Last fall I had the incredible opportunity to visit Mowsley, England and speak at St. Nicholas, the 13th century church my ancestor, Barnabas Horton, would have been baptized at in July of 1600. He later wed Mary Horton, and though the records no longer exist, it was very likely at the same Anglican church. Mary and Barnabas, my ninth great-grandparents, later sailed from England aboard The Swallow and became one of thirteen founding families of Southold, Long Island, NY.
You can read more about my visit to Mowsley, England, here.
Last month I had the privilege of speaking at a Founding Families event, hosted by the Southold Historical Society. What an honor to meet other descendants and hear their stories!
Here are some pictures that were part of my research as I wrote my novels all based on the lives of Mary and Barnabas Horton.
St. Nicholas Church, Mowsley, England
The Cask Mary and Barnabas Horton brought to Southold.
Rebecca with the Heritage livestock at Plimoth Plantation
Horton Point Lighthouse, Southold, L.I.
The blue slate grave of Barnabas Horton that inspired The Southold Chronicles, a 3-book historical romance series from Revell
Comments 4
Author
Edward, I love lighthouses too – we have some fun ones here on the west coast but Horton Point has a special place in my heart! I love the Outer Banks! We lived in Northern Virginia for four years and spent a couple of fun summer vacations in Duck on the Outer Banks – fond memories!
My wife and I just drove through Southold on Rt. 48 last Thursday. We had visited the Montauk Point Lighthouse on Wednesday evening and spent the night at Hilton Garden Inn Riverhead. I had no clue we were a very short distance from another lighthouse as we drove out to Orient Point to catch the ferry across to New London, CT. It is interesting that you have relatives in that area.
Author
The Horton Point Lighthouse is lovely – I first visited with my mom and we took that same route in reverse, driving down from Boston and taking the ferry across to Orient Point. The lighthouse was built on land that was owned by Barnabas Horton in the 1600’s. It was commissioned by George Washington in the 1700’s and finally built in the mid-1800’s. I visited the Montauk Point Lighthouse while researching my second book. It’s beautiful and so full of history!
I love visiting lighthouses. On several occasions, I have just “stumbled” across them as we were traveling. Other times as in the case of Montauk Point, we went specifically to see it. The only problem was that we got there too late to go inside. In 2015, we visited the Outer Banks of NC. It was our second visit. The first time was before the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse was moved – none of them were open at the time. I had learned that Bodie Island Lighthouse opened to the public on May 1, so we planned our trip in order to visit it. It has been one of my favorites since the first time I saw it. Anyway, I got the privilege of climbing Bodie Island and Cape Hatteras one day and the Currituck Beach Lighthouse the next morning. I felt I was doing very well for a 68-year-old man.