Person:Rolfe Annis (1)

ROLFE ANNIS was born December 21, 1734 at Haverhill, Massachusetts; married September 1, 1757, Sarah Rollins at Newbury, Massachusetts. Sarah's Rollin's mother was Hannah Annis, the daughter of Abraham Annis (3.), and therefore a first cousin. Rolfe's marriage to Sarah is recorded at Bradford, Massachusetts where he was residing at that time, and his first three children were born there. He also resided at Methuen, Massachusetts by 1763, where his daughter Hannah was born, and Andover, Massachusetts in 1765 and 1767 where his youngest daughters were born. On November 16, 1770 he sold land at Haverhill, when it was reported that he was residing at Windham, Rockingham County, New Hampshire. Like his father he was a cordwainer by profession, but records are both incomplete and conflicting as to the movement of Rolfe and his family after 1770. The date of his death and burial place are unknown. According to Massachusetts Archives (Eastern Land Deeds, Vol. I, pp. 420-422) Rolfe Annis, along with his son Benjamin, settled on Butter (or Annis Island) in Penobscot Bay, Maine before January 1, 1784. It is possible that Rolfe sold his land at Haverhill, moved to Maine, and spent the remainder of his life there. The name is recorded both as Rolfe and Ralph Annis.

Dear Donald,

I saw your interesting Curmac Annis page and thought that I could expand on your Rolfe Annis information. I am a descendant of Rolfe Annis, through his daughter, Rebecca (Annis) Black of Brooksville, Hancock County, ME. I hope you find the attached text file useful.

Glenn R. Bailey Marblehead, MA

ROLFE4 ANNIS (John3, Abraham2, Curmac1) was born in Haverhill, MA, 21 December 1734 (Haverhill VRs). He was living, on Annis Island, District of Maine, as late as 1790 (First (1790) Federal Census).

He married in Newbury, MA, 1 September 1757, SARAH RAWLINGS. She was born in Newbury, MA, 15 February 1738/39, the daughter of Benjamin and Hannah (Annis) Rawlings (Newbury VRs).

Sarah Rawlings was named as an heir in the last will of her father, Benjamin Rawlings of Newbury, MA, husbandman, which was dated 28 March 1746 and proved in Essex County Probate Court 22 May 1749. She was to receive =A3100 "old tenor" at the time of her marriage or upon reaching the age of twenty-one years, whichever came first. She was also authorized to continue living in her father's house until the time of her marriage (ECP, 328:523).

Bradford Vital Records detail the births and baptisms of children of Roff and Sarah Annis in Bradford, MA, between 20 October 1758 and 30 August 1761.

Ralph Annis was one of one hundred six residents of the Andover South Parish, in a sub-district which lay west of the Shawshin River, whose property was assessed for taxes, 22 November 1763. He was to pay a 1s 6d [18d] tax. The mean payment was a 6s 5d [77d] tax; the median payment was a 5s 8d [68d] tax. He continued to be assessed for taxes in the same district through 1769 (Andover TRs). He was not a wealthy man, which may explain his willingness to move to the Maine frontier.

The Second (1800) Federal Census of Hampden, ME, enumerated a Ralph Annis Junr (born Newbury) and a Ralph Annis [III] (born =Vassalborough) (Second (1800) Federal Census). If these men were the son and grandson of Ralph Annis [Sr.], there may be reason to believe that Ralph Annis removed to Vassalborough, Maine, after 1769.

Rolf Annis and his son, Benjamin Annis, settled on two-hundred sixty-acre Annis Island in eastern Penobscot Bay, circa 1778 (Islands of the Mid-Maine Coast). Annis Island was a remote part of the Deer Isle archipelago, lying between Deer Isle and the Fox Islands [now North Haven and Vinalhaven]. It was also known as Butter Island. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts sold proprietorship over Butter Island [two hundred sixty acres], Eagle Island [two hundred sixty-three acres], Fling Island, Sloop Island, two small islands south of Sloop Island, and several other small islands to John Lee of Penobscot, for =A389 4s, 14 February 1787. As required by law, Lee "quieted" the pre-existing settlers, Rolfe Annis and Benjamin Annis on Butter Island and Allen Calf on Eagle Island, by granting them one-hundred-acre lots, which would have left very little for himself ("Islands in Eastern Penobscot Bay," Bangor Historical Magazine, 1:213; "Corrections and Additions," BHM, 2[1886]:452; LCD, 21:82). Benjamin Annis quitclaimed his rights in Annis Island to Lee in 1788 (HCD, 1:183).

Rolf Annis was one of seventy-six inhabitants of Deer Island [Isle] and vicinity who issued a call to the Reverend Mr. Peter Powers, 23 August 1785, seeking his settlement among them as the first minister of the First (Congregational) Church of Deer Isle; the Reverend Mr. Powers answered in the affirmative, 17 September 1785 (Hosmer's Deer Isle).

Ralph [Rolfe] Annis was the head of a Hancock County household at the time of the First (1790) Federal Census; his household included two males aged 16-plus years, three males aged under-16 years, and six females. His household was one of twenty households which were located on "Small Islands Not Belonging To Any Town."

The children of Rolfe4 and Sarah (Rawlings) Annis were:

i. BENJAMIN5 ANNIS, born in Bradford, MA, 20 October 1758. ii. ISAAC ANNIS, born in Bradford, MA, in November 1759. iii. SARAH ANNIS, born in Bradford, MA, 30 August 1761. iv. ROLFE ANNIS, born in Newbury, MA, circa 1763. v. HANNAH ANNIS, born circa 1765. vi. REBECCA ANNIS, was baptized in the South Parish (Congregational) Church in Andover, MA, 5 April 1767 (Andover VRs). She was "an aged lady" when she died in Brooksville, ME, in April 1865 ("Varnum Diary"). She married on Deer Isle, ME, 19 May 1790, SAMUEL BLACK, she of Annis Island [now Butter Island] and he of Sedgwick, ME; the ceremony was performed by the Reverend Mr. Peter Powers, pastor of the First (Congregational) Church in Deer Isle (Hancock County MRs; Sedgwick VRs).

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Haverhill (MA) Births
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