Summary of My Bostwick Ancestral Line

I have dedicated the last 12 posts to the Bostwick line in my family tree. When I come back to researching them, I will focus on all the children that aren’t my direct line. I am getting ready to move to researching the wives of the Bostwick line but I wanted to summarize some things first. This line has been in America since 1639 which is 378 years. They have seen many changes in this country.

Chart of the 11 generations of Bostwicks in my Ancestral Line


Migration- The first 2 generations were born in England and came to America in 1638. The first 6 generations lived in Connecticut with the 6th generation moving to New York. Generations 6 through 9 lived in New York with the 9th generation moving to California. Generations 9 and 10 lived in California with the 10th generation moving to Illinois. Generations 10 and 11 lived in Illinois with generation 10 moving back to California and generation 11 moving to Arizona, California, and back to Arizona.

Lifespan- Including the first 4 generations which are estimates the average lifespan is 69 years. Excluding the first 4 generations the average lifespan is 72 years. The range is 38 to 93 years. Causes of death are known for 3 of the last 4 generations: Jabez -Complications of disease, Charles- Heart Attack, and Florence- Heart disease.

Military- Generations 5 and 6 are the only 2 that I can find that were involved in the military. One was a Captain in a town militia and the other was enlisted for one day during the Revolutionary war. I have my great grandfathers draft registration for both WWI and WWII.

Marriage and children- Six of the Bostwick’s were married once, 4 were married twice, and 1 was married 3 times.  I need to do more research on the wives but I believe most of them are from English origin. Generation 9 married first a woman who had a Welsh background and then second Mexican heritage. Generation 10 married a woman with a Swedish background and generation 11 married a man with roots from Luxembourg. The number of children ranged from 4 to 11 throughout the generations.

Occupations- The first 8 generations were farmers with the addition of generation 7 who was also a judge and politician and generation 8 who switched to being a hotel keeper. Generation 9 was a butcher and 10 wins the prize for number of occupations held – 7. Generation 11 was a stenographer before marriage and as a widow a housekeeper/cook for different rectories and a seminary.

Religion- The first 3 generations were Puritans then the next 2 generations were Congregationalists. The move to New York coincided with the next 3 generations being Baptists. The move to California I suspect changed the way the next generations were raised largely without religion. I know that my grandmother was not. I believe that since my 2x great grandfather was born into a Baptist family but was buried in a Catholic cemetery combined with his wife being Catholic had a large influence on the change. I do not know if he converted. My great grandfather did not raise his children in any religion and when he died his funeral was officiated by a Methodist minister. My grandmother was baptized in the Catholic church when she was 19 after she married my grandfather.

Interrment – It is unknown where the first 4 generations are buried. I have photos of the next 7 generations and have visited 4 of the graves, 5 if you count my grandmother before she died. I was at the gravesite once in 1971 to pay my respect to my grandfather long before grandma died.






Jabez Jr


Finally, I have photos for the last 2 generations, great grandpa and grandma.



3 thoughts on “Summary of My Bostwick Ancestral Line

    1. Thank you. I like researching each person but then looking at the big picture to see how the family as a whole changed. There were other columns I started to put in but it was getting too big to place in the blog. Education and military service but I had many blanks so I left those out.


  1. I believe I know live in your families original home in New Milford ..Captain Joseph Bostwick
    the house still goes by the name the “Captain’s House”


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