When I was asked to consider an artifact from my family going back to the year my family immigrated to the United States, I had never fully considered how my family came to the United States.  Was it through Ellis Island or before Ellis Island?  I had no idea.  I decided to call my mother (Eileen) and find out how far back she had traced the family through Ansestry.com.  She was able to trace our family to a typescript with the title "The Kenniston Saga" by R & M Keniston.  What follows is the beginning of half of my family's American story.

            The first American patriarch for the Kenison family was John Keniston, my Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Maternal Grandfather.  He was Born in 1615 in Manchester, England.  In the spring of 1623, at the age of eight, John boarded a ship with his father John and mother Margaret, along with his brother James and sister Mary.  However, shortly after arrival John's parents and siblings all died of "the sickness."

            In 1645, he married Agnes Moody, daughter of Reverend John Moody.  In 1646, their first son, William was born at Strawbery Banke.  In 1656, John and Agnes received a land grant in Dover, New Hampshire, where the family cleared the land to build the family farm.  Their second son, Alexander was born in 1663, however, he died at the age of eight while attempting to cross a river on horseback.

            On April 16, 1677 during the King Phillips War, tragedy again strikes the family as John Keniston was killed at the age of 59 during an Indian raid.  The family home was burned to the ground, but the rest of the family was able to escape to safety.  Agnes remarried in 1681 to Henry Magoon, and in this typescript nothing more is mentioned of William Keniston.

            It seems like a very shaky beginning for a family that has spent 388 years in a land that eventually became the United States of America.

Works Cited

Choundas, George.  "Flag."  The Union Jack 1606-1801.  Pirates of the Caribbean, in fact and fiction. Mar. 2010.  Web.  05 Feb. 2011.

Dumapias, Mike. "England map."  Map of England.  Ethnic and Racial Equality Around the World.  Nov. 2006. Web.  05 Feb. 2011.

Miles, Byrd. "1615 John Kenniston and his descendants." "The Kenniston Saga" by R & M Keniston.  (n.d.) Print.

Parker, Matthew.  "13 colonies map."  Map of the original 13 colonies in 1710.  Old North State and Tar Heel State.  Aug. 2005. Web.  05 Feb. 2011.

Wenceslaus, Hollar.  "ship."  Etching, Seventeenth-century English ship, printed in J.J. Ussher, Annales (London, 1654).  Northern Arc: the Significance of Seafaring to Western Canadian History.  Mar. 2010. Web.  05 Feb.  2011.