The Hale family is the quietest of Briarmont's three founding bloodlines. Three lines — Ashton, Hale, and Briggs — settled Briarmont's earliest homesteads, and of the three the Hales left the thinnest record: a founding homestead, two generations of names, and then silence. The Hale name has been gone from the town's rolls since 1872, but Hale blood runs on through the Ashton and Sweely lines.
A Brief History
Jonas Hale, of the founding Hale homestead, and his wife Charlotte head the line in the record. Their household belongs to Briarmont's earliest settler years, when the town survived on fishing, timber use, small gardens, and coastal trade.
What the Hales are remembered for is not what they built but where their daughters went. Rebecca Hale Ashton — where the Hale and Ashton lines meet — married Samuel Ashton and became grandmother to the Ashtons of the Residence. A generation later Eliza Mae married Henry Ashton, and Catherine married into the Sweely family. With Anderson Hale's death in 1872, no one of the Hale name appears in the record again.
Family Tree
- Jonas Hale (1785–1837) ⚭ Charlotte Hale (1786–1863) — née Webster
- Alan Hale (1809–1871) ⚭ Gertrude Hale (1814–1887) — née Rudolph
- Anderson Hale (1838–1872) — last to carry the name
- Eliza Mae Ashton (1847–1918) ⚭ Henry Ashton (1843–1918) — see the Ashton family tree
- Catherine Sweely (1849–1922) — married into the Sweely family
- Rebecca Hale Ashton (1807–1892) ⚭ Samuel Ashton (1802–1885) — see the Ashton family tree
- Alan Hale (1809–1871) ⚭ Gertrude Hale (1814–1887) — née Rudolph
Family Timeline
1830s — The founding Hale homestead
The Hales settle one of Briarmont's earliest homesteads in the town's refuge-settlement years, alongside the Ashton and Briggs lines. Jonas Hale heads the household of the record.
Mid-1800s — The Hale daughters join the Ashton line
Rebecca Hale marries Samuel Ashton — where the Hale and Ashton lines meet — and a generation later Eliza Mae marries Henry Ashton. Hale blood becomes part of both branches of the Ashton family.
1872 — The Hale name goes quiet
Anderson Hale dies, and no one of the Hale name appears in Briarmont's record after him. The line continues through its daughters — Ashton and Sweely by marriage.
1922 — The last of Gertrude's daughters
Catherine Sweely, née Hale, dies. Of the Hale-born, only Dorothea Ashton — whose exact place in the Hale line is unrecorded — outlives her, until 1962.
Founding Generation
The Hales of the record all have pages under Historical Archive › Founding Families:
| Jonas Hale | Of the founding Hale homestead |
| Charlotte Hale | Née Webster |
| Alan Hale | Second-generation head of the homestead |
| Gertrude Hale | Née Rudolph |
| Anderson Hale | Last to carry the Hale name |
| Rebecca Hale Ashton | Where the Hale and Ashton lines meet |
| Eliza Mae Ashton | Hale-born, of the Ashton line |
| Catherine Sweely | Hale-born, of the Sweely line |
Ties to Other Founding Families
The Hale line lives on entirely through its marriages: into the Ashton family through Rebecca and Eliza Mae (and through the Hale-born Dorothea Ashton, whose parentage the record does not give), and into the Sweely family through Catherine.
This is a family hub page. It brings the Hale story together even though its people, places and institutions are filed under the shelves where readers would naturally look for them.