John Gale - Susannah Dennis Family Group

What We Know About This Family

Noteworthy

The Gales were the parents of Hannah, the wife of Brigadier General John Glover. The schooner Hannah owned by Glover and named for his wife, is considered the first vessel in the U,S, Navy by virtue of her brief stint in the Revolutionary War.

An Overview of Their Lives

John and Susanna Dennis Gale both came from old Marblehead families and lived in the affluent era that preceded the Revolutionary War. John and Ann Devereux were the immigrant ancestors for both of them, John through Agnes Devereux and Susannah through Agnes's brother, John Devereux, Jr. They and some of their children were kissing cousins to many of the ancestors in this tree. The Gales were mariners and probably the builders of maritime vessels. A John Gale "master of the Hannah" was mentioned by Nathan Bowen, a Marblehead resident who kept a journal. Whether he referred to the father or the son I cannot determine. The Gales were in-laws to General John Glover and to Richard Bessom, husband of Sarah, a recent immigrant from Jersey Isle who was also a Revolutionary War patriot.

More About Some of the Children

• Susannah Gale married Thomas Nicholson, the grandson of out direct ancestors Michael and Grace Stacey Coes (Cowes). They were married for only nine years before he died leaving an insolvent estate. Susannah married secondly James Hewes, but they left no further record that I can discover.


• Hannah Gale married John Glover, who during the Revolutionary War served directly under General George Washington and was promoted by him to the rank of Brigadier General. Glover owned the schooner Hannah that was converted to a military vessel and sailed a brief career that nevertheless earned her the reputation as the first vessel in the US Naval Services. Pre-Revolution, the schooner was named for his wife. Nicholson Broughton captained her during her brief stint in the war and is a well known Revolutionary period Marblehead legend. He married Sarah Martin Pedrick, the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Martin Pedrick. Nicholson and Sarah's son Captain Nicholson Broughton in turn married Susannah Glover, the daughter of the General and his wife, Hannah. General Glover left service to attend to his dying wife, and after her death, he wrote to General Washington. Hannah died in 1777, and in 1781 in Boston, General Glover married the widow Frances Hitchborn Fosdick. General Glover's Revolutionary War service was memorialized by a statue that stands on Commonwealth Avenue in Boston to this day. Much has been written about him. More about General Glover, Nicholson Broughton and the Hannah.


• Sarah Gale married Richard Bessom (spelled many different ways), who was born Richard Le Gros Bisson on the Isle of Jersey in the Channel Islands. He was a fisherman, coaster, truckman, and yeoman, and he was a Revolutionary War patriot. He outlived Sarah, and named a second wife, Sarah, in his will that also named the five surviving children of his first marriage. Richard and Sarah Gale Bessom are our direct ancestors and have their own family group page.


• John Gale married Sarah Oliver, the daughter of our direct ancestors John and Jane Waters Oliver.

Proof of Relationship

Vital statistics and probate material are our best proof of relationship.

What Else We Need to Learn

The goal of this project is to trace every line of ancestry to the arrival of its first immigrant to America. The basic information of each couple is considered complete when we know the dates of birth, marriage, and death for both spouses. their parents' names (or whether they were the immigrant), and the child or children in our ancestry line.

The research on this family is complete.