James Clements (* say 1715) and Anna White (1717-04-09 – 1773-01) were the parents of Rebecca Hill and thus my 6th-great-grandparents. Anna was born in Boston, Massachusetts⟮1⟯FamilySearch, and the couple married there 1736-05-20⟮2⟯FamilySearch and had perhaps nine children.
The surname had spelling variants such as Clemens, Clement, and Clemmons. I herein use Clements conventionally for internal consistency; this is the spelling in their marriage and in records of Rebecca.
The usual primary sources such as vital records are scarce for this family.
The best source I have found is a family outline written in 1813 by Timothy Pickering, Anna’s grand-nephew, which was republished in 1947 with additional commentary and details.⟮3⟯ Pickering’s other claims tally with primary sources when available, so that I deem him a credible source for his own family. His notes tie together what would be a number of unclearly connected vital records.
One discrepancy is that he has Hannah where records have Anna, an untroubling substitution.
Pickering states that “Hannah” White married James “Clemens” and their daughter Rebecca married “William Hill of Boston”. A marriage of “James Clements” and “Anna White” is, as noted, found in Boston.
A death record for Mrs. Anna Clemens aged 55 died Jan 1773 is found in Boston, a match for Anna.⟮4⟯Ancestry$/Lib No death record for James is found.
From Pickering, we have that Anna was the daughter of Isaac White and Rebecca Green, both of who have a fair amount of documented ancestry.
James’s parents have not been identified. One proposal is that he was the son of Jeremiah Clements (
Younger children Susannah and Sarah are also claimed⟮9⟯⟮10⟯ but I have not found records of them.
In any case, it is clear from James’s 1736 marriage that he would have to be an older child not recorded in Boston births for some reason (as the first Anna and alleged later daughters were not). While not ruled out, this limited possibility is not encouraging.
The gravestone of their daughter Sarah (below) lists the father as “Capt. James Clemans”; perhaps then James had a maritime career and may have come from further away.
These are the seven children listed by Pickering, plus two found on gravestones who died young and perhaps for that reason were not listed by Pickering, supplemented by what I have found in records, and with Anna instead of Hannah:
No birth dates are provided by Pickering, nor have any birth records been found. Thus, most dates are extrapolations.
There have been Y chromosome tests for members of the colonial Clements family that Jeremiah (proposed father above) belongs to.⟮16⟯ One has a haplogroup as specific as I1-FTD616. However, this group is dated to historical times (around 1750)⟮17⟯, and so not all Clements families may share it, but presumably they are all in the older parent group I1-BY155980.
So, if James does indeed somehow belong to this extended Clements family, then he is also in this haplogroup.
If male-line descendants of children James or Isaac were located and tested, it could confirm or disconfirm James’s connection to this family.