Here is what I can tell you with a document in my hand.
I cannot find Molly’s birth record. I cannot find her marriage record. No one can — the historical sources say so plainly. What I CAN show you is the end of her life, itemized in a clerk’s handwriting.
In January 1821, the estate of “Mary Chogum, late of Barkhamsted” was inventoried: one iron kettle, $1.25. One small kettle, fifty cents. One old chest of drawers, fifty cents. Fourteen acres of land at ten dollars an acre. Total: $142.25. That was her whole world, appraised.
Her estate couldn’t cover her debts — the town of Barkhamsted itself held a claim of about $272 for the support she had needed in her old age. Her 14 acres were sold to her son-in-law, William Wilson, for $100, and the town took the loss. I’ve transcribed the whole probate packet on this blog — the administrator’s bond, the inventory, the final settlement of January 1822 — and you can read it here: https://conidubois.com/2026/07/23/unlocking-history-the-1821-estate-of-mary-chogum/
So the legend gives me a defiant young woman of Wethersfield, and the record gives me an old woman whose kettles and chest of drawers were worth two dollars and twenty-five cents. Both of them are Molly. Both of them are mine. She was one of the two people who founded the Barkhamsted Lighthouse community — the white wife and the Narragansett husband, about 1740 — and her descendants, in the hundreds, are still here. I’m one of them.
That’s the thing about ancestors. The story tells you who they were to the world. The record tells you what they had when they left it. I want both.
Your turn: What legend lives in YOUR family tree — and what record backs it up, or breaks it? Tell me in the comments. I want to hear it.
Tomorrow afternoon: another ancestor, another record. And remember — once a week, one of YOUR ancestors takes this spotlight. Got a brick wall? Send it through my contact form at https://conidubois.fyi/contact.
I’ve traced over 70,000 people in more than 30 years of research. To most folks they’d just be names and dates. To me, every one of them is a story.
So I’m starting something new: every afternoon, I’m going to introduce you to one ancestor. One person. One record — a census line, a will, a land deed, a newspaper clipping, a photograph. And the story behind it: who they were, what their life tells us, and sometimes what the record tried to hide.
Why daily? Because genealogy isn’t a once-a-year hobby. It’s a daily practice. I want this blog to feel like sitting down at the kitchen table with me every afternoon. (I’m a night person — mornings are for the roosters.)
Why me? Because these are my people, out of my own research. Nobody else can tell you these particular stories. And here’s what I’ve always believed: we are all related in one form or another, in an ever widening circle. So my ancestors’ stories have something to say to your family too.
And here’s my pledge: every story comes with its receipts. Each Ancestor of the Day names its record — the deed book and page, the census line, the newspaper — and links you to the source, so you can check my work yourself. No made-up stories. If I can’t prove it, I’ll tell you so.
Here’s how it works: – Every afternoon, a new Ancestor of the Day right here on the blog — this is home base. – I’ll share each one on Facebook and Instagram too, so you can follow along wherever you already are. – Every story ends with a question, because I want to hear YOUR ancestor stories in the comments. – And once a week, one of YOUR ancestors takes the spotlight. Got a brick wall, a family mystery, an ancestor with a story begging to be told? Send it through my contact form at https://conidubois.fyi/contact and I may feature them — with full credit to you.
And if reading these makes you think of your own brick wall — that one ancestor you just cannot find — that’s what I do. I opened Ever Widening Circle research for exactly that reason. More on that soon.
See you tomorrow afternoon. We’ve got 70,000 introductions to make.
